College Football Weekly Picks: Week 11
DraftKings brings us the first big college football tournament of the year this week and FanDuel has a couple coming up soon. For anybody reading this article I have news for you, we are the people these sites are running these tournaments for. If the sites break even in these tournaments they consider it a bonus. With that I am hoping everybody that is reading this article puts at least one entry into this tournament and hopefully more than just one. If we want these niche sports to keep having big tournaments, we are the ones that need to fill them.
I am going to focus my early plays on DraftKings because of the tournament, and my late plays will be geared towards FanDuel. This week doesn’t have a very good game slate, so I am recommending paying top dollar for your QBs this week and playing mid-priced and value guys at both RB and WR.
Quarterback
Marcus Mariota (Oregon) L – Mariota is the best QB this week in any game slate with Prescott not in the player pool. Utah is a good enough team that Mariota will probably be asked to play hard for all four quarters. These competitive games are the ones I like to target Mariota in, as he will probably be asked to run the ball a little more than usual. Mariota is a consistent as they come, as he has went for over 35 fantasy points in five of the last seven games and hasn’t had a game under 20 yet this year.
Nick Marshall (Auburn) E – Marshall is a great dual threat QB that has multiple rushing TDs in three of the last four games. He also has seven passing TDs in that stretch so he can get you the points in different ways. This game has a 68 point O/U so there should be plenty of offense to go around. I think he is by far the best play of the early games and should be played in both cash and GPP lineups as there are not near as many options at QB this week as usual.
Bryce Petty (Baylor) E – Petty is a great GPP play as he plays in a game with a 73 point O/U and only a five point spread. These are the games you want exposure to, as they can very easily turn into shootouts with the game totals getting close to 100. I also love Petty this week because, of all the high end QBs, he is by far the best one of pair with a WR. He has two WRs to choose from, so you get the combo at a fairly low ownership % due to having to choose which one to pair him with. He had 15 rushing TDs last year, so he is more than capable of running in a TD or two as well.
Other Options: Everett Golson (Notre Dame), Luke Falk (Washington St), Joe Gray (San Jose St)
Running Back
Cameron Artis-Payne (Auburn) E – The price on Payne is just too good to pass up in my mind. He has ran for over 125 yards in three of the last four games. He also has 22 or more carries in six of eight games this year. You can see he is getting the carries and yards – the only thing missing is the TDs. I just think a RB this good in an offense this potent with eventually find the end zone. I can see Auburn winning this game handily and relying on Payne to milk the clock in the fourth quarter. The only downside to Payne is I think Marshall is a great play at QB and it is hard to roster a QB and RB from the same team. You will probably want to play multiple rosters and play them on separate teams if you like both plays.
Zack Langer (Tulsa) E – Langer is probably a play the only the college football grinders will be on. You have to scroll way down to find him in the player pool and his overall point totals don’t look very good at all. In reality, he has become the main ball carrier for Tulsa the last five games and has put up decent yardage numbers. The main reason he is in play this week is the opponent, SMU is downright awful and Tulsa should have no problem scoring on them. SMU is giving up 240 rushing yards and over three rushing TDs per game. With Langer getting most of the rushing attempts, this should line up for his best game of the year.
Elijah McGuire (Louisiana) L – McGuire is a great RB and putting up huge stats in both the running and passing game. The last two games, he has started to get more rushing attempts and has really shown what he can do. He has been splitting touches with Alonzo Harris and is still putting up those numbers. This week Harris might not play – if you get confirmation Harris is out McGuire becomes a must play for me in all game formats. I think McGuire is my top play of the late slate with Harris questionable and the best play of the day if Harris is out.
Other Options: Larry Rose III (New Mexico St), Tarean Folston (Notre Dame), Synjyn Days (Georgia Tech)
Wide Receiver
Antwan Goodley (Baylor) E – Goodley is the cheaper of the two Baylor WRs this week, and that is what has been deciding who I have been playing for the last month. He had a bad game last week but that was after he scored 70 points in the two prior games. I love to target good players coming off bad weeks in these large field tournaments – many people will just look back a game or two and avoid him because of that bad game, while others that played him last week will remember the dud he put up and avoid him. These are the opportunities you need to take advantage of when setting your lineups. This game also sports a 73 point O/U, so Goodley will probably be a part of those points.
Jamison Crowder (Duke) E – Crowder was among the best WRs in the nation coming into the season. He started the season pretty good, but then had a horrible four-game stretch. Most people lost faith in him. Two weeks ago, he came back to life somewhat and then last week he exploded back unto the scene with a 40 point performance. His price tag is still way to cheap for the upside he brings to the table. Pairing him with Boone will be a nice upside combo that will free up enough cap space to allow you to play some studs elsewhere.
Lucky Whitehead (Florida Atlantic) L – Whitehead is on a five-game hot streak where he hasn’t had less than seven catches in any one of them. He also has five TDs during that stretch as well. The price tag versus the consistency he brings makes him a almost a must play in cash games, and he has the upside for GPP lineups as well. The fact that he plays for Florida Atlantic will help his ownership rates in tournaments as well. Whitehead and Mariota are my two favorite cash game plays and will probably be in all my lineups.
Other Options: Deshon Foxx (Uconn), Keevan Lucas (Tulsa), Teldrick Morgan (New Mexico St)
Tight End
E.J. Bibbs (Iowa St) E – Bibbs is one of the few high upside plays there is at TE. With DraftKings being a full PPR site, I like paying up a little at TE to find a guy that will get you the guaranteed catches. Along with the highest upside, Bibbs also offers the most consistency, which makes spending the extra $1000 in salary worth it in my opinion.
Josiah Price (Michigan St) L – Price isn’t going to set any receiving records or even bring a lot of upside to the table. What he brings is a very low salary and a good chance at scoring a TD. I really don’t like playing guys that are reliant on TDs, but with the TE position that is basically all you are trying to do anyway is find the guy that will get into the end zone. I like playing Price against good teams that will force the Spartans to throw the ball, and I think Ohio St will make them look to the passing game.
Other Options: Ben Koyack (Notre Dame), Pharaoh Brown (Oregon)