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Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M
Point-Spread: A&M -3.5
O/U Total: 46.5
Implied Score: A&M 25 – ND 21.5
Weather: 85 degrees / 27% rain / 8 mph winds
Notre Dame:
Top Play(s) – WR Jaden Greathouse ($4,300) One of the few players in this game where the salary matches the projection. Notre Dame bolstered its depth at receiver this offseason with a host of transfers, but the highest upside is with the sophomore receiver who was deemed the offensive MVP in spring ball by several ND beat writers.
Fade – RBs. We’ll basically say the same thing below with A&M, but all of these options are priced to a point we can’t really consider. Notre Dame has two talented running backs in Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, but this will be close to 50-50 split, at least to start the year. Not to mention A&M has a big advantage in the trenches facing a ND offensive line that is starting a pair of freshmen. We’re also throwing TE Mitchell Evans ($6,500) in this bucket. Only a Brock Bowers should be priced this highly at the tight end position. While reports suggest Evans is 100%, call us a bit skeptical that Evans will be back in full form following his ACL tear last year.
Bargain Bin – WR Jordan Faison ($4,100) Faison was surprisingly listed as a starter ahead of FIU transfer WR Kris Mitchell ($6,900) but we’re not sure how long that sticks. For a walk-on though, Faison was impressive last season with three touchdowns in each of the last three games to close the year. Mitchell, on the other hand, had several long touchdowns posted by the Notre Dame Twitter page in fall camp.
Pivot Play – QB Riley Leonard ($7,800) Leonard comes over from Duke and will be an instant upgrade for the Irish at QB. He’s healthy after his ankle injury suffered last year and should mesh well with new OC Mike Denbrock who comes over from LSU after captaining the No. 1 scoring offense in the country last season. Denbrock has produced four top 15 fantasy quarterbacks in each of the last four seasons, and Leonard fits this system perfectly as a dual threat.
Best of the Rest – WR Beaux Collins ($6,000) The Clemson transfer landed the third starting spot on the depth chart, though we’re taking a wait-and-see approach there. Collins really struggled with inconsistencies and drops towards the end of his tenure with the Tigers.
Injury Notes – n/a
Texas A&M:
Top Play(s) – WR Noah Thomas ($5,400) Many of the A&M pieces are priced like this is going to be a shootout. It won’t be. Thomas has been the best Aggie receiver this offseason, stealing the show in the spring game with a pair of touchdowns on seven receptions. Great size at 6-foot-6 and most reports indicate he’ll be the WR1.
Fade – RB Amari Daniels ($7,100) Daniels was going to be RB4 for the Aggies if Rueben Owens hadn’t been lost for the season due to injury. He might be the primary backup to Le’Veon Moss but should not be $100 cheaper and should definitely not be $7k in what could be a rock fight.
Bargain Bin – RB E.J. Smith ($3,000) Not suggesting either player will hit value, but far better off rostering the Stanford transfer in Smith with this price tag over Daniels. While Smith was a major disappointment last year with the Cardinal, we do know he’s an exceptional pass-catcher out of the backfield, finishing last year with 33 catches on 39 targets.
Pivot Play – RB Le’Veon Moss ($7,200) Moss’ value skyrocketed following the season-ending injury to Rueben Owens. New offensive coordinator Collin Klein featured his RB1 heavily at Kansas State with over 200+ rushing attempts in the last two years. On the flipside, Moss has not proven yet he can consistently handle 15+ touches per game.
Best of the Rest – QB Conner Weigman ($8,300) Weigman would be seventh among my list of QB options behind both quarterbacks in the UNLV / Houston game, Jalen Milroe, Ethan Garbers, Dillon Gabriel and Leonard. Weigman was impressive in his first three starts prior to the injury last season, completing 69% of his throws and scoring a combined 103 fantasy points in that stretch (34.4 FPPG). So, we’re expecting a good year, just not in this matchup. WRs Jahdae Walker ($5,500), Moose Muhammad III ($5,100) and Louisiana Tech transfer WR Cyrus Allen ($5,000) make up the top four at receiver, along with Noah Thomas. Collin Klein really spread out the targets back at KSU, with no wideout getting more than 20% target share. So aside from Thomas, no Aggie wideout stands out amongst this trio.
Injury Notes – n/a
Idaho vs. Oregon
Point-Spread: Oreg -44.5
O/U Total: 62.5
Implied Score: Oreg 53.5 – Idaho 9
Weather: 92 degrees / 0% rain / 6 mph winds
Idaho:
WR Jordan Dwyer ($4,300) is the only player worthy of mild consideration on the Idaho side as the most experienced returnee at the position with 20 receptions and four touchdowns on 30 targets last season. We also don’t have an Idaho depth chart which lessens our interest even further.
Oregon:
Top Play(s) –
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