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Early DraftKings college football picks November 30: By the Book

By Mike Marteny

SOUTH BEND, IN - NOVEMBER 16: Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Ian Book (12) reacts to a play in game action during a game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Navy Midshipmen on November 16, 2019 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, IN. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, IN - NOVEMBER 16: Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Ian Book (12) reacts to a play in game action during a game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Navy Midshipmen on November 16, 2019 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, IN. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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DraftKings college football
COLUMBUS, OH – NOVEMBER 23: J.K. Dobbins #2 of the Ohio State Buckeyes runs with the ball against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Ohio Stadium on November 23, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images) /

Early DraftKings college football running back picks November 30

Top Tier:

Jonathan Taylor only has 269 rushing yards and one touchdown in two games against Minnesota in his career, so I don’t know if he’s worth the money. This is one of the few teams that I really have to pause and think about whether he’s worth the price. Taylor is just fine in cash games, but I don’t see a lot of upside against a good defense like this.

While this is probably the best defense Clemson has faced this year, South Carolina is still not a great run defense. They have allowed 153.8 rushing yards per game. Travis Etienne still doesn’t have more than 16 carries or 19 touches in any game. He has still not been below 20 DraftKings points since the near loss to North Carolina. I see no reason to avoid Etienne here. Even if you’re scared of a blowout, Etienne is probably going to outdo Taylor.

Ohio State faced a good defense again last week and leaned on J.K. Dobbins. Dobbins had an absurd 36 carries against Penn State leading to 31.8 DraftKings points. Michigan’s defense is good, but I expect Ohio State to attack it the way they did Wisconsin and Penn State: with a heavy dose of Dobbins. I really like the upside here.

Middle Tier:

I don’t really see any reason to use Swift with Georgia just going through the motions and trying to keep everyone healthy. SMU will need Xavier Jones. Nothing is guaranteed for the Ponies yet, and they want the best bowl possible. Tulane’s run defense is solid though, but Jones is still involved in the passing game.

I’m pretty excited about Darius Pinnix. He saw his first action since week two for ECU last week and no one else had more than two carries. He will see a lot of carries against a Tulsa run defense that is allowing 195.1 rushing yards per game.

Syracuse has leaned on Moe Neal a lot more lately. Neal has 37 carries for 278 yards and a pair of touchdowns over the last two games. Both of those were blowouts! If they are going to ride Neal that much even in games that aren’t close, I’m really liking what this could mean in a game with Wake that could stay close. Even if it doesn’t, Neal seems safe.

After what Edwards-Hilaire did to Alabama, I’m liking JaTarvious Whitlow here. He was shut down by Georgia but looked back to normal against Samford. Auburn should have more success on the ground here, and if Whitlow is back to full health, this will be the key to the Tigers pulling the upset.

Bargain Shoppers:

Freshman Javian Hawkins wont find the room that he did against Syracuse, but Kentucky’s run defense is worse than their pass defense. If you want to a crack at them, I would recommend doing so with Hawkins.

The Kentucky offense has morphed into a very run-heavy team with Bowden under center. The Louisville run defense has had holes in it, but what piece of the Kentucky attack do you want? Bowden is a little bit on the expensive side. Asim Rose comes up with some big plays, but Kavosiey Smoke has had more carries lately. So has Chris Rodriguez for that matter.

It wasn’t just against Tennessee-Martin. Smoke outcarried Rose against Vandy and Tennessee as well. Bowden outcarried them both. Good luck! One or two of these four guys could go off, but all beside Bowden carry a healthy amount of risk. The price on Rodriguez is really tempting, especially if the Wildcats are committed to running 50 times a game.