College Fantasy Football: Bold predictions for the weekend's Week 1 slate

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Yahoo Sports College Football analysts Eric Froton and Nick Bromberg deliver their boldest college fantasy football predictions for the remaining Week 1 slate.

Iamaleava was the lowest-scoring quarterback who rushed for 400+ yards last year, averaging 17.1 fantasy PPG despite being saddled with one of the worst P4 coaching situations in the nation. New HC Bob Chesney made Alonza Barnett into a dual-threat CFF superstar at JMU, and is poised to do the same with the ultra-athletic Iamaleava this year.

He has the pleasure in Week 1 of facing a dismal Cal run defense that ranked 132nd nationally in EPA/rush and 113th in rushing success rate allowed. With the Golden Bears now retooling under new HC Tosh Lupoi, you have to expect Lupoi will be using this Week 1 non-conference tilt to evaluate his new roster under game conditions. Uncertainty in the front-seven will likely lead to heavy player rotation, which is a recipe for ample rushing production from the uber-athletic, dual-threat signal-caller Iamaleava. — Eric Froton

Alabama wants to turn the page and forget about its ghastly 38-3 destruction at the hands of Indiana in the College Football Playoff last year, with the Tide accruing a meager 193 total yards against the Hoosiers as starting QB Ty Simpson was chased from the game after throwing just 16 passes.

I had the opportunity to watch Keelon closely at the Elite 11 Finals, and also spoke with his personal QB coach at length about his traits. Perhaps most importantly, his QB coach said Russell's football mind and ability to process is the most developed he has ever seen out of a high school QB. I think HC Kalen DeBoer unleashes Russell against ECU and lets him play a full game to help him acclimate to the college level — to devastating effect. Accordingly, I’m calling for Keelon to combine for 5+ touchdowns as Alabama lets the college football world know that it is ready to take the next step as bonafide SEC contenders. — Froton

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Don't automatically get blinded by big point spreads if you're on the fence about starting a power conference player against a far inferior opponent. Sure, a five- or six-TD spread may present the opportunity for that player and his team to rack up a bunch of points. But there's also a risk that comes with the potential of just a half of playing time. Last year in Week 1, Georgia RB Nate Frazier had 47 rushing yards against Marshall. Oregon TE Kenyon Sadiq scored a TD in the Ducks' season-opening rout of Montana State, but that was also his only catch of the game.

With UCLA playing Cal, Auburn taking on Baylor and even Boston College heading to Cincinnati, there's opportunity there for games where starters are likely going to play all four quarters. Don't be afraid to start a player like Auburn QB Byrum Brown or UCLA RB Wayne Knight. — Nick Bromberg

In 2025, Georgia's passing offense was centered around Zachariah Branch. His 81 catches were nearly a quarter of the completions Bulldogs QBs had. And no other player had more than 27 catches.

Branch is now in the NFL. There's opportunity abound for Georgia's wideouts with Gunner Stockton back at quarterback. And someone is going to emerge as Stockton's go-to threat.

That might not happen in Week 1 as Georgia plays Tennessee State. But you have plenty of time to keep an eye on how Georgia's receiving room shakes out over the opening weeks of the season. 

London Humphreys, Georgia's leading returning receiver, is only on 5% of rosters. And no other wide receiver is on more than 2% of teams. Whoever becomes the Bulldogs' No. 1 receiver probably isn't going to get the target share that Branch did. But he's going to be a valuable fantasy option at times in 2026 and is very likely available in your league. — Bromberg

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