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 →

Well, we’re almost out of the out-of-conference woods now. Only half the SEC teams are playing other teams, and only two of those teams (Alabama and Georgia) are playing absolute walkovers. Kentucky gets no credit, because they’re a walkover until

RB Vick Ballard is in the Top Ten of all fantasy going in to week two. Week three status there unlikely facing LSU. (Icon SMI)

proven otherwise.

Mississippi State v. LSU

So you know how I said Vick Ballard would be a good start? Yeah, ignore that this week. LSU is dangerous and a half at the moment on defense, so I’d be careful of starting Ballard or Chris Relf against this LSU defense. If there’s not a better matchup for other guys, that’s one thing, but this just screams danger.

On the other hand, the Mississippi State D isn’t spectacular.  Michael Ford isn’t the worst idea, even with the relative confusion in the LSU backfield. The passing game, on the other hand, is a nightmare.

On to the rest of the games, including a great old rivalry that I have a particular interest in…

Read the rest of this entry →

Wasn't I the top SEC QB last week????

We’re finally getting closer to the end of out-of-conference play. Then again, this is mostly good news for me (I don’t have to go through twelve box scores to find everyone) and not for, say, Arkansas, not that it made much difference yesterday. Besides, apparently even the good defenses have off days, although South Carolina’s D/ST unit did a good job redeeming themselves (and Auburn’s D/ST unit can’t be construed as good regardless).

Top Performers:

Tyler Bray, QB, Tennessee (34-41, 405 yds, 4 TD; 2 car, 3 yds, 1 TD)

At this point, lines like Bray’s are just siren songs. I don’t exactly expect an 80% completion rate against, say, Florida, but this team will pass, they will pass frequently, and Bray has a great rapport with Justin Hunter and Da’Rick Rogers, who will also be here a lot. The rest of the team’s question marks, but the passing game is as explosive as they come. Read the rest of this entry →