Fantasy College Football…Window to the Superbowl?

July 7th, 2008 by John Huss

I know that might be overstating things by a wide margin. However, as a fantasy college football enthusiast, I couldn’t help but get some joy in watching the Giants win the biggest game on the biggest stage. I’ve already stated in this Owner’s Playbook that one of the benefits of playing fantasy college football is being able to “scout” players before they get into the pros. It amazes me how many Pro Fantasy owners are completely unaware of what happens in the college ranks unless it involves their alma mater. Yet if they had followed the college game, they wouldn’t have been surprised by the play of the various Giant rookies in the Superbowl.

WR Steve Smith (1,083 yards, 9 TD’s at USC) came out of Southern Cal as the “other” guy. Teams gave more attention to his teammate Dwayne Jarrett (1,015 yards, 12 TD’s at USC) since he looked better on paper. Carolina proceeded to make Jarrett the first one drafted of the tandem. Everything happens for a reason and fortunately for the Giants, they were able to pick up Smith in the second round. During the playoffs, he clearly became a guy that Eli Manning had confidence in, often passing to him when Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer were covered. In the Superbowl, he grabbed 5 catches for 50 yards. Not coincidentally, all of those grabs came on scoring drives by the Giants. Maybe if Manning had looked for him more, the game wouldn’t have been close at all.

Let’s not forget about the 250^th pick of the draft (that’s the seventh and last round of the NFL draft) RB Ahmad Bradshaw . In college, he was a fantasy stud with 1,523 yards rushing and 19 TD’s at Marshall in 2006 (plus two more via the air). He shared time during the season with battering ram Brandon Jacobs , offering some speed to balance out the Giant ground game. In the Big Game, he led the team with a modest 45 yards on the ground. However his contribution throughout the playoffs was vital to New York being there at the end. One memorable play was the 5’9” Bradshaw powering through one of the Patriots defenders, refusing to go down. You just can’t teach that kind of ability but a fantasy owner can identify it early by playing fantasy college football.

To a lesser extent, playing the college game would have also shown you glimpses of defenders like cornerback Aaron Ross (Giants 20^th pick) and safety Michael Johnson (pick # 224). You might not see much of them in the box score (Ross had 2 tackles, Johnson had 1), however, there is a reason Tom Brady wasn’t able to find open guys before succumbing to the pass rush. When they were on the field, they blanketed their assignments, allowing the Giants D to showcase one of the best Superbowl defensive efforts of modern time.

Unfortunately, at least on a national level, fantasy college football hasn’t worked its way down to schools that fall into what used to be Division 2 or 3 (if you play it, hit me at huss@fantasycollegeblitz.com). If it did, then I would have known that TE Kevin Boss (out of Western Oregon) was a big time player. His stats in college were pretty solid and would have made him a top 10 TE pick in fantasy college football leagues. He only had one catch in the Superbowl, but those 45 yards set up a go ahead TD for the Giants in the 4^th quarter.

Most pro owners will say they knew all about Adrian Peterson . C’mon, he was a no-brainer in pro leagues, yet most preseason publications didn’t rank him anywhere close to what his stats produced. Luckily for me, the leagues I play in are auction-style drafts and I was able to cheaply get him in 2 out of 3 leagues. However, it’s the fantasy college football owners who once owned an Ahmad Bradshaw or a Steve Smith that are smiling today. They know they were on the bandwagon way before it ever left the stadium.