The Ultimate Daily Fantasy College Football Strategy Guide
Hello Grinders! This was actually my first feature piece that I ever wrote for RotoGrinders almost a year ago to this date. Oh, how fast time flies when you are having fun! Once again this year, I look forward to providing my insights and analysis when it comes to college football. In both 2012 and 2013, this was easily my favorite and one of my most profitable sports. I research it the hardest of any of them and it tends to pay off, especially since player news is harder to come by in college football than it is for a lot of the other sports.
We’ll start the season off again this year with a college football strategy guide. Whether you are new to college football, a seasoned veteran, or fall somewhere in the middle, hopefully this guide has something that will help you improve your game in 2014. If that happens, I’ve done my preseason job. Now, enough of the small talk, let’s delve into what you have to do to be successful at college football grinding.
1. VEGAS ODDS ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND
This concept comes naturally to some but may seem foreign to others. I’ll start by telling you that if you do not analyze Vegas odds for college football, you are at an extreme competitive disadvantage right from the get go. The highest scoring bowl game last year was this one.
It also happened to have one of the highest over/under totals – if not the highest total – of any bowl game. If you did not have some offensive weapons from that game, you were dead right from the start for that slate. It doesn’t take very long to analyze odds and just pick out the larger favorites and higher over/under totals of the day. If you do this, you can start your week by figuring out teams to target.
2. DON’T SKIMP ON YOUR QUARTERBACKS
With NFL games, some sites offer multi-quarterback formats. This lends to a strategy that some people use of taking a “cheaper” second quarterback to save salary for other skill positions. In college football, this is a death trap. Every week there are quarterbacks that put up monster numbers. If you pick two of these guys, sometimes it is enough to carry your whole team to victory. I had one team last year where I would have won several H2H matches with just my two quarterbacks.
The reason QBs are so valuable in college football is because many of them offer dual-threat capabilities to the extreme. This leads to those players getting a ton of total yards, both rushing and passing, along with a large percentage of their team’s touchdowns.
See: Mariota, Marcus
See: Miller, Braxton
See: Hundley, Brett
Quarterbacks offer immense upside on an every-week basis. This is always a spend position, and it’s a great idea to go after the guys who can run as well as throw successfully.
3. PLAYER NEWS IS HARD TO FIND
This is perhaps the biggest reason why some people get turned away from college football. It’s also the reason I absolutely love playing the sport. It is very hard to find reputable sites for player injury/suspension/demotion news. However, although it’s hard, it’s not impossible. You just have to avoid being lazy and do some work on your own. This is not the NFL – you can’t just fire up rotoworld and have 1,000 player tidbits right at the click of a mouse.
What’s the secret here? Local newspapers. That’s right, local newspapers. You’ll be amazed how much coverage of LSU football you can find in a Baton Rouge newspaper. It will contain the type of insight you won’t find in a Twitter blurb. Doing little things like this is the number one key to success in college football. It’s a reality here that time equals money. The more time you put in, the more success you will have.
4. PUNT THE TIGHT END POSITION
UPDATE: DraftKings has gotten rid of the TE position and added another FLEX spot ahead of the new season.
Think fast – name three college football tight ends.
(Waiting)
(Waiting)
I bet 90% of you couldn’t do this without looking at a player list. Tight ends are almost completely irrelevant in college football. Even the top ones last year such as Tyler Kroft or Eric Ebron had games with 2 catches for 25 yards. With the elite production you can get at the other skill positions, it makes absolutely no sense to spend top dollar on a tight end. Ever. Just toss this into the brain now.
Go to the bottom of the list, look for a starting TE that has a halfway decent matchup, and plug n’ play the guy. Save the dollars for a QB, RB, or WR. You’ll be glad you did.
5. FOR RBs AND WRs, IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MATCHUPS, LOOKS, AND TOUCHES
This concept is a no brainer that a lot of people tend to overlook. The more times a player gets his hands on the ball, the more fantasy points he is able to amass. Would you rather have an every down, goal line running back or a time-share running back? The answer is obvious. The tricky part happens when that every down running back has a tough matchup and the time-share guy is playing Little Sisters of the Poor College. That’s the time where you have to use a little bit of instinct. Let’s use a hypothetical example from 2013:
- Bishop Sankey vs. USC
- TJ Yeldon vs. Sam Houston State
Assuming equal pricing, which player would you take here? I guarantee more players would have chosen Yeldon given his skill set and matchup. However, that’s a game Alabama is likely to win by 50 points where Yeldon wouldn’t sniff the field after halftime. In addition, Yeldon shared a lot of time with Kenyon Drake. His touches are probably limited to about 10 or 15 in this game. Meanwhile, Bishop Sankey probably carries the ball about 30 or 35 times against US with several red zone chances. I would take Sankey every time in a matchup comparison such as this, and that’s a very hard thing to get accustomed to.
Vegas lines can help you analyze things like these, and so can reading box scores from previous weeks (once we have them).
Wide Receivers are in a similar boat here. You’ll want to get your hands on as many top receivers as possible that get the ball thrown their way a lot. Simply put, a guy who sees 12 targets a game is going to have much more fantasy upside than a guy who sees six. Reading team news and box scores can help you uncover these gems as well.
6. DON’T OVERLOOK TEAM STATISTICAL RANKINGS
This is probably one of the easier tasks to complete in college football, but it’s also one of the most valuable. Several of the mainstream sports sites have college football team stats for both offenses and defenses. Take full advantage of these. For example, if you see a team that’s top 20 in the NCAA in passing yards per game facing off against a team that’s in the bottom 20 in passing yards allowed per game, fire up the quarterback/receivers of the good team! It’s a simple strategy that can work wonders throughout the season. If you only have time to complete one item in this strategy guide, I would make this that item.
And there you have it, the six steps you need to take to improve your college football game. Study those Vegas odds, spend on your quarterbacks, skimp on your tight ends, research your players for local news, and analyze playing time and matchups. If you spend a diligent amount of time on each task, you can have a winning college football team in place. Remember, you only have to do it once a week, so you have plenty of time available!! If you don’t have that time, that’s what we’re here for. RotoGrinders will have you covered this college football season with more coverage than ever before. Our plans are to have you covered with several angles, including but of course not limited to:
— Expert picks, chat, and added tools for incentives members (in addition to several tools available to everyone).
— A new “DFS Playbook” series video with Dan Back and myself where we highlight important matchups at each position during the week.
— Grinders Live – College Football After Dark on Thursday nights with Dan Back and Headchopper.
— Grinders Live – College Football Pregame Edition on Saturday mornings with EMac and myself.
Now let’s go get that cash!!