DraftKings College Football: Week 12 Main Slate Picks

Welcome back for our Week 12 installment of the DraftKings main slate breakdown. It's a wonky week across college football with so many teams taking on lesser competition before their regular season finales next week. We have a good slate here on DraftKings, however.

The crown jewel of the slate is the Oklahoma State-West Virginia matchup with a 73.5 implied total. Getting the right pieces of that game while also finding the right value plays elsewhere on this slate will be pivotal. Luckily, there are plenty of soft defenses (South Florida, Louisville, Wake Forest) on this slate that gives mid-tier players a boosted projection.

One major takeaway I have from examining this slate is the running back pricing. There are obviously great options like Dexter Williams, Ryquell Armstead, and Karan Higdon, but the mid-tier is the part of the board that I'll be targeting. Most of my lineups will be using running backs $6,000 or lower to allow me to attack the top tier at receiver and quarterback.

Listed below are all of our tools to help you build your lineups, along with a cheat sheet and my position by position breakdown.

Lineup optimizer
Weekly rankings by position
Target share
Team trends
Odds
Defense vs. Position

Quarterback

Will Grier, West Virginia ($10,100) at Oklahoma State

This game has far-and-away the highest implied total of any game on the slate at 73.5, and the quarterbacks are a huge reason why. Of course, Grier is the headliner and is priced accordingly as the most expensive player on the slate. As you'll see, there are plenty of value plays on this slate that will allow you to fit him into your lineup. Grier is fourth in the nation in passing yards per game (329), fifth in touchdown passes (31) and has the third-highest YPA (9.9) in FBS. You could go the other way on this game and roster Taylor Cornelius and I wouldn't blame you one bit. I'll have Cornelius lineups. I just feel that Grier is a strong play even with the inflated price tag.

Superflex Du Juor: Alex Delton, Kansas State ($5,700) vs. Texas Tech

I know, I know. It's gross. It's a Kansas State quarterback who's going to throw it maybe 20 passes and maybe complete a little over half of 'em. But Delton can run, and he does it often. Since taking over as QB1 in Week 10, he has run 39 times in a two-game span. He has averaged just 2.8 yards per carry in those outings, but he has also scored a rushing touchdown in each of those two games. Delton has also showed an ability to go off against soft run defenses in the past, as evidenced by his 158-yard game against UCLA and his 142-yard game against Oklahoma last season. Rostering a quarterback this cheap at superflex opens plenty of options and allows you to aggressively target some of the premium options at other spots.

Running back

Olamide Zaccheaus, Virginia ($6,000) at Georgia Tech

Zaccheaus is somewhat miscast as a running back on DK and I'm totally fine with it. It's a full-point PPR format and Zacchaeus is 16th in the nation in targets with an even 100 through 10 games. Comparing him to wide receivers at a similar price, Zacchaeus has a much higher floor than almost all of them. He has at least 10 targets in seven games and at least five catches in seven games as well. The counter to Zacchaeus is that he'll be chalky and he hasn't scored a touchdown in five games. I'll take the volume and lock in Zacchaeus.

Darrin Hall, Pittsburgh ($5,900) at Wake Forest

Qadree Ollison is an excellent back and has 13 percent higher of a carry share than Hall. That's fine. Ollison shouldn't be $2,500 higher than Hall, though. Hall doesn't need a high carry volume to generate production. He averages an absurd 8.79 YPC over 96 carries and has eight rushing touchdowns. What seals it for me is that Wake Forest has one of the worst run defenses in the nation (see above table) and has given up 27 rushing touchdowns. That's more than Illinois and Rutgers! Pitt is going to run the ball (62.8 run play percentage, 12th in FBS) and has no reason to feed Ollison 30 carries when it has a runner of Hall's caliber.

Anthony McFarland, Maryland ($4,900) vs. Ohio State

Did you know: McFarland is eighth in the Big Ten in rushing (724 yards). Did you know: Ohio State's J.K. Dobbins has 712 yards...on 53 more carries than McFarland. Ok, now that we have that out of the way. Maryland is obviously a big underdog Saturday but Ohio State has been susceptible to good running backs all season and might not be at its sharpest for a noon game on the road against a mediocre Terrapin team when the Michigan game looms next week. McFarland also has a stronger volume projection than usual with Ty Johnson and Javon Leake dinged up. Look at McFarland as a viable tournament piece.

Ryquell Armstead, Temple ($8,600) vs. USF

If you weren't familiar with Armstead before last week's game against Houston, you certainly are now. He torched the Cougs for 60 (!) DK points with 210 yards and six scores to mark his second game with over 45 fantasy points this season. This week he draws a matchup against a South Florida that gives up 247 rushing yards per game -- the second most of any team on this slate. If you're going expensive at running back, Armstead is the move.

Others to consider: Reggie Gallaspy, North Carolina State ($6,300) at Louisville; Johnny Ford, South Florida ($5,300) at Temple

Wide receiver

Kelvin Harmon ($8,100) and Jakobi Meyers ($7,100), North Carolina State at Louisville

Volume is key when picking your receivers on DraftKings, and few can challenge these two in that regard. Despite being $1,000 less, Meyers has actually seen more targets (44) than Harmon (41) over the last four weeks. Harmon, however, has been the more efficient option with a 10.5 YPT mark compared to Meyers' 7.7. Both are strong plays this week against a porous Louisville defense, especially when you consider how reliably North Carolina State's passing attack is channeled through these two. Emeka Emezie is worth a look if you're looking for a mid-priced piece of this passing attack.

Jaylen Smith, Louisville ($5,300) vs. North Carolina State

I'm holding my nose as I suggest a real live player on this Louisville team. Oh well. Smith, despite the trash heap around him, has a few things working in his favor. He owns a 20 percent target share, which is the highest on the team. He has seen at least 24 percent of the targets each of the last two weeks. And, finally, North Carolina State quietly has a terrible secondary that gives up a slate-worst 305 passing yards per game. You won't have to worry about him having a high ownership percentage, either. *This is a tournament-only play.

Tyron Johnson, Oklahoma State ($6,200) vs. West Virginia

Tylan Wallace is the headliner in the Oklahoma State receiving corps and carries a hefty $8,800 price tag. If you want to get a piece of the 'Pokes offense without breaking the bank, Johnson is a fine pivot. Johnson has seen 28 targets over the last two weeks and converted those looks into 19 grabs for 209 yards and a touchdown. He's not nearly as explosive as Wallace, but the volume trajectory is promising and this game figures to be a high-scoring, pass-heavy showdown.

Others to consider: Stanley Morgan Jr., Nebraska ($6,100) vs. Michigan State; Chris Olave, Ohio State ($3,000) at Maryland.