CFB DFS DraftKings Main Slate Breakdown: Week 9

by Jordan Vanek (vanekjordan)

Created Oct 29, 2026

Last Updated 2026-10-30 01:36:44 Premium Content Part of the product CFB Premium

Using his experience as a former scout and staff member at Central Florida under Josh Heupel, Jordan Vanek takes an in-depth look at the upcoming CFB DFS main slate on DraftKings for Week 9. Winner of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association’s 2025 College Sports Writer of the Year award, Jordan’s deep dive into the best stacks, running backs, and wide receivers is a must-read before you start building your lineups.

Week 9 has a few defenses that are making it pretty clear where we should be attacking them. Cincinnati continues to struggle against zone coverage, Arizona is blitzing at an absurd rate, and Auburn just got torched through the air. Now those defenses face offenses that are built to take advantage of those weaknesses.

What I love about this slate is the variety of ways we can build lineups. We have dual-threat quarterbacks with slate-breaking upside, some excellent value at receiver, and a few running backs stepping into massive workloads. The question isn’t necessarily which games we want to target, but how we fit the right pieces together without sacrificing upside elsewhere.

As always, our CFB DFS projections will be updated throughout Saturday’s slate with any news that comes out. Our projections team will also be posting real-time updates in the RotoGrinders Discord, letting you know what news came in and how it impacted the projections.

CFB DFS DraftKings Picks: Top Stacks, RBs, & WRs for Week 9

The defenses that will utilize a lot of man coverage are Arizona, Utah, and Syracuse. Over the last month, Utah’s man coverage has been beaten consistently, but its opponent, Cincinnati, hasn’t had a clear winner against man coverage. Surprisingly, Cole Tabb has actually been one of the primary targets against man coverage.

At the top of the graph, there’s a cluster of zone-heavy defenses, and the one that’s struggled the most over the last month is Cincinnati. This game will be one of the headlining matchups because Cincinnati is allowing a ton of yards per dropback against zone coverage. However, some teams have been elite in their zone schemes, particularly TCU and Wake Forest. Both are allowing fewer than 5 yards per dropback against zone coverage over the last month.

SMU basically lives in Cover 3, which makes for a phenomenal mini-stack opportunity in that matchup. Florida has played a lot more single-high coverage because it’s been getting beaten up in the trenches, making this week’s game against Georgia fascinating. Auburn was awful against LSU’s passing offense, and now a similar offensive scheme comes to town with Trinidad Chambliss and Ole Miss.

Oklahoma is a two-high team that should consider playing more single-high coverage. The Sooners are allowing just 2.95 yards per dropback in single-high looks compared to 8.00 in two-high coverages. This is a defense that should bring its safeties down and play more aggressively. The other two-high teams continue to utilize those looks at high rates, and Northwestern in particular doesn’t seem to care if opponents run the football. The Wildcats are using a light box on 69% of rushing attempts, and the next closest are TCU at 63% and Georgia at 54%.

Game Stacks

Gunner Stockton ($7,700, QB, Georgia)

Craig Dandridge ($3,700, WR, Georgia)

Lawson Luckie ($3,400, WR, Georgia)

Eric Singleton ($3,600, WR, Florida)

Georgia has one of the highest implied totals on the slate at 33.5 points in a game with a 55.5-point total. Florida plays zone coverage 59% of the time and shows single-high looks on 66% of its snaps, and Gunner Stockton has been excellent against both. He’s averaging 10.41 yards per dropback against single-high, 10.84 against man, and 8.83 against zone. There really isn’t a coverage Florida can sit in that takes away what Stockton does well. He’s also coming off a bye week, playing in a dome, and his designed rushing attempts have increased to 4.0 per game.

Dandridge ran routes on 70% of dropbacks before the bye week and has clearly gained Stockton’s trust. He’s been Stockton’s top target in recent games with a 20% target share and is averaging 3.39 yards per route run against single-high coverage. I prefer Luckie over Talyn Taylor here because of the price difference. Luckie is just $3,400 compared to Taylor at $5,500, and his 5.96 yards per route run against single-high is the best mark of any Georgia receiver in that split. Taylor is still a good play, with a 35% target share when aligned out wide and the second-most targets from Stockton in recent games, but Luckie at $3,400 is a much better use of salary.

Singleton is my preferred run-back option, although I don’t think this is a particularly strong spot for one. Georgia is favored by 11.5 points, and Florida has an implied total of just 22 points. However, Singleton is the best Florida option at his price. You don’t need to force a run-back piece with Stockton, but if you’re looking to get exposure, I believe Singleton can provide you value in this game.

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