Tag: college fantasy football stats

Some of these 16 stats from Week 11 are just for trivia, but most are good to know as you look at fantasy trends/leaders across the season or for specific positions or teams.

Florida QB Kyle Trask passed for 356 yards and 6 TDs on Saturday. On the season Trask leads the nation in TD passes with 28 (next closest is 23) and is 4th in passing yards per game with 361.8, behind only Dillon Gabriel, Carson Strong and Mac Jones. With Florida at 5-1, is Trask a viable Heisman contender?

Illinois QB Isaiah Williams threw for 104 yards and rushed for 31/192-1, while Louisville QB Malik Cunningham passed for 161 yards and rushed for 20/197-2 on Saturday. Both efforts were the only times this season a QB has thrown for more than 100 yards while rushing for more than 180 yards. With Illinois QB Brandon Peters returning this week it will be interesting to see if Williams stays the starter.

South Carolina RB Kevin Harris rushed for 25/243-5 against Ole Miss. 245 yards was the season-high for rushing yards in a game, surpassing SMU RB Ulysses Bentley’s 227.

When North Carolina beat Wake Forest 59-53 on Saturday, it appears to be the first 59-53 final score in major college football history (credit: Matt Brown).

Ole Miss WR Elijah Moore had 13/225-2 receiving against South Carolina. There have only been seven 225 yard receiving games this season, and Moore has 3 of them.

Since volume matters, only 3 players had 30+ rushing attempts in week 11 – RB Caleb Huntley (Ball State), 34/204-3, RB Mohamed Ibrahim (Minnesota), 33-144-0, and QB Isaiah Williams (Illinois), 31/192-1. Williams was the first QB this season with a 30-carry game.

Only two Big Ten players have three 100 yard receiving games this season – Rashod Bateman (Minnesota) and Garrett Wilson (Ohio State). In Minnesota’s loss to Iowa last week QB Tanner Morgan only threw for 167 yards, but 111 of those were to Bateman.

Bowling Green QB Matt McDonald has passed for 14/50 over his last two games combined. Only 3 QBs this season with at least 50 passes attempted have a less than 45% completion rate. McDonald is easily the lowest with 28%, next are Keon Howard (Tulane) at 44.1%, and Joey Yellen (Pitt) with 44.7%.

Ole Miss QB Matt Corral had 513-4 on 28/32 passing, while UNC QB Sam Howell was 32/45-550-6. Only four times this season has a QB passed for 500-4, the other two were KJ Costello (Miss State) and Dillon Gabriel (UCF). To put Corral’s numbers in context – for players with 32 or fewer pass attempts this season, no one else had passed for more than 450 yards, next closest was interestingly Sam Howell, who had a 23/28-443-4 line on Oct. 31st.

East Carolina QB Holton Ahlers was held to 9/20-87 yards, 0 TDs and 3 Ints against Cincinnati on Friday. It was only the second time this season a QB with 20+ attempts had less than 100 yards passing and 3 interceptions, the other was Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa in their season-opener.

UTSA RB Brendan Brady rushed for 26/124-0 on Saturday with RB Sincere McCormick out. UTSA became only the second school this season to have two different players with 25 rushing attempts in a game (Brady and McCormick), the other is SMU with RBs TJ McDaniel and Ulysses Bentley.

Akron RB Teon Dollard had 22 carries for 165 yards last Tuesday, and now has 232 rushing yards through two games. Last season Akron’s leading rusher for the ENTIRE SEASON was Brandon Lee with 179 yards.

Nevada QB Carson Strong had previously thrown for 350+ yards in five straight games going back into last season, but only had 336 yards on 24/38 passing last week against New Mexico. Strong was one of nine QBs to pass for more than 330 yards last week.

Cincinnati QB Desmond Ridder has thrown for 886-8 and rushed for 398-9 in his last 4 games. The last QB to reach all of those numbers over a four-game span was Lamar Jackson (Louisville) during his 2016 Heisman season (credit: Stats by Stats).

Georgia Southern has now had five different players with 100 yard rushing games this season – RB Logan Wright became the 5th with his 103 yard game on Saturday after JD King went down for the season with a knee injury last week. The five who have rushed for 100 yards are QB Shai Werts and RBs JD King, Wesley Kennedy, Gerald Green and Logan Wright.

While the Pac-12 has dealt with some games being postponed, only one player has two 100 yard receiving games this season – USC WR Amon-Ra St. Brown with games of 7/100 and 7/113. On a similar note, USC QB Kedon Slovis is the only Pac-12 player with two 300 yard passing games this season.

Some of these 16 stats from Week 10 are just for trivia, but most are good to know as you look at fantasy trends/leaders across the season or for specific positions or teams. Since teams have played such an uneven number of games, this week I have a few conference-specific stats.

Minnesota RB Mohamed Ibrahim ran for 30/224-4 on Saturday (the only player to rush for 200 yards this week). Rushing for 200 yards and 4 TDs has only happened four times this season, and Ibrahim has two of those four, Najee Harris (Alabama) and Daetrich Harrington (App State) have the other two.

Florida QB Kyle Trask threw for 474-4 last weekend. He has thrown for 4+ TDs in all five of Florida’s game this season. Second in the nation with four 4 TD passing games are Dillon Gabriel (UCF), and Brady White (Memphis). As a point of reference, in 2019 the only QBs with more than five 4-TD passing games were Joe Burrow (LSU) with 9, and Anthony Gordon (Wash St) and Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama) with 6.

Last weekend 5 players had 200+ receiving yards, this week no one crossed the 200 yard mark. East Carolina WR Blake Proehl was the week 10 leader with 182 yards on 13 receptions.

Clemson WR Cornell Powell caught 6/161-1 this weekend against Notre Dame, while going for 11/105-0 last weekend. His previous career high prior to the last two weeks was 50 yards despite being at Clemson since 2016. What changed? – Well in part Clemson has dealt with a number of WR injuries this season, but the real answer – QB DJ Uiagalelei has started the last two weeks and the two appear to have a connection. It will be interesting to see Powell’s production when Trevor Lawrence returns.

Colorado RB Jarek Broussard, filling in for an injured Alex Fontenot, ran for 31/187-3 this week. Last season 180 yards and 3 TDs rushing only happened twice in the Pac-12, both times by Oregon’s CJ Verdell.

Since volume matters, 3 RBs had 31 carries, the high total of the week – Jarek Broussard, Colorado (31/187-3), Breece Hall, Iowa State (31/133-2), and Eric Gray, Tennessee (31/123-1).

Washington State RB Deon McIntosh rushed for 18/144-1 filling in for an injured Max Borghi. The last time a Washington State player rushed for more than 140 yards was RB Dwight Tardy in 2007.

Miami QB D’Eriq King threw for 430 yards and 5 TDS and rushed for 105 yards against NC State on Saturday. The last QB to pass for 400-5 and rush for 100 – also D’Eriq King, playing for Houston in 2018. Consider me impressed.

Only four QBs in conferences that debuted last week (MAC & PAC-12) had 300 yard passing games – Kedon Slovis, USC (381), Tristan Gebbia, Oregon State (329), Drew Plitt, Ball State (309), & Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA (303).

Of the 474 yards Florida threw for on Saturday, 212 yards were to RBs – Dameon Pierce 2/41, Malik Davis 5/100 (team’s leading receiver Saturday), Nay’quan Wright 3/71 – 10 total catches by RBs for an average of 21.2 yards a reception.

Tulane RB Cameron Carroll ran for 6/129-2 last weekend, giving him 10 rushing TDs on the season. Carroll is one of only 10 players this season who already have 10 rushing TDs, but is averaging the lowest carries per game (11.25) of any of those players. With 90 rushing attempts on the season, Carroll is scoring a TD on 11% of his carries. Of those with 10 rushing TDs, UNC RB Javonte Williams has the best TD/carry ratio, scoring 14 TDs on 107 attempts, or 13% of the time.

The SEC player with the most 100 rushing yard games this season – Isaiah Spiller, Texas A&M with four – tied with three games are Tank Bigsby (Auburn), Eric Gray (Tennessee), Kevin Harris (South Carolina), and Najee Harris (Alabama).

Nevada QB Carson Strong threw for 36/52-411-3 in week 10. Including going back into last season, he has now thrown for 350+ yards in 5 straight games. Yes I shared this last week as well when he had 4 in a row, but this is fairly impressive, only 6 players have 3 or more 350 yard passing games this season (Strong has 3).

TCU QB Max Duggan passed for 73 yards, while rushing for 19/154-3 against Texas Tech. While Duggan is thought of by most as a dual threat, it was only the second game of his career rushing for more than 100 yards, topping a 115 yard game last season. But the 73 yards passing this weekend was the 3rd lowest total of his 18 game career at TCU.

Only one school has two different players with 13 receptions in a game this season – East Carolina WR Blake Proehl had 13 this week, while ECU WR Tyler Snead had 16 catches a week ago, which was the season-high for any player.

Of players with more than one game played, Nevada WR Romeo Doubs is leading the nation in receiving yards per game with 157.7, and Purdue WR David Bell is leading the nation in receptions per game with 11.0.

Some of these 16 stats from Week 9 are just for trivia, but most are good to know as you look at fantasy trends/leaders across the season or for specific positions or teams. Since teams have played such an uneven number of games, this week I have a few conference-specific stats.

Ohio State QB Justin Fields has accounted for as many TDs this season, 7 (6 passing, 1 rushing) as he has incompletions this season, 48/55 passing, 87.3%.

The only Big Ten QB to pass for 300+ yards in each of their team’s first two games this season? – Rocky Lombardi, Michigan State. He passed for 323-3 last weekend after throwing for 319-3 in the season opener.

Prior to last weekend there had been five 200-yard receiving games, then in week 9 there were five total – UNC’s Dyami Brown (11/240-3), Nevada’s Romeo Doubs (6/211-1), San Jose State’s Bailey Gaither (10/208-1), Ole Miss’ Elijah Moore (14/238-3), and Alabama’s DeVonta Smith (11/203-4). Smith was the first player this season to have 200 yards and 4 TDs receiving in a game.

Last weekend San Jose St WR Bailey Gaither had 10/208-1 receiving, while Nevada’s Romeo Doubs had 6/211-1. They are the only two Mountain West receivers to have two 100 yard receiving games this season.

Seven QBs are averaging 10 yards a passing attempt this season – Mac Jones, Alabama (12.4), Graham Mertz, Wisconsin (11.8), Zach Wilson, BYU (11.2), Justin Fields, Ohio State (10.8), Grayson McCall, Coastal Carolina (10.7), Sam Howell, UNC (10.5), and Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma (10.0). Because you were wondering, Dillon Gabriel, Kyle Trask, and Trevor Lawrence are all averaging 9.6.

Since volume is huge in fantasy (you are going to get at least one stat a week about rushing attempts) – only four players have four games with 20+ rushing attempts – Spencer Brown (UAB), Breece Hall (Iowa State), Chuba Hubbard (Oklahoma State), and Asher O’Hara (MTSU).

How are Memphis receivers doing since WR Damonte Coxie opted out? Memphis WR Calvin Austin has been thriving in his last 3 games – 9/151-2, 6/184-1, 7/121-0 for an average of 7.3/152-1 a game.

Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa had 26/35-394-3 passing and 8/64-2 rushing in week 9. He was the first player to reach 390-3 and 50-2 this season, with only 2 players hitting those stats in a game last season – Dorian Thompson-Robinson (UCLA) and Brick Purdy (Iowa State).

Only two players in the nation are averaging 150 rushing yards a game – Mohamed Ibrahim, Minnesota (173.5) and Breece Hall, Iowa State (150.17). Ibrahim set the season high for rushing attempts with 41/207-4 last weekend, and is one of only two players in the nation averaging more than 25 attempts a game (33.5), Xazavian Valladay, Wyoming is next averaging 27 a game.

Elijah Moore, Ole Miss had 14/238-3 receiving last weekend. Moore is the only receiver in the nation with 4 games of 10 receptions and 100 yards this season. Jaelon Darden (North Texas), Marlon Williams (UCF), and DeVonta Smith (Alabama) all have 3.

North Carolina QB Sam Howell threw for 23/28-444-4, an 82% completion rate, in a 44-41 loss to Virginia on Saturday. A stat-line of 400-4-80% in a loss had only happened two other times since 2000, Luke Falk, Washington State (2016) and Giovanni Vizza, North Texas (2007).

Arkansas WR Treylon Burks caught 7/117-2 last weekend. Only four SEC receivers have 3 or more 100+ yard receiving games this season, the other three are Elijah Moore & Jaylen Waddle with 4 apiece, and Burks and DeVonta Smith with 3 each.

Nevada QB Carson Strong threw for 21/27-350-2 in week 9. Including games going back into last season, Strong has thrown for 350+ yards in his last 4 games, for an average of 380.75 yards passing a game.

Mississippi State passed for 146 yards last weekend, the lowest ever for a Mike Leach-coached team. In 19 years Leach’s teams had been held to less than 200 yards passing only 3 times. (credit Ben Portnoy). Not to pile on, but Alabama WR DeVonta Smith had 203 receiving yards Saturday against Miss. State, more than Miss. State’s total yards (200).

Only one Mountain West player had 100+ yard rushing games in each of their first two games so far this season – Greg Bell, San Diego State rushed for 22/157-1 last week after putting up 19/111-1 in the opener.

The Big 12 QB averaging the most passing attempts per game? West Virginia’s Jarret Doege is averaging 38.7, next is Texas’ Sam Ehlinger with 36.5, and third is Baylor’s Charlie Brewer with 35.3.

Bonus Stat – 47 QBs have 1000 yards passing this season, but only one has not thrown an interception, Sam Hartman of Wake Forest. Interestingly, in the 1000 yard passing club Hartman is tied with two others for the fewest TDs thrown with 4, Connor Bazelak (Missouri) and Gavin Hardison (UTEP).

I take a look at some key stats & fantasy takeaways that stood out for 12 different teams last weekend, since the Big Ten and Mountain West kicked off last weekend, all 12 takeaways will come from those conferences this week. The “Stat to Know” from each team is bolded, as well as players who are mentioned.

Fantasy Takeaways from Week 8 (teams listed in alphabetical order):

Hawaii – QB Chevan Cordeiro did more with his legs than expected, passing for 20/30-229-0 and rushing for 13/116-2. We are used to seeing Hawaii QBs with more production through the air, but the rushing made up for it this week. RB Miles Reed had good volume with 21/109-0. The top two WRs were who you’d expect – Jared Smart (7/89-0) and Rico Bussey (8/86-0). Basically Hawaii did everything we thought they would other than Cordeiro rushing for more TDs than he passed for (he ran for 40/212-3 last season), but you have to assume the QB/WR passing TDs will come.

Illinois – It’s often not easy playing Wisconsin, and the stats showed it. QB Brandon Peters had almost as many rushing yards as passing yards, 8/19-87 in the air and 7/75 on the ground. Peters has twice as many yards as the next leading rusher Mike Epstein (8/36). The receiver stats were all ugly, but WR Josh Imatorbhebhe was targeted 10 times, with no one else at more than 3.

Maryland – expectations aren’t high for this Maryland team, but losing 43-3 to Northwestern was eye-opening, so what went wrong? QB Taulia Tagovailoa threw for 14/25-94, 0 TDs and 3 interceptions (and rushed for negative yards), while in relief QB Lance LeGendre was 4/4-49 yards. Tagovailoa is QB1 on the depth chart this week. RB Jake Funk got the start and ran for 6/35. No receiver had more than 43 yards, with hyped freshman Rakim Jarrett having 1 catch for 1 yard on 4 targets. For right now I’d avoid them altogether, perhaps with the hope that they might develop enough of a passing game where someone like WR Dontay Demus (4/41 on 7 targets) might be a consistent primary receiver.

Michigan – A lot to like from QB Joe Milton who passed for 15/22-225-1 and ran for 8/52-1. The RBs shared carries as Hassan Haskins had an impressive 6/82-2, while Zach Charbonnet rushed for 4/70-1. To note is Haskins had a long run of 66 yards, while Charbonnet’s was 70, so the explosive runs were the majority of their output. WR Ronnie Bell had the top game pulling in 4/74-0. Milton and Bell both look like plays, and it’s too early the assess the top two RBs who only had 10 carries between them, although that in itself is an assessment (in a semi-blowout game).

Michigan State – Rocky Lombardi not surprisingly won the starting QB job, and passed for 31/44-319-3. The big surprise was that RB Elijah Collins did not start (only had 9 attempts for 3 yards), with RB Connor Heyward actually starting (7/18-0), but RB Jordon Simmons actually got the most work (14/43-0). No RB averaged more than 3.1 yards/carry, but there were some coach quotes that made it sound like they’ll go with whoever is looking the best, so Collins body of work from last season (222/988-5) doesn’t seem worth much now. WR Jayden Reed (11/128-2) and WR Jalen Nailor (6/84-1) both had 12 targets, which has my attention.

Nebraska – playing against Ohio State is a tough data point to evaluate, but it was interesting that their two leading rushers were both QBs, Adrian Martinez with 12/77-1 on the ground, and Luke McCaffrey with 9/87-0. Martinez threw 15 passes to 5 for McCaffrey. RB Dedrick Mills who was hoped to be the bell-cow this season, ran for 10/33-1, which hopefully will improve against non-Ohio State opponents. WR Wan’Dale Robinson was the only notable receiver, with 6/49-0 on 6 targets, with no other player getting more than 2 targets (and one of those was TE Jack Stoll who was injured). My initial takeaway here is basically one of disinterest in dual-threat QBs sharing time, with hope for Mills and Robinson against lesser foes.

Ohio State – QB Justin Fields was his brilliant self, so instead let’s evaluate the two-headed RB battle and the WRs. RB Master Teague put up 12/41-2, while RB Trey Sermon had 11/55-0 with one reception for 7 yards, basically a wash other than the TDs (which obviously matter). The standout WRs were Garrett Wilson 7/129-1 and WR Chris Olave 6/104-0. Perhaps most interesting is each was targeted 7 times, with no other player getting more than 2.

Penn State – QB Sean Clifford picked up where he left off last season with 24/238-3 in the air and a team-leading 17/119-1 on the ground. RB Noah Cain was injured (for the season) after only 3 carries, so RB Devyn Ford (20/69-1) and RB Keyvone Lee (6/35-0) were next in line. The top receivers were WR Jahan Dotson (4/94-1) and TE Pat Freiermuth (7/60-1). Of note here is that Clifford only had 3 less carries than the top RB. As a point of comparison, in 2019 Clifford had 116 carries to team leader Journey Brown’s 129. In 2019 Clifford only averaged 3.5 a carry, but he still called his own number a lot.

Rutgers – So who were the stars in the surprising 38-27 win over Michigan State? The weird reply is there really weren’t any big offensive standouts. RB Isaih Pacheco had an average day on the ground per carry (19/61), but rushed for 2 TDs as well as caught 5 balls for 37 yards. QB Noah Vedral in his first start for Rutgers had an alright game with 18/29-169-1 passing and 9/24-1 rushing. WRs Aron Cruickshank (4/43) and Bo Melton (4/50) led the way. Pacheco getting 24 touches is my top takeaway here.

San Diego State – The opener was all about the run game as RB Greg Bell (19/111-1) and RB Kaegun Williams 10/84-0 looked strong. QB Carson Baker was only 12/25-137-1, a concerning less than 50% completion rate. No receiver had more than 2 catches or 33 yards. For comparison, last year’s passing leader was QB Ryan Agnew who averaged 205 passing yards/game with 14 passing TDs in 12 games, while no receiver had more than 58 catches or 691 yards.

San Jose State – QB Nick Starkel got the start and had a solid 22/29-226-2 TD performance, I like the efficiency. RB was a disappointment as Kairee Robinson rushed for 12/31. WR Bailey Gaither had 8/110 receiving on 13 targets. Last year’s other standouts this week – Tre Walker (4/38, 4 targets) and Isaiah Hamilton (1/6, 1 target). We all know that WRs can rise and fall from game to game, but 13 targets for Gaither to a combined 5 for Walker/Hamilton is my major takeaway.

UNLV – QB Max Gilliam was the surprise starter 13/21-105-1 but put up a mediocre statline. QB Kenyon Oblad (last year’s starter much of the season) had 2/4 for 2 yards passing, while QB Justin Rogers had 2/4 for -1 yards passing. RB Charles Williams rushed for 20/80-0. No receiver had more than 44 yards (Steve Jenkins), but the real storyline here is that some receivers were mysteriously absent including Randal Grimes (44/696-7 last season) and Mekhi Stevenson (Covid-related issues in the receiver room perhaps?), so it’s hard to measure how much impact missing some receivers had on the game. Until things get sorted out here the RB Williams seems to be a reliable play.

Some of these 16 stats from Week 8 are just for trivia, but most are good to know as you look at fantasy trends/leaders across the season or for specific positions or teams (if you enjoy this post please share it!).

Last weekend Louisville RB Javian Hawkins ran for 16/174-3, while UTSA RB Sincere McCormick rushed for 37/165-3. They are the only two players in the nation to have three 150+ rushing yard games this season.

Liberty QB Malik Willis threw for 24/31-345-6 and rushed for 12/97-1. Even lowering the bar a bit, Willis is the only player to have at least 300-6 passing and 50-1 rushing in a game this season.

North Carolina RBs Michael Carter (116.8) and Javonte Williams (112.4) are both averaging over 100 rushing yards a game. Amongst players with at least two games played, only 17 are averaging 100 rushing yards, and UNC is the only team with two players.

Since volume is huge in fantasy, the only player with three 25+ rushing attempt games this season is Marshall RB Brenden Knox; he had 25/101 last weekend.

While they have only played 1 game – QB Carson Strong (Nevada) and QB Aidan O’Connell (Purdue) lead the nation in average passing attempts per game, with 52 and 50.

UCF QB Dylan Gabriel is the 3rd player in the last 15 seasons with 400 pass yards, 5 TDs, and 0 interceptions in consecutive games. The other two – Jared Goff (Cal, 2015) and Joe Burrow (LSU, 2019), (credit ESPN Stats & Info).

Even without QB Myles Brennan, LSU WR Terrace Marshall had a 6/88-2 game. Marshall is the only player in the nation with 4 games with 2+ receiving TDs. Next with three games are Jonathan Adams (Ark St), Marcell Barbee (Texas State) & Jaelon Darden (North Texas).

Missouri RB Larry Rountree 37/126-2 and UTSA RB Sincere McCormick, 37/165-3 tied for the season-high in carries this year with 37 last week. The previous high was RB Destin Coates (Georgia State) with 34.

Kansas St RB Deuce Vaughn last weekend rushed 11/71 and caught 4/81. Only 4 times this season has a player rushed/received for 70+/80+, Vaughn has 2 of those 4 games, Travis Etienne and Kyren Williams have the others.

Last weekend both Wisconsin QB Graham Mertz and Ohio State QB Justin Fields amazingly completed 20/21, a 95.2% completion rate. The last time a QB completed at least 20 passes with a 95%+ completion rate was Minnesota QB Tanner Morgan, who went 21/22 in 2019.

Like dual-threat QBs? By my count 11 QBs led their teams in passing and rushing yards this week – Matt Corral (Ole Miss), Malik Willis (Liberty), Sean Clifford (Penn State), Hendon Hooker (Va Tech), Asher O’Hara (MTSU), Jeff Sims (Georgia Tech), Phil Jurkovec (BC), Chevan Cordeiro (Hawaii), Brennan Armstrong (UVA), Desmond Ridder (Cinci), Brandon Peters (Illinois). Of these QBs (whose teams have played more than one game) only 3 lead their teams in rushing for the season – Malik Willis, Asher O’Hara, Desmond Ridder (tied with Gerrid Doaks).

In his last 3 games Auburn RB Tank Bigsby has rushed for 20/146-0, 16/111-1, and 24/129-2, a 3 game average of 20/128.6-1, obviously all against SEC competition.

Haven’t mentioned TEs in a couple weeks, but there are four TEs averaging 75+ receiving yards a game – Cole Turner, Nevada (119.0 – only 1 game), Kyle Pitts, Florida (91.3), Kenny Yeboah, Ole Miss (87.6), & Hunter Long, Boston College (75.8).

South Florida has totaled 3 sacks in 6 games this season. It’s the lowest per game sack average (0.5) of any FBS team this season. The only other teams under 1 sack a game are Charlotte (0.75), Louisiana (0.80), and Navy (0.83).

Penn State outgained Indiana 488-211 yards and lost on Saturday. A losing team having 475+ yards against a winning team with 225 or fewer had only happened one other time since 2000. The only other team to get outgained by that much and win – also Indiana, against Oregon in 2004. (credit @MattBrownCFB)

Cincy QB Desmond Ridder rushed 8 times for 179 yards and 3 TDs on Saturday. The last time a player had that many rushing yards and TDs with that few carries was LSU RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire last season with a ridiculous 6/188-3 game.

I take a look at some key stats & fantasy takeaways that stood out for 12 different teams last weekend and/or trends that are emerging over the course of the season. The “Stat to Know” from each team is bolded, as well as players who are mentioned.

Fantasy Takeaways from Week 7 (teams listed in alphabetical order):

Arkansas – Last weekend against Ole Miss WR Treylon Burks had a 11/137-1 receiving line. In the other game he played in this season where he wasn’t dealing with an injury he was 7-102-1. Last weekend Burks also picked up 4/46-0 rushing. And while Burks had 11 catches in week 7, no other Arkansas receiver had more than 2.

BYU – While it feels like WR Gunner Romney has gotten the early season press, let’s compare his receiving numbers to WR Dax Milne‘s. Romney on the season (21/456-2), Milne on the season (33/550-4). Milne is averaging 5 yards less a catch, but other than that the numbers favor him. And with Romney questionable with a hamstring injury (which limited his output last week), Milne’s stock is only rising.

East Carolina – a few weeks ago I basically shared the parity/mediocrity of the ECU RB situation. Since that time RB Rahjai Harris has emerged. Against South Florida Harris rushed for 19/115-2, and against Navy went for 22/172-1. RB Chase Hayden recently announced he was opting out, RB Darius Pinnix hasn’t done much, and RB Demetrius Mauney has been MIA, so Harris looks like the guy.

Kansas – With RB Pooka Williams opting out, let’s take a look at RB Velton Gardner so far this season. After 4 games Williams rushed for 51/196-2, while Gardner has 47/225-2. That equated to 4.8 yards per carry for Gardner to 3.8 for Williams. The hope going forward would be that Gardner becomes the featured back rather than starting to split carries with perhaps RB Daniel Hishaw. Williams showed a gifted RB can succeed at Kansas in recent seasons, now is Gardner’s chance to prove himself (or not).

Louisiana – They’ve played 4 games, so let’s look at the Louisiana RBs so far this season – Trey Ragas (47/222-3), Elijah Mitchell (33/249-4), Chris Smith (26/141-0). Ragas has played in all 4 games, Mitchell 3, and Smith 4 but was injured in one. Ragas is averaging (carries/yards) 11.75/55.5, Mitchell 11/83 and Smith 6.5/35.25 a game. In Mitchell’s three games his carries were 8, 16, 9. Simply put, the TDs keep Mitchell a viable option, but unless the carries increase this situation appears to be somewhat concerning from a fantasy perspective.

Miss State – Ok, there are obviously major problems here, but I still can’t resist digging in further. With RB Kylin Hill out this past weekend and his situation unclear, RB Jo’quavious Marks got the start. Marks rushed 7/25 (which led the team!) and was 9/40 receiving on 12 targets. That was 5 more targets than the next closest player, WR Osirus Mitchell, had. In fact Mitchell and WR Malik Heath combined for 13 targets combined, only one more than Marks had. If I had to broadly summarize the Miss. State offense since game 1 it seems like it has been throwing short dump off routes to the RB (at least on passes that are completed). Hard to believe I’m saying this, but until the QB situation gets settled and/or until they can either successfully pass downfield or create space to break short passes for longer gains, there may not be a player on this offense who is a safe start right now.

North Texas – Last week I celebrated that North Texas had finally abandoned their QB rotation and Austin Aune had two big games in a row. Then Aune had a slow start last weekend, Jason Bean was inserted in and passed for 12/17-181-2 and rushed for 10/169-3, the first player to pass and rush for 150 yards in a game this season. WR Jaelon Darden had another 200 yard game, so apparently the QB doesn’t matter much to him. UNT is off this week, and if the team will stick with one QB, whoever it is, they look worthy of a start, that’s a big if….

Notre Dame – How about a few mind-boggling stats, 4-0 Notre Dame’s leading receiver in receptions is TE Tommy Tremble with 10, the leader in receiving yards is WR Javon McKinley with 121 on 7 catches, with RB Kyren Williams just behind with 119 on 7 catches. Now Notre Dame has certainly dealt with injuries/covid-issues which has limited a number of WRs, but QB Ian Book is only averaging 178.25 yards passing a game. It will be very interesting to see if healthy WRs (Kevin Austin, Ben Skowronek, Braden Lenzy) open up the passing game or if this team is on the RB Kyren Williams train this season.

South Carolina – In preseason RB Marshawn Lloyd was injured, and there was a lot of conversation about a potential RB by committee. Well that committee is RB Kevin Harris. Harris has rushed for 81/409-6 on the season, a 5.0 average. Next closest is Deshaun Fenwick with 29/159-0. Harris has rushed for a TD in every game this season, and has averaged 22.7 carries over the past 3 games.

UMass – because it was their first game of the season (against Georgia Southern) I’m giving them a write-up, and only for that reason. The starting RB Ellis Merriweather had 16 rushes for 21 yards, a 1.3 average. WR Samuel Emilus was targeted 8 times (next highest was 3) and was 4/28 receiving. QB Mike Fallon shared time with QB (former TE) Josiah Johnson, and each passed for between 39-41 yards. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where you’d ever want to start a UMass player in their limited season.

Virginia Tech – QB Hendon Hooker got the start (and didn’t have to share time with anyone) and shined. Hooker threw for 11/15-111-1 against Boston College, while rushing for 18/164-3. Hooker had never rushed for more than 76 yards in a game before, and it was only the 2nd time he rushed for more than 1 TD. Between last season and this Hooker has dealt with a lot of shared time situations, but in the 10 games in his VT career when he was thrown at least 10 passes, in 5 of those he attempted 15 passes or less (like this week). While being the sole QB may open up his potential, a combination of not throwing many passes with historically (so far) not rushing for many yards isn’t a great combination. But I’m hoping last week was the start of something good.

Western Kentucky – In his first game as the starter QB Kevaris Thomas passed for 16/35-162-2, while rushing 13 times for 1 yard. QB Tyrrell Pigrome did not get into the game, so the stage belonged to Thomas. The numbers were pretty average across the board, and with RB Gaej Walker still only having put up 37/111-1 (3.0 average) on the season, there isn’t a lot to like about the WKU offense right now.

Some of these 16 stats from Week 7 are just for trivia, but most are good to know as you look at fantasy trends/leaders across the season or for specific positions or teams (if you enjoy this post please share it!).

UCF and Arkansas State both had multiple WRs with 170+ receiving yards in week 7. UCF had Marlon Williams (13/191-1), Ryan O’Keefe (4/175-1) and Jaylon Robinson (10/173-2). Arkansas State had Jonathan Adams, 15/177-2 (22 targets) and Dahu Green 9/172-2 (15 targets). 170 receiving yards in a game has only been done 17 times this season, and 5 were by two teams in week 7.

Florida State QB Jordan Travis only completed 8/19 passes, but they went for 191 yards. he is the only player with 8 or fewer completions to pass for 175+ yards this season. Next closest is Will Howard (Kansas State) who passed for 7/12-173 against Texas Tech.

North Texas WR Jaelon Darden caught 10 passes for 204 yards and a TD on Saturday. 200 receiving yards in a game has only happened 5 times this season, and Darden is the only player to reach 200 twice.

The player with the most games with 20+ rushing attempt games this season is actually a QB, Asher O’Hara of MTSU has done it 4 times. Next with 3 games are Spencer Brown (UAB), Breece Hall (Iowa State), Kevin Harris (South Carolina) and Chuba Hubbard (Oklahoma State).

While they couldn’t reach the receiving yard numbers that UCF did last weekend, even as SMU dealt with the loss of Reggie Roberson they had 3 players with 100+ yards receiving last week – Rashee Rice (7/139-1), Danny Gray (5/133-1), and Tyler Page (4/101-0).

UCF QB Dylan Gabriel threw for 601 yards and 5 TDs, while in the same game Memphis QB Brady White put up 486 yards and 6 TDs. 475+ passing yards and 5 passing TDs in a game has only happened 3 times this season, KJ Costello (Miss State) was the other.

BYU QB Zach Wilson is the only player with 6+ rushing TDs and 12+ passing TDs this season. Next “closest” to those numbers are Texas QB Sam Ehlinger with 16 passing TDs and 5 rushing TDs.

Virginia Tech RB Khalil Herbert leads the nation in rushing yards per game with 148.0, 2nd is Iowa St RB Breece Hall (132.75) and 3rd is FIU RB D’Vonte Price (130.0). After Herbert’s 18/143 game last weekend he fell below averaging 10 yards a carry as he now stands at 9.6 per attempt.

Wake Forest RB Kenneth Walker rushed for 23/128-3 on Saturday against Virginia. Walker joins RB Najee Harris of Alabama as the only players to have two 3 rushing TD games this season.

With his 11/113-1 receiving output on Saturday, Ole Miss WR Elijah Moore became the only player with four 10 reception games this season.

Three players in week 7 had 30+ rushing attempts. South Alabama RB Carlos Davis rushed for 32/113-1, Marshall RB Brenden Knox ran for 32/125-2, and Alabama RB Najee Harris had 31/152-1. Only 6 times this season has a player had 30+ rushing attempts, and Davis’ yard total (113) and average of 3.5 yards/attempt were the lowest of the 6.

In addition to throwing for 601-5 last weekend, UCF QB Dillon Gabriel also rushed for 49 yards and 1 TD. The only other player to reach at least each of those numbers in a game since 2000 was Texas Tech QB Patrick Mahomes, who in 2016 had an unbelievable 734-5 passing and 85-2 rushing game in 2016.

North Texas QB Jason Bean passed for 181 yards and ran for 169 yards in week 7. He was the first player to run/pass for 150/150 in a game this year.

To give kickers a little love, only two kickers who have played more than one game are averaging more than two made field goals a game – Alex Hale, Oklahoma State (2.7), and Jake Verity, East Carolina (2.3).

Alabama QB Mac Jones was again on fire, throwing for 417-4 against Georgia. Jones & Dillon Gabriel (UCF) have both reached 400 yards passing and 2+ passing TDs in a game three times this season. No other player has done it more than once.

Liberty RB Shedro Louis shredded Syracuse rushing for 170 yards and 2 TDs on only 10 carries. Louis has the record for the most rushing yards by a player this season with 10 or fewer carries, beating North Texas QB Jason Bean (also this week) by only 1 yard, as Bean ran for 10/169-3.

I take a look at some key stats & fantasy takeaways that stood out for 12 different teams last weekend and/or trends that are emerging over the course of the season. The “Stat to Know” from each team is bolded, as well as players who are mentioned.

Fantasy Takeaways from Week 6 (teams listed in alphabetical order):

Arkansas – QB Feleipe Franks passed for 22/30-318-4 against Auburn, while also running 15 times (for only 28 yards). 318 yards & 4 TDs were both career highs against FBS teams for Franks. In his previous two games he threw for 200 yards and 212 yards, so I’m not ready to hype Franks, but in an SEC that seems to be giving up a lot of passing yards this season he is on my radar.

Arkansas State – QBs Logan Bonner & Layne Hatcher have been sharing time, which essentially means I’d been ignoring them, but I wanted to take a closer look after Bonner went 11/19-233-3 this weekend against Central Arkansas, while Hatcher was 10/19-153-3. On the season Bonner is 58/91-741-8, while Hatcher is 41/70-564-6. They have both rushed for negative yards on the season. This is the first time I can recall in recent memory where there was a QB rotation between two QBs with similar skill sets, and neither seems to be separating, so essentially this is still a situation to avoid.

Auburn – Just a couple weeks ago I (and a beat writer) joked about avoiding the Auburn potential 4-5 man RB rotation on twitter, then a few injuries happened and RB Tank Bigsby entered the conversation. Bigsby ran for 20/146-0 against Arkansas and also had 4 receptions for 16 yards. Now I’m not convinced that when Shaun Shivers returns to health that Bigsby might not lose some of that volume (or receptions), but I do think there is a chance he may be emerging as RB1. This is a wait and see for me (FYI – I grabbed him in one of my own CFF leagues to put on the bench).

Boston College – Last season RB David Bailey looked great as the RB2 behind AJ Dillon as Bailey ran for 148/844-7. But this season Bailey has run for 48/148-1, a 3.1 average. He is 7/60-1 receiving on the season. Last week he rushed 15/36 for a 2.4 avg. Boston College is airing the ball out and they either can’t run the ball or aren’t committed to the run, but either way Bailey has been a huge disappointment so far.

Georgia – WR George Pickens came into the season as the likely name to know, but WR Kearis Jackson has been the standout so far. Jackson has 19 catches for 300 yards, while the next highest is Pickens with 8/87. Jackson has had at least 62 yards receiving in each of the first three games.

Kansas State – A stat I shared on twitter as well – the WR unit as a whole has 24 catches for 299 yards this season, while RB Deuce Vaughn has 9/279 (31.0 average!) and TE Briley Moore has 14/201. WR Chabastin Taylor has 10/169-1, but other than him WR Malik Knowles has been MIA, WR Wykeen Gill is out for the season with an injury & WR Joshua Youngblood announced his transfer Tuesday.

MTSU – While I’ve spent a lot of time on the QB ups and downs, in the meantime WR Jarrin Pierce has put up 36/366-1 over 5 games. Over the last four games he has averaged 8 catches for 83.25 yards a game. While in this offense no WRs may grab many TDs, he is emerging as the go-to receiving option.

North Texas – In his last 2 games as the clear starter QB Austin Aune has thrown for 28/47-339-2 and 23/43-382-3, and QB Jason Bean is no longer sharing time. While I wish the completion percentage was a touch higher, Aune has established himself as a fantasy starter, especially with the North Texas defense having given up 41+ points to every FBS opponent this season.

Temple – In their season-opener Temple was basically who they were last season, and that is overall a good thing. QB Anthony Russo threw for 21/30-206-1 and rushed for 2 TDs, RB Re’Mahn Davis ran for 23/97-1, and WR Branden Mack had 7/80-1 on 10 targets. Last year’s other top WR Jadan Blue was 5/40 on 7 targets. Blue’s output was a little disappointing, but Navy chewed a ton of clock in this game limiting the Temple offense.

Texas – With four games of data is any Texas RB worth your time? Here are season totals so far – Keaontay Ingram 35-188-0, 10/93-1 receiving – Roschon Johnson 32/142-2, 1/7-1 receiving, Bijan Robinson 14/67-0, 5/59-0 receiving. Johnson and Robinson have dealt with injuries early, so keep that in mind, but all are averaging between 4.4-5.4 yards per carry, while Ingram is complimenting the rushing with some receiving. What actually stands out to me is that QB Sam Ehlinger has rushed for 5 TDs on the season (4 last week) as compared to 2 rushing TDs for the RBs combined. Until any of these backs start getting goal line carries I don’t see their value.

Texas Tech – Let’s look at the WRs as sometimes on teams who pass a lot the situation can seem somewhat muddled – here are the top 5 on the season – KeSean Carter 21/215-4, Erik Ezukanma 21/295-3, TJ Vasher 14/163-2, Ja’lynn Polk 12/120-0, Dalton Rigdon 10/103-0. Carter was out last game with an ankle injury, while Rigdon has missed time as well. I love Vasher’s physical tools, but he was only targeted once last game, seems very high risk/reward right now. Polk was actually the 2nd most targeted last game with 5/54 on 6 targets. The only two I can really justify playing right now are Ezukanma and Carter (if/when) healthy.

Virginia Tech – Coming into the season it felt like Virginia Tech had a lot of names in the backfield, but RB Khalil Herbert has clearly distinguished himself, rushing for 43/449-5 on the season, a crazy 10.4 average. Fellow transfer RB Raheem Blackshear is a distant second with 29/108-1 on the season, a 3.7 average, with RB Jalen Holston next at 6/54-0.

I take a look at some key stats & fantasy takeaways that stood out for 12 different teams last weekend. The “Stat to Know” from each team is bolded, as well as players who are mentioned.

Week 5 Passing Leaders (yards):

• 474 – Shane Buechele, SMU
• 435 – Mac Jones, Alabama
• 411 – Kenny Pickett, Pitt
• 339 – Austin Aune, North Texas
• 337 – Myles Brennan, LSU

Week 5 Rushing Leaders (yards):

• 208 – Khalil Herbert, Virginia Tech
• 196 – JD King, Georgia Southern
• 150 – Sincere McCormick, UTSA
• 145 – Chuba Hubbard, Oklahoma State
• 144 – Spencer Brown, UAB

Week 5 Receiving Leaders (yards):

• 243 – Reggie Roberson, SMU
• 186 – DJ Turner, Pitt
• 181 – John Metchie, Alabama
• 148 – Tylan Wallace, Oklahoma State
• 147 – Kearis Jackson, Georgia

Fantasy Takeaways from Week 5 (teams listed in alphabetical order):

Alabama – I’ll admit, I came into this season thinking of QB Mac Jones as perhaps more of a game manager than a gunslinger, but he passed for 20/27, 435 yards & 4 TDS last Saturday. He is completing 74.5% of his passes this season. Going back to 2010, Alabama has only had five 400+ yard passing games, and 3 of those were by QB Tua Tagovailoa in 2019.

East Carolina – after two games 4 different players have between 16-19 rushing attempts (3 RBs & QB Holton Ahlers) with the leading rusher actually being RB Keaton Mitchell who has 66 yards on only 9 attempts. Stay away from ECU RBs unless a leader emerges.

Florida State – RB Lawrance Toafili rushed for 12/99 and 1 TD this week. On the season he is now the team’s leading rusher (163 yards) while averaging 8.2 yards a carry and also has 4 catches for 47 yards. Yes the opponent this week was Jacksonville State, but he was also the leading rusher against Miami last week (8/64) when La’Damian Webb was out.

Georgia State – RB Destin Coates rushed for 23/113-2 last weekend, and over 2 games is 57/263-3. The RB with the 2nd most attempts has 10. Coates is as much a featured back as any team has in the nation right now.

Kentucky – As you may have seen in the “Interesting Stats” post, Kentucky rushed for 400 yards yet lost the game this week. RB Kavosiey Smoke left the game with a rib injury and will be out a few weeks, so I think RB Chris Rodriguez’ (17/133-2 last week) stock is only improving.

MTSU – QB Asher O’Hara is back after a terrible start to the season. This week he threw for 217 yards and 1 TD, and rushed for 25/98 and 1 TD. The next leading rusher for MTSU had 6 carries for 10 yards. I was concerned he had no rushing game to support him the first two games of the year, but that clearly didn’t matter last weekend.

Mississippi State – Let’s look at the WRs now that we have 2 games of data – as a longtime fan of Mike Leach offenses I am also distinctly aware that often different WRs pop up from week to week. Of the 43 completed passes this week, 19 went to RBs. Among WRs only Osirus Mitchell (5/61) & Jaden Walley (6/56) had decent statlines, with WR JaVonta Payton getting the only TD (2/23-1). As a point of reference, Washington State had only one 1000 yard receiver in 2019, and none from 2016-18. I’m not saying a WR won’t break out, perhaps Mitchell, but I am saying history usually doesn’t support one true dominant WR.

North Texas – I mentioned this in the Interesting Stats from Week 5 post as well, but WR Jaelon Darden had 13/104-1 on a huge 20 targets last week. With WR Jyaire Shorter getting injured last week (he is out this week) that may help maintain Darden’s volume.

Ole Miss – QB Matt Corral not only threw for over 300 yards again this week (320 with 4 TDs), he also rushed 13 times for 51 yards. After two games, Corral is tied with RB Jerrion Ealy for the team lead in carries with 26. That stat has me high on Corral but also wary of any RBs right now.

South Carolina – When RB Marshawn Lloyd went down coaches said to expect RB by committee. In the season-opener carries were split, but this week RB Kevin Harris had 22/100-1 while also catching 4/27-1. RB Deshaun Fenwick was next this week with 6/32. On the season Harris has out-gained Fenwick 155-63. Looks like Harris may be establishing himself as RB1 with Fenwick as a nice change of pace back who has 9 catches for 69 yards.

Tulsa – How is Tulsa doing replacing the injured RB Shamari Brooks? This week RB TK Wilkerson rushed for 22/86-1, while RB Corey Taylor went for 11/60. In Tulsa’s first game Taylor was very limited as he was just coming out of covid-quarantine. The opening game leader RB Deneric Prince, was 8/41 this week. I might take a flyer on Wilkerson if you need a RB.

Virginia – QB Brennan Armstrong was 24/43-270-3 against Clemson. But what really stood out to me was that he rushed 22 times for 89 yards. The next leading rusher was RB Wayne Taulapapa with 13/47. Armstrong has more rushing attempts than any other Cavalier over 2 games plus is averaging 44 passes a game. I like that volume.