Draft day for the second annual Tadpole Bowl has arrived, with most participants beginning their 25-round slow drafts on Fantrax this morning. The college fantasy football spinoff of the popular Scott Fish Bowl charity tournament, raising money for FantasyCares.org, kicked off with a live draft in San Diego on June 28, where Mississippi RB Kewan Lacy, Miami WR Malachi Toney, Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith, BYU RB LJ Martin and Oklahoma State RB Caleb Hawkins rounded out the top five selections. The top 10 or so will likely be pretty consistent across divisions, but it won't be long before drafters are reaching to "get their guy."
If you are new to season-long college fantasy football, you're not alone. The massive player pool across all Power 4 conference teams plus Notre Dame creates endless possibilities on draft day, but it can also make identifying the right strategy feel overwhelming. Even experienced CFF managers will need to adjust, as the league's unique roster construction and scoring system change how players should be valued.
Tadpole Bowl Scoring Breakdown
| Scoring Category | Points |
|---|---|
| Passing Yards (YDS) | 0.05 |
| Passing Touchdowns (TD) | 6 |
| Interceptions Thrown (Int) | -2 |
| Rushing Yards (YDS) | 0.1 |
| Rushing Touchdowns (TD) | 6 |
| Fumbles Lost (FL) | -2 |
| Receiving Yards (YDS) | 0.1 |
| Receiving Touchdowns (TD) | 6 |
| Receptions (REC) | 1 |
| Two Point Conversion Passes (2Pa) | 2 |
| Two Point Conversion Rushes & Receptions (2RR) | 2 |
| Kickoff Return Yards (KRY) | 0.05 |
| Punt Return Yards (PRY) | 0.05 |
| Kickoff/Punt Return Touchdowns (RtT) | 6 |
Tadpole Bowl Strategy
If you played in the inaugural Tadpole Bowl last season, then you're already familiar with the rules that make this league different than many other college fantasy football leagues:
- Passing Touchdowns are worth six points, and Passing Yards are worth 0.05: Other leagues feature four-point passing TDs and 0.04 points per passing yard. Tadpole Bowl scoring boosts the value of pocket passers and gives less of an edge to dual-threat quarterbacks. That levels the playing field at the position and will allow us to wait longer on drafting QBs.
- Full-Point PPR: Unlike Underdog's Best Bowl Mania, where you earn a half point per reception, the Tadpole Bowl is a full point per reception league. Pass catching running backs and high-volume receivers are even more valuable here than in other formats. With that said, expect the small group of the most reliable receivers to get drafted early, along with the workhorse running backs that are easier to project than emerging receivers.
- Kickoff Return and Punt Return Scoring: This is both the most unique and most complex rule to quantify. In some cases, last year's star return man may take on a larger role in the offense and pass the special teams role off to a teammate. In other cases, because of coaching changes and the transfer portal it's hard to project who will take on the role of return man despite previous success. For example, Virginia welcomes three transfer running backs (Peyton Lewis, Jekail Middlebrook and Solomon Beebe), who all contributed in the return game for their respective teams last season. Beebe will probably be the main kick returner, but it's not a certainty. With that said, I'm only adding a small amount of value for potential return yards into our rankings.
Using the RotoWire Custom Rankings tool and factoring in these settings, below are the rankings that I'll be using to build my Tadpole Bowl roster.
