WR Juron Criner looks to shake off defenses as the #1 WR in the Pac 12 (Icon SMI)

Tier 1 – Top Options

Juron Criner, Arizona – We expect Criner to be a tick above the next three names on the list.  All of them should tally 1,100+ yards through the air.  However, Criner will get more endzone targets and should collect about 13 TDs.  Draft him first from the Pac 12 WRs and he’s worthy of being a top starter for your overall team. Read the rest of this entry →

RB LaMichael James races to the top spot among all fantasy RBs. (Icon SMI)

Tier 1 – Above All Else

QB Andrew Luck decided to stay in school...Pac 12 defenses beware. (Icon SMI)

The newly minted Pac 12 now brings a wider assortment of potential fantasy talent to the season. As usual, the West Coast bias is in play here, leaving this as the last of the Big 6 conferences to report. We’ll look to start first with a breakdown on the Pac 12 QBs.

First Tier – Start worthy

Andrew Luck, Stanford – Much like Matt Leinert in years past, Luck decided to stay in school versus the riches of the NFL. Hopefully the decision works out better for him, especially considering HC Harbaugh went the other direction and jumped to the pros. Despite all that, our anticipation is that Luck will pass for over 3,000 yards, hit for 30+ TDs and be the #1 scoring QB out of the Pac 12. Be confident in selecting him, he’s playing for keeps this year. Read the rest of this entry →

Originally posted on Rotobiz.com by Randy Burgess, reposted with his permission as we look forward to another glorious year of college football and all of it’s fantasy appeal.

Regardless of the NFL lockout, there will be fantasy football this year, guaranteed. I’m not talking about the fantasy simulation games that use algorithms to predict how a season would play out. I’m not talking about a bunch of replacement players entering the fray and allowing us to draft Keanu Reeves with the first pick in a neutered draft, either.

Nope, I’m talking about College Fantasy Football and Canadian Fantasy Football, which are real fantasy football games that are going to start drafting in August and run in September–and it’s not the first time these games have been played.

College Fantasy Football, or Fantasy College Football as some folks call it, has been around for more than a decade. Born on Excel spreadsheets by SEC diehards and Big Ten elitists, the game first received a quality provider in the form of U-Sports, which was developed by Nate Karp, also a fantasy sports development veteran. Later on, CBS Sports entered the fray with a college fantasy football game that started with team positions (Alabama QBs, USC RBs, etc) and later broke down the game to an individual player basis two years ago. Fantrax, a Canadian-based fantasy sports company, arrived two years ago with NCAA fantasy football as a key part of their offering. ESPN, which keeps their marketing somewhat quiet concerning college fantasy games, ran a weekly player pick’em contest for the entire 2010 season. The newest kid on the block is Global CFFL, which is launching a new fantasy college football game this year.

Along the way, various content sites rose to help the new college fantasy football customers do their research.College Football News, now a part of Fox Sports and Scout, was the first of the content sites dedicated to roster tracking and preseason analysis. Fantasy College Blitz was then the first online site dedicated to the discussion of fantasy college football. Athlon Sports, along with Phil Steele, The Sporting News, Street & Smith’s and Lindy’s, also served as sources of info, but from the newsstand. College Fantasy Football Insiderthen started up in 2006 by some wild Michigan State grads who decided it was time that a steady stream of higher-quality news, research articles, and data analysis was due for the market. College Football Geek, likewise, started their own brand of writing with analysis and probably the most active college fantasy football forum around. Read the rest of this entry →

2010 AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Friday December 31, 3:30 PM ET

#25 UCF (10-3, 7-1 CUSA) vs Georgia (6-6, 3-5 SEC)

Through UCF Rose Colored Beer Goggles:

UCF travels to Memphis with it’s first ever BCS ranking. They have much to prove in this game as rumor of a Big East invite has made the INTERNET rounds. In a season of firsts, it should be pointed out that a bowl victory for them would also be a first. Vegas has taken that into account, pegging the Knights as 6.5 point dogs to a school that finished .500 overall and had a losing in-conference record. Even though past performance is not an indication of future returns, the odds-makers think this game is the exception and the rich Georgia tradition will carry the Dawgs to a winning season. On the other side of the coin, UCF coming up short in bowl games obviously means they will never win a bowl game (insert sarcasm aimed at said odds-makers). Read the rest of this entry →