We have another big weekend of college football DFS for you this week. There is a showdown slate for Thursday with just one game going on. Friday we have three games, headlined Iowa leaving their state for the first time in nine months.
We kick the night off with Houston heading up to Tulsa. We then have Iowa over in College Park to take on "the other" Tagovailoa. We finish it off in the mountains in Logan with BYU heading up from Provo. This is going to be another fun one!
In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy college football lineup picks for DraftKings on 10/1/21 locking at 7:30 pm eastern. I’ll be providing multiple player suggestions for players at guard and forward, aiming to highlight one option apiece at the high, middle, and lower end of the salary scale. Good luck, RotoBallers.
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DraftKings CFB DFS Quarterbacks
Jaren Hall, BYU ($8,800)
Predictably, Hall's stats were down some against Arizona State. He got to take the week off against South Florida, so he'll be well rested against a Utah State team that just got dominated by Boise at home. BYU is at least as good as Boise, and so far, Hall has looked better than Hank Bachmeier. A competitive game would help Hall's overall stat line. With the Vegas spread only at -8.5 in most places, it seems like most expect that to be the case. Hall looks like the cash play, but ownership will be high in GPP's if you want to try a pivot instead.
Taulia Tagovailoa, Maryland ($7,000)
The price on Taulia is a bit of a deterrent, especially when you consider how well Iowa has done on defense this year. However, the Hawkeyes haven't left Iowa for a football game since December 5 of last year. They were at Iowa State for the CyHawk game, but 20,000 of their closest friends followed them the two hours to Ames. That's not really a road game. Can that defense keep it up on the road? I don't really think Maryland is in any danger of winning this, but Taulia had good games against the solid defenses of Illinois and West Virginia and he should come with very low ownership. There's potential here if you don't think Hall lives up to his price.
Davis Brin, Tulsa ($6,700)
Brin threw for 428 and a pair of touchdowns in the Shoe against Ohio State and followed that up with 355 and three touchdowns against Arkansas State last week. Houston's defense looks great against the pass, but they have played three heavy run teams through their four games. Navy, Grambling, and Rice are ground-heavy teams. Tulsa is not. Houston's defense looked solid against the Texas Tech passing offense, but if Brin can go over 400 on Ohio State, I'm not scared of Houston. He looks like a great value here.
Also consider: Logan Bonner, Utah State ($7,400); Clayton Tune, Houston (6,500); Spencer Petras, Iowa ($5,200)
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DraftKings CFB DFS Running Backs
Tyler Goodson, Iowa ($6,800)
There isn't a single lock at running back on this slate. Iowa's offense is built on short passes and the run game. Even so, Goodson has only topped 100 yards once this year so far (against Kent State) and has been held to 3.2 yards per carry or less in two of the four games. The Iowa State run defense is strong, so I get that. However, he struggled against a Colorado State team that allowed 240 rushing yards and four touchdowns to South Dakota State. The Rams defense has improved by leaps and bounds since, but it highlights the true problem with the Iowa offense: the lack of big plays in the passing game. The silver lining with Goodson is that he plays a lot on passing downs and picks up some free points there as well. He has at least two receptions in every game this season.
Calvin Tyler Jr., Utah State ($6,400)
The Cougars have allowed over 160 yards rushing in three of the four games and have allowed six rushing touchdowns in four games. This has to be music to Tyler and the Utah State offense. This is a good running team. Tyler was one of the few bright spots last week against Boise. He still picked up 126 yards on 20 carries even though the offense struggled to put points up. That shouldn't be the case here.
Shamari Brooks, Tulsa ($4,700)
Houston's run D has been a bit of a sore spot, but as I mentioned before, they have faced three run-heavy teams. Brooks was the better of the two Tulsa backs against Ohio State and ran well last week when Deneric Prince was banged up. Having two strong backs is a good problem for Tulsa to have, but not us DFS players. Brooks' role has been a little more consistent than Prince. Prince is back to full strength this week so Tulsa will likely go with the hot hand. Based on what we've seen so far, it's more likely to be Brooks than Prince if you're going cheap in a GPP.
Also consider: Tyler Allgeier, BYU ($7,100); Alton McCaskill, Houston ($5,800); Lopini Katoa, BYU ($3,800)
DraftKings CFB DFS Wide Receivers
Dontay Demus Jr., Maryland ($6,600)
You need a leap of faith to use Demus just like you do with Taulia. It is worth noting that Demus has over 100 yards receiving in three of the four games and caught eight passes against Illinois, the only team to hold him to double digits. Even against a tough defense like Iowa, the points are still going to be there for Demus. His ceiling is lower than normal, but the floor is very nice in this price range.
Josh Johnson, Tulsa ($6,000)
With Davis Brin racking up the huge numbers, someone has to be catching the passes. Johnson has 17 receptions over the last two games for 276 yards and a touchdown. Going for 149 against Ohio State is an achievement on its own. Houston's pass defense is still a solid unit, but considering what Johnson has done of late, I'm still siding with him. Brin's explosion has coincided with Johnson's. However, if Keylon Stokes is back, it could muddle this situation a little. Tulsa hasn't released any information on Stokes, so it seems unlikely that he would play this week.
Sam LaPorta, Iowa ($4,600)
Maryland has a chance in this game because Iowa lacks explosiveness on offense. LaPorta, the tight end (one of them, anyway) has at least six targets in every game this year. He's leading the team in targets and has a touchdown catch in each of the last two games. LaPorta has a huge role in one of the more methodical offenses in the country. He has the best floor of any value play and has ample upside with the number of targets he gets.
Keagan Johnson, Iowa ($4,500)
Remember what I said about Iowa lacking explosiveness? I may have to go back on that. The freshman saw his first action of the season against Colorado State and both of his receptions went for more than 40 yards. He's speedy enough to get behind the Maryland defense. The only question is whether Petras can find him or not. Johnson has nice upside against a Maryland defense that has given up some big plays.
Also consider: Gunner Romney, BYU ($7,600); Brandon Bowling, Utah State ($5,700); Sam Crawford, Tulsa ($5,300); Puka Nacua, BYU ($4,300)