College Fantasy Box Score: Week 12

1. Dennis Kennedy, RB, Akron (52.8 pts)
    25 car, 142 yards, 3 TD, 5 rec, 121 yards, TD

2. Case Keenum, QB, Houston (50.4 pts)
    402 yards, 6 TD, 43 rush yards, TD

3. James Starks, RB, Buffalo (48.6 pts)
    37 carries, 151 yards, 3 TD, 13 rec, 90 yards

Mike Teel Is Just Plain Mean

Da’ Rutgers continues to resurrect its season after a 1-5, 0-2 start to the season. The Knights are one win from bowl eligibility after four straight wins – all in the Big East. The play of Mike Teel has been the difference. In the first seven games of the season, Teel had thrown for three touchdowns and seven interceptions. In the last three games, he has thrown 12 touchdowns. Rutgers has averaged 46 points per game over that span. Teel also added a rushing touchdown for good measure this week in the 49-16 blowout of South Florida. Against Army this week, he is a legitimate fantasy option.

Gold Miner

Trevor Vittatoe had two touchdowns passes in his first three games of the 2008 season. Since then, he has been fantasy gold. He has thrown for no less than three touchdowns passes in each of the last seven games since. In three of those games, Vittatoe tossed at least four scores. Totals over the last seven: 23 TD, 3 INT. Not bad. With Houston still left on the schedule, Vittatoe should keep up his elite fantasy numbers.

Wide Back or Running Receiver?

The lines between receiver and running back are becoming increasingly blurred. As more offense toy with motion and alternate formations, wideouts are ending up with more and more rushing attempts. Heck, even tight ends like Eddie Williams, James Casey and Charles Clay get into the action on the ground. However, none has been as effective as Percy Harvin (my current vote for Heisman). The open-field dynamo has almost scored as many touchdowns in his last four games (7) as number of receptions (8). He added 286 yards (12.4 yards per carry) rushing over that span. He has scored in 12 straight games; the last time Percy Harvin played and did not score a touchdown is October 27th, 2007. The symmetry of his game this season has been astounding: 519 receiving yards, 7 TD and 476 rush yards, 7 TD.

True Dual-Threat

One could argue that since the beginning of time, the quarterback was in fact a runner first. The single-wing and veer offenses were run-based systems in which the quarterback was the primary ball carrier at times. However, the start to the true dual-threat started in the early 1990s with names like Charlie Ward and Tommie Frazier. The torch was carried on by Scott Frost and Eric Crouch. Then it was passed on to Brad Banks, Vince Young and then Pat White. In 2008, the number of dual-threats is reaching an all-time high. Ohio State’s Terrelle Pryor is currently leading the Big Ten in passing efficiency. He might also be the best athlete playing quarterback in the nation. This weekend saw it taken to a new level. Three quarterbacks rushed for at least three touchdowns: Julian Edleman (Kent St), Jeremiah Masoli (Oregon) and Joe Webb (UAB) each reached paydirt thrice. Dan LeFevour, Tyrod Taylor, Jevan Snead, Colin Kaepernick and even Joe Ganz had two rushing touchdowns this weekend.

An Exhibition in Mediocrity

Tim Tebow is really good. Heisman Trophy good. Matt Stafford is good — 27-6 as a starter good. Jevan Snead and Chris Nickson are pretty good too as both have led their teams to a bowl for the first time in a while. The rest of the signal callers in the SEC, however, have been bad. Only six of the 12 starters have managed to throw more touchdowns than interceptions. In fact, removing the four quarterbacks from above, the touchdown to interception ratio for the other eight starters is 56 TD: 65 INT. If you remove the four Heisman Trophy candidates in the Big 12, the other eight starters ratio is 144 TD: 62 INT.

* - career records as starters.

– Removing JPW's 24-13 record, those quarterbacks are 36-38 as starters.

– LSU’s Jarrett Lee has thrown as many touchdowns for the opposition (7 INT returns) as Kodi Burns, Randall Cobb and Jonathan Compton have for their teams combined (7).

– John Parker Wilson has gone four straight games without a touchdown pass.

– Nebraska's Marlon Lucky — a running back — has as many TD tosses as Cobb and Burns (2).

– Western Michigan's Tim Hiller — the third best quarterback in the MAC-West — has more touchdown passes (33) than Cobb, Tyson Lee, Crompton, Burns, Wilson and Dick combined (31).

– The 12 SEC starters combined for 119 TDs this season thus far. The Big 12's starters have combined for 278. This does not include the 71 rushing touchdowns the Big 12 starters have scored as compared to the 43 from SEC starters. For those keeping score, that's Big 12 349 and SEC 162.