Daily Fantasy College Football Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings Thursday Games 9/4/14

I want to start this week off with a special thank you to Mother Nature. While she may have given you a beautiful holiday weekend she wreaked havoc on me with the Florida game. It's not often a football game gets cancelled short of a major weather event, but when I proudly run a few Florida players across multiple leagues, you bet the skies open up. What's done is done. Which brings me to my fantasy tip of the day: These things happen, move on. All in all, we finished on the right side of even and hopefully you did too. On to the Thursday-Friday super short slate.

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Quarterbacks

Quick note: Halliday is the easy play and will be a heavy start. With only six starting QB's to choose from, we want to do our best to avoid being Captain Obvious and Halliday is just that kind of pick. That being said, he’s obvious for a reason and makes a solid start in every format.

Cody Fajardo - FD 9600 DK 7800
Before I tell you how great a guy in the community Cody is ill start with a few football-related things. Last week he went 30/303/1 through the air and 15/68/1 on the ground. He was directly responsible for 60% of their total offensive volume. In comes Washington State and their pass happy, game extending, fantasy awesomeness!. The Wolf Pack will likely be chasing the Cougars all night and you're telling me I can get a guy that will either run or pass it 60% of the time? I’m not saying Cody is as sexy as fellow Nevada alum, Colin Kaepernick, but I am saying he has enough talent to deliver a nice fantasy line. This should be a very high scoring affair with a mid 60’s over/under and dude is just such a focal point of the offense you cant miss.

Running Backs

Don Jackson - FD 5300 DK 5800
Out of the remaining 40% of offensive snaps for Nevada, Don accounts for 23%. Its a short night so don't let the QB/RB combo scare you. Did you see what Paul James did to Wash St last week? Lets just say ESPN is still editing the highlights. Don isn't Paul and Jackson isn't James, but approximately 33% of the starting RB's tonight will make your lineup. Go with the volume in the highest expected scoring game of the night.

Terris Jones-Grigsby DK 4700
Rich Rod generally helms high-powered offenses that are favorable to versatile backs. Jones-Grigsby fits that mold. TJG ran all over the Runnin Rebels last week and so did some of Zona's other backs. UTSA presents some stiffer competition and Arizona is playing away from home, but I still like me some Terris to get a majority of the carries. Take note: there’s a crazy price difference here. FD is too steep for me, but DK is an all you can eat buffet. (Note: Jones-Grigsby is listed as questionable for the game. Monitor closely.)

James Conner - FD 6600
This cat went bananas last week with four TD's against a crappy Delaware team. While I certainly don't expect an encore performance Connor is still the Bell Cow. Pitt/BC games have the potential to be an old school, between the tackles, kind of game so I have some concern with the sub 50 O/U. But Connor will get his reps and a spot in my lineups. He is not totally out of play on DraftKings, but I’m choosing to allocate my money elsewhere. A FanDuel play all day.

Wide Receivers

Washington State Receivers – as many as you can handle
Vince Mayle - FD 7900 DK 5700
Isiah Myers - FD 6900 DK 5000
Rickey Galvin - FD 6100 DK 4800
River Cracraft - FD 5800

Mayle is a must start across the board as he’s the most targeted receiver in an offense that only passes. He showed what he can do last week against Rutgers and this game could/should be more of the same. I’m not fading him anywhere. Cracraft is only available on FD and is real close to a must start there as well. The others make nice value plays. There are a lot of passes go around so don't be afraid to play multiple guys. Much of this slate will come down to having mixed and matched this crew correctly. It is a tough call, and the TDs will win the day.

Richy Turner - FD 6500 DK 4900
Jerico Richardson - FD 4500 DK 7000
If you want to possibly get a little separation because the WSU WR carousel is too crazy to predict, consider these two guys. When Nevada throws, it throws primarily to its wide outs. Richardson hauled in 13 grabs for 177 last week. I also like the fact his long was only 21yds so his numbers weren’t padded by a bomb. Turner is the top returning WR and Richardson has come out of nowhere. Both make solid plays in what should be a wide open game.

Consider Dan Crimmins as a nice punt play

Note on Tyler Boyd: he dislocated finger last week and didn’t return. Check news leading up to game time and play accordingly. He's Pitt's best playmaker by a country mile.

Tight Ends

I'm going as cheap as possible here as most of these guys are complete question marks, or not involved with the offense at all. I'm taking a look at:
Patrick Clifford - FD 3000 DK 3200
and
David Morgan II - FD 3000 DK 2000

Give a follow on Twitter @dailyfantasysr and @cascarruthers.

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Thanks, and good luck!