Best Fantasy Day In OSU History*

Photo Attribution: Nielsen Network & O’Colly

*by a quarterback

Editor’s note: OKC Dave wrote the post and I (Kyle, @pistolsguy, pistolsboy, whatever you want to call me) am doing the footnotes…

@pistolsguy asked me to put together a weekly stat post for the blog based on something I find interesting. That’s a vague pitch[1. It’s called creative freedom, Dave.], and I plan to take full advantage of it. This will be an adventure. Here goes nothing…

Any fantasy football fans out there? Even if you’re not a fantasy owner, I think you’ll like this post. Any fantasy football owner know that a QB with wheels can rack up some crazy fantasy points (in a fantasy league with standard scoring, rushing yards are more valuable than passing yards and running into the endzone gets you more points than passing into it).

After seeing Walsh march all over the field Saturday after coming in for an injured Wes Lunt, I got to thinking. How would Walsh’s impressive performance stack up against other OSU quarterbacks in terms of fantasy points[2. You are literally the only person alive who had this thought, which is why I’m glad you’re contributing to this site.]?

Using standard fantasy scoring, I ran the numbers on every game in the Miles/Gundy era. I only looked at quarterbacks this time…I’ll come back to this when I run out of ideas some other week. Here’s standard fantasy scoring if you’re not familiar:

• 1 point for every 25 passing yards
• 4 points for a passing TD
• -2 points for an INT
• 1 point for every 10 rushing yards
• 6 points for a TD

Okay, let’s count down the top 5 fantasy days for OSU quarterbacks in the Miles/Gundy era[3. I haven’t looked but I’m guessing Donovan Woods won’t be making an appearance on this list…]:

5. Zac Robinson vs. Iowa State (11/1/08)

40.4 fantasy points (395 passing yards, 5 TD, 1 INT, 66 rushing yards)This win got us to 8-1 after a tough loss down at Texas. This win included the longest pass play in OSU history (95 yards to Jeremy Broadway)[4. Longest rush was Ed Gallagher for 99 yards against Kansas State in 1908. 29 people saw this.] along with an 80-yard TD pass to Dez.Excerpt from the Tulsa World game story: “”We thought we might have a chance to hit on some deep throws,” Robinson said. “We had a good day.”

4. Zac Robinson vs. Indiana (12/31/07)

41.1 fantasy points (302 passing yards, 3 TD, 1 INT, 70 rushing yards, 2 TD)The Insight Bowl. This had to be sweet for Zac – he started the year on the bench and ended it with a New Year’s Eve domination of Indiana’s secondary.

Excerpt from the Tulsa World game story:  In the postgame locker room, Robinson embraced Cowboy coach Mike Gundy and said, “Thank you for everything. This was a lot of fun.”[5. Gundy should have been the one hugging him, “finally, a guy who knows what a pocket is, what a glorious day!”]

3. Zac Robinson @ Baylor (11/17/07)

42.5 fantasy points (202 passing yards, 2 TD, 0 INT, 144 rushing yards, 2 TD)We became bowl-eligible (youngsters, that used to be a thing we talked about[6. This used to come down to a late-November tilt with some Big 8 team up north in the snow]) with this road win after home losses to Texas and Kansas.

Excerpt from the Tulsa World game story: Said Cowboy offensive coordinator Larry Fedora: “(Robinson) has that ‘it’ factor[7. I concur, Weeden did too…jury’s still out on Walsh and Lunt obviously]. Some guys have ‘it.’ They are winners. They make plays when they need to make plays. He can do it all. If we wanted to throw the ball every down, he could do that.”

2. J.W. Walsh vs, Louisiana (9/15/12)

43.2 fantasy points (347 passing yards, 4 TD, 0 INT, 73 rushing yards, 1 TD)How about that? Our backup quarterback has the second-best fantasy day in recent OSU history…and it’s not only because of his legs. Take away his rushing yards and touchdown and he still had a great day. You have to give it up to him – he came in, struggled on his first couple passes, then found his stride. It’s a little early to say he has “it” like Zac[8. Stealing my thoughts, I see], but clearly he plays well under the lights.

Excerpt from the Tulsa World game story: Louisiana coach Mark Hudspeth said Walsh played exceptionally well. “He managed the game and you’ve got to give the guy a lot of credit. Any time you’ve got a backup quarterback that can come in and execute the offense, that says a lot. A lot of teams don’t have that ability.”

1. Bobby Reid @ Kansas (10/14/06)

45.0 fantasy points (411 passing yards, 5 TD, 1 INT, 46 rushing yards, 1 TD)Who could have guessed that we were less than a year away from The Rant when Bobby put up these numbers.

I was at this game. I have two vivid memories: one was getting a text from a friend letting me know that Adrian Peterson had broken his collarbone in OU’s game against Iowa State. The other was being down 17-0 to the KANSAS JAYHAWKS in the worst football venue in the Big 12. That was a sad, sad experience until Reid and Bowman went off (Bowman had 300 receiving yards that day, still a school record).

Excerpt from the Tulsa World game story: Said Cowboy defensive end Nathan Peterson: “I saw (Bowman) running down the field like a man among boys. No one could touch him. I’m telling you — this team has the potential to do some incredible things. I think we can play with anybody in the Big 12[9. Strong first outing, Dave. I’ll be your footnoter any day of the week].”