CFB DFS Picks, Projections, Lineups & Stacks For 9/12: Week 2 Playbook

Week 2 of the 2026 college football season has arrived, and it's headlined by an absolute monster: No. 1 Ohio State traveling to Austin for a College GameDay showdown with No. 5 Texas. Beyond that primetime clash, Saturday is loaded with high-scoring, DFS-friendly matchups from coast to coast. Let's dive into the top CFB DFS Picks as you build lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel. In this article, we'll discuss the best plays at each position with CFB DFS projections.

As you read over our Week 2 CFB DFS Picks, take advantage of Fantasy Alarm's College Football DFS Ownership Projections for both DK and FD.

CFB DFS Picks, Daily Fantasy Playbook & Schedule: Saturday, September 12th

Before we get to the top CFB DFS picks this week, let's take a look at the slate. DraftKings has a 12-game main slate concentrated in the early-to-mid afternoon window, headlined by an SEC clash in Alabama-Kentucky, a Big Ten/SEC crossover in Michigan-Oklahoma, and two more cross-conference games in Mississippi State-Minnesota (SEC vs. Big Ten) and Texas A&M-Arizona State (SEC vs. Big 12). FanDuel's 14-game slate spans both the afternoon and night, adding the standalone No. 1 Ohio State at No. 5 Texas showdown at 7:30 p.m. ET, along with Tennessee-Georgia Tech, Iowa State-Iowa and Texas Tech-Oregon State. For the write-ups, we'll focus on top players and value picks for games that overlap both sites. However, check out our specific DraftKings and FanDuel core plays below, including the Ohio State-Texas pieces that are FanDuel-exclusive this week.

CFB DFS Lineups: Top Plays

Kamario Taylor, QB, Mississippi State

DK: $8,300 | FD: $11,200

Taylor took over as Mississippi State's full-time starter this season and made an immediate statement, throwing for 354 yards and four touchdowns while adding 59 yards and a rushing score in a 62-13 demolition of Louisiana-Monroe. Now he heads to Minnesota for a Big Ten-SEC crossover that opened with the Gophers as slight favorites before the line moved toward Mississippi State earlier this week, with the total sitting around 55.5 as of midweek (check current numbers on game day). Minnesota's defense is solid but has already shown it will give up plenty of short-to-midrange throws, and Taylor's dual-threat profile makes him a top play on both sites in a game that projects to be a shootout.

Nate Sheppard, RB, Duke

DK: $8,200 | FD: $10,600

Sheppard was a workhorse in Duke's Week 1 win over Tulane, carrying 35 times for 227 yards and two touchdowns behind stout defense in a 17-3 result. He's the highest-salaried running back on both sites this week, and the price tag is earned given that volume. Illinois enters with a brand-new defensive coordinator in Bobby Hauck running a 3-3-5 look that struggled against downhill running in Week 1, allowing UAB to rush for 194 yards on 48 carries. That profile plays right into Duke's power run game, making Sheppard a premium, bell-cow option in cash games and GPPs alike.

Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State

DK: Not in DK player pool (Ohio State-Texas is FanDuel-exclusive this week) | FD: $10,500

Ohio State's star junior has been nearly unstoppable over the past two seasons, leading the nation in receptions, receiving yards and touchdown catches since he arrived on campus, but Texas is the one team that has held him in check, limiting him to a combined seven catches for 46 yards and no touchdowns across two meetings. That storyline, paired with a marquee primetime setting and a Texas secondary that will get all of the attention, makes Smith one of the highest-ceiling plays on the entire slate for FanDuel rosters. Just note that this one won't be usable on DraftKings, since Ohio State-Texas isn't part of DK's 12-game main.

Mason Heintschel, QB, Pitt

DK: $7,600 | FD: $10,800

Heintschel's Week 1 line needs to be seen to be believed: 453 yards and seven touchdown passes without an interception in a 59-14 rout of Miami (OH), spreading the ball to seven different receivers in the process. UCF's defense is at its best in the secondary, which could make life tougher than Miami (OH) did, but the Knights also have to worry about stopping the run, and Pitt's up-tempo attack should still generate plenty of volume in what's expected to be a back-and-forth, high-possession affair. Heintschel offers some of the best stacking equity on the board this week.

CFB DFS Lineups: Value Plays

Katin Houser, QB, Illinois

DK: $7,400 | FD: $10,300

The Michigan State and East Carolina transfer posted the highest QBR in the country in Week 1, completing 13 of 17 passes for 182 yards and three touchdowns (plus a rushing score) in a 42-23 win over UAB, including a 54-yard Hail Mary to end the first half. Duke's pass rush will need to get home to slow him down, and Illinois' offensive line didn't allow a sack in the opener. At a discount compared to the top-tier QBs above, Houser is a strong value option in a game that projects to lean pass-heavy for the Illini.

Giovanni Richardson, WR, Arizona

DK: $3,000 | FD: $6,600

Richardson is the highest points-per-dollar play on the entire slate under this threshold. He lost a fumble early in Arizona's opener, but bounced back to catch eight passes for 98 yards, and beat writers covering the team noted he became Noah Fifita's top target for the rest of the game after that mistake. A $3,000 DraftKings price tag for that kind of role is a real outlier, though BYU's secondary is a considerable step up from the FCS competition he saw in Week 1.

Travis Terrell Jr., RB, Purdue

DK: $4,000 | FD: $5,100

By the Value metric, Terrell is the most efficient running back on the board at this price range on both sites. The role itself is worth a caveat, though: he played behind Fame Ijeboi in Week 1, managing 11 carries for 32 yards while Ijeboi averaged 7.9 yards per carry and graded out as Purdue's best offensive player. Terrell still touches the ball in the passing game and as a return man, and Wake Forest's run defense is beatable, but this reads as a cheap complementary piece rather than a bell-cow workload.

Jamari Johnson, TE, Oregon

DK: $4,500 (WR-flex eligible) | FD: $6,600 (TE/WR-flex eligible)

Johnson is technically a tight end, but he's flex-eligible at WR on DraftKings and both TE and WR on FanDuel, and he was the first Duck to find the end zone in the opener, hauling in a 27-yard touchdown from Dante Moore right before halftime to go with a 22-yard gain on the drive before it. With Jeremiah McClellan and Dakorien Moore drawing the top cornerback attention, Johnson's red-zone role in an offense that projects to score a bunch against Oklahoma State makes him one of the cheapest touchdown-equity plays on the board.

Core CFB DFS Lineup Picks: QBs, RBs & WRs

DraftKings

FanDuel