College Fantasy Football: RBs to watch in Week 5
Week 5 of the college football season is here. Let’s take a look at five running backs who should start this week in your college fantasy football leagues.
MORE: Quarterbacks to watch in Week 5 | Rivals Fantasy Football Home
YAHOO SPORTS COLLEGE FANTASY FOOTBALL IS HERE! ... Sign up here for free
I don’t expect Alabama’s starters to be in the game for too long, but Harris could see the bulk of the carries against Louisiana-Lafayette and he could have a monster performance. The former five-star leads the Crimson Tide in rushing yards with 246 and he’s tied for the team lead with Josh Jacobs at three rushing scores. Louisiana-Lafayette is allowing 5.7 yards per rush and 10 rushing touchdowns - and that’s against Grambling, Mississippi State and Coastal Carolina so far.
Whitlow has emerged as Auburn’s favorite go-to running back and he’s putting up impressive numbers so far this season with 57 carries for 303 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 5.3 yards per touch. Southern Miss has only allowed one rushing score in three games but it’s giving up 4.9 yards per attempt and its opponents have been garbage - Jackson State, Louisiana-Monroe and Rice. Auburn’s run game should be potent.
McMillian is putting up nearly 8.8 yards per carry and he’s scored only three touchdowns this season but the Colorado running back could have a huge game against UCLA. The reason is because the Bruins have allowed 11 rushing touchdowns so far this season but have been pretty decent defending the pass so Colorado could rely more on McMillian to pick up yards on the ground. UCLA is allowing 37.6 points per game.
This could be a tricky situation for numerous reasons, but teams have had some success running on Stanford as Oregon had 178 rushing yards and three scores against the Cardinal last weekend. Stanford’s pass defense is solid, so new starting quarterback Ian Book might not have a ton of success there and against such a quality team, coach Brian Kelly could get conservative and hand the ball off to Armstrong more often. He is second on the team with 245 rushing yards and has a team-high five touchdowns.
The golden rule maybe from here on out for the rest of the season is to lean on players going up against Rutgers’ defense. The Scarlet Knights are horrible, allowing 5.6 yards per carry and nine rushing touchdowns so far. Scott is a powerful running back leading the Hoosiers with an average of 5.1 yards per carry and three touchdowns against some decent competition. Rutgers is coming off embarrassing losses to Buffalo, Kansas and Ohio State. We’re to expect the Scarlet Knights start stepping up now? No way.
