The 2008 Season: Tennessee’s 2008 season wasn’t as much in a box as much as it was in a brown paper bag, lit on fire and then dropped on the school nerd’s doorstep.  The offense was fittingly enough trapped in some kind of Byzantine cage, never even approaching what anyone rational would term “on-track”.  The only offensive highlights were against hapless UAB before everyone realized the Clawfense was a horrible mistake and an emotional, end-of-season victory over Kentucky.  The defense, thankfully, was much better and the unequivocal star of the show; of course, the defense didn’t have a choice, since they spent about 31:30 on the field per game. Read the rest of this entry →

thanks Pac-10.org

My work here is almost done and the only thing left is to wrap up the rest of the Pac 10.  After covering the main position players, we find ourselves hard pressed to find much at TE, D/ST and Kicker from this conference.   Well…I should say hard pressed except for possibly the best TE in all of fantasy college football.

Read the rest of this entry →

I prefer to be a messenger of positivity, not a writer/blogger/author/hack who revels in schadenfreude whilst lambasting the college football fortunes of 17-to-21 year olds.

Bearcat QB Tony Pike drives through a pass in the 2009 Orange Bowl (Icon SMI)

But the Big East crew of quarterbacks is a motley one indeed.

I have spent an inordinate amount tracking the Big East – I first blamed our new friends at CFFI (see Big East Mock Draft), but realized that this traditional fantasy powerhouse conference has many untried starters at the skill positions. All skill positions. So my glass-half-full nature feels that this should allow for some value opportunities in your draft.

Today I break down the quarterbacks in the Big East for the 2009 fantasy college football season.

Please remember that tops in the Big East =  all-120 QB2 at best.

1. Tony Pike, Cincinnati – Now here is a player with upside. Pike no longer must fight for his job with Ben Mauk failing on his sixth year of eligibility waiver and Demetrius Jones moved to LB. Give him targets like WR Mardy Gilyard and JUCO stud Jamar Howard, mis in some extra possessions due to a defense with just one returning starter and an average BE schedule and Pike could make a deep value QB1 or a solid QB2.

2. Matt Grothe, USF - here we have an average fantasy QB leading an underperforming team for the fourth straight year. If the rest of the Bulls play up to their potential, Grothe could easily emerge as a Top 20 fantasy QB – not as big a reach as you may think, given his total offense rankings the last three years as 21-30-17. His issues for fantasy players clearly reside with TD passes, with anemic rankings of 43-65-47 (Graham Harrell almost threw for as many TDs as Grothe was ranked!), and since it didn’t change in Years Two and Three I cannot fathom a change in Year Four. Read the rest of this entry →

2008 overall record: 8-5

2008 conference record: 4-4

Returning starters: Offense: 6, Defense: 9, Punter/Kicker: 1

Top returns: QB T.J. Yates, TB Shaun Draughn, OT Kyle Jolly, DE E.J. Wilson, S Deunta Williams, CB Kendric Burney, LB Bruce Carter, LB Quan Sturdivant, DT Marvin Austin, DE Robert Quinn

Key losses: S Trimane Goddard, WR Hakeem Nicks, WR Brooks Foster, WR Brandon Tate, OT Garrett Reynolds, LB Mark Paschal, P Terrance Brown Read the rest of this entry →

thanks Pac-10.org

As rich as the RB position is for the Pac 10, the WRs are its exact opposite.  It’s telling when the top 2 QBs in this conference are known for the damage they can do with their legs.  The best passing offense is USC, who spreads the ball so well.  There are a couple of potential draftees and a few upside guys here but outside that, look elsewhere for your receivers…

Read the rest of this entry →