Week 11 of the College Football season is upon us and we have another huge Saturday of games to dig into. After taking it easy on us for a couple of weeks, DraftKings kicked it back up a notch and has included a whopping 31 games spread over the two main slates. Fear not, we’ve got you covered with a plan of attack to get you through both slates as efficiently as possible. There’s a ton of ground to cover so let’s get right to it, starting with the early slate.
Early Slate
Saturday’s early slate kicks off at 12pm and includes 16 games. Featured tournaments include the CFB $100K Redshirt and the CFB $90K Tailgate. The Redshirt has a $3 entry fee and a top prize of $10,000, while the Tailgate has a buy-in of $27 and a chance at the first place prize of $8,000.
Projected totals range from a low of 46 ½ points for Florida at South Carolina all the way up to an eye-popping 71 ½ for two games – Kansas at TCU and Kansas State at Texas Tech. Two other games are projected to be at or over the sweet spot of 60 points, with the remaining 11 games all residing in the 50s. We’ll begin building our lineups by taking a look at the four games above 60 points.
- Kansas @ TCU. TCU -45, 71 ½.
- Kansas State @ Texas Tech. Texas Tech -5 ½, 71 ½.
- Miami @ North Carolina. North Carolina -13, 65 ½.
- Oklahoma State @ Iowa State. Oklahoma State -14, 61.
Only one of the above games is projected to be close, but we’ll still be able to find plenty of targets for DFS with all of these projected points just waiting to jump on the scoreboard.
- TCU WR Josh Doctson, $8,400. There was some confusion as to whether Doctson would be out for the year after suffering a severe wrist injury in last Saturday’s game, but all signs point to him being ready to give it a go on Saturday. As a result, Doctson becomes a very strong play against a Kansas team with an atrocious passing defense.
- Texas Tech QB Patrick Mahomes II, $8,500. This game projects to be one of the Big 12 shootouts we know and love, both to watch and to reap the rewards for DFS. Mahomes II is in an excellent spot to produce and should have little trouble making value.
- North Carolina RB Elijah Hood, $6,600. Hood is averaging 19.4 points per game and has broken the 20-point plateau on four occasions this year. The game line points us to North Carolina being ahead and in control, leaving plenty of opportunity for Hood to have his fifth 20+ point game.
- Oklahoma State QB Mason Rudolph, $6,900. Rudolph was dynamite in last week’s upset win over TCU by throwing for 352 yards and five scores on his way to 39.68 points. No promises that we will see those numbers again, but Iowa State has struggled against the pass and could allow another big day from the Cowboys signal caller.
There are two potential risks with selecting Doctson for your lineups this week: blowout risk and the potential of aggravating the injury. For the blowout side of things, he should play a big hand in helping to run up the score before calling it a day. Injury risk comes with the territory for DFS purposes, but in the case of player that we know is banged up, we have to factor it into our decision making process. We know that Doctson is one of the top receivers in the nation, but we also know that his salary is a big investment for a player that could have to exit the game early. It all comes down to your personal comfort level. If you think his upside is too tough to pass up, roster him and keep your fingers crossed. If his salary for this week looks like too much to risk, you should probably take a pass.
As we discussed last week, the projected high-scoring games are also a great place to search for some value plays. Two names stand out this week as potential cheap sources of points - TCU RB Shaun Nixon at $4,500 and Oklahoma State WR David Glidden at $4,200. Nixon burst onto the scene last week with nine receptions for 146 yards, the most opportunity that the freshman running back has seen all season. He may have secured himself some more playing time after last week’s stellar output. Glidden was an afterthought in the Cowboys offense last week as teammate James Washington continued to be Rudolph’s top target. After Washington’s three touchdown catches last week, you would have to think he’ll capture some extra attention from opposing defenses, thereby opening up some additional targets for Glidden. Here are some more players to keep on your radar for the early slate of games.
- Clemson QB Deshaun Watson, $8,700. Watson is averaging 27.6 points per game and should have his way against Syracuse, but the potential for a blowout is high. He should be able to do enough damage to provide a nice return before exiting the game.
- Florida State QB Everett Golson, $5,700. Golson has gotten the nod to start on Saturday against North Carolina State. He’s averaging only 16.0 points per game but has two big games of 27+ points on his resume this year. There’s some risk as NC State has a pretty good passing defense, but he should produce enough to pay off his low salary.
- Georgia RB Sony Michel, $6,600. Georgia went back to the basics last week and that resulted in an output of 25.5 points for Michel. Expect more of the same this week against Auburn and for Michel to be in the same neighborhood of production.
- Florida RB Kelvin Taylor, $6,100. Taylor has scored at least one touchdown in each of the last four games and has a good chance to make it five in a row against South Carolina. He has a heavy workload each week and should provide a nice return on a very reasonable salary.
- Notre Dame WR Will Fuller, $7,100. Fuller stole the show last Saturday against Pittsburgh with seven catches for 152 yards and three scores, good enough for 43.2 points. This was his third multiple touchdown game of the season and he’ll receive plenty of targets this week as he tries for his fourth.
- Michigan WR Amara Darboh, $4,800. Indiana has a porous passing defense and Darboh is the top receiving target for Michigan. Great price for what could be a big game for Michigan’s passing attack.
Late Slate
We were slightly spoiled with some very manageable slates for the night games over the past few weeks, but all good things must come to an end. DraftKings has kicked it back up a notch and filled the late slate with 15 games. Featured tournaments include the CFB $50K Redshirt, which has a $3 entry fee and a first place prize of $4,000, and the CFB $40K Tailgate, a $27 buy-in GPP with a top prize of $5,000.
Projected totals range from 44 ½ points for Temple at USF all the way up to 76 ½ for Tulsa at Cincinnati. Six games make the 60-point cutoff and the remaining games fall under that threshold. We’ll begin with the four highest projected totals of the night cap.
- Memphis @ Houston. Houston -7, 71.
- Oregon @ Stanford. Stanford -10, 69.
- Tulsa @ Cincinnati. Cincinnati -18, 76 ½.
- Oklahoma @ Baylor. Baylor -2 ½, 76.
As opposed to the early slate, all four of our projected high-scoring games shape up to be relatively close, which opens up plenty of DFS targets from these games.
- Houston RB Kenneth Farrow, $6,300. Farrow has scored five touchdowns over the previous three games and carried the ball an incredible 30 times last week. He probably won’t receive as many carries this week but is still in line to receive a very heavy workload versus Memphis.
- Stanford RB Christian McCaffrey, $8,400. The do-everything back from Stanford is squarely in the mix for the Heisman and has been a consistent DFS performer all season. He’s averaging 28.5 points per game and could exceed that number in this high-scoring matchup.
- Cincinnati QB Gunner Kiel, $8,000. Kiel and the Bearcats have to be licking their chops as they prepare to face a Tulsa passing defense that has allowed 303.6 passing yards per game. He has scored at least 30.08 points in each of the last three games and has a great shot to produce similar output this week.
- Baylor WR Corey Coleman, $8,600. Coleman has scored multiple touchdowns in each of his last seven games and is the top wide receiver option for the night games. A close game with a projected total over 70 points could see Coleman finish in the neighborhood of his season average of 40.2 points.
Three of the above options are among the priciest players for the late slate of games and for good reason – they produce and are in great matchups this week. In order to fit one or more of the high-priced studs in our lineups, we’ll need to find some value plays. Looking into the high-scoring games above, we find two names that stick out as potential affordable sources of points. Cincinnati RB Mike Boone is averaging 13.5 points per game at a salary of $4,200, while Baylor WR K.D. Cannon averages 13.4 points per game at a cost of $5,100. Cannon is also coming off of a 23.8-point outing last week against Kansas State. Here are some more players to keep in mind from the remainder of the late games.
- Utah QB Travis Wilson, $6,400. Wilson and the Utes receive the privilege of facing defensively-challenged Arizona on Saturday. He’s averaging 21.0 points per game and has a nice shot at exceeding that total in a game with a projected total of 62 points.
- Arkansas QB Brandon Allen, $5,400. This is contrarian and risky as Allen and the Razorbacks will be facing an angry LSU team at home. LSU was just handily defeated by Alabama and will be looking to get back on track. That being said, Allen has been on fire and threw for six touchdowns last week. His price is very salary cap friendly if you are comfortable with a bit of risk.
- Iowa RB Jordan Canzeri, $5,700. Canzeri looks like he’ll be returning to a full workload this week and offers exceptional value based on this price. He’s averaging 25.2 points per game this season and has exceeded that output on three occasions.
- UCLA RB Paul Perkins, $7,200. Perkins is relatively affordable this week and has some intriguing upside for a matchup with pass-happy Washington State. He finished well below his season-long average of 23.1 points with last week’s output of 14.9 points, but should bounce back nicely this week.
- Washington State WR Gabe Marks, $6,000. Marks is the top target for the high-powered Washington State offense and could provide a handsome return on a very reasonable salary. He has at least five receptions in each game this season and averages 25.5 points per game.
- Arkansas WR Drew Morgan, $4,600. Morgan is another against the grain selection from Arkansas, but if you’re buying his quarterback, you may as well stack him with one of his top targets. The duo hooked up for three scores last week and Morgan finished with 42.2 points.
That brings Saturday Sleepers and GPP Plays to a close for Week 11. This season is flying by – as it always does – so be sure to get your lineups in on time and enjoy another huge Saturday as the march to the playoffs and Bowl Season continues. Best of luck this weekend!
