College Fantasy Football: Week Three Studs and Duds

Week Three is in the books.  Here is a look at some of the top college fantasy football performers, and biggest disappointments, from the weekend.

Studs

Quarterbacks

Jerrod Johnson—Texas A&M vs. Utah State
Although we all expected Johnson to be pretty good, none of us expected him to be a top five quarterback.

Johnson was lights-out against Utah State throwing for 322 yards with four touchdowns, while adding 78 yards on the ground. I suggest finding a quarterback that will be good during weeks 11 and 13 since Johnson will be facing Oklahoma and Texas during the fantasy playoffs. Secure a good spot start player now for your playoff run since Johnson can’t be expected to keep up this pace in those two weeks.

Ryan Mallett—Arkansas vs. Georgia
In a game where Arkansas could display their offensive prowess on national TV, Mallett didn’t disappoint. Mallett had 408 yards and a career high five touchdowns in the air. Mallett’s ability to spread the ball around makes him very hard to defend. Week Four will see a dip in production as he faces Alabama, but Week Five will be a huge week as Arkansas will find themselves in another shootout against Texas A&M.

Greg Alexander—Hawaii at UNLV
Normally Hawaii struggles when they play on the mainland, but Alexander answered the bell in the heartbreaking loss. Alexander threw for 477 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.

The biggest problem with Alexander is that he puts up huge numbers in the first half, then fades out in the second half. Alexander has thrown for over 300 yards by halftime in the last two weeks. If he can avoid the second half slumps, he might be the best fantasy quarterback in the country!

Running Backs

Jahvid Best—California at Minnesota
Best showed why he is one of the top Heisman candidates. Best exploded all over the Gophers’ defense by rushing for 131 yards and five touchdowns. The only bad thing you could say about Best is that he only average five yards per carry as compared to the 10.4 yards per carry that he carried into the game. Pac-10 defensive coordinators beware when you travel to Cal.

Ryan Mathews—Fresno State vs. Boise State
Will the real Ryan Mathews please stand up? Thank you. Mathews was on fire against a stout Boise defense under the Friday Night Lights. Mathews had 234 yards rushing with three touchdowns. All three touchdowns were runs of 60 yards or more.

The problem for fantasy owners is that Mathews was on the bench for most teams this week. Fresno State has been known to work a RBBC situation, but the hopes are that they will begin to feature Mathews more. But you may not be able to figure that out until Week Six when Fresno plays at Hawaii since they play at Cincinnati in Week Four, and have a bye in Week Five.

Jeremy Avery—Boise State at Fresno State
Avery matched the big play ability of Ryan Mathews in the Friday night shootout. Avery was playing second fiddle until DJ Harper went down with what I could see as a knee injury. Once Harper went down, Avery stepped up.

Avery had 186 rushing yards to go with 83 receiving yards and one touchdown. We won’t have more info on Harper’s knee injury until the middle of the week, but if he is out for the Week Five game against Cal-Davis then Avery’s value will shoot through the roof.

Wide Receivers

Mike Williams—Syracuse vs. Northwestern
It appears things are changing at Syracuse. New attitude, new quarterback, the start of a new age for Orange football. Williams is the main man in the Syracuse passing attack.

Williams hauled in 209 yards and two touchdowns. Williams is proving to be a solid fantasy star. How much owners can leave him in the starting lineup is still unsure. How well he plays in Week Five against South Florida and Week Six against West Virginia will tell a lot.

Ryan Broyles—Oklahoma vs. Tulsa
Sam Bradford who? The Sooner passing game was clicking on all cylinders Saturday. Broyles was the main target of quarterback Landry Jones by pulling in 11 balls for 128 yards and three touchdowns. This is the second straight three touchdown performance in a row for Broyles, who is living up to the preseason expectations of being a top flight fantasy wide receiver. He will have a big test after his Week Four bye when the Sooners travel to play the Hurricanes in Week Five.

Eric Decker—Minnesota vs. California
The preseason buzz about the new Minnesota offense hasn’t lived up to the hype. The ground game has not materialized and the Gophers have been stuck playing catch-up in most of it’s games.

This has been good for Eric Decker who could have been lost in the shuffle if the running game was clicking. Decker had 199 yards receiving with two touchdowns, and he also threw a seven-yard touchdown pass. Decker should be a great play over the next three weeks as he faces Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Purdue.

Tight Ends

Kyle Rudolph—Notre Dame vs. Michigan State
In a season where there is no elite level talent at tight end, fantasy owners must look for tight ends that consistently produce points.

Rudolph has proven to be a solid fantasy option, and with the injury to wide receiver Michael Floyd; Rudolph’s stock appears to be rising. Rudolph had six receptions for 95 yards against the Spartans. The next two weeks will be good games for the Irish as they play at Purdue in Week Four and host Washington in Week Five.

Jeffery Anderson—UAB at Troy
In the attempt of fantasy owners to find a “Steady-Eddie” at tight end, Anderson has been a pleasant surprise for those owners that bought in early.

In a game where the UAB offensive struggled, Anderson pulled in the only receiving touchdown on the day to go with two receptions for 29 yards. Anderson doesn’t blow you away in the stat column, but over the season he has averaged 45.3 yards and 0.7 touchdowns per game. If he is still available in your league it would be smart to pick him up.

Duds

Quarterbacks

Joe Webb—UAB at Troy
Webb saw a slump in a game that could have been a classic shootout with the emergence of the Troy passing game. The UAB offense was plagued by mistakes, dropped balls, and red zone touchdown opportunities that turned into field goals.

Webb only had 190 total yards with one touchdown and one interception. The next three weeks will be important to Webb owners.

Week Four they play at Texas A&M, who doesn’t have the best defense and an offense that will allow Webb to sling the ball late in the game. Week Five has Southern Mississippi at home who could also generate another shootout opportunity for Webb. Week Six is Webb’s bye week.

Tim Tebow—Florida vs. Tennessee
All the fantasy experts saw Tebow exploding on the Vols in the Swamp. That didn’t happen. Tennessee had a great gameplan to pressure Tebow and force him to throw the ball on the run. This resulted in Tebow accounting for 191 total yards with one rushing touchdown and one interception.

This game might be the low point of the season for Tebow since we see his dip in production based more on Tennessee’s defensive coaching staff than Tebow’s ability on the field.

Colt McCoy—Texas vs. Texas Tech
The expected offensive fireworks for this game didn’t materialize until the second half. Colt was slow to start, but came through when his team needed him. McCoy only had five yards on the ground, to go along with 205 passing yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

This is the second straight week that the Texas offense has had a slow start. But this has to do with the fact the coaches are still searching for the identity of this year’s offense and who the main playmakers will be.

Running Backs

MiQuale Lewis—Ball State at Army
Talk about going from the “penthouse to the outhouse!” Lewis was an elite running back in 2008. Oh how things have changed in 2009.

Gone is quarterback Nate Davis. Gone are four starters from the offensive line. Lewis has been awful in 2009, averaging 58 yards and 0.3 touchdowns per game. We don’t know if he is hurt or not, but the best bet to his poor performance is based on the play of arguably the worst O-line in the country.

With less than five fantasy points scored against defensive powerhouses New Hampshire and Army, the signs don’t look like he will bounce back to form for the Week Five and Six games against Toledo at home and at Temple. The smart play is to just cut your losses now, dump him, and move on.

John Clay—Wisconsin vs. Wofford
We expected to see Clay as a top 10 running back for Week Three. That didn’t happen!

Clay had 12 carries for 70 yards and was kept from reaching the end zone by the mighty Wofford Terrier defense. If Clay can’t be counted on against a cupcake opponent, then when can you count on him? Just remember this in the weeks to come as you contemplate starting Clay.

Nic Grigsby—Arizona at Iowa
After busting loose in Week Two, Grigsby was brought back down to Earth in Week Three. Grigsby had 89 total yards on 14 touches and was held out of the end zone.

I mentioned last week that the time was right to trade away Grigsby when his stock was at its highest. Now the inevitable dip in production has hit. With Gronk most likely out for the season, and no other help around him on the offense, its safe to say that Pac-10 defensive coordinators will load up to stop Grigsby and make quarterback Matt Scott beat them in the air.

Wide Receivers

Dexter McCluster—Mississippi vs. SE Louisiana
What more could McCluster owners ask for? A high-powered offense fresh off a bye week and playing against a cupcake. But McCluster let his fantasy owners down as he only accounted for 48 yards on three receptions. He did not even have one rushing attempt in the game.

It is unclear if McCluster might be hurt, or if Coach Houston Nutt was keeping things “close to the vest” before facing SEC foe South Carolina in Week Four. Odds are that McCluster will be right back into the thick of the offense for the Gamecocks.

Detron Lewis—Texas Tech at Texas
After making a 146 yard and one touchdown debut to the 2009 season, Lewis has been left in the shuffle of wide receivers.

Week Two had Lewis accounting for 23 yards on three receptions and Week Three proved to be more of the same as Lewis hauled in 22 yards on four receptions. It is time to start worrying if you’re a Lewis owner, but not time to panic.

The biggest problem facing you is this: if you keep him on your bench hoping for a spot start down the line, how reliable will he be in the good matchups? You should have a clear idea of what Lewis will bring to the table during Weeks Six-Eight when the Red Raiders face Kansas State, Nebraska, and Texas A&M. Use the Kansas State game as a gauge for his reliability for the next two games.

Aldrick Robinson—SMU at Washington State
In 2008, Robinson was the main target for Bo Levi Mitchell in the passing attack. In 2009, Robinson seems to be lost in the crowd. In one of the best matchups of the season for SMU, Robinson only had two receptions for 30 yards. 

He has been dealing with an ankle injury, which might be contributing greatly to his lack of production.  So far on the season he has only reached the end zone once.

Robinson owners need to remain patient with him. The next four weeks will not help. SMU has a bye in Week Four, then they face two stiff defenses by traveling to TCU in Week Five and hosting East Carolina in Week Six. Then in Week Seven they host a pesky Navy defense that gave them problems last year.

Hang in there because the schedule gets a whole lot better after this four week rough patch.

Tight Ends

Dorin Dickerson—Pittsburgh vs. Navy
Just when you thought you snagged a steal at tight end in last week’s waiver wire, you wound up being let down with his first start in your fantasy lineup. This is the problem this year with tight ends. A guy will blow up one week, then bust the next.

Dickerson only had one reception for six yards against the Middies. There are few consistent weekly producers at tight end this year, which makes it hard not to pass on guys that blow up each week.

Cody Slate—Marshall vs. Bowling Green
Slate was on fire as the season started with 114 yards and two touchdowns in the opener with Southern Illinois. Now its gone downhill since. Week Two's poor performance could be chalked up to playing at Virginia Tech, but the Week Three game of Bowling Green at home should have been his rebound game.

Slate only touched the ball three times. He had one rush for zero yards, and caught two balls for 24 yards. Fantasy owners are hoping for big things from Slate for the Week Four game at Memphis.