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NCAA Football DFS Picks
By Kreighton Rahn
Updated November 3, 2023
2023 College Football Top-10 Quarterback Rankings Through Week 9
Quinn Ewers Outshines Jalen Milroe As Longhorns Pull Away From Tide
Jalen Hurts, Bryce Young, and now Jalen Milore. Alabama quarterbacks are becoming faster, more athletic, and much more prone to run. They have the green light to scramble now from Nick Saban, who used to pride himself on running a pro-style offense but has since adapted his offense to include more of the read option and RPO game.
Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers is the prototypical pocket passer—someone Nick Saban would have surely recruited 10 years ago. These programs met in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night for a massive early-season primetime matchup. Crimson Tide. Longhorns. We all remember how Alabama pulled out a 20-19 win on the road last season after Ewers took a shot in the first quarter and never returned. He was chomping at the bit to get a full 4 quarters versus that Alabama defense and show the world what he can do.
The Longhorns trailed entering the 4th quarter at Bryant-Denny Stadium but then put their collective feet down on the necks of the Tide, scoring three 4th-quarter touchdowns to seal a 34-24 win. Ewers was immaculate, completing 24 of 38 passes for 349 yards and 3 touchdowns. He avoided throwing any interceptions—something Jalen Milroe cannot say truthfully.
While Ewers looked like John Heisman out there, Jalen Milroe was awful, going just 14 for 27 passing and throwing 2 costly picks. Milroe generates a lot of fantasy scoring with his legs, which makes him viable in fantasy, but he's got a ways to go in proving he can pass against elite SEC defenses.
| PLAYER | SCHOOL | FD PTS/G | PASS YDS | TD-INT | RUSH YDS | RUSH TD |
| Jayden Daniels | LSU | 34.9 | 2574 | 25-3 | 520 | 5 |
| Kaidon Salter | LIBERTY | 30 | 1662 | 19-3 | 614 | 7 |
| Dillon Gabriel | OKLA | 29.7 | 2302 | 19-4 | 294 | 8 |
| Caleb Williams | USC | 29.4 | 2646 | 25-4 | 130 | 9 |
| Drake Maye | UNC | 27.3 | 2559 | 16-5 | 259 | 6 |
| Byrum Brown | USF | 27.2 | 1865 | 45266 | 573 | 8 |
| Haynes King | GT | 26.6 | 2122 | 21-10 | 462 | 3 |
| Thomas Castellanos | BC | 26.5 | 1549 | 45237 | 673 | 9 |
| Jordan Travis | FSU | 26.1 | 2109 | 18-2 | 205 | 6 |
| Cameron Ward | WSU | 25.8 | 2536 | 16-3 | 166 | 5 |
2023 College Football Top-10 Running Back Rankings Through Week 9
These are FanDuel's 10 best options at running back for NCAAF DFS lineups. Find FanDuel's complete CFB player rankings and advice for picking a college football DFS running back here.
| PLAYER | SCHOOL | FD PTS/G | RUSH YDS | REC YDS | TOTAL TD |
| Ashton Jeanty | BOISE | 27.7 | 921 | 396 | 15 |
| Ollie Gordon II | OKLA ST | 24.4 | 1087 | 201 | 11 |
| Marcus Carroll | GEO ST | 24.1 | 1060 | 146 | 12 |
| Ray Davis | UK | 23.6 | 823 | 221 | 14 |
| Kairee Robinson | SJST | 22.7 | 719 | 197 | 15 |
| Rasheen Ali | MARSH | 22.3 | 693 | 148 | 12 |
| Omarion Hampton | UNC | 21.8 | 923 | 158 | 11 |
| Blake Watson | MEM | 21.4 | 762 | 348 | 10 |
| Jawhar Jordan | VILLE | 20.7 | 824 | 174 | 11 |
| Jonathon Brooks | TEXAS | 20.2 | 923 | 212 | 8 |
2023 College Football Top-10 WR/TE Rankings Through Week 9
These are FanDuel's 10 best options at pass catcher for NCAAF DFS lineups. Find FanDuel's complete CFB player rankings and advice for picking a college football DFS receiver, here.
| PLAYER | SCHOOL | FD PTS/G | RECEPTIONS | REC YDS | RUSH YDS | TOTAL TD |
| Malik Nabers | LSU | 19 | 56 | 981 | 1 | 9 |
| Rome Odunze | WASH | 18.3 | 51 | 907 | 14 | 8 |
| Troy Franklin | OREGON | 17.6 | 52 | 867 | 0 | 9 |
| Brian Thomas Jr. | LSU | 17.4 | 42 | 732 | 0 | 11 |
| Marvin Harrison Jr. | OHIO ST | 17.2 | 48 | 889 | 7 | 8 |
| Ja'Mori Maclin | N TEXAS | 17 | 39 | 703 | 0 | 11 |
| Ja'Lynn Polk | WASH | 16.8 | 46 | 836 | 24 | 8 |
| Jalen Royals | USU | 16.3 | 43 | 707 | 0 | 10 |
| Malik Washington | UVA | 16.3 | 68 | 935 | 9 | 6 |
| Luther Burden III | MIZZOU | 16 | 61 | 905 | 11 | 6 |
FanDuel College Football Lineups and Scoring
FanDuel rewards daily fantasy football players for the following statistics:
- 10 rushing/receiving yards (1 point)
- 25 passing yards (1 point)
- Rushing/receiving TD (6 points)
- Passing TD (4 points)
- Reception (1/2 a point)
- Return TD (6 points)
- 2-pt conversion rushing/receiving/passing score (2 points)
- Interception thrown (-1 point)
- Fumble lost (-2 points)
FanDuel keeps the college football DFS lineup creation process simple—just quarterbacks, running backs and receivers. No defense. No kickers. The rosters include:
- 1 quarterback
- 2 running backs
- 3 pass catchers (receiver or tight end)
- 1 S Flex (any)
Although each receiving and rushing yard is worth more than a yard of passing from the quarterback, quarterbacks still tend to be the highest-scoring players in the lineup.
Much like in the pro version of the game, good running backs are hard to come by these days. Any given slate might only feature a couple of viable options. More teams are electing to go with a running-back-by-committee approach which leaves the nation void of workhorse RB1s.
FanDuel is not a true PPR (point per reception) site. We offer a half point per reception. This applies to backs and receivers alike, giving running backs who catch a lot of passes out of the backfield some additional value.
Pass catchers always have been and continue to be the most unpredictable players in a daily fantasy college football lineup.
Receivers and tight ends have absolutely no control over whether plays get called for them, the quarterback chooses to look for them, or if the throws are on target.
FanDuel’s super flex (S flex) lineup spot can be used on a player of any position—quarterback, running back, or pass catcher—giving you ultimate flexibility in game planning and removing all barriers between you and the perfect lineup.
As quarterbacks tend to be the highest-scoring players the overwhelming majority of lineups slide a second quarterback into the S flex slot.
Know Your Game – DFS Cash Game vs Tournament Approach
Not all college football DFS contests are created equal. Cash game specialists typically utilize a high-floor, low-risk approach to lineup construction while avid tournament players need to swing for the home run.
Failing to learn the intricacies of the particular game type you are playing is cavalier—you are leaving money on the table.
Best Cash Game College Football DFS Approach
Cash games like head-to-head or 50-50 games are all about consistency—posting above-average scores every single week.
Most of the time, it’s not going to take an astronomically high score to win a cash game so you don’t need to shoot for that. Cash game players don’t need the score of their life to take down a 50-50 game so they construct lineups with a high-floor approach.
A player's floor is the lowest score that he is capable of getting in the game if everything goes wrong.
Think about a trusted, senior possession receiver who always hauls in several passes and is targeted often on third down. This is a high-floor player who will seldom wet the bed with a clunker.
Compare him to a speedy freshman receiver who is used solely as a deep threat and might only receive a handful of targets per game.
Sometimes, he gets behind the defense and catches a 60-yard touchdown or 2. This makes his stats look pretty good, but on many nights he leaves the field with very little to show for his effort.
The former would be an excellent cash game option. Like a Honda Civic, it won’t turn heads or wow you, but it is extremely reliable.
The latter would be a great tournament option. That speedy receiver is capable of putting up some massive numbers if he can connect on a few deep balls, but in cash games, we cannot afford to take the risk that he gets 0 points.
Instead of picking players that are the most likely to go off for a 40-point performance, cash game players should be drafting athletes who are the most likely to perform near their projected scores.
A lineup full of players who hit their projection for that day is a cash-game job well done.
Best College Football DFS GPP Tournament Approach
Large-field tournaments (often called GPPs for guaranteed prize pool) are a different animal.
With so many different lineup entries, it is expected that some players are going to have amazingly high scores.
If you want to place high in a large field and win a big slice of the prize money, you need to be one of those guys who catches lightning in a bottle and puts up a crooked number.
Here, safety takes a back seat. Tournament players don’t worry about a player’s floor. Now it’s all about the ceiling. Which players are capable of huge days?
A speedy back who sometimes gouges the defense with 40 and 50-yard runs is more appealing in GPPs than a powerful, bruising back who gets consistent yardage but is never going to break off the big one.
Bring out those big-play receivers—you know the types who sometimes catch 3 passes for 150 yards and 2 TD and other times wear the ‘ole goose egg.
To win or place highly in a GPP, you must swing for a home run. A mediocre score is not going to cut it. Playing it safe and drafting a lineup full of athletes with little upside is a terrible way to go about tournament lineup construction.
Tournaments are all about the flash and excitement. We need big plays!
Allocating Your College Football DFS Salary
Picking a Running Back
As with any fantasy contest it is wise to draft the shallowest position first. In this case, it’s the running back.
Star, workhorse running backs are not as bountiful as they once were, meaning it is slim pickings when trying to find a good one.
Because they are rare, consistently high-scoring running backs will be very expensive and should be the first player selected in your lineup so that you can find quarterback and receiver options that fit around that salary.
So what type of running back is best? In cash games, you cannot go wrong with a high-volume back playing for a team that is expected to win comfortably this week.
When football teams take a big lead into the second half they run the football. Big leads equal RB touches which turn into rushing yards and touchdowns.
If that back also gets utilized heavily as a pass catcher out of the backfield, he goes from a smart play to a near lock.
The mentality of drafting at the running back position is pretty similar in both cash games and tournaments.
High-volume guys on teams expected to win are the norm. The only exception would be if a particular back is notorious for never breaking off big runs. In this case, a tournament player might want to look elsewhere.
Picking a Quarterback
When are teams the most likely to throw the ball? When they are behind.
When drafting a quarterback, it is wise to stick to those in games expected to remain close throughout or from teams expected to lose but still be competitive.
It would not be a good idea to take the quarterback of the underdog team in a game with a 40-point spread as that team might only score once the entire game.
On that note, it might not even be a good idea to take the quarterback of the team expected to win by 40. There is too high of a chance that they will just run the ball in the second half to kill the clock or even bring in their second-stringers to finish the job.
Being down a couple of touchdowns at half, though, is the perfect recipe to get boatloads of passing plays in the 2nd half.
You want to pick your running back from a team expected to win and your quarterback from a team expected to play even with or slightly worse than their opponent.
The quarterback position is the deepest in college football DFS. Even though quarterbacks will usually be the highest-scoring players in your lineup, most players find it beneficial to build the rest of the lineup first and then go back for a QB.
Because the position is deep, there will usually be several options to choose from at various salaries.