College Fantasy Football: Week 11 in review
LOUISVILLE FIRES BOBBY PETRINO: Fans react to Petrino's dismissal | Five programs that benefit | Louisville AD reacts | All eyes on Jeff Brohm | Petrino era over at UL
Week 11 is in the books. Here is a review of the college football weekend with some thoughts from a fantasy perspective.
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USC IS JUST... BAD
USC’s roster is littered with four- and five-star prospects but the Trojans are certainly not playing that way. Cal came into the Coliseum on Saturday night and won there for the first time since 2000, snapping a 14-game losing streak and it was a downright embarrassing performance by the Trojans.
Quarterback JT Daniels threw two touchdown passes to Tyler Vaughns (both are former five-stars) in the second quarter but that was it for USC’s offense all night. Cal scored all 15 of its points in the third quarter to hang on. The Golden Bears beat USC with 207 yards of total offense. That’s terrible.
From a fantasy perspective now into the playoff rounds, there are just way better options than anybody playing for USC. Clay Helton must be on the hot seat or AD Lynn Swann isn’t doing his job. Daniels and the offense can’t do much even though Helton stripped Tee Martin of play-calling duties. Iman Marshall is mouthing off to the Cal sideline that drew a costly penalty. Isaiah Langley is starting a ruckus on his own sideline. It’s a mess. Move on to fantasy players who are actually producing.
OHIO STATE PERKS UP
Can we believe in Ohio State again? The Buckeyes were only about a field-goal favorite at Michigan State on Saturday and it played out that way through three quarters until Ohio State opened it up in the fourth for a 26-6 win in brutally cold East Lansing.
From a fantasy perspective, this is still a team that had Mike Weber (owned in just 54 percent of leagues) rush for more than 100 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Dwayne Haskins threw a touchdown and is still in the top-seven of all fantasy scorers. The defense played remarkably well and scored a TD against an average Michigan State defense.
Things are not perfect in Columbus and the team is not playing their best football but things might not be as horribly bad as has been told in recent weeks. Ohio State should dismantle Maryland and then get ready for the huge Michigan matchup that could has College Football Playoff implications. And the Buckeyes have lost that game once since 2004.
WHAT'S UP WITH AUBURN?
Watching Auburn play offense is an effort in frustration because the weapons seem to be there but the ball just does not move down the field. And that’s a horrible situation for fantasy owners. A few weeks ago I recommended dumping all of Miami’s skill players in fantasy leagues and that turned out to be a wise move because the Hurricanes are downright bad on offense. I would not recommend the same thing for Auburn, though, especially for this upcoming week.
The Tigers are playing Liberty and the Flames’ defense is not good. For an offense with talented players that is struggling and needs a win, it could be a great weekend to load up on Auburn players. But don’t keep them for the following week if your fantasy team is still alive. I don’t expect the Tigers to do much against top-ranked Alabama.
OKLAHOMA SHOOTOUTS
Oklahoma players are a Godsend for fantasy owners as quarterback Kyler Murray is the highest-scoring player in the fantasy game, receivers Marquise Brown and CeeDee Lamb are high on the receiver list and the Sooners are averaging 49 points per game.
The good news for fantasy owners is that Oklahoma’s defense has been so pitiful the last couple of weeks - giving up 47 points to Oklahoma State this past weekend and 46 the week before - that starters need to stay in the game and Oklahoma’s offense feels compelled to put up as many points as possible.
Oklahoma has scored 45 or more points in every game this season except one (the win over Iowa State) and that should continue with Kansas on the schedule this weekend. A major shootout against West Virginia in the regular-season finale could be coming as well. Keep loading up on Oklahoma players if possible.
SHOUT-OUT TO PARKINSON
If you were part of the six percent of fantasy owners who have Stanford tight end Colby Parkinson in the starting lineup, I salute you. The 6-foot-7, 240-pounder finished with six catches for 166 yards and four touchdowns in Stanford’s blowout win over Oregon State this past weekend. Prior to Saturday’s game, Parkinson had three TD catches all season.
One reason for that is because quarterback K.J. Costello’s favorite target all season was receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, but he is sidelined with an injury. Follow that this week. If Arcega-Whiteside is out again for the Cal matchup, Parkinson might be a worthy addition to your roster because Costello obviously likes throwing his way.
