Daily Fantasy College Football Picks for FanDuel and DraftKings - Thursday 9/3/15

Welcome back to the wonderful world of College Football. Hope you are as excited as we are. We've been gearing up for CFB with a bunch of offerings. At the bottom of the page you'll can sign up for our free e-book "8 Things You Need to Know Before Playing Daily Fantasy College Football". Just enter an email and it'll land in your inbox.

We're also selling lineups and cheatsheets for every CFB slate. This week they include 2 DraftKings and 2 FanDuel lineups along with a cheatsheet of write ups on a number of different player. They are $5 and are separate from our membership subscription.

Quarterback

 
Marquise Williams
If you want to spend up Williams is the guy I would target. Considering his duel threat capabilities and North Carolina's ability to score he has what he needs to open the season on a high note. Williams was a little erratic last season.  Over the last four weeks Williams had a high of 47 fantasy points and a low of 4 and no, he didn’t get hurt during that 4pt performance. Considering his tag I would prefer a bit more consistency, but regardless this game has the right ingredients to buy some Marquise shares. Williams is a dark horse Heisman candidate and has the ability to light teams up through the air or on the ground. With a plethora of receivers the Gamecocks may have difficulty covering the entire field. If SC is able to cover the wide outs it will undoubtedly leave Williams space up the middle to gash them with his feet. Vegas says this will be a high scoring tightly contested matchup and if that holds true Williams could be the QB play of the night. On Fanduel it's really hard to get away from a 5100 Sirk, but on DK where you need two QB's it’s a whole different story and I will look to have Williams on a few of my rosters.

Thomas Sirk
Sirk is currently listed as the Blue Devils starter replacing All-ACC signal caller, Anthony Boone. The Dukies may take a step back this year with the loss of Boone and Crowder, but that doesn’t mean we still can't find value scattered throughout their roster. I bring you Sirk. At 6'5" 220lbs he's a big physical athlete who isn't afraid to get his nose dirty as evidenced by his 8 rushing touchdowns on just 47 carries. I could tell you that Sirk has a career completion percentage of 71% and it would be true, but with only 14 passing attempts I won't try to sell you on his accuracy. I will sell you on the fact he represents very strong value at 5100 on Fanduel, has an above average matchup with Tulane, and as a duel threat QB he fits the mold we look for in cash games. If you read our Ebook we discussed why we target multidimensional quarterbacks; with the ability to score with their arm or legs these types of quarterbacks generally offer more safety and a higher floor. Duke is a 9 point favorite on the road at Tulane with a total hovering around 48. Statistically Tulane was about average on defense last season, but considering their schedule how many teams are in FBS, average isn’t so great . Duke's backfield is banged up right now and only time will tell who from the receiving corps will emerge. Until then, Sirk will be asked to do more and what I mean by that is bulldoze his way into the end zone. At 5100 it's really hard to argue against playing this Blue Devil when the lights come on Thursday night.

Consider Fading – Trevone Boykin is a front runner to win the Heisman, but this may not be the spot you want to pony up for TB (and I’m not talking about Tuberculosis). The Gophers have a sort of stingy defense led by its backfield and these are the kind of the games they play tough. Would I be surprised if Boykin lit up the scoreboard? No, I wouldn’t, but what I see here is an elite tag coupled with a sneaky dangerous road game. I’d rather spend a little less for Williams or Doughty. Next question.

Running Backs

AJ Ouellette
It's possibly the least intimidating name for a running back and maybe AJ should have been a kicker, but this Thursday I am loving his matchup, his price, and his price compared to the remaining RB field. On Draftkings he is basically a must start whereas on Fanduel you can spend $100 more and take Leon Allen who appears to have avoided a suspension for an off-field incident. Personally, I am using Ouellette (on DK) in just about every cash game and he will also find himself in my GPP lineups as well. This is one of those games that tend to fly under the radar from a DFS perspective. The teams aren’t great, the spread is average (Ohio -8 o/u 55), there's very little NFL talent on either team, and about 5 more things I don’t feel like mentioning. So here's the good, Idaho is about 22% below average on the defensive side of the ball and although that is based off last year's metrics, a team like Idaho doesn’t become awesome sauce overnight. Idaho also runs an up tempo pass heavy attack, which means more possessions, which means more opportunity for the Frenchman (not actually sure he is French), plus like 3 more things I don’t feel like mentioning. The Bobcats on the other hand will no longer have their record setting QB Tettleton and while D. Vick may do just fine, he's not the passer Tett was and I think that means Ohio will feature Ouellette to control the game. As a freshman he finished with 785 yards rushing despite missing a couple games and being hampered in a couple more. Sophomore slump? At least not this game.

Elijah Penny
Talk about getting your money’s worth. It can be difficult to find value further down the salary grid, minus an injury replacement, but sometimes we just know more than you, err I mean get lucky. Penny represents just that and you’re literally paying pennies on the dollar for him. EP returns to the Vandals as the entrenched RB1 and should see a heavy usage rate throughout the season. At 6’2” and 235-254lbs (depending on source) Penny is big back who has a knack for the end zone (12 rushing touchdowns on just 139 carries). As a JUCO transfer it appears Penny just needed some time to establish himself as the teams feature back. Until week 10 Penny never had more than 75 yards on the ground. In his last 4 games he surpassed 90 yards three times and scored 6 touchdowns (5 rush). That’s encouraging and all signs point to him picking up where he left off. The fact Idaho is an 8pt dog at home is cause for some concern with the threat they are playing from behind, but I don’t think this game will get so out of hand where Penny becomes an after-thought. A starting running back at $3800 is hard to pass up. Well, that’s my two cents.

Wide Receiver

Kolby Listenbee
So while I think Boykin is a guy to avoid the same can’t be said about Kolby. In the DFS world price and opportunity rule the day and with Deante Gray doubtful and Josh Doctson missing much of camp (but is expected to play) the opportunity has exceeded his price. With those guys banged up it looks like Listenbee will start and should see a majority of the offensive snaps. He already has a strong report with Boykin so the sudden role change won’t affect the offense. With a strong ground game and the running ability of Boykin Minnesota will have to play honest on defense which should allow Listenbee to find room in the zone or face man to man coverage, either way I likey. While the Gophers can be stingy on defense and have one of the better secondaries they’re still facing the #2 team in the country with a Heisman caliber QB. Vegas says 14pt win for the Frogs with a total around 58. (Ty Slanina could be sneaky as well)

Western Kentucky Receivers;
Jared Dangerfield, Taywan Taylor, Antwane Grant
Hopefully you read our CFB Ebook because when you see an entire team’s receivers listed the proverbial light bulb should be going off. You guessed it, WKU likes to pass and they spread the ball around like a church donation plate. We’re not going to get into the specifics of the players, just know they are all viable and every lineup should probably have at least one of the guys listed. Yes, Vandy hails from the SEC, but they’re a perennial bottom feeder and do not present the same type of challenge of your average SEC team. In addition WKU’s offense is riddled with experience and most importantly at the QB position. Brandon Doughty is entering his 5^th year with WKU and 3^rd as QB1. Last season Doughty led the nation with 4866 passing yards and 49 TD’s on 552 pass attempts. Only three teams attempted more passes than WKU last season. Someone has to catch em.

*Interestingly this game opened as Vandy-17 o/u 67. The line now stands at pick o/u 64.

Tight Ends

Steven Scheu
There are a few different ways to go at tight end on this slate. None of them particularly exciting. Unless you simply want to roll the dice on one of the cheap options Scheu is the guy I would target. As a tight end he is still the most effective receiver for Vanderbilt. He should see plenty of targets in what is expected to be a high scoring week 1 matchup against Western Kentucky.

We're selling lineups and cheatsheets for every CFB slate. This week they include 2 DraftKings and 2 FanDuel lineups along with a cheatsheet of write ups on a number of different player. They are $5 and are separate from our membership subscription. Click here to purchase using PayPal.