Eric Froton Fantasy Analyst Wed, October 28, 2026 at 8:58 PM UTC · 11 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Week 9 features 10 Power Four programs on bye, including six SEC programs. Here are a few games that should be on your Saturday TV rotation and some situations to be aware of when setting your weekly college fantasy football lineup.
The 6-1 Mustangs have scored 23+ points in every game this season and rank 11th nationally, generating 6.8 yards per play. QB15 Kevin Jennings is a three-year starter and averages 26.2 PPG while scoring three+ touchdowns in five of seven games. RB10 Kendrick Raphael is the clear bell cow, out-carrying Dramecko Green 121-to-36, with Raphael averaging 5.3 YPC to Green's pedestrian 3.1. The pass game has spread the ball around, with WR68 Yamir Knight leading the team in targets (44), receptions (37) and yards (443). Knight has produced just 14.6 total points over the last three games, with Bama transfer Jalen Hale generating a WR room leading 24.4 points over the last two contests. They face a Syracuse defense that ranks 86th in SP+ and has a penchant for allowing explosives, ranking 102nd in plays of 20+ yards (7.1%).
Syracuse has shuttled between three different starting quarterbacks already, but opening week starter Steven Angeli is back and led Cuse to a thrilling 31-30 upset over UNC last week. The Orange have scored 25+ points in each of their last four games, as Angeli threw for 256 yards and two touchdowns in his first game back from injury and figures to stabilize the offense going forward. The backfield had been a committee with RB Tylik Hill leading the way before RB Ahmad Miller took control, rushing for 248 yards, two touchdowns and 47.1 points over the last two games.
Star WR3 Umari Hatcher has been a revelation with 167.3 points and an 86% roster rate, while freshman super-recruit Calvin Russell is emerging with 35.2 points over his last two games. SMU's defense is pretty solid on a down-to-down basis, ranking 31st in success rate (37%), but they also rank 107th in marginal explosiveness and 108th in allowing 69% of red-zone possessions to convert to touchdowns, so the Mustangs will give up points.
Drew Mestemaker is generating first-round NFL Draft buzz while leading a potent OSU offense that leads the nation averaging 46 yards per drive while ranking top-10 in marginal explosiveness and yards per successful play (13.7). RB Caleb Hawkins (RB18), WR Wyatt Young (WR 19) and WR Justin Bowick (WR22) are all valuable weekly fantasy starters. Even rotational WR Miles Coleman has cleared 50+ yards in four of the last five games, as HC Eric Morris has seamlessly implemented his dangerous offensive system at OSU. Iowa State is having serious problems in its secondary, allowing a 67% completion rate (128th) and 7.6 yards per dropback (130th), so Mestemaker and company should be in line for a big day.
Iowa State ranks 95th in offensive SP+ and has had difficulty staying on schedule with a 38% success rate (122nd) and 31% three-and-out rate (107th). Instead, the team has relied on big plays to pick up the slack, as is evidenced by their 13.0 yards per successful play average (34th). QB Jalen Raynor has underperformed and is still the starter despite being pulled in favor of Connor Moberly in last week's ugly 39-3 loss to Arizona. RB11 Aiden Flora has been electric in two 40+ point breakout performances, but is averaging a more subdued 9.9 points per game in his other five appearances. Iowa State has faced a brutal stretch of upper-tier Big-12 opponents, with Utah, Arizona and BYU a collective 19-2 on the year. ISU's big-play focused offense should be able to move the ball against an Oklahoma State secondary that is allowing 20.6% of completions to gain 20+ yards (127th).
Stanford takes a beating for how badly its 114th-rated defense has performed, but the team still racked up two ACC wins over Georgia Tech and a 31-28 upset of NC State last weekend. From a fantasy perspective, you know the Cardinal defense is going to allow 35+ points and it's a 50/50 shot whether the offense scores 30+ points or less than seven. RB Micah Ford is commanding the third-highest rushing share in the country (58%) and is a weekly threat for 20 touches who is startable against non-elite defenses. QB Davis Warren is a classic whack-a-mole who has cleared 27+ fantasy points twice in the last five games, and scored less than eight points in four of the last seven. The passing game is funnelled through WR Caden High, who I really like from a talent perspective and as a dart-throw flex who has cleared 12+ points in four of six games against SEC opponents.
QB6 Lincoln Kienholz has Louisville's offense cranking despite three competitive losses with a margin of victory totalling just nine points. UL is averaging 7.7 yards per play (3rd) and 5.53 points per scoring opportunity (4th), and excels in both phases of the game, ranking 10th in yards per dropback (8.8) and first nationally with 6.7 yards per rush. Kienholz has scored 20+ points in every game this season and ranks sixth among P4 signal callers at 28.7 points per game. RB28 Isaac Brown, WR38 LaWayne McCoy, WR39 Tre Richardson and TE13 Jaleel Skinner are all startable options against one of the worst fantasy defenses in the country.
QB Alonza Barnett got injured in UCF's second game of the year versus Pitt, which threw FIU transfer QB Keyone Jenkins into the starting role. Jenkins started slowly but has gradually improved each week, completing 19-of-20 passes in a 21-13 upset over TCU while scoring 28 points against Oklahoma State and 35.2 in a 39-31 upset over undefeated BYU. Jenkins has thrown for at least 250+ passing yards with two+ touchdowns in each of his last three games. Barnett is now healthy, but HC Scott Frost has already stated that Keyone has won the job and will be the team's starter going forward. Jenkins is 1% rostered and a worthy streaming option this week against a Baylor program that just fired their HC, Dave Aranda.
Arizona State RB Cardae Mack erupted for 154 yards and two touchdowns for 27.6 points against Hawaii three games ago, so it was assumed he would take over the starting job from Kyson Brown. However, the next week, Mack was shut down for seven carries and 27 yards against the stout Texas Tech front, leaving some questions as to whether the Hawaii game was a fluke.
Well, he answered those questions, and then some, with a vicious 26-carry, 159-yard, four-touchdown battering of Kansas State last weekend. The strength which this freshman runs with is a sight to behold, blasting through multiple half-hearted arm tackles and bowling over second-level defenders when he had a head of steam.
I heard rumblings about Mack's eventual ascension up the depth chart this offseason, and the rumors proved to be true with Mack becoming an instant priority add if he is still available on your waiver wire despite the tough matchup against BYU this weekend.
It is an exceedingly rare occurrence to see a running back score 30+ points in four of five games and even more rare to see that player rostered in barely half of Yahoo leagues at 55%. Overcautious managers benched Cincinnati RB Cole Tabb against Texas Tech last weekend, only for the Bearcats' bell cow to crush the Red Raiders for 173 yards and two total touchdowns in the 37-24 upset. Tabb has emerged from the UC backfield quagmire to take control of the room and produce at the RB7 level heading into a massive showdown against Utah this weekend. I don't see how you can sit him at this point, so I'm letting him ride in all leagues against a solid Utes defense.
It seems like Ole Miss RB Kewan Lacy has been banged up in some way all season long. He left Week 1's 41-38 victory over Louisville, but surprisingly handled 14 touches just six days later in a meaningless 41-9 blowout win over Charlotte. He then got reinjured Week 3 versus LSU and missed a couple of games until seemingly returning to form October 17 in a 31-3 rout of Mizzou. However, last week against Texas, Lacy was forced to leave the game in the third quarter and is now declared out for Saturday's contest against Auburn.
The preseason RB1 Lacy has been a profound disappointment; you can consider starting Makhi Frazier against Auburn's middling defense that allowed 44 points to Florida and 38 to LSU last week.
I don't know what to do with Nate Frazier since he went down with an injury September 19 versus Arkansas. He missed some time before coming back for just two carries in a 38-14 win over Vanderbilt on October 3. Then he was not listed on the injury report heading into last week's 27-24 upset loss to Auburn, indicating he's ready to go, and he received just nine carries for 19 yards to go with three receptions for 16 yards. Dwight Phillips handled 10 carries, producing 68 yards and a touchdown, coming off a solid 120 yards against Alabama the week prior, where he looked explosive. I'm concerned Phillips has taken the lead in this backfield with Frazier still impaired by his injury. Frazier needs to be benched this week against SEC rival Florida.
With QB Dante Moore now officially out for the remainder of the season, it's hard to buy into the Oregon offense as the matchup-proof juggernaut they appeared to be heading into the season. Dylan Raiola was already removed from the starting job once and just piloted a 21-10 upset loss to a 3-3 Illinois. With Raiola a blank in the rushing department and having thrown just one touchdown to two interceptions over the last three games, he's out of fantasy starter consideration until at least Week 12 at Michigan State.
RB1A Jordon Davison has received 12-16 carries in all but one game, scoring a touchdown in all but one contest this season. His ceiling is limited due to his plus-sized, rumbling running style, but Davison is still a solid weekly flex option. RB 1B Dierre Hill Jr. is getting the other half of carries and is more valuable in a PPR format where his 20 receptions are more impactful. He has explosive potential with restrained upside from the struggling offense and is tough to trust as a weekly starter.
WR Dak Moore is getting assaulted with 38 targets over the last three games, but failed to find the end zone, causing Dak to top out with a high score of just 12.4 points over the last six games. TE Jamari Johnson is still a vital safety valve who has been peppered with 17 targets with 22.5 points over the last two games. Johnson is the player I'm most bullish about given his safety-valve abilities that serve to assist the jittery Raiola.
BC starting running back Evan Dickens is expected to miss the remainder of the 2026 season with a knee injury, which opened the door for sophomore RB Bo MacCormack to handle 20 carries for 155 yards and two touchdowns for the Eagles versus Georgia Tech last weekend. The Eagles have increasingly been run-focused behind dynamic dual-threat QB Mason McKenzie, who also romped for 170 rushing yards last week, with BC totalling a commanding 399 rushing yards on the Yellowjackets. MacCormack steps into a very appealing RB1 role in this quasi-option offense.
The absence of veteran QB Avery Johnson sent the Kansas State offense into flux, with the Wildcats running for 84 yards on 2.6 YPC in a 28-17 upset loss to Arizona State. They converted just four of 19 third- and fourth-down situations and managed to accrue a meager 278 total yards. Johnson orchestrated a very efficient KSU offense that leads the country with 3.8 yards before contact while going three-and-out just 20% of the time (22nd). Avery is currently listed as questionable for an appealing matchup at Colorado this weekend. If he is ruled out, I recommend benching both RBs Joe Jackson and Rodney Fields, in addition to WR Jaron Tibbs and questionable TE Garrett Oakley.
Former top-10 recruit Elijah Brown has acquitted himself admirably in relief of starting QB Demond Williams after the latter suffered broken ribs, completing 74.2% of his passes with six touchdown passes to three interceptions in two contests. That's noteworthy since Washington has lost its first three Big Ten games to Minnesota, USC and Iowa, and now travel to play Nebraska in Lincoln.
HC Jed Fisch confirmed that Williams has returned to working out but needs to show he can take contact again. He also noted that Brown has earned legitimate starting consideration but declined to name a starter, citing a competitive advantage to not revealing his hand. Demond Williams was a preseason consensus top-10 QB and whichever player earns the job will have the other lurking over their shoulder, sapping their fantasy value until a defined starter emerges.
Source: Sports
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