College Football DFS: Weekday Slate MACtion

Welcome to our breakdown of Tuesday's MACtion slate. Unfortunately, one of the three games was canceled so we're working with an even shorter slate. The cancellation also leaves us with two very lopsided games on the board, with Buffalo checking in as 30.5-point favorites over Bowling Green and Kent State sitting at -26.0 over Akron. 

Below is our suite of DFS Tools along with a position-by-position breakdown to help you build your best lineup. 

DFS Tools

• DraftKings Lineup Optimizer
• NEW Matchups Page (Vegas odds, opponent averages, etc.)
• Advanced Lineups Page
• Stats
• Team Trends
• Targets
• Defense vs. Position
• Team Rankings
• Podcast

Matchup Info

Position-by-Position Breakdown

Quarterback

Dustin Crum, Kent State ($9,100 DK, $11,500 FD) vs. Akron

These MACtion slates make it difficult to fade the top quarterback, and that's especially true when 1/3 of the games on a given slate gets canceled. With that, Crum is a must-play again Tuesday. 

Crum is completing nearly 70 percent of his passes at 8.8 YPA and has a 6:1 TD:INT through two games. The only limiting factor with Crum is that he may not play the whole game. He was out of the game by the end of the third quarter last week, and Kent State faces a similar setup this week against Akron where the Flashes are nearly four-touchdown favorites. 

Even if that happens again and Crum gets pulled early, it'll almost certainly be due to Crum posting a gaudy stat line en route to building a significant lead. 

Kyle Vantrease, Buffalo ($8,900 DK, $10,400 FD) at Bowling Green

The path to fading Crum gets tricky when you're only saving $200 by going Vantrease. To be fair, Vantrease has been almost as good as Crum for fantasy purposes this season, completing 63.6 percent of his passes at a strong  12.0 YPA. He isn't a high volume passer -- Vantrease averages 22.0 passes per game -- but his effectiveness on a per-pass basis helps smooth over that concern to an extent. 

As for Tuesday, Buffalo is again a significant favorite against one of the worst teams in college football. The Bulls are 30.5-point favorites and are a run-first team (63.4 percent run rate), so there is some risk in Vantrease only dropping back fewer than 25 times. Vantrease has a decent floor and is playable Tuesday, but the expected lopsided result means that this isn't a ceiling scenario for him. 

Running Back

Bryan Bradford, Kent State ($4,100 DK, $8,200 FD) vs. Akron

Kent State has a deep backfield rotation with three running backs holding more than 10 percent of the rushing share, and that's not even accounting for quarterback Dustin Crum's rushing work. Still, Kent State is averaging over 50 rushes per game, so there's plenty of work to go around. Marquez Cooper has gotten the most carries (31) so far, but Bradford isn't behind by much with 25 rushes of his own. 

Bradford has been far more explosive than Cooper, too. His YPC checks in at 7.5 while Cooper is averaging 3.88. Kent State is favored by 26.0 points, so the run game should be featured heavily in the second half Tuesday and allow Bradford to get double-digit cracks at the leaky Akron defense that surrenders 5.6 YPC and 201 rushing yards per game. 

Terion Stewart, Bowling Green ($6,500 DK, $7,500 FD) vs Buffalo

This is a tough matchup as Buffalo is holding opponents to 3.8 YPC and 147 rushing yards per game. Well, it was a tough matchup last week against Kent State and that didn't stop Stewart from running all over the Flashes. Stewart showed excellent burst en route to piling up 162 yards and two touchdowns on just 14 carries in his 2020 debut. 

A performance like that should lock in some volume again for Stewart, and Andrew Clair's injury status could mean even more work for Stewart. Again, Buffalo presents a tough challenge and Stewart is salaried well above the bargain-bin level, so there are cases to be made against him. Bowling Green is expected to score 13.75 points and checks in as 30.5-point underdogs, after all. 

Still, getting some exposure to the underdogs is important for separating your lineup from the field and Stewart has the talent to override some of the things working against him and the Falcons going into Tuesday's matchup. If anything, the $6,500 salary may steer his roster percentage down.

Xavier Williams, Kent State ($3,800 DK, $6,500 FD) vs. Akron

Williams lacks the floor of Bradford or Cooper, but his explosiveness keeps him in the DFS conversation for Tuesday. His 90 yards and a touchdown have come on just 12 carries, which averages out to 7.5 YPC. Again, this is an ideal matchup against a bad defense and Kent State could run the ball upwards of 50 times. Even if Williams only sees 6-8 carries there's reason to believe he can return plenty of value on his salary. 

Wide Receiver

Ja'Shaun Poke, Kent State ($5,400 DK, $8,500 FD) vs. Akron

One of the big takeaways of last week's MACtion was Poke's speed being put on full display. Poke dusted the Bowling Green defense for two touchdowns, including a 55-yarder. He will get another chance to show out Tuesday against an equally terrible Akron defense. 

The Zips allow 10.8 yards per pass attempt, the worst mark on the slate. Meanwhile, Poke has seen at least five targets in each of his two games and figures to sustain that volume again Tuesday. With Poke's explosiveness (10.9 YPT) and decent target floor, it's hard to think of a good reason to fade him at $5,400 against a terrible Akron defense. 

Nate Stewart, Akron ($4,600 DK; $7,400 FD) at Kent State 

Outside of the clear top two receivers (Isaiah McKoy and Antonio Nunn), Stewart has the highest target volume among receivers on this slate. He has caught eight of his 12 targets for 88 yards and a touchdown through two games and is coming off a five-catch, 59-yard outing that included his lone touchdown. The matchup is obviously brutal and Akron's quarterback play is subpar, but Stewart at least has projectable volume and some efficiency to go along with it. If you're looking for a pass-catcher from either of the underdog teams, Stewart is the way to go.

Antonio Nunn, Buffalo ($8,200 DK, $9,400 FD) at Bowling Green

Outside of Isaiah McKoy, no receiver on Tuesday's slate is in the same stratosphere as Nunn. He owns a 37 percent target share and is converting those looks into a 68.7 percent catch rate at 14.9 YPT. Nunn has gone over the 100-yard mark in each of his two games this season and gets another A+ matchup against Bowling Green's putrid pass defense. 

As we discussed with Vantrease, Buffalo might not need to throw much to put this game away Tuesday. However, Buffalo has won both its games by comfortable margins while still getting Nunn enough targets for significant fantasy production. He has seen at least seven targets in each game and if that trend continues -- and we think it will -- his per-target efficiency will carry Nunn to a strong output once again.