We have three games of exciting college football action and if you don’t have a team in the race or couldn’t care less about any of the six playing tonight, why not throw together some lineups and win some money? That’s a sure-fire way to gain interest in 1-7 Western Kentucky vs. 5-3 Middle Tennessee State, huh? Yes, yes, it will.
So, let’s take a quick look at this three game slate and provide you with some options and an “optimal” lineup on DraftKings and FanDuel tonight…
The late game, Colorado vs. Arizona has the highest total from Vegas at 57, yet it’s Virginia that has our highest projected points total at 29.5. So, it’s not a surprise to see UVA quarterback Bryce Perkins at the top of the list in projected points. Zona RB J.J. Taylor is next and Colorado QB Steven Montez comes in at No. 3 in our model. So, why not build around those three?
If we do that, we are setting our average per player down to $4,880 amongst our five remaining players. So, you know what that means...let’s find some values! A couple of WKU players (surprisingly) show up in tight end Mik’Quan Deane ($3,300) and RB Joshua Samuel ($4,100). Deane is an all-or-nothing type of player and would be better suited for GPP lineups. Samuel leads the Hilltoppers in rushing with 76 carries for 403 yards and just one touchdown. That lone touchdown may be the reason for the low price. MTSU isn’t terrible against the run, but at that price, he’s worth the risk.
PITT RB Darrin Hall plays second-fiddle to Qadree Ollison, but the Panthers want to get him involved and at $4,900 we are buying there. So, if we put Samuel and Hall in the final RB spot and Flex, we need to find three WR at an average of $5,133.
A big wild-card this week is Colorado’s great receiver Laviska Schenault Jr. being listed as questionable after sitting out the last game. Even if he plays, he’s still expensive at $8,700. How about MTSU’s Gatlin Casey? He only has 16 catches over six games, but that included one-catch performances against UGA and FAU back in September. He has big-play ability and that price tag is intriguing. We throw him in there and hope Brent Stockstill looks his way a few times.
That bumps our average for the next two to $5,500. Do we go cheap and get a more sure-thing or do two players with similarly average outlooks? Since we are limited in our options, we’ll go with Arizona’s big-play option in Shawn Poindexter ($6,100) and pair him up with either WKU’s Jacquez Sloan or Pittsburgh’s Maurice Ffrench. Poindexter has four touchdowns the last two weeks and is quickly becoming a favorite target for now pass-happy QB Khalil Tate. Sloan has come into his own over the last four games, catching 4, 6, 4 and 5 passes in each respectively. He’s averaging a healthy 15.0 yards per catch and just hasn’t found the end zone yet. That will change. Ffrench is the GPP option as he averages 15.5 yards per catch (though, has just 19 of them) and scored twice last week against Duke.
So, this is what I have:
QB - Steven Montez - $9,400
RB - Darrin Hall - $4,900
RB - J.J. Taylor - $8,600
WR - Gatlin Casey - $4,400
WR - Shawn Poindexter - $6,100
WR - Jacquez Sloan - $4,700
Flex - Joshua Samuel - $4,100
S-Flex - Bryce Perkins - $7,600
For FanDuel, we’ll go a bit different as Perkins and Montez align more with our projections than DK did and are the top two options. So, we can live with going a bit cheaper for MTSU QB Brent Stockstill and that fees up some more room to go get UVA’s all-everything WR/RB Olamide Zaccheaus in this one. Samuel, Taylor and Sloan all make the cut here too. The last wide receiver is Colorado’s Juwan Winfree who is coming off injury and logged four catches for 54 yards last week. If Shenault doesn’t play, Winfree could be a steal.
QB - Bryce Perkins - $10,100
RB - J.J. Taylor - $9,800
RB - Joshua Samuel - $7,500
WR - Olamide Zaccheaus - $9,700
WR - Jacquez Sloan - $7,400
WR - Juwann Winfree - $6,800
S-Flex - Brent Stockstill - $8,600
Good luck tonight!