NCAAF

College Football Daily Fantasy Helper: Thursday 8/29/19

College Football finally feels back as most of the schools kick off their season this week (and weekend)! FanDuel's Thursday night College Football DFS slate includes six games.

In case you're unfamiliar with how it works, you can check out the rules and scoring on FanDuel, where you can hit the lobby each week to see the full array of slates and contests being offered.

As for the basics, your roster consists of a quarterback slot, two running back slots, three wide receiver slots (which also includes tight ends) and one super flex slot. In the flex, you can insert one player from any position, including quarterbacks.

Here, our goal is to help you field a roster full of fantasy goodness, and in true numberFire fashion, we'll use our in-house projections as well as betting totals and advanced statistics to tackle as many slates as possible in the lead-up to the College Football Playoff. This week, we are only breaking down Thursday's main slate, which locks at 7:00 p.m. EST.

Let's breakdown which players are in great spots as well as identify some players with cheap price tags that will allow you to roster the high dollar players.

Quarterbacks

Kellen Mond, Texas A&M ($10,300) - The junior accounted for 31 of Texas A&M Aggies' 53 offensive touchdowns in 2018. Mond ranked fourth in the SEC Conference in total offense a season ago. Texas A&M is projected to score nearly 50 points in this game, according to our models. Assuming Mond accounts for at least 58% of the team's offensive touchdowns (like he did last season), we can project Mond to have a hand in, approximately, four touchdowns.

Trevor Lawrence, Clemson ($10,100) - Lawrence accounted for at least two touchdowns in seven out of the last eight games in 2018. Additionally, the Heisman trophy hopeful threw for over 300 yards in three of the Tigers' final four games last season. The Clemson Tigers averaged over 45 points once Lawrence replaced Kelly Bryant as the starting quarterback in the fifth game of the 2018 season.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA ($7,300) - Thompson-Robinson will start the season opener against Cincinnati Bearcats. The former four-star recruit struggled mightily during his freshman season in 2018. However, Thompson-Robinson has the full support of the Bruins' players and coaching staff as he enters his sophomore season. The coaches are bullish on their young quarterback as they believe his ceiling is sky high. He's cheap for a quarterback with dual-threat ability.

Others to consider: Desmond Ridder, Brandon Wimbush, James Morgan, Justin McMillan, Tyler Huntley

Running Backs

Travis Etienne, Clemson ($10,200) - The Clemson star had 1,658 rushing yards a year ago, which ranked fifth in the country, and his 24 touchdowns ranked third. He was able to accomplish those numbers despite averaging only 13.6 rushes per game. Look for Etienne start fast in 2019 as he aims to break the school's all-time record in rushing yards and touchdowns in only three seasons.

Michael Warren II, Cincinnati ($10,000) - Warren II ran for 1,329 yards and 19 touchdowns (fifth in the country) and caught 25 passes for 232 yards (two touchdowns) last season. The junior from Toledo, Ohio had seven games with two touchdowns or more in 2018. This should be a great spot for Warren II as the UCLA Bruins were gashed on the ground a season ago. The Bruins' defense coughed up 31 rushing touchdowns to enemy backfields in just 12 games.

Greg McRae, Central Florida ($9,300) – Greg McRae was inserted into the starting lineup midway through last season. McRae scored at least one touchdown in each of the team’s final seven games. He also ran for 100-plus yards in four out of the last six games in 2018. With Central Florida Knights slated to play two new quarterbacks in the season opener, look for the team to rely on its running game.

Others to consider: Joshua Kelley, Otis Anderson, Anthony Jones, Darius Bradwell, Corey Dauphine, Jashuan Corbin, Zac Moss

Wide Receivers

Justyn Ross, Clemson ($9,400) - Ross was sensational in Clemson’s two playoff games last season. He erupted for six receptions for 148 yards and two touchdowns in Clemson’s semi-final victory over Notre Dame. Then Ross followed up that effort by catching six passes for 153 yards and one touchdown in the national title game. Entering this season, Ross changed wide receiver positions, which should put the electric playmaker in open space more often.

Josiah Deguara, Cincinnati ($6,800) - Degura is Cincinnati's top returning pass catcher. He caught 38 passes for 468 yards and 5 scores in 2018. He’ll play the new “K” position (named after Travis Kelce) in which he’ll line up in the slot more often, which should allow him to utilize his blocking skills and also create mismatches in space in the passing game. The big tight end should be able to exploit a porous UCLA pass defense, one that surrendered 245.5 yards per game in 2018.

Jaylen Erwin, UCLA ($4,000) - Erwin is listed as a starting receiver on UCLA's season opening depth chart. The junior college transfer is known for his route running and speed. Erwin has been billed as a potential breakout candidate for the Bruins. This is a strictly a price play, as rostering Erwin will allow you the salary relief to afford the studs on this slate.

Others to consider: Rashad Medaris, Gabe Davis, Maurice Alexander, Darnell Mooney, Jalen McCleskey, Tee Higgins, Diondre Overton, Jeremiah Haydel, Quartney Davis, Glenn Beal, Jaylen Dixon



Matthew Hiatt is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matthew Hiatt also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username easternmh. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.