Anyone who plays fantasy football and reads this article is likely to have the following dream:
You've entered an FCS (that's the former Division I-AA of college football) fantasy league and Eastern Illinois' Jimmy Garoppolo is your quarterback.
In Week 1 of the NFL season, Peyton Manning tied a 44-year-old record by throwing 7 touchdown passes in a game. Last Saturday against Illinois State, Garoppolo tossed 6 touchdowns -- in the FIRST HALF.
Garoppolo, who played at Rolling Meadows High School, and his primary receiver, Miami native Erik Lora, are posting video-game numbers on actual football fields. In the first three contests this fall, Garoppolo has thrown for 361, 440 and 480 yards, with 14 touchdowns and 1 interception. Lora has 31 catches for 409 yards and 6 touchdowns.
Eastern's dynamic duo will get a Chicago-area showcase Saturday when the Panthers (No. 8 in Sports Network FSC poll) face Northern Illinois in DeKalb (6 p.m., ESPN3).
Garoppolo's statistics haven't been limited to small-school opponents. EIU opened the season at San Diego State and won 40-19. That performance prompted unsolicited praise from Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, whose team faced San Diego State the following week.
"Eastern has really one of the best quarterbacks I've ever seen," Meyer said. "I didn't even know who he was until I watched him. He's a great player."
A casual football fan will quickly notice what makes Garoppolo special. He's developed a rapid-fire release and can put the ball anywhere it needs to be.
Lora is listed at 5-feet-11, so he doesn't have a height advantage on many defenders. But he grabs everything within reach and is extremely slippery once he catches the ball. Terrified defenders who give Lora a 10-yard cushion usually have no luck bringing him down for a short gain.
EIU offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert calls Lora "The Astronaut" because he works so well in space.
"He has tremendous moves," Garoppolo said. "He's a bit of a science geek, too. So it all ties together. The nickname fits him well."
Two years ago, no one would have imagined Charleston, Ill., as home to the most powerful offense in college football. Garoppolo and Lora might as well have emerged from the cornstalks surrounding EIU. No one saw this coming.
In 2011, Garrapolo led the Panthers to a 2-9 campaign -- the final season in an otherwise successful 25-year career for former head coach Bob Spoo. Lora didn't play that season because of a hip injury.
The final piece to this perfect storm arrived when Eastern hired Dino Babers as the new head coach. A San Diego native and Hawaii graduate, Babers was the receivers coach and special teams coordinator at Baylor, which meant he had a hand in the magical RGIII Heisman season.
Babers installed Baylor's fast-paced, no-huddle attack -- Eastern is averaging 91 offensive snaps this season -- and it turned out his players were perfectly suited for it.
"Last Saturday for the first half, (Garoppolo) was as hot as I've ever seen any quarterback, and I've seen Robert Griffin III mighty hot in a couple of games in the Big 12," Babers said. "I would not have wanted to be Illinois State in the first half of that game."
Former Meadows QB has EIU offense rolling
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Pure comedy.
