It’s essentially the final week in college football for most teams, not including the conference championship games.
Big time rivalries like Ohio State and Michigan, as well as Alabama and Auburn will take place Saturday, giving us one last week at making some regular season cash.
Be sure to visit Daily Joust on a regular basis for all of your fantasy football contest needs.
Here are this week’s value plays for Friday and Saturday.
Quarterback
Blake Bortles, UCF (196k)
Central Florida’s match-up against UAB is almost unfair, and there’s no reason why UCF shouldn’t win by at least three scores.
Bortles can get it done on the ground and by throwing the football, and should have no problems making big plays this weekend.
He’s a bit more pricey than the other sleepers on here, but a 30+ point performance isn’t out of the question.
A.J. McCarron, Alabama (149k)
Alabama’s biggest rival is Auburn, and we all know that usually Auburn is bad. This year is not excluded as the Tigers are having one of the worst seasons in history, especially just being two years removed of a National Championship team.
Regardless, I can’t figure out what’s worse, the defense or the offense. It shouldn’t matter with this game likely to be a huge blowout.
McCarron may not put up 300 yards because he won’t need to, but getting a few touchdowns and around 20 points for 149k is realistic.
Denard Robinson, Michigan (143k)
Quarterback, running back, whatever. It doesn’t matter where Robinson plays, as long as he does, which he will.
It’s his last regular season game as a Wolverine and his last chance to even up his personal series against Ohio State.
He’ll likely line up at quarterback, but if he doesn’t, he should see enough touches to warrant a start against a very weak defense.
Running Back
Duke Johnson, Miami (Fl.) (148k)
Duke gets to face Duke in this ACC match-up featuring a much improved Duke Blue Devils offense and a Miami Hurricanes team that looks nothing like it did 10 years ago.
Johnson is a tough rusher that should have no problem shredding the Duke defense.
The only thing preventing him from getting 20+ carries/game is Mike James getting a few here and there. Still, Johnson should be good for quite a few fantasy points.
Ameer Abdullah, Nebraska (133k)
There’s a small chance that Rex Burkhead will be back in action, but I don’t see it happening just yet.
Burkhead is likely to come back for the bowl game, as he has missed the last four Cornhusker matches.
Abdullah should have no problem against Iowa this week, likely scoring at least two touchdowns, as Nebraska should win big.
Stephen Houston, Indiana (115k)
Indiana is a team that just doesn’t stop fighting, and will play through the fourth quarter.
Because of that, I like Stephen Houston’s ability to rush the ball and catch out of the back field against a weak Purdue defense.
Indiana has a very good shot to beat their in-state rivals, and Houston should see plenty of touches doing it.
Wide Receiver
Tevin Reese, Baylor (128k)
Texas Tech and Baylor equals shootout.
Shootout plus Tevin Reese equals big fantasy points.
128k plus big fantasy points equals bargain.
Erik Highsmith, North Carolina (118k)
It’s hard to tell who is going to get the ball in such a balanced North Carolina offensive scheme.
However, you can bet that Erik Highsmith will get opportunities in his last game as a Tar Heel at home.
Highsmith can make plays in the red zone and Bryn Renner knows just where to find him.
Ryan Swope, Texas A&M (102k)
Johnny Manziel has done a great job all season long, but his job is far from over.
Missouri, like Texas A&M is new to the SEC, but they have not fared nearly as well as the Aggies.
Swope will get plenty of opportunities to make plays against this defense, and if Texas A&M’s defense struggles to hold James Franklin and Kendial Lawrence, we could see a shootout.
Devonte Christopher, Utah (69k)
This is a bigger risk than anything with how disappointing Christopher has been this season, mostly due to nagging injuries and poor quarterback play.
But against Colorado, we have to expect Utah to score a lot of points, and hopefully make it look easy.
If we’re lucky, Christopher will build off of his three catch, 84 yard performance from a week ago.
Tight End
Gator Hoskins, Marshall (79k)
Hoskins can catch and make plays, proving his worth as a tight end at the collegiate level.
East Carolina’s is better than Auburn’s, but that doesn’t mean they won’t give up big plays from Rakeem Cato and the Herd.
Hoskins is a fair bargain at 79k this week.
Mychal Rivera, Tennessee (69k)
Tennessee faces neighbor Kentucky this week in what should be a massacre.
Unfortunately, Tennessee’s defense like’s to make sure they give up big plays and keep the opposing offense in the game, which allows more scoring for Tyler Bray and friends.
Rivera is a legit tight end that can catch almost anything. Look for Bray to make a statement early on by throwing the ball down field.
Levine Toilolo, Stanford (61k)
UCLA is coming off of a big win against USC, but they aren’t done yet as they still have Stanford to deal with.
Stanford is also coming off of a win that is arguably more important to the team than what UCLA did.
Zach Ertz is clearly the #1 tight end for Stanford, but look for Toilolo and Ertz to both get heavy targets this week to take advantage of the weak linebacker corps from UCLA.
Defense
Nebraska (71k)
Iowa’s offense has been absolutely awful this season despite the emergence of Mark Weisman and Damon Bullock.
Nebraska doesn’t have the best defense, but they can create turnovers and generate pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
Iowa’s 20 points per game is hardly impressive, and they will be lucky to score 17 this week.
Texas A&M (62k)
You would like to think that Texas A&M has a legit defense, but after giving up 28 points to Sam Houston State, we may reconsider.
Still, their strength has been shutting down the run, which is something that Missouri does well.
A&M won’t have to worry about James Franklin throwing the ball too much because he’s just not that good at it. Take the risk and hope that Franklin turns the ball over four times like he did on the road against Florida three weeks ago.
North Carolina State (55k)
Boston College can’t run the football and that’s good news for the Wolfpack considering they are just not very good at shutting down the run.
The good news is that Boston College can’t really throw the ball either, and NC State has a knack for forcing turnovers.
55k is a great investment in a defense with big time talent that gets to face a weak offense at home.
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