Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that you enjoyed your turkey and two blowouts in the NFL this afternoon. We have a logjam after the top-2 in our CFB Daily Overlay Scores. There are a total of six experts separated by .15 points. There will still be a lot of maneuvering among that group. Grading Friday and Saturday picks this week may create an opportunity for a couple of these folks to create some distance between themselves and the competitors.
The Friday after Thanksgiving is one of my favorite CFB days of the year. Long gone are the days of the traditional Colorado vs Nebraska matchup on that day; however, that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of good games. There is a big-time AAC matchup with Navy traveling to Houston. Iowa looks to stay unbeaten as they travel to Lincoln where the Huskers have already knocked off a top-10 team this season. In the Pacific Northwest, we have two in-state rivalry games and, last but certainly not least, we have The Revivalry in Fort Worth. I’m certainly interested to see the matchup between the Horned Frogs and Bears. Word is that Trevone Boykin could have played last week in Norman but Gary Patterson’s hatred for Baylor runs so deep that he held Boykin out in order for him to be in better shape for Friday.
Quarterback
Suggested
CJ Beathard (4x) – Beathard doesn’t really light the lamp for me. He is one of the better options though and Nebraska is vulnerable against the pass.
Vernon Adams, Jr. (4x) – Adams has been great since coming back from injury. He went off last week against USC with over 400 yards passing and six touchdowns!
Brandon Doughty (3x) – Doughty is a safe play most weeks. That being said, he has not hit the 300 yard mark in his last three games.
Running Back
Recommended
Royce Freeman (6x) – He averaged almost 7.5 yards per carry against USC. Freeman now has over 1500 yards on the season.
Jeremy McNichols (6x) – McNichols has 16 touchdowns on the season and has scored in every game that he’s played in.
Suggested
Myles Gaskin (4x) – UW needs a win to get to a bowl. Gaskin has been a shining star since taking over the lead back role.
Devin Chafin (4x) – Chafin comes cheap and he’s getting a lot of looks at the goaline. There will be plenty of points in Fort Worth and with Jarret Stidham out, the Bears will run the ball a lot.
Anthony Wales (3x) – Has gone over 100 yards in five of the last six games.
Kareem Hunt (3x) – He has toted the rock an average of 25 times per game over the last three. I would expect that to continue.
Qadree Ollison (3x) – Ollison will look to top 100 yards for the third straight game as he takes on The U.
Wide Receiver
Highly Touted
Corey Davis (7x) – Davis has been an animal over the last five weeks as the WMU offense has been putting up points like crazy. He gets a lot of targets and a lot of them are downfield.
Recommended
Corey Coleman (6x) – Coleman should win the Biletnikoff Award this season. He does come at a cost but he’s worth it. The risk here is that Baylor is starting third-stringer Chris Johnson.
Suggested
Taywan Taylor (4x) – The WKU offense slings it and Taylor catches it. As I mentioned above, they have not gone over 300 yards passing in the last three weeks so be careful putting too many eggs in that basket.
Daniel Braverman (3x) – If Davis is the yin, then Braverman is the yang. Braverman piled up targets and receptions the first few weeks of the season. As defenses have shifted coverage towards him, Davis has picked up the slack.
The only stack option in the consensus is the WKU combo of Doughty and Taylor. That previous sentence is the exact same sentence I wrote for last week’s consensus. I like the WMU stack of QB and (maybe?) both WR. As for affordable plays, I’ll likely roll with Baylor third-stringer, Chris Johnson. If any coach can plug and play a QB, it’s Art Briles and that was proven in the second half in Stillwater last week. Good luck and let’s get that cash!
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