The DFS column joined TCU and took last week off…primarily because the FanDuel service took just about the whole week off as well. There was a major failure where live stats were unavailable and winners weren’t paid out for several days. Since then, FanDuel has been very slow to post contests for College Football - single-game contests for Saturday didn’t post until 2:30 PM on Friday. Perhaps FanDuel no longer wants to put the resources into creating a strong CFB DFS experience. While I cannot suggest putting your money in their hands, I am a degenerate and will continue to play.

Okay, time to look forward at the best plays for Week 8:

Single Game Slate

For the single game showdown slate, you select 5 “flex” players, which can be any offensive player, including QB. One of those 5 is selected in the MVP spot, where his points will be multiplied by 1.5.

Oklahoma (-7) @ TCU, O/U: 59.5

I had this all written up as if there would be no Single-Game contests this week, but then the contests magically appeared Friday afternoon…

Stud

Spencer Rattler, QB Oklahoma ($16,500) – I have this sneaking suspicion that this is the week that Rattler shows us that he is who we thought he was – a superstar in the making, playing for one of the top offensive minds in the game, and able to operate at a high level even against a challenging defense. He’s going to score on the ground and in the air, the only question will be if Duggan and the Frogs can keep up.

Value

Theo Wease, WR Oklahoma ($8,000) – How much of a value is Wease? He’s priced lower than Drake Stoops….Wease was a 5-star recruit and finally got a lot of looks against Texas, with 8 catches. I can see him finally getting his first TD of the season on Saturday. While Mims and Rambo get much of the attention, it could be a breakout week for Wease.

Building your lineup, there are plenty of good Frogs to fit in, but I didn’t feel any were the best value. I am certainly hoping to be proven wrong and TCU can keep the OU offense contained and Max gets the offense back on track, but we’ll see

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Main Slate

Reminder: your Main Slate roster will include 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, and a Super Flex (any offensive player, including QB). The Main Slate this week includes just 11 game, as the Big Ten has joined the party, knocking exciting G5 games like SMU-Cinci off the Main Slate. With the limited slate, including many lackluster games, it’s tough to dig deep. Let’s try to build the best line up:

Stud QB

Justin Fields ($10,800): Ohio State (-26.5) vs. Nebraska, O/U 68.5 – I am down on the top-priced QBs this week, as the prices are especially high and they are all in bad matchups or low-scoring games, thile there are great plays in the middle/low tiers. The exception is Fields and the Buckeyes, with a team total of 45.5 as massive home favorites. Fields was one of the players leading the charge to play football this fall and he’ll get his chance against a Nebraska team that begged to play and now gets its wish with a likely slaughtering in the Horseshoe. If the ‘Huskers can keep it close enough that Fields plays in the 4^th quarter and has to continue throwing, then this will be a huge day for him statistically, but expect he’ll pay off even in a half of game time.

Value QB

Bo Nix ($8,600): Auburn (-3.5) vs. Mississippi, O/U 71.5 – So Nix has not been very good this year and losing to South Carolina (and a should-be loss to Arkansas) took away illusion that these Tigers were going to make a run in the SEC West. But Coach Malzahn always seems to pull himself from the brink just when you think it may be over…and make no mistake, losing to Lane’s Rebels could mean the end of the Malzahn era. Despite not being a good actual-football quarterback, other than the Georgia game Bo has been pretty solid as a fantasy QB. And the Ole Miss defense is about as far from Georgia’s as it gets – continuing to be the worst P5 defense in EPA per play. I see Bo getting the playmakers involved and keeping Malzahn afloat another week.

Stud RB

Chuba Hubbard ($9,500) / Breece Hall ($9,600): Oklahoma State (-3) vs. Iowa State, O/U 52 – This game is going to be a battle, an absolutely massive contest in the Big 12 race. Both teams will lean heavily on their bell cow runners, so you should expect high volume and high performance. If we knew more about Ohio State’s plan at RB, that’d probably be the play here, but both Sermon & Teague are priced as studs, but there’s no certainty either will be a feature back. You of course could always pay up for Najee ($10,400) as a huge favorite against a fairly strong Tennessee run D and likely not be disappointed

Value RB

Mo Ibrahim ($6,800): Minnesota (+3) vs. Michigan, O/U 54 – It’s hard to know what these teams will look like – maybe Michigan will be good again, who knows? I like a lot of Gophers on the slate this week – Pair Morgan as a Value QB at $7,800 with Bateman as a Stud WR at $9,000 and Chris Autman-Bell as a Value WR $6,800 and enjoy rooting for them to light up the Wolverines - but it appears Ibrahim will be the lead back for the Gophers. At this price point in a likely close game with a solid total, it’s worth taking a shot.

Stud WR

Shi Smith ($9,200): South Carolina (+6) vs. LSU, O/U 55 – Smith has been flying under the radar this season, but has been a superstar for the Gamecocks, especially in games where they are behind . Smith is unquestionably the top receiving option on the team and should get a ton of targets in this game. Meanwhile the LSU pass defense has been atrocious, getting lit up by SEC stalwarts like Connor Bazelak and KJ Costello.

Value WR

Devin Carter ($6,500): NC State (+15) vs. North Carolina, O/U 60.5 – The Wolfpack have been quite a surprise this season, sneaking into the AP Top 25 this week and already sitting with 4 ACC wins. Meanwhile the UNC defense has been poor over the last few weeks, giving up lots of yards and points to teams they should be handling with ease. Here they are again as big favorites and hoping to slow down their in-state rivals. I think Carter takes advantage of the reeling UNC defense to pay off a low price point.

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Weekly Contest

Note: you will need a FanDuel account, but you do not need to make a deposit to join this contest, all these games are free and just for bragging rights.

Can you defeat me and the competition this week? We have a single-game contest for the TCU-OU game and a Main Slate contest. Join both by copying the below URLs into your browser.

For the Single-Game TCU-OU contest: https://www.fanduel.com/entry/51206-239293658

For the Main Slate contest: https://www.fanduel.com/entry/51181-239293722

Good luck!