Ah, the paper lions of 2007. This team got way too much run last year for being part of the competitive Big East. They started off the year 2-0, defeating I-AA teams Duke and Maine (be honest – Duke doesn’t belong in the FCS ). They then hosted Temple and won the game because the officials blew the call as Temple scored the game winning touchdown at the end. The dream ended when Virginia beat them mid-year but they bounced back to defeat USF at Storrs in disastrous weather. It helped that the Huskies were undefeated last year at home. They finished the season on the road with two of the final three at Cincinnati and West Virginia where they lost by a combined score of 93-24. The Huskies are returning nearly everyone from 2007, but the squad was 90th overall in total offense last year (66th in scoring) so that is not necessarily a great thing.
QB Tyler Lorenzen (left, Icon SMI) came in as a juco transfer last year to take over a passing game that has struggled since Dan Orlovksy’s graduation. He led the team to wins, but 2,971 total yards and 14 touchdowns with six interceptions is not exactly fantasy gold. If Lorenzen goes down, Notre Dame transfer (does anyone stay there?) Zach Frazer is next in line. He’s a load at 6’4″ 230 lbs. but has no live playing experience.
I started as early as the off-season last year singing the praises of this squad. I am an unabashed Brian Kelly (right, Icon SMI) fan because he is an offensive genius. While last year was a nice step forward story for the Bearcats , 2008 will look a bit different if they are to be as successful.
The team was hit quite hard by graduation, losing 75% of its ground game from last year. They also will miss their signal caller because the NCAA can’t tell its head from its ass. Ben Mauk was a redshirt freshman at Wake Forest while recovering from foot surgery after his senior year. He was applying for an exemption because he was knocked out early in the first game of the 2006 season when his shoulder was torn to pieces.
Can someone explain how the NCAA can grant these ridiculous hardship waivers? You know, the ones allowing D-I players to transfer on a whim to other D-I schools without having to sit out a season. Yet they penalize a guy like Mauk that is just trying to play one more year of competitive ball? I digress.
I just added new polling functions to the site, spent a bit of mental energy narrowing down the list to five, and now I see “Other” is in second place.
WHAT?
QUE’?
So, if not Beanie Wells, Knowshon Moreno, Noel Devine (right, Icon SMI), Eugene Jarvis, or Ian Johnson, who is your pick to be the #1 running back in 2008 fantasy college football?
Conference USA has been fantasy gold these last few years. This is primarily an offense-first conference that pays little attention to defense.
The good news is the conference will become even more explosive this year with June Jones taking over at SMU and Larry Fedora taking over at Southern Miss (get to know, DeAndre Brown, right, Icon SMI).
If a freshman is going to have an impact in this conference, it will likely be in the passing game because the ball flies around the skies from Orlando to El Paso.
There are three huge names to replace in the conference as Matt Forté, Chris Johnson, and Kevin Smith took about 7000 yards of total offense with them to the NFL.
It would be one of the worst puns of all time to say that BYU WR Austin Collie (right, ICON SMI) is a man on a mission, but it looks true to me this year. Collie has taken a circuitous route to play major college football (at least for those outside Provo) and looks ready to be a top 20 fantasy WR in 2008.
First, the requisite background – Collie was the Mountain West Conference (MWC) Rookie of the Year way back in 2004 (caught 8 TDs from John Beck ), then did the requisite two-year mission that all LDS Cougars are asked to do, he just got assigned to Argentina.
In 2007 he returned out of shape , so you didn’t notice him until November when he ripped off 100+ yards in five of the last six including the bowl game win over UCLA – give him a pass as he was getting reacquainted to football plus was working with a brand-new starter at QB in Max Hall .
Ah, the paper lions of 2007. This team got way too much run last year for being part of the competitive Big East. They started off the year 2-0, defeating I-AA teams Duke and Maine (be honest – Duke doesn’t belong in the FCS ). They then hosted Temple and won the game because the officials blew the call as Temple scored the game winning touchdown at the end. The dream ended when Virginia beat them mid-year but they bounced back to defeat USF at Storrs in disastrous weather. It helped that the Huskies were undefeated last year at home. They finished the season on the road with two of the final three at Cincinnati and West Virginia where they lost by a combined score of 93-24. The Huskies are returning nearly everyone from 2007, but the squad was 90th overall in total offense last year (66th in scoring) so that is not necessarily a great thing.
I just added new polling functions to the site, spent a bit of mental energy narrowing down the list to five, and now I see “Other” is in second place.
