Advertisement

Cast your vote for the best catch from college football's Week 8

(Yahoo Sports/Amber Matsumoto)
(Yahoo Sports/Amber Matsumoto)

Each Monday, we’ll gather the best catches from the weekend (or the midweek games) and bring them here for you to vote on in a poll. There could be only a few nominees, or there could be five or six. It all depends on the weekend. If you have a catch you’d like to nominate, don’t hesitate to hit us up on Twitter (@YahooDrSaturday).

The voting remains open until Friday and the winner advances to another round of voting that will help crown the best catch of the regular season.

BYU’s Moroni Laulu-Pututau had some tough competition in last week’s poll, but the sophomore was able to win the Week 7 catch of the week with his one-handed grab from the win over Mississippi State.

byu 1
byu 1

Laulu-Pututau garnered 60 percent of the vote, besting Nebraska’s Brandon Reilly (25 percent), Washington State’s River Cracraft (11 percent) and Ohio’s Sebastian Smith.

Here are the Week 8 nominees:

Jovon Durante – West Virginia

West Virginia has a deep receiving corps, with four different guys totaling at least 20 grabs on the season so far. One of those receivers is sophomore Jovon Durante, who had a nice game in Saturday’s win over TCU. One of his four catches was a fantastic one late in the first half. He adjusted with the ball in mid-air and caught it one-handed with two defenders nearby.

What a play.

Amba Etta-Tawo – Syracuse

Amba Etta-Tawo had 61 catches in three years at Maryland. Now, after a graduate transfer to Syracuse, he has broken out as one of the best receivers in the country. He already has 66 catches for 1,074 yards and seven touchdowns this season.

Over the weekend in the Orange’s win over Boston College, the senior hauled in 10 passes for 144, including this highlight reel one-handed 68-yard score. The BC defender was tight in coverage, but Etta-Tawo was able to maintain his concentration and make the one-handed grab. From there, he broke a tackle and sprinted the rest of the way for a touchdown.

James Gardner – Miami (Ohio)

After starting the season 0-6, Miami (Ohio) has won in back-to-back weeks over MAC foes. In Saturday’s 40-26 win over Bowling Green, sophomore receiver James Gardner had a big game. He caught nine passes for 120 yards, including this crazy catch at the one-yard line.

miami ohio catch
miami ohio catch

The play was initially ruled an incomplete pass, but Gardner was somehow able to get a foot down inbounds while maintaining possession with a one-handed snag. Gardner only had three catches last year, but has broken out with 35 catches for 581 yards and five scores this year.

This embedded content is not available in your region.

Kenny Golladay – Northern Illinois

Northern Illinois has struggled this season, but senior receiver Kenny Golladay has produced at a high level each week. The Huskies improved to 2-6 with a win over Buffalo on Saturday and Golladay had seven catches for 96 yards and this crazy touchdown.

niu golladay 1
niu golladay 1

NIU dialed up a designed throwback with the quarterback rolling right and Golladay’s route coming back across the field. Golladay went with a full-out dive and was able to make the catch with one hand for a 22-yard touchdown. Here’s another look:

niu golladay 2
niu golladay 2

Mitchell Juergens – BYU

There aren’t many plays where a receiver has to fight through an inadvertent leg to the helmet, but that’s what happened on this Taysom Hill pass to Mitchell Juergens. The BYU senior dove for the deep ball at the goal line and brought in the pass and maintained possession despite a defender’s leg hitting him in the head.

byu juergens 1
byu juergens 1

That takes some extreme concentration to hang on to that ball. Juergens was ruled down at the one-yard line for a 33-yard gain, and the Cougars scored on a Hill touchdown run on the next play.

byu juergens 2
byu juergens 2

Cast your vote in the poll below:

– – – – – – –

Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!