College Football Daily Fantasy Helper: Thursday 11/5/20

Week 10 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 only breaking down Thursday's main slate, which locks at 7:00 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

Carson Strong, Nevada ($10,200) – Strong is off to a fantastic start in 2020. The sophomore is averaging 385 passing yards and three touchdown passes per game. He's also in a great spot on Thursday night as the Nevada Wolf Pack host the reeling Utah State Aggies. Utah State has been torched for five touchdown passes in two games. They're allowing a sturdy 7.49 yards per pass attempt.

Levi Williams, Wyoming ($9,400) – Williams is an intriguing play due to his dual-threat ability. Through two games, Williams has passed for 339 yards and one touchdown (one interception) while also running for 69 yards and two touchdowns. He's in a good spot as the Wyoming Cowboys travel to Colorado State. Colorado State was torched through the air in their season opener as they allowed 348 yards passing and three touchdown passes to Fresno State quarterback Jake Haener.

Patrick O'Brien ($8,200) – Patty O rotated at quarterback with Todd Centeio in Colorado State's season opener last week. Centeio is a runner while O'Brien is the pocket passer. This week's matchup with Wyoming calls for the Rams to take to the air, which should benefit O'Brien. Wyoming has been stout against the run (allowing 99.5 rushing yards per game), but they have been vulnerable against the pass. The Cowboys have been throttled for 530 passing yards and four touchdowns in only two games.

Others to consider: Todd Centeio (if he starts) and Jason Shelley.

Running Backs

Xazavian Valladay, Wyoming ($9,800) – Valladay is the focal point of the Cowboys' offense. The talented runner has already tallied 250 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns through two games. He's also the Cowboys' second leading receiver with nine receptions for 76 yards. He's the one back we can project for 20-plus carries on Thursday night. Valladay has received at least 22 carries in eight out of the last nine games dating back to the 2019 season.

Toa Taua, Nevada ($9,000) – Taua led Nevada with 807 rushing yards on 196 carries in 2019. He also caught 30 balls and recorded 185 receiving yards last season. Fast forward to 2020 and the junior rushed for 86 yards and one touchdown on 12 carries in his season debut last week. The Nevada backfield is in a phenomenal spot on Thursday night as this week's opponent, Utah State, has been steamrolled by opposing backfields. Utah State has been hammered for six rushing touchdowns and 578 rushing yards in only two games this season.

Devonte Lee ($7,200) – While Toa Taua operates as Nevada's lead back, Lee is the Wolf Pack's primary short-yardage running back. The junior found paydirt seven times in both the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Lee's game has evolved with experience as he is now a viable threat in the pass game. Lee has already tallied six receptions for 28 yards in only two games this season. Prior to this season, he had eight career receptions for 38 yards.

Others to consider: Marcus McElroy Jr., Jaylen Warren (if he plays), and Devonta'e Henry-Cole (if Warren is out).

Wide Receivers

Romeo Doubs, Nevada ($10,400) – Doubs is well worth his high price tag. The Nevada star kicked off the 2020 season with 12 receptions, 117 receiving yards, and one touchdown. The junior then proceeded to rack up seven receptions, 219 receiving yards, and one touchdown in last week's game. Nevada quarterback Carson Strong is posting an eye-popping passer rating of 144.2 when targeting Doubs this season, per Pro Football Focus. With Nevada carrying a slate-high 36.00-point implied team total on Thursday night, Doubs can light up the box score for the third consecutive game.

Dante Wright, Colorado State ($8,400) – Wright was a surprising scratch just prior to last week's season opener. Reportedly he'll play on Thursday night. The versatile wide receiver had 57 receptions, 803 receiving yards, and four touchdown receptions in 2019. He was also utilized in the run game, running for 214 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries. The matchup with Wyoming is a good one as noted above (see: O'Brien blurb).

Justin Lockhart, Nevada ($7,200) – Nevada is expected to score a ton of points on Thursday night. Lockhart provides exposure to Nevada's high-powered offense at a low price tag. The sophomore has drawn at least five targets in each of the first two games, per Pro Football Focus. He's recorded 10 receptions, 62 receiving yards, and one touchdown through those games. Lockhart should continue to see plenty of action with Elijah Cooks looking likely to miss the rest of the season with an injury.

Others to consider: Tre McBride, Cole Turner, Deven Thompkins, Isaiah Neyor, Nate Craig-Myers, Jordan Nathan, Justin McGriff, Mequian Stovall, Ayden Eberhardt, and EJ Scott.

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.