College Fantasy Football: Mid-Way Tips to grab bragging rights for the rest of the year

Now that we are more than halfway through the college football season, we have a much better idea of which players you should sign to your fantasy squad. I know, you say we still have all of November, December, and into January to look forward to, but much like NFL Fantasy, playoffs in my league start at the end of the regular season – weeks 12 and 13. What this means, is we are just past halftime, and already nearing the end of the fantasy season. (Tear.)

The entire nation has their eyes on Heisman hopefuls Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow, and Colt McCoy, but none of them have been transferring into big fantasy numbers - so beware. I drafted Bradford at the beginning of the season, but have yet to play him. In fact, I dropped him this week as a result of his bum-shoulder. Tebow should be somewhat of a tossup this week. He seems to have bounced back from his concussion, but it also seems to have made him a bit timid. Never stellar to begin with, his numbers seem slumped the last couple of weeks, but will be facing Mississippi State (1-2, 3-4) this week. As for Colt McCoy, even though he leads 6-0 Texas into Missouri (4-2), McCoy has thrown at least 1 INT per game and a grand total of 1 rushing TD this entire season – which doesn’t translate well into fantasy points.

With none of the top-10 QBs coming from BCS-ranked teams, I am sticking with Kellen Moore out of Boise State. Moore will face Hawaii, who is in the midst of a four game losing streak, and even though the Broncos are 4th in the BCS standings, they will have something to prove for the rest of the season if they even want to have a chance at Pasadena – and Kellen Moore will be real important in that equation. I took a risk on Moore last week and it worked out nicely for me, and he should be able to keep it up.

A new face to keep an eye on is Lance Dunbar (RB – North Texas). Dunbar was sidelined with an MCL injury in 2008, but it seems as if he has found his was back into the groove of things. In fact, I am giving Dunbar the nod over Evan Royster (RB – Penn St.). Yes, Royster is a good running back; yes, the threat Royster poses is extremely important to the success of his team and their 6-1 record; no, Royster is not a good fantasy-back. This year, he has rushed for a mediocre 641yds and only 4TDs. On the other hand, Dunbar has over 500yds and 9TDs…in the last 3 weeks. The fantasy value is evident in the numbers.

Every year, the second half of the season generally is pretty exciting. Now that we are done with “cupcake” games, every Saturday has conference and national implications. As a Fantasy coach, this means that you have 2 options: (1) get your act together and sign some fantasy point-producers; or (2) If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Even if you find your starting line-up in the category under (2), you need to make sure you stocked your bench with some of the better “Walk-Ons” (collegiate version of the Free Agent). The scheduling in the NCAA gets a little weird in November, with only some teams playing into Week 13.

Now is the time to make your moves, because before you know it we will be full-swing in Basket/Soccer/Hockey-Ball season, and the guy in the cubicle next to you will have bragging rights for an entire year.