It’s a beautiful Thursday morning as we are officially halfway through the college football season and the games keep getting better and better. Looking at the early slate on Saturday, Draft Kings has 17 games to choose from while Fan Duel is offering 19 games. It also looks like Draft Kings has upped their guarantee in the $20 Big Game to $200k, $25k to first! Yum.

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This is a very exciting week with Vegas having 7 games over 60 total points, meaning plenty of DFS plays out there to build our lineups. Take advantage of this by heading to DraftKingsand heading to FanDuel to play.

Tulsa 3-2 @ East Carolina 3-3 11:00 AM CT
Line: East Carolina -11.5
O/U: 77.5

The highest point total in the early slate is up there for a reason, with Tulsa touting the nation’s 7th best passing offense and a running game that ranks 35th. East Carolina has struggled with both this year on defense, but their offense has propelled them enough to manage 32.5 points a game this year with a signature win over ACC opponent Virginia Tech. On the other side, Tulsa’s defense is one of the worst in the country in both rushing and passing.

Tulsa QB Dane Evans (8000 DK) (8400 FD), is having a solid year throwing for 367.8 yards per game with 2 TDs per game. He lost superstar WR Keevan Lucas for the year, but still managed to come close to his game average last week against Louisiana-Monroe.

Tulsa WR Keyarris Garrett (6900 DK) (6600 FD), moves into the top WR spot following Lucas’ injury. Garrett catches a lot of balls in the Golden Hurricane’s offense, but has had difficulty finding the endzone. That makes him a better play on Draft Kings where he gets a full point per reception.

Tulsa WR Joshua Atkinson (5400 DK) (6600 FD), is starting to become a more consistent weapon for Evans. Atkinson is now the WR2 for Tulsa, and is getting a lot of targets for his salary on Draft Kings.

Tulsa WR Justin Hobbs (3900 DK) (not offered FD), looks to have come out of nowhere and leap Conner Floyd (3600 DK) (4500 FD) for the third WR spot in the potent Tulsa passing game. He turned in a nice performance last week and is probably worth taking a flyer on in some GPPs.
Tulsa RB Zack Langer (6600 DK) (7300 FD), is a TD machine on the ground averaging 2 a game this year. Adding 100 plus yards on the ground a game and he has a lot of cash value with that kind of consistency.

East Carolina QBs Blake Kemp (7100 DK) (6800 FD) and James Summers (5800 DK) (4500 FD), have been rotating pretty consistently for the last three weeks. Summers has more upside because of what he can do with his legs, while Kemp is more limited, but does get his receivers involved more. In this one, both will do well against this terrible Tulsa defense, but I only see one that is affordable, and Summers only has value in GPPs if you want to gamble that he plays.
East Carolina WR Isaiah Jones (5800 DK) (5900 FD), only has value when Kemp is at QB for a majority of the game. But when Kemp does get a lot of reps, Jones is his main target that can put up some big numbers.

East Carolina RB Chris Hairston (5200 DK) (5300 FD), could have a big day against the 119th ranked rushing defense. He doesn’t quite get the number of touches we need him to in order to roster him in cash lineups, but he can add receptions and pay off big in GPPs.

Texas Tech 4-2 @ Kansas 0-5 11:00 AM CT
Line: Texas Tech -31
O/U: 75.5

Another week, and another Big XII matchup with a great offense against one of the worst teams in college football. Texas Tech has the number one passing offense in the nation, and Kansas…..well…..is Kansas. Luckily for Kansas they found a defense that is almost as bad as their own.

Texas Tech QB Patrick Mahomes (9500 DK) (9300 FD), is averaging almost 40 FPPG, and is a great play in all formats. Unless KU cannot score against Tech’s awful defense, expect Mahomes to play 90% of the game.

Texas Tech WR Jakeem Grant (7200 DK) (6900 FD), finally had that breakout game where he found the endzone a couple of times to compliment is normal 7 catch 100 yard averages on the year. 6900 on Fan Duel is awfully cheap for a player of Grant’s caliber. The rest of the Red Raider WRs are a guessing game, and dart board throws in GPP formats only.

Texas Tech RB DeAndre Washington (6300 DK) (7100 FD), has only one game with more than 13 carries, but he ran for 188 and 4 TDs in that one against TCU. He can be used in both formats this week, assuming Tech runs it a little more when the game is no longer in question. He also gets his fair share of targets in the passing game.

Texas Tech RB Justin Stockton (4700 DK) (5000 FD), is a cheaper, more exciting RB who is starting to get more touches. Add in the likelihood of a blowout, and Stockton gets more and more attractive.

Kansas RB Taylor Cox (3100 DK) (not offered FD), returned last week from a 2014 Achilles injury and took all the touches away from Ke’aun Kinner (4100 DK) (5500 FD). I guess if you need a player at RB, it won’t take much to pay off his cheap salary.

West Virginia 3-2 @ #2 Baylor 5-0 11:00 AM CT
Line: Baylor -21.5
O/U: 75.5

West Virginia cost the Baylor Bears a shot at the playoffs last year with an upset in Morgantown. Fast forward a year, now in Waco, and we should see a high scoring affair, especially from the nation’s number one offense.

Baylor QB Seth Russell (9000 DK) (9800 FD), will not be turning over the offense in this one like he did against Kansas. I think Russell has a big day.

Baylor WR Corey Coleman (8200 DK) (8600 FD), has been unstoppable this year as he’s yet to be held under 30 FPPG on Draft Kings. I don’t see that changing, but he’s a little harder to fit into lineups on Draft Kings as opposed to Fan Duel. I’m still trying to find some room for him in my lineups. As for the rest of the Bears WR core, I’m not seeing enough consistency to fire them unless it’s in GPPs.

Baylor RB Shock Linwood (7200 DK) (8100 FD), has been a beast this year (9.6 yards/carry) as Baylor continues to run the ball well. I think Linwood gets a lot more touches this week and puts up big numbers.

West Virginia QB Skyler Howard (7300 DK) (7700 FD), is a guy who can get you 20 plus points consistently, and has a big opportunity in Waco to make some noise. He will need to limit the turnovers that have shown up a little too often in recent weeks.

West Virginia WR Shelton Gibson (4700 DK) (6100 FD), rebounded nicely after a poor showing at Oklahoma. I think the Mountaineers will be throwing a lot more this week, and Gibson has the best opportunity to go off this week.

West Virginia RB Wendell Smallwood (6200 DK)(6800 FD), is starting to become a known commodity for his consistency. He is listed as probable, but played last week after missing practice leading up to the Oklahoma State game. If West Virginia gets behind, Smallwood can still provide in the passing game in case you’re worried he’ll miss out on carries.

Other Players Worth Considering

Iowa RB Jordan Canzeri (6200 DK) (6900 FD), has put up big numbers all year, but will face his toughest matchup of the year against Northwestern. With that said, I think Canzeri will get a lot of touches and still has some value, probably more so on Fan Duel.

Ole Miss QB Chad Kelly (7400 DK) (8400 FD), should find a lot of success through the air where Memphis’ defense has been weak. I think he is very undervalued on Draft Kings in what looks to be a high scoring game.

Ole Miss WR Laquon Treadwell (5700 DK) (7100 FD), looks better each and every week. He had a big one last week, look for that to continue against Memphis.

Wisconsin RB Dare Ogunbowale (4900 DK) (6800 FD), could get a big opportunity if Taiwan Deal is a no go on Saturday. This is one you’ll want to watch for as Deal came out last week with an ankle injury against Nebraska. Whoever is running will be going against a bad Purdue run defense that’s allowing 216.5 yards a game.

Florida State RB Dalvin Cook (9000 DK) (8900 FD), is tough to fit into a lineup on Draft Kings, but not so hard to do so over on Fan Duel. Few have been able to slow down Cook, and I’m not expecting the Cardinals to be able to that.

Alabama RB Derrick Henry (7300 DK) (7300 FD), has a favorable matchup against Texas A&M, who has struggled against the run. I think this is a more than reasonable price that I like a lot.

Texas A&M QB Kyle Allen (6900 DK) (8000 FD), I know playing against Alabama is usually makes the opposition a fade, but the Tide has had trouble with these spread offenses in the past, this game in particular. Both teams have a lot riding on this one, and College Station should be rocking with some amazing conditions.

Rutgers QB Chris Laviano (5300 DK) (7200 FD), is a GPP play as Laviano has yet to score over 20 FPs this year, but he faces one of the worst pass defenses in the country.

Rutgers WR Leonte Carroo (7000 DK) (7800 FD), fits right into the statement above, plus he’s averaging 30 FPPG when he is not suspended. Michigan State couldn’t stop him last week, Indiana will have more trouble this week.

Oregon State QB Seth Collins (7100 DK) (6900 FD), is a threat with his legs, and Washington State has a terrible defense all together. Points will be scored in this one. If Collins is on in the passing game, he likes WR Jordan Villamin (4500 DK) (5500 FD).

Washington State QB Luke Falk (8900 DK) (8800 FD), will sling it all over, evidenced by his 505 yard 5 TD performance last week against Oregon.

Washington State WRs Gabe Marks (7200 DK) 6600 FD) and Dom Williams (5200 DK) (6200 FD) are Falk’s two favorite targets, especially when it comes to the endzone.

There’s so many great players out there this week on both sites! It’ll be a really fun time setting multiple lineups trying to find a winning formula. Good luck out there to all who step onto the virtual gridiron.