This article is part of our DraftKings College Football series.
The cap on this week's DraftKings early Saturday slate seems to be the hardest one yet, especially since the highest-scoring, highest-costing quarterbacks are facing a lot of tough defenses - Dak Prescott ($9,900) against Auburn, Bryce Petty ($9,300) against TCU, Trevone Boykin ($9,000) against Baylor, Deshaun Watson ($8,200) against Louisville, etc.
I decided to dive into the bargain bin at quarterback and invest heavily in a Wisconsin backfield facing an Illinois squad that's dealing with a 26.5-point spread at Madison. The rest of the lineup is banking on various high-usage players facing low-level defenses.
Make sure to check out DraftKings.com's many DFS options for this week - there is a wide variety of slates and contest types to choose from.
QUARTERBACK
Brett Hundley - UCLA vs. Oregon ($7,400)
I'm terrified by the fact that Hundley was absolutely clobbered by Oregon a year ago, throwing for just 64 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions while running for 72 yards and a touchdown, but it should be different this time around. Hundley has a year more of experience and he's playing at home, and last year's Oregon defense (5.5 YPA, 14 touchdowns and 17 interceptions allowed) has been replaced by a unit that allowed 355 passing yards, 2.3 touchdowns and one interception per game to Michigan State, Washington State and Arizona. He's cheap enough this week to justify this gamble.
Sam Richardson - Iowa State vs. Toledo ($5,300)
Richardson's supporting cast is just awful, but he's a dual-threat quarterback who's accounting for 79.9 percent of his team's yardage. He's at home against a Toledo defense that just gave up 679 passing yards (9.8 YPA) to the unimpressive quarterback duo of Cooper Rush (Central Michigan) and Zach Terrell (Western Michigan), and he's very cheap.
QB Alternatives: Clint Trickett - West Virginia at Texas Tech ($8,100), Rakeem Cato - Marshall vs. Middle Tennessee State ($8,100), Nick Marshall - Auburn at Mississippi State ($7,800), Cyler Miles - Washington at California ($7,500)
RUNNING BACK
Melvin Gordon - Wisconsin vs. Illinois ($8,600)
Gordon is awfully expensive this week, but it's hard to justify passing on him given that he's playing at home against an Illinois defense that's been remarkably bad against the run lately, allowing 807 yards (7.0 YPC) and nine touchdowns on the ground to Nebraska and Purdue over the last two weeks. It doesn't hurt that Gordon has 693 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground over his last three games.
Mario Pender - Florida State at Syracuse ($3,000)
Pender doesn't look like a high-upside play in a Florida State offense that usually rotates heavily at running back, but it's hard to pass on him at $3,000 with starting runner Karlos Williams (ankle) expected to miss the game. Pender is an explosive talent with 154 yards (6.7 YPC) and three touchdowns on 23 carries this year, and he should see around 15 carries with just true freshman Dalvin Cook as the only other notable running back on the depth chart.
As a side note, check the status of Toledo RB Kareem Hunt (leg) on Saturday. If Hunt is out, it would seem to put Terry Swanson ($4,400) in the lead at running back for the Rockets, and Swanson just put up 226 yards and a touchdown from scrimmage a week ago.
RB Alternatives: Corey Clement - Wisconsin vs. Illinois ($3,900), Duke Johnson - Miami vs. Cincinnati ($6,500), Devon Johnson - Marshall vs. Middle Tennessee State ($6,400), Samaje Perine - Oklahoma vs. Texas ($6,000), Terry Swanon - Toledo at Iowa State ($4,400), Derrick Henry - Alabama at Arkansas ($4,200)
WIDE RECEIVER
Kevin White - West Virginia at Texas Tech ($8,600)
It seems like you'd be well advised to get one of White or Amari Cooper ($8,700) this week, as the two are by far the most reliable wideout options on the slate. I like White a bit more, because he's facing the weaker defense in what should be the higher-scoring game. Plus, with just four touchdowns on 48 catches this year, White is due for a touchdown or three this week after scoring once every seven catches last year.
Tommy Shuler - Marshall vs. Middle Tennessee State ($5,600)
Shuler's season has been disappointing, but this is too cheap to pass up in PPR scoring. He's at home against a Middle Tennessee team that's been quite bad lately, allowing 1,600 yards and 13 touchdowns over four games to Western Kentucky, Memphis, Old Dominion and Southern Mississippi, and target thief Davonte Allen (335 yards and two touchdowns in 2014) is supposedly week-to-week with an upper body injury.
William Fuller – Notre Dame vs. North Carolina ($5,000)
Fuller is the clear No. 1 wide receiver for a high-level quarterback (Everett Golson) facing what might be the worst defense in the ACC. His $5,000 tag is very affordable, especially considering his consistency. Aside from a three-catch, 27-yard game last week against an extremely tough Stanford defense, Fuller has scored in every game, averaging 6.25 catches, 86 yards and 1.25 scores per game over that four-week stretch. Against the two (admittedly elite) passing games of East Carolina and Clemson, North Carolina surrendered an average of 441 yards and five touchdowns through the air.
WR Alternatives: Jaydon Mickens - Washington at California ($4,100), Amari Cooper - Alabama at Arkansas ($8,700), Tony Lippett - Michigan State vs. Purdue ($7,100), Alex Erickson - Wisconsin vs. Illinois ($4,000), Devon Allen - Oregon at UCLA ($5,000), William Fuller - Notre Dame vs. North Carolina ($5,000), John Ross - Washington at California ($3,900)
TIGHT END
Clive Walford - Miami vs. Cincinnati ($3,400)
Walford has the Miami team lead with 19 receptions, yet he has just four of the team's last 36 completions. That seems to leave him due for an increased role against a Cincinnati squad favored to lose by 16.5 points while allowing 11 passing touchdowns in four games.
TE Alternatives: E.J. Bibbs - Iowa State vs. Toledo ($3,700), Sam Arneson - Wisconsin vs. Illinois ($3,000)
FLEX
Nick Chubb - Georgia at Missouri ($3,000)
In light of Todd Gurley's indefinite suspension, Chubb seems set to serve as the top runner for Georgia against the Tigers. Missouri gave up big games to runners like Kareem Hunt, Tevin Coleman and Mike Davis, and Chubb is a very impressive athletic talent who has the makeup of a high-level producer, even if he's not a household name yet. Keith Marshall and Sony Michel are out, leaving Chubb in line for a big workload at an extremely cheap price. It's hard to pass on him this week.
