But there’s a third front-runner in this race — Diego Pavia of Vanderbilt. The top riser of Week 8, Pavia has carried Vandy to a 6-1 start, its best in 75 years. He accounted for three touchdowns and 246 yards as the Commodores beat LSU 31-24 Saturday in Nashville.

Fernando Mendoza and Indiana did so last week when they took down Dante Moore and Oregon in one of the biggest games of the Big Ten season. It was a program-defining victory for the Hoosiers in what has been an incredible rise to college football's upper echelon over the last season and a half,

As the regular season is at the halfway mark, Joel Klatt picked his leading candidates and winners for each of college football's top awards.

Indiana’s win at Oregon pushes Fernando Mendoza into our top spot, but he faces stiff competition from SEC and ACC quarterbacks.

Oregon QB Dante Moore, our leading vote-getter a week ago, fell off the ballot entirely after the Ducks lost to Mendoza and Indiana.