College Football DFS: DraftKings CFB Week 2 Main Slate

Week 1 is in the books, and what a week it was. Tallahassee vs. Electricity. Michigan vs. Clocks. Dabo Swinney vs. Accepting reality. Good times. 

We actually get a better Week 2 than usual this year. Week 1 was evidence that too many teams are scared of playing good non-con opponents to start the year, so it was cupcake city. We actually have some good-on-good this week, and on this slate. 

We unfortunately don't get Texas-Ohio State on this slate, but don't let that fool you. This one is going to be fun. Let's get to the slate overview and start breaking it all down.

Slate Overview

Programming note: I'll have the Week 2 results recap back in action next weekend. I was traveling and sick as a dog last week, so that nixed my data pull from Week 1. So, stay tuned for that going forward.

Looking ahead, here's the heatmap for this slate with (hopefully) everything you'll need to analyze these games.

Half the totals on the slate are 50.5 points or higher. Of those games, all are expected to be competitive except for Oregon-Oklahoma State, which could get ugly with the Ducks settling in as 22.5-point favorites.

Tight Spreads, High Totals

Minnesota (+1.5, TT 27) vs Mississippi State (TT 28.5)

This is a fascinating matchup, and there are a lot of ways to get at it for your lineup builds. Mississippi State is headlined by Kamario Taylor ($8,300), who laid waste to ULM in the opener. He dropped 45 fantasy points (5 total touchdowns, over 400 total yards) in just over a half of work. That is nuclear. It won't be as easy this week on the road against a Big Ten team, but it's hard to have a game like the one he did in the opener if you're not any good. 

Mississippi State spread the ball around a decent bit last week, with Anthony Evans ($6,100), Zion Ragans ($4,600), Marquis Johnson ($4,100), and Sanfrisco Magee ($3,800) all drawing five or more targets. Evans is the primary target and could be leaned on even more in a competitive setup like this one. Dropping down to Marquis Johnson ($4,100) would be my preferred pivot or pairing option if I'm stacking Mississippi State.

Minnesota can make Mississippi State hurt with the ground game. Despite last week's pedestrian per-carry numbers against Eastern Illinois, Minnesota can run it. Darius Taylor ($7,800) leads that group and punched in three touchdowns on 14 rushes in the opener. He's also an excellent receiving back, which is particularly useful on DraftKings. The Bulldogs' rush defense is suspect until they prove otherwise, so Taylor appears to be the best way to get at the Minnesota offense this week. 

There are two cheaper running backs in play here as well. Minnesota's TJ Thomas ($4,300) is Taylor's backup and looked good in the opener. J.J. Hill ($4,700) looked explosive over his seven carries, racking up a team-high 118 yards and two scores on the ground. Fluff Bothwell will likely take on a bigger share this week, but file Hill away as a name to consider if you're in need of a sub-$5k RB.

Pittsburgh (-7, TT 32.25) vs UCF (TT 25.25)

This game is going to be a lot of fun. It's the highest total on the slate with good offenses and suspect defenses on either side. Pitt is led by Mason Heintschel, who caught my eye last season as he took over for Eli Holstein. Alonza Barnett is at the helm for UCF after his successful stint at James Madison. He didn't have to do much in the opener with just 18 passes and five rushes against Bethune-Cookman. He's going to be much, much busier as both a rusher and as a passer Saturday.

It's hard to pick out the target leader for UCF as nobody surpassed three targets in that conservative opener, though it looks like Josh Derry ($3,600) might be the slight favorite. 

For Pitt, Cataurus 'Blue' Hicks looks like the next No.1 after his five grabs for 114 and a score in the opener. He's $6,300 so you'll need to budget accordingly if you're tossing him into your lineup. 

I love the running backs in this game as well. Ja'Kyrian Turner from Pitt projects to lead the backfield in carries and has strong pass-catching chops. Duke Watson ($4,800) for UCF was one of my favorite transfer pickups for any program this cycle and finally gets to be unleashed after toiling behind Isaac Brown at Louisville. Seven carries for 110 and a score in his UCF debut is a nice way for him to get started. 

There are a lot of ways to get at this game. Some lineups I'll lean more on a Heintschel-Hicks-Barnett base, though I'm not opposed to playing Heintschel and Turner in the same lineup either. Other lineups, I will have Watson and/or Turner in there. 

Big Team Totals

Oregon (-22.5) at Oklahoma State

Everyone has spent the week taking potshots at Oregon for its narrow win over Boise State last week. I'm not going to pull a Ryen Russillo and say I actually came away more impressed with Oregon after that one, but let's not ascribe too much meaning to it. They still nearly doubled up Boise in total yards. A lot of meat was left on the bone. This team is a juggernaut.

What I didn't hear as much about was Oklahoma State -- everyone's preseason darling and dark horse -- getting beat by Tulsa and mustering just 10 points. 

I think things course-correct in Oregon's favor this week, and the Ducks flex their muscle in Stillwater. Dante Moore  ($8,900) was dialed in Week 1 and the target tree looks reliable with all of Dakorien Moore ($6,300), Evan Steward ($6,200), Jeremiah McClellan ($5,900) and Jamari Johnson ($4,500) getting the bulk of the targets. I anticipate a similar target rotation again this week for as long as this game is remotely competitive. 

Oregon's run game is still very much live here, too. People might be a little turned off from last week, and that can work to our advantage. For example, everyone will be off Dierre Hill ($7,100) because of the disappointing start. Keep the faith. He averaged nearly 9.0 yards per carry over 75 attempts last season and will have a bigger role with Noah Whittington gone. Relax. 

I don't love the bringback options here. This new Oklahoma State nucleus needs to earn our trust. Playing against Oregon's defense doesn't really register as a "bounce back spot" for Drew Mestemaker and Co. I could see Wyatt Young as a play opposite an Oregon Stack, but you're paying $7,600. That's a high bar to clear. 

Other notable totals

• Penn State: 37
• Kansas State: 33.5
• Texas A&M: 32.5

College Football DFS Tools

• DraftKings Lineup Optimizer
• NEW Matchups Page (Vegas odds, opponent averages, etc.)
• Advanced Lineups Page
• Stats
• Team Trends
• Targets
• Defense vs. Position
• Team Rankings

Quarterback

I've said my piece about Kamario Taylor ($8,300) and Dante Moore ($8,900) being huge building blocks for my lineups this weekend. I've circled a couple other options that stick out on this slate.

Bear Bachmeier, BYU ($6,800) vs Arizona

Arizona's defense last year was one of the best in the country against the pass. It held opponents to 165.3 pass yards per game and had an unbelievable 9:22 TD:INT ratio. Almost 2.5x as many picks as touchdowns allowed. Yowza. The problem is continuity no longer exists in this sport when you're running that hot. Those numbers will regress this year. 

Bachmeier was impressive as a freshman and sharp in the opener, completing 16 of 20 passes for 198 yards and three scores. The opponent was extremely overmatched of course, but you'd rather see a stat line like that than a struggle bus one. He's also really strong as a runner who should push for 10+ attempts in this spot. 

Mason Heintschel, Pitt ($7,600) vs UCF

Heintschel went nutso in the opener and now gets a tougher test this week with UCF coming to town. UCF's defense is solid but nothing to shy away from when it comes to Heintschel. This total is the highest on the board and Pitt trusts Heintschel to let it rip. Pitt threw the ball 57% of the time last week. It also helps that oddsmakers expect a competitive game; UCF is just a 7-point underdog. This will hopefully mean that Heintschel will be near the top of the slate in terms of pass attempts this week. 

Others to Consider

• Avery Johnson, Kansas State ($8,500) vs Washington State
• Kenny Minchey, Kentucky ($5,800) vs Alabama
• Gio Lopez, Wake Forest ($7,200) at Purdue
• Cutter Boley, Arizona State ($6,200) at Texas A&M

Running Back

Borrowing from last week's article, running back is often where you want to target the high-dollar plays. It's harder to find down-board players who can realistically pop for 20+ points at running back. Meanwhile, a $4K receiver can get you where you need to go on one splash play. Catching a 40-yard bomb is more attainable than getting the ball in the backfield, navigating traffic, getting good blocking, finding room and then housing it from distance. We need high rushing volume from our backs.

The top of the board is a little funky this week. Jordan Marshall ($8,000) is 2nd-highest but has a brutal matchup on top of the fact that Michigan could barely move the rock on Western Michigan. Ja'Kyrian Turner ($7,900) has a good matchup and his pass-catching chops help boost his floor. We need 25+ points from him at that number, though. 

Nate Sheppard, Duke ($8,200) at Illinois

Sheppard projects as the best running back on this slate by a wide margin. It's not just the raw points, either, which are around 30. It's the per-dollar value (3.54). 

Illinois struggled to stop UAB's rushing attack last week, giving up 194 yards. I respect what Alex Mortenson has cooking at UAB but that's not an awesome sign for Illinois. Now, Illinois was strong against the run last year and will be better-prepared for this one. And the Illini know stopping Sheppard is the key to stopping Duke. 

The problem is, I don't know how stoppable Sheppard is. After an electric freshman season, Sheppard started 2026 with a bang, pummeling Tulane for 227 yards and two touchdowns on 35 carries. The man is ready to take on 30+ carries. Where else are you getting that on this slate? Lock him in and figure out the rest. 

Darius Taylor, Minnesota ($7,800) vs Mississippi State

It feels like Taylor has been around forever at this point. It's fun to chase the new and shiny upside plays, of course, but players like Taylor need to stay on our radar. He's had three solid seasons as the bell cow for the Gophers and is off to a good start this year, having scored three touchdowns on 14 carries in the opener.

Mississippi State defensive coordinator has a big mess to clean up on that side of the ball, specifically against the run. The Bulldogs allowed 186 rushing yards per game last year (117th) at a 4.87 YPC clip. Even ULM moved it on them a little bit last week with 138 yards, though in fairness it took 40 rushes to get there. 

Taylor and the Minnesota line pose an entirely different challenge here. The senior back is no stranger to heavy workloads. Expect one here against a vulnerable run defense.

Shavane Anderson, Syracuse ($4,600) vs California

I know what I was saying earlier about paying up at running back. Hear me out, though. California showed some serious cracks in its run defense last week as it coughed up 277 rushing yards to UCLA on 8.7 YPC. Yeesh. Syracuse can't run it like that, but come on. 

Anderson could be a problem for Cal. The ACC rookie of the week had just 10 carries in the opener, and it was against New Hampshire. Those 10 carries went for 102 yards and three touchdowns. Is that not interesting? 

Tylik Hill ($5,200) might have a safer workload projection here, though it's hard to imagine Fran Brown seeing what Anderson did last week and deciding he's better off leaving the freshman out of the game plan. All we need is another 8-10 carries from Anderson and he becomes a solid bet to pay off at $4,600. 

Others to consider

• Ja'Kyrian Turner, Pitt ($7,900)
• Duke Watson, UCF ($4,800)
• Joe Jackson, Kansas State ($6,300)
• Ty Clark, Wake Forest ($6,600)
• Dierre Hill, Oregon ($7,100)

Wide Receivers

Target Report

Here's this week's target report. We don't have much of a sample, and last weekend had so many odd and lopsided games that we have to take these with a sizable grain of salt. That said, it paints a picture of where the ball is going in each of the offenses on this slate.

For this week, I set the filters to players with at least 20% of the target share and a minimum of 9.0 YPT. Directionally, this will tell us who is getting the looks and capitalizing on them. 

Anthony Evans, Mississippi State ($6,100) at Minnesota

This will be a little chalky, and the Evans-Taylor duo will be among the most popular lineup combos this week. Sometimes the chalk hits, though, and I'm going with it this weekend. We can get different elsewhere.

In addition to my belief in Taylor having success Saturday, Evans is a huge piece of this passing game. He's an explosive athlete and terrific downfield target. He had a 24% target share in a blowout last week and should hover around that figure as a more competitive game should drive higher passing volume. 

The cheaper options I mentioned earlier are all live on this slate and present ways to have a more unique Mississippi State stack. Evans will be my go-to from this group. 

Koby Howard, Penn State ($4,800) at Temple

Behold, a Penn State player who wasn't at Iowa State last year. Howard had his breakout last weekend against Marshall to the tune of six grabs for 161 and a touchdown. I was so underwhelmed by some of the skill guys that came over for Ames I was just hoping that there was somebody else to get excited about on Penn State. I think Howard is that guy. 

Penn State is a big favorite, but not egregiously so. The team total sits close to 40 points. If Howard has the claim to air yardage and targets that I think he does, he will smash in this soft matchup. 

Legend Glasker, BYU ($4,400) vs Arizona

Something tells me we won't be seeing Glasker down under $5k for much longer. The freshman has been foretold. This clip from Pete Thamel caught my attention over the summer and had me checking the BYU box score last weekend while they were trouncing Utah Tech.

Three total touchdowns in a debut should've sent the hype train into overdrive. We're not quite there yet, but we will be. All summer, I wondered who would step up for BYU without Chase Roberts or Parker Kingston. I think we have our answer.

If you're picking up what I was putting down about Bear Bachmeier earlier, Glasker needs to be on your radar. Even if you weren't, $4,400 is a great value for a player with this talent. Fire him up.

Others to Consider

• Asaad Waseem, Purdue ($4,900)
• Reed Harris ($5,800) and Omarion Miller ($6,600), Arizona State
• Collin Dixon ($5,500), Illinois