DFS CFB FanDuel Week 2 2018-2019 Season Early Only

Welcome to the first edition of the weekly DFS CFB FanDuel review. This is the first of many future columns focused on top DFS CFB options by position for weekly FanDuel slates.

DFS CFB isn’t new to the fantasy world, however it took a long hiatus after DraftKings and FanDuel dropped the play in 2016. However, with the more lax U.S. Federal view on gaming laws, all daily fantasy sports formats are now starting, or considering, college football as a gaming option again.

FanDuel finally rolled our their DFS CFB play just before week one. So there wasn’t much time to prepare for the week, and we did not have nearly enough time to analyze players for optimal lineups.

Currently, FanDuel is offering a ‘Single Game’ and ‘Full Roster’ option. The Full Roster option is very much like your typical DFS lineup build. The Single Game options is focused solely on one game. For example, you could play a single mixed lineup of players for the TCU at SMU game on Friday night.

We’re going to focus on the Full Roster view, starting with the Early Only slate on Saturday afternoon (EDT). We need to narrow down our options to one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, and a flex spot picking anyone we can ‘afford’ from any position. Our column will help you focus on the top picks for each position.

Before we get there, a reminder to never take a DFS CFB optimal lineup as ‘bible’ for your personal lineup each day. Use the suggestions as guidance. Also, make sure you follow final lineup thoughts throughout the day on our twitter account @FantasyCPR or me @MattyMcMatt17 look for late breaking lineup news.

Here’s a look at the schedule for the Early Only DFS CFB FanDuel slate:

Mississippi State at Kansas State 12pm EDT

Arizona at Houston 12pm EDT

Western Michigan at Michigan 12pm EDT

New Mexico at Wisconsin 12pm EDT

UCLA at Oklahoma 1pm EDT

William & Mary at Virginia Tech 2pm EDT

Air Force at Florida Atlantic University 2pm EDT

Portland State at Oregon 2pm EDT

Another topic to cover is the point system. You can find the Scoring for FanDuel DFS CFB in the ‘Account’ section of your app, under Rules and Scoring. A player scoring a touchdown are the highest points you can earn, six. A passing touchdown is four points, and we get incremental yardage with passing, receiving, and rushing attempts throughout the game.

DFS CFB FanDuel Week 2: Early Only Quarterbacks

The top quarterback pick for the DFS CFB Early Only FanDuel slate is eye-candy. Justin Herbert ($11,000) racked up five passing touchdowns and a six touchdown on the ground. Herbert’s 39.34 DFS CFB FanDuel points are absurd.

Also, and this is almost hard to believe, he only threw 21 passes for ten completions. Yes, 50% were touchdowns. Justin’s QBR looks sexy after his first start of the season, against Bowling Green, but he may not get as much time against Portland State.

In fact, that’s the focus of our article for most of these positions. While we’re confident Herbert can pile up DFS CFB points for our lineup, his time on the field may be limited if the game ends up being somewhat of a blowout.

So yes, Herbert is the best quarterback in this slate, but we’re not confident he’s our best pick for DFS CFB. Instead, we’re going to look at the over/under spreads and focus on high scoring games. Below that focus, who are the top quarterbacks most likely to be a part of the high total points expected.

Two games in this slate that jump out to us are the 72 point over/under in the Arizona and Houston game, as well as the 64.5 point over/under in the UCLA and Oklahoma game.

After UCLA’s poor performance to start the season, and given the fact they’re playing a very good Sooners team in Oklahoma, we’re fading Dorian Thompson-Robinson ($8,900) at quarterback.

However, Dorian is a great GPP option. It’s unlikely Thompson-Robinson’s ownership will be high, but he is manning the snaps in a high-octane Chip Kelly offense and we haven’t seen the Sooners tested yet. But, I’m fading Dorian in all formats for a safer play.

Instead, my favorite three picks at Quarterback for the DFS CFB Early Only slate are Khalil Tate ($10,900), D’Eriq King ($10,400), and Kyler Murray ($10,300).

Tate and King are playing in a game expecting to have scored 30 to 40 points per team. That’s very attractive. Also, the game should be tight, so either quarterback could have 20+ DFS CFB points. The problem with all three is the salary. There isn’t much value with these picks.

For that reason, I favor Kyler Murray the most. I’m hoping most DFS CFB players assume a Tate/King shoot-out is more attractive than grabbing a popular Murray against a well known UCLA team. But UCLA’s defense was horrendous to start the season, and Murray actually could put up more points than all three QB’s, on a cheaper salary.

Depending on affordability, you could go with any of these three QB’s, but Murray is our guy for all formats in the Early Only FanDuel DFS CFB slate.

DFS CFB FanDuel Week 2: Early Only Running Backs

We’re likely spending a lot of money on the quarterback position for the Early Only slate, so paying up again at running back isn’t ideal. The move would really limit our wide receivers options, which we’d like to connect to our quarterback, and we need decent cash for solid Flex pick.

With that in mind, I’m looking for top running backs getting the majority of touches, and snaps, from each of the higher scoring teams during the Early Only DFS CFB slate on Saturday. But I’m going to focus on those backs under $10,000 in salary.

Of that group, the Arizona Wildcats’ leading rusher, J.J. Taylor ($9,600) is an ideal pick. Taylor carried the ball 18 time for the Wildcats last week, scoring one and piling up 85 years. Even better, J.J. hauled in four receptions for 27 yards. This week, against Houston, a solid 20+ points is feasible.

If you can’t afford Taylor, and we’ll see how that may be a problem, then the Oregon Ducks CJ Verdell ($9,400) or Virginia Tech Hokies Deshawn McClease ($9,200) are my two favorite backs under Taylor. Verdell picked up 13 hand-offs for 51 yards but no scores, and saw no receptions. But it’s likely CJ will get the bulk of the carries again, at least in the first half, against Portland and could exceed 100 yards with a few long runs this weekend.

That being said, the risk of playing Verdell is not getting enough time on the field this weekend. In theory, that could also be a risk while playing McClease. But, while the Hokies put on a great defensive display against Florida Stat last week, the offense struggled to get going.

It’s likely Justin Fuente and the Hokies coaching staff would like to see the offense get a good amount of time on the field against William & Mary, to develop a flow they can carry into future games into the season.

I also suspect McClease will continue to get the bulk of the carries and could try to exceed the 100 yard mark, something few Hokies have done in recent years. So of this group, I like McClease the most, especially considering the value.

We could go with two of these guys, but that really limits your options in the Flex and WR positions for the rest of the your lineup. Instead, I’m going to look for more of a mid-range salary guy with McClease, Verdell, or Taylor.

Jonathan Taylor ($11,400) is clearly one of the top backs in this slate. Taylor likely has a monster first half against New Mexico. However, I also think the Badgers will want to give Jonathan a break for most of the second half.

At that point, we should see more of Taiwan Deal ($7,600), who rushed for 53 yards on eight carries along with a 10-yard catch against Western Kentucky last week. This could be a 10+ DFS CFB point value in the 2nd RB spot of our lineup.

DFS CFB FanDuel Week 2: Early Only Wide Receivers

In a high-scoring game on their home field against a UCLA team struggling to defend the ball last week, I suspect Kyler Murray and the Sooners will be spreading the ball around the receiving corps this weekend.

With Murray likely in many of my lineups, I’m going to look for his receivers to be in my lineups as well. One of my favorite sneaky value picks is Mykel Jones ($6,400). This is a risky play, as the Sooners have other bigger name receivers like Marquise Brown ($10,400) or CeeDee Lamp ($9,000).

But, Lamb and Brown are each very expensive and while Jones is a third string wide receiver, we think the Sooners will spread the ball around enough that we can pick up some cheap points with this pick. Also, Mykel already has two receptions this season, for 37 yards, so we know Murray knows how to find him.

From here, we’ll likely grab a more mid-salary pick before looking at our top options left over in the $8K-$9K range. One game we haven’t touched on yet is Western Michigan playing against Michigan in the ‘big house.’

Michigan had a rough time in a close game against the Fighting Irish in South Bend, Indiana last week. Muted during that game was Grant Perry ($8,200). However, Perry still had five receptions for 48 yards. Perry is arguably one of the better receiving options on the Wolverines, and against WMU, he could have a big 100+ yard game on a modest salary.

We’re going to round out our wide receiver position and team with two more wide receivers from a team we already mentioned at running back.

The Hokies play the Tribe of William & Mary at home in Blacksburg, Virginia this Saturday. Yes, 12th ranked Virginia Tech is heavily favored in this game. However, William & Mary has a solid football program and could stick around for most of this game.

Also, as we already mentioned, we expect the Hokies coaching staff to keep their starting offense on the field longer than normal, for this type of situation, to make sure their offense develops a solid rhythm for the season.

Josh Jackson ($10,000) isn’t one of our top targets at quarterback, but we do expect the Sophomore signal caller to target his two newer and bigger receivers in the end zone often this weekend.

Hezekiah Grimsley ($8,400) only had four receptions for 28 yards against Florida State, but he had some key targets throughout the game, including in the end zone. I’m expecting Grimsley to continue to get many targets throughout the game, including catching one in the end zone this time.

Eric Kumah ($9,900) also saw a lot of targets on Monday, but with his four receptions Kumah was able to pile up 86 yards and register a touchdown for over 22 DFS CFB FanDuel points. Most of that production was thanks to an amazing broken tackle for a 49-yard touchdown.

Eric seemed dead in the water when we broke what looked like an easy tackle, slipping through more defenders and scoring the long touchdown. The yards after contact was very impressive, but so was Kumah’s use of his body on the field throughout the game. Both could have big 20+ point games on Saturday and their price is reasonable.

While Oregon’s Herbert is our favorite DFS CFB FanDuel quarterback for the Early Only FanDuel slate, he’s just too expensive to own, although a solid cash game play. Still, Tate, King and Murray are all just as good and cheaper.

So we’re going with one of those three Murray being the most likely used due to his value. But Tate and King could both have monster games, and be worth the additional few hundred bucks in salary.

At running back, Wildcats’ Taylor is a solid pick, but Verdell and McClease offer slightly better value. We’re also not paying up at running back because we want a $10K type of passer in the QB slot. This is forcing us to look for value with the second running back spot, looking for someone like Taiwan Deal.

Finally, there’s a slew of receivers we like. We’re going to reach for value grabbing a cheaper Sooners wide-out like Mykel Jones, allowing us to afford Michigan’s Perry, and the Hokies Kumah and Grimsley. We’re using one of those receivers in the Super FLEX role as well.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the DFS CFB FanDuel Early Only slate: 

QB     Kyler Murray ($10,300)

RB     Deshawn McClease ($9,200)

RB     Taiwan Deal ($7,600)

WR    Eric Kumah ($9,900)

WR    Grant Perry ($8,200)

WR    Mykel Jones ($6,400)

Flex   Hezekiah Grimsley ($8,400)

Remaining Salary: $0

Note: This is a recommended lineup after discussing our top options for the slate. You should use this as a guide, and provide your own input when building DFS CFB FanDuel lineups.  We are not telling you, or selling you, to use this lineup.

Best of luck in your DFS CFB FanDuel contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all your DFS news and analysis across College Football, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, EPL, PGA, and NASCAR this fall!