DB's Daily Fantasy College Football Picks: Championship Week
I can’t believe the end is here, but this is the final weekend for college football fantasy. Obviously there will be a ton of bowl games and terrific tournaments centered around them, but it is amazing how quickly this sport goes by. I figured with a smaller slate of games we would see tremendous overlap this week, but I have to gives sites a lot of credit as they did a terrific job putting salaries together so I doubt that will be the case. Lets get into the picks and hopefully we can end the season on a high note.
For more picks and analysis be sure to check out College Football After Dark and watch GrindersLive on Saturday morning at 10:30 with EMac & STLCardinals84.
Quarterbacks
Jameis Winston (Florida State) – I have no doubt this guy takes down the Heisman Trophy next weekend and it only makes sense for him to wrap up his season in a big way against Duke in the ACC Championship. The Seminoles are huge 29 point favorites and with a National Championship birth on the line there is zero chance they slip up. Winston has thrown for 7 TD’s the past 2 weeks and another three or four this week seem like a lock. He won’t be cheap, but should be money in the bank.
Blake Bortles (UCF) – If you are looking to save a little salary, but still want some huge upside then you might want to look to Bortles. He has been over 40 fantasy points on two different occasions this season, and the SMU defense is one of the worst pass defenses in the country (ranked 116th). He could have a monster day and if there is confirmation of Gilbert playing for SMU, that gives Bortles an even greater bump because we might have a shootout.
Bryce Petty (Baylor) – The past two weeks it was easy to pass on Petty, but this week I don’t think that is right move. Baylor is back at home and are favored by over 2 TD’s against an improved Longhorn team. Petty should put up the kind of numbers we have seen the past couple weeks and pay off the high price tag.
Running Backs
Tyler Gaffney (Stanford) – Gaffney has been rock solid all season long and I don’t see a good reason to abandon him now. He has found the endzone in 11 of the 12 games this year and is a true bell cow running back. Arizona State’s defense is pretty solid so yards won’t come easy and actually was held under 100 yards in their previous matchup this year. He still found the endzone twice that day, so his penchant for scoring TD’s makes him a low risk option.
Malcolm Brown (Texas) – Salary algorithms don’t think too highly of Malcolm Brown because his salary looks much lower than it should be. With Gray out of the picture Brown has stepped up in as the feature back and has been doing work. Joe Bergeron game in last week and stole his goaline carries, but that is not enough of a reason for me to bail on him. Especially in a game with an Over/Under of 72 points.
Devonta Freeman (Florida State) – As I mentioned above the Noles are going to steamroll the Blue Devils this weekend and even though Winston will do a lot of that damage, there will be plenty of Touchdowns to go around. Freeman has scored a TD in 8 straight games and with Florida State favored by so much they will likely give a heavy dose of the run game against this over matched Duke defensive front.
Wide Receivers
Antwan Goodley (Baylor) – This week is going to be won or loss with your wide receivers so best to roll out the best one in the highest totaled game on the board. Goodley had a horrible matchup last week against top level talent in TCU, but I think we see a big rebound game for him at against Texas. He has been steady all season long, so there is no reason to bail because of one down week.
Andre Davis (South Florida) – Davis is a big risk because the quarterback play at USF is horrendous and Vegas has this Over/Under in the low 40’s. With that said Davis has been putting up big numbers the past two weeks and faces a Rutgers secondary that is one of the worst in college football. He likely won’t be highly owned, but I think he finds the endzone and pays off the number this week.
Jaelen Strong (Arizona State) – Nobody can run against the Stanford defensive front, but the same can’t be said for the pass. Stanford threw for 367 earlier his year vs. the Cardinal and Strong has been dynamic over the past couple weeks. He is clearly over the injury and with him being the #1 target in the passing game you should give him a look especially at the surprising mid level price tag he carries.
Tight Ends
Tyler Kroft (Rutgers) – I watched a good bit of the Rutgers game last weekend and Kroft was clearly the #1 option in the passing game. Cue him up this week with confidence because Rutgers doesn’t really have anyone else with their top WR out.
Chris Coyle (Arizona State) – I pick him every week and he fails for me every week. I’m pot committed at this point in time so I might as well roll with him one more time. The match up is there for him with Stanford tough vs the run, so maybe this is the week he has another breakout performance.