College Fantasy Football: Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em for Notre Dame Week Six

After two straight games against opponents ranked in the top twenty, the Notre Dame football team gets a bit of a break in their schedule when Bowling Green comes to South Bend this weekend.

The Notre Dame football team improved to 3-1 last weekend after a 35-20 victory over Virginia in South Bend. Next up for the Irish are the Bowling Green Falcons.

For this week, I could have easily listed the entire team in the “Start ‘Em” section of this column, but I wanted to challenge myself. Here is your Start ‘Em SIt ‘Em (with a bonus section) for Notre Dame in week six of the 2019 college football season.

Start ‘Em

Notre Dame Defense (D/ST)

Bowling Green has one of the worst offenses in college football. Among FBS teams, the Falcons currently rank 128th in offensive efficiency.

On Saturday, they have to face a Notre Dame defense that has been playing very well. Against Virginia, the Irish defense had eight sacks, two forced fumbles, one fumble returned for a touchdown, and two interceptions.

I expect to see more of that against Bowling Green. The Notre Dame defense has a good chance to score fantasy points with sacks and turnovers while also holding the Falcons to low score.

Ian Book (QB)

Irish fans were highly critical of Book’s performance against Virginia last week. Frankly, they had every right to do so. Book threw for 165 yards (17/25 passing), was sacked four times, and had a quarterback rating of 51.6. It was the first regular season game in his college career where he failed to throw a touchdown pass while having at least seven pass attempts.

I think Bowling Green will be a huge bounce-back game for Ian Book. The coaching staff and players all know they need Book to play well if they want to run the table and have a shot a making the College Football Playoff.

Chip Long’s offense has been pass-heavy thus far, and I expect that trend to continue on Saturday with Book slinging it all over the yard in the first half.

I think Ian Book will exit this game with five total touchdowns. In the wise words of rapper Mystikal, “Until you seen me, trust me, you ain’t seen bouncin’ back.”

Jonathan Doerer (K)

In their last three games, Bowling Green has allowed 149 points. It does not take a statistician to know that is a whole lot of points. The Notre Dame offense should easily score more than 50 points against Brian VanGorder’s defense on Saturday.

Because of that outlook, Jonathan Doerer will be a solid option in fantasy football. He would be a solid start just with the extra points he will kick. Along with that, he is bound to get a couple field goal attempts from manageable distance.

On The Fence

Welcome to the grey area of college fantasy football. This purgatory is reserved for those who hate how much they love to overthink things.

Chase Claypool (WR)

On paper, there are not many bad matchups for Notre Dame. However, there is only one ball. So, while the team may be successful, it is likely that some players on the Irish offense will underperform.

Chase Claypool tweaked his ankle in the second quarter last weekend. He was able to return and finish the game, but there is a chance the coaching staff might be a bit conservative with him this week to ensure he is at full health for the USC game.

Notre Dame should jump out to a significant lead in this game, and it is unlikely that the starters will play the fourth quarter. Claypool should have a good game, but he probably won’t have the type of game that wins you your fantasy football matchup.

Sit ‘Em

Tony Jones (RB)

Jones is coming off of arguably the best game of his college career. He ran for 131 yards and three touchdowns in the win over Virginia.

Naturally, some college fantasy football players will see that stat line and want to insert Jones into their lineups. I would advise those people to temper their expectations, though.

As I stated early, I think he Irish offense will come out throwing the ball in this game — limiting Jones’ rushing attempts.

I addition to that, Jahmir Smith and C’Bo Flemister are in line to have bigger roles in this game. Smith returned from a toe injury last week and is closer to full health. Flemister had a few good runs against Virginia and likely earned himself a some more touches this week.