Two years ago my Rotoworld colleagues Thor Nystrom and Mark Lindquist congregated with other noted CFF theologians to form a “High Council” of CFF elders with one mission - to create the largest, deepest, most comprehensive, most involved college fantasy league of any kind. A 50-team league.
After countless hours of consternation while locked inside a bunker reminiscent to the “War Room” from the iconic Stanley Kubrick movie ‘Dr. Strangelove’ , Thor and Mark — with help along the way from Kyle Francis of the Devy Watch, CFF guru and depth chart master Mike Bainbridge and others — constructed a 50-team, multiple-draft format where each P5 conference is paired with a suitable G5 conference to form five separate leagues of 10 teams each with their own individual drafts . The conference pairings along with their season long point totals were:
Big 12/SBC - 11,281 Points
SEC/MAC - 10,880 Points
Pac 12/CUSA - 10,729 Points
Big Ten/MWC - 10,214 Points
ACC/AAC - 9802 Points
Each owner was randomly assigned a conference, with each individual league to play only the teams they drafted against for the nine-game regular season. Once the drafts were completed, the season was played out in a 50-team master league. In the big league proper, owners were free, at that point, to trade and acquire free agents regardless of conference with a $1,000 FASP.
[[ad:athena]]
Below is a breakdown of the 2019 Super-16 Playoff Bracket. The top three teams in each division made the Playoff, with an additional wild card to get us to 16 teams. Seedings were determined by overall record, with points scored as our tiebreaker.
I listed each team’s ideal lineup that brought them to the dance instead of their Week 10 lineup so readers can get a feel for what comprises a playoff level team in each conference.
#1 Seed - My Borghi is a Wonderland - Eric Froton (Pac 12/CUSA)
VS.
#16 Seed - Goodnight, Mooney (ACC/AAC)
#1 - My Borghi is a Wonderland (Pac 12/CUSA)
Coaches: Eric Froton - @NcffExpert - Rotoworld/Joe Capozzi
- 8-1 Record
- 1320 Points
- Traded BC WR Zay Flowers to Grimes Against Humanity for Alabama D
- Impact Free Agents: Re’Man Davis - $121/Jyaire Shorter -$82/Timothy Jackson - $0 FA
Season Starting Lineup:
QB - Anthony Gordon - Wazzou - 36 PPG (Bye) - Jake Luton - 21 PPG
RB - Max Borghi - Wazzou - 24.5 PPG (Bye) - Tristan Jackson - 11 PPG
RB - ReMahn Davis - Temple - 16 PPG (Bye) - Zonovan Knight - 8 PPG
WR - Isaiah Hodgins - Oregon St. - 27 PPG
WR - Amon-Ra St. Brown - USC - 14.5 PPG
WR - Jyaire Shorter - North Texas - 11.5 PPG
TE - Jack Freudenthal - Wake Forest - 7 PPG
SW - DeMontre Tuggle - Ohio - 13 PPG (Bye) - Michael Lawrence - North Texas - 12 PPG
D - Alabama - 15.5 PPG (Bye) - Tulane - 9 PPG
K- Cesar Silva - Fresno - 8 PPG
Gordon/Hodgins/Borghi form a high-end group of position leaders that are complimented by a rotation of solid but inconsistent secondary contributors. Davis/Amon-Ra/Jackson are dependable RB2/WR2 options but Shorter/Lawrence/Tuggle’s boom or bust tendencies can leave points on the bench if not played correctly. Freudenthal is a steady, rank and file TE and Alabama’s defense has been top-10 worthy. Week 10 byes benched Anthony Gordon and their top-3 RB’s, pressing Zonovan Knight and Jake Luton into Round 1 service with mixed results. RB’s Re’Mahn Davis and Timothy Jackson were critical FA acquisitions and the trade of WR Zay Flowers for Alabama’s defense shored up a hole that immediately became a strength.
VS.
#16 Seed - Goodnight, Mooney (ACC/AAC)
Coach: Terez Paylor - Yahoo Sports
- 5 - 4 Record
- 1128 Points
- Impact Free Agents: Demetric Felton - $145/Armani Levias - $2
Season Starting Lineup:
QB - Kenny Pickett - Pitt - 18 PPG
RB - DeeJay Dallas - Miami - 15 PPG
RB - Javonte Wiliams - UNC - 12 PPG
WR - James Proche - SMU - 23 PPG
WR -Demetric Felton - UCLA - 17 PPG
WR -Taysir Mack - Pitt - 14 PPG
TE - Armani Levias - Marshall - 10 PPG
SW - Darnell Mooney - Tulane - 13 PPG
D - Clemson - 15.5 PPG
K - Szmyt - Syracuse - 6 PPG
Proche led the way alongside Mack/Mooney/Felton/Amari Rodgers to form a strong WR corps that thrived in the PPR format. DeeJay Dallas, Armani Levias and Clemson Defense consistently performed at above-average levels. Paylor played the weekly QB-carousel with Pickett and Plummer, while RB2 was a weekly shuffling act between secondary options Javonte Williams and Shamari Brooks. Consistency and solid weekly producers are what brought this team to the dance, but it’s lacking top end firepower beyond Proche.
Round 1 Result:
168 - 128 -> My Borghi is a Wonderland advances to Round 2
The Luton/Hodgins Oregon State pairing combined for 62 points, Air Force RB Timothy Jackson rushed for 155/1 and Wake Forest TE Jack Freudenthal caught three touchdown passes to lead the Gordon/Borghi-less coaches Froton and Capozzi to the high score for Week 1 of the Super 16 Playoffs. James Proche was predictably amazing while DeeJay Dallas, Armani Levias, Clemson D held up their end for a Goodnight Mooney team that put up very respectable 128 points on the day. Darnell Mooney, Kenny Pickett and Demetric Felton all performed below season averages for Mooney while Zonovan Knight was injured early-on and posted a goose egg for Borghi Wonderland.
#2 Seed - Pass Me The Kavosiey (SEC/MAC)
VS.
#15 Seed - The Sindelar-ity is Near (Big Ten/MWC)
#2 - Pass Me The Kavosiey (SEC/MAC)
Coach: James Erigo and Joshua Chevalier - CFF Guys
- 8-1 Record
- 1288 Points
- Traded WR Mike Woods - Ark
for
RB Keshawn King - Va Tech
- Impact Free Agents - spent $815 of his $1000 free agent dollars shoring up the QB position on Anthony Russo/Kyle Trask/John Rhys Plumlee.
Season Starting Lineup:
QB - Skylar Thompson - Kansas State - 20 PPG
RB - KeShawn Vaughn - Vanderbilt - 21 PPG
RB - Jonathan Ward - CMU - 25 PPG
WR - Lynn Bowden - Kentucky - 17 PPG (Bye)
WR - Justin Hall - Ball St. - 17 PPG (Bye)
WR - Trey Knox - Arkansas - 12 PPG
TE - Giovanni Ricci - Western Michigan - 15 PPG
SW - Elijah Moore - Mississippi - 17 PPG
D - Pitt/Miss. St. - 9 PPG/11 PPG
K- Collin Larsh - Wisconsin - 8 PPG
Lynn Bowden was a CFF cheat-code after taking over the reigns at QB for Kentucky, while still qualifying at WR for CFF purposes. PPR-machine WR Justin Hall has scored at least 23 fantasy points in three of his last 4 games heading into Super 16 Round 1. BOTH were on bye Round 1. Moore, Knox and Ricci round out a talented pass-catching room that form the backbone of the team. Vaughn is in a classic “good-player, bad-team” situation while Jonathan Ward has flourished under new HC Jim McElwain, forming a desirable 1/2 punch at RB that averages 46 PPG between them. Skylar Thompson has been a pleasant surprise with some upside as Josh/James played the hot-hand approach at QB. Joshua Chevalier is a well known CFF industry guru, his team is a well-managed cast of dependable performers who must contend with a couple of key byes in Round 1 of the playoffs.
VS.
#15 - The Sindelar-ity is Near
Coach: Thor Nystrom, @thorKU, Rotoworld
- 6-3 Record
- 1123 points
- Impact Free Agents: Isaiah Spiller - $258/Dorian Thompson-Robinson - $502(!)/Stephon Robinson Jr. - $3
- Fun Fact - There were 18 overall trades made in the league this year, Thor was involved in EIGHT of them. For brevity and my own sanity, I cannot list them.
- I can say that Thor’s October 8th deadline deal where he traded Collin Johnson - WR - Tex and Randall St. Felix - WR - USF for Dillon Gabriel - QB - UCF was instrumental in his playoff run.
Season Starting Lineup:
QB - Dillon Gabriel - UCF - 24 PPG
RB -Isaiah Spiller - Texas A&M - 12 PPG
RB - Jaylen Warren - Utah State - 13 PPG
WR - Whop Philyor - Indiana - 18.5 PPG
WR -JoJo Ward - Hawaii - 19 PPG
WR -Stephon Robinson Jr. - Kansas - 16 PPG
TE - Tyler Mabry - Maryland - 7 PPG
SW - Scottie Phillips - Ole Miss - 12 PPG/Dylan Drummond - EMU - 11 PPG
D - Ohio State - 15.5 PPG
K - Jose Borregales - FIU - 7 PPG
CFF players on Thor’s team beware - he will trade you at any point in the season, so don’t get comfortable! Mr. Nystrom was involved in eight-of-the-eighteen total trades in the league, the man likes action folks. Dillon Gabriel/Whop Philyor/JoJo Ward are the franchise players while Robinson, Spiller/Phillips/Ohio State D fill the secondary producer roles admirably. This team doesn’t have the top-to-bottom depth of Pass the Kavosiey, but he had no byes to contend with in Round 1 and has a legit QB/WR corps that has major explosive potential. I could see RB depth being an issue down the stretch though, and TE Mabry is just a guy.
Round 1 Result:
146 - 112 -> The Sindelar-ity is Near (Thor Nystrom) advances to Round 2
Gabriel went for 33 points and Spiller ran all over hapless UTSA for an even 40 as the #15 Seed Thor Nystrom shocks the Super 16 community by advancing to the second round. JoJo Ward/Stephon Robinson/Aaron Hackett all scored at least double-digits in supporting roles. Skylar Thompson and Jonathan Ward were the only two players to score above 11 points for Pass the Kavosiey, with starting WR’s Elijah Moore, Broc Thompson and Trey Knox posting only nine points total. As you will see in the following game review, Thor owns the distinction of being the only lower seed to upset a higher seeded first-round opponent.
