This article is part of our DraftKings College Football series.
CFB DFS Picks: DraftKings College Football Week 1 DFS Picks and Plays
Alright, enough mental gymnastics convincing ourselves that last weekend was the start of the college football season. It was but it wasn't. Saturday is the first full slate of wall-to-wall college football. It's the beginning of the best time of the year that we will be able to enjoy every week from now through Thanksgiving.
We open things with a worthy slate -- 12 games, a funky mix of matchups ranging from expected blowouts to Good on Good. There aren't any crazy over/unders but we have a fat middle of the bell curve with seven games of totals between 47.0 and 55.5. That gives us a lot of paths to build our lineups.
Ohio State and Texas lead the way in implied totals while sneakier teams like Pitt, Syracuse and Nebraska are expected to challenge for 40 points.
We have a ton to get to, so let's get on with it.
Slate Overview
So, we've got a couple of massive implied totals in the two largest projected blowouts on the slate. Ohio State's implied outcome is a 53-5 win for crying out loud. Colorado State has a slightly better chance of making it respectable (+2500 ML, 3.85 implied win probability) as it goes into Austin to face National Championship hopeful Texas (-31.5).
So, there's a ton of points to be mined from those two headlining offenses. The rub is, it won't all be from the starters. With it being Week 1 and both Texas and OSU wanting to flex a little bit, the starters will be out there long enough to put up some numbers. It will be a delicate balance between finding pieces of each offense without being over-reliant on them because there will be better opportunities for return on investment elsewhere on the board.
For instance, Quinn Ewers ($8,900) and Will Howard ($8,500) have reasonable salaries. But you have to know that you're willingly thinning your margin for error by rostering them because it's highly unlikely that either throw more than 30 passes. Even 25 might be a stretch.
Meanwhile, we can envision someone like Kyron Drones ($8,300) or Dylan Raiola ($8,300) playing most of -- if not all -- of their respective games.
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CFB DFS Picks By Position
Quarterback
Kyron Drones ($8,300) 
Virginia Tech at Vanderbilt 
Drones took some time to get going last season but, down the stretch, he was impressive enough to fuel a bit of a hype train for the Hokies coming into this year. At 6-2, 234, Drones is a load to bring down once he gets moving and that's something they'll use to test Vandy's defense early and often. Beyond that, Drones is renowned for his arm strength and has a strong group to throw to headlined by Da'Quan Felton, Ali Jennings and Jaylin Lane.
Vanderbilt had the worst pass defense of any team on this slate last year and it's not going to do a 180 over the course of one offseason. This is a great setup for Drones to rack up numbers through the air and on the ground. I'm much more confident in him on this slate than I am several of the other higher-priced quarterbacks.
Dylan Raiola ($8,300) 
Nebraska vs 
UTEP
I think we see a statement debut from Raiola in this spot. The No.2 quarterback in this class flipped to Nebraska late in the process, arrived on campus and won the job out of fall camp. That's impressive.
He has tons of arm talent and can sling it from multiple arm angles. Even if you're not fully aboard the Raiola Hype Train, just follow the numbers. He's the quarterback for a team expected to push for 40 points. Nebraska has been desperate for a spark for the better part of two decades and Raiola is set up to provide it Saturday.
Carson Beck ($9,100) 
Georgia vs 
Clemson
People might gravitate more toward cheaper options at quarterback this week and eschew a pricey option like Beck going up against one of the best defenses on the slate.
A closer look at the quarterback pool and it starts to dawn on you that maybe it's not as deep as we would like. With so many expected blowouts for favorites and brutal matchups for underdogs, you really need to squint to find something with some juice. There are also the dreaded quarterback rotation scenarios that take teams like Pitt and Vanderbilt out of the equation. At least for cash games.
For the record, I might have some GPP interest in Pitt's Eli Holstein at $5,400. The ceding of snaps doesn't sting quite as badly at that price point in a matchup where Pitt should score plenty.
Anywho, back to Beck. I have two main drivers for this. For one, he exploded in the second half of the season last year; from the Kentucky game onward, Beck completed 72.7 percent of his passes at a 9.5 YPA clip with 17 touchdowns and four picks over nine games. The touchdown count lagged as he averaged fewer than 30 pass attempts in that span, but blowouts and truncated outings influenced that. I think Beck is really well-positioned to get his fill of pass attempts to an underrated cast of characters.
Just because Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey are gone does not mean Beck is hurting for help. Dominic Lovett is as steady as it comes; Dillon Bell is an emerging star; London Humphreys and Colbie Young are interesting transfer portal additions. The 1-2 punch of Oscar Delp and Benjamin Yurosek at tight end is strong.
Secondly, I'm not convinced Georgia has the backfield to just bully a strong front seven like Clemson's. I think Beck will have to work to get Georgia in position to win. Trevor Etienne's status is uncertain, as is Roderick Robinson's. The depth chart behind them is...not pretty. This game really might be on Beck's shoulders at least as it pertains to Georgia's offense.
With a shallow quarterback pool, it may be best to pay up for your signal callers this week.
Running Back
I dug into the Texas and Ohio State conundrums earlier, but I wanted to save Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson for this section. Judkins ($7,900) and Henderson ($7,500) would of course go off if promised a full workload against Akron's defense. The problem is...they're not. Ohio State needs them to make a serious title run this season and won't risk giving either a huge workload.
The counterargument is that either could get it done on 10 carries or so. And I agree with that. However, the workload concerns are enough for me to keep my exposure to both Judkins and Henderson on the lower end this weekend.
If you still want to get at Ohio State's backfield, freshman James Peoples ($5,100) is an option. We'd like to see a lower price tag on a guy who hasn't played a down yet and has an uncertain role, sure, but he's going to get some work once the Buckeyes put Judkins and Henderson on ice. Peoples was the No.7 rated recruit at his position and is listed on the depth chart. A player that talented going up against a bruised and battered Akron defense is interesting, even if we're looking at the dreaded snowflake next to his score until after halftime
And, lastly, I fully endorse finding a way to get Ollie Gordon ($9,100) into your lineups any way possible.
LeQuint Allen ($5,100) 
Syracuse vs. 
Ohio
Season-long college players and DFSers from last year know that this will be chalky. Allen was a top-50 running back last season who took on 245 carries over 13 games and churned that out into 1,064 yards and nine touchdowns. He also produced in the passing game with 38 grabs on 50 targets. Now, it's a new offense at 'Cuse so we can't completely expect the usage to be 1:1 to last year, but it should be improved across the board.
A small word of warning: Ohio does rank 37th in defensive SP+ so Syracuse might not go completely gangbusters here, but an implied total of 31.5 and a role like the one we expect with Allen should pay off on that $5,100 number.
Desmond Reid ($4,600) vs 
Kent State
I mentioned in my college football best ball article that I expect Pitt's offense to be much improved this offseason with a new system in place. It should be more up-tempo with better passing concepts to hopefully raise the floor of the quarterback play. This should help the run game by avoiding defenses crowding the box.
Longtime Panther Rodney Hammond has 328 carries and 14 rushing touchdowns to his name, but he was deemed ineligible Friday for the entire season. Reid is a newcomer who followed offensive coordinator Kade Bell from Western Carolina and has plenty of experience within this system.
Pittsburgh's running game is set up for success in this matchup. Kent State enters the year with the 114th-ranked defense by SP+ and will have a lot of new pieces on defense as it ranks 118th in returning production on that side of the ball.
Derrick Davis Jr. slides into the No. 2 role and could be worth a dart throw at only $3,500. He could get a decent amount of work in the second half if the game gets out of hand.
Amar Johnson ($4,500) 
South Dakota State at Oklahoma State 
Despite being an FCS program, the Jacks are getting some respect from Vegas against an experienced and talented OK State squad. Like, Clemson (+13) is expected to lose by more against Georgia than South Dakota State (+9.5) is against Oklahoma State.
The 'Pokes were abysmal against the run last season (178 RuYD/G, 4.7 YPC Allowed) and running the ball is what SDSU does best. Even with 2024 draftee Isaiah Davis in the backfield last season, Johnson still churned out 801 rushing yards with a 6.3 YPC average. This is a great spot for him where he should see plenty of volume against a vulnerable run defense. I like him as a pairing option opposite Ollie Gordon as well.
Other Recommendations
Roman Hemby, Maryland ($6,000) vs UConn; Bhayshul Tuten ($6,500) Virginia Tech at Vanderbilt
Wide Receiver
Tory Horton ($5,200) 
Colorado State at Texas 
This is an especially worthwhile pick if you're planning to stack Texas and need a run-back option on the other side of the game, but Horton is a strong play on his own merits. He's coming off of his second consecutive 1,100 yard season and saw an uptick in volume last year, going from 71 grabs on 112 targets in 2022 to 96 catches on 136 targets. He's going to be busy on Saturday with Colorado State likely trailing by a lot throughout.
Horton is the type of talent that drew tons of lucrative NIL interest from bigger programs this offseason but is sticking in Fort Collins. Teams on Texas' level believed Horton could play for them, and now Horton has a chance to bolster that notion on what should be a busy day in Austin for him.
Johntay Cook II ($4,800) Texas vs Colorado State
This one's pretty simple. Cook is a starting receiver for a team with the second-highest implied total on the board. He didn't have the chance to get established last year with Texas' Big Three in the passing game taking up most of the targets, but Cook is next in line to produce in Austin.
This doesn't project to be a huge target day for him but Cook with his track speed should be able to get you where you need to go on a sub-$5K price tag.
Oronde Gadsden ($3,500) Syracuse vs Ohio
If LeQuint Allen is the RB chalk play, Gadsden is ... well I don't know anything offhand that's chalkier than chalk but you see what I'm getting at. This feels like a misprice, and one that allows us to get one of the best receiver plays of the week at a bargain bin price.
We can't lean on last year's numbers because Gadsden played just two games before suffering a season-ending injury. However, Gadsden showed out as a sophomore in 2022 with 61 catches for 969 yards and six touchdowns on 95 targets. On paper, he remains the best option in the Syracuse passing game by far and he's also back to 100 percent to start the season. There's only one other player who has had more than 400 receiving yards in a season on the depth chart.
Price and talent are the selling points for Gadsden here. You'll need to be careful of your exposure because he will be extremely popular.
Isaiah Neyor ($5,200) Nebraska vs UTEP
It's been a long time since Neyor was a factor. A two-year stint at Texas never got off the ground as he tore his ACL in his first fall camp and really had no shot at getting on the field with that depth chart last year.
Neyor's interesting not because he was on the team at Texas. He's interesting because in 2021,he averaged 20 yards per reception on 44 catches and turned 12 of those into touchdowns at Wyoming.
He's listed as a starter on the outside opposite Jahmal Banks, which gives Nebraska two 6-foot-4, 220-pound receivers on the boundary. If Neyor is even 85% what he was at Wyoming, there's no way UTEP's defensive backs will be able to check him all game.
I like Neyor the most if I'm pairing him with Dylan Raiola but at $5,200, he works as a one-off if you need a mid-tier receiver option.
GPP Dart Throw, Homer Edition
Nate Frazier ($3,000) Georgia vs. Clemson
This one is live if and only if Trevor Etienne and Roderick Robinson miss this game. The backfield depth behind those two is either uninspiring or unproven. Frazier falls under the unproven category as a true freshman.
However, he was rated as the No.2 running back in the class by 247 and ran a reported 10.58 100-meter dash in high school. That's real speed right there and really, even if one of Etienne or Robinson are out, Frazier could be next in line.
