Texas pulled out an ugly win against the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes 28-21 Saturday to even their record to 1-1. The Golden Hurricanes missed three field goals and had two turnovers. Lil Jordan Humphrey took over the offense with seven receptions, one hundred and seven yards, including a touchdown. Sam Ehlinger used his legs to clinch the game in their last drive to convert the much needed first down to win their first game of the season.
The game got underway as Freshman Safety Caleb Sterns intercepted Tulsa’s quarterback Luke Skipper on the first play of the game. Ehlinger took advantaged completing a thirty six yarder to Humphrey at Tulsa’s one yard line then ran it into the endzone on the next play.
After a missed field goal and a few change of possessions Texas offense began to click. Four plays for fifty four yards is all it took to extend the lead. Keontay Ingram broke a tackle scoring from twenty nine yards out to make it 14-0, it seemed like it was going to be a blow out early.
And it sure looked that way as Safety Brandon Foster took the ball away from Skipper. Unfortunately Texas punted on their next two drives failing to keep their explosiveness going. It seemed the Golden Hurricanes were going to put some points on the board after a block punt in Texas territory, but they missed their second consecutive field goal.
Texas had a chance to score before halftime so they handed the start of the drive to the running back tandem Ingram and Watson. Texas was able to rush five times for thirty five yards. This opened up the pass for Humphrey for a tremendous forty yard touchdown to end the halftime 21-0.
Tulsa made some adjustments in the second half putting a scare on the Longhorns. They stopped the offense with two punts and a fumble before they put fourteen on the scoreboard cutting the lead to seven.
The Horns responded with their longest drive in the game going thirteen plays after Watson ran in for a touchdown giving them some breathing room 28-14. Of course it had to get interesting it’s college football. Tulsa came after that possession to cut it again to seven putting the horns into a crucial drive.
It all came down to third and one at their own forty yard line. The game was on the line. The game turned to Ehlinger as he rushed for three yards to keep the game going and the clock moving. Daniel Young entered the game for the Longhorns rushing for 9, 30, 2 clinching the win. An ugly loss but wins are just that wins
Some games neither team deserves to lose. Friday’s non-district clash between Liberty Hill and Hutto at Hippo Stadium in Hutto, TX, was one of those games.
The Panthers and Hippos went punch-for-punch in a high-scoring bonanza before a two-point conversion stop in overtime gave Hutto the 52-51 win.
“We knew we were going to have a hard time stopping them,” said Hutto coach Brad LaPlante. “That team will play four or five rounds deep (in the playoffs). But I hope that’s also a sign that we’ll play four of five rounds deep, too. It’s not that their defense was bad. It’s not that our defense was bad. We’re two really good offensive football teams.”
Hutto had the ball at Liberty Hill’s 18-yard line with an eight-point lead and barely more than five minutes to go after senior linebacker Hunter Blair recovered a fumbled snap by the Panthers. A score likely would’ve put it away, but the Hippos gave it right back when senior running Chux Nwabuko fumbled a swing pass on the next play.
Liberty Hill took advantage of its second life with a 12-play, 66-yard drive that ended with junior quarterback Jacob Clearly sneaking it in from one yard out with 23 seconds left. Still needing a two-point conversion to tie, senior running back Shane Gonzalez powered through the Hippo defense to reach the end zone and silence a Hutto crowd that was getting increasingly raucous throughout the second half.
Hutto scored on the opening possession of overtime when senior quarterback Chase Griffin placed a perfect pass on the right cornerback’s back shoulder and senior wide receiver Caleb Forrest made the necessary adjustment for the 15-yard touchdown. Liberty Hill scored on its first overtime possession, too, with an 11-yard touchdown run from senior Kyle Harrison.
Rather than take the extra point and force another overtime, however, Liberty Hill coach Jeff Walker decided to go for the win. He called for a handoff to senior running back Connor Kuykendall, but the handoff was awkward and Hutto’s defense collapsed on the ball and made the game-saving stop at the one-yard line to send its sideline and crowd into a euphoric eruption.
“Well, you call a timeout, settle your kids down. Whatever else happened, it doesn’t matter to that point. If we can make one play, game’s over,” LaPlante said. “We just needed that one stop.”
Griffin completed 30-of-44 passes for 455 yards with seven touchdowns and no interceptions as he continues to make his case for best quarterback in the state. His top target was Forrest, who hauled in 10 grabs for 230 yards and four touchdowns. Nwabaku took six carries for 31 yards and added seven catches for 52 yards with a 16-yard score. Junior wide receiver Dajon Harrison had six receptions for 76 yards and rushed for 31 yards on three jet-sweeps.
“Offensively, I think I did a good job, along with the receivers, O-line and the running backs of just sticking to what we know,” Griffin said. “We know that we can take five yards and turn it into ten yards with our playmakers. Kudos to the O-line and kudos to all the playmakers who really extended yards after catch… They don’t blitz a whole bunch. They’re very steady. But we saw we had some athletic advantages on the outside so just kept on trying to get the ball to the perimeter.”
Liberty Hill racked up 585 total yards, with 531 of those coming on the ground, as its Slot-T offense flummoxed Hutto’s defense with its bevy of fakes and misdirections. 302 of those yards came on 21 carries from Harrison, who scored five touchdowns. Kuykendall also hit the century mark with 113 yards on 15 totes. Gonzalez plugged away for another 87 yards on 17 attempts.
“You don’t prepare for a team like that every week,” LaPlante said.“Our defense can stop our offense in practice. They feel really good. They have a lot of confidence. They have to understand what they’re going against in that machine, and just the different type of offense that of these kids may have never seen. Maybe youth football, fourth grade. Some of them, they haven’t seen it, and that’s OK. That’s why you didn’t see our coaches get down. We kept on playing… and eventually, we got what we needed.”
Texas allowed one to slip away Saturday to open up the season against Maryland losing 34-29 at FedEx Field home of the Redskins. Maryland freshman Jeshaun Jones showed out with his own hat trick catching, throwing, and running for a touchdown. The game began with a moment of silence for the Maryland’s fallen teammate Jordan McNair who died of a heat stroke in the spring. Once it all started the revenge game from last year’s upset loss slowly went out of reach. Where did it all go wrong?
On their first possession, Maryland exploded with a few big plays that put Texas on their heels with a Taivon Jacobs twenty-three yard pass then Jeshaun Jones capped off the drive with a twenty-eight yard run into the endzone. The defense was unable to figure out what was going on early on.
After back to back punts Texas gained great field position as Brandon Jones returned it to the Maryland’s thirty-nine yard line. The Longhorns on their very first play, Sam Ehlinger connected with Devin Duvernay for thirty-nine yards to tie the game 7-7. It seemed the game was evenly matched with each team creating big plays against the defense early.
Jeshaun Jones would keep it going catching a Kasim Hill sixty five yard touchdown by the eight minute mark of the first quarter. Maryland ran away with the game in the second quarter once Jeshaun Jones threw a touchdown to Jaivon Jacobs to take a 24-7 lead.
The ejection of linebacker Gary Johnson and the first half suspension of Anthony Wheeler contributed to a decimated defense.
Texas responded with a Keontay Ingram touchdown, a Terp’s safety, and a beautiful throw to a leaping Colin Johnson to trim the lead 24-22 that changed the momentum of the game at halftime.
The third quarter went underway as both defenses held firm to force punts. Texas was able to stop the Terps on a fourth down when Hill attempted to run for the first down. Sam Ehlinger came out and completed another completion to Colin Johnson at the two yard line. Kyle Porter stepped into the endzone to give the Horns their very first lead of the game 29-24 towards the end of the quarter.
The elements came at the beginning of the fourth to cause an almost ninety minute weather delay. After mother nature left the Terp’s went on an eleven play drive to take back the lead. Tayon Fleet-Davis scored on a seventeen yard run that took a ton of time off the game clock.
Impatiently Texas tried to come back forcing an interception and a fumble with less than five minutes left in the game.
Maryland was able to squeeze a field goal to go up by five and made the decision to run out the clock that Texas was able to stop with three minutes left to play to give the Horns one more drive for a comeback win.
Ehlinger completed a seventeen yard completion to Lil’ Jordan Humphrey to midfield and a fourth down thirteen yard conversion to Duvernay. It looked like a Ehlinger game winning drive, but on their final play he rushed out to the right side of the field launched it over his intended receiver’s head and was caught by a Maryland secondary player; A gut blowing loss to start the season.
The Pflugerville Panthers and the Bowie Bulldogs took it to the grid iron Friday night as the Bulldogs won handily 45-13 at Pfield. In a combined effort Trinidad Sanders accounted for four touchdowns; three through the air and one on the ground for Bowie. Bowie’s running back Kyle Carter contributed two long rushing touchdowns.
The game started off on a slow start as both teams went three and out on the game’s first three series. Once Bowie settled into their offense Sanders found Jackson Lord for the first score of the game. Their defense forced another punt for the Panthers and started again with great field position. Sanders continued where he left with another forty yarder to Jayden York and used his legs to extend the Bowie Bulldogs to a 21-0 lead in the second quarter.
The Panthers finally past the fifty in the second quarter with the help of senior running back Ik Evbayiro and freshman running back Elijah Oakmon. Oakmon helped the Panthers with a 43 yard reception right before he went into the endzone falling on the one yard line. He would then make up for it getting in the endzone to score their first points of the game.
Sanders would then lead the offense swiftly into Panthers territory running for thirty three yards. He shared the wealth handing it off to Kyle Carter on the eleven yard line to improve their lead 28-7.
Panthers attempted to make an effort to keep up but Bowie’s Terrance Durst intercepted the ball at the forty one yard line. Again Sanders easily led the Bulldogs to a 35-7 lead right before halftime.
The third quarter was underway as Bowie continued their control of the game. Jackson Lord took a thirty one yard reception and Kyle Carter used his legs to run through the Panther’s defense to score his second rushing touchdown of the game.
The Panther’s defense wasn’t prepared for the high powered Bulldog’s offense giving up multiple big plays throughout the game. The game slowed down and by the end of the third quarter Bowie rewarded their starters by keeping them out the rest of the game once the fourth quarter began.
Bowie will look to keep it going against the Madison Mavericks while Pflugerville will look to get their first win against the Leander Lions.
There’s been a lot made about Cedar Park’s ‘Black Rain’ defense, and rightfully so. The Timberwolves have fielded one of Central Texas’s best defensive units for some time now. But on Friday at John Gupton Stadium in Austin, the Vandegrift resistance stole the show.
Missing its most experienced defender, the Vipers pitched a first-half shutout, gathered two interceptions – one of which was returned for a touchdown –and held the Timberwolves to 251 yards on 56 plays (4.5 yards per play) in a convincing 29-13 season-opening win.
“Hey, it was our defense that showed up to play. That was from the very get-go,” said Vandegrift coach Drew Sanders. “They talk a lot about Black Rain, but I’m really impressed with the Vandegrift defense tonight.”
Vandegrift used a defensive strategy it had never ran against Cedar Park, which helped mask that is what playing without senior linebacker Spencer Jones, who made 136 tackles (11 for a loss) and five sacks last year.
The tweak was going with three-man fronts instead of even looks, and the Timberwolves looked utterly confused as they tried to dissect it. Senior quarterback Ryan Fiala, who came into the game with much hype, completed just 4-of-11 passes for 55 yards with two interceptions before being pulled late in the second quarter. Each of his last seven throws either fell to the turf or ended up in the hands of the defense.
“I think we’ve got a great defensive line,” Sanders said. “We probably have six guys that can all play at a very high level. We rotated them all tonight. That was the difference. We didn’t get tired as the game went on. I’m just so dang proud of our defense because we always kind of take a back seat. It was really nice to see our defense show up tonight.”
The game was deadlocked at zero for most the first half before two quick touchdowns gave Vandegrift a 14-0 lead going into the break. Junior quarterback Dru Dawson completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Trey Mongauzy on a slant with 4:27 to go. About a minute later, senior cornerback Reese Watson intercepted a pass and returned it 22 yards for another score.
“We schemed it very well. I knew I had to make a play on the ball to help my team just win,” Watson said. “It was absolutely amazing. We definitely set up our offense. Gave them confidence. Gave our whole team more confidence… We still have corrections to do and we still have work to do, but this means that this team can go really, really far.”
Dawson and Mongauzy hooked up again in the third quarter when Mongauzy got wide open for a 31-yard score to make it 22-0. Cedar Park got back within two possessions on the opening play of the fourth quarter when sophomore quarterback Ryder Hernandez (8-of-18, 98 yards, two touchdowns, 32 yards rushing) rolled to the right and threw a 12-yard scoring strike on the run to an open Carson Neel (five catches, 61 yards, two touchdowns).
But Dawson iced the game with a 19-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to senior running back Brandon Bennett with 3:02 to go. Dawson finished 8-of-13 for 111 yards with no interceptions and added 35 yards on the ground.
“(Dawson was) unbelievable, and he came back actually from kind of a so-so performance against Belton (in the scrimmage) and that shows his character or strength,” Sanders said. “He came back and that fourth down play to seal it (was a) beautiful pass. He was wide open. That’s hard to do as a junior (in your) first time starting in this game.”
Q: You’re on the most respected coaches in the state. You could probably coach any school in any city but you choose to coach here at Westlake in Austin. What do you love most about coaching at Westlake and living in Austin?
A: My favorite part about coaching at Westlake is just the great tradition that this place has. I love being at places that have tremendous tradition. There have been a lot of great players and a lot of great coaches that have come before us. Just like we did when we were at our run at Southlake Carroll, we wanted to make sure that we honor what came before us by continuing to raise the bar and making sure that we’re keeping this program in the very top five to ten teams in the state of Texas year-in, year-out. It’s not just a team very year. It’s a program that people have built around here and we want to continue to do that.
Q: One of my favorite parts about covering you last year was seeing the extra respect you paid to your opponents after games. After the Niceville (Fla.) game, you brought all the Niceville kids together and thanked them for coming to Texas. After the Lake Travis game, you went up to (Lake Travis quarterback) Matthew Baldwin and gave him a few extra words of encouragement. Why do you go out of your way to do that and how do you feel about the state of sportsmanship today>
A: One of the things is we want our players always to absolutely respect our opponents. We’re going to prepare extremely hard over the course of the week. We’re going to study them. We’re going to know everything that we can about them. One thing that I think is the biggest form of flattery is that you respect your opponent, and you prepare as hard as you possibly can. The one thing that we want to always make sure that never happens is we don’t get beat because we disrespected someone. As far as the stuff after the games, I take a lot of pride in being in the brotherhood of high school football in the state of Texas. This is something very special. Just because you’re not on the same team doesn’t mean your not in the same brotherhood, and so when the game is over with I want our players, I want our coaches to show respect to the people that we played against. I’ve always got something to say. We’ve been watching them all week long and want to encourage those guys for the rest of the year and let them know what we think about them, that they did a good job, and that’s just something that hopefully will permeate through our entire team.
Q: How you do feel senior quarterback Taylor Anderson has grown since he was first thrust into the starting role as a young sophomore?
A: Taylor is a veteran now. Taylor has started 22 games for us. Probably no one ever expected him to start seven games as a sophomore but we were 6-1 in the starts that he had as a sophomore. Obviously, last year, led us to a 14-1 season. It’s not even close. He is truly an outstanding leader because of his toughness and the one thing about Taylor, Taylor is a guy willing to do whatever it takes for his football team. I think the epitome of mental toughness was in last year’s Lake Travis game. He had a really bad first half as far as production. He threw three interceptions in the first half, and a lot of guys could’ve gone in the tank right there. He comes in at halftime and tells his teammates, ‘hey guys, y’all keep playing. I’m going to be alright. I’m going to get my stuff together.’ He rushed for about 125 yards, a couple touchdowns in the second half, led us to a victory. So that’s who he is. There are a lot of dual-threat quarterbacks in the state of Texas right now. He’s one of them. He’s a guy who rushed for 1,100 and threw for 3,000 (yards) last year and he accounted for about almost 50 touchdowns.
Westlake at Pflugerville 2017
Q: What do you think makes Tony Salazar such a special defensive coordinator?
A: He comes from a great lineage of defensive coaches. He learned under Pete Fredenburg and the guys at Mary Hardin-Baylor that play tremendous defense. He’s very intelligent, very passionate. He’s a guy that’s a tremendous teacher of the game. A lot of times people don’t equate coaches as teachers. We’re all teachers. It’s just our classroom when we’re coaching football is a little bit different. It’s out here in the open. It’s here between the white lines. But Tony is (somebody) I wouldn’t trade for anybody in the world.
Q: Name one player that lot of guys might not know but you think has had a great preseason camp and could potentially turn some heads this season?
A: A guy that a lot of people probably haven’t heard of yet or is not a household name is Drew Webster. Drew played a bunch of football for us last year but he wasn’t a starter at safety. He played enough to almost be a starter. So on the defensive side of the ball, it’s him. On the offensive side of the ball, I think that Tripp Graham – our running back – is going to surprise a lot of people in the replacing of Nakia Watson.
The real games don’t start until next week, but that doesn’t make what Lake Travis did to Round Rock Cedar Ridge Friday night any less impressive. The Cavaliers scored four touchdowns to the Raiders’ one in a scrimmage at Cavalier Stadium in Austin.
Each team ran 60-65 plays, and to no one’s surprise, Lake Travis senior wide receiver Garrett Wilson was the star of the show. The Ohio State pledge caught six balls for 184 yards and four touchdowns while being on the field for only half of his team’s offensive snaps.
Wilson showed his ability to high point the ball on Lake Travis’s third play when he out-leaped the defensive back on a slightly under-thrown deep ball for a 44-yard gain. On the next play, he flashed his aptitude to get yards after the catch with a ten-yard touchdown on a screen pass to the flat.
His third catch highlighted his route running and breakaway speed as he got behind his man on a deep post, caught the ball in stride and zoomed to the end zone for a 72-yard score. For his last grab, he used his physical prowess to outmuscle his defender for a 50-50 ball at the one-yard line and power through him for a 31-yard touchdown.
“It’s awesome,” said Lake Travis junior quarterback Hudson Card with a chuckle. “I know if I throw it up there he’s going to go get it. He’s a great target to throw to.”
Lake Travis has a new offensive coordinator in former University of Texas offensive quality control coach Will Stein, but things didn’t look much different. The Cavs No. 1 offense still threw it a ton, played at a quick pace and had no problems scoring.
Card completed 15-of-18 passes for 295 yards with four touchdowns (all to Wilson) and no interceptions. It somehow could’ve been better. Two of his incompletions were dropped passes on balls that were 30-plus yards down the field.
“It was good to get out here with all the guys and face someone other than our team,” Card said. “(The new offense) is a little different but we practiced a lot of it over the summer and obviously in fall camp so we’re all getting the hang of it and it’s going good so far.”
From the other perspective, Cedar Ridge’s defense may have some problems – especially on the backend. The Raiders lost 10 starters from a unit that allowed 18.2 points per game last year. The pass rush was still there with Texas State-bound Edgerrin Williams and others able to get pressure off the edge, but Lake Travis receivers found a lot of open space in the secondary.
Cedar Ridge’s only score came right off the bat. The first play of the exhibition saw speedy senior wide receiver Jaylen Ellis – a Baylor commit – get behind the defense on a play-action pass for a 66-yard gain. That set up a four-yard touchdown scamper on the next play by senior running back Duece Vaughn. But Ellis was quiet the rest of the scrimmage, and so too was the Raiders’ offense.
Lake Travis sophomore defensive lineman Raleigh Erwin had a sack, a tackle for loss, a quarterback hurry and a number of other stops that had the Lake Travis home crowd hollering his name. Junior linebacker Mauricio Trevion also seemed to be getting his nose in a lot of plays.
Though Lake Travis clearly outplayed its opponent, nothing from the scrimmage actually counts toward the 2018 season. Both teams will be 0-0 and favorites in their respective districts when the season kicks off Friday, Aug. 31. The Cavaliers open at Arlington Martin, and the Raiders at Temple. Both games will start at 7:30 p.m.
2017’s 7-6 season was good for Tom Herman’s first season with the Texas Longhorns, but that’s certainly not the expectation moving forward.
Fortunately for Herman and Longhorn fans all over, should their quarterback play solidify, this could be an excellent season for a variety of factors.
On the defensive side of the ball, Texas lost a metric ton of stellar players to the NFL. They also return two of the most important pieces in a Big 12 defense: both defensive ends. Breckyn Hager and Charles Omenihu can get after the quarterback, which in the pass-happy Big 12 can pay massive dividends. That fearsome defensive front will have to carry a lot of water early in the season, as the defensive backfield is likely to be full of younger players who will need to get used to the speed of college football. Todd Orlando will earn every cent of his 1.7 million dollar salary getting his youthful secondary up to snuff.
Of course, while the defense might take a slight step back due to attrition, the offense has a chance to make a leap forward. Shane Buechele and Sam Ehlinger both return, as do a slew of talented skill position players. The offensive line is harder to predict, but with an influx of talent in graduate transfer Calvin Anderson and a new offensive line coach in Herb Hand, there’s a chance at improvement. All in all, just a little bit of progress might be all the Longhorns need to take a solid season.
The real reason for optimism comes from the rest of the conference: it’s likely to be a down year in the rest of the Big 12. Gone are names like Baker Mayfield, Mason Rudolph, and James Washington, who have terrorized the Longhorns in the past. Essentially, most teams in the Big 12 are rebuilding, and that leaves a bigger space for Texas to strike. If Herman and his boys can strike while the iron is hot, the Longhorns could be looking at a successful season by default due to the relative weakness of their conference slate.
The Longhorns will have a chance to play for a Big 12 Championship this season and possibly boast a 9-2 Record overall. At least that is the hope for this Texas Fan. But, the Horns will be better by a few wins this year due to an improved offense and a defense that is young and building a foundation. As Hunter Cooke pointed out the other day on this site, the Big 12 is the weakest conference out of the Power 5 in 2018.
Herman’s young team needs to improve on the offensive side of the ball this year if they are to get to double digit wins and his pair of young QBs will have to settle down sand have some composure in the pocket for this to happen this fall. The Texas class this spring was #3 in the nation and Herman’s quote from national signing day gave hope for the fan base on the 40 acres.
Key Quote: “There’s going to be a lot of competition on the defensive side. On both sides of the ball really. But I think we all can see, whoa, that side of the ball just got real in a hurry,” Herman said of the defensive outlook on National Signing Day. “To sign the three best safeties in the country (Caden Sterns and B.J. Foster), as well as what we think are the two best corners in the country, Jalen Green and D’Shawn Jamison, then the two best defensive tackles in the state in Moro Ojomo and Keondre Coburn, then the best pass-rusher in the state with Joseph Ossai, then Mike Williams and Daniel Carson as well.”
The defense led by Todd Orlando should be the a nice surprise in 2018. Brandon Jones is a big factor since the loss of DeShon Elliot to the NFL. DBU boast seniors Davante Davis, PJ Locke , & Kris Boyd, along with a several freshman defensive backs in Jalen Green, Anthony Cook, and Caden Sterns, along with Turner Symonds & BJ Foster. While we are optimistic this year after Herman’s first season going 7-6 with a bowl win, Horns fans are hungry for more than a mediocre season after some hard years under Charlie Strong. We think that the record will vastly improve this season and the record in 2018 will go up a few wins.
Our prediction is that Herman’s sophomore year will earn a few more wins in 2018 and gain back fans loyalty at Texas. The Horns should improve to a 9-2 record based on conference strength and a better looking offense and a young defense with several players returning.
If you love football, you will love fantasy football. This is your opportunity to be an NFL team general manager/coach, adding an extra layer of fandom to regular professional football watching. The best way to get started is to join a league. You can play in a league with your buddies, or join by yourself. The most popular leagues are sponsored by Yahoo and ESPN. I prefer the latter. Both use a head-to-head scoring format, in a 13-week regular season and 3- or 4-week playoff bracket system. League drafts are starting now.
Drafting your team is the first step, and participating in a live draft is exhilarating. However, you don’t need to participate in the draft. Last year, I had a schedule conflict and couldn’t attend my draft, so my team was selected by ESPN, via auto pick. If you don’t know anything about the game, auto pick is a good way to start. After you assemble a team, you’ll rely on what your players do in actual games every week to generate fantasy points. The team with the most fantasy points each week wins his/her head-to-head match.
At its core, fantasy football is a math-based game based on the real-life production of players. Each week, you fill out a roster by “starting” players at the various positions allowed based on your league settings. These usually include one quarterback (QB), two running backs (RB), two wide receivers (WR), one tight end (TE), one kicker (K), one defense (D/ST) and one FLEX (usually RB or WR). There are a total of nine in your starting lineup, but you also have seven players on your bench. Bench player stats don’t count.
The statistics your starting players accumulate on the field (yards, touchdowns, etc.) contribute to their point total for the week. The point totals of all of the players in your starting lineup are tallied, and if you have a higher total than your opponent (another member of your league) you win that week. You set your lineup based on your perception of who will play best on a given week. There are standard leagues and PPR (point-per-reception) leagues, where tight ends and running backs receive a point for each reception.
Each week will proceed like this until the end of the fantasy regular season (Week 13). At this point, the teams with the best win-loss records will enter the fantasy playoffs, for win-or-go-home head-to-head matchups. Depending on the number of teams in your league, the playoffs can last three, or four weeks. Whoever wins all of his/her games in the playoffs is the league champion. Last year, I was playing in a 10-team ESPN league, and six made the playoffs. Two teams got a bye in the first week of the playoffs.
Winning is simple (not easy). You choose the best players, through the draft and waiver wire, work around injuries and decide the right players to start each week. Remember, you have 16 players on your team but only nine in your starting lineup. The points scored by the others on the bench don’t count. That’s why it’s so important to choose the right starters. Look at matchups, which are critical. You can spend a little, or a lot of time looking at the stats to determine who to start each week. It can become a second job if you let it.
One mistake you must avoid in the draft is wasting a draft pick on a quarterback in the early rounds. There is large supply of good quarterbacks. If you’re in a 10-team league, there will be ten starting quarterbacks selected, but there are a total of 32 NFL quarterbacks, and most of them are good enough to draft. Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady might get drafted as early as the fourth round. But you will probably be able to get Alex Smith in the 12th round. Smith averaged 18.3 fantasy points last year – the same as Brady.
The most important players to draft in the early rounds are running backs and wide receivers. In my opinion, you will want to select a workhorse running back in the first round. This is a guy who will get a lot of carries each week. If you’re in a PPR league, you want a running back who also catches a lot of passes. Some leagues award a point for each reception, and some just a half-point. This makes a big difference. There is a short supply of really good running backs, so don’t hesitate to load up on running backs early on.
Wide receivers are harder to predict. Antonio Brown is in a league by himself, and you can draft him in the first round with a high level of confidence. He won’t be available in the second round. DeAndre Hopkins, Julio Jones and Odell Beckham are in the second tier. Then you have Michael Thomas, Devante Adams, Keenan Allen and A.J. Green in the third tier. I would predict that all seven of the second- and third-tier wide receivers will be gone in the second round. But I’d still rather have two top running backs on my team.
The middle rounds are also important, and this is where no one seems to agree on the talent. By the time you get to the third round, you’ll see pundits with a variety of opinions on the talent of these players. My advice is to read about the different players and make your own decision based on what sounds right. I will enter this year’s draft with an idea of who I will draft, and who I won’t draft. Then, I’ll let the players come to me, based on my draft order and what other players decide to do. This is not entirely predictable.
The late rounds (12-16) are the rounds where you will want to pick up your quarterback, defense and kicker. You may even select your tight end in one of the late rounds, but you would also be justified to spend a third-round pick to select Rob Gronkowski, the Patriots’ tight end. Gronk is in a class by himself, and he is Brady’s favorite receiver. If I can draft Gronk in the third round, I will do so. However, if someone else gets him first, I will wait. The No. 2 tight end if Travis Kelce, and he is projected to go late in the third round.
After the draft, you take off your general manager hat and put on your head coach hat. Who will you start in week 1? You’ll probably be going with the guys you drafted in the earlier rounds until they prove to be inferior to other players acquired later. But you also need to look at opponent strength and matchups, as I stated earlier. Dig into the statistics because this is the key to your success. You’re going to have injuries throughout the season, and you will also have bye weeks. You need to bench all players during their bye weeks.
I don’t want to minimize the importance of the draft, but you will not win or lose a fantasy championship with a draft. Last season, my No. 1 pick overall in the draft was David Johnson, and he was injured in the first quarter and lost for the season. Andrew Luck, my drafted quarterback, never played a game in 2017. I still managed to win the championship because I worked the waiver wire. I found Saints running back Alvin Kamara on the waiver wire in week three but dropped him. Later, I had to trade to get him, but it was worth it.
You won’t know how good, or bad, your fantasy team is after the draft. They may look good on paper, but the guys you think are studs could be duds. You could also have a rash of injuries. The good news is that there are always undiscovered stars waiting to be acquired on the waiver wire. You must be looking for that talent. Fantasy football is like life – you get out of it what you put into it. The harder you work at it, the luckier you will get in winning games and ultimately the coveted league championship. Have fun, and Godspeed.
