A brand spanking new college pigskin season is finally upon us. A nice slate will kick-off Thursday night with some more attractive games going Saturday followed by the Labor Day skirmish between no. 1 ranked Ohio State and Virginia Tech.
It’s party time for DFS college football players who now have five full days to set line-ups for instead of only targeting Saturdays. Contests will be available Thursday through Monday, as well as for each individual day.
Enough preamble, let’s dig in!
Now I’m very much new to playing daily fantasy football in the college ranks, but one aspect of my NFL DFS play that I will be carrying over is targeting games with designated high totals. If linemakers are expecting points to come in bunches, with it comes high fantasy tallies.
Let’s take a look at some expected shootouts set to go Week 1.
Week 1 Total Targets
South Carolina/North Carolina 64.5
Ohio/Idaho 55
Colorado/Hawaii 56.5
Western Kentucky/Vanderbilt 64.5
Baylor/SMU 75
Michigan State/Western Michigan 58.5
Washington/Boise State 56.5
Old Dominion/Eastern Michigan 65.5
Florida Atlantic/Tulsa 62.5
Louisville/Auburn 59
BYU/Nebraska 64.5
Bowling Green/Tennessee 60
Troy/NC State 58
Arizona St/Texas A&M 66
Akron/Oklahoma 56
UL Lafayette/Kentucky 60.5
New Mexico St/Florida 57.5
UNLV/Northern IL 62.5
GA Southern/West Virginia 58.5
Texas State/Florida State 58
Mississippi St/S Mississippi 56
Arkansas State/USC 67
Purdue/Marshall 64
My rule of thumb in seeking out DFS college football totals to target is for at least 55 points to be on the board. If one team is laying a ton of points in one of those games, you should attack it one of two ways.
If the team getting all the points is still a work in progress offensively, I would downgrade the stud position players on the heavy favorite in fear of those players getting rested once the coach feels the game is out of reach.
If the big underdog has an experienced offense with at least two of three of a quarterback, running back and wide receiver proving to be capable in the past, I would feel comfortable drafting players from both teams.
Should the favorite get out to a big lead, the underdog will still compete all the way through and have a better chance of putting some fantasy points on the board against the backups.
Now not all of these games will be on the board at every daily fantasy site due to the unfamiliarity with some of the teams. Expect most matchups between two FBS teams to be on the board, but you could get lucky and have some of the lesser known matchups posted for you to readily take advantage of.
Along with targeting high totals, you also want to target offenses that are known for putting points on the board. Success in CFB DFS has everything to do with singling out players on high scoring teams that historically funnel the ball to their key playmakers that have the ability to take advantage of their opponent’s weaknesses.
If a team can’t stop the run for the life of them and it’s matched up against a head coach or offense that gets its bills paid by toting the mail, then you’re going to want to target the rushing team’s playmakers in the backfield.
Same goes when passing the ball. For example, if the “Mad Scientist” – Mike Leach – out in Pullman is running up against a sieve of a pass defense, you’re going to want to target Washington State’s quarterback as well as his receivers.
If you can mix and match these trains of thought up and down your roster, you’ll find yourself in the money more times than not.
With this being my first weekend actually watching college pigskin from a DFS point of view, I’m going to do more note taking than filling out rosters just to make sure I’m on the right track.
Best of luck with all your Week 1 DFS action – now go make that paper!
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