College Football Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 12/2/22

College football is entering Conference Championship Week, and FanDuel's college football DFS main slate on Friday includes two games.

In case you're unfamiliar with how it works, you can check out the rules and scoring on FanDuel, where you can hit the lobby each week to see the full array of slates and contests being offered.

As for the basics, your roster consists of a quarterback slot, two running backs, three wide receivers (which also includes tight ends), and one "Super FLEX". In the Super FLEX spot, you can insert one player from any position, including quarterbacks.

Here, our goal is to help you field a roster full of fantasy goodness, and in true numberFire fashion, we'll use our DFS projections and game projections to tackle as many slates as possible in the lead-up to the College Football Playoff. In this piece, we are breaking down Friday's main slate, which locks at 7:30 p.m. EST.

Let's look at which players are in great spots as well as identify some players with low salaries who will allow you to roster the high-salary players. All stats come from PFF unless otherwise noted.

Quarterbacks

Caleb Williams, Southern California ($12,500) – The Heisman frontrunner has cleared 33 FanDuel points in an absurd six straight games. The Southern California Trojans have already faced the Utah Utes once this season. In that game, Williams piled up 381 passing yards, 57 rushing yards, and five touchdown passes (40.94 FanDuel points). He will be the most popular player on this slate.

Frank Harris, Texas-San Antonio ($11,000) – The Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners' dual-threat signal caller gets a dream matchup with the North Texas Mean Green on Friday night. North Texas' defense has struggled against the run (more on that below), and they are awful against the pass (allowing 265.7 passing yards per game). Meanwhile, Harris has accounted for 35 touchdowns through 12 games. He is the Roadrunners' second-leading rusher with 539 yards and leads team with eight rushing touchdowns.

Austin Aune, North Texas ($9,200) - Aune is the salary-saving option at quarterback. The junior quarterback ranks 8th nationally with 31 touchdown passes this season. The matchup with UTSA is advantageous for Aune. The Roadrunners are allowing 258.4 passing yards per game (103rd nationally). They have surrendered 19 touchdown passes through 12 games.

Running Backs

Austin Jones, Southern California ($9,400) – Jones is operating as a bell cow in the Trojans' backfield. In two games since Travis Dye's injury, Jones has recorded an eye-opening 46 carries. Additionally, he has run for 274 yards and two touchdowns over the last two games.

Kevorian Barnes, Texas-San Antonio ($7,100) – Barnes has ascended to lead rusher in the Roadrunners' backfield. The freshman is averaging 13.3 carries per game over the last six games. His workload could rise with leading rusher Brendan Brady sidelined on Friday night. The matchup with North Texas is a good spot. North Texas is allowing 185.2 rushing yards per game (105th nationally). The Mean Green have given up 21 rushing touchdowns through 12 games.

Ikaika Ragsdale, North Texas ($6,800) - Ragsdale is operating as the lead back with Oscar Adaway III sidelined. Ragsdale has 17 carries in back-to-back games. He should find plenty of running room against the Roadrunners' mediocre run defense. Texas-San Antonio is allowing 4.18 yards per carry to opposing ball carriers. They have yielded 18 rushing touchdowns through 12 games.

Wide Receivers

Dalton Kincaid, Utah ($8,300) – I think Kincaid's ceiling is pretty similar to that of Jordan Addison ($9,700), Zakhari Franklin ($9,600), and Joshua Cephus ($8,700). Therefore, I think it makes sense to save some salary and roster Kincaid. The Utah Utes' tight end feasted in his first matchup with USC, posting 16 receptions, 234 receiving yards, and one touchdown in that game.

Jyaire Shorter, North Texas ($7,000) - Shorter is the deep threat in North Texas' offense. The dynamic wide receiver is posting an insane 20.8-yard aDOT. He is also averaging 2.57 yards per route run. I like his chances of finding the end zone against Texas-San Antonio's porous pass defense.

Tykee Ogle-Kellogg, Texas-San Antonio ($4,900) - Ogle-Kellogg is under-salaried for his role change. The senior has been Decorian Clark's near full-time replacement at wide receiver for the Roadrunners. Ogle-Kellogg has been productive since Clark's injury. He is averaging 2.11 yards per route run this season. His aDOT is also impressive (15.8). Ogle-Kellogg will be popular after posting a stat line of four receptions, 142 receiving yards, and one touchdown in Texas San Antonio's last game. He provides a ton of salary relief, which is necessary on this slate.

General Notes

Jordan Addison ($9,700) leads the slate with an average of 2.99 yards per route run. He is back to a full-time role after missing two games with an injury. Mario Williams ($6,800) is also viable as a salary relief play. Williams tied for the team lead with 18 routes run in the Trojans' regular-season finale. Kyle Ford ($5,900) should also be considered. He ran 18 routes in the regular-season finale. He is producing when he is on the field (2.08 yards per route run).

Cameron Rising ($10,200) finds himself in salary limbo and may go overlooked a bit. I think most gamers will roster both Caleb Williams and Frank Harris. The other popular roster construction will include one high-salary quarterback and Aune for salary relief. That makes Rising interesting in tournaments. He posted 52 FanDuel points in Utah's first matchup with USC.

Utah's passing game has condensed on Dalton Kincaid, Devaughn Vele ($7,800), and Money Parks ($5,300). Vele's primary appeal is that he is targeted heavily (81 targets in 12 games). Meanwhile, Parks is enticing due to his high aDOT (14.2) and he's averaging 2.0 yards per route run. Parks is a phenomenal pivot from the sure-to-be popular Tykee Ogle-Kellogg.

Micah Bernard ($7,500) should operate as the lead back for Utah. He ranks third on the Utes with 36 targets this season. Utah will be without running back Tavion Thomas, which should increase Bernard's workload. Backfield mate Ja'Quindan Jackson ($4,400) is an interesting superflex candidate. Jackson is a running back; he is listed as a quarterback on this slate (converted to running back earlier this season). Jackson has tallied five rushing touchdowns over the last four games (albeit mainly in blowouts). He should have a fairly significant role on Friday night.

Zakhari Franklin ($9,600) leads the slate with 11 touchdown receptions. His teammate, Joshua Cephus ($8,700), is also a fine option. Both pass catchers have exactly 75 receptions this season.

Roderic Burns ($7,400) will fly under the radar. If North Texas falls behind early and is forced to throw the ball, Burns could be busy. He is averaging 2.81 yards per route run.


Matthew Hiatt is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matthew Hiatt also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username easternmh. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.