DFS College Football 101: Championship Week Friday Plays

DFS College Football 101: Champ Week Friday

Conference Championship Week gets started on Friday with the MAC and Pac-12. All four of these teams made it this far due to strong defensive performances. That makes things difficult while searching for viable fantasy options, but there's still several ways to construct a quality lineup in this two-game slate. Here are the odds attached to each Friday matchup:

Northern Illinois at Buffalo (-4) – Total: 51

Utah at Washington (-5) – Total: 45

Looking within that, I'll highlight the best fantasy selections on FanDuel & DraftKings while also touching on some situations to monitor for your DFS squads.

QUARTERBACK

Tyree Jackson - Buffalo (FanDuel $8,800 / DraftKings $8,500)

There's not much separation in terms of matchup, salary and overall fantasy potential between the four starting quarterbacks in this slate. I'm ultimately leaning towards Tyree Jackson, as he has been the best performer of this bunch all season with a steady 20 fantasy point per contest average. Buffalo marginally checks in with the highest scoring projection of the day, and they'll likely depend heavily on Jackson's arm against a Northern Illinois defense that ranks second in opponent yards per carry. On top of that, Buffalo's QB will have the added benefit of playing in a dome. Jackson's rushing upside helps too, as he has scored five times on the ground in the past four games.

Also Consider: There's a good chance I'll look towards both quarterbacks from the Buffalo-Northern Illinois game. Marcus Childers of NIU has been hit or miss this season, as you never really know which Huskies' rushing threat will capitalize by finding the end-zone. Still, Childers has reasonable ability to notch somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 fantasy points with a touchdown on the ground and through the air … The Washington defense is crazy good, but I'm not counting out Utah QB Jason Shelley for tournaments. The Utes will need Shelley to maintain drives on Friday, and he has enough rushing upside to post a solid fantasy line in an otherwise tough slate with very low opportunity cost.

RUNNING BACK

Myles Gaskin - Washington (FanDuel $10,300 / DraftKings $8,000)

I don't care that Utah ranks ninth in overall run defense and seventh in opponent yards per carry; I'm still taking Myles Gaskin in all of my lineups. Washington will look to feed him the ball as much as possible, letting him carry the Huskies to a Pac-12 Championship. Gaskin has seen 27+ carries in three of his past five games, hitting 21+ fantasy points in four of those. He even went for 30 carries, 143 yards and a score (22 FP) at Utah in an earlier meeting on September 15. A repeat performance isn't out of the question, and it's certainly in the game plan for Washington.

Tre Harbison – Northern Illinois (FanDuel $8,700 / DraftKings $7,000)

Harbison is no stranger to these weekday College Football DFS columns, as the sophomore has emerged as a legitimate option in the Northern Illinois' rushing attack. It's safe to assume that Harbison will pace the Huskies in carries, but that doesn't necessarily mean he'll notch a quality fantasy performance. That was the case over the past two weeks with 10 and 4 fantasy points against Miami Ohio and Western Michigan respectively. However, Harbison is still looking at solid volume around 20 carries in the best matchup of this slate. His opponent, Buffalo, ranks 68th in run defense and 64th in opponent yards per carry allowed (4.3), which could potentially open the door for Harbison to post a nice fantasy outing.

Also Consider: Jaret Patterson and Kevin Marks of Buffalo have flashed upside several times this season, but fantasy production may be tough to come by against a top ten Northern Illinois run defense. Marks is a tournament play at a cheap price, but even that seems like somewhat of a stretch … Salvon Ahmed should see around 10 carries when spelling starter Myles Gaskin. He has scored a pair of touchdowns in three of his past five games, sometimes getting the honors of finishing drives Gaskin started. If a score of two falls his way instead of the heavily owned likes of Myles Gaskin, that could be provide a big swing in tournaments … Marcus Jones is a cheap tournament pivot away from teammate Tre Harbison. When enacting this strategy, you are essentially hoping Jones will siphon touchdown opportunities away from Harbison despite getting half the number of his carries.

WIDE RECEIVER

Anthony Johnson – Buffalo (FanDuel $9,700 / DraftKings $8,200)

If you know anything about Buffalo football, you probably saw this coming after reading Tyree Jackson's name in the quarterback spot. Jackson is arguably the best quarterback on this slate, and Johnson is easily the best receiver on it. As mentioned earlier, I believe Buffalo will need to throw the ball to consistently move the chains against Northern Illinois and their elite rushing defense. That should make for plenty of targets funneling towards playmaker Anthony Johnson. Fade him at your own risk!

Aaron Fuller - Washington (FanDuel $7,700 / DraftKings $4,600)

Fuller is relatively cheap on both sites despite leading Washington in targets (85), receptions (49) and yards (754). Even though I'm expecting Huskies' RB Myles Gaskin to have a solid day overall, the stout Utah run defense should be able to force Washington to the air every once in a while. Fuller came down with six receptions for 108 yards in the first meeting at Utah on September 15, and I believe he will lead the Huskies in both categories again on Friday.

Also Consider: Even though he hasn't exactly shown it in recent weeks, D.J. Brown leads Northern Illinois in targets (81), receptions (51) and touchdowns (3) this season. He usually gets a couple of rushing attempts per game as well. In other words, he should be involved in this game, and I really like the cheap $6,000 salary on FanDuel to round out your lineup … Britain Covey of Utah, Ty Jones of Washington and Spencer Tears (better on DK) are other value fillers at wide receiver.