College Football DFS Late Slate Breakdown: Week 4
A top-ranked college football DFS player going back to the Daily Joust and DraftStreet days, Andy Smith (a25smith) is here to walk you through the late Draftkings slate with a game-by-game preview.
We’re back for Week 4 of the Draftkings Late Slate breakdown with another game-by-game breakdown. Typically, we get some fun late-night, high-scoring CFB games, but this is a weird week, as the higher scoring games occur during the day. There is a premier matchup between Notre Dame and Ohio State, which may not be great for DFS but should be a great game. As always with CFB, there are some injury spots, so be sure to hop into discord prior to lineup lock for the latest injury news.
College Football DFS: Top DraftKings Picks for the Week 4 Late Slate
Oregon State at Washington State (+3, 58.5)
You know it’s an odd CFB slate when a game with a 58.5 total is profiling as the one with the best stacking / shootout potential, but that is what we are looking at with this late slate. On the Oregon State side of things, Damien Martinez is projecting as the top option to consider. Beyond DJ Giddens of Kansas State (more on him later), there aren’t many standout RB options, so I’d expect Martinez to be the 2nd or 3rd highest owned option at RB. He’s topped 100 rushing yards in every game this year and also went over the 100 yard mark in this matchup last year. He’s just a flat out good RB. The downside is that the TDs haven’t been there so far, and the stronger part of the Washington State defense this season has been their run defense. I don’t like the RB pool this week, and this is one of the better games to target, so for single entry / cash games, I’ll eat the chalk and roll with Martinez. Without factoring in ownership, I’d rank him #2 at RB on this slate behind Giddens.
If you’re looking for a pivot off of Martinez, then I’d expect the Oregon State QB DJ Uiagalelei to come in much lower owned. He’s not afraid to call his number near the end zone, as he has a rush TD in every game so far this year, and he was a running threat at Clemson last year as well. I do think Martinez and Uiagalelei are negatively correlated, as Martinez is not much of a pass catcher, and you want Uiagalelei to use his legs around the end zone, so I’ll limit myself to one in GPPs. The Washington State pass defense has been shaky at times this year, as they opened the year allowing 320 passing yards to Colorado State and Wisconsin threw for 277 yards, so they do look susceptible. Oregon State tends to lean towards the run, so their top WRs Anthony Gould and Silas Bolden are just projecting okay, which should leave them with appealing ownership. Both will make my GPP pool, but in particular, I like Gould here. He’s a big play WR that was a little banged up to start the year, but he looked good last week with a 75-yard receiving TD.
On the Washington State side of things, they are a very pass-happy offense, so I’m focusing in on their QB and WRs. I mentioned DJ Giddens as a top option at RB, and at WR, Lincoln Victor is still too cheap at $5,100, so he’s another cash game staple. I would expect monster ownership here, but he is averaging over 10 targets per game and is not a fade I would make in cash games. He operates out of the slot, and while Oregon State hasn’t faced any good passing offenses yet, I did note that they’ve allowed several good games to TEs, so the middle of this defense can be had. Beyond Victor, it’s Josh Kelly with 17 targets, Kyle Williams with 12 targets and Carlos Hernandez with 12 targets. If you’re looking to pivot off Victor, then I think Kelly is the one with the most upside, while Hernandez is the stone minimum, so he’s a value option to consider in GPPs. His volume has been up and down, as he’s played 40, 17, and 37 snaps, but I’ll take a few shots in GPPs.
Their QB, Cameron Ward, hasn’t flashed as a great runner, but he’s a big dude and he has been used around the goal line some this year, which is a big plus. I think Daniels is the clear cut QB1 and then beyond that, there’s Jefferson / Maye / Ward / McClain who I’ll be mixing and matching depending on salary constraints.
Arkansas at LSU (+17.5, 54.5)
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