The college football season is starting this weekend, which means you need to put the finishing touches on your college fantasy football team. Here is a look at five Pac-12 players to fade heading into the season.
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1. CAL'S OFFENSE
Cal averaged 21.5 points per game last season - last in the Pac-12 - and a lot of talent is gone at running back and especially at wide receiver. How are the Golden Bears going to score a lot of points, which is needed for fantasy success? Running back Christopher Brown Jr. is more of a pounder so he won’t be breaking many big runs and almost all of the receivers are unproven. That means even more pressure will be on quarterback Chase Garbers, especially with transfer QB Devon Modster waiting in the wings. The September schedule is not easy, either, with games at Washington and Ole Miss and then finishing the month by hosting Arizona State.
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2. KHALIL TATE
In 2017, Tate threw for 1,591 yards and 14 touchdowns and rushed for 1,411 yards and 12 scores as he became a Heisman contender and one of the best stories in college football. But last season Tate threw for 26 scores but only ran the ball 74 times for 224 yards. There seemed to be a disconnect between Tate’s ability - freelancing, running past slow defenders, making things happen - and what offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone wanted out of him. There might be some young, talented receivers, but Arizona is going to give the ball to RB J.J. Taylor often, so from a fantasy perspective there could be better options at QB.
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FANTASY FACE-OFF: Trevor Lawrence vs. Tua Tagovailoa | Travis Etienne vs. Jonathan Taylor | Rondale Moore vs. Laviska Shenault | Albert Okwuegbunam vs. Jared Pinkney | Alabama defense vs. Georgia defense
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3. K.J. COSTELLO
There’s no way around this - I’m down on Stanford this season. Especially from a fantasy perspective. Costello was fantastic last season with 3,540 passing yards and 29 touchdowns, but his favorite target by far - JJ Arcega-Whiteside - is gone, along with Trent Irwin and tight end Kaden Smith, although Colby Parkinson should fill in nicely. Cameron Scarlett is more of a pounding running back, not a breakaway threat like Bryce Love, and there are questions on the offensive line as well, believe it or not. A bunch of new receivers will have to step up immediately and a brutal September awaits, with games against Northwestern, USC, UCF and Oregon.
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4. STANFORD'S DEFENSE
Stanford was a little topsy-turvy last season, allowing four yards per carry and averaging just 3.7, but looking much better in pass defense. There will be all kinds of question marks on the defense this season. The front should be adequate, but there are major issues to figure out at linebacker with the loss of Bobby Okereke and Sean Barton (who combined for 188 tackles), and there are things to figure out on the back end as well. Maybe if the Cardinal defense can prove itself early then it could be an October pickup, but starting the season against Northwestern, USC, UCF and Oregon will be challenging.
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5. USC RUNNING BACKS
There is a lot of excitement to see USC unleash its new offense, especially with quarterback JT Daniels winning the job and a bevy of outstanding skill players such as Amon-Ra St. Brown, Michael Pittman and Tyler Vaughns looking for the ball. With some questions on the offensive line and a possible rotation in the backfield with Vavae Malepeai, Stephen Carr and others, is it worth the risk to your fantasy team to draft USC’s running backs? I think the offense is going to score a lot more points than it did last season. I’m just not sure the Trojans will be running the ball into the end zone.
