This article is part of our DraftKings College Football series.
This week's early Saturday slate on DraftKings is a bit smaller than in previous weeks, because there's an unusual number of Friday games in Week 14. As a result, there will probably be more overlap between lineups than usual, and more stack-heavy lineups, too.
Or at least, the lineup I'm going with is definitely stack-heavy, mostly regarding the California vs BYU game. I'm going with four players from that game alone, though you'll probably see plenty of usage in games like North Carolina vs North Carolina State, USC vs Notre Dame and Texas Tech vs Baylor, too.
Make sure to click here and see the many game offerings from DraftKings this week!
A preface/disclaimer: there might be rain during the California/BYU game. If that still appears to be the case closer to Saturday morning, I might have to change some things. Check back Saturday morning to see if any lineup changes have been made.
QB
Jared Goff - California vs BYU ($6,800)
Prediction: California will lose this game for the simple reason that California coach Sonny Dykes will voluntarily take Goff, his team's best player, off the field too many times. But Goff will still have a big game. The only reason Goff's price is this low, 16th among quarterbacks, is because Dykes has an objectively silly insistence on pulling Goff off the field on occasion to give snaps to running specialist Luke Rubenzer. Goff (8.0 YPA) is sometimes yanked out of games so that Cal can give snaps to Rubenzer (4.1 YPC). One could say that Rubenzer is half as good as Goff and be guilty of no more than negligible hyperbole, but it's a free country and no one can force Dykes to do basic math if he doesn't want to. Anyway, even with Rubenzer vulturing 36 ill-gotten snaps in the last four games, Goff was still able to attempt 177 passes, and I think Goff would only need 40 attempts against BYU to post 300 yards and three scores.
Christian Stewart – BYU at California ($7,900)
Both California and BYU figure to put up points in this one, and Stewart has proven to be an excellent replacement for the injured Taysom Hill. Stewart has 17 touchdowns on his last 232 pass attempts, and he averaged 43.5 pass attempts per game in his six starts. He ran for 175 yards and four touchdowns over that same span, so he's well above the average as a running threat, too. He's facing off against a California squad that has allowed 37 passing touchdowns while making just 13 sacks in 11 games, so there's reason to think Stewart will produce both through the air and on the ground.
QB Alternatives: Everett Golson – Notre Dame at USC ($7,900), Paxton Lynch – Memphis vs Connecticut ($5,700), Austin Appleby – Purdue at Indiana ($6,300), Travis Wilson – Utah at Colorado ($5,100), Sefo Liufau – Colorado vs Utah ($4,400)
RB
Tevin Coleman – Indiana vs Purdue ($8,800)
With Indiana out of bowl contention, this should be Coleman's last game as a Hoosier. The NFL is calling, so Indiana would be foolish not to give Coleman every carry he can handle. Coleman needs 94 yards to hit the 2,000-yard mark on the ground, but the season-end over/under on Coleman's rushing total should probably be closer to 2,100. The Boilermakers allowed an average of 177 yards and 1.75 touchdowns per game on the ground to Jarvion Franklin, David Cobb, Melvin Gordon and Justin Jackson, and Coleman is coming off a two-game stretch where he torched Rutgers and Ohio State for 535 yards and four touchdowns.
Javorius Allen – USC vs Notre Dame ($6,300)
Allen has been a bit disappointing in his last four games, scoring just once, but he remains an extremely high-floor option on DraftKings due to its PPR scoring, and Allen is an obvious bet to significantly outplay his price of just $6,300. The Notre Dame defense is average at best against the run, allowing an average of 226.7 yards (4.8 YPC) and 2.7 rushing touchdowns per game against Arizona State, Northwestern and Louisville over the last three games. If Jalen Hurd weren't so cheap against Vanderbilt ($5,200), I'd call Allen a must-play.
RB Alternatives: Jalen Hurd – Tennesssee at Vanderbilt ($5,200), Nick Chubb – Georgia vs Georgia Tech ($9,000), Devontae Booker – Utah at Colorado ($7,700), Justin Jackson – Northwestern vs Illinois ($7,300), Akeem Hunt – Purdue at Indiana ($6,900), Daniel Lasco – California vs BYU ($6,900), Tarean Folston – Notre Dame at USC ($5,600), Charles Jones – Kansas State vs Kansas ($3,700)
WR
Stephen Anderson – California vs BYU ($3,900)
I'm punting a bit at WR this week, because I don't see a lot of high-upside locks among the higher-priced options. Anderson admittedly doesn't have a high ceiling, but I like him at this price because he has double-digit DraftKings points in five straight games at an average of 16.1 points per game. BYU gave up an average of 343 yards and three touchdowns through the air against Houston, Utah State, UCF and Boise State, and the California passing game is significantly better than any of them.
Kenny Lawler – California vs BYU ($4,500)
It's admittedly risky to go with two receivers from a receiving rotation as unpredictable as California's – Lawler, Anderson, Chris Harper and Bryce Treggs all have more than 40 receptions on the year – but I can't find a reason to fade Anderson or Lawler on Saturday. Lawler is more expensive than Anderson, but I love his chances of scoring at least once. Lawler had 11 touchdowns on his first 65 career catches, which is one for every 5.9 catches, but he's gone 14 catches without a score. I'm banking on the latter stat being the aberration here.
Mike Dudek – Illinois at Northwestern ($4,800)
Dudek has a bad matchup and his offense is a mess, but that's been the case for five straight weeks and it hasn't slowed him down. Despite playing against Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio State, Iowa and Penn State, Dudek has 29 catches for 363 yards and two touchdowns over the span, good for an average of 16.1 DraftKings points per week.
WR Alternatives: Kevin White – West Virginia t Iowa State ($7,200), Mitch Mathews – BYU at California ($6,800), Nelson Spruce – Colorado vs Utah ($5,700), Juju Smith – USC vs Notre Dame ($4,500)
TE
Steven Scheu – Vanderbilt vs Tennessee ($3,000)
Scheu has been impressive against SEC defenses this year, catching 26 passes for 374 yards and a touchdown in seven games. That's an average of 9.9 points per game in DraftKings' scoring. Scheu has been especially busy in the last month, catching 17 passes for 194 yards and two scores.
TE Alternatives: Maxx Williams – Minnesota at Wisconsin ($3,200), David Grinnage – North Carolina State at North Carolina ($3,100)
Flex
Shadrach Thornton – North Carolina State at North Carolina ($3,900)
Matt Dayes gets more love from the DraftKings pricing ($4,500), but by almost any measurement its Thornton who's the No. 1 runner for North Carolina State. In 11 games he has 119 carries for 650 yards (5.5 YPC) and eight touchdowns while adding 15 catches for 133 yards and another touchdown. He had 110 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries against Wake Forest a week ago and four straight games with double-digit carries. He's going against a Tar Heels defense allowing 218 yards (4.8 YPC) per game on the ground, and 28 rushing touchdowns in 11 games.
