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.
