Well, college football is back in full swing and that means the return of the video game stat lines of the week (yes, I know it is week two, cut me some slack). Through the first two weeks we have seen some very good games, including the surprisingly close Ohio State vs. Indiana thriller opening week and the less surprising but equally as thrilling, Ohio State vs. Oklahoma game this previous week. We’ve seen some huge performances from well known players like Lamar Jackson and Saquon Barkley as well as some surprises throughout the college football landscape. Even though this is a new season, here we are back with some very familiar faces taking up the spots on our list. Hopefully throughout the season we get some big time performances with stats that we can only remember seeing in EA NCAA Football (R.I.P.) set to easy.
Offense: QB Lamar Jackson, Louisville
Stats: 25/39 393 yards 3 TD, 19 carries 132 yards 3 TD
Another year, another week with Lamar Jackson as the top offensive player. This dude is about as close to a perfect video game QB as they come (Michael Vick anyone?). While people may be doubting how good this Louisville team is going to be in general, there is no doubting the talent of the man they have at quarterback. It will be very exciting to see how well he does the rest of the season and if he can get near (or surpass) his numbers from his heisman winning campaign.
Defense: DL Austin Bryant, Clemson
Stats: 7 tackles, 4 sacks, 1 QB hurry
Clemson had a very strong defense a year ago, but they lost some key pieces for this season. While nobody thought they would regress much, it was going to be interesting to see where some of the production got picked up. It may just be week two, but I think we have an idea. The defense itself tallied 11 sacks this week, and Austin Bryant got 4 of those himself. To put it in a little bit of perspective, he only had 4 sacks in two YEARS before this game. He will definitely be a player to watch on the strong Clemson squad.
Special Teams: KR Anthony Ratliff-Williams, North Carolina
Stats: 5 returns, 199 yards (long: 94 yards), 1 TD
This week was not kind to #collegekickers, so the special teams spot goes to North Carolina return man Anthony Ratliff-Williams. He had a 94 yard kick return touchdown this week where he just blew past everybody and averaged a healthy 26 yards per return otherwise. Not too bad for a guy who came into college as a quarterback.
Check back next week to see who put up the best video game stats at each position for week 3!