College Football Daily Fantasy Helper: Saturday 12/18/21

Bowl season is here, and it truly kicks off in earnest on Saturday. Five bowl games are on tap between teams with plenty of flaws -- and that's honestly more fun in DFS than the defensive juggernauts.

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 (tight ends are included in this group), and one "Super FLEX" slot. In the "Super FLEX", you can insert one player from any position, including quarterbacks.

Here, our goal is to help you field a roster full of fantasy points, and we'll use numberFire's in-house projections, betting totals, and advanced statistics to tackle main slates all the way to the College Football Playoff. Because of limited information, college football can feel like a throwback to before advanced statistics become more widely available in the NFL, but there is still value in finding the volume to target on a given slate.

Let's break down which star players are in great spots and identify some players with lower salaries who will provide value to get to them.

Quarterbacks

Malik Willis ($11,300): Even at the lofty salary, the NFL prospect is hard to turn down in a battle with Eastern Michigan's 122nd-ranked pass defense. Willis should have plenty of success through the air, but he also averaged 96.3 rushing yards per game in the last three contests of Liberty's regular season. This is his last chance to improve his draft stock, so he could play longer than normal in a possible blowout as a 9.5-point favorite.

Levi Lewis ($8,800): There is some concern about the lefty's matchup here; Marshall surrendered only 207.7 yards per game through the air (32nd in FBS). Still, Lewis ripped apart a tougher D against Appalachian State in the conference championship game for 210 passing yards, 43 rushing yards, and a score. Louisiana-Lafayette will have their usual home-away-from-home-field advantage in the New Orleans Bowl, and Lewis is likely a significant factor in a game with a 55.5-point total.

Others to Consider: Jake Haener ($10,000), Jarren Hall ($9,800)

Running Backs

B.J. Baylor ($8,800): Spend up at running back at your own risk. The top three running backs on the slate all face a rush defense that was a top-40 one in the regular season. Baylor's matchup against Utah State is an excellent one. The Aggies were just 89th against the rush this year, and Baylor has become a featured back for the Oregon State Beavers. He averaged 16.5 carries per game in the last three games of the season, and that includes a negative script against Oregon.

Emani Bailey ($8,000): Bailey has an even better matchup than his quarterback does. Marshall's run defense was terrible this season (199.5 yards per game; 108th in FBS), and Bailey is the clear head of what could be classified as more of a committee. He started to separate (13.3 carries per game) in the last three games of the year after returning from a knee injury. Should the Ragin' Cajuns trail in this game, Bailey (five targets the last two games) is their primary pass-catching back, as well.

Others to Consider: Tyler Allgeier ($10,500), Ronnie Rivers ($9,200), Calvin Tyler Jr. ($7,000), Deion Hankins ($6,200)

Wide Receivers

Deven Thompkins ($9,800): In the Aggies' Mountain West title game, Thompkins just didn't get any high leverage work before they throttled San Diego State. A more competitive game against Oregon State should keep him busier on Saturday, and he's got clearly the best overall workload on the slate at wideout. Thompkins had a 33.6% target share and 40.1% yardage share for Utah State's pass-happy attack this season.

CJ Daniels ($7,600): Daniels fought injuries for Liberty most of the year, but 9.0 targets per game in the Flames' last three contests puts him firmly as the favorite to be Willis' premier target on Saturday. Both he and Demario Douglas ($7,200) should see plenty of work from Willis as long as the game stays close, and their salaries help offset Willis' when assuming the correlated parts hit in a FanDuel lineup.

Justin Garrett ($6,100): UTEP figures to trail as 11.5-point dogs to Fresno State, so their low-volume passing attack should get more work than it did in the regular season. It has two clear top targets -- Jacob Cowing ($8,400) and Garrett. Both have a target share of at least 27.0%, and no other Miners' wideout has a target share north of 15.0%. The obvious salary savings make Garrett the priority at a similar overall role, but both are viable bring-backs with any top Bulldogs targets.

Others to Consider: Jake Cropper ($9,200), Jacob Cowing ($8,400), Hassan Beydoun ($7,900), Puka Nacua ($7,700), Demario Douglas ($7,200), Dylan Drummond ($6,700)