DraftKings CFB Saturday Sleepers and GPP Plays: Week 2

Photo: Brace Hemmelgarn, USA Today Sports

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Another huge Saturday of College Football and DFS action is at hand. There are a bunch of intriguing games on the schedule this week, so many that DraftKings has split the action across three different slates. That’s a lot of information to digest. Fear not, we’ve got you covered. Let’s take as look at some players and matchups to key in on, starting with Saturday’s early games.

Saturday Early Slate

The early slate kicks off at 12pm and includes 15 games. Tournament highlights include the CFB $120K Tailgate which pays out $20,000 to 1^st place. For a slate this large, one way to narrow down some targets is by checking out the over/under totals for the games. We’re looking for games with larger totals that have the potential to be high-scoring. Two games jump out for the early slate:

• Hawaii @ Ohio State. O/U 65 with Ohio State a 41-point favorite.
• Washington State @ Rutgers. O/U 63 with Rutgers favored by 3 ½ points.

We’ll definitely want some exposure to these games, but don’t necessarily want to load our rosters with players solely from these two matchups. We may stack a QB-WR combo if it’s a great matchup, but with this many games there are plenty of players to key in on. Additionally, games with high O/U’s will tend to have players with high ownership percentages in GPPs and we want to do our best to build a unique roster that has a chance to really climb up the leaderboard. Outside of the aforementioned QB-WR stack from a high-scoring affair, zero in on these matchups to try to find some safety and almost guaranteed production for your lineup. A couple of players stand out as appealing options from these two games:

• Ohio State RB Ezekiel Elliott $9,500. Elliott could have a decent ownership percentage for the early slate but many will shy away due to price. We have an Ohio State team that is favored by 41 points, leading us to believe that there will not be much of a need for the passing game past the middle of the second quarter. Look for Elliott to do his damage on the ground and have a hand both in building the lead and when the team is looking to grind some clock. The risk in this matchup is that Ohio State will be up so big at the half that the starters sit out the second half.
• Rutgers WR Leonte Carroo $6,700. Here we have a high-scoring game that is projected to be close throughout, a potential recipe for fantasy goodness. We also have a wide receiver that is coming off a game in which he produced 3 catches for 129 yards and 3 touchdowns. Granted, the competition last week was Norfolk State. This week’s opponent presents a step up in competition but the potential is almost too good to pass up. For a game with the 2^nd highest o/u of the early slate, we like Carroo’s DFS potential this week.

Some other picks to keep in mind for the early slate of games include:

• Ole Miss QB Chad Kelly $7,700. Ole Miss continues their trip down the bakery aisle to open the season when they welcome Fresno State who is a 30-point underdog. Kelly produced 23.44 points on DraftKings last week against another cupcake. Look for more of the same and possibly more this Saturday.
• Clemson WR Artavis Scott $7,900. Scott steps into the WR1 for Clemson after last week’s injury to top receiver Mike Williams. Clemson is a 19 ½-point favorite over Appalachian State with an O/U of 58 ½. Scott has dynamic playmaking ability and will do his part to help build the lead.
• Ole Miss WR Laquon Treadwell $5,600. Treadwell was pretty quiet in last week’s cakewalk and thus his price has dropped. Take advantage of it. Treadwell is far too talented to be priced this low and could explode for a huge game at a moment’s notice.
• Arkansas RB Kody Walker $3,900. Arkansas deviated from their norm last week and put on quite the show through the air as QB Brandon Allen threw four touchdown passes. Even with more of a reliance on the passing game than usual, the team as a whole rushed for 182 yards and two touchdowns – one of which Walker accounted for. Look for the gameplan to balance out this week and purchase a piece of the running game at a cheap price.

Saturday Afternoon Slate

We have another slate of games kicking off at 5pm. The afternoon slate features 12 games and is highlighted by the CFB $25K Redshirt which pays out $2,000 to 1^st place. Looks like we may have a high-scoring set of games as 7 of the 12 matchups have O/U’s of at least 60 points. Three of those matchups also have a close spread. We’ll look there to get started on our lineups.

• Oklahoma @ Tennessee. O/U 63 with Tennessee a 1 ½-point favorite.
• Marshall @ Ohio. O/U 60, Marshall favored by 3 points.
• North Texas @ SMU. O/U 61 ½ with SMU favored by 5 ½ points.

Three appealing matchups for DFS generate three potential targets for DFS.

• Tennessee RB Jalen Hurd $7,400. Hurd was a beast last week against Bowling Green, carrying the ball 23 times for 123 yards and 3 TDs. Oklahoma State was a middle of the road defense against the run in 2014, finishing 67^th in rushing yards allowed and 92^nd in rushing touchdowns allowed. Not sure that Hurd finds the end zone three times again, but we like his chances to find it at least once and break 100-yards rushing.
• Ohio RB A.J. Ouellette $6,100. Ouellette was projected to have a nice game against Idaho last week but that didn’t pan out due to game script. We like him to bounce back this week in one of the higher scoring games of this slate. His ownership percentage may also be low due to last week’s disappointing performance. Have a short memory in DFS and find room for Ouellette on your roster.
• SMU QB Matt Davis $7,800. Davis was a nice source of points last week against Baylor and we can expect more of the same this week. SMU was a pass-first, ask questions later type of offense in 2014, throwing 430 times versus 362 rushing attempts. Davis accounts for a large portion of the rushing offense as well, as evidenced by last week’s 115 rushing yards. Davis is reasonably priced and a dual-threat in a high-scoring game, looks like a solid DFS selection.

Some other selections from the afternoon slate to consider:

• Arizona WR Cayleb Jones $5,900. Jones is another receiver that is one of the top options in his offense that had a relatively quiet Week 1. He produced a line of 3/49/1, good for 13.9 points on DraftKings and a little over 2x value for last week’s salary of $6,100. Jones is a threat for 4x value at this price, enjoy the discount.
• Memphis QB Paxton Lynch $7,300. Lynch may fly under the radar this week but makes for a solid selection against Kansas. Memphis is favored by 13 points in a game with an O/U of 62. Lynch only played the 1^st half last week, racking up 78 yards and a touchdown in his limited time. Kansas was in the back of the pack for passing defense last season and this year appears to be the same story.
• Pittsburgh WR Tyler Boyd $8,000. The season-ending injury to RB James Conner could lead to some changes in the Pittsburgh offense until the backfield shakes out and Boyd could be the biggest beneficiary. As evidenced by his price and stats of 78/1,261/8 in 2014, Boyd has the ability to put up points. Some extra targets this week could lead to some nice fantasy output.

Saturday Late Slate

To wrap up our marathon day of CFB and DFS, we have the late slate with 12 games. This slate kicks off at 8pm and features the CFB $80K Tailgate which pays out $10,000 to 1^st place. A couple of projected high-scoring matchups highlight this set of games, including these two which also project to be close:

• Oregon @ Michigan State. O/U 65 with Michigan State favored by 3 ½.
• Tulsa @ New Mexico. O/U 75 with New Mexico a 3 ½-point favorite.

Several ways we can go with this many points on tap, but these two players stand out:

• Oregon QB Vernon Adams Jr. $8,600. Marcus who? Wouldn’t go that far, but Adams Jr. had quite the debut last week with 26.24 points on DraftKings. A close, high-scoring featured primetime game between two of the top programs in the country promises to be entertaining and Adams should play a big part in the festivities.
• New Mexico RB Jhurrell Pressley $5,100. New Mexico, a strong rushing team that produced 339 rushing yards last week, welcomes Tulsa, a team that allowed 300 rushing yards last week. Where do I sign? Pressley was the team’s top rusher last season and second on the team in carries in Week 1. Great price for what could be a big day for Pressley.

Some more player’s to look at as we round out our rosters for the late slate:

• UCLA RB Paul Perkins $7,900. Some blowout risk with UCLA a 30-point favorite versus UNLV, but Perkins should do enough damage before it gets out of hand. Perkins is a threat in both the running and passing game. He has a strong chance to find the end zone at least once on Saturday.
• Texas QB Tyrone Swoopes $6,600. Swoopes had a rough outing last week against Notre Dame which will cause many to stay away. Strong bounce back potential against a Rice team that will not be confused with Notre Dame anytime soon.
• Nebraska WR Jordan Westerkamp $6,200. Westerkamp is reasonably priced and was one of the few bright spots in last week’s season opening loss to BYU. He is the top wideout for an offense that will be looking to work some frustrations out against South Alabama.   
• UCLA WR Jordan Payton $5,600. We return to UCLA for a very budget-friendly price. As mentioned, there is blowout risk here but we like Payton to make a little noise before the starters exit the game.

That concludes our tour of three slates of games for a marathon day of CFB. Enjoy the games and best of luck this weekend!