Week 3 features a good old-fashioned rivalry that was ruined by the Big 12, then ruined for good when Nebraska bolted to the Big Ten(14) to be bullied by Ohio State instead of Texas. Like they thought there was a difference between the two...
There are 12 other games on the main slate aside from Nebraska-Oklahoma. While we're on the subject of bullying, South Carolina hosts Georgia. Cincinnati heads to Miami...of Ohio. An upstart Kansas team heads to Houston. A horrible Colorado team heads to Minneapolis. BYU and Oregon is a nice undercard. So is Penn State-Auburn and Cal in South Bend. Some of Vandy's current coaching staff was at Northern Illinois last year, so that should be a fun reunion. We have a lot to choose from!
In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy college football lineup picks for DraftKings on 9/17/22 locking at noon eastern. I’ll provide multiple player suggestions for players at quarterback, running back, and wide receiver, aiming to highlight one option at the high, middle, and lower end of the salary scale. Good luck, RotoBallers.
DraftKings CFB DFS Picks - Quarterbacks
Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma ($9,500)
Nebraska just gave up 642 total yards to Georgia Southern. That defense is a huge problem and they are going to get eaten alive again by Oklahoma, who has played about as vanilla on offense as you can through two games. Why not? This game may not be the rivalry that it once was to anyone but the fans and some coaches, but for a program like Oklahoma that has so many former players still deeply involved in the program, you can bet this is still a big deal. And Charles Thompson's son plays for Nebraska. You can bet that's a big deal to many.
Stetson Bennett, Georgia ($7,300)
Bennett is the elder statesman of this Georgia offense right now. The coaching staff has turned him loose a bit, allowing Bennett to throw for 300+ yards in each of the first two games. The touchdowns will come, especially against a South Carolina team that just gave up 44 points to Arkansas. Expect another strong outing from Bennett here.
Casey Thompson, Nebraska ($6,800)
The offense isn't the problem for Nebraska. The defense is. Oklahoma's defense has looked pretty good so far, but Kent and UTEP aren't the teams that they last year. Both lost prolific pieces of their offenses in Dustin Crum and Jacob Cowing, respectively. This Nebraska offense looks better than last year and Thompson feels really cheap at this price. He routinely cost upward of $9k last season with Texas. I'll take the discount in a game like this.
Garrett Shrader, Syracuse ($6,400)
The tenacious Orange defense has helped the offense out as well. Just being in this offense for another year has helped Shrader improve by leaps and bounds. Purdue's defense had issues with Penn State. I imagine they will with this suddenly potent Syracuse offense as well. Shrader has 70.86 DraftKings points in two games. He should at least flirt with 30 again here, which is a great return for the cost.
Also consider: Jaxson Dart, Mississippi ($9,000); Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA ($8,300); Connor Bazelak, Indiana ($6,200); Sean Clifford, Penn State ($5,600); Jack Plummer, California ($4,900)
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DraftKings CFB DFS Picks - Running Backs
Mohamed Ibrahim, Minnesota ($9,400)
To the surprise of everyone, Minnesota has given Ibrahim a ton of carries in the first three quarters of the first two games before resting him in the fourth. Ibrahim has tallied 44 carries in two blowouts so far. While this will likely be a third blowout, we have little reason to believe that Ibrahim won't wind up in the end zone at least twice once again.
Sean Tucker, Syracuse ($8,900)
I like Tucker more than Ibrahim in GPP formats this week. Tucker has caught ten passes in two games, which is just free points over Ibrahim, who hasn't needed to be involved in the passing game. This game promises to be more of a contest than Minnesota's, so we should get four quarters of production out of Tucker, who has surpassed the century mark in ten of his last 13 games.
Zach Charbonnet, UCLA ($6,300)
The Bruins were cautious with Charbonnet and held him out against Alabama State. The team insists that there is no injury concern, so I guess we will try to hold them to that. If that is true, Charbonnet is severely underpriced against South Alabama. DTR caps the upside of Charbonnet, but not that much. Give me this bargain all day!
Jaydn Ott, California ($4,500)
This is a situation similar to that of Jirehl Brock last week. Yes, the Notre Dame defense is very good, but that offense can't move the ball. Ott has been a revelation for Cal so far and has the talent to put together a few big years in Berkeley before heading to the NFL. We really only need Ott to break a long run or score a touchdown for him to hit value. It's not only probable against the Irish, it's likely.
Also consider: Eric Gray, Oklahoma ($7,500); Kenny McIntosh, Georgia ($6,700); Anthony Grant, Nebraska ($6,200); Shaun Shivers, Indiana ($6,100); Quinshon Judkins, Mississippi ($3,500); Devin Mockobee, Purdue ($3,100)
DraftKings CFB DFS Picks - Wide Receivers
Marvin Mims, Oklahoma ($8,900)
It's about time that the Oklahoma offense is finally using Mims again. He went stagnant last year under Lincoln Riley, but had a monster last week against Kent. Who, by the way, likely has a better defense than Nebraska right now. Gabriel is locked onto Mims, which makes me very confident in paying up for Mims at receiver. There is plenty of value on the slate to stack Gabriel and Mims with another Oklahoma piece or two.
Nathaniel Dell, Houston ($7,900)
Yes, Kansas is exciting. Just the offense though. The defense still gives up yardage by the acre. Dell might be the fastest player in FBS and has great hands to go with it. Few teams are dumb enough to kick it to Dell anymore, but he is still the focal point of this Houston offense. He could be in for another monster against Kansas. They are improving, but the offense is going much faster than the defense.
D.J. Matthews Jr., Indiana ($5,900)
This game is going to be fast-paced and likely high scoring. Both teams like to play fast. Cam Camper is going to get plenty of action in this one as well, but Matthews is the guy scoring the touchdowns. Both receivers with Bazelak is a very affordable stack that lets you load up elsewhere.
Marcus Washington, Nebraska ($3,600)
Both Trey Palmer and Washington feel very affordable here, especially since the Oklahoma defense hasn't been tested yet. Washington, who transferred with Casey Thompson from Texas, had a monster game last week against Georgia Southern. He and Palmer are leading the Cornhuskers in every receiving category and you can have both for a combined $7,800. That feels a bit ridiculous.
Also consider: Charlie Jones, Purdue ($8,000); Ladd McConkey, Georgia ($6,000); Chris Autman-Bell, Minnesota ($5,800); Daewood Davis, Western Kentucky ($5,200); J. Michael Sturdivant, California ($3,600)
College Football DFS Game Stack Options
You know which team stacks are often good, but this isn't baseball. Game stacks can and do work. Just look at Appalachian State-North Carolina in week 1. That game made several DFS players a few thousand bucks. Who can do that this week? Let's check it out!
Western Kentucky at Indiana
The Hoosiers aim to run a play every eight seconds. The Hilltoppers do that in about 10-12 seconds. The average around college football is around 20 seconds. That means these two teams run two plays combined to everyone else's one. That's the kind of volume we want for DFS. You know how I feel about the Indiana stack. The WKU one is a little more tricky. Daewood Davis is the leading receiver and is nearly $3,000 less than Corley. I'd run him in any lineup, but he needs to be the centerpiece of this stack. Indiana doesn't mind running the ball despite going fast, so I like Shivers too, even if running Bazelak and the receivers.
Oklahoma at Nebraska
This game wasn't high-scoring last year like many expected, but we know Nebraska's defense is far worse and Oklahoma's is, at the very least, different. We also don't have Spencer Rattler starting at quarterback. There are points to be had in this one. I really like the Nebraska side for DFS considering how cheap the receivers and Casey Thompson are. Any Oklahoma player with a pulse is good to run here. Can Eric Gordon run like he did as a freshman at Tennessee? It would be here if he does.
Honorable Mention: Kansas at Houston