DraftKings CFB Saturday Sleepers and GPP Plays: Week 8

Photo: USA Today Sports

This Saturday brings us another day of wall-to-wall College Football complemented by a full selection of DFS games over at DraftKings. We have 26 games spread out over two main slates to look into, let’s get right to it, starting with the early games.

Early Slate

The early set of games kicks off at 12pm and features 17 games. Tournament highlights include the CFB $125K Redshirt and the CFB $115K Tailgate. The Redshirt has a $3 entry fee, pays out the top 9,625 places and offers a first place prize of $10,000. The Tailgate has a $12,000 first place prize, a $27 entry fee and pays out the top 998 finishers.

Looking at the projected totals, we have seven games in the sweet spot of 60 points or greater, five games at 50 points or less and the remainder in between. Of the higher scoring games, three of them come in with a projected total of over 70 points. We’ll start with those three games to find some players to keep on your radar.

• Iowa State @ Baylor. Baylor -37, 78.
• Texas Tech @ Oklahoma. Oklahoma -14 ½, 73 ½.
• Washington State @ Arizona. Arizona – 7 ½, 74.

Baylor seems to make our list of featured, high-scoring games each week and they continue to deliver. Their lowest amount of points scored came in Week 1 when they dropped 56 on SMU. Since then, they have broken 60 points four times and hit 70 against Rice. Spoiler alert: There’s a good chance that we’ll have a player from Baylor listed below. Here are some players from these high-scoring games to keep in mind.

• Baylor WR Corey Coleman, $8,600. Coleman is producing at a historic level and simply one of the best receivers in the nation. He is averaging 41.0 points per game and has caught less than two touchdowns in only one game this season. His production comes at a price but it’s typically very well worth it. Coleman should be at the top of your short list virtually every week.  
• Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield, $8,700. Mayfield has five games with at least three touchdowns under his belt in 2015 and has a strong chance to add on another against Texas Tech, who is ranked 123^rd in the nation for passing defense. Mayfield is averaging 32.9 points per game and has exceeded that number on three occasions. We like him to do the same this week and have him at the top of our quarterback projections for the early slate.   
• Washington State RB Keith Harrington, $3,700. Harington is a sleeper and a value pick all rolled into one for a potentially high-scoring affair. Washington State’s pass-heavy attack provides Harrington with plenty of receiving opportunities and he has recorded nine catches over the past two weeks. There’s some risk involved as Washington State could be in full bombs-away mode, but Harrington should produce enough to cover his low salary.

There are plenty of different directions you can go for the above three games, just make sure you seriously consider having some exposure to some players from these contests. As for the remaining 14 games of the early slate, here are some players to keep on your radar.

• Houston QB Greg Ward Jr., $8,800. The dual-threat quarterback has thrown for nine touchdowns and rushed for another 14. Ward Jr. consistently produces and is averaging 41.2 points per game. He’s a great alternative to Baker Mayfield, but Houston is also a 22-point favorite so we’d be counting on plenty of production before they call the dogs off.
• Michigan State QB Connor Cook, $6,700. For a player that’s regarded as one of the top NFL prospects at quarterback, Michigan State certainly doesn’t let him air it out very much. That could change this week against the 127^th-ranked passing defense of Indiana. Cook has thrown for 13 touchdowns while Indiana has allowed 17. Both numbers should increase after Saturday’s game.
• Toledo RB Kareem Hunt, $6,400. Hunt has not had a monster game yet this season but it could be coming. Massachusetts is allowing 230.8 yards per game on the ground and has surrendered 16 rushing touchdowns. Hunt had some seriously high-level performances in 2014, including a five touchdown day in the GoDaddy Bowl against Arkansas State. I wouldn’t count on five touchdowns on Saturday, but two and a healthy amount of yardage is certainly within reach.
• Penn State RB Saquon Barkley, $5,600. Barkley returned from injury last week in a big way by rushing for 194 yards. He faces off against a Maryland defense that is allowing 196.8 yards per game and has given up 14 rushing touchdowns this year. Our projections call for Barkley to be the second most productive running back of the early slate – solid production at a great price.
• Pittsburgh WR Tyler Boyd, $6,500. Boyd flies under the radar most weeks with all of the talent available at wide receiver. For $6,500, we have a receiver that is averaging 22.4 points per game facing off against a Syracuse team that is ranked 75^th in the country against the pass. There is some risk as this is one of the lower projected totals of the slate at 49 points, but a big play or two from Boyd can erase that concern quickly.
• Arkansas WR Drew Morgan, $4,600. Morgan is another under the radar play but at an even bigger discount. He’s averaging 16.8 points per game and has scored a touchdown in three of his last four games. Arkansas is a 6 ½-point favorite at home against Auburn, Morgan could have a big hand in building the lead.

Late Slate

Saturday’s late set of games kicks off at 7pm and includes a refreshingly small amount of games with only nine. This is the smallest main slate so far this year. It’ll be interesting to see if this is a one-time occurrence or if we’ll see some additional condensed main slates going forward. Featured tournaments include the CFB $65K Redshirt and the CFB $55K Tailgate. The Redshirt offers a $3 buy-in for a chance at a top prize of $5,000 and pays out the top 5,150 places, while the Tailgate has a $27 entry fee, a $10,000 first place prize and pays the top 460 finishers.

The nine games are pretty bunched up in terms of projected totals, but only three cross the magical 60-point plateau. We’ll start with those three games to find some players to add to the short list.

• Texas A&M @ Ole Miss. Ole Miss -5 ½, 64.
• Western Kentucky @ LSU. LSU -16 ½, 67.
• Ohio State @ Rutgers. Ohio State -21, 64.

We have two pretty big spreads and one game that looks like it could be a shootout. There are several names we can add to the short list from these three matchups, but these three players really standout.

• Ohio State QB J.T. Barrett, $8,300. Barrett has been given the nod for the starting gig and it could be just in time for a potentially solid fantasy outing. Rutgers is allowing 321.2 yards per game through the air and coming off of a game in which it allowed four passing touchdowns to Indiana. Barrett has scored 25.24 and 34.4 points over the past two games without having full-time responsibilities. Our projections like his chances for a good week and you should too.  
• LSU RB Leonard Fournette, $9,800. With a condensed slate of games for the night cap, you’ll have to give serious consideration to paying up for Fournette. Western Kentucky is allowing 172.7 yards per game on the ground while Fournette is exceeding that on his own by averaging 200.3 yards per game. He’s on an epic pace with no signs of slowing down and his average of 39.0 points per game is well within reach on Saturday.
• Ole Miss WR Laquon Treadwell, $6,100. Treadwell has really kicked it up a notch over the past two games by scoring 36.6 points in Week 6 and 44.12 points last week. This game has the makings of a fun shootout between two high-powered offenses. Treadwell should be involved early and often and comes at a great price.   

The remaining six games on the late slate run from a low projected total of 47 ½ for the Washington at Stanford game to a high of 59 ½ for two matchups. Here are two players from each position for the remaining games to keep on your radar.

• Oregon State QB Seth Collins, $6,900. Oregon State welcomes Colorado to town for a game that just misses the 60-point cutoff, coming in at 59 ½. Collins produced through both the air and ground last week against Washington State en route to 30.44 points – well above his season-long average of 23.2. Our projections call for similar production this week.
• Colorado QB Sefo Liufao, $6,100. On the opposing sideline we have Liufau, who also offered dual-threat production last week to the tune of 37.86 points. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more against Arizona. Oregon State is a balanced defense that can be tough against the pass but vulnerable against the run. Liufau may not match last week’s totals, but he offers nice upside at a reasonable price.   
• Boise State RB Jeremy McNichols, $7,200. McNichols sat out last week’s game with concussion-like symptoms but should be raring to go against Wyoming’s 118^th ranked rushing defense. He has scored 14 rushing touchdowns in 2015 while Wyoming has given up 18. If you choose not to pay up for Fournette, McNichols makes for a great alternative.   
• Kentucky RB Stanley Williams, $5,500. Williams is averaging 17.1 points per game and has scored at least 20 points in three games this season. To keep it close with Mississippi State, Kentucky will need a heavy dose of caries from Williams to slow the pace down. He ran for 113 yards and two touchdowns last week against Auburn. A repeat of that performance at a price of $5,500 could pay nice dividends for your roster.  
• Colorado WR Nelson Spruce, $5,700. Spruce is our top projected wide receiver of the night games and comes in at a very salary cap-friendly price. He’s averaging 14.5 points per game but is capable of monster outings as evidenced by his four multi-touchdown efforts in 2014. Touchdowns aside, Spruce receives a ton of targets and will be a big factor on Saturday Night.
• Mississippi State WR Fred Ross, $3,700. We’ll need some value plays to round out our rosters and Ross fits the bill. He’s averaging 13.3 points per game and has broken the 20-point mark on two occasions. Keep an eye on any injury reports as he’s been battling an undisclosed injury but is reportedly ready to roll on Saturday.

That concludes our walkthrough of the early and main slate of games for another huge Saturday of College Football action on DraftKings. It’s a very interesting mix this week between a huge early slate and a very manageable late set of games. Get your lineups ready for both sets of games, the featured tournaments will surely fill up in advance of kickoff. Best of luck this weekend!