This article is part of our DraftKings College Football series.
Welcome to our Week 6 main slate breakdown. We're into October and conference play is in full swing. On top of that, weather is starting to play a factor with rain expected at several of the main slate's venues Saturday, so look for run-heavy games in the Big Ten matchups and elsewhere. Below I'll give a small primer on the slate itself before delving into the weekly cheat sheet and my position-by-position breakdown. As always, you can direct any questions you may have to the comment section and I'll respond as soon as possible.
Quarterback Strategy
This is the first week in recent memory where it doesn't feel like going after the most expensive quarterbacks on the board is a lineup prerequisite. Will Grier ($10,400), Kyler Murray ($10,200) and Dwayne Haskins ($9,800) are all fine plays that won't bust this week, but there's reason to believe they won't reach their respective ceilings, either. Grier is the safest of the bunch and is priced accordingly, while Kyler Murray will be facing his toughest test to date in a rivalry game that always goes a bit sideways. As for Haskins, we saw that he was mortal last week in Happy Valley, and while he won't be reduced to throwing screen after screen this week, he's still facing a tough Indiana defense. With that, I'm likely to go after the mid-tier quarterbacks this week. I mention several below, and also think that Clemson's Trevor Lawrence ($8,700) and Wake Forest's Sam Hartman are worth
Welcome to our Week 6 main slate breakdown. We're into October and conference play is in full swing. On top of that, weather is starting to play a factor with rain expected at several of the main slate's venues Saturday, so look for run-heavy games in the Big Ten matchups and elsewhere. Below I'll give a small primer on the slate itself before delving into the weekly cheat sheet and my position-by-position breakdown. As always, you can direct any questions you may have to the comment section and I'll respond as soon as possible.
Quarterback Strategy
This is the first week in recent memory where it doesn't feel like going after the most expensive quarterbacks on the board is a lineup prerequisite. Will Grier ($10,400), Kyler Murray ($10,200) and Dwayne Haskins ($9,800) are all fine plays that won't bust this week, but there's reason to believe they won't reach their respective ceilings, either. Grier is the safest of the bunch and is priced accordingly, while Kyler Murray will be facing his toughest test to date in a rivalry game that always goes a bit sideways. As for Haskins, we saw that he was mortal last week in Happy Valley, and while he won't be reduced to throwing screen after screen this week, he's still facing a tough Indiana defense. With that, I'm likely to go after the mid-tier quarterbacks this week. I mention several below, and also think that Clemson's Trevor Lawrence ($8,700) and Wake Forest's Sam Hartman are worth targeting.
Running Back Strategy
The running back selection in this slate is, in a word, strange. There are legitimate arguments against most of the top tier options and the middle tier is almost non-existent in terms of viable options. What's more, this is a very defense-heavy slate and it's reflected in the implied totals where there are as many sub-50 over/unders as there are over/unders at 60-or-more. With that, I'll be looking mostly at bargain running backs beyond Clemson's Travis Etienne or Oklahoma State's Justice Hill.
Cheat Sheet
Tools
Lineup Optimizer
Weekly Rankings by position
Targets
Team Trends
Odds
Defense vs. Position.
Quarterback
Sam Ehlinger, Texas
The Red River Rivalry game is where stars are born and legends are made. Ehlinger wasn't quite ready for the limelight last year when he went 19-for-39 with a touchdown in a narrow loss to the Sooners and he looked a little shaky to start this season. Ehlinger has largely righted the ship since Week 1 and averages a strong 26.4 fantasy points per game. Oklahoma, by raw numbers, has a decent enough defense and the advanced metrics back up that notion (62nd in S&P+). That's still not enough to dissuade me off of using Ehlinger, who is at the helm of an innovative offense with talented receivers and also adds a rushing floor that's crucial for fantasy purposes. If you're looking away from the top tier at quarterback, Ehlinger is the first place I'd look.
N'Kosi Perry, Miami ($6,800) vs. Florida State
Perry has long been thought of as Miami's quarterback of the future, and after waiting for over a year to finally take over, the future is now. The redshirt freshman made his first career start in Miami's blowout win over North Carolina in Week 5, and though the opportunities were limited, Perry looked the part. He went 8-for-12 for 125 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Perry did also lose a fumble, so he'll need to do a better job protecting the ball against a tougher 'Noles defense. Still, he's at home with a loaded receiving corps at his disposal, and Florida State's defense is among the worst against the pass of any team on this slate. There are arguments against Perry for this week (inexperience, potential high ownership percentage in contests) but they don't outweigh the factors working in his favor in Week 6.
Superflex Dart: Carter Stanley, Kansas ($5,100)
Confirmed as the starter, Stanley will lead the upstart Jayhawks into Morgantown this week. Stanley was impressive in a home start last week, completing 24 of 32 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns without committing a single turnover against a respectable Oklahoma State defense. This week will be a decidedly tougher challenge as the Mountaineers are allowing just 212.8 passing yards per game, but we don't need elite production out of Stanley for him to hit value. The implied game script suggests Kansas will need to go to the air early and often with West Virginia profiling as heavy favorites, so Stanley should get plenty of opportunities and is therefore a decent bet to hit value at $5,100.
Running Back
Travis Etienne, Clemson ($8,800) at Wake Forest
Etienne is the only top shelf running back I trust through and through. Players like Justice Hill, Karan Higdon, and J.K. Dobbins all face tougher-than-you'd-think matchups and could have their workloads cut into by capable counterparts save for maybe Hill. Etienne showed what he can do in a workhorse role last week with 27 carries for 203 yards and three scores. Clemson might not lean on him as much this week with Trevor Lawrence expected back, but even if that's the case, this is a soft matchup for Etienne. Wake Forest gives up a slate-worst 189.6 rushing yards per game. If you're going pricey at running back, lock in either Etienne or Hill, but Etienne is my preferred recommendation.
Kennedy McKoy, West Virginia ($5,000) vs. Kansas
Kansas has been respectable on defense this year, but most of that respect should be directed towards the secondary that allows just 202 passing yards per game. Its run defense? Not as much. The Jayhawks give up 177.2 rushing yards per game -- the second-most of any defense on this slate. Now, West Virginia's backfield has been difficult to solve, but things are taking shape to an extent. McKoy has a team-high 244 rushing yards on 38 carries (6.42 YPC) and he's also a threat as a pass-catcher out of the backfield. It's not a play that has super high upside, but on a slate where good running back value is hard to find, McKoy has a strong enough role to warrant consideration.
Keontay Ingram, Texas ($4,900) at Oklahoma
Oklahoma is shaky against the run and Ingram seems to be back on the upswing after battling through injury earlier in the season. He headed the Texas backfield last weekend with 10 carries for 68 yards and added the ever-valuable pass-catching ability with five catches on five targets. Ingram has the physical tools to make the most of his opportunites Saturday even if the volume is somewhat capped, and the pass-catching upside boosts his value on a PPR site like Draftkings.
Wide Receiver
Marquise Brown, Oklahoma ($7,700) vs. Texas
As long as Brown is under $8,000 it's going to be hard for me to not use him in all of my lineups. Texas is admittedly a tough matchup for Brown on the back end, arguably the toughest he'll face all season. Well, we don't have to worry about a blowout here limiting Brown's targets. And, uh, Brown averages 15.54 yards per target. There's no need to overthink this one, Brown is a strong play among the top tier receivers for Saturday's slate.
Jeff Thomas, Miami ($5,300) vs. Florida State
Unless there's an undisclosed injury or some sort of beef between him and N'Kosi Perry, there's no good reason why Thomas has seen just two targets over the last two weeks. Thomas is an absolute game-breaker that scalded LSU for five catches for 132 yards in Week 1 and he finished the first three weeks of the season with 11 grabs for 304 yards and two scores. There's some risk here, as we can't ignore the steep dropoff since that point. This is a gamble on talent shining through and paying off against a Florida State secondary that has given up 284 passing yards per game despite a soft schedule in terms of quarterbacks faced. A Thomas-Perry mini-stack will be something I experiment in at least one lineup Saturday. Lawrence Cager may be a GPP consideration from the Miami receiving corps as well thanks to his red zone ability.
Landon Wolf, Oklahoma State ($4,200) vs Iowa State
Last week's minimum-salary play of the week, Wolf's salary has shot up quite a bit but is still an affordable $4,200. This one will require some monitoring of the injury report to confirm that Dillon Stoner is out again, but even if he's not, Wolf has seemingly done enough to earn playing time in Week 6. He had a team-high seven targets in a start last week and converted that into six grabs for 116 yards and a touchdown. Iowa State's pass defense is nothing special, certainly nothing to avoid specifically in a home matchup for Oklahoma State. You won't be outsmarting the room by rostering him the way you did last week, but for a bargain bin receiver, he's a fine choice.
