Bowl Slate Preview (Dec. 23)

The holidays bring family together, which is great, but it’s also a time for degenerates like us to obsessively check for player news for a random MAC team at the dinner table. There is nothing quite like grinding out a profit for two teams fighting it out in a bowl game that feels like it got its title from a random name generator.

The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl takes place today between the Fresno State Bulldogs and the Northern Illinois Huskies. Bowl teams have suffered a slew of opt-outs, injuries and NFL draft declarations. This means a lot of players will get significant snaps today that were mostly backups this past season. We honestly haven’t seen as much shenanigans as usual when it comes to bowl game DFS, but that definitely looks like it could change today. Let’s get right into it.

The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

Fresno State vs. Northern Illinois

Let’s start with who is out and work our way through the remaining players that are viable from a DFS standpoint. The Huskies will be without QB Ethan Hampton, WR Trayvon Rudolph and RB Antario Brown. That’s a big chunk of the offense with those three alone, and they’ll also be missing a ton on the defensive side as well.

Fresno State QB Mikey Keene and top wideout Raylen Sharpe have hit the portal, while Mac Dalena has declared for the draft but did show up on the depth chart for this game, so we will see if he warms up as usual. RB Malik Sherrod is also leaving the program, so the Bulldogs are in the same position as the Huskies.

Fresno is likely to use multiple players at QB, so it’s not advantageous for DFS purposes, but we do have some value at the RB and WR spots we can look at. Bryson Donelson is near min-price and should get a significant workload today. He showed he is capable by rushing for 150 yards on 13 carries against Colorado State in Week 13. The freshman can solidify himself as the RB1 heading into next year with a good showing. Elijah Gilliam looms as the backup, but he is far less interesting than Donelson at this point.

The receiver spot is up in the air for Fresno State, especially if Dalena ends up playing very little. Josiah Freeman was getting some hype after he flirted with the portal before ultimately coming back to the team. However, he is dealing with an injury, so that casts doubt about his status for today. Chedon James wasn’t very involved this season but was a 1,000-yard receiver at Idaho State back in 2023, so the talent is there if he gets a chance to start today.

For NIU, Josh Holst will get the start with Hampton off to Illinois. He has looked decent this year with his best performance being in Week 8 against Toledo when he completed 22-of-46 passes for 210 yards while also racking up 48 yards on the ground. He has shown some dual-threat ability in small spurts, so he could be a good look today.

Telly Johnson has rushed for 80+ yards in three of his last four games and will be the RB1 for this matchup. Gavin Williams is a classic vulture back, though, and is involved just enough in the red zone to steal touchdown opportunities from others. He has scored three times in the past four games despite toting the rock less than 10 times in each. He is active as a pass-catcher with 22-138-1 on the season, so there is merit to using him as a GPP pivot.

WIth Trayvon Rudolph likely out, the most viable pass-catchers remaining are Grayson Barnes (25-281-2) and Cam Thompson (28-391-3). I prefer the running backs for the Huskies, but most of the industry will feel the same.

The Huskies defense has been strong in conference play, and I expect them to be solid today even though they’ll be missing some pieces. They’re going up against a backup QB, so it feels as though points will be harder to come by for the Bulldogs. With that being said, the under is my primary lean in this matchup, and that is far more optimal than trying to coin flip a side.