Here we go with our best college football picks for Week 1 on Saturday, Aug 31. We sifted through tons of daily fantasy sports picks and came up with our top five plays for Week 1.
Make sure to check back every week for a new article with all of our best college football player prop picks.
Best College Football Picks (Week 1 Player Props)
Below, Props.com analyst Kyle Krogstad breaks down his top five college football picks for Week 1.
Julian Fleming More Than 36.5 Receiving Yards
My first play of the Week 1 slate is Julian Fleming. The ex-Buckeye receiver is in his first game as a Nittany Lion, and his underwhelming Ohio State career has to be taken with a grain of salt. The level of competition week-to-week and even year-to-year this guy had to deal with is unbelievable.
Now he gets a chance to shine with former 5-star QB1 in the 2022 class, Drew Allar. He was a big disappointment a year ago, but I think he is ready to come out and prove all the haters wrong. Allar torched this defense a year ago with a stat line of 21-29 for 325 yards and 3 TD. This was his best game of the year by far.
This is a West Virginia defense that got better as the year went on, but they still were not all that good. They gave up an average of 237 yards per game a year ago, which was 78th in the country. I think this play has a lot to do with how Fleming will operate in this offense.
Allar’s line is set at 210.5 passing yards, so I can assume he gets to the 200ish range with the help of Fleming. I think the volume will definitely be there for him as Penn State has been looking for a #1 WR for a few years now.
Not asking for much here, but I think both him and Allar are itching to make a change to their underwhelming college career. They’ll both have a good opportunity to start doing so on Saturday.
Where to play: Julian Fleming More Than 36.5 Receiving Yards | PrizePicks
Bhayshul Tuten Longest Rush – More Than 19.5 Yards
I find myself rolling with these plays a lot recently because it only takes one play to hit… literally. However, it usually does go hand in hand with the rushing yard line.
Bhayshul Tuten cleared this line in just 4 of his 13 games a year ago, but he was hit or miss with volume throughout the year. This year he enters as the clear RB1 on a Virginia Tech team with serious ACC title-game aspirations.
Week 1 they’re at Vanderbilt. Vandy allowed an opposing RB to hit this line in 11 of 12 games last season. This defense was awful. They allowed every single team to gash them in the run game, which VA Tech loves to do.
Yes, there is Kyron Drones to worry about stealing some rushing volume, but Tuten should still get 13+ carries, which should be plenty for him to get there for us.
This Vanderbilt defense returns pretty much the same defense plus a few small D1 transfers at DE and corner. They also brought in a pretty good TCU safety from last year, Randon Fontenette. But I don’t think he can transform this bottom 10th-percentile run defense.
With that being said, I expect VA Tech to be playing from ahead as 14-point favorites. They have huge expectations this season, as they return almost everybody from a season ago in hopes for a CFP run. I think they make easy work of this Vandy team.
Where to play: Bhayshul Tuten Longest Rush – More Than 19.5 Yards | Underdog Fantasy
Garrett Greene More Than 42.5 Rushing Yards
We’ll start with the Penn State defense. They led the country in sacks per game last year with 3.8. They lose Chop Robinson but return what is always a stellar defense.
This is scary, we’ve all seen this Penn State defense win them ball games with 5+ sacks. These will count as negative rushing yards toward our total. However, I think a few sacks are built into this line.
On the other side, West Virginia was ranked 3rd in allowed QB sacks per game last year with 0.8. They gave up just 10 on the entire season. The offensive line returns multiple starters and will be very, very good again this year. You add in Greene’s athletic ability, and I think they keep him upright on Saturday.
He averaged 10.81 rushing attempts per game a year ago. If you take out the average 0.8 sacks per game, it puts us at 10 true rushing attempts. That’s 4.3 yards per carry for a guy who averaged 6.4 ypc (including sacks) a season ago. He cleared this line in 8 of 11 games last season (excluding a game vs. Pitt where he got injured on the first drive).
Where to play: Garrett Greene More Than 42.5 Rushing Yards | Sleeper Fantasy
Brock Vandagriff More Than 239.5 Passing Yards
A former 4-star QB transfer from Georgia finally gets his time to shine after not seeing much meaningful play time the past few seasons. He enters a Kentucky offense that is known to be a smashmouth, downhill-running team. However, I think they had to mold to that style of play based on the personnel they had.
This is probably their best QB recruit in a long time. He has a very good WR core in Barion Brown and Dane Key. Both were 4-star recruits who haven’t been able to really produce because they haven’t had a true quarterback.
Kentucky also brings in Ja’Mori Maclin, a 1,000-yard receiver from a season ago from North Texas. This offense should be explosive and I’m sure Vandagriff is itching to finally get his time to shine.
They’ll play a struggling Southern Mississippi team Saturday night who gave up, on average, 242 passing yards per game last year. They ranked 127th (out of 133) in opposing QB passer rating. They do return a good amount of production in the front seven and actually get two, not bad, linebacker transfers. Kentucky has no more Ray Davis, so the run game will be quiet compared to last season. Kentucky, I think will need to shift their game plan this year to incorporate more of a downfield passing game.
Where to play: Brock Vandagriff More Than 239.5 Passing Yards | Sleeper Fantasy
Zachariah Branch More Than 57.5 Receiving Yards
My final play of this Week 1 CFB Slate comes on Sunday Night Football, as LSU and USC square off in Vegas. Branch was a 5-star WR1 in the 2023 class, but wasn’t able to showcase his true ability.
He enters this season as probably the #1 WR on USC, however he doesn’t have much to back this up. There are a few angles I’m attacking. Miller Moss comes in with a passing yard line of 286.5 passing yards. Branch has the highest WR projection among the USC pass-catchers, at 57.5.
Vegas clearly doesn’t know how to price these guys since QB Miller Moss could easily make Branch his number one target. This kid has all the ability to be just that. He is small, but blazing fast, impossible to tackle in the open field, and can take a screen pass 75 yards for a touchdown at any point in the game.
The LSU defense gave up over 400 yards per game last season and found themselves in a shootout week in and week out. However, their defense should be better this year.
USC rolls out a brand-new offense, but I think Moss will have no problem finding success in this Lincoln Riley system. If anything, I think Branch gets a ton of short-yard volume as Riley eases Moss into his first start.
I think Branch can become one of the house-hold college football names that everyone will know by the middle of the season, so Sunday is a perfect opportunity for him to showcase his skills!
Where to play: Zachariah Branch More Than 57.5 Receiving Yards | PrizePicks
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Author: Kyle Krogstad
