Ivan Herrera 
Welcome back to another exciting season of CFB! We are starting Week 9 action on Saturday with a big 12-game slate. We are starting to enter conference matchups, which always make for great environments.
The purpose of this article is to break down the college football main slates, both on the DFS and betting sites. The article includes my favorite plays at every position as well as honorable mentions. You can also find my favorite bets under my Dragos Best Bets section.
The QBs:
Max Johnson (TA&M): $6,500
My favorite value QB of the week is Texas A&M’s Johnson, who gets a great matchup against SCAR’s 127th-ranked pass defense. The Gamecocks are giving up 305 passing yards per game and have given up 10 passing touchdowns. Johnson hasn’t had the best showing since taking over for Weigman, as he is averaging 14.1 points on DraftKings. But in those three games, he has faced pass defenses ranked 30th, 36th, and 37th, with all three allowing over 100 fewer passing yards per game than SCAR. This is the perfect opportunity for Johnson to return to the form he showed in 2021 with LSU, where he threw for 2814 yards and 27 touchdowns.
Who to pair him with: Evan Stewart. Ainias Smith.
Donovan Smith (UH): $7,900
Smith has been one of the hottest QBs over his past three starts. He has threw for at least 250 yards and three touchdowns in each of his past three starts. He’ll look to make that four in a row against Kansas State’s 110th-ranked pass defense, which has struggled to keep good QBs at bay. With both Houston and Kansas State having meh defenses, Smith should have to throw a lot to keep pace in what should end up being a shootout.
Who to pair him with: Matthew Golden. Samuel Brown. Joseph Manjack IV.
Dillon Gabriel (OU): $9,400
Gabriel comes into week nine with the highest DK points per game on the slate, with 32.2. Last week, Gabriel scored 23.3, breaking his streak of six straight games with at least 25 points. He should have a good chance to restart his streak as he is going up against a Kansas pass defense that ranks in the bottom half in CFB. The emergence of Nic Anderson last week will definitely help Gabriel, as he lost his top WR, Anthony, the game prior. What has Gabriel looking like a Heisman candidate is his 24 total touchdowns (19 passing and 5 rushing). He has also been very careful with the ball, only having five total turnovers.
Who to pair him with: Jalil Farooq. Drake Stoops. Nic Anderson.
Honorable Mentions: Caleb Williams (USC). Jordan Travis (FSU). Will Howard (KSU). Sam Hartman (ND). Maalik Murphy (UT). John Rhys Plumlee (UCF).
Value QBs: Fernando Mendoza (CAL).
The RBs:
Nicholas Singleton (PSU): $6,300
Singleton has struggled as of late, scoring single digits in three of his last four appearances. His woes should end this weekend as Penn State takes on an Indiana side that is among the worst against the run. The Hoosiers are giving up 174.4 yards on the ground per game, which has them ranked 106th in CFB. Indiana has also given up the fourth-most rushing touchdowns on the slate. The yards haven’t been the main issue with Singleton; he has had at least 50 total yards in his three single-digit games. He has struggled to find the end zone, but against Indiana, which allows two rushing touchdowns per game, Singleton should return to form. In this game last year, Singleton had 16 attempts for 73 yards and a touchdown.
RJ Harvey (UCF): $6,200
Harvey has been a consistent DFS RB this season, as he has not gone under 10 points on DraftKings. His worst DK performance was 11.1 against Baylor, but besides that game, he has not finished under 15 points. This week, he gets to play WVU’s 65th-ranked rush defense. The Mountaineers will be a tough challenge for Harvey, but he has faced a much tougher challenge against Kansas. Against Kansas’s 33rd-ranked rush defense, Harvey ran for 133 yards and a touchdown. Both RBs in that game are really good options, as I will talk about the RB on the opposite side next.
CJ Donaldson Jr. (WVU): $6,100
I’m not sure why they gave Donaldson Jr. a $300 discount on DK compared to last week, but I’ll take it. Donaldson has scored a rushing touchdown in six of his last seven. On DraftKings, Donaldson has finished at 2x value or higher in every game this season. Last week, UCF struggled to contain Oklahoma’s Major and Sawchuk, who ran for a combined 145 yards. Donaldson is a better RB than both of OU’s backs, so I expect him to put up those numbers by himself. UCF has a slate high of 16 rushing touchdowns allowed and ranks as the worst rush defense on the slate.
Honorable Mentions: Bucky Irving (ORE) Audric Estime (ND). Jaydn Ott (CAL). Jonathon Brooks (UT). DJ Giddens (KSU). MarShawn Lloyd (USC).
Value RBs (5K and under): Marcus Major (OU).
The WRs:
Troy Franklin (ORE): $8,300
Franklin has been one of the best WRs in CFB this season, and his price this week shows that, as he is $1200 above the next available WR. Franklin is Oregon’s WR1 and comes into their matchup against Utah averaging 6.3 receptions per game. He has scored in all but two games this season. This past weekend against WSU, Franklin continued his streak of at least 4 receptions and 75 yards in every game. Franklin goes up against one of the better pass defenses in the PAC 12. This will be a big game for the Ducks CFP chances and for QB Bo Nix’s Heisman campaign, so I expect Oregon to feature their best weapon often to try and make Utah play at a faster pace. With DraftKings giving us solid options for decent prices, the price on Franklin does not scare me off of him.
Jamari Thrash (UL): $6,100
The Georgia State transfer has had a great first half of the season with Louisville. In DFS, Thrash has scored at least 18 points in all but one game, which was against a solid NC State defense. The connection he has with Plummer has made them a lethal threat to opponents. Thrash this weekend goes against one of my favorite defenses in Duke, who are ranked 16th against the pass, which will keep many off of Thrash. The two best teams that the Duke defense has gone up against, Notre Dame and FSU, have been able to throw against them as they have given up 50+ yards to four different WRs in those two games. With Leonard most likely out for Duke, I expect the Blue Devil offense to stall early on, which will give Louisville more possessions for Thrash to work with.
Xavier Worthy (UT): $6,800
Worthy can be in for a huge day this week. Redshirt freshman Maalik Murphy is making his first start of the season, and I expect the Texas coaches to build the game around Worthy as he is the best weapon in Texas. In Worthy’s past three games, he has seen at least seven targets. In those three games, he had 21 receptions for 293 yards and a touchdown. Normally, I would stay away from using a WR when he has an inexperienced QB starting, but BYU has one of the worst pass defenses in CFB, so I don’t think Murphy will struggle as much as he should.
Honorable Mentions: Tez Johnson (ORE). Xavier Legette (SCAR). Brenden Rice (USC). Ladd McConkey (UGA). Jeremiah Hunter (CAL). Jalon Calhoun (DUKE). Mitchell Evans (ND).
Value Plays (4.9K and under): Darius Lassiter (BYU). Ja’Tavion Sanders (UT). Jaheim Bell (FSU). Terrance Ferguson (ORE).
Drago’s Best Bets:
- Oklahoma -9.5
- Houston +17.5
- Georgia -15
- WVU vs UCF Over 57.5
- Miami vs Virginia Over 47.5
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