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NC State vs. Virginia
- Point-Spread: UVA -5.5
- O/U Total: 53.5
- Implied Score: UVA 29.5 – NC St 24
- Weather: 85 degrees / 0% rain / 5 mph winds
NC State:
Top Play(s) – WR JoJo Trader ($3,200) Trader may be the most highly-owned wide receiver on the slate given his pricing. The Miami transfer will have an instant connection with his new quarterback CJ Bailey as the two connected for a total of 123 times back in high school for 28 touchdowns. If there’s one bit of hesitancy to rostering Trader, it’s that no NC State wideout had more than 13% of the team’s target share in 2025.
Fade – WR Victor Snow ($4,800) Snow comes over from Buffalo where he had over 800 receiving yards and eight touchdowns last season. The salary is attainable, but Snow should not be the highest priced NC State receiver as he’s likely the third or fourth option in the passing game. Limit one NC State wideout per lineup in case the Wolfpack don’t have a high-volume target getter similar to last year.
Pivot Play – RB Jayden Scott ($6,100) Scott shined when he saw extended opportunities last season in place of Hollywood Smothers, including a 196-yard performance vs. Georgia Tech, along with 100+ in the bowl game. Dawning the No. 1 jersey for the Wolf Pack this season, its expected Scott will handle a similar workload to Smothers from last season who averaged 18 touches per contest.
Bargain Bin – WR Davon Dozier ($4,300) or WR Keenan Jackson ($3,500) Trader is the expected WR1 but look for both Dozier and Jackson to be heavily involved in the offense as well. Jackson is the lone holdover among the group from last season, finishing with 28 receptions on 46 targets. He’s shed weight since last year from all accounts, in attempts to improve his speed and athleticism. Dozier is a big-play threat coming over from Appalachian State where he averaged over 22 YPC.
Best of the Rest – QB CJ Bailey ($6,600) Bailey’s modest salary is intriguing for a quarterback that threw for 3,100 yards and 25 touchdowns last season. The caveat to Bailey is the presence of backup QB Will Wilson who could throw a wrench into the mix, as he led NC State with 10 rushing TDs last season. In addition, Bailey was awful on the road last season, throwing almost as many interceptions (8) as he did touchdowns (9) in five road starts.
Injury Notes – n/a
Virginia:
Top Play(s) – RB Jekail Middlebrook ($6,000) The Middle Tennessee transfer has separated himself enough in camp to likely open as Virginia’s lead back. We don’t foresee any UVA running back taking on the full 222 rushing attempts vacated by last year’s starter J’Mari Taylor, but Middlebrook is the lead candidate to assume much of that workload heading into Week 0. Middlebrook is also an adept pass-catcher out of the backfield, racking up 40 receptions this past year.
Fade – RB Peyton Lewis ($5,600) There were some who thought that the Tennessee transfer would lead the UVA rushing attack in 2026, and at one point in the offseason that looked like an accurate prediction. But the further we got into fall camp, the lower Lewis fell on the totem pole, to the point where he may not even be in the RB rotation. Barring some unexpected news this week, we can safely remove Lewis from our player queue.
Pivot Play – QB Beau Pribula ($7,100) Pribula’s rushing ability is the primary reason to roster him at $7.1k, and this coaching staff has been unafraid to utilize the QB position in the run game in year’s past. Both Anthony Colandrea and Brennan Armstrong averaged over 11 rushing attempts per game as starters under Tony Elliott, which is what we love to see from a college fantasy quarterback.
Best of the Rest – WRs. This room is…uninspiring with the lead candidates to start being a UCLA transfer, a UMass transfer and a senior with just six career receptions. Given that, and Pribula’s limitations as a passer, we’re not going to put much emphasis on this group. WR Kameron Courtney ($4,200) is the most experienced of the bunch, targeted 37 times as a backup and looks to take over for Cam Ross who posted 53 receptions last year from the slot. WR Jacquon Gibson ($4,400) gets a small boost with Rico Flores being ruled out.
Injury Notes – WR Rico Flores (OUT)
theCFFsite’s Heisman Members can view the full article here, and Heisman/All-American Members can access the Weekly Player Projections here.
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