CFB DFS Top Plays: Week 9 (Saturday Night)

Understanding optimal lineups for cash games is extremely important, even if you only play tournaments. Players in our cash pool are the ones we believe are the most underpriced, have the best floor/ceiling combo and typically feature a relatively tight range of outcomes. These are the best plays on the board when considering price, context and positional scarcity. These are usually pretty good options for GPPs as well.

The optimal GPP lineup will typically mix some of these cash-type plays with higher-variance options, often in correlated lineups. In cash games (where roughly 50% of the field gets paid out), we don’t worry about ownership, game stacks, or correlation. In large-field tournaments, we should be much more mindful of ownership. These are our Top Plays considering the following factors: mean projection, matchup, upside, and value. Ownership is NOT considered here. Generally speaking, these players are what we consider to be “head-to-head and 50/50 considerations.”

They are listed in price descending order (NOT ranked by “best play”). At the bottom, you’ll find suggested rankings by site once salary is accounted for.

QUARTERBACK

Arch Manning (TEX – DK, $7,900, FD $10,700) – Manning is one of my favorite cash-game quarterbacks on the night slate thanks to his matchup and rushing-touchdown upside. Texas enters as a three-touchdown home favorite over Mississippi State with an implied team total above 35 points. Manning threw for 212 yards and added two rushing touchdowns against Ole Miss last week, showing how he can produce without a monster passing performance. The Bulldogs have allowed nearly 28 points per game this season, and Texas should have plenty of scoring opportunities. There’s some blowout risk, but Manning’s multiple paths to touchdowns make him an appealing cash-game option.