Fantasy College Blitz welcomes back Matt Ryan after a long sabbatical (kid, job loss, kid, job found) and he comes back with a vengeance. Known to veterans of our site as the quantitative statistic leader of our writers up to 2007, Matt has always opposed the Bowl Championship Series and he created The Solution to bring the playoffs to the Bowl Subdivision, just like it exists at every other division of collegiate football. For your review (VM): Read the rest of this entry →

In one of the worst kept secrets of the Coaching Hot Seat Season (coincides with baseball’s Hot Stove), my forensic analysis of media reports and my intuition to tie it all together comes to only one conclusion:

"Charlie, if Notre Dame got the wrong guy to go 6-5, do you call yourself an improvement at 6-6?" YYYYEEEEAAAHHHH!

Charlie Weis is out as the head coach of Notre Dame by the end of November. A regular Lt Horatio Crane I am…

I know I am not breaking any new ground here – but let’s lay out the facts before dropping names of his successor:

• Charlie Weis record is very similar to the records of predecessors who were shown the door. Weis is 35-26. Tyrone Willingham 21-15. Bob Davie 35-25. That would be acceptable at UTEP or Baylor, not Notre Dame. And also recall, George O’Leary was 0-0.
• After the Pitt game, Coach cancelled the usual Sunday press conference due to “late travel arrival” According to local beat writer Scott Novak, Sunday pressers get postponed, but never cancelled.
• His conference Monday sound like a man resigned to his forced resignation.
• Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick lets Weis know that he should return home after the Stanford matchup, rather than his usually scheduled recruiting trip through the West. You know, just to talk about the season, and the future direction of the program. The $4-to-$18 million buyout.

So who is next to lead the Fighting Irish? BoDog put odds on that, so let’s see what the wisdom of crowds says: Read the rest of this entry →

Ohio State Buckeyes Daniel Herron (thanks Icon SMI)

The Buckeyes wrapped up the regular season by winning the Big Ten crown outright and defeating perennial rival Michigan for the 6^th straight year.  The Buckeyes didn’t do it on Terrelle Pryor’s passing game either.  He only had 67 yards passing but he made smart plays and did have one TD pass.  Instead the Buckeyes ran the ball and they ran the ball and they ran it some more.  Tressell exploited the lack of run defense all day.  Daniel Herron rushed for 96 yards, Brandon Saine rushed for 84 plus a TD and Pryor ran for 74.  Michigan as a team only rushed for 80 yards in the game.  My favorite Wolverine Tate Forcier had a rough day throwing 4 interceptions but he did pass for 226 yards.  Roy Roundtree had 116 yards receiving in the game.

Now for another important game this weekend, I am happy to announce the Bronze Pig trophy goes to Iowa.  That trophy is the prettiest thing to talk about from that game.  In what has to be one of the poorest efforts of the Hawkeye season they escape with a 12-0 win and the pig trophy.  Too bad you can’t get fantasy points for punts.  The teams combined for 17 punts on the day.  Ugly!  Iowa QB James Vandenberg had 117 yards passing.  RB Adam Robinson ran for 72 and Brandon Wegher rushed for 26 and the only TD of the day. Read the rest of this entry →

Auburn RB Ben Tate (thanks Icon SMI)

Well, we’re finally here.   I’d say there’s drama on the line, but once you take away the rivalries, there’s nothing significant to be fighting over other than bowl position.  We know the SEC Championship matchup (as we’ve known for weeks, and quite frankly could’ve guessed back in September).  The SEC will have ten bowl-eligible teams.  It’s a minor miracle we have not only fantasy, but rivalry, to pull us through this.

Alabama @ Auburn (the Iron Bowl needs no introductions)

Alabama’s defense has been generally stifling all season – only Tennessee and Kentucky have even gotten over 300 yards.  Lest you think that Ben Tate and the Auburn crew will have success, remember what happened to the Arkansas offense: stifled on both the ground and through the air.  Chris Todd is no Ryan Mallett, which means it’ll be a long day for Darvin Adams, too. Read the rest of this entry →

The 18-team battle that is the Fantasy College Football Charity Pro-Am brought to you by Fantasy College Blitz and Athlon Sports reached its pinnacle, and the winner Ryan Worley represented two top organizations:

• his favorite team is the U – Miami (FL) as he named his team The U24
• his charity is the Teammates Mentoring Program (founded by Nebraska great Tom Osborne) and will receive a very nice holiday donation for Ryan’s work.

Antonio Brown dusts a WMU defender in 2008 (Icon SMI)

Truly a time for thanks giving…

Joe Arpasi of CollegeFootballGeek.com manned the Pro spot (just like his compatriot Todd in 2008) and came strong the entire year, but ran into the U24 Central Michigan buzzsaw hookup of Dan LeFevour and Antonio Brown (right, Icon SMI) early in the week and could never catch up.

FINAL 250.81 to 141.84 as Ryan sets the season high mark for Points Scored!

That is how to finish!

We are tallying up the deposit slips so we can get the check to Teammates.org – a quick byte from their site should give you some insight into their work, and hopefully motivate you to do some charitable work this holiday season with so many in need.

Tom and Nancy Osborne founded the TeamMates Mentoring Program in 1991 in an effort to provide support and encouragement to school aged youth. The goal of the program is to see youth graduate from high school and pursue post-secondary education in Nebraska and Iowa. To reach this goal, youth meet one hour per week with a caring adult who serves as a mentor. Mentors are volunteers from the community who have dedicated themselves to making a difference in the life of a young person. Mentors give youth a sense of hope, purpose and vision.

Next year, we want the league to expand to 32 teams from this season’s 18, so stay tuned. After the jump, a screen print of the fine effort that The U24 brought to the final. Even the best lineup for the One-Man Wolfpack could not have taken out the U…

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