College Fantasy Football: Week 10 in review
MORE: Biggest questions heading into the next set of CFB Playoff rankings
Week 10 of the college football season is in the books. Here is a weekend review and some thoughts on what to do in your fantasy leagues down the homestretch:
LOOK AT LAWRENCE'S NUMBERS
Here’s a stat for you fantasy players: Clemson scored more points on Saturday than starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence had total yards.
The five-star phenom quarterback finished 8 of 12 passing for 59 yards with two touchdowns and an interception and rushed for 11 yards (70 total yards) in Clemson’s complete annihilation of Louisville, 77-16.
Owned in only 38 percent of fantasy leagues, Lawrence should be an outstanding pickup late in the year for people looking for a spark at quarterback and it’s expected he will play a much larger role against Boston College, Duke and South Carolina to close out the season. There are no issues with Lawrence, who in large part had the weekend off against the woeful Cardinals.
Clemson had three running backs - Travis Etienne, Lyn-J Dixon and Tavien Feaster - all rush for more than 100 yards. Backup quarterback Chase Brice threw six completions and three went for touchdowns. Five different receivers caught a touchdown.
It was an incredible showing for Clemson’s offense even without Lawrence having a huge game. That should change back to normal on Saturday against Boston College.
TATE DELIVERS AGAIN
Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate hardly runs any longer in the Wildcats’ new offense and it hurt his stats early in the season but the former four-star quarterback from Gardena (Calif.) Serra is making the passing game work in a big way the last couple weeks - and he could reward fantasy owners handsomely.
In a blowout win over Oregon a couple weeks ago, Tate completed 19 of 33 passes for 189 yards with three touchdowns and a pick. The Wildcats downed Colorado, 42-34, this past weekend and Tate finished 17 of 22 for 350 yards, five TDs and one interception, throwing some magnificent balls especially deep down the field.
Tate is no longer a Heisman front-runner. But the schedule coming up with Washington State and Arizona State could lead to some high-scoring match-ups and Tate, owned in less than three-quarters of leagues, could be finishing the season really well.
FLORIDA BENCHES FRANKS
Florida coach Dan Mullen benched quarterback Feleipe Franks in the Gators’ loss to Missouri on Saturday despite Franks having as many touchdown passes as Ole Miss’ Jordan Ta’amu this season and only three fewer than Missouri’s Drew Lock, considered one of the top quarterbacks in college football.
Franks has struggled with a low completion percentage and that was the case in Missouri’s 38-17 win in Gainesville as he completed only 9 of 22 passes for 84 yards. He ran for one of Florida’s touchdowns. So Mullen put in Kyle Trask and said in the post-game that the position will be evaluated this week leading up to the Gators’ match-up against South Carolina.
Sounds like Trask might get his shot. With the uncertainty at the position it might be best to dump Florida skill players and re-evaluate after the Gamecocks.
SHOOTOUTS AHEAD FOR OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma was involved in a thriller Saturday night at Texas Tech where the Sooners won, 51-46, but weaknesses showed throughout the pass defense especially. That’s actually great news for fantasy owners who should load up on Oklahoma skill players for the stretch run.
Quarterback Kyler Murray is the highest-scoring fantasy player by a wide margin now over Washington State QB Gardner Minshew and Ohio State QB Dwayne Haskins and receivers Marquise Brown and CeeDee Lamb are widely-owned as well. I’ll pat myself on the back for recommending Oklahoma WR Lee Morris for fantasy lineups last week as he finished with 101 receiving yards and two touchdowns in the win and is owned in only two percent of leagues.
Oklahoma should be involved in more shootouts to finish the season - the average defense putting pressure on the offense to keep pumping up scores. Bedlam should have a high over/under, the Sooners could probably name their score against Kansas and the finale against West Virginia could be a back-and-forth affair.
Make trades, use the transaction wire, do what’s necessary to put Oklahoma players on your roster.
JUST DUMP MIAMI
Has there been a more disappointing team than Miami this season as the Hurricanes went from preseason top 10 to third-to-last in the ACC Coastal Division which is really not that good and has Pitt atop the standings?
Let’s look at another debacle in Miami's 20-12 loss to Duke on Saturday. I know the weather was horrible but the Hurricanes still cannot figure out the quarterback situation with Malik Rosier and N’Kosi Perry both looking bad. Receiver Jeff Thomas had the most catches for Miami - four - and that went for 15 yards.
There are so many other great weapons to boost your fantasy leagues, why even waste any time with Miami’s underperforming offense? The Canes have scored 13, 14 and 12 in three-straight losses. No longer are Savannah State, Toledo and North Carolina on the schedule for Miami to pad its stats. Focus on fantasy players elsewhere.
