A top-ranked college football DFS player, Micah Bedard (darddog) is here to walk you through the upcoming DraftKings slate. Micah will break down his favorite DFS picks at each position and will also lay out his strategy for how he is attacking the slate overall.

I locked Ollie Gordon II last week, so that tells you all you need to know about how my week on DraftKings went. My main lineup luckily cashed all single-entry tournaments, so that saved me from having a truly awful week.

Before we get in to this week’s main slate, I wanted to use Gordon’s performance compared to Cody Schrader’s last week as a perfect example of how one might interpret DFS wrong.

If you look back on last week’s results, you could easily say to yourself, “Well I should have faded Ollie Gordon and played Cody Schrader. Duh!” This is a terrible mindset, in my opinion. I honestly couldn’t care less about how slates actually end up panning out.

Schrader caught the most passes he had in a game all season and almost double the receiving yards in one game as he had all season. Gordon had the best matchup of anyone on the slate by far, and game script went against him horribly with UCF getting out to an early lead, and he only ended up with 25 yards rushing.

Both are outlier performances that I am not going to put a whole lot of stake in. This will lead to Schrader being higher owned than he should this week and Gordon lower owned. Concentrate more on your preparation for the slate and why you are playing certain guys. Don’t look at the slate after the fact and say, “I should have just played the guys who scored the highest points.” It’s tough, but it’s something I see people struggle with all the time.

We’ve got two weeks left in the regular season, so let’s get into the Week 12 DK main slate.

College Football DFS: Top DraftKings Picks for Week 12

Quarterback

Core Plays

Jordan McCloud
$8,300

We get James Madison back on another DK main slate. I can feel the excitement coming from y’all after Brown’s performance (we’ll get to him later). Against Georgia State in Week 10, we saw McCloud dominate, putting up 55 DK points and you needing him to have any shot in GPPs. He’s scored 36/55/33 fantasy points in his last three performances, and I don’t see anything that will lower that floor this week. He’s got two core pass catchers to pair with and even an RB out of the backfield that catches passes. He’s also run for a TD in 3 of his last 4 games. If I were playing cash, McCloud would be the first entry into my lineup.

Donovan Smith
$7,900

Last time Houston was on the main slate, they got absolutely dominated at Kansas State, and Smith put up 2.8 fantasy points. I have to put that game out of my DFS memory, however, as Smith and the rest of his offense get a great matchup against Oklahoma State. With the Pokes likely to be ahead and pound the rock with Ollie Gordon, Smith should be playing catch-up most of the game. He does have some rushing upside, which we love to target in CFB DFS. We just watched UCF tear up this Oklahoma State defense, and if Houston is going to do the same, Smith should play a big part in that.

GPP Plays

Caleb Williams
$10,900

One of the biggest questions of this slate: what will Caleb Williams do for his (likely) final CFB game? USC is now 7-4 and currently projected for the Holiday Bowl. I highly doubt Williams participates in that, with him likely being a top pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. So this should be the last time we see him suit up in a USC uniform. I don’t buy the whole “nothing to play for” narrative some have been spewing about him, as he could have simply mailed it in after back-to-back losses against Notre Dame and Utah. UCLA hasn’t had to face an offense with USC’s firepower really all season, and I expect Williams to put on a show in The Coliseum on Saturday. He’s not going to be owned due to the price, but I’ll try to find ways to get him into GPP lineups.

Bo Nix
$10,800

Nix is having the season Caleb wanted to have in 2023. The Ducks only have a 3-point loss on the road at Washington on their resume, and if they win out, they should have a spot locked up in the CFB playoffs. Bo has been extremely efficient this season, with a 29:2 TD/INT ratio. The one thing that hasn’t been there this season for Nix is the use of his legs. He only has 137 yards on the ground, and he had 519 in 2022. He hasn’t really needed to, but in 3 of his last 4 games, he has a rushing TD. He’s the front-runner for the Heisman, so we could see him call his own number if Oregon gets the ball close to the goal line. Like Williams, people will struggle to play Nix because of his high price tag. I have enough WR punts that I will want to get exposure to the Ducks’ signal caller.

Ethan Garbers
$6,400

Garbers was hurt last week and missed the Bruins’ loss to Arizona State, but all indications here lead to him starting. USC’s defense is one that you always want to target the other side of the ball against. Garbers had performances of 20+ fantasy points against Colorado and Stanford before putting up a dud against Arizona in Week 10. He doesn’t have a clear #1 WR, and if you’re looking for a pretty safe floor, you could play him by himself. Obviously, playing him with a pass catcher would be preferred for upside, and I like Logan Loya and Ryan Cragun if you want to pair him with someone. USC is going to score points, and UCLA should be able to keep up since USC’s defense has been allowing 41 points per game in their past 8 games. Garbers feels gross, but you just have to close your eyes and stack offensive players against USC.

Quarterback Summary

QB pricing has been tight all season, and that is no different this week. I’m not considering anyone below Garbers at $6,400 for my pool.

I do like trying to pay up where you can for Caleb/Nix. Both of them are expensive, and stacking them with their favorite targets is going to be contrarian for sure. If I were starting a single-entry team, Smith/McCloud would be my first choice to start with.

Drake Maye is also interesting in GPPs. He should be virtually un-owned and good leverage off Omarion Hampton. I think that UNC/Clemson game does shoot out, so I also don’t mind Cade Klubnik in game stacks.

Running Back

Core Plays

Bucky Irving
$7,600

Bucky has been fantastic all year long, and I see no reason that his combination of floor and upside will be any different this week. Arizona State, on paper, doesn’t have a bad rushing defense, but they have given up 207 yards per game in their last 3 games. Bucky is getting all the work out of the backfield on the ground, and he still gets his touches through the air. I like him over Gordon considering you get about a $1,200 discount. If you want to pay up at QB in at least one spot, those savings should come in handy. Bucky’s lowest output his last 5 games is 20 fantasy points, which would still put him right around 3x his salary. He put up 42 fantasy points against Washington State and 30 last week against USC. He’s a great way to start any lineup.

Omarion Hampton
$7,300

Hampton’s usage has been off the charts in the past couple weeks. Last game against Duke, he played 91 of the Tar Heels’ 95 snaps in the OT victory. He had 31 carries for 170 yards and also caught 8 passes out of the backfield. Clemson’s defense gets hyped up more than it should based on past season performances, but this defense can be picked on. Hampton has 30+ DK points in 4 of his last 5 games. Fire him up in all formats.

GPP Plays

Ollie Gordon II
$8,800

I already rambled on too long about Gordon, so you know my stance on him. It’s funny how DK works. After his worst performance of the season, Gordon saw a salary bump of $900. That price, combined with his performance last week, should keep his ownership in check in GPPs. He’s not going to be sub-10% owned or anything, but he will probably have at least half of the ownership he had last week. I said I would have played Gordon at $10,000 last week, so does him being at $8,800 really change much? I’ll go right back to him this week and hope he gets back to his ceiling fantasy performances.

Jawhar Jordan
$7,200

Jordan is getting lost in the shuffle a bit. He’s playing in the early games, cooled off a bit in his last 2 games, and has a matchup against a pretty decent Miami rush defense on the road. That should lead to low ownership, and we saw Jordan just breaking slates left and right early in the season. They played on Friday last week, so that should give him an extra week to heal up. Isaac Guerendo is stealing some carries from him, but he still had 17 last week. He doesn’t need 25+ carries to get there, evidenced by his 42-point performance against Boston College on only 18 carries. He’s also had performances of 30+ fantasy points against Duke and Notre Dame, who aren’t pushovers by any means. You’ll probably get Jordan at sub-5% ownership, and he could give you some leverage going into the afternoon games.

Carson Steele
$6,400

I got burned a bunch on FD the other week when Dillon Johnson played against this USC defense. Washington never runs the ball, so why would I want to play a running back who might not get 10 carries? Well, I was dead wrong about that take. You just need to play RBs against this defense, no matter the situation on the other side. Steele is in a bit of a timeshare, but I think he gets fed a good bit here. He got 20+ carries 3 weeks in a row earlier in the season, and I think Chip needs to get back to the basics against USC with a run-heavy scheme. UCLA probably wants to keep USC’s defense off the field, and lining up heavy and pounding Steele should be a good strategy. The uncertain workload will put him lower owned than he should, but I will be way over the field on Steele.

Running Back Summary

There are a ton of good options to choose from at RB this week. I do think guys like Blake Corum and Jordan are great GPP plays because there is going to be so much concentrated ownership around Gordon, Audric Estime, Bucky, and Hampton, and those other guys have the chance to put up ceiling performances at a fraction of the ownership.

If you want to punt at RB, Ty Son Lawton for James Madison is a good option. I didn’t highlight him because I’m likely going to be paying up at RB, but he has been the main back for the Dukes and is also catching some balls out of the backfield.

Gavin Sawchuk is the decision of the slate at RB for me. It was weird to see him get all the work against West Virginia last week, especially when all the RBs warmed up for the first time in a while. If he gets that workload against BYU, he’s a smash play. I do have my doubts, and I will be underweight on him, as you never know what how the OU backfield carries are going to turn out.

Wide Receiver

Core Plays

Reggie Brown
$5,600

When most of you all saw Reggie Brown’s name this week, I’m sure if you rostered him on the main slate 2 weeks ago, all you could think about was his 2 fantasy-point performance. What I’ll choose to do instead is look at his larger sample size. Last week, he had 44 fantasy points after putting together a 9/202/2 stat line. He’s scored 27 or more fantasy points in his last 4 games. The price tag is just too cheap, and I’ll go right back to him this week.

Leon Johnson III
$4,800

I’ve wrote up Johnson every week since his breakout performance in Week 9 against Cincinnati. He really hasn’t disappointed yet either. He had 11 targets against UCF and has 30 targets over his last 3 games. We’ve yet to see a ceiling performance, but I feel like it could be coming. He’s a big receiver on the outside, and Oklahoma State is so banged up at WR that he is playing nearly all the snaps. I think he’s got a pretty safe floor this week, and if he catches a TD, we could see that ceiling game.

GPP Plays

Brock Bowers
$7,500

I really thought Bowers warming up last week was gamesmanship and that he wouldn’t play a snap. Not only did he play a snap, he played the most of any skill player for the Bulldogs against Ole Miss. That really goes to show what a freak of nature this guy is. He only had 4 targets, but with another week of practice and getting up to game speed, I think we could see him get back to his ways before the injury. This is the same guy who had 3 straight performances over 29 fantasy points during a 3-game stretch before the injury. Nobody is going to play him, and I’ll take the risk on him in GPPs.

Samuel Brown
$6,400

I highlighted Donovan Smith earlier. If he’s going to have a good game, Brown will likely be a large part of it. Brown should see an even more increased role after Matthew Golden was lost for the rest of the season with an injury. Brown has at least 7 targets in his last 4 games. Oklahoma State’s secondary just got shredded by John Rhys Plumlee and UCF a week ago. I think Brown is a great play this week in stacks with Donovan Smith and Ollie Gordon or Leon Johnson as a run-back on the Oklahoma State side.

Elijhah Badger
$5,700

Arizona State has been bad this season, but it’s not because of Badger. He’s one of those guys you look for that has clear separation from the rest of the pass catchers on his team. Badger has 86 targets on the season and has turned that into 58 receptions for 649 yards. The next highest teammate has 40 targets and 25 receptions. He had a whopping 16 targets last week against UCLA and turned that into a 12/116/1 stat line. The Sun Devils only scored 17 real points, and Badger had 32 fantasy points. That shows that even if the Sun Devils get blown out by Oregon, he can definitely still get there.

Wide Receiver Summary

Value is the name of the game at WR, as you’ll want to spend up at both QB and RB like we do most weeks. Troy Franklin and Devontez Walker are kind of in a class by themselves salary-wise and should be pretty low owned. Tez Johnson has also come along as Bo’s favorite target the past couple weeks, with 13 and 11 targets, respectively. He’s also hauled in 2 TDs both of his last 2 games, so he’s definitely in play.

UCLA has some cheap value at WR with Logan Loya, J.Michael Sturdivant, and Ryan Cragun. Cragun is probably by favorite plug-your-nose punt of the slate. He’s been getting more work as the season has gone on, and you just hope he can catch a TD and help you jam in the studs at QB/RB. I also think Jake Briningstool and Tyler Brown are good pieces from Clemson in what should be a high-scoring affair against UNC.

Slate Attack Plan

When looking at this slate as a whole, it’s pretty different than last week. Yes, you’ll have your share of chalk, but I don’t think anyone is going to come in close to where Gordon was owned last week.

I just think that is a result of no one being a too-cheap, slam-dunk play. There are great options for sure, but this isn’t a week where in cash/SE you have 4-5 guys plugged in and then just have to make a couple decisions to fill out the rest of your lineup.

Here are a few ways to get different on this slate:

• Play Drake Maye instead of Dillon Gabriel – I’m not saying I won’t have any Gabriel; I just like to use this spot to compare plays this week. Gabriel will probably push 20% ownership and has a great matchup against a horrible BYU team. Maye faces Clemson, who everyone likes to think is a bad matchup, but that just hasn’t really been the case this season. Maye will be sub-5% owned, and if he goes off and Gabriel just does OK, you can have a bunch of leverage on the field. There are plenty of examples of this across the slate.

• Don’t be afraid to run non-QB Superflex Lineups – Pre-2023 Micah would be punching this version of me in the face, but you have to learn to adapt to current conditions. DK is just pricing all of these QBs too high, and that’s leading to more and more RB/WR Superflex builds when trying to build optimal lineups. There are so many good RBs in the $7,000-$8,000 range that something like a Gordon/Estime/Bucky/Hampton lineup starts to look pretty appealing.

• Play some Nix/Caleb stacked with their pass catchers – Both of these guys are priced in the high $10,000 range, and it’s tough to even play them by themselves. If you pair Williams with Washington/Rice or Nix with Franklin/Johnson, I think that could set you apart in GPPs. If you’re building that way, I think it makes sense to take shots on some volatile punt plays. Because if your QB/WR stack combines for 75 points or something, you really just need double-digit points from some very cheap guys to have a sweat going into Saturday evening.

FanDuel Notes

Even though their prize pools aren’t big, I love the FD all-day slates and flat payout structures, so I will dedicate some time each week to their slate.

QB

Caleb Williams is way too cheap on FD this week and will likely be the highest-owned QB. His price on FD is basically the equivalent of him being $9,000 on DK. John Rhys Plumlee is also in a very good spot. He didn’t get there last week because of the blowout, but the Texas Tech game should be closer on the road. If you’re looking for value, Spencer Rattler and Devin Leary pose an interesting game stack. South Carolina has been on USC levels this season…and not in a good way. When they are on the slate, you always target the offense on the other side. Brady Cook is also a good GPP play after everyone will probably still be chasing the Cody Schrader ultra-ceiling game from last week.

RB

Tahj Brooks gets the same UCF rush defense that Ollie Gordon got the matchup with last week. No, we’re not just going to assume their defense has gotten any better off of one outlier game. He’ll be the highest-owned RB of the slate and for good reason. We saw Texas Tech feed Brooks last week against Kansas. CJ Baxter also didn’t get priced up after the Jonathon Brooks ACL injury that puts him out for the rest of the season. I’m unsure if he just immediately gets a huge workload, and they go on the road to Iowa State, so it’s not necessarily a great matchup. I would almost prefer Gavin Sawchuk on FD, as he’s a lot cheaper and you can just hope he gets the same workload as last week. I am a Damien Martinez fan, so I’ll be playing a good bit of him against Washington at $8,500.

WR

FD never seems to adjust prices that drastically, so you still are getting Rashod Owens and Leon Johnson at a pretty good price point. Xavier Worthy also did not get his price raised after his 10/137 performance last week. We just needed him to get in the end zone to smash. Texas could lean more on their passing game with Brooks out too. Samuel Brown and Elijhah Badger are also at good prices on FD to target. Bowers is also a good bit cheaper on FD than he is on DK. Barion Brown might be worth a punt, as he’s facing the horrible South Carolina defense I mentioned earlier. There are plenty of high-priced options that are good to mix-and-match with cheaper guys. My favorite WRs to pay up for are Luther Burden, Devontez Walker, and Troy Franklin.

Good luck to y’all this week!

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