A brief peek back at what went right and what went wrong in Week 8:

Good Calls

The best call of the week was Chip Trayanum as Value RB - priced at basement level and rostered on 0.1% of tournament lineups - he exploded in his debut for 2 TDs and 84 yards for Arizona State. Kedon Slovis ended up paying off as a Stud QB leading a furious late comeback win over Trayanum’s Sun Devils. The WRs also cashed in at their value as Rashod Bateman caught 10 passes for 154 yards and a TD, while Charlie Kolar had a solid game defeating Baylor, including scoring a TD.

Bad Calls

Unfortunately we didn’t get to see my Value QB Davis Mills because he received what turned out to be a false-positive COVID test pre-game. Stud RB Leddie Brown scored a TD, but had an injury against Texas as this game was more a boring slog than an opportunity for fireworks.

Let’s look forward to the best plays for Week 11:

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TCU (+3) vs. West Virginia, O/U: 45

TCU is not available for single-game contests or on the Main Slate, but Frogs-Mountaineers will be featured on the Early Only slate, so that will be our focus this week. As a likely low-scoring ball-control rock fight of a game, you’re probably best to avoid this game when building a lineup. However, how could players from this game best fit into your Early Only roster?

Stud

Leddie Brown, RB West Virginia ($9,500) – Guess we’re going back to this well. If Brown is healthy and suited-up for Saturday, he’d be in line to be the top performer in this game. If he ends up being out, you could pivot down to backup Alec Sinkfield ($7,800), who has looked good when given opportunity this season, and spend the savings to upgrade another position

Value

Blair Conwright, WR TCU ($5,700) – We could see this game play out similar to the K-State game, where Conwright caught 6 passes for 60 yards. At this price, even that performance pays off, but if he can get into the end zone you’ll be on your way to a smash lineup.

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Early Slate

Reminder: your Main Slate roster will include 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, and a Super Flex (any offensive player, including QB). The Early Slate this week includes 8 games, including several teams that haven’t quite reached the Main Slate yet, but have been putting up big performances all season. It also includes the cancelled Coastal Carolina-Troy game, so get all your Chanticleers and Trojans out of your lineups.

Stud QB

Sam Howell ($10,000): North Carolina (-13) vs. Wake Forest, O/U 66.5 – The Tar Heels have been scoring points at a very high rate and Howell has been driving the train. Even as the UNC running game has been stellar, Howell’s stats have been superb as well. With this high total and high spread, there should plenty of scoring to spread around.

Value QB

Terry Wilson ($8,800): Kentucky (-18) vs. Vanderbilt, O/U 41.5 – The stud QBs are priced way up this week, but they are all in good matchups with high spreads, so if you can fit two into your lineup, that’s probably the best strategy. However, if looking to save up for studs at other positions, dropping down to the QB facing the Commodores is a solid option. Even with the low game total, the Wildcats are still projected for 29.5 points, so plenty of opportunity for Wilson to rack up plenty of fantasy points. He suffered a wrist injury and is questionable for the game – if Wilson misses, drop down to backup Joey Gatewood ($7,800) and use the extra cash to upgrade another position.

Stud RB

Brenden Knox ($10,400): Marshall (-24) vs. MTSU, O/U 56.5 – The Thundering Herd are massive home favorites in a game with a huge total; Knox is the lead back likely to get tons of carries, amass extravagant yardage, and score twice at least. Lock it in.

Value RB

Raheem Blackshear ($6,300): Virginia Tech (-2) vs. Miami FL, O/U 68 – Although the QBs in this game are the likely best plays, their price tags are very high. Take an opportunity with a player that should be on far fewer lineups and could be in line for a bell-cow level workload, with frequent scoring opportunities. The Hokies superstar RB Khalil Herbert is nursing a hamstring injury suffered in last week’s loss to Liberty and seems likely to sit for this one, leaving Blackshear in prime position to take advantage at a basement-level price.

Stud WR

Jahan Dotson ($9,600): Penn State (-3) vs. Nebraska, O/U 56.5 – So far this season, Nebraska has been one of the worst defenses in the country in EPA per pass, 114^th out of 121, per cfb-graphs.com. With the issues suffered at the RB position for the Nittany Lions, Dotson has become their main source of offense, putting up huge stat lines in each of his first three games. There’s no reason to expect the ‘Huskers to slow him down Saturday.

Value WR

Wan’Dale Robinson ($6,600): Nebraska (+3) vs. Penn State, O/U 56.5 – Nebraska sure was gung-ho to play football this season until they had to actually play football. Now with two games lost on the field and another COVID cancelled, the Cornhuskers are less excited about football in 2020. Robinson was one of the top reasons for excitement in Lincoln, but has been yet to launch this season – perhaps this is the game that lets him loose. Taking on two top defenses in Northwestern and Ohio State has stalled Nebraska, but this week they get a Penn State defense that is terrible in comparison (109 of 121 in EPA/pass), which should open things up for the Big Red offense. Paired with the news that Coach Frost will be looking to get Robinson involved in the backfield as well (he was the #1 All Purpose RB in the 2019 recruiting class), sets up an opportunity for a breakout day from Robinson.

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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? Get in on the Early Slate and Main Slate contests this week. Join both by copying the below URL into your browser.

For the Early Slate contest: https://www.fanduel.com/entry/51684-240124098

For the Main Slate contest: https://www.fanduel.com/entry/51679-240124193

Good luck!