Ohio State Buckeyes

Week 5 College Football Fantasy Picks

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Sep 3, 2016; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes running back Curtis Samuel (4) drives for a touchdown in the third quarter against the Bowling Green Falcons at Ohio Stadium. Ohio State won the game 77-10. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports

One Buckeye could be a great fantasy pick this week.

With another week of top ten match ups and the return of the Buckeyes looming in week 5 of the college football season, so comes another week of fantasy football sweats.

The first pick this week at quarterback for me will be Austin Appleby($4,000). Appleby played well in the Gator’s loss at Tennessee this past week, throwing for 296 yards and 3 touchdowns. Even though the offense seemed to slow in the second half, they started off hot.

Appleby will also see a weaker pass defense in Vanderbilt than he did in with the Volunteers. The Commodores rank 20th in the country in passing yards allowed per game, giving up an average of 274.8 yards per game. Vandy has also given up an 81 yard touchdown pass this year showing that they are susceptible to the big play.

Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

I’ll stay in the sunshine state for my next play at quarterback. USF’s Quinton Flowers($6,400) has lead a high scoring Bulls offense this season and is coming off a shootout with Florida State. Flowers is a dual threat at quarterback and is facing a Cincinnati defense that gives up 280 passing yards per game, and 131 yards per game on the ground. The Bulls have only scored less than 45 points once this season and that was last week against the Seminoles.

Other Options: Deshaun Watson($5,600), Manny Wilkins($5,900), J.T. Barrett($7,400)

Rodney Smith($5,700) is one of the running backs I will be on this week as the Minnesota Golden Gophers take on Penn State. Smith has scored in every game for the Gophers this season along with a 100 yard game and another 99 yard game, and in both of those games he scored twice. Penn State’s run defense has struggled this season, giving up an average of 213 yards per game along with 12 rushing touchdowns.

The second play at running back I like this week is the Buckeyes Curtis Samuel($7,100). The dual threat Ohio State back will be facing a Rutgers defense that gives up 181 yards per game on the ground.

Samuel presents an even larger threat as a pass catcher however as Mike Weber gets a lot of the between the tackle carries. That could give Samuel more opportunities to rack up fantasy points this week than Weber.

Although Rutgers only gives up an average of 180 yards per game through the air, they haven’t necessarily faced many prolific passing offenses this year besides Washington, who put up nearly 300 passing yards on them along with 48 total points.

Other Options: James Conner($6,200), Rawleigh Williams III($5,200), Kalen Ballage($7,900)

USC’s Ju Ju Smith-Schuster($4,200) has not had the year some were expecting from him, which has caused his price to drop a significant amount on FanPicks. This week could be the week where Smith-Schuster breaks out and gets back on track as the Trojans are facing an Arizona State defense who is statistically the worst pass defense in the country.

The Sun Devils have given up 1616 yards this season through the air, good for an average of 404 yards per game. They have also given up 14 touchdowns through the air this season.

Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Equanimeous St. Brown($5,300) is among the top 30 in the country for receiving yards this season and is facing a Syracuse pass defense that gives up more than 250 yards per game through the air.

After Chip Kelly’s rant at the end of Notre Dame’s loss to Duke last week, I expect the Irish to come out swinging and think St. Brown can have a big game at a decent price.

Other Options: James Washington($6,400), Ishmael Zamora($2,900), N’Keal Harry($5,100)