RADIO
We now have college football every day until January 2, and not just one game per day like last week. Most wonderful time of the year, indeed! There are four games today, but the battle of the Carolinas begins before noon, so DraftKings left that off the main slate. Unfortunately, that means no Sam Howell.
We begin the afternoon in Nashville with Tennessee taking on a Purdue team down David Bell, Milton Wright, and George Karloftis. This isn't must-see TV anymore. Next we get Pitt and Michigan State in Atlanta. Kenny Pickett and Taysir Mack are both out for Pitt, so another potentially intriguing bowl is significantly less so. We end the night with Wisconsin taking on Arizona State in Vegas. The Sun Devils will be without Rachaad White and Chip Trayanum in this one. Bowl opt-outs have made this slate less interesting than it should be, but in return it opened up a ton of value!
In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy college football lineup picks for DraftKings on 12/30/21 locking at 3 pm eastern. I’ll be providing multiple player suggestions for players at quarterback, running back, and wide receiver, aiming to highlight one option apiece at the high, middle, and lower end of the salary scale. Good luck, RotoBallers. But first, we start with the betting picks!
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CFB Betting Picks 12/30:
North Carolina(-9.5) vs. South Carolina at Charlotte, NC
Betting Pick Confidence Factor: 2
Sam Howell is playing. ZaQuandre White is not. South Carolina loses some electricity there, but Kevin Harris is still a strong back. My issues is that I don't think the Gamecocks can keep Howell and Josh Downs under wraps. Give me the Tarheels.
Tennessee(-6.5) vs. Purdue at Nashville, TN
Betting Pick Confidence Factor: 4
The loss of David Bell and Milton Wright is really going to hurt Purdue. I like the Boilermakers, but the Vols are rolling right now and the defense is better than they were earlier in the season. I feel pretty comfortable with this for anything under double digits.
(12)Pittsburgh vs. (10)Michigan State(-2.5) at Atlanta, GA
Betting Pick Confidence Factor: 3
This is not the same Pitt team that we saw this season. I think Nick Patti is capable of having a good game against this secondary and I expect a monster out of Jordan Addison. Is it enough? I don't really know. I tend to side with the experience of Payton Thorne and the Spartans have Speedy Nailor back. That's a problem. Give me the Spartans.
Wisconsin(-6.5) vs. Arizona State at Las Vegas, NV
Betting Pick Confidence Factor: 5
The loss of Trayanum and Rachaad White is kind of a big deal for the Sun Devils. That's about 3/4 of their rushing yards on the season. Now Ngata has to try to get it going against the second-best run defense in the nation. Good luck! I expect a nice game out of Braelon Allen and a slow suffocation of the Sun Devils just like a boa constrictor. Give me the Badgers.
DraftKings CFB DFS Quarterbacks
Hendon Hooker, Tennessee ($8,100)
The Tennessee offense really took off when Hooker was instated as the full-time starter. He threw just three interceptions in 261 pass attempts while throwing 26 touchdowns and running for five more. Purdue's defense is solid, but it is less so with George Karloftis out. Hooker might be capped much the same as Taulia was yesterday because of the blowout, but he's the most reliable quarterback on the slate.
Payton Thorne, Michigan State ($7,400)
Hey, you all remember how much trouble Michigan State had last year without a running back, right? Welcome back to 2020 for the Spartans. Thorne is a much better quarterback for the system than Rocky Lombardi was, but Thorne is going to have to take on a much larger role in the offense in this one. Trust me, this is good news. Pitt allowed less than three yards per carry on the entire season. Meanwhile, teams were able to throw for 257.4 yards per game. There's going to be some room for Thorne in this one.
Nick Patti, Pittsburgh ($6,000)
Patti will get the start with Kenny Pickett headed to the NFL. Michigan State allowed some monster passing days to quarterbacks this year, and with Kedon Slovis coming in via the transfer portal next year, one of those from Patti here could give him a leg up on Slovis heading into 2022. Bailey Zappe threw for 488 on Sparty. Aidan O'Connell went for a staggering 536. C.J. Stroud went for 449 and six touchdowns. Patti is an excellent value play tonight.
Also consider: Jayden Daniels, Arizona State ($8,300); Aidan O'Connell, Purdue ($7,800); Graham Mertz, Wisconsin ($5,200)
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DraftKings CFB DFS Running Backs
Braelon Allen, Wisconsin ($8,500)
Many of the elite running backs have skipped the bowl games, but Allen wont. He's still going to be in Madison for another two years! Arizona State allowed 129.3 rushing yards per game this year, which is around the average mark. The 17 touchdowns on the ground are a little above average. Wisconsin is a team built to run and run well. The Sun Devils are going to have all kinds of problems with Allen here. He has a high ceiling tonight.
Jabari Small, Tennessee ($6,300)
Hooker is going to steal some opportunities, but Tiyon Evans is in the transfer portal so I still see Small having a healthy workload. The Vols won their last two games by a combined 70 points and were blown off the field by Georgia the game before that. This is the first game that Small will have the backfield to himself and a plus game plan to work with. He has scored four touchdowns in the last two games, meaning he still gets a lot of love on the goal line. He's a solid play against a Purdue defense missing their best tackler.
Zander Horvath, Purdue ($5,200)
King Doerue is still stealing carries, but there should be plenty to go around against Tennessee. The Boilermakers are missing their two leading receivers and Tennessee has allowed 153.17 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns per game this season. The Purdue run game is in a great situation here. I don't mind taking a shot on Doerue as a GPP value play either if you need it.
Elijah Collins, Michigan State ($4,900)
Collins had a solid 2020 as the starter despite a bad offense around him. Let's face it: with Kenneth Walker III around, not many other Spartans were getting carries. I don't see Michigan State altering their game plan all that much, which should mean a healthy dose of carries for Collins and maybe Joiner as well. Neither has a long leash though. This is GPP territory only as the Spartans will likely ride the hot hand after the first couple of series.
Also consider: Israel Abanikanda, Pittsburgh ($6,800); Daniyel Ngata, Arizona State ($5,800); Rodney Hammond, Pittsburgh ($4,700); Harold Joiner, Michigan State ($4,000)
DraftKings CFB DFS Wide Receivers
Jordan Addison, Pittsburgh ($9,000)
I would obviously like this a lot more if Kenny Pickett were throwing the passes instead, but Addison can make any quarterback look good. It's not like Patti looked bad in relief this year either. With Taysir Mack also out, Addison is going to see a ton of targets in this one. The massive upside that Patti has against the Michigan State pass defense that has been roughed up this year passes on to Addison as well. He already had his ceiling game this year, but don't be shocked if Addison catches at least a dozen passes.
Cedric Tillman, Tennessee ($7,200)
Tillman finished the season with 647 receiving yards and six touchdowns over the last five games. He got hot at the right time! Tillman put up 200 yards on the vaunted Georgia defense, so a solid Purdue squad wont scare me off. This is the first bowl slate to really splurge on receivers. The top two both appear to be worth the lofty prices.
Jackson Anthrop, Purdue ($5,000)
Anthrop vaults to the top of the Purdue depth chart with David Bell going to the draft and Milton Wright not making the trip to Nashville. Anthrop still finished with nearly 500 receiving yards despite playing third fiddle to Bell and Wright. He should have a very nice game as the leading guy for the Boilermakers. Payne Durham could be a very nice option on the cheap as well since he should see a lot of targets as well.
Andre Johnson, Arizona State ($4,200)
There's not much I trust about the Arizona State offense against this Wisconsin defense, especially when you look at where they are priced. Johnson only played 12 snaps in the regular season finale after missing all of November with an apparent injury. He is rumored to be over whatever was ailing him. With the Sun Devils unlikely to gain any traction on the ground, they'll have to go to the air perhaps more than they are used to. I like the upside of Johnson, but anyone in this offense carries fairly significant risk.
Also consider: Jalen Nailor, Michigan State ($5,500); Jared Wayne, Pittsburgh ($5,400); Velus Jones, Tennessee ($4,800); Danny Davis III, Wisconsin ($4,600)
