RB Trent Richardson is one of Bama's fantasy weapons. (Icon SMI)

We’re finally in the full throes of conference play. This means the starts get a bit trickier, but the games get more fun.  Also, right now it means Alabama and LSU destroy everything in their path, but that was going to happen anyway.

Alabama v. Vanderbilt

It’s Alabama; Trent Richardson sounds like a good start, no? So, for that matter does the defense, which you’re going to start anyway but it’s Vanderbilt so you’ll click start with impunity this time. Once again, that’s kind of it; what is it about national title-contending SEC teams that have two viable fantasy options and that’s it? Even last year’s Auburn team was just the Cam Newton show.

As far as Vanderbilt goes, the more dangerous of you might spot-start Vanderbilt’s defense which has done a great job of uglifying games this year, but if you get dinged for points allowed that’s playing with fire this week. Read the rest of this entry →

Hi, I'm Tyler Wilson and I had a 500 yard game in me. (Icon SMI)

The passing contingent of the SEC actually showed up this week! Victories like that are measured in small amounts, but they still count. Also, TDs count, which is the theme of this week.

Tyler Wilson, QB, Arkansas (30-51, 510 yds, 2 TD; 6 car, -29 yds)

This is many yards, yes? The TDs don’t match but Arkansas also couldn’t do much to score during the first half against Texas A&M – and Texas A&M couldn’t touch Wilson in the second half. Read the rest of this entry →

RB Chris Rainey needs to focus for this week's game vs. Bama (Icon SMI)

We’re finally into October, which means we’re finally going to get a chance to weed out some of the conference uncertainty.  One month in, it looks like LSU and Alabama are national title contenders, it’ll come down to Florida and South Carolina in the SEC East, and there may be three to four more good teams in the league, but there’s no clue what the pecking order looks like. Also, Kentucky and Mississippi are bad. Let’s not lose sight of the important things. Meanwhile, Tennessee plays Buffalo absent Justin Hunter for the season, so we’re not going to learn anything useful from that game, are we?

Also, I’m not going to lie; I thought the Texas A&M and Arkansas game was an in-conference game. Oops!

Florida v. Alabama

Alabama is an anaconda at this point, which means great things for Trent Richardson owners. Chris Rainey will fill that role nicely for Florida, but the real winners in this game are the defenses. This is going to be a decent precursor to the LSU-Alabama showdown of doom, which is going to be all the defense all the time. I’m not sold that either offense is palatable enough to make any offensive players worthwhile, but if I’m wrong, I expect I’ll be wrong with those guys. Read the rest of this entry →

The only way QB Aaron Murray can get mentioned is by running for a TD (Icon SMI)

Back during the preseason, I was trying to figure out what the heck to do with the QB and WR rankings for the SEC.  I really couldn’t come up with much after the top 2-3 guys in either case.  Well, this week, one of the top QBs was off, one of the top WRs was injured, and the entire conference reverted to the 1950s.  Good times all around for those people who can’t stand the idea of forward passes, I suppose, but the only real benefit I see is it means I get to write a shorter article this week.  Woo!

Aaron Murray, QB, Georgia (17-26, 268 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT; 11 rush, -17 yds, 1 TD)

In a week where Tyler Bray was off and Tyler Wilson got to face off against Nick Saban, Aaron Murray turns …well, this in, which isn’t great without the rushing TD. It was that kind of week, though, and there’s still one more QB than WR in this list. Read the rest of this entry →

Vick Ballard again resides among the nation's best RB performers (Icon SMI)

Are we out of the non-conference woods yet? Please? We’ve had little bits and pieces of quality in-conference showdowns so far, but that largely consists of Georgia-South Carolina, LSU-Mississippi State, and Florida-Tennessee, which still hurts to think about. Those aren’t bad matchups, but aside from Florida-Tennessee, they’re short marquee names and marquee title implications. That changes this week.

Well, it starts to change this week. Alabama-Arkansas is the in-conference test of the week, but West Virginia-LSU is the showcase game. Then again, aside from Alabama-Arkansas the only in-conference game this week is South Carolina-Vanderbilt, and before you tell me that Kentucky and Ole Miss are still in the SEC I’ll tell you that if everyone’s leaving conferences and joining conferences by choice then I choose to not have them in my version of the SEC until they act like it. What a bunch of trainwrecks.

At least the matchups remain strong on the field for your fantasy college football squad.

Read the rest of this entry →