College Football Daily Fantasy Helper, Presented by DiGIORNO: Saturday 9/10/22

With daily fantasy football so popular, it was only a matter of time before it translated to the college level.

FanDuel offers college football daily fantasy contests now in most states, and there's a twist on the NFL ruleset. You select a quarterback, two running backs, three wideouts (which can include tight ends), and a "SuperFLEX" that can be any of those positions.

Target data for pass-catchers in college can be difficult to find, so finding out which players are on the field and getting work can make all the difference. Naturally, there are also more lopsided outcomes in college, so balance game scripts appropriately as well! Your running back's monstrous first half could lead to a bagel in the second.

Week 2 is commonly known as "tune-up week", and a lot of top teams are playing weaker schools. However, this main slate has some of the more competitive contests on it, and there could be gobs of points in a few of these inter-conference battles.

As if that's not enough reason to play...what's better than watching college football? Watching college football and having a chance at a slice of a $10,000 pie. Enter DiGIORNO's Saturday Slice Challenge and draft your team for a chance to win.

Note: All stats are from PFF.com.

The Slate

On this slate, there will be no shortage of ways to be different that also makes sense.

Four games have totals over 65.0 points: Wake Forest-Vanderbilt, Alabama-Texas, Tennessee-Pitt, and Southern California-Stanford. Three more are above 55.0 points, as well.

However, we have data after the first real week of the season, and it's not easy to obtain. Having target numbers from this helper will give you an edge over the average player, so selling out for the wrong components of those game stacks in place of known volume in a lower-totaled game isn't always the right decision.

Quarterbacks

This week, 20 points from your quarterback just won't cut it. We're going to see 40- or 50-burgers in several spots, so always target upside when building.

There isn't a player with a higher upside than Bryce Young ($11,800) in a matchup with a rebuilding Texas defense. Last week's bludgeoning of Louisiana-Monroe doesn't change the fact Texas was 47th in ESPN's SP+ defensive preseason projections. Young chucked 5 touchdowns and ran for 107 yards in limited duty last week, so the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner is already off and running in defense of his crown.

It's great to see that Sam Hartman ($11,000) is in line to start for Wake Forest this week, too. Hartman's season was in jeopardy due to a blood clot issue, but he's been cleared to return this week. The junior accounted for 50 total touchdowns last year, and he could pile up a few in a high-scoring battle with Vandy.

However, considering salary, I'd rather use lefty Brennan Armstrong ($10,000) if I'm making just one lineup. Virginia is hitting the road to face Illinois, and the game has a 57.5-point total. I know Armstrong will be involved; he threw for 265 yards and ran for another 105 last week in a de facto preseason game against FCS Richmond.

Caleb Williams ($9,600) also has the dual-threat capacity to keep pace with these three. USC's 38.0-point implied team total is massive, and it's because the all-star squad from SoCal has a date this week with ESPN's 90th-ranked preseason defense. I just don't see Tanner McKee ($7,800) and Stanford keeping pace as much as oddsmakers do, which does hurt Williams a little.

I haven't even mentioned other rush-happy slingers in positive matchups like Anthony Richardson ($10,600), KJ Jefferson ($9,600), Mike Wright ($9,500), or Adrian Martinez ($8,500).

In my opinion, there are too many guys with that appeal to justify riding with a pocket passer this week.

Running Backs

I plan on spending up at quarterback often, so Braelon Allen ($10,800) has a salary that's hard to reach in a game that profiles to be non-competitive against Washington State.

We already know some backs have elite workloads, but they're headlined by Chase Brown ($9,000). Brown is averaging 28.0 carries a game, and the junior has jumped from last year's committee to a 62.5% rushing attempt share. He's a great mini-stack with Armstrong.

Bijan Robinson ($9,000) comes at -- likely -- his lowest salary of the year against Alabama. The Tide's vaunted front seven is a bear to run against, but Robinson had a 17.2% target share in limited action last week. That helps me believe he'll stay involved no matter what, and the goal-line work is almost exclusively his.

We get some really phenomenal value choices at running back, though. Jahmyr Gibbs ($8,000) is on the other side of Robinson in the Texas-Bama game, and he'll likely see more work than just the nine carries he got in last week's rout of Utah State.

Devon Achane ($8,600) got 62.1% of the Aggies' carries last week. He's the lead back with Isaiah Spiller now playing for the Chargers, and A&M is heavy favorites at home.

Raheim Sanders ($7,800) got 20 carries last week against Cincinnati. He just didn't cash in for a score. He's got another so-so matchup with South Carolina. The game's total is a healthy 52.5, and this one will likely go under the radar.

Other backs who got at least 18 opportunities last week include Deuce Vaughn ($9,500), Keshawn King ($7,900), Perris Jones ($7,700), and Rodney Hammond Jr. ($7,600). For the bold, Jirehl Brock ($6,500) and Nakia Watson ($5,700) also fit that category, but they've got brutal matchups on paper with Iowa and Wisconsin, respectively.

Wide Receivers

Here's where market share data can separate you from the field.

Zay Flowers ($9,000) is no longer a budget option. His salary bump is due to his two-score afternoon in Week 1, but he also got a slate-high 15 targets last week. Virginia Tech's Nick Gallo ($5,900) got nine targets if you're looking to mini-stack last week's target leader.

I will make sure to get to Jordan Addison ($9,700) despite him having just five targets last week. That game with Rice was over at halftime, so he didn't get any second-half work. He'll push double-digit targets this week, and he and Caleb Williams are my favorite stack of the weekend.

Dontayvian Wicks ($8,000) had a great week, separating from his Cavs teammates with a 37.5% target share. That was just 12 total targets in the blowout, but he and Keytaon Thompson ($7,300) are viable big-play threats to pair with Brennan Armstrong.

As always, A.T. Perry ($9,200) is a great option with Hartman. A better one might be a bring-back from the Vanderbilt side, Will Sheppard ($8,200). Sheppard has seen 8.0 targets in two games this year, but the Commodores led by a solid margin in both games. They likely won't on Saturday.

Higher-totaled wideouts to watch include Cedric Tillman ($8,400) from the Vols, Alabama's Traeshon Holden ($8,300), Texas' Xavier Worthy ($7,400), and super-saver Konata Mumpfield ($6,700) from Pitt. Mumpfield led the Panthers with eight targets last week.

Other double-digit target recipients last week include Oklahoma State's Braydon Johnson ($8,500), Iowa State's Xavier Hutchison ($8,100), Illinois' Isaiah Williams ($7,600), Wazzu's De'zhaun Stribling ($6,600), and Flowers' Boston College teammate George Takacs ($5,900).