CFB Weekly Picks: Week 10
Week 10 brings us pricing that is getting better and better each week on the sites and that makes building your rosters more difficult. If you are taking the time to do your research and are keeping up with the injuries and suspensions the tighter pricing only helps you. If you are building a lineup and are struggling to put together a decent team don’t get discouraged that just means everybody else is struggling as well. When it get to this part of the season I really suggest paying for QB and RB in your cash game lineups. There is always value at WR you just need to dig hard enough to find it.
The plays I am going to recommend this week are following the criteria I mentioned above. I am paying up at QB and RB this week and finding the value plays at WR.
Quarterback
Trevone Boykin (TCU) E – Boykin and the whole TCU offense is on a roll right now and I don’t see West Virginia slowing that down. He has back to back 400 yard passing games and 10 passing TDs in that span as well. The thing that separates Boykin from most other QBs is he is one of few guys that can throw for that many yards but still is a huge threat in the running game. The West Virginia offense if good enough to keep this game close so Boykin will probably keep putting up stats for all four quarters. I feel he is the clear cut #1 QB in the early slate of games.
Dak Prescott (Mississippi St) L – Prescott is the best fantasy QB this year and it isn’t even close in my mind. He hasn’t had a game under 30 points since week one and he only played a half in that game. He has three games over 40 points and brings no downside to the table. Prescott averages over 20 points a game on the ground alone and is a pretty good passer as well. He has the highest floor and the most upside. I will keep taking him every week until he is at least $1500 more than any other QB. Prescott can basically do anything he wants on the field it is just a matter of how much he gets from week to week not a matter of if he can get it.
Marcus Mariota (Oregon) L – Mariota is a cheap as you will or have seen him in the last two years. I realize the Stanford defense is really good but Mariota is just to good to let a defense scare you off him. These are the games where he usually plays his best football. Oregon needs to win this game, it should stay relatively close, and he will probably have to run the ball more than he has lately. These are all factors in why I am going to play Mariota this week. The all around game he brings to the table will not allow him to have a bad game. This is probably the week he will have the lowest salary and the lowest ownership that is a combo that is screaming for you to put him in your GPP lineups for sure, but feel free to roll him out in your cash games as well.
Other Options: Bryce Petty (Baylor), Brett Hundley (UCLA), Marquise Williams (North Carolina)
Running Back
Duke Johnson (Miami) E – Johnson draws the dream matchup of North Carolina this week. The only thing that was keeping Johnson from being a top five RB this season was the number of carries he was getting each week. Last week Miami gave him the ball 29 times and he responded in a big way, he had 285 total yards and 2 TDs. Johnson is usually involved in the passing game which always helps for fantasy purposes as well. If Johnson even approaches the 20 carry mark this week I can’t see him having anything short of a huge week. Johnson offers as much upside as any of the RBs this week and that includes the guys $2000 higher priced.
Brian Hill (Wyoming) L – This is the one cheap RB I will be playing this week. This one is really hard to get away from on Fanduel and makes a decent play on Draftkings as well. Hill is one of those few injury plays that popped up this week with the injury to starter Shaun Wick. Head coach Craig Bohl has always found good running backs to recruit no matter where he has coached at. In his first extended run last week he showed what he could do with 28 carries for 120 yards and 2 TDs. Wyoming will pound the ball on the ground and Hill should see around 25 of those carries and for the price it is hard to not consider him.
Donnel Pumphrey (San Diego St) L – San Diego St tried to limit his touches early in the year but they quickly realized he was just to good not to feed him the ball 20+ times per game. Since they started relying on him heavy the last four weeks he has been averaging 175 yards and 2 TDs per game. This weeks game against Nevada should be a high scoring game and I can’t see Pumphrey going for less than 150 yards with a couple of scores.
Other Options: Nick Chubb (Georgia), Mike Davis (South Carolina), Josh Robinson (Mississippi St), Javorius Allen (USC)
Wide Receiver
Antonio Vaughn (Old Dominion) L – Vaughn is a huge boom or bust play most weeks so if you want to avoid him in cash games I can’t blame you. I however do think this will be another of his boom weeks. Vanderbilt should be able to out class Old Dominion but they are just not a very good football team. I think Old Dominion will hang with Vandy and this will be a high scoring game. Vaughn is averaging about 20 fantasy points per game and two of his last four games have been 35+ point performances. If you think Old Dominion can hang with Vandy then I think you should play Vaughn because they will lean on him in the passing game this week.
Lucky Whitehead (Florida Atlantic) L – Whitehead is not available on all the sites this week but get him into your lineups where available. He is a high volume receiver with seven or more receptions in 4 straight games. He has 3 TDs in that stretch as well so he is more than just a possession receiver. The consistency and upside make him a good play regardless of what type of contest you are building your lineup for.
Deontay Greenberry (Houston) E – Greenberry is not available on all the sites this week, but he is underpriced where he is available. Greenberry and the whole Houston offense had a month long stretch where they didn’t have much going for them. The last couple of weeks they decided to shake things up and started Greg Ward at QB. Since Ward was inserted into the lineup it has jump started the Houston offense and really given Greenberry a boost as well. Greenberry was supposed to be a big time receiver this year and hopefully this change will make that happen. He had ten catches and a TD last week and I see him as a high volume receiver going forward.
Other Options: Teldrick Morgan (New Mexico St), Josh Doctson (TCU), Tyler Winston (San Jose St), John Harris (Texas)
Tight End
Pharaoh Brown (Oregon) L – I normally don’t like paying anything above minimum salary for a TE but Brown will probably change that this week. Brown is becoming one of the main targets in the Oregon passing game and that is a good offense to become a main guy in. He has had three really good games in a row and five total TDs on the year. He is still underpriced for the production he brings to the table. If you have any extra salary to spend at TE in the late games I would hands down take Brown over any other option.
David Grinnage (NC St) E – Grinnage has scored in back to back weeks and has been involved in the offense all year long. At the tight end position that is pretty impressive in the college game. Grinnage has as good a chance of any of the cheap TEs this week to find the end zone.
Other Options: Steven Scheu (Vanderbilt), Bradley Miller (Texas St)