SEC Fantasy Football Week 1

Summary

Chris and I are doing a little something different this season that we actually saw on the SEC Network and decided to change up and turn into our own weekly thing.  We'll be discussing it more on tomorrow's podcast, but this will be our weekly SEC Fantasy Football picks.  The rules are simple - we're using the default point system from NFL.com Fantasy Football, and we're only doing 4 picks per week... and you cannot choose the same player/defense more than once during the season.  So this is all about matchups and who we think will have the best statistical weekend against the team they're playing.  Week 1 is already looking pretty difficult because of the big time matchups, so who did we end up going with?

Week 1

Gary's picks:

QB: Drew Barker, Kentucky
  Kentucky opens with Southern Miss, who was 70th in the country last year in passing yards against.  Southern Miss did not perform well against teams with more talent, and Kentucky is much more talented than the Golden Eagles.  The Wildcats always seem to score a ton of points in their games against lesser competition, and this game should be no different.  They'll want to get Drew Barker as many opportunities for success as possible before they open SEC play in Week 2 against Florida, so look for a lot of easy throws, with some deep passes to take the top off the defense.  Drew should go for 300+ yards and at least a couple of touchdowns, if not more.

RB: Brandon Holloway, Mississippi St
  South Alabama gave up 221 ypg on the ground last season, and 34 rushing touchdowns.  With Miss St breaking in a new quarterback, they'll have the ground game going strong in this matchup, especially behind an experienced offensive line.  This game will be ground and pound all the way, and Holloway should have monster numbers.
 

WR: Christian Kirk, Texas A&M
  Last year, Christian McCaffrey carried 25 times for 243 yards and 4 touchdowns, and caught 1 pass for 4 yards against UCLA.  Christian Kirk can be used a lot of the same ways that McCaffery was.  He's not as good, but he'll be big out of the slot, and I think he'll even get some carries as a scat back in that offense.  I think A&M will take advantage of it - especially since their new OC is Noel Mazzone, who just came over from UCLA.  He knows what the defense's weaknesses are, and he'll exploit it.

Defense / Special Teams: Florida
  Florida faces UMass in the opening game of the season.  UMass only averaged 142 ypg rushing last year, and anything that they try to make up for in the passing game will just get snuffed out by Florida's awesome secondary.  I look for at least a couple of turnovers, at least one defensive or special teams touchdown, and their new field goal kicker looks like he could be the real deal.  I think this will be a blowout.


Chris's picks:

QB: Josh Dobbs, Tennessee
  Dobbs is being listed as a Heisman sleeper, and even though App St was the #11 total defense last year, they didn't face anybody like Tennessee.  In their 2 losses last year (at Clemson and at Arkansas St) they gave up huge deep passes, and the balanced rushing attack helped keep their safeties honest, which opened up the top.  Dobbs will have the same success against them.

RB: Kody Walker, Arkansas
   Arkansas always has a great rushing attack, and with Walker getting the starting nod, and Arkansas's offensive line being giants compared to LaTech's, I think they run the football early and often while trying to break in new QB Austin Allen.
 
WR: Josh Smith, Tennessee
  See what I put under Dobbs.  Smith will get a lot of looks against a defense that doesn't want to give up too much on the ground.
Defense / Special Teams: Florida
  For exactly the same reasons that Gary has them.  This defense is too athletic for UMass.