This article is part of our FanDuel College Football series.
After a small taste with two games to open the 2019 college football season, the first official week of the college football season has finally arrived. We have a 15-game slate Saturday that features a wide variety of betting lines and levels of opponents. RotoWire has numerous tools for you to check out below, which will be followed by some players at each position group who may have a good week in store. Obviously, the stats in the matchup info section should be taken with a grain of salt given the roster turnover from the 2018 campaign, but it at least gives a snapshot of what each opponent's defense looked like last season.
DFS Tools
Matchup Info (2018 Stats)
Week 1 Plays
Quarterback
Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama ($10,200) 
vs. Duke
Somehow, Alabama checks in as the second-largest favorite (-33.5) on the slate despite facing a power-five opponent. Georgia is the next team on that list at -21.5 versus Vanderbilt, while numerous team facing non-power five opponents have smaller lines. If the spread holds true, there is a good chance Tua will not play the full 60 minutes Saturday. Even if that's the case, he proved on multiple occasions last season that he doesn't need the entire game to make it work. Najee Harris and Brian Robinson Jr. are both slated to miss up to a half in Saturday's game against Duke. Should they miss the full
After a small taste with two games to open the 2019 college football season, the first official week of the college football season has finally arrived. We have a 15-game slate Saturday that features a wide variety of betting lines and levels of opponents. RotoWire has numerous tools for you to check out below, which will be followed by some players at each position group who may have a good week in store. Obviously, the stats in the matchup info section should be taken with a grain of salt given the roster turnover from the 2018 campaign, but it at least gives a snapshot of what each opponent's defense looked like last season.
DFS Tools
Matchup Info (2018 Stats)
Week 1 Plays
Quarterback
Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama ($10,200) vs. Duke
Somehow, Alabama checks in as the second-largest favorite (-33.5) on the slate despite facing a power-five opponent. Georgia is the next team on that list at -21.5 versus Vanderbilt, while numerous team facing non-power five opponents have smaller lines. If the spread holds true, there is a good chance Tua will not play the full 60 minutes Saturday. Even if that's the case, he proved on multiple occasions last season that he doesn't need the entire game to make it work. Najee Harris and Brian Robinson Jr. are both slated to miss up to a half in Saturday's game against Duke. Should they miss the full half, moving Keilan Robinson into the starting role, it wouldn't be surprising to see Alabama turn to a pass-happy approach to take pressure off of the true freshman back.
Matt McKay, NC State ($8,700) 
vs. East Carolina
A relatively unknown name in an offense that loses its two top wide receivers from a season ago wouldn't seem to offer much fantasy appeal. Fortunately, that may work in your favor for GPP purposes, as McKay and the Wolfpack prepare for an East Carolina squad that surrendered slate-high marks for passing yards (270.1) and passing touchdowns (2.6) a season ago. The Pirates were also fairly stout against the run, while they sported an S&P+ rating of 107th in the country. Having studied under 2019 fourth-round pick Ryan Finley, McKay should be ready to guide NC State's offense. Emeka Emezie steps into the clear lead role at wide receiver and flashed his promise last season with 53 grabs for 616 yards and five touchdowns as the team's third-leading receiver. Thayer Thomas and C.J. Riley also displayed some promise and the Wolfpack added grad transfer Tabari Hines from Oregon to round out what should be a formidable receiving corps again in 2019.
Running Back
Keilan Robinson, Alabama ($4,500) vs. Duke
This pick may be a popular one given the price tag, but it's certainly one worth paying in my eyes. Nearly minimum price, Robinson figures to handle the bulk of the work in at least the first half of Saturday's game, and it wouldn't be shocking if coach Saban decided to extend the suspensions of Najee Harris and Brian Robinson Jr. if Robinson looks good and Alabama gets off to a sizable halftime lead. Even if he only sees his reps early in the game, any production at a $4,500 price tag should warrant usage on most fantasy rosters. If you're really looking to get crazy, Chadarius Townsend ($4,000) is minimum priced, qualifies at wide receiver on FanDuel and could see some work out of the backfield as well. His workload is even less guaranteed than Robinson's, so Townsend would likely be the ultimate gamble.
Patrick Taylor Jr., Memphis ($10,000) 
vs. Ole Miss
After saving up with Robinson, Taylor should receive heavy consideration to use some of that extra cap room on. Working behind NFL running back Darrell Henderson, Taylor was far from a slouch and averaged 5.4 yards per carry en route to 1,122 yards and 16 touchdowns on 208 totes. He should now handle the primary duties and could see more usage than Henderson did a season ago without established options behind him on the depth chart. Leading off the schedule is an Ole Miss club that plays uptempo and struggled its way to a 110 S&P+ rush defense rating last season. The Rebels allowed 2.5 rushing touchdowns and a slate-high 221.8 rushing yards per contest, playing into the bread-and-butter rushing emphasis of the Tigers. Kylan Watkins ($4,000) is listed as the top backup and, a spot Taylor was very productive out of last season, and may also be worth a flier in GPPs.
Wide Receiver
Emeka Emezie, NC State ($8,600) vs. East Carolina
Emezie figures to work as the primary target for the Wolfpack this season with both Jakobi Meyers and Kelvin Harmon gone to the NFL. Each of the two went over 1,000 yards receiving a season ago and Emezie didn't trail too far behind with 616 receiving yards. He should see a significant jump in those stats this season as he moves into a starting role and gets a juicy Week 1 matchup against a lackluster ECU defense detailed above. Emezie's 6-foot-3 frame should also work in his favor when NC State nears the red zone. C.J. Riley ($7,100) has also earned a designated starting spot and could be an option to consider if looking to fill a cheaper spot in the lineup.
Johnny Johnson III, Oregon ($6,700) 
vs. Auburn
Johnson doesn't have much of a track record to his name, owning a combined 38 catches for 514 yards and five touchdowns in his first two years on campus, but he will receive the start in the slot for the opener after Brendan Schooler suffered a foot injury that will hold him out for at least the first couple of weeks. Johnson flashed a few times early last season against lesser teams, but he mainly fell to the wayside in contests that involved formidable opponents. His relatively cheap price tag combined with the 2020 NFL Draft's potential No. 1 overall pick in Justin Herbert tossing the rock makes Johnson worth a look in Week 1.
JD Spielman, Nebraska ($9,400) 
vs. South Alabama
Nebraska has garnered a lot of hype as a candidate to win the Big Ten West this season and Spielman figures to be the star of the receiving corps for a Huskers squad that features a star quarterback in Adrian Martinez. Spielman snared 30 percent of the target share last season and that was with another star wideout in Stanley Morgan (29 percent) flanking him. With Morgan moving on, Spielman should be primed for an even larger share of the looks this season and should take advantage of a South Alabama defense that allowed 9.2 yards per pass attempt last season en route to a slate-worst 122 S&P+ pass defense rating.
