College Fantasy Box Score

At the midway point of the college football season, the fantasy editors here at Athlon have called an audible. The Freshman Tracker has been expanded to take on the entire nation. Each week, we will scour the box scores in search of the most dominant and sometimes intriguing stat lines of the week.

Week 7’s Top Performers:

1. Jason Chery, La.-Laf (50.8 pts)
Chery – a waiver wire pick-up in most leagues – showed immediate returns on investment. The Rajin' Cajun caught three passes for 123 yards, rushed for 85 yards and a score and returned a kick for a touchdown. That is 208 total yards on only six touches – that is an average of 34.6 yards-per-touch.

            2. Vai Taua, Nevada (47.7 pts)
                188 yards, 2 TD, 5 rec, 49 yards, 2 TD

            3. Andre Anderson, Tulane (46.5 pts)
                255 yards, 2 TD, 4 rec, 30 yards, TD

Triple Threat

Basketball coaches teach it all the time. The triple threat means that you can attack the court with a pass, dribble or shot. In football, it happens a lot less often. Memphis’ Arkelon Hall achieved the rare feat this weekend when he threw, ran and caught a touchdown pass against Louisville. Ironically enough, the same thing happened last week when the immortal James Casey ran, threw and caught his way into the end zone against Tulsa.

Throw Me The Damn Ball

Toledo’s Nick Moore entered this weekend’s contest with 20 receptions on the season. He matched that total in the upset victory over Michigan in The Big House. He caught 20 passes for 162 yards in the big win for the Rockets. It was the nation’s top receiving (receptions) game for 2008. Strangely enough, the nation’s second highest reception total happened this weekend as well when North Texas’ Casey Fitzgerald caught 14 passes for 231 yards and a score against La.-Lafayette.

Three other players caught at least 12 passes this week as well:
            - Ryan Tannehil, TAMU (12 rec, 210 yds, TD)
            - Rejus Benn, Illinois (12 rec, 181 yds)
            - Schnieder Julien, Western Michigan (12 rec, 111 yds, TD)

Just Throw The Ball At All

Kansas State’s Josh Freeman threw for 234 yards and no touchdowns this weekend. So how, then, did he become the nation’s top fantasy quarterback? Well, the massive junior ran for 94 yards on 18 carries while scoring four touchdowns. That pushes his season rushing touchdown total to 12. He is now tied for third in the nation in rushing touchdowns. This means that Freeman has scored more rushing touchdowns than Chris Wells (2), Damion Fletcher (5) and Ian Johnson (4) combined.

            1. Javon Ringer, Michigan State (14)
            2. MiQuale Lewis, Ball State (13)
            3t. Josh Freeman, Kansas State (12)
            3t. Donald Brown, UConn (12)

Total Offensive Blitzkrieg

Two of the top four total offense outputs of the 2008 season took place this weekend. Juice Williams of Illinois put up 503 yards of total offense and Jerrod Johnson of Texas A&M gained 487 yards. Interestingly enough and in true blitzkrieg style, Williams and Johnson both lost on Saturday - at home (no offense to "Zee Germans").

            1. Graham Harrell, Texas Tech: 538 yds (Eastern Washington)
            2. Juice Williams, Illinois: 503 yds (Minnesota)
            3. Max Hall, BYU: 490 yds (Northern Iowa)
            4. Jerrod Johnson, TAMU: 487 yds (Kansas State)

Freshman Of The Week:

Ryan Tannehill, WR/QB, Texas A&M
No, not the mullet-sporting quarterback from South Carolina. That’s Taneyhill. But a tall, rangy converted freshman wide receiver. This Tannehill caught 12 passes for 210 yards and a score. That is 19 yards more than he had all season (191). Not bad for a guy who was a quarterback at the start of the season.

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