Power-I Week 7

October 16th, 2009 by Drew Smith

RB Toby Gerhart (thanks Icon SMI)

Ryan Williams VaTech at GaTech
Jahvid Best Cal at UCLA
Dion Lewis Pitt at Rutgers (needs to start scoring again)
Jacquizz Rodgers Oreg St vs. Idle
Darius Marshall Marsh at WVU (still capable of 15+ point week)
Ryan Matthews Fres vs. SJSU
Toby Gerhart Stanford at Arizona
Mark Ingram Alabama vs. South Carolina

Stat of the Week: Seth Smith from New Mexico State is 4th in rushing attempts by a running back (QB Ricky Dobbs leads the nation as a QB). Anyone who gets that many carries is going to break a 1000yards but with only 1 TD on the season who remains a spot starter at best.

Fave plays for Week Four

Joe McKnight, USC at Notre Dame – McKnight ran great all season long but was sharing the load early to put up huge fantasy numbers. However, with the freak accident to Stafon Johnson, the carries have gone more and more to McKnight- who had a season high 20 carries against Cal last game. The Fighting Irish are just average against the run and will not be able to contain McKnight.
Bernard Pierce, Army vs. Temple – Pierce has made me look smart the last two weeks. So why not continue to ride this freshman horse that has Temple thinking MAC title? Army isn’t horrible against the run ranking 55th but hard to believe they have the ability to slow down Pierce.
Noel Devine, WVU vs. Marshall – The battle for West Virginia should provide Devine with plenty of open lanes to show Marshall what real speed is. The Thundering Herd comes in ranked 101st against the run and has an impossible task of trying to slow him down.
Ike Nduka, Buffalo vs. Akron – Buffalo was a team without an offensive identity after the loss of star running back James Starks before the season. After struggling for most of the season it appears that they have found their running back and returned to the Bulls offense that tore up the MAC the past few seasons. Nduka is averaging 23 carries and 151 yards in the last two games. This week he gets the 77th ranked rush defense in Akron. I expect Buffalo to once again feed him the ball and get their first MAC win of the season.
Alexander Robinson vs. Baylor – Robinson continues to have a break-out season with a monster game last week against Kansas when he went 27-152-2 and added another 52 yards receiving. This week Robinson plays Baylor who ranks 83rd against the rush.
DeMaundray Woolridge, Idaho vs. Hawaii – The Warriors are not the same team when playing on the mainland and with the 99th ranked rush defense will not be able to keep Woolridge from scoring a few times. He doesn’t get enough carries to have a huge 40point game but should be a lock for 20+ points.
Damion Fletcher, Southern Miss vs. Memphis – Fletcher has fought through nagging injuries and a tough start of the season to still produce for his fantasy owners. However, a lot more was expected from Fletcher who should finally start meeting expectations with a stretch of very favorable matchups. This week he faces off against a Memphis defense that hasn’t been able to stop anyone this year with the exception of Donald Buckram last week. Memphis comes in ranked 109th against the run.

Super sleeper

Rodney Stewart, Colorado vs. Kansas – Stewart’s overall stats are not anything that jumps out to someone with 310 yards and 3 TDs on the season for 50 fantasy points. However, Stewart only got 6 carries against Colorado State and then missed the 2nd game against Toledo. However, since then has averaged 24+ carries a game. He isn’t going to do much against a great defense as evidence of last weeks 40 yards against Texas but should put up 100+ yards a score or two against a Kansas team that is grossly over-rated rush defense that ranks 12th.

VICIOUS PINE

Brandon West, Western Michigan vs. Cent Mich – West had some monster games and some duds, which is pretty common with a player who only gets 15 touches a game on average. This week you might be tempted to play him after his 40 point outburst last week but Central Michigan has a much stronger defense against the run and an offense that will cause Western Michigan to play from behind.

Montel Harris, Boston College vs. NC St – Harris has been a solid player for the surprising Boston College team but will have a difficult time running on a NC St team that has been dominating against the run this year ranking 6th. This ranking is over-rated with some creampuffs on the schedule but they have shutdown Dion Lewis and the Wake Forest running game so don’t expect the one-dimensional Eagles offense to do much better.

Add to watch list

From Last Week…Alvester Alexander from Wyoming, Charles Scott from LSU and Mikell Simpson from Virginia.

Lance Dunbar from North Texas – Dunbar has had some decent results through the first 4 games on very limited touches. During the bye week in Week 5, the coaching staff must have made a decision to see what he could do with a bigger role in the offense and Dunbar responded with a 32-187-4 performance. With Sun Belt defenses on the schedule, he could be looking at a huge second half of the season.

Jacquise Terry from Kent State – Terry has appeared to claim the #1 RB spot after some decent games of late. He is still only getting about 15 carries a game but has seen his points per game increase 4 weeks and has the type of schedule remaining to be of some value down the stretch.

Larry Caper from Michigan State – Caper hasn’t been anything special throughout the first half of the season but has had to share the carries with several backs. With the season ending injury to Glenn Winston it is Caper who will be counted on initially to carry the load. Watch how he does against Northwestern this week because with a strong performance, he should be able to be counted on later in the season against teams like Minnesota, WMU and Purdue.

Share the college football love: