DraftKings College Football DFS Picks: CFB Week 5 DFS Main Slate Breakdown

This article is part of our DraftKings College Football series.

CFB DFS: DraftKings Week 5 Main Slate Overview and Picks

Last weekend was a lot of fun for the DraftKings main slate; Oregon-Colorado delivered for fantasy purposes depending on which side you were on, Clemson-FSU was one of the best games of the season so far, Miami stayed hot and there were some great point-per-dollar plays from BC, Louisville, Marshall and Virginia Tech.

This week's slate is a tougher nut to crack. There are fewer high-profile games and there are a handful of games that can probably be safely ignored.

As per usual this season, though, Colorado is at the center of it all. The Buffs got smoked in Eugene last weekend (have you seen this? have you heard about this?) and now get to host reigning Heisman Trophy winner, Caleb Williams, and USC. That game has an over/under of 73.5, which dwarfs all the other games on the board. USC is a 21.5-point favorite with an implied total of 47.5, also the highest on this slate. The pricing is tough as we'll discuss throughout the article. Caleb Williams carries an astronomical $10,500 salary and while none of his receivers check in over $7,000, they're all at least $6,000. This makes a USC stack perilous, especially when no Trojan receiver has a target share over 15 percent and six USC receivers have target shares of at least eight percent. Attacking the USC run game with MarShawn Lloyd might be the most prudent move of all from this game. 

As for the Colorado side, the Buffs are at home and the USC defense is several notches below what Oregon put on the field last weekend. There are likely some viable plays on the Buffs and they have surprised us plenty of times already this season. All told, I'm turning my attention elsewhere.

The two games I have the most interest in for this slate are Boise State at Memphis and Illinois at Purdue. As you'll see in the positional breakdowns, there are positive indicators at play for each of those offenses. Boise-Memphis has the third-highest total on the board and the bad defenses for both Illinois and Purdue could help us hit over 53.5 points. Purdue quarterback Hudson Card ($6,600) is one of the few interesting and cheap quarterbacks on this slate and definitely warrants some consideration. 

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Slate Overview

Colorado-USC and Texas-Kansas lead the way in terms of the over/under but it's important to look at the implied totals as well; Maryland, California, and Texas A&M may not be as popular of picks in this slate but they are all expected to have solid offensive outputs. California is particularly intriguing from that bunch, and we'll cover the Bears later. Let's move into our favorite DFS picks by position for this week

CFB DFS Picks: Quarterback

Caleb Williams ($10,500) USC at Colorado

Whew, that's an aggressive salary. Rostering Williams ties up over 20 percent of your budget before you fill in any other spot. But the setup is so good for Williams that this entire slate may just come down to who makes the best Williams lineup. 

Williams is at the helm of an offense with the highest implied total (47.5) by a wide margin. Everything USC does, flows through him. The Trojans have a 55% pass play rate and Williams is completing a surgical 74% of his passes at 12 yards per attempt. He hasn't thrown for fewer than three touchdowns in any game this season. 

We'll need Williams to go for 35-40 fantasy points to make rostering him worthwhile given the haircut you need to take at other positions to make him fit in your lineup. He can get there, though. Williams has hit the 35-point mark twice in his last three outings and there's a chance that he notches a new season-high in pass attempts if 1) Colorado keeps things competitive or 2) USC wants to go scorched earth like Oregon did last weekend. Both are possible, if not likely. 

We know Colorado's defense is suspect, especially without Travis Hunter. We know Williams is the best quarterback in college football. $10,500 is pricey for any player even in the most favorable conditions, so I understand the logic in fading him...to an extent. Looking at the rest of the board, especially at quarterback, there aren't a ton of slam dunk options. Fortunately, there are enough values at running back and receiver to make a Williams build you feel confident in.

Seth Henigan ($8,000) Memphis vs. Boise State

DraftKings got it right with its Group of Five game du jour as this sets up as one of the best and most entertaining games on the slate. Memphis is 3-1 with a close loss to Missouri as the only blemish on its record and catches Boise State at home. Boise State's defense has not been up to its usual standard this season as it ranks 72nd in SP+. 

Henigan, for his own part, has been a strong performer through the first month of the season. He has thrown for over 300 yards twice, including 316 yards and three touchdowns against Missouri. Henigan does need to clean up his mistakes -- his 8:5 TD:INT is less than ideal -- but he helps make up for it by being a productive rusher. He has punched in three scores on the ground and averages nearly eight rush attempts per game. Boise State giving up 294.3 passing yards per game (to be fair, they did open against Washington) and even San Diego State had success against the Broncos through the air. This is a nice spot for Henigan, who is one of the last QB plays on the slate you can feel confident in under $8,500.

Taylen Green ($6,200) Boise State at Memphis

Opposing Henigan on Saturday will be Green, who checks in as a value on this slate at just $6,200. There's no way around it -- Green has not been the fantasy force that many expected coming into the season. Yet. He's completing just over 53 percent of his passes at 6.8 YPA and has as many picks (4) as touchdowns. That's...not great. So why buy in here when Boise State is a road underdog?

Sometimes you gotta go back to actually move forward. Green was electric last season after supplanting Hank Bachmeier with a 7.5 YPA and 14 passing touchdowns to go with 586 yards and 10 scores on the ground. The ground game has been curiously absent from Green's repertoire this season with no more than 11 rushes or 37 yards in any game. Luckily, Green was more willing as a runner last week against San Diego State with the aforementioned season-high 11 attempts and perhaps he'll be asked to shoulder more of the rushing work Saturday. Memphis is tough against the pass so Green will need to make it work as a runner for this play to pay off, but there are signs that he's coming around on that front.

CFB DFS Picks: Running Back

The running back menu is fascinating this weekend. Up top, we have a usual suspect in Blake Corum ($8,300) but I'm leery about his point-per-dollar output against a solid Nebraska defense. Jaydn Ott ($8,100) is interesting against Arizona State, but sinking $8,100 into a running back can complicate your build considering the quarterback market. It's hard not to like Penn State's pairing the most as Nicholas Singleton ($7,100) and Kaytron Allen ($7,300) comprise arguably the best backfield tandem in college football and get to face a floundering Northwestern team as 26.5-point favorites. Picking between the two is tough (I prefer Singleton) and maybe the right answer is playing both. Let's dig into some other running backs we need to consider for this slate.

Ashton Jeanty ($6,800) Boise State at Memphis

If you haven't gotten the chance to watch Jeanty yet, fix that. Now. 

After years of middling running back play, Boise State appears to have found a player who holds a candle to the Doug Martin/Jay Ajayi/Jeremy McNichols Pantheon. 

Jeanty leads all running backs in fantasy points (117) and fantasy points per game (29.3) and yet he checks in as the seventh-highest salaried running back on this slate. He's not only efficient with a heavy rushing workload, but Jeanty is also posting elite receiving production for a running back with 18 grabs for 285 yards and two scores through four games. He faces a Memphis team that is bottom five on this slate against the run.

The only drawback to playing Jeanty is that he'll be extremely popular due to the talent vs. salary disparity. I won't get hung up on that too much, though. Rasheen Ali was in a similar boat last week and was present on winning lineups across a multitude of contests. Jeanty might be even better this week. 

Will Shipley ($5,900) Clemson at Syracuse

I'm sorry but Shipley still being under $6K just doesn't make a lick of sense. He's .2 points per game off of Nicholas Singleton's pace and while Singleton is of course a great play this week against Northwestern, a $1,200 price gap between the two doesn't add up.

Shipley has a 35 percent rushing share in the Clemson backfield and is active in the passing game, too, having averaged a shade under five targets per game through four weeks. On the ground, Shipley is churning out a solid 5.4 YPC and he racked up over 100 yards from scrimmage against a stingy Florida State run defense last week. 

Syracuse has a solid run defense on paper (79 rushing yards per game allowed,2.7 YPC). That sample also includes a game against Army, so the Orange certainly have a battle-tested run defense. An interesting wrinkle is that Syracuse played Army just last week. Perhaps it's an urban myth, but teams coming off a game against a triple-option opponent tend to be a little sluggish on defense the following week. 

It also helps that Shipley is such a key player in the Clemson offense and this is expected to be a one-score game according to the spread. Other star players on the slate are in potential blowout setups and might not see a full compliment of volume. That won't be the case with Shipley on Saturday. Clemson needs this game to get out of its tailspin and Shipley is going to be heavily featured. Even if Syracuse's defense shows up, Shipley is primed to return value on a bargain price tag.

Daijun Edwards ($6,000) Georgia at Auburn

Georgia's backfield has been a mess thus far this season with injuries all over the place and no real standout talents available. The closest thing Georgia has to a workhorse is Edwards, who has soaked up the bulk of the carries over the last two weeks after returning from an injury of his own. He has 32 carries for 184 yards and three touchdowns in that span. 

Georgia is going into a hostile environment at Auburn with a quarterback making his first SEC road start. The run game will be a huge part of the game plan and Edwards will be busy. Of note, Auburn has the second-worst run defense in the SEC so far, ahead of only Vanderbilt. We wish Edwards was a tad cheaper but even at $6,000, he's set up to return value.

CFB DFS Picks: Wide Receiver

Jeremiah Hunter ($5,900) California vs. Arizona State

California has an unstable quarterback situation (more on that later) but that hasn't stopped Hunter from being a fantasy asset. He's up to 21 catches for 232 yards and three touchdowns on 34 targets. We don't love the efficiency (6.8 YPT) but we love the per-game target volume and overall target share (24.5 percent). The quarterbacks are mostly to blame for the efficiency as Hunter was an 11.0 YPT player over the last two seasons. 

Even if California can't get it right at quarterback, Hunter should still produce here. He's going to see plenty of volume and faces an unimpressive Arizona State secondary at home. This isn't a high ceiling play but the ingredients are there for a solid return on $5,900.

Isaiah Williams ($5,700) Illinois at Purdue

It's been a pretty ugly dose of reality for Illinois thus far after last year's fun 8-5 campaign. The Illini are 2-2 with narrow wins over FAU and Toledo as the only bright spots. That said, it hasn't been all doom and gloom for Isaiah Williams, who has a 30.6 percent target share in this offense.

Williams has drawn a combined 25 targets over the last two weeks and produced 13 catches for 183 yards. He is coming off his best game -- an eight-catch, 120-yard outing against FAU and is primed for another good day Saturday against Purdue's leaky pass defense. Big Ten Weather has yet to come into effect and we're forecasted to have a clear, 80-degree day in West Lafayette. Illinois might need perfect conditions to get a credible pass game going anyway but at least we're getting that this week.

The bottom line here is that Williams sees a high enough target volume to warrant our attention in a full PPR and at $5,700, he's a nice bargain option especially given the matchup.

Abdur-Rahmaan Yaseen ($5,200) Purdue vs. Illinois

Going to the other side of this game we have Yaseen checking in as another solid value. Purdue's target tree is pretty narrow; Yaseen and Deion Burks ($5,700) comprise nearly 50 percent of the target volume while the rest is spread out to Max Clare and T.J. Sheffield and a revolving door of reserves. 

Burks has been the more productive of the top two targets in terms of fantasy, but the main tiebreaker between them has been Burks' three touchdowns to Yaseen's zero. Their per-target efficiency (8.9 for Burks, 8.5 for Yaseen) is nearly identical and Yaseen has the higher catch rate (67% vs. 45% for Burks). 22 catches at 8.5 YPT with no touchdowns feels like bad luck in Yaseen's case, and it could correct this weekend against an Illini secondary that's among the worst on the slate. 

If you have the extra $500, Burks is likely the better play. But Yaseen has promising peripherals in his own right and the volume projection is exactly the same for both players. 

Roc Taylor ($6,100) Memphis vs. Boise State

If we're in on both quarterbacks in this game and are big on Seth Henigan at $8,000, we have to be sold on at least one of the Memphis pass catchers, right? It's been hard to parse out the best bet from this group that has consistently produced all season. Some options posted all their production against inferior opponents and were barely involved in tougher games. Others have failed with tons of chances, like Demeer Blankumsee's 36 yards on 11 targets last week. 

Taylor has been the only Tiger to reliably produce with at least six catches in three of four games, highlighted by a seven-catch, 143-yard outing against Missouri last week. Again, Memphis has a great offensive projection in this matchup and Taylor is Henigan's top target. He's viable in cash games and tournaments alike. 

If you're looking for cheaper exposure in the Memphis passing game, Joseph Scates ($5,100) is a big play waiting to happen. He had 412 yards and four touchdowns on 18 catches last season. Boom-or-bust type of option but this might be a boom week given the matchup. Tauskie Dove ($4,300) has SEC bona fides as a former wideout at Missouri. He hasn't done a ton yet at Memphis but last week did mark a season-high in snaps (33) for him.

GPP Options

Sam Jackson ($5,500) California vs. Arizona State

This isn't a play that you can just set for noon and not check before things get underway at 3 PM ET. We don't know who is starting at quarterback for Cal just yet. And the Bears have not been shy about rotating quarterbacks in-game this season as neither Jackson nor Ben Finley has emerged as the clear-cut No.1. Finley did not practice Tuesday, though, and he threw three interceptions against Washington last week. The third pick spurred Cal to give the reins over to Jackson and he was effective, throwing for 156 yards and a score on 14 attempts. There's a garbage time caveat there, of course, but Jackson may be in line to see the bulk of the snaps against an unimpressive Arizona State team that may be reeling after giving USC its best shot last weekend. 

If you really want to get crazy with this game, Arizona State starter, Trenton Bourguet, is just $4,800. He entered the year as the third-stringer with ASU starting fresh under Kenny Dillingham, but Bourguet got significant playing time last season and was serviceable; he completed over 70 percent of his passes with 11 touchdowns and six interceptions. 

If nothing else, Bourguet is a confirmed starting quarterback priced like a backup running back or a No.3 wide receiver. There's at least some floor here and with Jaden Rashada and Drew Pyne out, it should be Bourguet's game for 60 minutes.