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Hoosiers Now

Indiana Football Should Be One of Yahoo's Top College Fantasy Teams

Looking to load up on Hoosiers? There's a ton of incentive to do just that with your fantasy team.
Connor O'Gara|
Indiana's Nick Marsh (11) during spring practice at Memorial Stadium on Tuesday, March 31, 2026.
Indiana's Nick Marsh (11) during spring practice at Memorial Stadium on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

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Indiana Hoosiers

If you've been waiting on an elite college fantasy football game to emerge, the wait is over. Finally, Yahoo Sports has blessed the college football sickos.

Yahoo's new college fantasy football game was unveiled on Thursday, and leagues are set to open on Aug. 3. Needless to say, Indiana's weapons will be featured prominently in it.

Yahoo's initial rankings give IU some serious love ... and some snubs?

One of the things that's unique about Yahoo's college game compared to the NFL is that it offers a "team offense" slot. To the surprise of nobody, IU came in ranked extremely high in Eric Froton's preseason rankings for Yahoo.

IU is coming off consecutive seasons of posting a top-3 scoring offense with two different starting quarterbacks, so ranking the Hoosiers No. 1 in that department isn't necessarily bold.

We can talk about how life in a post-Fernando Mendoza world could present some adversity with Josh Hoover, as could replacing guys like Omar Cooper Jr. and Elijah Sarratt, but Curt Cignetti's roster should still be poised to light up scoreboards.

One of the most notable ways that IU reloaded was the addition of Michigan State transfer receiver Nick Marsh. You didn't have to scroll very far down the preseason receiver rankings to find the talented third-year player.

That's bold. Jeremiah Smith and Malachi Toney might be the two best players in all of college football, so putting Marsh behind that duo — and ahead of everyone else — is saying something about the high-priced transfer.

Shoot, we still need to see if Marsh is going to be IU's go-to wideout. Assuming Charlie Becker returns to fall camp healthy, could he pick up where he left off after being one of the best receivers in America once the calendar turned to October?

Becker at No. 10 could end up being a better value than Marsh, but both feel like early-round locks.

What's interesting is that on Yahoo's list of top 10 fantasy quarterbacks, Hoover is somehow nowhere to be found.

Again, IU was No. 1 in that new "team offense" category with a pair of top-10 receivers, so why wouldn't Hoover be on that list of top-10 quarterbacks?

It's possible that Froton thought about IU playing in too many blowouts and spending most of the second half on the sideline. Then again, Mendoza had 48 total touchdowns (41 passing, 7 rushing) last year, and Kurtis Rourke had 29 passing touchdowns with more than 3,000 passing yards in 2024.

It's an interesting omission when you consider that someone like Dante Moore still made the cut for an Oregon team that's expected to also be in its fair share of blowouts.

Also, where are the IU running backs?

Apparently they weren't worth a top-10 spot.

Yeah, it's a new-look backfield. It's also a backfield that produced multiple 1,000-yard backs last season. On top of that, IU could boast the best offensive line in America.

Turbo Richard was No. 10 in the ACC with 68 rushing yards per contest, and that Boston College offense was a disaster. Is it crazy to project that he could be an 1,100-yard guy with double-digit touchdowns? Not at all.

Richard has more upside as a top-10 guy than DeSean Bishop and Darius Taylor, especially when you factor in the three receptions per game that he averaged at Boston College in 2025. Unlike some of the other backs atop that list, Richard also isn't going to have his quarterback vulture rushing scores.

Perhaps Khobie Martin's potential emergence impacted not having Richard as a top-10 guy, but then again, we're talking about a multi-faceted backfield that averaged 36 rushing touchdowns the last two years. Opportunities won't be lacking.

As it stands, Indiana will be all over the top of those drafts

That includes some of the late-round steals like Miami tight end transfer Brock Schott or a healthy Tyler Morris. Imagine being early on a guy like Becker last year. That could've been a league-winner.

That's perhaps why the right strategy could just be taking IU for that "team offense" spot and knowing that the pieces will fall in place.

Whatever the case, we're now living in a world in which IU is an unstoppable offensive force, and there's a mainstream fantasy game to acknowledge that.

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Connor O'Gara
CONNOR O'GARA

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