College Football DFS Picks: Week 1 CFB Saturday DraftKings Main Slate Breakdown

By Grant White @4thlinesports
Aug 28, 2024

We are being rewarded for tolerating last week’s four-game schedule with an insane amount of college football action this week. While the games have already commenced, Week 1 features a bevy of season-opening matchups that will get the blood pumping. Spread across six slates, there is no shortage of DFS slates to dig into for the official start of the college football season. We’ve got you covered on the main slate, which features some high-octane offenses and intriguing players.

We’ve got you covered for DFS purposes, highlighting our preferred players from Saturday’s main slate.

College football is back at FantasyLabs. Inside our Player Models, you’ll be able to utilize our Lineup Optimizer to effortlessly create up to 300 lineups for your DFS contests.

Or if cash games are more your speed, you can build your lineups alongside our projections with our Lineup Builder. From there, you can hand-build your lineup or lock in a few guys and let the builder optimize the rest based on our projections.

Here’s a brief snippet of what our models look like:

Let’s dive into this week’s slate!

CFB DFS Quarterback Picks

Kyron Drones (Virginia Tech Hokies): $8,300 DraftKings

Count us as believers in Kyle Drones and the Virginia Tech Hokies this season. V-Tech enters 2024 in a wide-open ACC and could upset the balance of the conference with a strong showing on both sides of the ball. For that to happen, Drones needs to be at his best from the outset of the campaign, and we expect him to deliver in a crucial non-conference showdown against the Vanderbilt Commodores.

The dual-threat quarterback is coming off a stellar sophomore season in which he threw for 2,084 yards and 17 touchdowns against just three interceptions. Moreover, Drones flashed his top-end rushing ability, toting the ball 146 times for 642 yards and four scores. With a full year as a starter now under his belt, Drones’ ceiling looks even more promising in 2024.

Let’s also not lose sight of how truly terrible the Commodores defense was last year. Vandy got torched for 454.9 yards and 36.2 points per game, ranking as the absolute worst defense in the SEC by a wide margin. We’re not expecting meaningful improvement this season.

If the Hokies want to get serious about taking a run up the ACC standings, they need to make sure their offense is operating at peak efficiency. Thankfully, they have the right man for the job with Drones under center. We expect his DFS profile to grow substantially as an upperclassman, but for now, you can roster Drones with relative certainty that he will be overlooked by many.

Carson Beck (Georgia Bulldogs): $9,100 DraftKings

The Georgia Bulldogs are flexing their muscles in Week 1, taking on the 14th-ranked Clemson Tigers at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. As usual, Georgia enters the season with championship aspirations and is wasting no time in showing the college football world they are still the best. That position is analogous to Carson Beck’s in the quarterback category, with the Bulldogs’ signal-caller ready to demonstrate his Heisman Trophy credentials.

Last season, we saw how dominant Beck can be with the football in his hands. In his first season as a starter, the Florida native threw for nearly 4,000 yards in 2023. His 24-6 touchdown-to-interception ratio was equally impressive, as was his 9.5 yards per pass attempt. By the end of the campaign, Beck had an 86.0 quarterback rating, fifth-best in the country, and we’re expecting a more robust metric by the end of 2024.

Playing in the unforgiving SEC, Beck shredded some of the best defenses in the country last season. With another year of development behind him and the home crowd at a “neutral site venue” at his back, he’s poised to pick up exactly where he left off last season.

Try as they may, there’s nothing the Tigers can do to slow down Beck and the Bulldogs. We would like him to reach, if not surpass, his ceiling in the season opener. But proceed cautiously, as Beck will be heavily rostered, making it more challenging to differentiate your roster.

CFB DFS Running Back Picks

Ollie Gordon (Oklahoma State Cowboys): $9,100 DraftKings

Ollie Gordon is priced light years ahead of the next closest running back, and deservedly so. The Oklahoma State Cowboys product was an unstoppable force last year, and will surely find a new gear in his junior season. Combined with the Cowboys’ matchup against the inferior South Dakota State Jackrabbits, it’s easy to see why Gordon’s ceiling is far superior to the rest.

Gordon used his athletic frame to punish opponents all season. The Texas native eclipsed the century mark in rushing yards in nine of his last 11 games in 2023. When the dust settled, he had accumulated a monstrous 1,732 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns, making him the top-performing running back in the country by a substantive gap.

More importantly, we expect Gordon to pick up exactly where he left off against the Jackrabbits. The FCS foes will be completely outmatched on the road against the Cowboys’ rugged offense. Gordon will feature prominently in the game plan early and should have no problem reaching his fantasy ceiling.

Gordon’s only limitation is that he will likely take a backseat in the latter part of the contest. Still, the risk/reward balance is tilted in rostering the bruising back on the Week 1 main slate. Surpassing 100 rushing yards and finding paydirt a couple of times is nothing more than a formality versus South Dakota State.

LeQuint Allen (Syracuse Orange): $5,100 DraftKings

To offset the incredible cost of rostering Gordon, DFS punters can look a little down the salary list and find LaQuint Allen. The Syracuse Orange running back has the second-best ceiling on the main slate, coming at almost half the cost of the pre-eminent rusher. With that, Allen affords bettors the best opportunity of setting themselves apart by including him on their rosters.

The oft-overlooked ACC squad relied heavily on Allen in 2023. The then-sophomore had one of the heaviest workloads in the country, carrying the ball 245 times for 1,045 yards and nine touchdowns. That’s without considering his added value in the passing game, in which he accumulated 210 yards and another touchdown on 38 receptions.

While Syracuse is in tough against an underappreciated Ohio Bobcats defense, there are a couple of trends to take note of. First, Allen excelled at home. Five of his seven 100-yard rushing efforts came at the JMA Wireless Dome. Second, Ohio’s defense was much less efficient on the road. The Bobcats gave up 145 rushing yards to the San Diego Aztecs in last year’s season-opener, with the Northern Illinois Huskies nearly matching that with 130 rushing yards later in the campaign, representing two of their three losses.

Heading into his junior season, Allen will take on a more prominent role in Syracuse’s offense. He remains an under-the-radar candidate to end the day as one of the top-performing running backs.

Be sure to check out all the pick ’em Sleeper has to offer with Sleeper promo code LABS1 for a $100 deposit match.

CFB DFS Wide Receiver Picks

Xavier Restrepo (Miami (FL) Hurricanes): $6,700 DraftKings

Defense will be in short supply as the Florida Gators host the Miami (FL) Hurricanes in a crucial early-season test for both squads. The Hurricanes enter the contest as short -2.5 road favorites, and their elite passing game is a big reason why. Cam Ward takes over the offense after two incredibly productive seasons with the Washington State Cougars, and he’ll be quick to establish a connection with top wideout Xavier Restrepo.

Restrepo did a ton of damage from the slot last season. The now-senior led the team in receptions and receiving yards, totaling 85 and 1,092, respectively. While he had a more modest touchdown total, accumulating six by the end of the season, Restrepo hit double-digit receptions on three occasions. Moreover, he totaled 99 or more yards on six occasions, including three straight games to end the season.

A new quarterback doesn’t diminish Restrepo’s fantasy ceiling. He remains the primary target in a dangerous passing game and will have holes to exploit in a porous Gators defense. Florida gave up the fourth-most points and sixth-most passing yards in the SEC last year, with limited progress anticipated in 2024.

Restrepo rates as one of the top receivers in our projections, and we expect him to live up to that billing. He’ll be Ward’s primary target throughout the contest, helping both players reach the top end of their ceiling.

Dominic Lovett (Georgia Bulldogs): $6,400 DraftKings

Saturday’s correlated approach comes via the Georgia Bulldogs. Last year’s top pass-catcher, Brock Bowers, graduated to the pro ranks, leaving targets and yards up for grabs in 2024. We expect Dominic Lovett to take up that mantle, leading the Bulldogs in most receiving categories week after week.

Lovett fell just shy of Bowers in receptions and receiving yards last year. Still, the junior managed 54 receptions and 613 yards, finishing second in both categories. His role on the offense increases this year, putting his 2022 totals of 56 receptions and 846 yards well within reach. Consequently, we’re anticipating significant growth from Lovett in his senior season as he brings his yards per reception closer to the 15.4 benchmarks he set as an underclassman.

Of the top four pass-catchers from last year’s team, Lovett is the only holdover. That gives him a leg up in the passing game, as his well-established connection with Carson Beck will be the Bulldogs’ saving grace early in the season. We’re wielding that to our advantage on Saturday’s main slate, stacking Beck with Lovett in Week 1’s marquee matchup.

Konata Mumpfield (Pittsburgh Panthers): $4,800 DraftKings

There is no shortage of elite pass-catchers available on the main slate. But we’d be doing ourselves a disservice if we didn’t look for the top value wide receiver on the board. That distinction belongs to Konata Mumpfield, as the Pittsburgh Panthers head into their Week 1 matchup against the Kent State Golden Flashes as -24 chalk.

Mumpfield fell shy of the team lead in terms of receiving yards last year but was often the first look in the quarterbacks’ progression. The Georgia native led the team with 44 receptions, resulting in 576 yards and five touchdowns. The departure of Bub Means to the pro ranks enhances Mumpfield’s ceiling heading into the 2024 campaign, and we expect him to respond appropriately.

That outlook is even more promising in the season-opener versus Kent State. In addition to the Power 4 versus Group of 5 advantage, the Golden Flashes had one of the worst defenses in the country last year. They finished dead last in scoring defenses in the MAC, giving up 34.6 points per game. That correlates with an ineffective defense that allowed opponents to gain almost 400 yards per game.

Mumpfield will be the main target in the Panthers’ passing attack this year. A fact that’s not captured in his salary for Week 1. DFS bettors can use that to their advantage, incorporating the senior wide receiver into their main slate lineups on Saturday.

We’ve got you covered for DFS purposes, highlighting our preferred players from Saturday’s main slate.

College football is back at FantasyLabs. Inside our Player Models, you’ll be able to utilize our Lineup Optimizer to effortlessly create up to 300 lineups for your DFS contests.

Here’s a brief snippet of what our models look like:

Let’s dive into this week’s slate!