DraftKings College Football: Week 7 Main Slate

DraftKings College Football: Week 7 Main Slate

This article is part of our DraftKings College Football series.

Welcome to the Week 7 Main Slate breakdown on DraftKings. We have lost four teams off the board due to postponements to the Florida-LSU and Cincinnati-Tulsa matchups. Still, we have 11 games to play with and several of them should feature major offensive fireworks according to the Vegas Over/Unders. 

The Arkansas-Mississippi total sits at 76.0 and both teams have implied totals north of 37.0 points. Memphis-Central Florida also checks in at 73.5 with both sides projecting for 35-or-more points. 

Clemson, Notre Dame and West Virginia all have soft matchups and are carry implied totals over 37.0 points as well. 

Let's dive in and see what this main slate has in store.

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Position by Position Breakdown

Quarterback

Matt Corral, Mississippi at Arkansas

Corral has been automatic to start the year, throwing for over 300 yards and multiple touchdowns in each game and he made Alabama's defense look like anything resembling a Bama defense in Week 6. He gets a sneaky-tough matchup against Arkansas this week -- the Hogs gave up just 14 points to Mississippi State and 30 to Auburn, though we know that game had some questionable calls. The Hogs have been especially tough against the pass, allowing just 5.6 YPA through three games. 

Corral has the talent, weapons, and system to find a way to hit value Saturday, and even though it won't be as smooth of sailing as it was against Alabama -- I can't believe that's a real sentence I just typed -- he's still my favorite top of the board play at quarterback. 

Feleipe Franks, Arkansas ($7,200) vs. Mississippi

On the flip side of this game, we have Franks, who is completing 65 percent of his passes at a respectable 7.8 YPA. He has seven touchdowns through three games and seems to be finding his groove in the Arkansas offense. There's the added bonus here of facing an Ole Miss defense that is among the worst in the nation. Our Adjusted Defense metric has Mississippi as far-and-away the worst defense on the slate and that's not even counting last week's debacle against the Tide.

Arkansas has an implied total of 37.25 -- higher than Memphis -- and its offense deserves serious consideration on this slate, starting with Franks.

Dillon Gabriel, Central Florida ($8,500) at Memphis

Gabriel headlines what should be the matchup that draws the most DFS action on both sides. Memphis has a stellar group of skill players that we'll get to but Gabriel and Central Florida are a cut above. Yes, Central Florida fell flat against Tulsa two weeks ago but Gabriel is still playing at an elite level, averaging 33.2 fantasy points per game through three contests. 

The matchup couldn't be much better, either. Memphis ranks 68th out of 76th in total defense, allowing 486 yards per game. Look for Gabriel, who has thrown for at least 330 yards in each outing, to move the ball at will against the Tigers on Saturday. 

Running Back

Leddie Brown, West Virginia vs. Kansas

West Virginia is the second-heaviest favorite on the slate and with good reason. Kansas is a sieve defensively, allowing 44.0 points per game through three contests. Meanwhile, Mountaineers carry an implied total of 37.25 for this matchup, and that might be low. 

Brown is the most reliable part of this West Virginia offense, averaging 106.7 yards per game on 5.1 YPC while also racking up five total scores across three outings. He has seen at least 26 carries in each of his Big 12 matchups and figures to get a heavy dose of work again Saturday. Brown's 3.7 YPC against Big 12 competition stands to see a major bump as well given Kansas' run defense that allows 4.71 non-sack-adjusted yards-per-carry. 

I like paying up at running back this week and while Travis Etienne is the more talented player, I'll likely have more exposure to Brown given his higher workload projection with an equally soft matchup. There are ways to build a viable lineup with both Brown and Etienne, but you'll have to go to the bargain bin at quarterback and possibly pivot away from using a quarterback in the superflex spot. 

Kyren Williams ($7,200) and Chris Tyree ($4,000), Notre Dame vs. Louisville

Notre Dame's rushing distribution has been hard to pin down thus far and Ian Book is always a threat to vulture touchdowns when the Irish get in close, but the thought here is that Notre Dame will be able to dominate Louisville on the ground. 

Williams is seemingly the top dog with 48 carries for 359 yards (7.48 YPC) and four touchdowns. Tyree, meanwhile, moved up to No.2 in the rotation against Florida State and answered the bell with 11 carries for 103 yards and a score. C'Bo Flemister is still a threat even though he had just one carry for two yards last week, but Tyree is the hot hand at the moment. 

As for the matchup, Louisville is a 17-point underdog, which suggests that Notre Dame will lean on the run in the second half. Louisville is surrendering 4.88 YPC in conference play and just surrendered nearly 200 rushing yards to Georgia Tech. Notre Dame will have little trouble moving the ball on them and while Williams is the top play from the Irish backfield, there's room for more than running back to get in on the action Saturday. 

Trelon Smith, Arkansas ($6,100) vs. Mississippi

Arkansas doesn't have a Najee Harris to really make Ole Miss pay for its non-existent run defense but Smith profiles as a strong play nonetheless. Rakeem Boyd is set to play but is coming off a foot injury, so he might not be ready to take on a full workload. Smith, meanwhile, got 21 carries for 81 yards against Auburn, and while that's not great efficiency, Auburn's defense is tougher against the run than Ole Miss' by several orders of magnitude. 

Mississippi has given up 910 rushing yards and 13 rushing touchdowns in just three games. Again, it doesn't take a Najee Harris to get the job done against the Rebs on the ground. Smith should see double-digit carries and is a threat as a pass-catcher as well with at least three grabs in each outing thus far. All together Smith's involvement against this defense should be enough for him to hit value at $6,100. 

Snoop Conner, Mississippi ($5,500) at Arkansas

Mississippi runs a ton of plays so even though the passing game may be the bread and butter, the Rebs will still run the ball plenty on Saturday. In fact, Mississippi has run it almost 58 percent of the time this season and averages 77 offensive plays per game. 

It's tough to make the right call between Conner and Jerrion Ealy but both will be involved and Conner is the better bargain at $1,200 less than Ealy. Conner is a bruiser at 5-10, 215 pounds who showed his potential last week against Alabama with 21 carries for 128 and two scores. Now, that was the first time he saw double-digit carries this season so there's some risk of his workload dropping off, but a performance like that suggests that Ole Miss will go back to the well and keep Conner involved. 

Arkansas is mediocre against the run (4.36 YPC allowed) and the sheer volume of plays Ole Miss runs will eventually wear the Razorbacks down and set up the potential for a splash play from the Rebel run game. I'm betting Conner will be a factor, though Ealy is also a strong play if you can fit him in. 

Wide Receiver

Damonte Coxie, Memphis ($6,100) vs. Central Florida

Sean Dykes is getting the top billing among Memphis pass-catchers and rightly so but Coxie stands out as a value. He leads the Tigers in target share (32 percent) by a wide margin. The results just haven't been there yet when it comes to explosiveness. He's averaging just 7.0 YPT but this is a player who sustained 9.9 YPT over 246 targets in his last two seasons. A breakout is coming soon and his reliable target volume gives him an extremely high floor especially compared to his salary this week. 

As for the matchup, Central Florida has been OK against the pass this season but hasn't faced a passing attack of Memphis' caliber. Look for Memphis to test that secondary and for Coxie to be heavily involved. 

Elijah Moore ($8,000) and Kenny Yeboah ($6,300), Mississippi at Arkansas

We've established that a Mississippi passing game stack is in play for this slate and the combination of Moore and Yeboah is a powerful one. Moore has the ultimate combination of high volume (double-digit catches in all three games) and explosiveness (14.9 YPR). He has just one touchdown thus far but with that volume, more scores as soon to follow

Yeboah has been one of the biggest impact grad transfers in the nation thus far with 15 catches for 355 yards and four touchdowns in three games. He's a red-zone threat (3 RZ scores) but is also a field stretcher with six of his 15 grabs going for 25+ yards. 

If you're looking for a cheap dart from the Rebs, Jonathan Mingo ($5,600) is involved in the offense with nine grabs -- third on the team -- and averages 15.4 YPR. 

Arkansas is tough against the pass and did shut down the Mike Leach air raid, but this is a different offense with so many weapons to where the Razorbacks won't be able to stop the Rebel passing attack for four quarters. 

Jaylon Robinson, Central Florida ($6,400) at Memphis

Robinson has gone over 100 yards in each game this year and even if Tre Nixon is back in action this week, he will still be heavily involved in the offense. Marlon Williams is the headliner with 47 targets through three games, but Robinson has a more downfield role with more explosive play potential (12.2 YPT, 20.3 YPR). 

In a week where Robinson faces a Memphis defense that surrenders 386 passing yards and 8.7 YPA, he's set up to crush value at $6,400.

Sam James ($5,900), Bryce Ford-Wheaton ($4,400), and Winston Wright ($5,000) West Virginia vs. Kansas

West Virginia is going to put up points on Kansas. We know that. But beyond Leddie Brown, it's tough to pinpoint where the passing production will go. 

With James, you have a high-floor, low-ceiling player who profiles well in PPR with 17 catches on 26 targets through three games. Those 26 targets have gone for just 160 yards and one touchdown, but at least he'll give you some catches.

Ford-Wheaton has been involved in all three games but hasn't been overly efficient with eight catches on 18 targets, though two of those have gone for touchdowns.

Wright is both efficient and explosive, catching 15 of 21 targets for 180 yards and a touchdown. 

The sleeper is T.J. Simmons ($4,600) who was suspended for the opener but has caught four of six targets for 82 yards and he was productive last season with 455 yards and four touchdowns on 8.3 YPT. 

Other Suggestion: Frank Ladson, Clemson ($4,600) vs. Georgia Tech

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. John McKechnie plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: Fanduel: mckech3; DraftKings: mckech3.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John McKechnie
John is the 2016 and 2021 FSWA College Writer of the Year winner. He is a Maryland native and graduate of the University of Georgia. He's been writing for RotoWire since 2014.
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