College football DFS picks January 1: Can Ohio State get revenge?

Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Justin Fields (1) rushes upfield ahead of Northwestern Wildcats linebacker Blake Gallagher (51) during the first quarter of the Big Ten Championship football game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020.Big Ten Championship Ohio State Northwestern /

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Nov 14, 2020; Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Kyren Williams (23) runs with the ball against the Boston College Eagles during the first half at Alumni Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports /

College football DFS running back picks January 1:

Top Tier:

Statistics can be misleading. For example, Alabama technically has the worst run defense on this slate. By no means do I think Kyren Williams will outscore Najee Harris. However, Williams is a full $3,000 less than Harris and Harris likely wont score that much more than him. Dollar for dollar, Williams is in a sneaky good spot. Harris is elite though. I’d play him against anyone.

I’m not quite there with Travis Etienne, but I also think they way to get to Ohio State is on the ground. Clemson will ride Etienne when they need to. This may be one of the games where they need to. Under no circumstances will I roster an Ohio State back. There is too much risk and almost no upside.

Middle Tier:

After what we saw Sermon do to Northwestern, I’m pretty high on Tank Bigsby. Bigsby should be fully healthy here. He’s not going for 300 rushing yards, but 150 wouldn’t surprise me. Bigsby borders on a elite play at his price point.

The Cincinnati run defense is a good unit, but with James Cook out, we’ll see Zamir White with perhaps his largest workload of the season. My issue is that White is more expensive than Tank. White has more upside, but 95 times out of 100, Tank will outscore him and not by an insignificant margin.

Bargain Shoppers:

Cam Porter is now the starting tailback for Northwestern and is under $5,000. Auburn’s run defense isn’t that good. I will have a lot of shares of Porter in this one.

At this price, you really just need Jerome Ford to break one of his 20 carries. That’s it. There’s a good chance that happens, even against a tough front like Georgia. If Gerrid Doaks does play though, I think I’ll avoid this entire situation. Ford has the upside. Doaks does not, especially if he’s not at full speed anyway.