Jeff’s team edged mine again this week, 142.98-140.98, ending our fantasy football season as the Bored Jeffs won five of six weeks, mathematically eliminating my team from contention. Jeff’s decision to flip defenses worked wonders again this week as Williams scored—count ’em—27 points in a 24-0 win over Hamilton that included 7 sacks, 3 fumble recoveries, 2 interceptions and a blocked kick. Before realizing the extent of Williams’ dominance I believed I had begun my comeback with a much-needed victory, but the Ephs defense ended my bid. Only LaDarius Drew (one of our co-fantasy MVPs) outscored the Williams defense, racking up 28.7 points thanks to 167 rushing yards and a pair of scores. My team benefited from the tremendous play of Foote and Minno in the win over Trinity on Saturday as the most prolific quarterback-wide receiver combination in the NESCAC scored 44.2 points between the two. Unfortunately it was not enough to overcome Jeff’s team’s output, despite Donnarumma, Gibson and Jones combining to score 1.6 points between the three of them. If there’s a goat this week, however, it’s unquestionably Rico Gonzalez, who had two carries for -7 yards and a lost fumble on Saturday. Which accounted for the difference in our matchup, seen below:

	Jeff			Damon
QB	Warren	12.74	QB	Foote	21.2
QB	Lippe	15.64	QB	Marske	13.78
RB	Drew	28.7	RB	Zelkowitz	0
RB	Donnarumma	0.9	RB	Stannell	6.3
RB	Bunker	7.5	RB	Scyocurka	9
RB	Gibson	0.7	RB	Crick	18.7
WR	Rankowitz	10	WR	O’Malley	3
WR	Jensen	7.8	WR	Minno	23
WR	Jones	0	WR	Hurwitz	14.7
WR	Duncklee	7	WR	Gonzalez	-2.7
WR	Davis	3.4	WR	Luna	3.1
WR	Garay	4.3	WR	Lanzillo	1.9
TE	Hughes	0.7	TE	Way	0
TE	Budness	1.6	TE	Sadik-Khan	12
D/ST	Amherst	10	D/ST	Trinity	2
D/ST	Williams	27	D/ST	Wesleyan	11
K	Mallock	5	K	Nwosu	4
		142.98			140.98
Bench	Ciero	19.7	Bench	Curit	12
Bench	Doherty	5.4	Bench	Trause	12

There are no additions this week, because the season is over, which makes this a good time to hand out our fantasy football awards.

MVP(s): LaDarius Drew and Kyle Gibson

Drew was the highest scoring fantasy performer this year, his 655 rushing yards and 9 touchdowns, blowing away the competition. He also didn’t lose any points from fumbles as the Cardinals’ back has yet to put the ball on the ground in 132 carries this season, an impressive feat. No pick was more valuable based on pick placement than Gibson, who was the third-best fantasy running back, an incredible return on investment for the 22nd pick of the draft. Painful as it is to go back and reminisce on what might have been, it behooves saying: Nick LaSpada, Tyler Jacobs and Jack Cooleen were all taken before Gibson.

Best Undrafted Player: Joey Zelkowitz

Zelkowitz is one of a number of talented Middlebury freshmen, who could make major impacts next season. Zelkowitz and Grant Luna are two quick-twitch players that Bob Ritter has split out across the formation, with Zelkowitz playing predominantly in the backfield and Luna in the slot, though both will play in the other’s respective positions. Playing in an offense with fewer offensive weapons, both of these players likely would have made strong cases for Rookie of the Year in the NESCAC. As it stands, it seems unlikely that anyone is wrestling that distinction away from another Middlebury freshman, defensive back Nate Leedy.

Best Strategy: Switching Defenses

And speaking of defense, Jeff’s tinkering each week defensively, relying only on matchups, played a huge role in the outcome of this season. This week it was Williams and Amherst combining for 37 points, but the week before in an equally close victory, Jeff got 26 points from Colby and Williams while the Trinity and Middlebury defenses, which had been consistently good, but not great all year long, combined to score just 10 points for me.

The lesson? When you get outdrafted and outmaneuvered each week it’s going to be awfully hard to compete. So long, NESCAC fantasy football.