Welcome back for this week’s DFS College Football preview. This week, we will be taking a look at both the early and the late slates for Saturday, 9/10/15. There are 15 games in the early slate and 12 games in the late slate for DraftKings, so a lot more players to evaluate and choose from this week. We will also be looking at FanDuell pricing this week for discrepancies that can lead us to some value picks.

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Saturday Early Slate

Wash St 0-1 @ Rutgers 1-0 2:30PM CT
Line: Rutgers -2
O/U: 62

This matchup has one of the closest lines as well as one of the highest over/unders. Last week Washington State was one of the biggest disappointments after coming out flat and losing to FCS Portland State 24-17. Not only are they trying to rebound from that, but also from last year’s meeting with the Scarlet Knights where they fell 41-38 at home.

I’m reading that a lot of people are expecting the Cougar offense to come out strong, but I’m not sold just yet. A good thing to note in this matchup is that Rutgers has a true freshman and a redshirt freshman starting at cornerback. Combine that with Rutgers run defense holding last week’s opponent to -3 yards rushing, looks to make the Cougar’s pass happy offense even more attractive. It should be noted that starting QB Luke Falk (9300 DK) (8900 FD) left last week’s game in the fourth quarter, but Head Coach Mike Leach said Falk is ready to go.

Falk spreads it around to a plethora of playmakers, but targets Dom Williams (5000 DK) (5500 FD), Gabe Marks (6400 DK) (6800 FD), and River Cracraft (6900 DK) (5700 FD) more consistently.

Rutgers favors more of a traditional offense that features one of the Big Ten’s best WR in Leonte Carroo (6700 DK) (7400 FD). Last week Carroo came in the second half after serving a one half suspension and caught 3 passes for 129 yards and 3 TDs. Rutgers named Chris Laviano (6800 DK) (8300 FD) the starter after also serving a one half suspension last week, but going 4/4 for 138 and 3 TDs in his limited action.

I could see Rutgers opening up a lead and pounding it on the ground, but they have a running back by committee early this year. Maybe Josh Hicks (5600 DK) (7200 FD) gets a few more carries than the others, but I don’t believe he has the value for his price.

Houston 1-0 @ Louisville 0-1 11:00AM CT
Line: Louisville -13
Over/Under: 54.5

Louisville QB Lamar Jackson (6100 DK) (5800 FD), named starter after rushing for 106 yards and a TD while only going 9/20 for 100 yards and an int. He has some value as a dual threat QB, but with WR James Quick out with an ankle injury, look for Louisville to focus on the run. Jackson is a fade for me.
Louisville RB Brandon Radcliff (5900 DK) (7700 FD), is the featured back for the Cardinals and he could see a lot of the carries should Louisville get out in front early. I like his price on Draft Kings.

Houston QB Greg Ward Jr (7900 DK) (8000 FD), had a great week last week doing through the air, 21/27 275 1 TD, as well as on the ground 14 for 107 2 TDs. Houston is expected to be playing from behind so Ward could a good play.

Houston WR Demarcus Ayers (6000 DK) (5700 FD), will be a popular guy to cuff with Ward if you choose to go that route. Ayers had 10 receptions for 121 yards and also received 4 carries for 44 yards on the ground.

Miami-OH 1-0 @ Wisconsin 0-1 11:00AM CT
Line: Wisconsin -33
Over/Under: 52

This game should be a layup for Wisconsin, trying to rebound from their loss to Alabama last week. Getting back to rushing attack that has made the Badgers a consistent Top 25 team should be high on the agenda for Saturday. The real question is if star RB Corey Clement sees the field after aggravating a groin injury last week. There’s really no need to rush him back, so who gets the carries, JR Dare Ogunbowale (3900 DK) (5800) or promising RSFR Taiwan Deal (4900 DK) (6100)?

Miami-OH WR Jared Murphy (3900 DK) (5500 FD) could be a guy to take a cheap flyer on as Miami should be playing from behind in this one.

Notre Dame 1-0 @ Virginia 0-1 2:30PM CT
Line: Notre Dame -12
Over/Under: 47.5

Notre Dame’s defense looked amazing vs. Texas last week, holding the Longhorns to 163 yards total offense and only 3 points. Virginia did not impress me in the loss to UCLA 34-16. I see Notre Dame rolling in this one on the road, opening it up early and feeding RB C.J. Prosise (5200 DK) (7800 FD), who takes over full time for Tarean Folston who is out for the year after tearing his MCL.

Other players worth considering:

Ohio State WR Braxton Miller (6300 DK) (7300 FD), Urban Meyer looks like he will give his former QB a lot of attention early this year. I don’t see why that would change in the home opener.

Michigan WR Amara Darboh (5100 DK) (6500 FD), the big play receiver looks to be Rudock’s favorite outside of TE Jake Butt. Michigan should benefit from playing a lighter opponent from the Pac 12.

Iowa State WR Quenton Bundrage (4000 DK) (6200 FD), a senior WR for a team that doesn’t run it well in a rivalry game? Yeah, I like Bundrage at the 4k price a lot. He’s cheap because he missed last year to an ACL tear, but in 2013 he had 48 rec 676 yards and a team leading 9 TDs.
Iowa RB LeShun Daniels Jr. (5300 DK) (7300 FD), Iowa’s workhorse in week one, 26 carries for 123 yards, hopefully gets rewarded with more carries around the goal line this week.

Saturday Late Slate

Oregon 1-0 @ Michigan State 1-0 7:00PM CT
Line: Michigan State -3.5
Over/Under: 65

One of the biggest games of the week features the season’s first top ten matchup. Oregon, wants to speed up the game as much as possible with its spread offense that runs it more than it throws. Last week the Ducks racked up 61 points on 731 yards of total offense. Defensively, Oregon was humbled by FCS powerhouse Eastern Washington who threw for 438 yards and put up 42 points as the Ducks replaced three departing starters in their secondary from a year ago. Michigan State had some issues of their own in the secondary, allowing Western Michigan to throw for 365 yards against the Spartans.

Oregon QB Vernon Adams (8600 DK) (8400 FD), appears to be fine after taking a shot to the head late in last week’s game. He was very efficient in the passing game 19/25 for 246 yards and 2 TDs while also rushing 14 times for 94 yards.

Oregon RB Royce Freeman, (9700 DK) (8800 FD) had an exceptional opener with 180 yards and 3 TDs on 21 carries. He seems to have a knack for finding the end zone (19 TDs in 2014). To get him would cost a good chunk of your salary cap; will he be worth it?

Oregon WR Byron Marshall (6300 DK) (6200 FD), was Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota’s favorite target in 2014. It is too early to tell if he will be Adams’ go to guy. There are cheaper options if you think Oregon will air it out against the Spartans with Bralon Addison (4900 DK) (5900 FD) and Dwayne Stanford (4800 DK) (5600 FD) if you’re looking for a cuff with Adams.

Michigan State QB Connor Cook (8200 DK) (7900 FD), probably way more than you’d ever consider spending on the Spartan QB, but with Oregon’s secondary, it’s not farfetched.
Michigan State WR Aaron Burbridge (5000 DK) (6800 FD), is your man at WR if you go the Connor Cook route. He is an explosive receiver takes over for departing Tony Lippett, who led the Spartans in targets, catches, yards and TDs a year ago.

Tulsa 1-0 @ New Mexico 1-0 7:00PM CT
Line: New Mexico -3.5
Over/Under: 75

This game is not hyped like the top ten matchup is, but it will be one of the biggest offensive dominating games of the week. Tulsa won in an overtime thriller over Florida Atlantic last week. In that matchup, Tulsa had 618 yards of total offense, with 4 turnovers! Defensively, the Golden Hurricanes allowed 563 yards, including 300 on the ground. Meanwhile, New Mexico handled their FCS opponent with ease rushing for 360 yards and 8 TDs.

Tulsa QB Dane Evans (7800 DK), has two great WRs to go to in Philip Montgomery’s (former Baylor offensive coordinator) offense. Last week Evans threw for 424 yards and 2 TDs.
Tulsa WR Keevan Lucas (8900 DK), is the star in Tulsa after following up an impressive 2014 campaign (101 receptions for 1219 yards and 11 TDs) with a great opener 10 catches, 193 yards and 2 TDs.

Tulsa WR Keyarris Garrett (6000 DK), is a cheaper WR who averaged 32.6 yards/rec last week after grabbing 5 balls for 163 yards with a long of only 50. Lucas draws a lot of double teams, and it looks like Garrett is the benefactor.

New Mexico QB Lamar Jordan (5300 DK), runs the Lobos Pistol/Option offense. Usually you want to shy away from such QBs, but the Tulsa run defense is so bad. Jordan is a cheap option at QB with decent potential to put up big numbers in the probable shootout.

New Mexico RB Jhurell Pressley (5100 DK), looks to be a reasonably priced RB. He had a modest opener with 10 carries for 47 yards a TD, but the game was over by the end of the first quarter. In 2014, Pressley ran for 1083 yards on only 114 carries (9.5 yards/car) and 12 TDs.

Other Late Slate Players

Rice QB Driphus Jackson (5500 DK) (7500 FD), a dual threat QB who put up good numbers a year ago (2842 yards and 24 TDs) should be throwing it more this week in a game I think may be closer than some think.

Stanford RB Christian McCaffrey (5300 DK) (6800 FD), faces a UCF defense that allowed 4.2 yards per carry last week to Florida International. Look for Stanford to get back to running the ball in this one.

Idaho WR Dezmon Epps (5400 DK) (5500 FD), had a monster game in a loss to Ohio last week with 15 catches for 163 yards. Idaho will be playing from behind again as they are 43 point dogs to USC.

It’s still quite early in the college football season with a lot of unknowns still out there. Some exciting out of conference matchups should show us a few of the big game players that are likely to show up throughout the year. Looking forward to competing with everyone out there in Daily Fantasyland. Good luck, and run pure.

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