When looking at Underdog fantasy tournaments, it’s important to keep an eye on the easiest and toughest of schedules. I’ve put together five of the easiest schedules in what should be the playoff weeks of your best ball tournaments. These teams and their star players are seeing matchups potentially worthy of boosting them higher than ADPs we’ve seen this offseason.
SMU Mustangs
The Mustangs have three bye weeks, but they make up for it with a soft schedule, particularly at the end of the season. Their week 12-14 opponents are at Virginia, North Carolina and California. These teams ranked 75th, 119th, and 114th in scoring defense last season, making players from this offense certainly appealing. The matchups are great, but the options are bleak.
Besides Preston Stone, a top 25 quarterback, and RJ Maryland, a top 6-8 tight end, no one is worthy of anything other than a dart throw at the end of your drafts. As a receiver, Jordan Hudson has the best shot at being a legitimate WR1, but the fear here is that this offense spreads the ball around too much at running back and receiver.
Miami Hurricanes
I could list almost every ACC team in this article, and the point would be true, but I want to point out Miami because they have a ton of options across the board.
Cameron Ward is a top 20 quarterback with a top 2-3 round receiver with Xavier Restrepo. Samuel Brown and Jacolby George are fighting to be that WR2 in the offense, but both should have value in your drafts.
Maybe their best option is Damien Martinez, the Oregon State transfer. Martinez will feast in the ACC with this schedule, specifically at the end of it, when the Hurricanes play at Wake Forest, and Syracuse. These teams ranked 93rd, 73rd, and 57th last year in scoring defense. And honestly, Syracuse may be worse with a real offense that doesn’t only run like we saw in 2023.
Missouri Tigers
Missouri had quite the 2023, scoring 32.5 points per game and their 2024 schedule sets up for them to do the same. They face off at South Carolina and Mississippi State before finishing the year against Arkansas at home.
The two road games will be against defenses ranked in the mid-60s last year, which isn’t the best, but with the options this offense has, it will be just fine. They then face off against the 80th-ranked Arkansas scoring defenses last season in the finale. Looking at how the Razorbacks faired to end last season, they gave up 36, 48, 20, and 48, with the final 48-piece being against Missouri.
Wheels up for Luther Burden III, a first-round talent, as well as Brady Cook, a top-30 quarterback with one of the safest floors at this position.
Arizona Wildcats
Arizona joined the Big 12 and thus gave us a late schedule that is quite appealing. They face off against Houston, at TCU, and finish the year against rival Arizona State. Noah Fifita and Tet McMillan are two highly thought of players, the latter being the top receiver on the board, so potentially having an elite late-season schedule is big time for drafters. They ranked 108th, 79th, and 109th out of 133 teams last season in scoring defense. Even though they have a new head coach, this offense should thrive against these three opponents.
Last season, Arizona only played Arizona State due to being in the Pac-12. In that game, the Wildcats put up 59 points thanks to Fifita throwing for 527 yards and five touchdowns and McMillan ending with a phenomenal 11/266/1 stat line.
Kansas Jayhawks
If you needed a reason to take a risk on Jalon Daniels’ health in 2024, then you’ve come to the right place. The Jayhawks finish the season with games at BYU, home against Colorado, and on the road at Baylor. BYU finished the year as the 99th-ranked scoring defense, Colorado ended 124th, and Baylor shockingly ended 116th. This is an elite defense for Daniels, the high-risk, high-reward quarterback who missed most of the 2023 season due to injuries. Devin Neal is an elite running back whose schedule has me ranking higher due to their schedule.
