RADIO
It may be Devil's Night in Detroit, but the Gods over at DraftKings have smiled upon us with a 14-game monster for our main Saturday slate. It's the largest of the season and it is absolutely loaded! We kick off with Miami in the Steel City to take on Pitt. The Longhorns head up to Waco to play Baylor. Cincinnati heads down to N'Awlins to play Tulane. We have Maryland hosting a beaten Indiana team as the Big Ten(14) undercard. We have the Harbaughs heading to East Lansing and Iowa heading up to Madison. That's just the noon games!
The afternoon starts with Iowa State heading to the Mountains of West Virginia. We have the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party in Jacksonville. Clemson hosts Florida State in a battle for the most disappointing team in the ACC. The Ralphies head out to Eugene to get smacked. Purdue heads to Lincoln where it will be Frosty despite the 70-degree temps. We have purple overload with TCU heading up to Manhattan. Oklahoma hosts Texas Tech in what is kind of a letdown in this series. We close it out with Duke heading down Tobacco Road to Winston-Salem to see what kind of records Wake can set against their defense. This is going to be a blast!
In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy college football lineup picks for the early DraftKings slate that locks at noon eastern on 10/30/21. I’ll be providing multiple player suggestions for players at quarterback, running back, and wide receiver, aiming to highlight one option apiece at the high, middle, and lower end of the salary scale. Good luck, RotoBallers.
Featured Promo: For this week only, take 50% off any full-season or yearly Premium Pass on the site! Just enter discount code THANKS when checking out. Thanks for being a reader, and Happy Holidays! Sign Up Now!
DraftKings CFB DFS Quarterbacks
Sam Hartman, Wake Forest ($9,000)
Duke's defense has more holes than a Swiss Cheese donut. Wake isn't really a prolific running team, but they can and will throw the ball all over the place. When this game gets out of hand, Wake may rest Hartman, which limits his upside. However, Hartman will be the main reason why the game gets out of hand. He's still going to put up big numbers in this game. Strangely enough, Hartman has played in the Duke's Mayo Bowl more times than he has played Duke. That's right....Hartman has never faced the Blue Devils before. He's going to make up for lost time here.
Tyler Van Dyke, Miami ($6,700)
Last week's win against North Carolina State was a bit of a turning point for Van Dyke. The team needed him to throw to win and he did. Van Dyke finished with his first career 300-yard game an threw four touchdowns without turning the ball over. Pitt has allowed a couple of big passing games against them, mostly when teams tried to play catch-up. Miami will almost certainly be in that position as well. The Canes do still have some good receivers and they are going to shine with a true pocket passer in there. Van Dyke reminds me a lot of the guy on the other side of the ball in this game. He will most certainly have growing pains along the way, but the upside is high enough to use him for this price.
Aidan O'Connell, Purdue ($5,500)
In their last game, the Nebraska defense made Tanner Morgan look like Tommy Kramer. The Cornhuskers did a nice job in run defense, but Morgan had the best game of his career. O'Connell is capable of doing the same thing. His receivers are better than what Morgan was working with. There's a lot of potential here at this price rate, but Nebraska has held their own against a couple of other decent quarterbacks. However, the reward outweighs the risk here.
Also consider: Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh ($8,800); Gerry Bohanon, Baylor ($7,200); Brock Purdy, Iowa State ($6,400); D.J. Uiagaleilei, Clemson ($5,700), Taisun Phommanchanh, Clemson ($5,300)
Want some more CFB DFS tools? If you like what you see here, don't forget to sign up for your RotoBaller CFB DFS Premium Pass. Use code MARTENY and receive 10% off your purchase! You'll love the College Football DFS Lineup Optimizer, DFS Cheat Sheets Premium Slack Chatrooms to help you out in real-time.
DraftKings CFB DFS Running Backs
Deuce Vaughn, Kansas State ($9,400)
There are a lot of good options at running back on this slate. TCU has allowed at least 214 rushing yards to every team but Duquesne. SMU, who is not really a running team, gouged them for 350 yards. Kansas State is primarily built to run, both with the quarterback and the backs. The Toadies are allowing 5.43 yards per carry on the season and have allowed 16 touchdowns on the ground against six FBS teams. There is a lot of fantasy goodness to be had here.
Travis Dye, Oregon ($8,700)
It is kind of concerning that Dye was held to just 35 yards rushing on 14 carries, but he scored four touchdowns on those 14 carries. It's not like anyone else was eating the carries either. UCLA just forced Anthony Brown to beat them and he did. Colorado has been in the middle of the pack against the run, but they have allowed at last 120 yards rushing in all but the first two games. Teams are running on the Ralphies now after what Minnesota did to them. Expect Oregon to give Dye his share of carries again with more success than he had last week.
Abram Smith, Baylor ($7,200)
Texas's woes against the run are well documented. Trestan Ebner is more a burner than workhorse, but Baylor has their horse. Smith carried 27 times for 188 yards against BYU in Baylor's last game. He also has ten touchdowns on the season despite not having gaudy stats anywhere else. Yards will be easiest to come by on the ground for the Bears. Smith could be in line for a big game here so long as Baylor keeps the pace. They shouldn't have a problem with that either.
Rahmir Johnson, Nebraska ($6,600)
The Cornhuskers would be fools to not lean heavily on Johnson and Jaquez Yant here after what the Badgers did to Purdue on the ground last week. Yant is a decent GPP dart, but Johnson is going to be the workhorse here. He ran for a pair of touchdowns in the loss to Minnesota two weeks ago and has cleared concussion protocol. He's good to go and should be a force against a Purdue defense That just gave up 290 rushing yards last week.
Christian Beal-Smith, Wake Forest ($5,100)
Run defense is the real problem spot for Duke, so part of me thinks that Wake will try to run CBS in this game. He topped the century mark three times last year, but has yet to reach that this year. The passing game has exploded under Sam Hartman and the great receivers this year, but Wake may decide that they just want the shorten the game and get home before someone gets hurt. That gives CBS some upside here.
Also consider: Jerome Ford, Cincinnati ($9,200); Kennedy Brooks, Oklahoma ($8,400); Mataeo Durant, Duke ($7,700); Zamir White, Georgia ($6,000); Stephen Carr, Indiana ($5,500)
DraftKings CFB DFS Wide Receivers
Jaquarii Roberson, Wake Forest ($7,600)
We all saw what Virginia did to Duke last week, right? Hartman may not quite be the passer that Brennan Armstrong is, but he's close. Roberson has piled up 427 yards on 23 receptions for three touchdowns in the last three weeks. A couple of Virginia receivers had huge days last week, so I don't hate using Roberson and A.T. Perry together. There should be plenty to go around for Wake in this one.
David Bell, Purdue ($7,100)
Chris Autman-Bell had himself a strong game against Nebraska the last time the Cornhuskers took the field. Bell is the only reliable Purdue receiver and if Purdue wants a shot at winning this, Bell is going to need to have a huge game. It's possible. Just look what he did to Iowa. Wisconsin locked him down, and though Nebraska's defense has been a strength, I'm not sure they can control Bell the way the Badgers did.
Erik Ezukanma, Texas Tech ($6,400)
Yes, Texas Tech spreads it around, but teams have been having one receiver that just goes nuts on Oklahoma this year. Xavier Worthy did it. Last week it was Kwamie Lassiter. This week it will likely be Ezukanma. Oklahoma's idea of covering the receivers is to hold them and hope they don't get caught. Ezukanma caught seven passes against Oklahoma last year. I wouldn't be shocked if he hits double digits this year.
Peyton Hendershot, Indiana ($4,800)
No matter who gets the start at quarterback, Hendershot should be a strong fantasy producer. He's worth more if both Penix and Jack Tuttle remain sidelined, but Tuttle still looks Hendershot's way enough to feel good about playing him. Hendershot was the only Indiana player with more than one reception last week. If the Hoosiers are the walking wounded at quarterback again, it makes sense to use Hendershot. If Tuttle is in, Ty Fryfogle is cheap enough to warrant a look.
Jeremiah Hall, Oklahoma ($4,400)
Lincoln Riley likes Hall. That automatically puts him on my radar. The Sooners spread the ball out among about a dozen receivers and backs, but Hall has still found the end zone in three of the last four games. He is the definition of touchdown-dependent, but knowing how often the Sooners look for him in the red zone, he's worth the risk in GPP's.
Also consider: Charleston Rambo, Miami ($6,900); Alec Pierce, Cincinnati ($6,600); Tyquan Thornton, Baylor ($6,000); Marcus Fleming, Maryland ($4,500); Charlie Kolar, Iowa State ($4,100)
Download Our Free News & Alerts Mobile App
Like what you see? Download our updated fantasy football app for iPhone and Android with 24x7 player news, injury alerts, rankings, starts/sits & more. All free!
