Cast your vote for the best catch of Week 9 (Videos)
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 a final, end of the year vote where the best catch of the season will be determined. And since we started this midway through the season, some of our favorite catches from the first half will re-surface at the end of the season as well. Don’t you worry.
We had a landslide in our Week 8 voting with the one-handed snag from Boise State’s Thomas Sperbeck coming out on top – and deservedly so. Sperbeck used every inch of his wingspan to get his right hand on a bullet from Brett Rypien. On top of that, he got both feet down in bounds as he hauled the pass in with just one hand.
Sperbeck’s catch accounted for a whopping 84 percent of the vote with Oklahoma State’s James Washington (7 percent), Tulsa’s Keyarris Garrett (5 percent), Bowling Green’s Roger Lewis (2 percent) and Ohio’s Keith Heitzman (1 percent) rounding out the voting.
Here are the Week 9 nominees:
George Kittle - Iowa
Hawkeyes junior tight end George Kittle doesn't see too many targets, but against Maryland on Saturday he made a case for more. His only catch of the game against the Terrapins was this one-handed beauty on a seam route. Quarterback CJ Beathard overthrew Kittle a bit, so the 6-foot-4, 235-pound junior had to lay out to haul the pass in with his right hand for a 26-yard gain. Well done.
Dwayne Stanford - Oregon
Oregon junior Dwayne Stanford made a huge play to keep his team alive against Arizona State. Trailing ASU 48-41 with only 23 seconds left in regulation, the Ducks faced a fourth-and-goal from the nine-yard line. Ducks quarterback Vernon Adams evaded heavy pressure and heaved one up toward the endzone, where Stanford rose above two ASU defenders and collided with a teammate for a clutch touchdown, forcing overtime. Oregon then went on to win 61-55 in 3OT.
Zach Challingsworth - Pittsburgh
Pitt sophomore Zach Challingsworth has seen more time in the Panthers’ wide receiver rotation in recent weeks and had his best game yet against UNC. Among his three catches in the Panthers’ 26-19 loss to the Tar Heels was this great showcase of concentration. The ball was deflected three times but Challingsworth managed to bring it in as he was flat on his back. Impressive.
Brandon Shippen - Temple
Temple's first touchdown against Notre Dame came from an unlikely source. Senior wideout Brandon Shippen had just three catches on the year going into Saturday night's primetime matchup with the Irish, but he hauled in a strike from P.J. Walker on third-and-goal to give the Owls a 10-7 lead in the second quarter. Shippen's catch didn't look like anything special on first glance, but a replay showed he actually managed to box out ND linebacker Joe Schmidt while simultaneously catching the pass with his left arm. He was then able to pivot and dive for the goal line. Awesome play.
Cortez Lewis - Wake Forest
Wake Forest turned the ball over five times in a 20-19 loss to Louisville on Friday night, but he Demon Deacon offense still had a few highlight reel plays. The best play of the night game from freshman Cortez Lewis in the first quarter when he reeled in a pass from Kendall Hinton down the left sideline with one hand. Lewis then juked two Louisville defenders and sprinted the rest of the way for a 78-yard touchdown.
BONUS CATCH:
For the sake of continuity, we're sticking with only offense plays for these polls, but we had to show some love to New Mexico State defensive back Terrill Hanks. Hanks somehow intercepted a ball with his feet to seal NMSU's overtime win over Idaho. Not only did the miraculous play clinch the win, it snapped a 17-game losing streak for the Aggies.
Vote for your favorite catch in the poll below.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
