CFB DFS DraftKings Main Slate Breakdown: Week 12

by Jordan Vanek (vanekjordan) Last Updated 2025-11-13 22:06:11 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 12. Formerly of The 33rd Team and 4for4 Fantasy Football, Jordan’s deep dive into the best stacks, running backs, and wide receivers is a must-read before you start building your lineups.

Julian Lewis missing the 300-yard bonus because of a negative 4-yard pass was a brutal way to torch my Week 11 slate. But this week sets up as a really fun one for CFB DFS. We don’t have a single team implied for 40 points, and there are only 2 games with big spreads, which should lead to a lower-scoring slate overall – and give us some interesting edges. A few top options stand out clearly, but what I love about this slate is the flexibility in roster construction. You can get unique in ways you normally can’t, including builds with two RBs from the same team – a strategy I’ll dive into below.

As always, our CFB DFS projections are going to supply the edge as the injury news comes in. Our projections team will also be posting real-time updates in the RotoGrinders Discord, so make sure you’re in there throughout the day.

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CFB DFS DraftKings Picks: Top Stacks, RBs, & WRs for Week 12

This slate features a strong mix of zone-heavy and man-heavy defenses. At this point in the season, unless a coaching change happens, teams are generally set in their coverage tendencies. And outside of facing elite opponents, they rarely shift into more exotic looks.

A few teams sit around the 35% mark for man coverage: Notre Dame, Arkansas, Virginia, UCF, Texas A&M, Arizona, Penn State, South Carolina, LSU, Iowa, and USC. Several of these teams will face specific wideouts who consistently win against man coverage, and there’s one matchup in particular where I don’t think the defense will have any answers.

On the zone-heavy side, we have Alabama, Pittsburgh, Michigan, Cincinnati, Miami, Arizona State, NC State, West Virginia, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma. Alabama tends to force opponents away from the pass, but with a healthy John Mateer, that matchup could get interesting – it’s the kind of game that could either end Oklahoma’s season or create a big storyline heading into the final stretch.

If you see a team on the first graph playing a lot of man coverage – like Notre Dame, Arkansas, or LSU – and pairing it with a high rate of single-high looks, you can safely assume they’re running a ton of Cover 1. When those same teams rotate into zone, it’s typically Cover 3.

Pittsburgh, on the other hand, lives in zone and two-high shells, which means you’re getting Cover 2, Cover 4, or Cover 6 (a blend of the two). They love to blitz out of those zone looks and try to create chaos up front. I expect them to show those two-high shells pre-snap then fly downhill against Jeremiyah Love, which should open up the slot in a big way.

Game Stacks

Darian Mensah ($8,000, QB, Duke)

Cooper Barkate ($7,100, WR, Duke)

Andrel Anthony ($3,700, WR, Duke)

J’Mari Taylor ($7,700, RB, Virginia)

Trell Harris ($4,200, WR, Virginia) or Cam Ross ($3,900, WR, Virginia)

Virginia’s secondary has only faced two real passing offenses this season – Louisville and NC State. Louisville threw for over 300 yards, and NC State averaged over 8 yards per attempt. Now they face Mensah, who has thrown for 300+ yards in 5 games this season, has multiple passing touchdowns in every start, and walks into a very favorable matchup.

Virginia has been terrible at defending the boundary. Chris Bell dropped 170 yards on them, Duce Robinson went for 147, and both Bryce Farrell and CJ Williams topped 100 yards in the same game. Duke has one clear alpha on the perimeter, Barkate, and Anthony has been earning a bigger role lately – his speed has been winning consistently downfield. Anthony also has a manageable price tag, allowing you to build full game stacks while still getting exposure to the best options on the Virginia side.

Duke’s defense has given up some rushing touchdowns, but they’ve limited efficiency on the ground. I don’t love Taylor in this spot, but he’s still getting 25+ touches a week. In a full game stack, I’d actually prefer Virginia to be playing from ahead so Duke is forced to throw – because the best matchup is clearly with the Virginia receivers.

Duke has struggled with WRs who win after the catch. Harris and Ross both excel when the ball is in their hands, and among the biggest receiving performances against Duke this season, more than 55% of the production has come after the catch. That aligns perfectly with the strengths of this Virginia receiving corps.

The only real concern here is the health of quarterback Chandler Morris ($8,200). If he’s out, I’m much more hesitant about the passing game in this matchup.

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