CFB Large-Field GPP Breakdown: Week 9

Two weeks in a row I have been very confident about the outcome of the weekend’s marquee game. Two weeks in a row I have been wrong about the outcome. In Week 7, it  was Ohio State falling on their faces against Oregon. This past Saturday, Georgia came out and punched Texas in the mouth in Austin.

 The CFB Playoff race is heating up, and it’s crazy to think we are more than halfway through the regular season.

Week 8 Recap

• No GPP wins for me last week, so that means back to your regularly scheduled programming. Believe me, I wish I could break down a tournament-winning lineup every week.
• I mentioned in my article last week that I thought ownership would be spread out more in Week 8 than it had been all season. I was right about that, as Tahj Brooks was the highest-owned player at 36%. Him and Isaac Brown were the only players more than 30% owned.
• If you played any of the chalky Arizona skill players, you probably did not have a good slate. Tetairoa McMillan, Quali Conley, and Noah Fifita had a great matchup against Colorado and were all owned at least 24%. All three of them fell flat on their faces and didn’t crack double-digit fantasy points. One thing is clear after Week 8: Arizona’s offense is pretty bad. The Wildcats’ new coaching staff and offensive line has ruined the Fifita-McMillan pairing that was so electric a year ago.
• He wasn’t my flag plant since I knew he was going to be pretty chalky, but Sawyer Robertson smashed Texas Tech. He threw for five touchdowns and put up 32 fantasy points. I thought Robertson was a great play because of his dual-threat ability, so I was pleasantly surprised he had that good of an outing without really creating any plays with his legs.
• Speaking of Baylor, about 30 minutes before the Baylor-Texas Tech game kicked off, there was a post on X that WR Hal Presley was questionable for the game. There was no reporting of it prior to that post, and a beat reporter confirmed he was warming up. So what were we to do? This was a classic example of college football at its finest when you have to make a gut call on what you think is going to happen. Presley was only $3,100 and had one of the best matchups on the slate. I rolled the dice and left him in all the lineups I already had him in, while spreading out some exposure to some of Baylor’s other WRs just in case. It turns out, Presley owners got extremely lucky, as he only played 13 snaps but hauled in a 35-yard TD pass in the second half. If I had to do it all over again, I would have handled it the same way. I thought Presley’s ownership would have come down with the news he was questionable. It turns out a lot of people thought the same way I did, as he still came in at 15-25% owned depending on the contest.
• The winning lineup in the $50,000-to-first GPP should be thanking their lucky stars that the Texas Tech coaching staff left their offensive starters in down 32 points with five minutes left in the fourth quarter. Behren Morton hooked up with Caleb Douglas for his third TD of the day, and that put the winning lineup over the top. It had a Texas Tech passing stack with Morton-Douglas, Tahj Brooks, and finished it off with a Baylor bring-back of Robertson and Josh Cameron. It was a well-constructed lineup that had a few breaks roll its way to put it on top.

Week 9 Preview