College Fantasy Football: Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em for Notre Dame vs. USC

Notre Dame cruised to a 52-0 victory last weekend and improved to 4-1 overall. Next up for the Irish is a primetime matchup against rival USC.

The Notre Dame football team barely had to break a sweat this past weekend as they dropped a fifty burger on Bowling Green and pitched their first shutout since the 2014 season. Plenty of Irish players had great days on the field and in college fantasy football.

This week’s opponent will present a greater challenge, but there are still some matchups that I like. Here are the Notre Dame players you should start and sit in week seven.

Start ‘Em

Cole Kmet (TE)

In the three games since he returned from injury, Kmet has 15 receptions for 204 yards and two touchdowns. Claypool and Kmet seem to be 1A and 1B in the passing game, which one could glean simply by looking at the two of them.

I think the Irish offense will be fairly balanced on Saturday. The USC defense is middle-of-the-road in yards per attempt allowed for both their rush defense and pass defense.

To me, that points to a solid workload for a tight end like Cole Kmet. If the Irish can run the ball successfully, they can create favorable matchups for their running backs and tight ends when they run play action.

If none of what I said there is convincing enough, then read this: Cole Kmet is a stud and should be in your starting lineup every week regardless of matchup.

Ian Book (QB)

The Bowling Green game came at the perfect time for Ian Book. In that game, he was able to release his inhibitions á la Natasha Bedingfield and seemed much more comfortable in the flow of the offense — especially in passing game.

Book seemed more confident pushing the ball downfield. He had seven completions of 20 yards or more, three of which resulted in touchdowns.

I do take that performance with a grain of salt considering the opponent, but I am hopeful that the Virginia game was a bit of an outlier for Book.

I mentioned that I think Notre Dame offense will be balanced against USC. I think this presents an opportunity for Book to score his first rushing touchdown since the quarterback sneak he ran in the first quarter against New Mexico. If the Irish can run the ball with some success, bootlegs and quarterback keepers off of read options will be all the more effective.

On The Fence

Notre Dame Defense (D/ST)

Through five games, the USC offense is averaging 29.4 points per game. Most of their offensive production this season has come from the passing game. The Trojans have one of the better wide receiver corps in the country, and they will certainly put Notre Dame’s secondary to the test.

The absence of Shaun Crawford in this game is what ultimately kept me from listing the Notre Dame defense as a start this week. The Irish secondary has shown some vulnerabilities at times, and losing a player of Crawford’s caliber does not help.

While I think the Irish defense can hold the Trojan offense below their scoring average on Saturday, there is still just a bit too much risk for my liking.

Sit ‘Em

Tony Jones Jr. (RB)

I fear that I may be coming off as a Tony Jones hater in these last two columns. I promise you that is not the case.

Jones just turned in back-to-back performances with over 100 yards rushing. I listed him as a sit last week because I did not think he would have a big enough workload against Bowling Green. I was right — as he only had seven carries. However, I was also super wrong since he turned those seven carries into 102 yards.

The concerns about his workload are even stronger this week with the possibility of Jafar Armstrong returning to action. Armstrong’s status has not been confirmed yet, but the coaching staff seems optimistic that he will see action on Saturday.

Any snap Armstrong plays cuts into Tony Jones’ workload. That coupled with the fact that players like C’Bo Flemister and Jahmir Smith continue to show promise creates too much risk for Jones in fantasy football this week.

This does not mean that Jones should be dropped. He is still a valuable handcuff for those who also have Jafar Armstrong on their teams.