Statement by Professor Emeritus Vince Mullins, Jr.
Following Meeting of the FCB Ministers and Bowl Subdivision Commissioners

Orlando, FL– At today’s meeting of the FCB Ministers and Bowl Subdivision Commissioners, we finalized an aggressive action plan to address the turmoil in college football in regards to upsets and the stresses on our academic institutions. This action plan provides a coherent framework that will direct our individual and collective policy steps to strengthen academic institutions, protect fantasy football owners, and provide liquid refreshment to tailgaters everywhere.

College football investors around the world have taken measures to enhance market stability by addressing market abuse. Here in the United States, we suggest steps to protect the investments of the American people by increasing scholarship limits at Michigan, Notre Dame, Auburn and Tennessee so they can return to prominence. Read the rest of this entry →

which now seems to be a weekly occurrence…

Number one is not safe. Nor is being ranked third. Nor is rating as the fourth best team in the nation and having the leading Heisman Trophy candidate at QB wearing the jersey of a fallen teammate. The only reprieve in the top four was having the week off to witness the carnage.

#5 Texas took out #1 Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout Rivalry in a game for the ages, 45-35. The quarterbacks proved deserving of all the pregame hype, but the standout to me was the receiving and returning of Texas Jordan Shipley (right, Icon SMI). Shipley has fought back from years of nagging injuries and had his coming out party with numerous big plays, but none bigger than the kickoff return for TD that immediately halted any Sooner momentum.

FCB pollsters thought that OU would benefit more from this game, with Alabama right behind that (which I suppose was a vote for Texas?).

#2 Alabama may be at home wondering aloud if they get the top spot this week in the polls, or do the Longhorns leapfrog past them? Open letter to Alabama faithful – don’t sweat it, check the calendar. Keep up the great work in the SEC, notice Texas’ schedule over the next month and bide your time.

More on the Gators returning to the national title picture, and the Pokes stealing #1 dreams at The Zou after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry →

Michael Crabtree (left, Icon SMI) had one of the better fantasy seasons by a wide receiver in the last 20 years and there are already people predicting an even better season this year.  There are plenty of factors that appear to play into this thinking.  One is the fact that Texas Tech has an easier schedule this year.  Also, the WR corp as a whole is a lot more inexperienced, meaning that they will need to rely on Crabtree even more.  Lastly, Crabtree was only a freshman last year therefore another year in the offense will make him even stronger.

All of these things sound great, and it is easy to buy into the notion that Crabtree will be looking to set receiving records this yea.r.  However, not only does history says this is obviously unlikely but it actually says that Crabtree will be hard press to even come close to his 2007 stats.

Let’s take a look at the numbers going back to the 2000 season.

Read the rest of this entry →

Time again to review who have been the best offenses over the last three years – we have found that many schools or even coordinators have an amazing track record of producing numbers every year and that should help narrow your focus on Draft Day.

This study uses team stats, not individual stats so this is not a tool to use by itself, you still need to do your depth chart research to layer upon this – for instance Navy led the nation the last three years in yards rushing but they usually split carries among four players. Expect that I will do that for our Preseason Owner Manual, but for now I wanted to put the stats on the site. As a quick back story, I have gone back to 2000 and ranked each college football offense on three variables:

• Yards per play (YPP) to gauge big-play ability
• Yards per game (YPG) since yards equal fantasy points
• Touchdowns per game (TDG) since we shouldn’t care so much about kicker points and defensive TDs.

Read the rest of this entry →

There are many examples where a trend can lead to success. Apple Computer and the iPod. Investors and oil stocks. Marvel Comics and blockbuster movie after blockbuster movie. It’s no different in fantasy sports.

However, the trend can become distorted as coaches switch teams and players graduate or go pro. The best we can do is dissect the past and see if we can forecast the future.

One change this off-season is Rich Rodriguez (right, Icon SMI) taking the helm at Michigan. His track record speaks for itself and now he gets the Wolverine prestige to help him recruit talent.

However, we have seen those resources not fully utilized in the past.

Read the rest of this entry →