Some may find themselves lost on how to approach their Bandwagon draft strategy
for the upcoming CFB season. It’s easy to browse over the rankings and then lose
themselves in the infinite combinations available to start the season. Which is why
we prepared the following pieces to help guide your thinking. We are by no means
the experts, which is why it’s nice to have exchanges available with your leagues!
Our standard default for CFB season is 8 team leagues with 25 exchanges for each
person. There are a total of 106 teams loaded into the app for now and will expand
in the future. We have all the teams from the Power 5, Independent, MAC, AAC, and
MWC conferences. Everyone must have 8 teams on their roster.
Send us your feedback and thoughts on draft combinations by reaching us through
the various social media platforms including Twitter (@AJBandwagon), Facebook
(@bandwagonfantasysports), Instagram (@Bandwagon_Fantasy_Sports), or even
LinkedIn (@Bandwagon Fantasy Sports).
Without further adieu here we go…
Our most popular strategy focuses on selecting one team from each tier. We will
refer to this as the “Tiered” strategy. Here is who @AJBandwagon would select
using this strategy with some quick snippets on why each team and some honorable
mentions for that spot. The best part of a tiered strategy is that it leaves options
open for exchanges at every level during the course of a season.
Tiered Strategy:
$8 – Ohio State – Projected 10.5 Wins – Big Ten Conference
This is my prediction to win the National Championship and should garner at least
12 wins on a worst-case scenario. They have so much depth coming back with three
or four Heisman trophy candidates. They have a new defensive coordinator, which
should help limit track meet type games and take some pressure off of everyone
including Coach Ryan Day’s sleep schedule. They have a very favorable schedule
with only two real road tests going to PSU and MSU.
Honorable mention: Alabama, Georgia, Houston, or USC
$7 – Wake Forest – Projected 8.5 Wins – ACC
Wake is probably not going to be viewed as a popular pick with so many other good
teams falling in this tier. They will have at least 12+ returning starters from last
year’s team including QB Sam Hartman. They have the chance to build on top of a
very strong 2021 season headed by Coach Dave Clawson. They could very easily win 10+ games this season with only one true tough road game at NCST later in the
schedule.
Honorable mention: Wisconsin, Miami (FL), Air Force
$6 – Kentucky – Projected 8 wins – SEC
This pick is all because of Will Levis. Coach Mark Stoops has posted 10 win seasons
twice in the last four years. They play Georgia at home but are on the road against
Florida and Tennessee, note the Tennessee game is coming off a bye week for UK.
The biggest question will be if the defense can keep them in games and allow Will’s
offense to capitalize down the stretch.
Honorable mention: Baylor, Tennessee, Nebraska
$5 – Memphis – Projected 7.5 wins – AAC
Coach Silverfield received another year added to his contract this offseason and it
will prove to be money and time well spent by the administration. He is entering his
third year with a boatload of returning starters. Their offense should bounce back
from a down year historically in 2021. They avoid playing Cincinnati in the regular
season and should be able to get to 8-9 wins this year and potentially have a shot at
the AAC title game. They have UCF and Houston at home.
Honorable mention: Washington, UNC, San Diego State, LSU
$4 –Kansas State – Projected 6.5 wins – Big 12
Coach Klieman is entering his fourth year and is coming off a very under the radar
2021 season. They return at least 14 starters on both sides of the ball while adding
Adrian Martinez via the transfer portal from Nebraska. Martinez could thrive in
Klieman’s system and Klieman believes that the QB depth has never been better at
KSU. I think they could reach 10 wins before the season is over in a very overrated
Big 12 conference. They do have 5 true road games this year, which will be nice for
any tiebreaker situations you may face in your league.
Honorable mention: Arizona State, Florida State, Iowa State, Virginia Tech
$3 – Maryland – Projected 6 wins – Big Ten
Maryland has a tough schedule but also a deep returning team from 2021 where
they started out hotter than a chili pepper only to go ice cold to end the year. With
this pick I’m banking on Taulia (known by his coach as the most underrated player
in the country) to take a major leap in his college career. Maryland should find
themselves bowl eligible getting to maybe 7 wins and a nice hedge on my Buckeyes
selection with they play in mid November.
Honorable mention: San Jose St., South Carolina, Texas Tech
$2 – Syracuse – Projected 5 wins – ACC
This is where drafting teams can start to become very tough. I’m going with
Syracuse because the first half of their schedule is going to be a lot easier than the
back half. It’s a gamble for sure, but their first 5 out of 6 games will be played at
home with one true road game at UCONN. Coach Babers is entering his 7 th season
and has always been able to produce a decent defense but the real question will be
is if the offense can put up enough points to make them bowl eligible again.
Honorable mention: Rutgers, Stanford, Navy
$1 – Bowling Green – Projected 3.5 wins – MAC
This tier is always a total crapshoot. But I’m taking BGSU because of their depth and
QB Matt McDonald could become a household name when the MAC plays on
Tuesday nights in November. Coach Loeffler is entering his fourth season and
poised for a breakout year. They have at least 18 starters coming back for this
season with a giant chip on their shoulder. Their schedule is pretty favorable for a
MAC team with this much under the radar talent. If they can survive the non-
conference part they should be home free for a run at the MAC title game.
Honorable mention: Northwestern, Indiana, Kansas
Total projected wins for this strategy: 55.5 wins
I think this strategy could yield closer to 70 wins with more options available for
exchanges as the season unfolds.