This week wasn’t competitive as Jeff took a 3-1 lead overall with a 179.9 to 104.9 thrashing. A combination of great production from Jeff’s running backs and poor roster decisions on my part created the lopsided differential. While the result was pretty consistent across the board, a few performances here and there stood out in particular.

Best Performances of the Week:
1) Colby WR Luke Duncklee: Duncklee is having a NESCAC-Player-of-the-Year caliber season and Week 4 was no exception as the NESCAC’s Percy Harvin had 6 catches for 98 yards and a touchdown, a week ago. Duncklee has caught 24 passes this season, good for third in the NESCAC and almost a third of his team’s total receptions. It’s fun to think about the kind of numbers Duncklee might produce playing with a Mac Foote or …

2) Wesleyan QB Jesse Warren: Warren has been the conference’s best quarterback through four games, and it’s not even close right now. Warren was ruthlessly efficient again in the Cardinals’ 35-7 win over Bates, completing 17 of 20 pass attempts for 190 yards and 3 touchdowns. He’s not throwing the ball all over the yard, but when he drops back to pass, he makes plays and doesn’t turn the ball over. It must be said that he receives a fair amount of help from his backfield mate …

3) Wesleyan RB Kyle Gibson: Gibson has been electric this season, averaging an eye-popping 8.4 yards per carry. In fact, no running back (among qualified leaders) has approached that mark over a full season since the NESCAC started archiving statistic leaders in 2002. That season, Williams sophomore Tim Crawley averaged 7.0 yards per carry, which no runner has topped since then. At 8.4 yards a tote, Gibson is in unchartered waters. He’s no water bug, though. That distinction is reserved for …

4) Middlebury RB Joey Zelkowitz: Zelkowitz wreaked havoc last week, lining up all over the formation and running by, around and, in a couple of cases, through the Ephs. If Ducnklee is the conference’s Percy Harvin, Zelkowitz is the NESCAC’s Darren Sproles. He gives the Panthers a weapon out of the backfield they haven’t had in the four years we’ve been covering the team and should only get better over the second half of the season. The Middlebury coaching staff has been cautious with his play count, which should keep him fresh and healthy over the final four games of the season. He is, in our view, the leading offensive candidate for NESCAC Rookie of the Year.

	Jeff			Damon
QB	Warren	17.6	QB	Foote	16.48
QB	Lippe	8.8	QB	Doll	-3.72
RB	Drew	11.4	RB	Zelkowitz	18.4
RB	Donnarumma	18.4	RB	Curit	5.9
RB	Bunker	10.5	RB	Scyocurka	6
RB	Gibson	19.2	RB	Crick	0
WR	Rankowitz	1.3	WR	O’Malley	16.5
WR	Jensen	8.6	WR	Minno	1.8
WR	Jones	9.9	WR	Hurwitz	12.6
WR	Duncklee	18.6	WR	Gonzalez	5.6
WR	Davis	2.2	WR	Fabien	1.5
WR	Payton	8.9	WR	Way	6.3
TE	Hughes	10.3	TE	Kenyon	0
TE	Budness	10.2	TE	Sadik-Khan	6.6
D/ST	Amherst	14	D/ST	Trinity	12
D/ST	Bowdoin	8	D/ST	Middlebury	2
K	Nwosu	2	K	Mallock	-3
		179.9			104.96
Bench	Ciero	12.4	Bench	Stannell	0
Bench	Doherty	2.6	Bench	Brady	3.9

The NESCAC Kicking Carousel

Unsurprisingly, I was active on the waiver wire this week, dropping Jack Doll (my love for this Tufts team only extends so far) and Nick Kenyon who has been quieter than expected in a pass-heavy Jumbos offense. In large part, my belated realization that Alex Way is a tight end, not a receiver (where he had been designated previously on my team) created the impetus for the Kenyon decision, though I likely would have made the same move in favor of Xander Frey, had Way not been tight end eligible. Another brilliant move on my part. I also added Trevor Wheeler (//stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to) who appears finally healthy and the deep threat that Middlebury lacked earlier this season.

I thought my final roster move was going to be dropping Joe Mallock (what has happened to him?) for Wesleyan kicker Sebastian Aguirre. That move triggered a fun back-and-forth, however, as Jeff dropped Phil Nwosu to pick up Mallock and in turn I dropped Aguirre in favor of Nwosu. I haven’t outmaneuvered Jeff many times this year, but in this case I essentially traded Mallock (1-3 FG, 2-5 PAT) for Nwosu (6-6 FG, 11-12 PAT). It’s a small victory, to be certain, but one that I’ll take all the same.

Here’s the full list of our waiver-wire transactions from the week:

DAMON	Add TREVOR WHEELER Drop NICK KENYON	JEFF	Add COLBY D/ST Drop AMHERST D/ST
DAMON	Add ZACH TRAUSE Drop CHANCE BRADY	JEFF	Add WILLIAMS D/ST Drop BOWDOIN D/ST
DAMON	Add ADAM MARSKE Drop JACK DOLL
DAMON	Add SEBASTIAN AGUIRRE Drop JOE MALLOCK	JEFF	Add JOE MALLCOK Drop PHIL NWOSU
DAMON	Add PHIL NWOSU Drop SEBASTIAN AGUIRRE

Down 3-1, I cannot afford to lose this week. Here’s hoping He Could Go Hatheway can take down the Bored Jeffs.