Ivan Herrera 
Welcome back to another exciting season of College Football! We are back and we are starting off with some exciting matchups for the Week 0 of the CFB season. The highlight of the Week 0 slate sees the defending Heisman winner, Caleb Williams, lead his Trojans against the visiting Spartans of San Jose State.
** Denotes players that are only on the FD Main Slate
*DK pricing listed first, then FD price*
Quarterbacks to Target
| Core | Pivots | Value |
| Caleb Williams (USC) $9,900/$12,800 | Chevan Cordeiro (SJSU) $6,300/$8,000 | Kurtis Rourke (OHIO) $5,500/$9000 |
| Sam Hartman** (ND) $11,400 | AJ Swann (Vand) $8,500/$10,000 | |
| Hank Bachmeier (LT) $5,800/$9,500 |
Runningbacks to Target
| Core | Pivots | Value |
| Audric Estime** (ND) $9,500 | Patrick Smith (Vand) $5,100/$8,400 | Anwar Lewis** (JXST) $7,000 |
| Sieh Bangura (Ohio) $7,200/$8,700 | Deion Hankins** (UTEP) $7,800 | Shomari Lawrence (FIU) $6,200/$6,800 |
| MarShawn Lloyd (USC) $7,400 $8,000 | Tylan Hines (HAW) $4,700/$5,900 | |
| Austin Jones (USC) $7,800/$10,200 | ||
Wide Receivers to Target
| Core | Pivot | Value |
| Dorian Singer (USC) $7,700/$9,800 | Mario Williams (USC) $7,200/$8,400 | Will Sheppard (Vand) $5,000/$8,500 |
| Sam Wiglusz (Ohio) $7,100/$7,800 | Justin Lockhart (SJSU) $4,800/$6,100 | Chris Tyree**(ND) $5,200 |
| Smoke Harris (LT) $6,600/$8,700 | Tyrin Smith** (UTEP) $9,000 | |
| Jayden Thomas**(ND) $6,900 | ||
Synopsis:
The QBs:
We get an interesting group of QBs on the first slate of the season. Of the 14 teams on the slate between DK and FD, only four ranked inside the top 75 in passing yards per game, while five were ranked in the bottom 25. But all hope is not lost; one of the teams that ranked low is Notre Dame (98th), which managed to bring in a Heisman candidate in Sam Hartman from Wake Forest. Hartman last season averaged just under 310 yards per game, which was over 100 more yards than Notre Dame.
The best and highest-owned QB on the Week Zero slate will be the defending Heisman QB, Caleb Williams. Williams helped USC rack up 335 passing yards a game, which put them 3rd in all of CFB last season. While throwing for 4,537 yards last season, Williams also managed to have 42 touchdowns and only five interceptions, which helped out his fantasy score.
Williams is my core play on DraftKings and Hartman on FanDuel, but the question is who to play alongside them. I have four other QBs listed in my rankings, and of those, Bachmeier and Rourke are my favorites. Bachmeier is coming to LTech after leaving Boise State, where he threw for over 3000 yards and 20 touchdowns in his only full season as a starter in 2021. Bachmeier should see similar success against FIU, which ranked 109th in pass defense last season.
The second player I like as a pair for Hartman or Williams is Ohio’s Rourke. Last season, he threw for 3200 yards and 25 touchdowns while averaging 26.8DK and 22.7FD points. The reason he is slightly behind Bachmeier is the San Diego State pass defense. They ranked 39th last season, only allowing 208.8 yards. It’ll be a tough game for Rourke, but he is a strong enough QB to deal with a strong defense.
The last two QBs I listed, Cordeiro and Swann, have the lowest floor of all the QBs. They were both inconsistent last season, so it’s hard to tell which side of them will show up. But if I were picking between the two, Cordeiro would be ahead of Swann based on his matchup against USC. USC ranked 112th against the pass last season, and while they did get better defensively, Lincoln Riley teams are notorious for having bad defenses.
The RBs:
We have a lot of solid RBs to choose from in Week Zero. There are four RBs that I think can have their best days. We’ll start off with Audric Estime from Notre Dame. Last season, he was one of three ND RBs to have at least 100 carries, so he couldn’t show off what he can do. Despite the crowded backfield, Estime still ran for 920 yards and scored 11 touchdowns. But luckily for him, the RB room in South Bend has cleared up. Logan Diggs, who led the team in carries, transferred to LSU, and Chris Tyree transitioned over to WR for ND.
The second RB is Bangura from Ohio. Last season, as Ohio’s leading back, he ran for 1078 yards and scored 13 rushing touchdowns. The SDSU defense was solid on both fronts last season, ranking in the top 40 in both passing and rushing. Because of that, Ohio should try to set up both facets of their offense to not allow SDSU to commit to only one.
The last two RBs that I think could lead the slate are Lloyd and Jones. The reason I am putting them together is because they are listed as co-RB1s. Jones last season was at USC, playing behind starter Travis Dye, but when Dye went down to injury, Jones stepped up and ended the year with 705 yards and five touchdowns. To replace Dye, who they lost to the NFL Draft, USC grabbed Lloyd off of the transfer portal. Last season, in nine games, Lloyd ran for 573 yards and scored nine touchdowns on the ground.
The WRs:
We can’t talk about WRs on this slate without talking about USC’s new WR, Dorian Singer. The transfer from Arizona is currently one of the favorites to take home the Biletnikoff award for CFB’s best WR. Last season with the Wildcats, Singer had 66 receptions for 1105 yards and six scores. As the No. 1 target for the reigning Heisman winner, Singer should see his numbers grow.
The other two WRs listed on my core are two of the most underrated guys in CFB. Last season, Ohio’s Wiglusz finished the year with 73 receptions, 877 yards, and 11 touchdowns. Like I mentioned with Bangura, I expect Ohio to try and get SDSU’s tough defense guessing by giving them heavy doses of Bangura and Wiglusz. Smoke Harris last season led LT in receptions and finished the season with 640 yards and five touchdowns. Losing Tre Harris to Ole Miss opens up 65 receptions, which will help Harris have a better year than he did in 2022.
Williams, Thomas, and Sheppard are my three favorite pivots off of my core. Similarly to Singer, Williams is playing with the defending Heisman winner, which is a huge plus for his receiving numbers. Sheppard and Swann can have some bad games given the inconsistentness that the QB has shown. But against a pass defense that gave up 225 yards last season, I think Swann and Sheppard can have good success in Week Zero. Thomas is a bit of an unknown going into Week Zero. Last season, he only had 25 receptions for 361 yards. The loss of ND’s No. 1 target, TE Mayer, to the NFL should open up targets for Thomas as well as for Tyree, who made the move to WR from RB.
Drago’s Best Bets:
- Notre Dame -20.5 vs Navy
- UTEP -1.5 @ Jacksonville State
- Ohio +3 @ San Diego State
- UMass @ New Mexico State O45
- Hawaii @ Vanderbilt O56.5
- USC -31.5 vs San Jose State
- LTech vs FIU O57.5
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/
