Ivan Herrera 
Welcome back to another exciting season of CFB! We are finally back after seven months away. This season should be exciting as we will see teams in new conferences as well as the first year of the 12-team CFP.
This article will be a bit shorter than usual since we only have a three game slate with some bad teams. 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:
DJ Uiagalelei (FSU):
Let’s start the first article of the season with one of my favorite college QBs. Uiagalelei will be making his debut with his third team after transferring from both Clemson and Oregon State. Uiagalelei has an uphill battle to improve on FSU’s undefeated season last year. To make it harder for him, FSU will be without their top RB and top three pass catchers, who were all lost to the 2024 draft. Luckily for him, he is taking on a Georgia Tech side that has lost key components in both the defensive line and in the secondary. In 2023, the GTech pass defense was slightly above average in total passing yards allowed per game, but they were one of the worst in yards allowed per completion. Now with a weak secondary and a lack of pass rush, Uiagalelei should be able to find space and allow his receivers to get some big plays.
Who to pair him with: Ja’Khi Douglas. Kyle Morlock. Malik Benson.
Tommy Mellot (MONTS):
The week zero slate for college football always brings interesting plays, and this year is no different. My QB2 for this slate is Montana State’s Mellot. I am not a fan of Mellot as a throwing QB, but with his legs, he can cause trouble for opponents this season. During the 2023 season, Mellot had four games with over 100 rushing yards, which was the same amount of games with over 100 passing yards he had. One of those 100+ rushing games was against FCS powerhouse North Dakota State in the FCS Championship 2nd round, where his 151 yards and two touchdowns on the ground almost got them the upset victory in a 35-34 defeat. On paper, his opening matchup against New Mexico will be a slight step up in competition, but in his only career start against an FBS side in 2022, he had 135 yards rushing against Oregon State. The Lobos rushing defense in 2023 was nothing to write home about, as they ranked 103rd in FBS, giving up 172.2 rushing yards per game.
Who to pair him with: You can run him naked.
Honorable Mentions: Preston Stone (SMU) (Use him if you are not playing DjU. They have the highest ceilings on the slate. Haynes King (GT)
Value QBs: Devon Dampier (UNM)
The RBs:
Lawrance Toafili/Roydell Williams (FSU):
The starting RB on FSU’s Week 0 depth chart is Williams, but I expect both RBs to see a lot of work. Georgia Tech is one of the worst rush defenses in CFB, ranking 3rd worst last season. And as I mentioned with Uiagalelei, they have lost key players on their defense, so I don’t expect them to be much better in 2024. Williams didn’t get much work while at Alabama, playing behind the likes of Gibbs and Robinson Jr., who are currently NFL RBs. But transferring to FSU should help him show off his skills. As for Toafili, he was Trey Benson’s backup last season but still had solid numbers, including rushing for 118 yards and a score against a tough Louisville rush defense in the ACC title game last season.
Jaylan Knighton (SMU):
Knighton is coming into the 2024 season as the top RB on the SMU depth chart. Last season, SMU used multiple RBs every game, but of all of them, Knighton was the top guy. He led the team in attempts (136), and yards (745), and was tied for the touchdown lead with seven. I do expect backup LJ Johnson to get some work, but against Nevada’s 117th-ranked rush defense last season, Knighton should take advantage of every carry he gets.
Honorable Mentions: Jamal Haynes (GT)
Value RBs (5K and under): Scottre Humphrey (MONTS)
The WRs:
Week Zero of the CFB season does not give us a lot of options at WR. With three of the six QBs being known mainly for their legs, the WR pool has less reliable players, especially when we are entering a new season. So I will only have one write-up in this section. But will include WRs I will mix and match in my lineups.
RJ Maryland (SMU):
The only WR that I love this week isn’t technically a WR. RJ Maryland is SMU’s starting TE, but he is near the top for me when it comes to TEs in CFB. Maryland has the speed to win almost any matchup, and for the matchups he can’t win with speed, he is arguably the best route-running TE in college. Maryland had the second most receptions last season of all the pass catchers returning for SMU.
Other WRs I like: FSU WRs under the Uiagalelei write up above. Jake Bailey (SMU). Eric Singleton (GT). Caleb Medford (UNM)
Value Plays (4.9K and under): Luke Wysong (UNM). Chase Lane (GT). Jaden Smith (NEV)
Drago’s Best Bets:
- FSU -10 vs Georgia Tech
- Montana State -11 vs New Mexico
- SMU vs Nevada Over 56
- Hawaii -39.5 vs Delaware
Make sure to check out the CFB live stream every Friday night on the Win Daily YouTube page.
Make sure to hop in our Expert Discord Chat for FREE! Ivan (idrago15) will be there answering questions all day and all night! Follow Ivan on Twitter @idragol15 and be sure to be on the lookout for future articles at https://windailysports.com/ncaa-football-articles/
