CFB DFS Picks: DraftKings College Football Week 10 Main Slate Breakdown

CFB DFS Picks: DraftKings College Football Week 10 Main Slate Breakdown

This article is part of our DraftKings College Football series.

It's Week 10 of the college football season and also the first weekend of November. Those are nice bits of demarcation for the human mind, but football cares not. Neither do the DFS contests you'll be dipping into. It's about the teams, the players, the matchups, and the salaries. The main slate comprises 12 games, a few of which start at 12 p.m. ET! Enough about the numbers that are flitting fun at best. I need to get to the numbers that matter.

Slate Overview

This is not a super exciting slate of games from a DFS perspective. Anytime one of the games in the mix is handed to Air Force and Army; we effectively lose a matchup from the list of possibilities. There are also some tough defenses in the mix. Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Georgia are all in action. Even Georgia State's Marcus Carroll, usually an excellent option, is stuck facing James Madison. The Dukes have allowed a mere 1.5 rushing yards per carry, the lowest in FBS football. That being said, there are still options out there, so don't give up hope!

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Week 10 CFB Saturday Main Slate Plays for DraftKings

Quarterback

Jordan Travis ($9,000), Florida State at Pittsburgh

It feels like there is a patina of disappointment surrounding Travis, but that comes from those who thought he would be at the heart of the Heisman battle. Instead, he's just been really good for Florida State. He's completed 64.8 percent of his passes and thrown 18 touchdowns against only two picks. Travis has also run for 205 yards and six touchdowns without losing a fumble (though he's been a bit lucky to fumble once in each of his last three games but not lose it). The problem, such as it is, has been the yardage not being there, but he did throw for 359 yards last week. Pitt has allowed 8.4 passing yards per attempt, which ranks 117th in the FBS.

Drew Allar ($7,500), Penn State at Maryland

There is nothing Mike Locksley's Terps enjoy more than collapsing after a hot start. When Illinois and Northwestern are beating you, your season has taken a turn. Maryland has allowed 7.7 passing yards per attempt this season but 9.9 over its last three games. Again, Illinois and Northwestern were involved in that stretch! Allar doesn't air it out, but he's proven efficient in his first season as a starter. He's 16 touchdowns against one pick. The thing with Allar is that he's been all or nothing. Four times this season, he's thrown for at least three touchdowns, and four times, he's thrown for one or fewer. If I had to make a prediction, and that's kind of the point of this, we're looking at the former in this one.

Graham Mertz ($7,200), Florida vs. Arkansas

Arkansas just played in a game so offensively brutal that it made fans pine to watch an Iowa game, but how much was the Arkansas defense, and how much was a Mississippi State offense woefully mismanaged by an overmatched offensive coordinator and a (should be) one-and-done head coach? On the season, the Razorbacks have been a sieve against the pass. They've allowed 8.8 passing yards per attempt, 125th in the FBS and only a sliver better than Cal among Power Five teams. Billy Napier and company have gotten more out of Mertz than Wisconsin ever did by putting him in a position to be the king of efficient passing. Mertz has completed a whopping 75.9 percent of his passes, and while the touchdowns were there early, he's had multiple touchdowns in each of his last four games.

Running Back

Ollie Gordon ($7,200): Oklahoma State vs. Oklahoma

Gordon is effectively a must-have at this point, and the fact he doesn't even have the highest salary among running backs in Week 10 makes me feel even better about it. The phrase "not since Barry Sanders" has been bandied about in Stillwater; that's how productive Gordon has been since Mike Gundy and company ceded the focal point of the offense over to the back. Over the last four weeks, he's carried the ball 104 times for 857 yards – 8.2 yards per carry – with eight touchdowns. Plus, he added 116 yards and a touchdown through the air against Kansas. The Sooners have been showing cracks defensively for weeks. In each of their last three games, Oklahoma has allowed a back to run for over 100 yards. Gordon has run for over 270 yards in each of his last two outings. The Cowboys back is getting the Sooners at a good time.

Jawhar Jordan ($6,700): Louisville vs. Virginia Tech

Jordan looked no worse for the wear after returning from injury. He ran for 163 yards and two touchdowns against Duke. Jordan also managed 143 yards and two scores against Notre Dame. Virginia Tech is the inverse of Oklahoma in that the run defense has done better in the last three weeks. However, The Hokies faced a reeling Syracuse, Wake Forest, and a Florida State team, surprisingly lackluster running the ball. If Jordan can run against Duke and Notre Dame, he can do it against Virginia Tech.

Emmanuel Michel ($6,400), Air Force vs. Army

Swerve! Normally, I eschew service academy offenses. Even if you know the ball will be run and run, carries are divvied out in ways that can be tricky to rely on. However, the running back options are lacking in Week 10, and Army's defense is straight-up bad. In particular, Army has allowed 5.5 yards per carry, 128th in the FBS. Michel was not getting the ball early in the season, but he's gotten at least 20 carries in each of Air Force's last three games. He also has three games with 100 yards and a touchdown this year.

Wide Receiver

Keon Coleman ($7,000), Florida State at Pittsburgh

With his physical attributes and highlight-reel plays, Coleman has drawn a lot of attention. That may overshadow the fact that he's been a little hit or miss. Ahh, but when he hits, though! He has three games with multiple touchdowns, including last week. As I noted, Pitt has allowed 8.4 passing yards per attempt. I'm not always into pairing a quarterback and wide receiver for DFS purposes, but in this instance, I'd go for it.

Robert Lewis ($6,300), Georgia State vs. James Madison

I've already covered the fact trying to run the ball on James Madison is a fool's errand, a quixotic quest. You can throw on the Dukes, though. Now, James Madison ranks 64th in passing yards allowed per attempt, but compared to its run defense, that's a welcome sight. Lewis has 46 catches for 658 yards and six touchdowns. Last week, he was targeted 18 times and reeled in 12 passes for 97 yards and a score. Now, turning 12 catches into 97 yards isn't ideal, but again, he was targeted 18 times! You get that kind of attention in the passing game, and through sheer tonnage, you can break through.

Evan Stewart ($6,100), Texas A&M at Mississippi

Yes, Stewart has not emerged in his sophomore campaign as hoped for. Indeed, Max Johnson is an uninspiring quarterback, to say the least. However, Johnson does look to Stewart. Over the Aggies' last two games, Stewart has been targeted 21 times. Now, Ole Miss is 75th in passing yards allowed per attempt, but it just played Vanderbilt, Auburn, and Arkansas. Before that, though, there was the LSU game. That defense-optional affair is what I'm thinking of. Mississippi is not an imposing pass defense. If Stewart gets double-digit targets, something good should happen.

GPP Targets

Kyron Drones ($6,300), Virginia Tech at Louisville

Grant Wells will return from injury…at some point. The erstwhile starting quarterback for the Hokies has been on the verge of returning from his ankle injury for weeks, but it keeps not happening. Frankly, when he is healthy, I see no reason for Virginia Tech to put him back into the lineup. I'd keep rolling with Drones. The redshirt sophomore has had a couple of good games in the air – his performances against Pitt and Wake stand out – it is his legs that entice me the most. He's run for 400 yards and four touchdowns. Louisville's defense is erratic. Yes, it just shut out a reeling Duke, but Pitt dropped 38 on them! Boston College 28! Georgia Tech 34! This is a roll of the dice, but that's what I look for in this section.

Raheim Sanders ($4,900), Arkansas at Florida

Will Sanders return from his undisclosed injury? He's been practicing this week, and the signs are positive. He's barely played this year, but last season, he averaged 6.5 yards per carry in racking up 1,443 yards and 10 touchdowns. Florida ranks 98th in rushing yards allowed per carry. If you could get the Sanders of 2022 at this salary, you'd leap at the chance. That's the hope here.

Eugene Wilson ($5,300), Florida vs. Arkansas

Mertz and Wilson is my lo-fi version of Travis and Coleman, even emanating from the same state. Arkansas's woeful pass defense has struggled even at home but has been slightly worse (8.9 yards per attempt) on the road. Wilson, a true freshman, was not prominently involved early, but after missing a couple of games, he's been rivaling Ricky Pearsall as the top target in this offense. Over his last three games, Wilson has turned 31 targets into 25 catches for 222 yards and two touchdowns. If Mertz has a big day, odds are Wilson will play a notable, maybe even sizable, role in it.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Chris Morgan plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: FanDuel: cmorgan3, DraftKings: cmorgan3.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Morgan
Chris Morgan is a writer of sports, pop culture, and humor articles, a book author, a podcaster, and a fan of all Detroit sports teams.
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