NCAAF

College Football Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 10/30/20 Main Slate

Matt Hiatt Oct 30th, 2020
Rashod Bateman and the Minnesota Golden Gophers offense should light up the scoreboard on Friday night. Who else should we consider targeting?

Week 9 of college football is here! FanDuel's Friday 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 only breaking down Friday'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

Tanner Morgan, Minnesota ($10,000) – Morgan was one of the best quarterbacks in the B1G Ten last season. The junior threw for over 3,000 yards and 30 TDs as Minnesota compiled an improbable 11-2 record in 2019. While Morgan struggled in the season opener against Michigan, I’m expecting him to bounce back this week as the Golden Gophers travel to Maryland. The Terrapins coughed up 537 total yards and 5 touchdowns to Northwestern in their season opener. Morgan tossed multiple touchdowns in 10 out 13 games a season ago.

Zach Smith, Tulsa ($9,400) – Smith is in an ideal spot on Friday night as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane host the East Carolina Pirates. East Carolina has been throttled by opposing signal callers this season. They’re allowing 245.5 passing yards and they’ve surrendered 7 touchdown passes in four games. The senior quarterback is completing 63 percent of his passes and averaging 224.3 passing yards despite matchups with two top-15 ranked teams. Additionally, Smith ended his 2019 season by torching East Carolina. The Tulsa quarterback threw for 331 yards and 5 touchdowns in a 49-24 win.

Taulia Tagovailoa ($7,500) – Tua’s brother was atrocious in Maryland's season opening loss. However, he still has the full support of his head coach, Mike Locksley, and will make his second straight start. Taulia was a consensus four-star prospect coming out of high school. The sophomore should bounce back against Minnesota’s defense on Friday night. The Golden Gophers allowed Michigan’s first-time starter Joe Milton to complete 15 out of 22 pass attempts for 225 yards and a touchdown in their season opener.

Others to consider: Holton Ahlers.

Running Backs

Mo Ibrahim, Minnesota ($10,800) – Ibrahim entered the 2020 season as the Golden Gophers' feature back. The junior didn’t disappoint in the season opener as he tallied 140 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on an eye-popping 26 carries. Up next is a date with Maryland’s soft run defense. The Terrapins were blistered for 325 rushing yards and 4 rushing touchdowns in their season-opening loss to Northwestern.

Deneric Prince, Tulsa ($8,100) – The Tulsa running back situation is somewhat murky after starter TK Wilkerson didn’t suit up in last week’s game with South Florida. If Wilkerson is out again, Prince will split the running back duties with Corey Taylor II. Prince exploded for 109 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 15 carries in last week’s game. Even if Wilkerson is back, I have to believe that Prince earned himself a significant role. The freshman has 32 carries through three games and is averaging an impressive 6.3 yards per carry.

Rahjai Harris, East Carolina ($7,600) – The freshman has emerged as the Pirates’ top running back in recent weeks. Harris has rushed for 287 yards and 3 touchdowns on 41 carries over the last two games. While the matchup with Tulsa isn’t good (Tulsa is only allowing 3.29 yards per carry), Harris is a good bet to receive a large workload this week at a cheap price point.

Others to consider: TK Wilkerson (if he plays), Corey Taylor II, Jake Funk, and Treyson Potts.

Wide Receivers

Rashod Bateman, Minnesota ($9,300) – The future pro kicked off the 2020 season by catching 9 passes for 101 yards in Minnesota’s season opening loss to Michigan. He drew 12 targets in the season opener, per Pro Football Focus, which was 8 more than any other Golden Gopher pass-catcher. Bateman is one of the top wide receivers in all of college football. The junior recorded 60 receptions, 1,219 receiving yards, and 11 touchdowns in 2019. He should be in a great spot on Friday night as the Golden Gophers take on the Maryland Terrapins. The Terrapins allowed 43 points in their season opener last week.

Sam Crawford Jr., Tulsa ($7,400) – Crawford Jr. is putting up similar numbers to that of Tulsa star wide receiver Keylon Stokes. However, Crawford Jr. is meaningfully cheaper than Stokes on Friday night. Crawford Jr. has four receptions in all three games this season. On top of that, the junior outside wide receiver is in a great spot on Friday night. This week’s opponent, East Carolina, has been nailed by perimeter wide receivers. They allowed Central Florida’s Jaylon Robinson to post 9 receptions, 150 receiving yards, and 2 touchdowns in the season opener. In game two, they coughed up 7 receptions, 134 receiving yards, and 2 touchdowns to Georgia State’s Sam Pinckney. In game three, they surrendered eight receptions and 93 receiving yards to South Florida’s Latrell Williams.

Jeshaun Jones, Maryland ($6,700) – Back in 2018, Jones was starting to emerge as one of Maryland’s best playmakers. As a freshman, Jones had 22 receptions, 288 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns. He also ran for 173 yards and 2 touchdowns. Unfortunately, he missed all of 2019 due to a torn ACL. The sophomore started the Terrapins 2020 season opener as the X-receiver. He’s in a good spot on Friday night as Minnesota allowed a team-high 4 receptions for 74 yards to Michigan’s X-receiver Ronnie Bell.

Others to consider: Keylon Stokes, Josh Johnson, Charles Johnson, Tyler Snead, Chris Autman-Bell, Dontay Demus Jr., Blake Proehl, Juan Carlos Santana, Ko Keift, and Seth Green.

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.