While the college football regular season is winding down, the emphasis on player projections will ramp up with more standalone games ahead during conference championship weekend and bowl season. It's never too early to get started.
Below we've compiled five plays to use on PrizePicks and Underdog for Saturday's slate from our tools at Rotogrinders — both the college football pick'em analysis page and the projections page. You can get all the plays with a Rotogrinders subscription.
College Football PrizePicks & Underdog Plays
In the table below, you'll find each of our PrizePicks plays from today's slate of games. Click on any pick or team logo to navigate to a specific bet discussed in this article.
| Time (ET) | Player |
|---|---|
| 3:30 p.m. | |
| 3:30 p.m. | |
| 7:30 p.m. | |
| 7:30 p.m. | |
| 7 p.m. ET | |
Specific betting recommendations come from the operator offering preferred odds as of writing. | |
Penn State vs. Minnesota
Darius Taylor More Than 51.5 Rushing Yards
Taylor draws a tough matchup as an 11-point underdog against Penn State (in that the Nittany Lions pose a difficult matchup, and because Minnesota is expected to be behind).
But he's averaging 15 carries per game, and we have him projected for 16 carries and 69 rushing yards.
Pick: Darius Taylor More Than 51.5 Rushing Yards
BYU vs. Arizona State
Cam Skattebo More Than 85.5 Rushing Yards
Skattebo returned from his one-game absence and immediately handled 26 of the 32 RB carries against Kansas State.
BYU has been slightly below average defending the run, though it did hold up well against Kansas last week. We have Skattebo projected for 99 rushing yards.
Pick: Cam Skattebo More Than 85.5 Rushing Yards
Texas A&M vs. Auburn
Cam Coleman More Than 27.5 Receiving Yards
The 5-star freshman has had some mixed results but he's eclipsed this total in five of his nine games. He's a true big-play threat with a 16.0 aDOT and may need just one catch to get there.
Pick: Cam Coleman More Than 27.5 Receiving Yards
Texas A&M vs. Auburn
Payton Thorne More Than 16.5 Rushing Yards
If you ever play college football quarterback rushing numbers, you know it's one of the sweatiest bets in sports. Since sack yardage counts against their rushing totals (it doesn't in the NFL) these numbers can often get thrown out of whack by a big sack at the end of a game.
Thorne is averaging 7.5 carries per game not including sacks and has been efficient at 5.1 yards per carry. His yardage is split about 50/50 between designed runs and scrambles. Texas A&M has just 21 sacks this season, middle of the pack in the country, so while that's always a worry, our projections think this line is just too low given Thorne's volume.
Pick: Payton Thorne More Than 16.5 Rushing Yards
Boise State vs. Wyoming
Maddux Madsen More Than 17.5 Rushing Yards
Madsen's rushing volume has picked up in the last few weeks, and most importantly, he's not at much risk to lose much sack yardage. Wyoming has just nine sacks this year, the third-fewest in the country. This is not your brother's Wyoming defense.
The only worry is that Madsen gets most of his rushing yards from scrambling (when they run, they run with Ashton Jeanty), and if Boise gets a big lead, he may not be in a ton of spots to need to scramble.
Pick: Maddux Madsen More Than 17.5 Rushing Yards
