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Kansas State vs. Oklahoma State
Point-Spread: K-St -11.5
O/U Total: 55
Implied Score: K-St 33.5 – Ok-St 22
Weather: 63 degrees / 1% rain / 14 mph winds
Kansas State:
Top Play(s) – RB DJ Giddens ($6,100) Sounds as though Treshaun Ward is full-go this week after missing the UCF game and then having the bye week to heal. So the question now becomes does Kansas State go back to the 50-50 split the staff was utilizing prior to the injury or is Giddens the featured back after rushing for 207 yards and four touchdowns against the Knights. Comments from HC Chris Klieman do sound promising that Giddens might get the lion’s share of the work but expect to also see Ward involved.
“I don’t know if we want to give it to him 40 times a game. You know, when you talk about carries and receptions. We want to make sure he can last for the whole season. But without a doubt he proved to us that he can be that bell cow that can carry it now. I don’t know if that’s 20 carries if that’s 18 carries and six catches, I’m not sure how the game will play out but if we could book and have 80 every game yeah, we’d get him a lot of carries but every game is gonna be a little bit different.”
Oklahoma State is allowing 18.6 FPPG to opposing RB1s so far this season.
Fade – RB Treshaun Ward ($5,900) See above. First game back from injury + Giddens’ emergence means we’ll side with caution here on Ward’s potential involvement on Friday.
Bargain Bin – WR Keagan Johnson ($4,200) The former Iowa transfer saw his most playing time of the season as he returned from injury, targeted five times vs. Central Florida. Comments from Klieman suggest Johnson is now at 100% health, though with the way Jadon Jackson ($4,400) has performed of late, we’ll probably see a four-man rotation at receiver for K-State.
Pivot Play – QB Will Howard ($9,000) Worth spending up for Will Howard? The senior quarterback has scored 23 or more fantasy points in all four starts this season, and this is an average Oklahoma State secondary, ranked 73rd in pass D success rate. The Cowboys are allowing just 16.7 FPPG to opposing quarterbacks but haven’t faced any top-tier passing offenses to date.
Best of the Rest – TE Ben Sinnott ($5,400) 60 or more receiving yards for Sinnott in three of the first four games, and second on the team in targets (26). Oklahoma State has yet to allow an opposing TE to score more than 7 fantasy points in a game this season. WR Phillip Brooks ($6,500) leads the team with 24 receptions on 31 targets. He’s very intriguing in this spot given the way Oklahoma State has struggled mightily against slot receivers in 2023. South Alabama’s Caullin Lacy and Iowa State’s Jaylin Noel combined to score nearly 60 fantasy points in their matchups.
Injury Notes – Sounds like Kansas State should be full-go following the bye week with Treshaun Ward, Keagan Johnson and RJ Garcia being available.
Oklahoma State:
Top Play(s) – RB Ollie Gordon ($5,700) Hopefully a sign of things to come from Gordon after seeing 18 carries against Iowa State in Week 4. The sophomore back rewarded the coaching staff with 121 yards on the ground, while nabbing four receptions on five targets. Not the best defense to roster a running back against as Kansas State is allowing just 14 FPPG to opposing RB1s and are 5th in rush D success rate nationally. The hope is that this is a trend moving forward with Gordon’s 22 touches his last time out.
Fade – RB Jaden Nixon ($5,300) We’ll just lean into the notion that this is Ollie Gordon’s backfield moving forward and that Nixon has fully been relegated to RB2 duties. Still a factor in the passing game, converting on all 10 of his targets in 2023, but saw a season-low two rushing attempts in Week 4.
Bargain Bin –
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