Daily Fantasy CFB Traffic Light Plays: Week 7
Welcome to the Week 7 edition of my weekly college football plays. Week six was the best week yet for the plays, and it has me fired up for some more college football action as we get deep into conference play for all teams. This is the time of year where college football becomes more predictable than it is the rest of the season, and it’s up to us to take advantage of that predictability. There are also some juicy matchups on tap this week that should be ripe for a plethora of fantasy scoring, and those will be the matchups that I break down. There will be a LOT of green light guys this week.
To make this article different than other daily plays articles, and also different from what Dan will bring to you on Fridays, I decided to do this column in a ìtraffic lightî format. I will dissect the major games of the week by giving you a brief overview of the game and Vegas odds, and then I will put the major players into three categories. They should be self-explanatory, but just to be safe, here they are.
Traffic Light Tiers
| Traffic Light | What It Means | |
|---|---|---|
 | Green Light | All systems go. Target player in your lineups |
 | Yellow Light | Indifferent. Player could go either way |
 | Red Light | Avoid the given player at all costs |
Remember that no daily plays column can factor each site’s pricing into account for each individual player, so it is up to you to decide if a player is over or under-priced on your site. This column just gives you an idea of the ìplayabilityî of the player in general. If you have a site-specific question, feel free to shoot me a message on twitter @stlcardinals84 and I will do my best to get back to you.
As a general note, I will try to pick the most competitive games of the week in this column, and I will avoid games with spreads greater than 20 or 25 points as the plays in those games are relatively obvious. Now let’s get to the week seven edition of traffic light plays!
Missouri at Georgia
Vegas Odds: Georgia -7 1/2 / O/U 64
I will say that I’m probably more bullish on Missouri than anyone else that helps out here at RotoGrinders. I’m a big fan of James Franklin, and I attribute his 2012 struggles as 95% mental. He is back with a vengeance in 2013, and the weak SEC defenses this year will only help his cause. I know DB730 is cautioning everyone on this pick, but I don’t mind James Franklin as a play this week. I also like his top two receivers, Dorial Green-Beckham and Marcus Lucas. Lucas has gotten more targets in recent weeks as defenses focus on Green-Beckham and he makes a great value play. Be careful with the Missouri backfield as they split carries, but Josey is the goal line guy. Georgia is an awfully banged up football team, with seemingly every receiver out for the year, Keith Marshall out for the year, and Todd Gurley doubtful for this game. This will put more pressure on the arm of Aaron Murray, and this seems to be a great spot for him. Freshman RB JJ Green is a great play as well, assuming Gurley ends up sitting out. Their receiver situation is muddy, but Chris Conley and Arthur Lynch are the only proven weapons remaining on that front.
| Traffic Light | Player(s) |
|---|---|
| | James Franklin, Dorial Green-Beckham, Marcus Lucas, Aaron Murray, JJ Green |
| | Henry Josey, Chris Conley, Arthur Lynch |
| | Other Missouri RB’s and Georgia WR’s |
Baylor at Kansas State
Vegas Odds: Baylor -17 / O/U 74
Here’s the amazing stat for the day – Lache Seastrunk has two second half carries……. all season. That’s right, you read that correctly. Baylor has been blowing teams out so badly that their starting running back has basically not played past the first half all season. Similar things can be said about Bryce Petty, Antwan Goodley, and Tevin Reese. Luckily, I think this week is the spot that an opponent finally keeps things close enough to keep those guys in the game. Goodley seems to be priced a lot higher than Reese now, and I won’t be paying that much for him across the industry, but I love the other guys. Kansas State only has two offensive players worth mentioning, as they can’t decide who they want to play QB on a regular basis. RB John Hubert and WR Tyler Lockett are the only consistent options, and I think Lockett is in play in a game where KSU should be in comeback mode late. Baylor’s run defense has been solid, and combine that with the playing-from-behind factor and Hubert gets the no go this week.
| Traffic Light | Player(s) |
|---|---|
| | Bryce Petty, Lache Seastrunk, Tevin Reese, Tyler Lockett |
| | Antwan Goodley |
| | Kansas State QB’s, John Hubert |
Oregon at Washington
Vegas Odds: Oregon -14 / O/U 76 1/2
The Oregon offensive show continues. Ho hum. Another week, another blowout. This could be the week they finally get tested. I think Washington keeps this game very close, and that’s great news for Marcus Mariota. He’s always an option, but will cost a pretty penny. The RB situation is unclear with the status of De’Anthony Thomas unknown at the time I am writing this. If we find out he won’t go, Byron Marshall will become a great play. I’ll give him the yellow light for now until we know more. It’s hard to trust any Oregon receivers, but Josh Huff is the most consistent of the bunch and could make for a good GPP play. The departure of Colt Lyerla should be good news for Johnny Mundt at tight end, but his price is too steep for me this week. There are other options. For the Huskies, their offense revolves around workhorse RB Bishop Sankey. He will get his carries this week as they try to keep the ball away from Oregon. Since the Ducks’ pass defense has been very good, I’m a little cooler on the Washington passing game. Keith Price, Jaydon Mickens, and Kasen Williams are all “OK” options, but I wouldn’t go all out for them. The one guy I would target is Austin Seferian-Jenkins, their tight end. He is the type of player that could cause some matchup problems for the Ducks defense.
| Traffic Light | Player(s) |
|---|---|
| | Marcus Mariota, Josh Huff, Austin Seferian-Jenkins |
| | Byron Marshall, Keith Price, Bishop Sankey, Jaydon Mickens, Kasen Williams |
| | Johnny Mundt, other Oregon receivers |
Texas A&M at Mississippi
Vegas Odds: Texas A&M -6 / O/U 76
For me, this is the must-watch game of the week. That total might even end up being a bit light. Fire up the passing game options on both sides of the ball. Johnny Manziel and Mike Evans are fantastic but costly options in this game, and I expect a monster night for both. On the same token, Bo Wallace makes for a great value play at QB on some sites with big upside. His top receiving option, Donte Moncrief, is also a fantastic play and had his best game of the year last week. I’m not as high on the running backs for each team since both quarterbacks steal some rushing yards, but I could see playing Ben Malena or Jeff Scott if you’re in a pinch and need an option. Mississippi TE Evan Engram is a sneaky option this week, and he’s the only receiver I would consider outside of each team’s “stud” guy. Nobody else has stepped up enough to warrant a serious look in a week with so many options.
| Traffic Light | Player(s) |
|---|---|
| | Johnny Manziel, Mike Evans, Bo Wallace, Donte Moncrief, Evan Engram |
| | Ben Malena, Jeff Scott |
| | All other receivers on both teams |
California at UCLA
Vegas Odds: UCLA -25 / O/U 74
California’s defense is awful – one of the worst I’ve ever seen in recent years. They are forced to abandon the run every week, but this puts their passing game in play. I’m not high on Jared Goff just because he has another QB on his heels and ready to go if Goff struggles — remember, Goff got pulled after six pass attempts to weeks ago. The best bets for them are their receivers, and I think Chris Harper and Bryce Treggs are both in play this week. I prefer Treggs thanks to his cheaper price tag. Fire up anyone you want on UCLA. RB Paul Perkins is probably the value play of the week with his cheap price, amazing matchup, and limited competition for carries with starter Jordon James out. Also feel free to roll with QB Brett Hundley or top WR’s Shaquelle Evans and Devin Fuller. Again, Cal’s defense is B-A-D.
| Traffic Light | Player(s) |
|---|---|
| | Bryce Treggs, Brett Hundley, Paul Perkins, Shaquelle Evans, Devin Fuller |
| | Chris Harper |
| | Jared Goff, Cal RB’s |
Oregon State at Washington State
Vegas Odds: Washington State -2 / O/U 62 1/2
This will be a fun game, but not a lot of people will be watching. Such is life with a game that kicks off at almost 11 pm eastern time. Even though it won’t be highly viewed, it does have some fantasy potential. Oregon State expects to get RB Storm Woods back from a concussion this week, but I’d like to make sure he makes it through a game cleanly before rostering him. His potential return also negates the value of fellow back Terron Ward. Instead, go for an option within the Oregon State passing game. QB Sean Mannion and WR Brandin Cooks are top options every week, and this week is no exception against a Wazzu defense that got burned by Stanford of all teams through the air. Washington State is led by Mike Leach and runs the air raid offense. They don’t even pretend to have a running game. Frankly, I don’t even know who their “starting” running back is. QB Connor Halliday as a quality option this week assuming he is healthy after he suffered a minor ankle injury last week. I also love top WR Gabe Marks. Outside of him, though, their receiving options are dartboard-like-unpredictable. Stick to the known quantity here.
| Traffic Light | Player(s) |
|---|---|
| | Sean Mannion, Brandin Cooks, Gabe Marks |
| | Connor Halliday |
| | Storm Woods, Terron Ward, other Washington State receivers |
Other Green Light plays from games I did not break down include:
1) Tajh Boyd – Clemson QB
2) Blake Bell – Oklahoma QB
3) John O’Korn – Houston QB (Sleeper)
4) Venric Mark – Northwestern RB
5) Mike Davis – South Carolina RB
6) Ryan Jackson – Houston RB
7) Jamison Crowder – Duke WR
8) Deontay Greenberry – Houston WR
9) Jared Abbrederis – Wisconsin WR
10) Kyle Carter – Penn State TE (Sleeper)
Good luck in your games!!