Might be the best CFB DFS slate of the season.  We really do not have too many projected blowouts and we only have one team (Arizona) who is making their debut this season.  A couple games have been wiped out but only one from the slate of games on DraftKings (Ohio State vs Maryland).  When I list the games below they are listed in no particular order within each tier other than highest total to lowest total.

 

TOP TIER GAMES

67:  Miami vs Virginia Tech (-2.5)

67:  USC (-14) vs Arizona

66:  Louisville vs Virginia (-3.5)

57:  Baylor vs Texas Tech  (-1)

 

SECOND TIER GAMES

66:  Wake Forest vs North Carolina (-13.5)

57:  Middle Tennessee St vs Marshall (-24)

52:  Indiana (-10.5) vs Michigan State

45:  TCU vs West Virginia (-3)

 

GAMES TO COMPLETELY AVOID

56:  Penn State (-3) vs Nebraska

49:  Notre Dame (-13.5) vs Boston College

48:  Georgia (-13) vs Missouri

 

TOP GAMES OF THE DAY

CFB is generally very chalky in relation to the over/under projections because there’s good reason for them tied to offenses generally being one dimensional, so the choice on these top games is if you go all in,  balance them all out, or fade one and mix in the appropriate one offs.

Favorite Game

Louisville at Virginia (-3.5)

I have to take into account the pricing of a game stack when ranking a game as my favorite game of the day and that’s why this one gets the nod.  Louisville’s defense has yielded over 230 yards rushing to their opponents in the last three games at an average of 5.5 yards per carry.  Conversely, the Cavaliers Sophomore QB Brennan Armstrong has been anchoring their ground attack since getting healthy to the tune of 35 total carries the past two games.  Virginia is well rested and a home favorite against a decent Louisville team here for good reason — I expect Armstrong to have a huge game on the ground and his price is just too good to pass up going after him again this week.  Virginia’s pass defense though has been horrific giving up over 300 yards per game through the air and with a 30% target share this is a smash spot for the always reliable Tutu Atwell ($6,500).  This game has all the goodies and is easily stackable as both teams come in rested having not played last weekend.

Louisville:  Malik Cunningham, Tutu Atwell

Virginia:  Brennan Armstrong

 

 

MY POSITIONAL RANKINGS

You will notice that the positional rankings might not align 1:1 with the games mentioned above and that’s because there isnt a clear cut #1 game which is the best game to stack and rank the players in that way.

 

QUARTERBACKS

Brennan Armstrong (Virginia)

Best value on the slate.

Kedon Slovis (USC)

Slovis has the advantage of a game under his belt and facing Arizona making their debut.  Maybe not the rushing upside of King or Hooker, but a safe play to get you a nice floor.

D’Eriq King (Miami)

King showed his Heisman potential last week finally against NC State.  He and Hooker both have slate breaking ability.

Hendon Hooker (Miami)

I lean King here because Hooker does it on the ground mostly and the way to beat Miami lately is through the air.

 

RUNNING BACKS

Brenden Knox (Marshall)

I’m not exactly thrilled that we have a Marshall blowout game on this slate, but given the limited RB options it gives us someone worthy of paying up for.

Leddie Brown (West Virginia)

This should be a close game in Morgantown and in both home games which remained close Brown wound up with over 24 rushing attempts.  If he gets that kind of volume as anticipated then he’ll push over 100 yards rushing and is really the main guy who I think could provide offense for the Mountaineers against TCU.

Michael Carter (North Carolina)

Fellow RB Javonte Williams dominated last weekend but in reality these two continue to see equal carries and although Carter isn’t the TD machine that Williams is, he’s a no brainer play at a much cheaper price tag.

SaRodorick Thompson (Texas Tech)

 

WIDE RECEIVERS

Whop Philyor (Indiana) – $6,100

Philyor has been absolutely shot out of a cannon to start the Big Ten season and now faces an opponent who has not had any answers for him in the past.  Philyor went for 13-148-1 in 2018 and 14-142-2 in 2019 against this Spartans defense.  With an even better QB connection so far this year he’s primed to go off again and should probably be closer to the $7,300 price range than $6,100.  He’ll be chalk and should smash so do not miss this one.

Tutu Atwell (Louisville) – $6,500

Atwell had 6 catches for 120+ yards and a touchdown against the Wahoo’s last season and has not had back to back games without a touchdown since 2018.  Coming off a game when he didn’t score against Va Tech I expect him to be their lead receiver on the road this weekend.  Lock him in for another 6 catches, 100+ yards and a touchdown.  I have a sneaky feeling we see a 9 catch Tutu game here too.

R.J. Snead (Baylor) – $5,000

As you can see the theme of the week at WR is not about finding a stud who is going to dominate but more finding the mid range #1 WR who is getting a major boost against a terrible opponent.  The Texas Tech defense hasn’t been able to slow down many passing games this year and I trust Charlie Brewer when he does throw it to have success with RJ Snead as his primary target.

Dyami Brown (North Carolina)

UNC didn’t need Brown last week as they quickly went up and continued to pound Duke on the ground.  Nice bounce back spot for the UNC #1.

Tyler Vaughns (USC)

We can make a case for any of the USC wideouts as they’re gonna air it out a ton.  So give me the best value of them all in Vaughns if they’re all within an ear shot of each other.

 

CORE BUILD

• Brennan Armstrong
• Brenden Knox
• Whop Philyor
• Tutu Atwell

 

Lineup Construction Thought …

Use one of the stud Quarterbacks in S-FLEX.  To me this weekend will come down to which QB you have as SFLEX who tops 35+ fantasy points.