DraftKings College Football: DraftKings Night Slate Picks and Lineup Strategy for Week 8

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Published on October 22, 2022

DraftKings CFB DFS: Night Slate DFS Picks and Lineup Strategy for Week 8

It's an 8-game DraftKings Saturday night slate in week 8 and at first glance scoring might be hard to come by. Six of the eight games have a betting total of under 55 points, and four of those are even under 48 points. It could be time to get creative here.

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DraftKings CFB DFS Picks: Quarterback

John Rhys Plumlee of UCF gets the big $11,500 price tag of the DraftKings night slate after 4 TD passes last week to go along with 3 on the ground. He also gets a matchup with an East Carolina squad that has one of the worst pass defenses in the country. Bryce Young ($10,600) is coming off 455 yards passing against Tennessee and could find himself in another shootout with Mississippi State.

Adrian Martinez ($10,500) Kansas State at TCU

4 TDs total seems like the floor on Saturday for K-State QB Adrian Martinez, who was held in check his last game with just 23 fp - but that was against a top 25 Iowa State defense. Martinez had posted 2 TD passes and 7 TD runs in the two games before that, the Wildcats are coming off a bye, and they play a TCU team battered up from their 2OT win over Oklahoma State last week. OSU QB Spencer Sanders had 2 TD runs and a TD pass in the 1st half against TCU last week before being slowed by a shoulder injury.

Holton Ahlers ($9,800) East Carolina vs UCF

On what looks like a relatively low scoring slate it's not a bad idea to target the UCF at East Carolina matchup that has an O/U of 63.5. Pirates QB Holton Ahlers could find himself in a ping pong match against Knights QB John Rhys Plumlee and Ahlers seems ready for that. He's thrown the ball at least 34 times in four straight games and had a 6TD pass day in week 5 against USF.

DraftKings CFB DFS Picks: Running Back

Alabama's Jahmyr Gibbs ($9,700) snagged himself a main slate perfect lineup berth last week with 103 yards rushing and 3 TDs vs. Tennessee. Gibbs and Mohamed Ibrahim ($9,800) are the two highest priced RBs on the night card, with Ibrahim getting a tough matchup against Penn State but with an even higher usage rate with QB Tanner Morgan questionable with a concussion.

Israel Abanikanda ($9,000) Pittsburgh at Louisville

Everybody knows about the big rushing numbers that Illinois' Chase Brown and Blake Corum of Michigan have put up, but Pitt's Israel Abanikanda deserves in the conversation of the best RB in the country. This is a guy who has insane ceiling potential just look at his 320 yards and 6 TDs last week against Virginia Tech breaking Tony Dorsett's single-game school yardage record. Those are QB-type numbers and against a Hokies defense that puts up very similar defensive stats to Louisville.

Keaton Mitchell ($8,300) East Carolina vs UCF

ECU's Keaton Mitchell landed on the perfect lineup in last week's night slate after 149 rushing yards and 3 TDs vs Memphis for a 38fp outing. He looks healed from an undisclosed injury suffered in the Navy game, carrying the ball a season high 29 times against the Tigers. UCF doesn't give up a ton of points (14.3) which is good to drive ownership down.

George Holani ($8,000) Boise State at Air Force

Boise State plays Air Force tonight and teams don't throw against the Falcons (155.9 ypg). They do run though (129.1 ypg) so George Holani has a chance for another solid night. Holani has 130+ rush yards the last two games and added a reception TD against Fresno State. The Broncos had a bye last week so they're better prepared for the physical matchup with AFA.

DraftKings CFB DFS Picks: Wide Receiver

Mississippi State at Alabama (61) and UCF at East Carolina (63.5) are the only two games on the night slate with totals in the 60s so they'll be the big target spots at WR here. Some other options include:

Quentin Johnston ($9,000) TCU vs Kansas State

At the very least you know TCU QB Max Duggan is going to be looking Quentin Johnston's way as the WR has 30 targets the last two weeks. Johnston usually comes down with those throws too as he has grabbed 22 balls for 386 yards over that span. K-State has a solid defense and is coming off a bye, but until somebody shows they can stop Johnston you play him.

Javon Baker ($7,200) Central Florida at East Carolina

Javon Baker has an up-down-up-down trend going with a 17 fp floor every other week this season. Since he's coming off 1 catch for 8 yards last week against Temple, the UCF WR is due and he does have an 11 target game this year while also getting a matchup with an East Carolina defense that gave up 407 pass yards to Memphis last week.

Ja'Corey Brooks ($6,800) Alabama vs Mississippi State

We could see Ja'Corey Brooks somewhat quietly turning into Bryce Young's favorite receiver. Brooks had 9 targets last week against Tennessee and finished with 6 catches for 79 yards and a TD. Brooks has ceiling potential like his 6 catch, 117 yard, 2 TD performance against Vanderbilt and the Crimson Tide could be in another shootout with Mississippi State on Saturday (O/U 61).

College Football DFS GPP Plays

QB - Ben Gulbranson ($7,300) Oregon State vs Colorado

Ben Gulbranson doesn't put up incredibly huge numbers - he's got a high of 250 yards passing to go along with 3 TDs and 1 INT the last two games starting for the injured Chance Nolan - but he's got the matchup Saturday night. Oregon State hosts a Colorado defense that is giving up 480.5 ypg. Most of those are on the ground (258.3) which is why a pivot to the Beavers passing attack is going to be rare.

RB - Damien Martinez ($5,300) Oregon State vs Colorado

Even though the Colorado defense looked better last week in a 20-13 win over Cal, this is still a team giving up 38.2 ppg. The Buffs have allowed 258.3 ypg on the ground to FBS opponents which is the 2nd most in the country, and Oregon State's Damien Martinez had a season high 16 carries for 111 yards last game. He got a higher workload following his 83 yards on 3 carries vs. Stanford the week prior and that trend should continue against CU.

WR - Kobe Hudson ($6,500) UCF at East Carolina

We saw former Auburn WR Kobe Hudson's potential last week with a 25-yard and a 64-yard TD catch to finish with 4 grabs for 121 yards and 2 TDs. That was in just his second game of the season so similar production against an ECU defense that is in the bottom 30 of passing yards allowed wouldn't be a huge shocker.

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