FCFI Week 9 Review and Week 10 Preview
Thanks to nine touchdowns from first round pick Case Keenum and five from second round selection Chris Polk, the College Sports Madness fantasy football team moved up to a 6-3 record in the Fantasy College Football Invitational and posted a season high 215.15 points. We pretty much ruined any shot U-Sports had at making the playoffs, while positioning ourselves tied with three others for third place in the battle to reach the top four. Every game now is a must win and even then we will likely need some help since the head-to-head tiebreakers generally do not go in our favor.
This week we take on a streaky Fantasy Football Brothers squad who are a mere 2-7 and mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Our quarterbacks should have a good week as Case Keenum looks to pass for a dozen touchdowns or so against UAB and Russell Wilson should get back on track against a Purdue squad that can give up a lot of points.
Once again, for just the second time, we get to start our top three running backs in Chris Polk, Rex Burkhead and Cierre Wood. Polk has a tough matchup against Oregon, but that will be a high scoring game. Burkhead will run through a surprisingly awful Northwestern defense and Wood and Notre Dame take a trip to Wake Forest.
Per usual, there are more questions at wide receiver. Jeremy Ebert caught just one pass last week despite Northwestern’s huge offensive output. We have little choice but to start him against Nebraska. At the least, Northwestern should have to throw quite a bit. Jermaine Kearse had a good game last week for Washington and playing against Oregon may result in a loss for UW, but it should provide some good fantasy numbers for both teams.
At tight end we’ll stick with Duke’s Cooper Helfet for another week. He is a pretty consistent tight end, even if the touchdowns have not been coming as of late. At kicker Clemson’s Chandler Catanzaro has a week off, so we need to go pick up somebody else. We’ll take Houston’s Matt Hogan and at least get six or seven extra points out of him. For the defense, Iowa turned out to be a bust, but that is why we have Temple. The Owls have a huge game against Ohio on Wednesday night, so hopefully the defense shows up.
Despite the 2-7 record, Fantasy Football Brothers has a team that can win. The most dangerous duo is quarterback Landry Jones and wide receiver Kenny Stills. It’d have been nice to play them next week when OU has a bye, but as it is we are a couple Jones to Stills touchdown passes from being in a game. Fantasy Football Brothers also have Texas A&M running back Cyrus Gray who is playing against the Sooners. Fellow backs Edwin Baker and Le’Veon Bell have a great matchup against Minnesota and wide receiver Eric Page can put up big points (editor's note: he already has). Like us, they also have multiple Washington players…the tight end, kicker and defense. That’s a lot of UW in this game. For any touchdown we get out of Polk or Kearse, they will get a point immediately back with Erik Folk kicking. Check back next week as we head into the final week of the regular season with, hopefully, a playoff spot on the line.
