CFB Hall of Fame - Lesson 04 - Research Tools

As the sport of college football and the daily fantasy sports industry grow, the mainstream coverage and the in depth information of the sport grow as well. That being said, there are still very few reliable sources of good information, making these sources even more valuable. As I said, solid information is becoming more available every day, so it’s quite possible that a new site/tout pops up over the course of the season and becomes established as a reputable source for information. For now, we’ll touch on a few sources where we can find solid information.

Vegas

As I’ve stated multiple times throughout the course of these lessons, Vegas is the most reputable, knowledgeable source for information to help us in the DFS world. Learning to read money lines, player props, game totals, and point spreads correctly is a major part of success for us fantasy players. I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but understanding Vegas is very important.

Tout Sites/Projection Systems

There are many tout sites out there that offer information to help you set lineups, though not all of them are consistent and trustworthy. Two very reputable sites to go for daily fantasy college football advice are Fantasy Insiders, who just partnered with The CFFSite, have a knowledgeable staff of college football writers, as does Rotogrinders, which is arguably the biggest daily fantasy tout site on the net. Other than the basic tout sites, there are sites that offer game by game projections, not for fantasy purposes, but just simple stat projections. Phil Steele is one of the top sources for projections like this and are definitely worth checking out. These projections are very helpful when it comes to predicting game flow and breaking ties between players.

Beat Writers

Twitter is a great place to get breaking news and learn of things going on with teams as they happen throughout the week. Every team has at least one beat writer that will tweet out things like what players are getting reps with the first team, if a player might miss a game, etc. They’re a very helpful and informational source that is always free, which is always nice. Creating a list on Twitter of college football beat writers can be very beneficial to gaining even a slight edge over the competition.

Wisdom of the Crowd

Last and possibly most importantly, is being able to understand the concept of wisdom of the crowd. Wisdom of the crowd is the instance in which the consensus of a group of expert opinions, over the long term, beats out the opinion of a single person by himself. An easy way to gauge the wisdom of the crowd, is to read multiple tout articles, listen to podcasts/dfs shows, and follow projection systems. The common players shared by the majority of these sources are likely to be players that will be highly owned. Understanding how to gauge the concept is beneficial for constructing both cash game and tournament lineups. If the majority of people are saying to play a certain player for a multitude of reasons, it might be a good idea to take a nice, long look at that player for cash games. On the other hand, if you’re trying to be contrarian with a tournament lineup, avoid the players that all of the touts are promoting, and play a different player at a similar price tag as you will most likely get that player at a much lower ownership.

If you’re still learning how to play daily fantasy sports, using the wisdom of the crowd is a great way to get going and a good place to start building up your bankroll. Touts get paid to write about fantasy sports for a reason, they’re here to help us make money. Follow the wisdom of the crowd, or be contrarian against it, and enjoy your lineups.

Continue Reading CFB Training Camp

CFB Hall of Fame – Lesson 01 – Using Vegas to Predict Performance
CFB Hall of Fame – Lesson 02 – Knowing When to Punt a Position
CFB Hall of Fame – Lesson 03 – Blowout Factor
CFB Hall of Fame – Lesson 04 – Research Tools

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