This article is part of our DFS College Football 101 series.
DFS College Football 101: Army-Navy Showdown
In this article, I will be breaking down the Single Game slate between Army and Navy starting at 3:00 ET on Saturday, December 8. We should see plenty of rushing attempts in this battle of triple-option attacks. Army checks in as 7 point favorites with a modest 40 point over/under.
Looking within that, I'll highlight the best fantasy selections on FanDuel & DraftKings while categorizing them as core plays and worthy fillers. Let's get to it!
CORE PLAYS
Kelvin Hopkins Jr. – QB – Army (FanDuel $17,000 / DraftKings $15,600)
Hopkins is easily the best fantasy player in this game. He has topped 22+ fantasy points in four games this season, and I wouldn't be surprised if he reaches that mark on Saturday. Navy's defense is the weaker unit of these two teams, ranking 84th in overall run defense and 105th in yards per carry allowed at 5.1 yards/attempt. Hopkins will likely see 20-25 carries with a few opportunities to sneak in a passing touchdown as well. I'll be taking him as my MVP on FanDuel. He's a FLEX play on DraftKings due to salary considerations (MVP is 1.5x salary) that we will discuss later.
Zach Abey – QB – Navy (FanDuel $16,000 / DraftKings $13,200)
Abey has had a curious path to the starting quarterback job for this Army-Navy rivalry. He was hurt at the beginning of the season, forcing him to play some wide receiver with limited snaps. Abey was occasionally used as a goal-line quarterback in the early months of the season as well. He's now healthy and in complete possession of the Navy quarterback assignments. He has racked up 20+ fantasy points in three straight games, seeing massive volume with 26+ carries in three of his past four. I'm expecting that type of volume on Saturday, which places him in Single Game consideration on both sites despite facing an Army defense that ranks fifth in rushing defense.
Darnell Woolfolk – RB – Army (FanDuel $15,000 / DraftKings $13,800)
These three guys (Hopkins, Abey, and Woolfork) are the best fantasy plays to consider on this slate. It may not seem possible to squeeze all of them into a lineup on either site, but I'll give you some options to make that happen in the "worthy fillers" section. Woolfork has seen 21+ carries in four of his past five games, racking up nine touchdowns over that span. For that reason, he's an elite fantasy prospect for Single Game purposes. In fact, you could argue putting him as MVP on FanDuel over Hopkins Jr, as he could hoard the rushing touchdowns for himself.
WORTHY FILLERS
Jordan Asberry – RB – Army (FanDuel $10,000 / DraftKings $1,000)
Asberry is the key to stacking those aforementioned players on DraftKings. Remember that your "captain" on DraftKings gives you 1.5x fantasy points, but you also have to pay 1.5x his salary. It's nearly impossible to create a team under the allotted cap space if you put Hopkins, Abey or Woolfork in that spot. Because of that, I'd rather put a value filler in that spot and then roster that trio in my other utility positions. Asberry is severely underpried at the minimum $1,000 on DraftKings. You can tell by the relative difference between that and his FanDuel price of $10,000. We aren't expecting a ton of production from Asberry, but he's the starting A-RB for an Army team that is on the more fantasy-friendly side of this matchup. He could see a handful of carries and a few receptions to make some noise. More importantly, he allows you to stack the rest of your lineup.
Anthony Gargiulo – RB – Navy (FanDuel $7,000 / DraftKings $8,400)
Navy doesn't rely on their fullback nearly as much as Army does with Woolfork. However, Gargiulo could still see 10-15 carries on Saturday. He has yet to score a touchdown this season, but he's cheap enough on FanDuel to be considered as a value filler.
Tre Walker – RB – Navy (FanDuel $8,500 / DraftKings $1,600)
Walker is an underpriced asset on DraftKings. He doesn't see a ton of carries, but he's listed as one of the starting backs for Navy's triple-option attack. Don't expect any sort of upside, but Walker could help you roster the players you really want on your squad.
Mike Martin – RB – Navy (FanDuel $6,000 / DraftKings $1,000)
This is more of a FanDuel pick with Martin listed as one of the few minimum-salary options that actually sees playing time. Navy likes to rotate their running backs, and Martin has been seeing about a handful of carries per game lately. He's a senior playing his last collegiate game, so maybe there's some extra motivation to put him on the field more than usual.
Connor Slomka – RB – Army (FanDuel $6,000 / DraftKings $3,600)
Slomka is another minimum-salary filler I'm looking towards on FanDuel to make the rest of my lineup work. He's listed as one of the many fullbacks behind Darnell Woolfork on the depth chart. Slomka was able to post some reasonable fantasy production over the first month of the season, scoring a touchdown in four straight games at one point. However, he hasn't found the end-zone since Week 5. Perhaps playing Navy's 84th ranked rushing defense could help him out.
