College Fantasy Football: Weekend viewers' guide
Another slate of weekend games is upon us. Here are five things we will be watching for from a college fantasy football perspective.
MORE FANTASY: QBs to watch | RBs | WR | Defenses | Rivals Fantasy Football Home | Yahoo Fantasy Sports Home | Week 7 in review
SHOOTOUT IN PULLMAN?
Two of the best quarterbacks in college football and in fantasy production are squaring off Saturday as Washington State hosts Oregon in what could be a high-scoring affair.
Washington State’s Gardner Minshew is completing more than 68 percent of his passes for 2,422 yards with 19 touchdowns and four picks so far this season. The Cougars are going to throw the ball. They beat Utah earlier this season with zero rushing yards in the game.
Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert drew comparisons to Andrew Luck and John Elway this week in a Yahoo Sports article by Pete Thamel, and there is a chance he could be the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. Herbert has thrown for 1,613 yards with 17 TDs and five picks. With the over/under sitting around 68 points, a lot of scoring is likely.
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
If you like big-time matchups that should be low-scoring, defensive battles, then this could be the weekend for you. The over/under in the Michigan-Michigan State game is at 41. In the Mississippi State-LSU matchup it’s at 45. Vanderbilt-Kentucky, Maryland-Iowa, Virginia-Duke and USC-Utah are all in the 40s, as well.
Those games might not be huge opportunities to load up on skill players for fantasy points, but try to swipe up some of those defenses on your fantasy team. Mississippi State’s defense, despite being one of the best in the country, is owned in only 15 percent of leagues. There are opportunities out there if you look in the right places.
OKLAHOMA REVENGE
Even though he’s played in only six games, Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray is the highest-scorer in all of college fantasy football. And he has not been on the football field since the Sooners lost to Texas two weekends ago.
Murray is completing more than 71 percent of his passes for 1,764 yards with 21 touchdowns and three interceptions. He also leads Oklahoma in rushing with 377 yards and five scores. The OU quarterback is owned in 97 percent of leagues, so if you can’t grab him there are other options in the Sooners’ offense.
Top receivers Marquise Brown and CeeDee Lamb are also heavily owned, but running back Trey Sermon is only owned at 42 percent and Grant Calcaterra is at 70 percent. Down the list, receiver Lee Morris, who has four touchdown catches this season, is not owned at all.
PENN STATE ITCHING FOR WIN
The Nittany Lions are averaging 44.1 points per game, 6.1 yards per rush and they’ve scored 35 touchdowns on offense this season, and yet Penn State is out of the College Football Playoff picture after crushing defeats against Ohio State and Michigan State in back-to-back weeks.
Will Penn State fold? Probably not. Indiana has given up 49 points to Ohio State and 42 to Iowa - not exactly an offensive juggernaut - in back-to-back losses. Penn State is coming in looking to get back on track and to salvage its season. The Nittany Lions have a ton of weapons. Load up on Penn State players, as another blowout could be coming for the Hoosiers.
LOAD UP ON MIZZOU
Missouri has faced three of the toughest defenses in the SEC in three straight games, losing to Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama since Sept. 22. It’s time for quarterback Drew Lock, still a potential first-round NFL Draft pick, and this Tigers offense to get back to scoring lots of points and being in shootouts - whether that’s throwing the ball or running it, which has worked well this season.
Memphis has earned a lot of respect after the way it played against UCF - and held the Golden Knights to 31 points - but after that soul-crushing defeat last week, I can’t see the Tigers coming out ready to defend such a potent attack. Plus, Memphis is largely untested, other than the UCF showing.
Blowout wins over Mercer, Georgia State, South Alabama and UConn don’t wow me. Missouri big.
