CFB Advanced Matchup Plays: Week 4
Each week during the season I will recommend several players that are set up for success based on my research. This will consist of players who I believe will be underpriced, and will also have low ownership percentages.
College football is set to become a lot tougher this year with everyone increasing their coverage and attention to the sport. My goal is to provide you a weekly advantage on underrated plays and roster flexibility.
This will be an action-packed Saturday for college football fans; both of these slates should be extremely entertaining. This week’s piece comes with an extra responsibility – use these values to get Leonard Fournette (DraftKings: $9,500 / FanDuel: $8,700) in as many lineups as you can. Fournette has posted two straight games of 150-plus rushing yards and three-plus touchdowns, and that was against two relatively strong opponents.
Syracuse has been stout through three games, allowing only 46.7 rush yards per game, but they haven’t faced anyone with the talent of Fournette. The LSU passing game has been non-existent, throwing for only 145 yards in the first two games. The run game (Fournette) is going to be essential for them all season.
Week four, here we come.
Patrick Mahomes – (QB) Texas Tech – DraftKings: $8,900 / FanDuel: $8,700
Mahomes had passed for four-plus touchdowns or ran for two-plus touchdowns in all three games this year. With an exciting matchup against high powered TCU, this game will be fun to watch. With an Over/Under of 80.5, Vegas has decided this will be the highest scoring game of the weekend. The good news here is that there’s no way game flow can affect the Texas Tech passing game. Even if TCU runs away with it, Mahomes will be passing for all four quarters.
Texas Tech is at home, has an expected team total of 37.5 and Mahomes is sixth in the nation in passing yards, averaging 343 per game. This is also a nice opportunity to stack with big-play receiver Devin Lauderdale, who is cheap on both sites because he had a down week three.
Chad Kelly – (QB) Mississippi – DraftKings: $7,900 / FanDuel: $8,400
Kelly was a surprise to start the season, but after last week’s amazing win against Alabama, he’s directly on the national and fantasy radar. He’s had a rushing touchdown in all three of his games so far, and has thrown for over 340 yards in the two games he played more than one quarter.
Mississippi is projected for 40 points against Vanderbilt, and if this week is anything like the first three, It will be Kelly spreading the ball around efficiently and ending the day with 300 plus passing yards and three touchdowns as a floor.
Kelly is a great cash game play. It’s rare to find quarterbacks at his price that score so consistently.
D.J. Knox – (RB) Purdue – DraftKings: $5,100 / FanDuel: $6,400
Knox is playing in a game in which the O/U is 75, and his team is projected for 39 points. He was shut down last week against Virginia Tech, but will see a much softer defense in Bowling Green this time around. Knox’s first game against Marshall, where he went for 138 total yards and a touchdown, is a great representation of his real upside.
Price is one of the biggest factors, You won’t find another running back averaging 18 or more touches per game in his range. Knox is a great option in all formats, on both sites.
Taiwan Deal – (RB) Wisconsin – DraftKings: $5,300 / FanDuel: $6,600
Corey Clement being sidelined with injury for the near future is a huge blow to the Wisconsin offense, but it does present major opportunity for Taiwan Deal. Deal’s carries have increased each week of the season, and with Hawaii’s weak defense coming to Camp Randall stadium, ball control and rushing touchdowns are in the future for Wisconsin. Deal already has a two touchdown game on limited touches, so with feature back touches suddenly up for grabs, the appeal is clear.
Dare Ogunbowale will have a role, but isn’t something to worry about. They will both get plenty of touches, and are a quality cash game combo on DraftKings.
Deal is a tournament play this week and provides huge opportunity upside for his price.
Jovon Durante – (WR) West Virginia – DraftKings: $3,900 / FanDuel: $5,100
The entire West Virginia offense is undervalued this week, but Durante is the cheapest/best value of the group. If you didn’t watch the games, being skeptical of the production put up against Georgia Southern and Liberty would be a legitimate thought process, however, Durante flashed extremely impressive receiver skills that would be successful against anyone.
Durante has ten receptions, 181 yards and two touchdowns in two games so far, and he’s going up against a Maryland team that gave up 48 points, six passing touchdowns and over 600 yards of offense to Western Kentucky just two weeks ago.
Durante is severely underpriced on both sites this week, and will return huge value in any type of contest. Pairing him with his quarterback, Skyler Howard, is something I highly advise, especially on DraftKings. In fact, the West Virginia offense is so cheap, plugging in Shelton Gibson with those two in tournaments should easily return value and create a high ceiling for your lineup.
Juju Smith-Schuster – (WR) USC – DraftKings: $7,500 / FanDuel: $8,200
Every week you expect Smith-Schuster’s price to soar up, but the sites have stuck with their conservative pricing of him. USC has a huge game this week against an offensively explosive opponent, Arizona State. The O/U is 61.5, and if those teams are going to hit that mark, Smith-Schuster is going to have a big day for USC.
Smith-Schuster is averaging 144 receiving yards per game this year and has scored a touchdown in every game. He’s averaging 19.7 yards per reception and has been the most dominant receiver in the nation, plain and simple. He has an awesome quarterback, Cody Kessler, whose accuracy and intelligence makes Smith-Schuster’s job even easier. Kessler is averaging over 300 pass yards per game and has ten passing touchdowns and zero interceptions through three games.