College Football Daily Fantasy Helper: Thursday 10/17/19 Main Slate
Week 8 of college football is here! FanDuel's Thursday night college football DFS main slate includes two 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 breaking down Thursday's main slate, which locks at 7:30 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
Layne Hatcher, Arkansas State (9,700) – Hatcher, a transfer from Alabama, has been outstanding in his two starts since taking over (due to an injury to Logan Bonner) as the Arkansas State starting quarterback. The dual-threat signal caller has thrown for 739 yards and eight touchdowns in those two games. The Red Wolves' quarterback was highly regarded coming out of high school in 2017.
Levi Lewis, Louisiana-Lafayette (8,100) – Lewis has accounted for 11 of the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns’ 32 offensive touchdowns this season. While Lewis is only averaging 185 passing yards, this week’s matchup with Arkansas State’s swiss-cheese defense should allow ULL’s signal caller to thrive. Five of Arkansas State’s six opponents this season have thrown for at least 279 yards.
Others to consider: Dorian Thompson-Robinson or Austin Burton (whichever quarterback starts for UCLA), Jack West
Running Backs
Elijah Mitchell, Louisiana-Lafayette (9,400) – Mitchell leads the Ragin’ Cajuns with nine rushing touchdowns. He’s rushed for 470 yards on 80 carries in six games this season. The junior running back had one of his best games against this week’s opponent, Arkansas State, a season ago. Mitchell ran for 68 yards, caught six passes for 121 yards, and scored two touchdowns in that matchup.
Cameron Scarlett, Stanford (9,200) – With the Stanford Cardinal down to their third-string quarterback this week, look for Scarlett to carry the offense on his shoulders. In the last two games, the senior running back is averaging 121.5 rushing yards on 28.5 carries. UCLA Bruins have allowed three opposing ball carriers to crack the 100-yard rushing mark in the last four games.
Trey Ragas, Louisiana-Lafayette (8,500) – Ragas and Elijah Mitchell have terrorized Sun Belt Conference opponents over the last two seasons. Ragas ranks third in the Sun Belt conference with 572 yards rushing this season. He has seven total touchdowns. This is a fantastic matchup for ULL’s dynamic backfield duo as Arkansas State’s defense has been dominated by opposing ball carriers. Their run defense has surrendered 17 rushing touchdowns in only six games this campaign.
Marcel Murray, Arkansas State (7,600) – Murray is expected to play at full speed this week after battling an ankle injury that occurred on September 7 against UNLV. That is good news for the sophomore running back since Arkansas State’s second- and third-string ball carriers are out this week with injuries. Murray led the Red Wolves backfield with 860 yards rushing and eight touchdowns a season ago as a freshman.
Others to consider: Joshua Kelley and Raymond Calais
Wide Receivers
Omar Bayless, Arkansas State (10,400) – The senior wide receiver averages 7.3 receptions per game and leads the country with 140.6 receiving yards per game. Bayless is tied for first nationally with 10 touchdown receptions. The quarterback switch to Layne Hatcher has not slowed down the productive wide receiver. Bayless has 18 receptions for 367 yards and four touchdowns in Hatcher’s two starts.
Michael Wilson, Stanford (7,800) – Wilson is Stanford’s leading wide receiver. The sophomore pass catcher has 25 receptions for 317 yards and three touchdowns. He has at least five receptions in all but one game this season. This week’s matchup with UCLA is phenomenal. Three wide receivers, in the last five games, have had multiple touchdown games versus the Bruins (San Diego State's Kobe Smith had five receptions for 116 yards and two touchdowns, Washington State’s Easop Winston Jr. had 10 receptions for 114 yards and four touchdowns, and Oregon State’s Isaiah Hodgins had 10 receptions for 123 yards and three touchdowns).
Jaylen Erwin, UCLA (5,900) – This is purely a price play. Erwin has at least two receptions in every game this season. He has 242 yards receiving on 37 targets, both of which rank second or tied for second on the Bruins. Most importantly, rostering Erwin provides a safe floor and will allow you to pay up for the high-dollar players on this slate.
Others to consider: Demetric Felton, Ja’Marcus Bradley, Kirk Merritt, Jonathan Adams Jr., Kyle Philips, Connor Wedington, Devin Asiasi, and Colby Parkinson
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.
