Since many of the 2018 law changes that marked the return of college football daily fantasy, it has been quickly growing. After all, more individuals watched the 2020 National Championship Game than any other non-NFL sporting event.
With so many eyeballs on the games, and some monster statistics put up by the elite players in the sport, it is natural for many to gravitate to playing daily fantasy instead of traditional betting. FanDuel offers college football contests each weekend, which can include Thursday, Friday, and Saturday main slates -- depending on game volume.
College football is a unique challenge for DFS, as a lot of necessary information is not easily found. Often, injury news is reported through the schools themselves and newspaper beat reporters. It can also be particularly difficult to find accurate information on which players are on the field, who has the best usage, and where inefficiencies in the salary cap model may reside.
The latter point is the premise for this piece, which in addition to numberFire's betting guides and daily fantasy helpers, is designed to help you find out which college football players are on the field and seeing work.
With that in mind, let's examine the market shares for players on Saturday's main slate on FanDuel.
Note: Players with fewer than 10 pass attempts, 10 rushing attempts, and 5 targets in the previous week will not be featured but may still be viable in daily fantasy formats. For players returning from off weeks, previous reports will contain their most recent sample. All stats are from PFF.com.
Quarterbacks
| Player | Team Name | Week 8 ATT | 2021 ATT/G | 2021 YPA | Rush ATT/G | Rush YDS/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Will Rogers | MSST | 56 | 56.7 | 6.34 | 0.7 | 8.0 |
| Devin Leary | NCST | 42 | 35.9 | 7.35 | 1.1 | 6.1 |
| Kenny Pickett | PITT | 39 | 34.7 | 9.19 | 3.0 | 35.7 |
| Sean Clifford | PSU | 34 | 30.4 | 7.75 | 2.4 | 31.6 |
| Tyler Van Dyke | MIA | 33 | 24.2 | 8.78 | 2.0 | 23.6 |
| Aidan O'Connell | PUR | 32 | 28.5 | 7.70 | 0.3 | 2.0 |
| Skylar Thompson | KSU | 30 | 22.6 | 9.49 | 2.6 | 14.8 |
| Jack Coan | ND | 28 | 27.0 | 7.39 | 1.6 | 6.4 |
| C.J. Stroud | OSU | 28 | 30.8 | 10.62 | 0.8 | 10.0 |
| Cade McNamara | MICH | 27 | 21.0 | 7.58 | 2.1 | 1.3 |
| Max Duggan | TCU | 26 | 24.7 | 9.16 | 6.1 | 44.6 |
| D.J. Uiagalelei | CLEM | 25 | 28.7 | 5.49 | 6.9 | 41.9 |
| Matt Corral | MISS | 24 | 30.6 | 8.95 | 7.3 | 81.1 |
| Caleb Williams | OU | 21 | 16.0 | 9.84 | 3.8 | 62.8 |
| Henry Colombi | TTU | 18 | 23.0 | 8.80 | 1.7 | 20.7 |
| Malik Cunningham | LOU | 17 | 29.1 | 8.26 | 8.7 | 77.1 |
| Jordan Travis | FSU | 10 | 13.8 | 7.66 | 5.7 | 67.0 |
Surely, Caleb Williams ($11,800) cannot be worth his lofty salary again with only 21 pass attempts, right? Wrong. Williams found his usual magic in the second half last week against Kansas and notched a third straight week with a long touchdown run. That just appears to be in the cards for the Sooners freshman, who is averaging 62.8 rushing yards per game. Normally, his passing volume would be concerning, but Texas Tech is 84th in the country against the rush and just fired their coach. He likely delivers a solid week as a 19.5-point favorite.
On the other side of that game, Henry Colombi ($7,400) might be a perfect buy-low candidate. Colombi only has 20 and 18 pass attempts the past two weeks against Kansas and Kansas State, respectively, but those were in positive game scripts for much of the day. Colombi may revert closer back to his Week 6 total where he chucked it 41 times trailing Texas Christian. Oklahoma is ranked a putrid 121st against the pass, so the openings for Colombi and his deep receiving corps should be present.
A total cross-off this week -- and it should have been this way all year -- is DJ Uiagalelei ($7,000). Normally, there would be a reason to target a weak Florida State secondary, but Uiagalelei was limited to 25 attempts before being benched in favor of Taisun Phommachanh ($6,500). Even in a good matchup, this situation is too volatile to trust either quarterback, but Justyn Ross ($6,600) is still a fine way to access Clemson on Saturday; he saw nine targets spread between the two passers.
Running Backs
| Player | Team Name | WEEK 8 RUSH ATT | 2021 RUSH/G | 2021 RUSH SHARE | WEEK 8 TGT | 2021 TGT SHARE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chez Mellusi | WIS | 27 | 19.9 | 45.6% | 1 | 6.1% |
| Kyren Williams | ND | 25 | 17.3 | 57.9% | 6 | 12.0% |
| Kennedy Brooks | OU | 23 | 15.1 | 50.2% | 1 | 1.6% |
| Hassan Haskins | MICH | 23 | 17.7 | 38.9% | 0 | 1.9% |
| Jaylan Knighton | MIA | 21 | 17.7 | 26.6% | 6 | 4.1% |
| Blake Corum | MICH | 19 | 16.6 | 36.4% | 4 | 12.8% |
| Zach Evans | TCU | 18 | 15.3 | 37.1% | 3 | 7.1% |
| Snoop Conner | MISS | 14 | 9.4 | 22.9% | 0 | 4.3% |
| Deuce Vaughn | KSU | 14 | 17.3 | 54.3% | 7 | 24.1% |
| Trevion Cooley | LOU | 13 | 6.7 | 16.4% | 1 | 2.6% |
| Jerrion Ealy | MISS | 12 | 9.8 | 20.5% | 1 | 6.3% |
| Vincent Davis | PITT | 12 | 11.3 | 32.5% | 4 | 6.5% |
| Jashaun Corbin | FSU | 11 | 12.3 | 38.6% | 0 | 11.6% |
| Jalen Mitchell | LOU | 11 | 13.7 | 39.3% | 0 | 3.1% |
| Evan Pryor | OSU | 11 | 5.3 | 9.8% | 2 | 0.9% |
| R. Hammond Jr. | PITT | 11 | 10.5 | 17.3% | 0 | 1.2% |
| Braelon Allen | WIS | 11 | 11.2 | 18.4% | 1 | 1.4% |
| Noah Cain | PSU | 11 | 11.1 | 39.4% | 2 | 6.3% |
| Henry Parrish Jr. | MISS | 10 | 10.6 | 25.7% | 2 | 9.2% |
| Will Shipley | CLEM | 10 | 10.8 | 26.2% | 2 | 3.3% |
| S. Thompson | TTU | 10 | 12.2 | 30.7% | 1 | 2.8% |
Thank goodness for Auburn's stout rush defense. The Mississippi backfield situation is chaos, and the matchup means we likely don't have to deal with it. Ole Miss's lead back -- by volume -- was Snoop Conner ($7,000) with 14 carries, and he is theoretically their goal-line back, as well. However, he didn't score, but Jerrion Ealy ($6,100) and Henry Parrish Jr. ($6,200) did on their 12 and 11 carries, respectively. Parrish Jr. also saw two targets, Ealy saw one, and Conner saw zero. This is an offense folks love to target in DFS, but there are nothing but oxford blue darts in the backfield behind Matt Corral ($10,600).
Kyren Williams ($9,300) has waved goodbye to his Notre Dame backfield mates. After a nearly even carry split in Week 4 against Purdue with Chris Tyree ($5,300), the backfield is his with Tyree fighting a toe injury. Logan Diggs ($4,400) only handled three carries last week, too. Williams was already trending ahead of Tyree before the injury, and Diggs appears to be a non-factor. He now carries last week's 61% rush share into a matchup with North Carolina. UNC has struggled in their past three games against the run; they've ceded 175 rushing yards on average in that span.
The surprisingly fun offense of the Miami (FL) Hurricanes not only includes a volume passer and star receiver, but Jaylen Knighton ($8,500) had one of the best roles of any back in college football last week. Knighton added 6 targets to 21 carries in their upset of North Carolina State, and that likely continues moving forward, as Manny Diaz wants to keep the workload off freshman quarterback Tyler Van Dyke ($7,800) as much as possible. Knighton's pass-game work is helpful to overcome a matchup against Pitt, who is 19th-best in the country in terms of rushing yards per game allowed.
Wide Recievers
| Player | TEAM NAME | WEEK 7 TGT | WEEK 7 TGT SHARE | TGT/G | 2021 TGT SHARE | 2021 REC YDS SHARE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jahan Dotson | PSU | 13 | 41.9% | 11.0 | 34.5% | 31.8% |
| Payne Durham | PUR | 10 | 28.6% | 7.3 | 15.4% | 15.1% |
| David Bell | PUR | 10 | 28.6% | 10.0 | 21.0% | 31.7% |
| Quentin Johnston | TCU | 10 | 40.0% | 7.2 | 25.4% | 28.2% |
| Beaux Collins | CLEM | 10 | 31.3% | 4.2 | 10.0% | 7.2% |
| Dontario Drummond | MISS | 9 | 37.5% | 6.9 | 23.2% | 31.8% |
| Charleston Rambo | MIA | 9 | 29.0% | 8.9 | 25.6% | 27.9% |
| Justyn Ross | CLEM | 9 | 28.1% | 7.9 | 26.1% | 28.0% |
| Garrett Wilson | OSU | 8 | 21.6% | 8.1 | 25.6% | 24.5% |
| Thayer Thomas | NCST | 8 | 21.1% | 5.9 | 16.9% | 20.5% |
| Makai Polk | MSST | 7 | 11.9% | 11.0 | 20.1% | 21.3% |
| Kevin Austin Jr. | ND | 7 | 25.0% | 6.6 | 20.4% | 19.4% |
| Jordan Addison | PITT | 7 | 19.4% | 7.9 | 22.4% | 27.5% |
| Erick All | MICH | 6 | 18.8% | 3.0 | 13.5% | 11.8% |
| Jaxon Smith-Njigba | OSU | 6 | 16.2% | 5.6 | 17.5% | 22.4% |
| Cornelius Johnson | MICH | 6 | 18.8% | 4.3 | 19.2% | 23.5% |
| Phillip Brooks | KSU | 6 | 20.7% | 5.1 | 21.7% | 22.3% |
| Jaden Walley | MSST | 6 | 10.2% | 5.7 | 10.4% | 13.1% |
| Parker Washington | PSU | 6 | 19.4% | 5.9 | 18.4% | 21.1% |
| Devin Carter | NCST | 6 | 15.8% | 5.1 | 14.9% | 17.3% |
| Mike Sainristil | MICH | 6 | 18.8% | 2.8 | 10.9% | 11.0% |
| Michael Mayer | ND | 6 | 21.4% | 8.7 | 23.1% | 22.5% |
| Rara Thomas | MSST | 6 | 10.2% | 3.3 | 3.4% | 4.3% |
| Christian Ford | MSST | 5 | 8.5% | 4.3 | 4.4% | 5.5% |
| Jeremy Ruckert | OSU | 5 | 13.5% | 3.7 | 9.9% | 7.5% |
| Marshon Ford | LOU | 5 | 29.4% | 5.9 | 21.0% | 17.9% |
| Lideatrick Griffin | MSST | 5 | 8.5% | 3.0 | 5.5% | 5.8% |
| Porter Rooks | NCST | 5 | 13.2% | 2.7 | 7.9% | 9.2% |
| Landry Weber | KSU | 5 | 17.2% | 3.0 | 9.0% | 11.3% |
| Emeka Emezie | NCST | 5 | 13.2% | 7.1 | 20.7% | 24.1% |
Josh Downs ($9,800) had a bye week last week for UNC, so the top target share of the week amongst main slate teams belonged to Penn State's Jahan Dotson ($8,500). Dotson continues to get peppered with targets, as he has seen 30 in just the past two weeks. Dotson has seen double-digit targets in five of his seven games, and that likely doesn't change this weekend. The path to least resistance against Ohio State is through the air. The Buckeyes are just 67th in passing yards allowed despite a fairly weak quarterback schedule.
Notice a team missing completely? There are no Oklahoma receivers on the board because not a single one earned more than four targets last week against Kansas. That was Jadon Haselwood ($6,500), but the larger takeaway is that stacking the Sooners at the moment appears to be limited to just Caleb Williams and Kennedy Brooks ($9,200). Game stacks can still be formulated in that one, however, as Texas Tech is fairly concentrated with their wideouts. Both Erik Ezukanama ($7,500) and Kaylon Geiger Sr. ($6,800) have a 19.0% target share or better.
An interesting value one-off in a bad game could be Cornelius Johnson ($6,300) of Michigan. The Wolverines let Cade McNamara ($6,000) air it out quite a bit more than his salary would indicate. He had 27 pass attempts against Northwestern in a game they controlled, and 6 of those passes were in the direction of Johnson. Johnson has a passable 19.2% target share on the season, but this matchup is divine. Michigan State has allowed the fourth-most passing yards per game in the entire country.