College fantasy football: Week 2 in Pac-12 - Love 'em or Leave 'em
The first week of college football is in the books and there is a lot to consider after watching and following those matchups. Here are some players to start and to avoid in the Pac-12 heading into Week 2.
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LOVE 'EM
The former high four-star quarterback threw for 284 yards and two touchdowns and also rushed for a score in Arizona State’s win over Kent State to start the season. Now the nerves are out and Daniels gets to face a Sacramento State defense that allowed 303 passing yards to Southern Oregon this past weekend. Sometimes, things are just too good to be true. Sun Devils huge, and Daniels is going to post major numbers. Remember, this is a Friday night game, so set your rosters early.
UCLA DEFENSE
The UCLA offense looks like a complete mess. But I really believe in the defense, especially this weekend. The Bruins allowed only 175 rushing yards on 49 attempts last weekend to a good Cincinnati team and some players who missed that game should be back this weekend. Even more importantly, UCLA is playing a team - San Diego State - that scored six points against Weber State. It won the game, 6-0. The Aztecs had 238 total yards. Take the UCLA defense and hope SDSU hasn’t woken up yet.
Gordon threw five touchdown passes by the early third quarter last weekend as Washington State stomped New Mexico State and now the competition is going to get even easier, if that’s possible. Northern Colorado comes to town fresh off giving up 382 yards of total offense to San Jose State. Gordon is going to throw it around for two quarters or so, put up huge numbers, and then head to the sidelines. Don’t overthink this: Put Gordon in your starting lineup because Wazzu is not going to stop throwing the ball as long as coach Mike Leach is there.
LEAVE 'EM
Brown had a fantastic first week with 27.6 fantasy points and the Golden Bears leaned on him a lot with 36 carries for 197 yards and a touchdown last weekend. But now Cal plays Washington - a far cry from UC Davis - and the Huskies’ front is not going to give up a lot of easy running lanes. I really like Brown in fantasy settings because it looks like he will be Cal’s workhorse, but pick him up since he’s only owned in six percent of leagues and bench him this week. There will be better opportunities down the road.
I had some high hopes for DTR heading into this season and in the opener he was really disappointing. The former high four-star prospect fumbled twice basically without even being touched, completed only 8 of 26 passes for 156 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions and he had 10 carries for minus-20 yards. Those are horrible numbers. San Diego State’s defense won’t be as good as Cincinnati and the Aztecs don’t look like much this season, but until Thompson-Robinson shows he can deliver, send him to the bench.
Huntley is a really talented quarterback but Utah was ultra-conservative in the opener against BYU and it could be the same way against Northern Illinois. The over/under has been set at 43.5, so not a lot of points are expected. Huntley only threw it 16 times against the Cougars and Utah relied more heavily on handing it to running back Zack Moss and letting him do the work. That’s not great for fantasy purposes, so until Utah lets Huntley run around and unleash the ball, there are better options.