NCAAF

College Football Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 11/13/20

Desmond Ridder and the Cincinnati offense are in a phenomenal spot on Friday evening. Which other players do we expect to have a good game?

Week 11 of college football is here! FanDuel's Friday night college football DFS main slate includes three 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 7:00 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

Desmond Ridder, Cincinnati ($11,500) – Ridder has slate-breaking upside due to his dual-threat ability. The Cincinnati Bearcats' signal-caller is playing the best football of his career as of late. Over the last three games, Ridder is averaging 186.3 passing yards, 107.3 rushing yards, and 4.3 total touchdowns per game. Up next is an intriguing matchup with East Carolina. The Pirates have allowed point totals of 38, 34, 49, and 51 in four out of their last five games.

Javion Posey, Florida Atlantic ($8,000) – Posey comes with an asterisk because Florida Atlantic has not yet named a starting quarterback for Friday night. It’ll be something that we’ll have to monitor prior to lock. Posey relieved an ineffective Nick Tronti and rescued the Owls in their 10-6 win over Western Kentucky last week. The dynamic quarterback racked up 60 rushing yards and 1 touchdown while directing two fourth-quarter drives. If he starts, Posey should have little trouble racking up an impressive rushing stat line against Florida International's susceptible defense. If he can make a few plays in the passing game, he’ll blow away his salary this week. FIU is allowing nearly 460 yards of total offense to their opponents this season.

Spencer Petras, Iowa ($7,500) – Petras is basically a game-manager at this point in his young career. The sophomore has thrown for 648 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions through three games. This selection is more about the matchup and salary than anything else. Minnesota has been throttled by opposing signal-callers this season. They allowed 225-yards passing, 52-yards rushing, and 2 total touchdowns to Michigan's Joe Milton in their season-opener. In their second game, Minnesota surrendered 394-yards passing, 59-yards rushing, and 5 total touchdowns to Maryland’s Taulia Tagovailoa.

Others to consider: Holton Ahlers and Tanner Morgan.

Running Backs

Gerrid Doaks, Cincinnati ($10,000) – Let me start off by saying Mo Ibrahim ($12,000) is a great play -- however, his salary is a challenge this week. Doaks is a solid alternative to Ibrahim but at a lesser salary. Doaks is a workhorse in the backfield for the Bearcats. The senior is averaging 19 carries per game over the last four games. He’s eclipsed 100-yards rushing in three out of the last four games. Up next is a fantastic matchup with ECU’s porous run defense. The Pirates are allowing 217.2 rushing yards per game; they’ve been hammered for 16 rushing touchdowns in six games this season.

Tyler Goodson, Iowa ($9,500) – Goodson is in an outstanding spot as the Iowa starting running back faces off with Minnesota’s atrocious run defense. The Golden Gophers are allowing an eye-popping 239.3 rushing yards per game to opposing ball-carriers. They’ve surrendered nine rushing touchdowns in three games. Goodson leads Iowa with 233 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on 43 carries this season.

Malcolm Davidson, Florida Atlantic ($6,000) – Davidson is expected to play on Friday night despite missing the Owls' previous game. The junior was Florida Atlantic’s leading rusher in 2019. Davidson ran for 711 yards and 9 touchdowns on 102 carries last season. Though he’s only played in three games this season, he leads FAU with 195 rushing yards on 26 carries. The FAU running back has found paydirt one time in 2020.

Others to consider: Mo Ibrahim, D'Vonte Price, Rahjai Harris, Mekhi Sargent, James Charles, and Jerome Ford.

Wide Receivers

Rashod Bateman, Minnesota ($9,400) – The future pro has been targeted by Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan on 33 out of his 73 pass attempts this season, per Pro Football Focus. Bateman is averaging 8 receptions and 100.6 receiving yards per game. He’s easily the top wide receiver option on Friday night.

Brandon Smith, Iowa (7,700) – Smith is Iowa’s starting X-receiver, and he has recorded three receptions and one touchdown in each of the last two games. He’s in a good spot as Minnesota has struggled to contain opposing X-receivers this season. The Golden Gophers allowed 4 receptions and 74 yards receiving to Michigan’s X-receiver Ronnie Bell in the season-opener. In their second game, they were beaten for 3 receptions, 103-yards receiving, and 1 touchdown by Maryland’s X-receiver Jeshaun Jones. Last week (game number three), Minnesota surrendered 2 receptions, 60 receiving yards, and 1 touchdown to Illinois’ X-receiver Josh Imatorbhebhe.

Sam LaPorta, Iowa ($5,600) – We’re going to need salary relief in order to roster the high-priced players like Mo Ibrahim and Desmond Ridder. That’s where the Iowa tight end enters the conversion. Per Pro Football Focus, LaPorta leads the Hawkeyes in targets (23), receptions (13), and receiving yards (128). He's in a good spot against a Golden Gophers squad that is allowing 36 points per game.

Others to consider: Ihmir Smith-Marsette, Alec Pierce, Tyler Snead, Michael Young Jr., Chris Autman-Bell, TJ Chase, Tre Tucker, Tyrone Tracy Jr., Jayshon Jackson, CJ Johnson, Nico Ragaini, and Willie Wright.


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.