To be the best, you have to beat the best. 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, and it was the kind of win and individual effort that Mendoza needed to cement himself among the most legitimate of Heisman Trophy contenders.

That triumph was an example of the magic that can occur in a top-25 showdown. The outcomes that occur on the biggest stages are what define each and every college football season. And, boy, Week 8 is about to be a treat in that regard.

Five -- count 'em, five -- games this week pit ranked teams against

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