College Fantasy Football: QBs to watch for Week 8

There is a perception that Florida State’s offense has been horrible this season and the Seminoles have not been great, but let’s take a look at the numbers. Since FSU’s 30-7 loss at Syracuse, the Seminoles have scored 37 against Northern Illinois, 28 against Louisville and 27 versus a great Miami defense. Francois is second in the ACC in passing yards and only Boston College’s Anthony Brown has thrown more touchdowns. Wake Forest’s defense allows 264 passing yards per game and 17 touchdowns so far. I’m still a little guarded about this FSU offense, but Francois could have a breakout game.

Lock has not been putting up mind-boggling statistics this season, completing 58.7 percent of his passes for 1,629 yards with 12 touchdowns and six interceptions but Missouri has also faced Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia in three-straight games. That’s tough even for Lock, who could be a first-round NFL Draft pick after this season. Memphis’ pass defense is actually not bad, but the Tigers have also played incredibly average offenses in Mercer, Navy, Georgia State, South Alabama, Tulane and UConn before UCF this past weekend. After a crushing loss for Memphis, it might be tough to prepare for Missouri’s passing attack.

It’s unbelievable that Minshew is still only owned in 57 percent of fantasy leagues especially because he’s the third-highest scoring quarterback in the game. There might be some debate as to whether Minshew or Oregon’s Justin Herbert is the smarter start in this weekend’s Pac-12 showdown, but the Washington State quarterback has clearly put up much bigger numbers. Minshew is throwing for 403.7 yards per game (Herbert is at 268.8) and the Wazzu signal caller has two more touchdowns as well.

Patterson has not been among the top 25 fantasy scorers for quarterbacks so far this season but he has not been bad running Michigan’s offense. This pick is more situational than anything since Michigan State has been phenomenal stopping the run (other than against Penn State this past weekend) but gives up huge yards through the air. The Spartans allow just 2.3 yards and 62.3 rushing yards per game - and that’s after Penn State’s Miles Sanders ran all over them on Saturday evening. However, Michigan State does give up more than 286 passing yards per outing and with Patterson, who’s owned in only 18 percent of leagues, getting more and more comfortable with Michigan’s receiving corps, that’s how the Wolverines could move the ball in a payback game this weekend.

Syracuse is averaging 43 points per game and Dungey is a big reason why the Orange offense is humming along so well. He’s only completing about 60 percent of his passes for 1,208 yards with 10 touchdowns and four picks so far, but it’s his running ability that makes him so special, especially in fantasy leagues. Dungey leads Syracuse with 435 rushing yards and seven scores. North Carolina is giving up five yards per carry and more than 200 yards on the ground per game. Dungey, the fifth-highest scorer among quarterbacks in fantasy football, could be in for a big showing.