DFS CFB FanDuel Week 7 Saturday Main Slate

Welcome back to the weekly DFS CFB FanDuel review. This edition is focused on the Saturday Main slate for Week 7 of the season. We’ll discuss top DFS CFB options by position for your FanDuel DFS CFB slates.

Believe it or not, we’re already approaching the mid-point of the season for many college football teams. Some teams have already hit their mid-point, like Hawaii last Saturday night. For DFS CFB, the fun part about this time of year is that we’re recognizing who is real, and who isn’t, while picking through our lineup options.

I’m not saying the players themselves are necessarily locked in, but we know the match ups better, for each player. We know which team defenses struggle against the run, or the pass. We understand which team’s offenses have better blocked or like to hurl the ball downfield more than other teams. Because we have a better population of data.

The flip side of that, is FanDuel also has better DFS CFB salary applied to the players, so it’s more challenging to find value. However, while picking through the lineup options for the Saturday Main slate, week 7, I realized some of the salaries didn’t necessarily reflect the match up. And I suspect sometimes that’s intentional. We’ll identify those for you lineups.

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 Saturday Week 7 Main Slate:

Florida at Vanderbilt 12pm ET

Minnesota at Ohio State 12pm ET

Pittsburgh at Notre Dame 2:30pm ET

Washington at Oregon 3:30pm ET

Texas A&M at South Carolina 3:30pm ET

UCF at Memphis 3:30pm ET

Baylor at Texas 3:30pm ET

Georgia at LSU 3:30pm ET

Michigan State at Penn State 3:30pm ET

Missouri at Alabama 7pm ET

Miami at UVA 7pm ET

West Virginia at Iowa State 7pm ET

Wisconsin at Michigan 7:30pm ET

Yes, that’s 13 games. Yes, that is likely overwhelming. That means we have 26 quarterbacks to analyze, as many as 54+ running backs, and over 70 wide receivers we could consider. That also means we have a big list of lineup combinations to utilize, making GPP more feasible to win. Let’s start off by looking at our top quarterback picks.

DFS CFB FanDuel Week 7: Saturday Quarterbacks

Ohio State’s signal caller Dwayne Haskins ($10,500) has emerged as a Heisman trophy candidate and he’s coming into this Golden Gophers match up after posting 40.9 DFS CFB FanDuel points thanks to six touchdowns against the Indian Hoosiers.

So the match up against Minnesota on OSU’s home field seems like a slam dunk pick right? I don’t think so. Granted, Minnesota’s offensive competition has been unimpressive so far, and yet they’re still only 3-2.

But after five games, they’re only giving up 196.8 passing yards per game, top 40 in college football. Haskins is easily averaging over 300 passing yards per game, so they’ll put the Golden Gophers to the test, but Dwayne also could have a bigger challenge this week. So I think he’s over-priced mostly because of the hype surrounding his Heisman hopes.

If you’re going to spend that much salary for a quarterback, Will Grier ($10,400) is a better option. Iowa State is giving up over 227 passing yards per game, 70th in college football. And we know how they’ve fared against teams who’s quarterback hurls the ball often, like Sooners’ Kyler Murray.

With only 29 passing attempts, Murray completed 21 passes for 348 yards and three touchdowns without throwing a pick. That bodes well for Grier, who’s never thrown for under 332 yards in a game, and has at least three touchdowns in every game. In fact, Will has thrown four or five touchdowns in four of his five starts. This is as near a lock play at quarterback as you’re going to get.

I don’t recommend going with any of the cheaper options, but if you need to save some salary, there are two other great plays this Saturday, UCF’s McKenzie Milton ($10,200) in Memphis against the Tigers and Penn State’s Trace McSorley ($10,000) against Sparty. In fact, to get better value out of the Super Flex spot, it makes sense to use two quarterbacks in your lineup, and the’re a great combination.

We’ve talked about why McSorley is such a great DFS CFB option almost weekly. While he’s throwing for around 200 yards per game, along with around two touchdowns per game, he’s also rushing the ball so much, he now has 410 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns in just five games. McSorley’s rushing stats are nearly at great as their top back, Miles Sanders ($9,700).

But, Michigan State’s run defense is one of the best in the country. So, I think McSorley will be forced to pass the ball more. That’s not a bad thing, and running situations are unique. So we could see nearly 300 passing yards from Trace, a first this season, with a few passing touchdowns. I also think McSorley could pick up more than 50 yards on the ground and is always a threat for a rushing touchdowns.

OK, so why Milton? For almost the exact opposite reason. Memphis is only giving up 172 passing yards per game, a very good stat and top 20 in college football. Still, McKenzie will likely break that mark, as he hasn’t thrown less than 243 yards this season. Also, in just five games Milton has 15 passing touchdowns.

But the more appealing park of McKenzie’s game this weekend is the run game. While Milton isn’t as dynamic a runner as McSorley, we saw some fireworks from Milton against FAU and Pittsburgh, on the ground.

He ran over ten times in each game, totaled 132 yards and five touchdowns over the two week period. This is another game were Milton will likely use his feet to create points for the Knights. Grier is a great option in any lineup and all formats. But McSorley and Milton are a dynamic combination for Saturday.

DFS CFB FanDuel Week 7: Saturday Running Backs

Before we jump into a big value play I like at running back this weekend, let’s continue with the UCF story in Memphis. So, we love the running game for UCF against the Tigers this Saturday afternoon.

Well, obviously we should also consider UCF’s top tail back Adrian Killins Jr. ($9,500). With 20 carries against SMU last week, Killins piled up 113 yards and saw the end zone for a touchdown. The week before, Adrian only had 40 yards on the ground, but he piled up 140 receiving yards with three receptions and a touchdown.

In fact, Killins was only a disappointment once this season, against FAU on september 21st, when he only put up 66 yards with 16 carries and didn’t see the end zone. However, Adrian has at least one touchdown in every other game this season.

But, so far we’re talking about a bunch of very expensive picks. So how in the world are we going to afford all of this in the same lineup. Well, Keaontay Ingram ($7,800) makes that easier. He’s never exceeded 20 DFS CFB FanDuel points, so there’s risk with this play. But that’s also why his salary is so low.

Against Oklahoma last week, Keaontay had 86 rushing yards with just 13 carries. With a touchdown or about 20 more yards, Ingram would have been a huge value play. Fortunately, Texas is hosting the Baylor Bear’s this Saturday afternoon.

Baylor has been giving up almost 33 points per game and over 193 rushing yards per game. Baylor is 98th, of 130 teams, against stopping the run. So it’s very likely the Longhorns will exploit Baylor on the ground, and put up a lot of points. This is a sneaky potential for two rushing touchdowns and over 100 rushing yards on a cheap $7.8K salary. I’m in!

DFS CFB FanDuel Week 7: Saturday Wide Receivers

While we have UCF’s Milton in a quarterback or Super Flex spot for our DFS CFB FanDuel lineup, I’m likely not stacking the Knights receivers with Milton. However, if you want to take on that risk for a GPP play, Dredrick Snelson ($8,200) is your guy.

But, we do love the the Mountaineers and Nittany Lions air game this weekend. From the Mountaineers I always love Marcus Simms ($8,600). My only worry with Simms is consistency. Against Kansas last week, Marcus only had two receptions for 57 yards. But in the three previous games, he had 22 receptions, over 380 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

In Saturday’s likely air-raid against the Cyclones, it’s likely Simms has another big 100 reception games with a touchdown or two. If you somehow have enough salary left over, David Sills V ($9,600) is the best receiving option in the WVU corps.

From the Nittany Lions, I continue to like Juwan Johnson ($7,800) and Brandon Polk ($6,300). It’s always tempting to grab KJ Hamler ($8,700), given his four touchdowns in five games, but he’s questionable for Saturday, and I am skeptical of his impact even if he plays. That improves Johnson and Polk’s DFS CFB FanDuel point projections.

I’ve mostly stayed away from the Alabama Crimson Tide, partly because of the expensive price of many of the players, but also to differentiate their lineup. Missouri is giving up 284.8 passing yards per game, 13th most in college football.

So it’s hard to avoid Bama’s passing game this weekend. However, we don’t have to. Much like Hamler, Henry Ruggs III ($8,200) is racking up touchdowns this season. Henry has six touchdowns in the last five games, at least one in each of those games. Unlike Hamler, Ruggs is healthy. For $8.2K, we’re likely getting another touchdown, with 10’s of yards piled on top with a few receptions. The ceiling is higher.

DFS CFB FanDuel Week 7: Saturday Summary

Will Grier is our favorite overall DFS CFB FanDuel player this Saturday. In our example lineup, though, we’re not using him. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. He’s a great play. But for a better value combination, I love Milton and McSorley at the quarterback and/or Flex spot.

Sticking with the UCF’s run game, along with the expectation that Milton gains a lot of yards (and touchdowns) on the ground, we love Killins as well. For a great value play, we’re going with Longhorn’s likely lead back this weekend, Ingram, against a terrible Baylor run defense.

Finally, to fill in our three receiver positions, we’re grabbing at least Johnson and Polk from the Nittany Lions. We might consider UCF’s Snelson as well, but I prefer to get a solid piece of Bama’s air game against Mizzu with Ruggs.

With that summary in mind, here’s a look at a sample lineup for the Week 7 DFS CFB FanDuel Saturday Main slate:

QB      McKenzie Milton ($10,200)

RB      Adrian Killins Jr. ($9,500)

RB      Keaontay Ingram ($7,800)

WR     Henry Ruggs III ($8,200)

WR     Juwan Johnson ($7,800)

WR     Brandon Polk ($6,300)

Flex    Trace McSorley ($10,000)

Remaining Salary: $200

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!