We are "down" to a dozen games again this week, but that doesn't mean we're short on good games or good DFS spots. The nooners start in Tuscaloosa with South Carolina in town. Clemson heads up to Winston-Salem to take on Wake. Georgia Tech is in Chapel Hill to beat on...er...take on the Tar Heels. Washington heads to the Midwest for a conference tilt in a cornfield in Iowa. Wisconsin heads out to Jersey to take on Rutgers.
The afternoon opens with the Red River Shootout in Dallas. Cincinnati heads to the Bounce House to take on UCF. Cal is headed back to the Eastern time zone to take on Pitt. Louisville heads to Hooville. Stanford is in Indiana taking on the Irish. Penn State heads out west this week to take on USC. We close this one out in Provo with Arizona in town.
In this article, I will provide you with my daily fantasy college football lineup picks for DraftKings on 10/12/24, locking at noon EDT. I'll provide multiple player suggestions for players at quarterback, running back, and wide receiver, aiming to highlight one option at the high, middle, and lower end of the salary scale. Good luck, RotoBallers.
Holstein's only non-300-yard game was against Youngstown State in a blowout. He still put up huge numbers for DraftKings though. Holstein has thrown three touchdowns in all five games and has at least 50 rushing yards in three straight games. We may just be scratching the surface of how good he is since he keeps improving every week.
We can forgive King's pedestrian stats against a strong defensive team like Duke. He's probably not as good as Holstein, but North Carolina has been torched from the air in every game. I will be surprised if we don't see King's best game of the season in this one.
Brendan Sorsby, Cincinnati ($7.4K)
When a defense makes Graham Mertz look like Danny Wuerffel, you know they're struggling. They'll make Sorsby look like Desmond Ridder. Sorsby put up an impressive 426 passing yards against Texas Tech. He might not get that against Central Florida, but over 300 and multiple touchdowns are likely.
Noah Fifita, Arizona ($6.5K)
For the second straight week, there are some interesting cheap options at quarterback. If you need a guy in cash games, it should be Fifita. Texas Tech kept him out of the end zone, but he threw for 300 yards for the first time since Week 1. Fifita also has the highest ceiling in this price range.
The Wildcats have faced three strong defenses in a row. BYU is also a good defense, but they may be the weakest of the four. Fifita has a good shot at 20 DK points at a very reasonable price.
Harvey only has 32 carries for 152 yards and six receptions for 156 yards since then. He has still scored three touchdowns. That's not enough for this price, so why am I still on Harvey in a somewhat difficult matchup? Because no one else is.
The elephant in the room is UCF's offense. It's not as good as they thought it would be and part of that is due to not riding Harvey like they did in the first three games. Maybe they're trying to save him. Maybe they promised a set number of carries for both K.J. Jefferson and Peny Boone. Whatever the case, UCF better figure it out.
If Gus Malzahn tanks Harvey's draft stock (it's falling fast) after he comes back for his senior season, it will negatively impact recruiting. If UCF is playing the long game, Harvey must have a big game here. The university can't afford the fallout if they don't at least give him a chance to put up huge numbers down the stretch.
Phil Mafah, Clemson ($6.5K)
I do worry about a potential blowout here, but Mafah had at least 100 rushing yards in big wins over North Carolina State and App State. He had a huge game in Tallahassee last week, but the odds of Mafah getting 25 carries again are slim. He just needs to bust at least one longer run so Klubnik doesn't poach his touchdowns.
Tawee Walker, Wisconsin ($5.3K)
It's a tougher matchup this week and Walker likely won't score three touchdowns against Rutgers, but his price hardly moved. Walker should get around 20 touches again, so he should get us around 15 DraftKings points.
LJ Martin, BYU ($4.1K)
Martin went down in the win over SMU, but his ankle is healed enough to return. BYU will try to keep the ball out of the hands of the Arizona offense, which should mean at least a dozen touches for Martin. It's worth using him at this price if that is his volume.
I expect Arizona to adopt this philosophy in this game as well. It's what made Arizona such a force last season. Fifita just needs to trust that McMillan will go get it. There are very few college players that can cover him and BYU has none of them. No one's ceiling is higher.
Ryan Williams, Alabama ($7.4K)
Good luck putting this toothpaste back in the tube. The 17-year-old is already an Alabama legend. He has seven touchdowns in five games when he should be getting ready for his senior year high school Homecoming game. Williams is built differently and Alabama's good and mad after last week.
Ja'Corey Brooks, Louisville (6.7K)
Brooks has four touchdowns in the last two games. Brendan Sorsby is looking for Brooks more than any other Louisville receiver. Don't expect a 40-yard-per-catch average against Virginia, but you'll still get a point for all of those extra passes he hauls in.
Malik Rutherford, Georgia Tech ($5.3K)
15 of Rutherford's 37 receptions have come in the last two games. Haynes King is trusting him more as the season goes on. Tech's path through the North Carolina defense is through the air. The Wreck has been getting Rutherford touches out of the backfield as well to put him in space. There is a lot of potential here.
J.J. Hester, Oklahoma ($4K)
The Sooners are down the top four receivers again in the Red River Shootout. We managed to get through it against Auburn because of Hester. He caught all three targets and led the team with 86 yards. Expect Hawkins to see out Hester again in a game in which Oklahoma will need to pass to win.
The threat of a blowout looms large, but Clemson is one of the cheaper stacks out there. Klubnik is the only one priced up. The price of Phil Mafah is fair. You can get Klubnik's top three targets (Antonio Williams, Wesco, and Jake Briningstool) for a combined total of 13.7K. If Clemson goes off, you're making some money.
Cincinnati
The UCF defense has struggled the last couple of weeks. Sorsby and Xzavier Henderson are kind of expensive, but they make for a great mini stack. Joe Royer is affordable and had a good game against Texas Tech. Corey Kiner will make his return in this game, but UCF's run defense has been one of the few bright spots on the team.