Welcome to the final week of the regular season for standard CFF leagues. Apologies for the lack of a Pulse last week, but we had some technical difficulties. So, this week will include some Dynasty QB talk that was included in last week’s edition that didn’t get published, plus some other nuggets.
My Top 5 Dynasty QBs
- Liam Szarka, Air Force (Soph)
- Demond Williams, Washington (Soph)
- Marcel Reed, Texas A&M (Soph)
- Bad Brad Jackson, Texas State (FR)
- Mason Heintschel, Pitt (FR)
Will Hammond would have been somewhere on this list had he not torn the ACL. But a late October ACL could mean Tech brings in a transfer to compete with him.
Sneaky Dynasty QB Options
Braxton Woodson, Navy (Junior)- Horvath has been nails, and Woodson has been just as good in spot duty for him. He could be a league winner next year.
Anthony Garcia, Utah State (Soph)- “Football Player” is the position for this backup QB to Bryson Barnes. Bronco loves these guys. He’s getting significant snaps at WR, so the athleticism is there.
Tama Amisone, San Jose State (FR)- Spread-n-Shred with a true dual-threat QB….Count me all the way in.
Lincoln Kienholz, Ohio State (Soph) – Bet on the athletic QB to transfer to a decent landing spot. Non-zero chance you have the starting QB for the Buckeyes this season if something were to happen to Sayin (God forbid)
Aaron Philo, Georgia Tech (rFR)- Haynes King might finish as the QB1 on the season, and Philo is clearly next up as he has looked more than capable in spot duty last year. He’s a very underrated QB with an electric arm.
Great Scott!
The redshirt freshman for South Alabama, Jeremy Scott, has exploded onto the scene over the last two weeks. He is someone I suggested to Jared Palmgren for the waiver article this week. I don’t think he listened. At 6’3″ and 208 lbs., he’s clearly a boundary WR.
We generally prefer the slot under Major Applewhite, but let’s not forget Jalen Tolbert’s 2021 season under Applewhite, where he went for 82-1474-8 on 129 targets from the boundary. Jalen Wayne, another boundary guy, led SoAL in receiving in 2022. Scott was committed to Ole Miss and had committable offers from other SEC programs, including Arkansas, Vandy, and Mississippi State. Applewhite has likely built enough credit with the Jaguar bank to see if he can turn things around in 2026.
The Denbrock Effect
Clearly, the Irish OC has things rolling in South Bend, and Marcus Freeman certainly owes Denbrock big for keeping things afloat early in the season when the defense struggled. Luke Fickell and Brian Kelly also need to send Denbrock a Jelly of the Month Club order this Christmas.
Denbrock was a significant factor in Fickell getting the Wisconsin job. His offense at Cincy scored 36.9 PPG (11th nationally) in 2021, and Cincy dropped to 29.2 (59th) after Denbrock left, but Wisconsin still hired Fickell. Without Denbrock, Fickell’s offenses have flopped massively in Madison.
Denbrock linked back up with Kelly at LSU in 2022, and the LSU offense saw an immediate boost by increasing 8 PPG. Denbrock then led the LSU offense to go nuclear in 2023, ranking first in scoring at 45.5 PPG. Upon Denbrock leaving to join Freeman at Notre Dame, the LSU offense quickly dropped from 30.5 PPG in 2024 to 25 PPG this year. It took less than two years for the LSU offense to drop from 1st to 84th after losing Denbrock.
All this to say that losing Mike Denbrock has been a career killer for Brian Kelly and Luke Fickell.
Wild Stats
Rohan Jones, Arkansas TE: Has 411 yards and 4 TDs on just 15 targets. His ADOT of 16.5 yards is a full 2.1 yards more than the next closest TE. He has zero drops, and all 13 of his receptions have gone for a TD or a first down.
Malik Washington, Maryland QB: Pressure to sack rate of 4.2%. This is the second lowest in the country. For perspective, Bear Bachmeier has the second-best pressure-to-sack rate for a true freshman, and his 15.4% is good for 50th among all QBs.
Christopher Vizzina, Clemson QB: Has six turnover-worthy plays on 64 drop-backs. His turnover-worthy play rate of 9.1% is second in the country among QBs with more than 50 drop-backs. It is safe to say Clemson will step outside their comfort zone and pursue a starting QB in the portal.
Isaac Brown, Louisville RB: Missed tackles forced rate of 44.4% (1st nationally), 5.12 yards after contact/attempt (8th), and breakaway rate of 64.9% (2nd). He was so close to achieving the RB Advanced Metrics Triple Crown. A tight hammy stole a monster season from us.
Cheers and good luck in week 11. Since you missed it last week, here is my daughter and her cousins at Halloween. Liv is the creepy skeleton.
