Every year, we see scheduling oddities impact the CFF and best-ball season. Today, let’s take a look at which players and teams have schedules worth noting, for better or worse…
Will Hammond, Texas Tech, QB
Brendan Sorsby is out, and Will Hammond is in. Well, kind of. Kirk Francis likely starts the season as the QB1, but Hammond should take over once healthy. Looking at this from a 40,000-foot view, missing 2-3 games isn’t good, but look deeper into this, and you’ll see that his FPPG upside is worth his current 115.9 ADP.
Hammond would miss an FCS game in Week 1, a road game at Oregon State, and a home game against Houston. You can easily argue that Week 1 is the easiest week for your lineup to be down a player because nobody is injured yet and there are many FCS or P4 vs G6 matchups on the docket. Your QB5, playing against Merrimack, could easily be the starter for the week thanks to the matchup.
It’s possible Hammond plays against Houston in Week 3, but if he doesn’t, then that means he misses one of the most difficult Big 12 matchups Texas Tech has. Instead, matchups like Colorado, Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma State, etc are all available to Hammond when healthy. On top of this, we see the Red Raiders play Sam Houston in Week 4, a prime matchup for us to have Hammond available.
It’s never great to draft an injured player due to setbacks or to know automatically that they’re going to miss a few games, but considering the value of this role, Hammond is a great pick at current ADP.
NC State and Virginia Players
The Wolfpack versus Cavaliers game in Brazil has been canceled, so there’s a real shot at moving it back to Week 1 instead of Week 0. When this announcement was made, both schools requested that the game be pushed back a week. We haven’t heard an official decision on this, but I would imagine there’s no reason not to let them play in Week 1.
With that, guys like CJ Bailey, Jayden Scott, and Beau Pribula all get another chance to accrue points for us. If you factor in what I mentioned above- the fact that so many teams have great matchups in Weeks 1-3, adding a game back like we likely see here doesn’t really move the needle for me. They will move up the rankings because it certainly doesn’t hurt to be eligible in Week 1, but otherwise, they shouldn’t be overvalued.
Ashton Daniels, FSU, QB
Duce Robinson, FSU, WR
The Seminoles have limited fantasy-relevant options, but Duce is a top receiver to target, and Daniels is a quarterback with upside due to his rushing ability. Missing Week 2 because of a Week 0 matchup against New Mexico State hurts. Not only do we get two byes for FSU in 2026, but they also play their lone G6 matchup that week.
The big positive here is that FSU plays a G6 opponent in Week 0, not an FCS opponent, which they have lined up for Week 4. This is fairly unique as just Rutgers (Howard), Texas Tech (Sam Houston), Virginia (Delaware), SMU (Missouri State), NC State (App State), Duke (William & Mary), and Arkansas (Tulsa) have G6 or FCS opponents. Just three of those seven other opponents are FCS matchups.
Jordan Dwyer, TCU, WR
TCU has multiple valuable options, but I wanted to specifically call out Dwyer, as he’s a top-40 overall player in our rankings. The Horned Frogs playing UNC in Week 0 is less than ideal, as not only is that a good matchup from a fantasy aspect, in that they’re favorites, but it shouldn’t be a blowout. Dwyer also had one of his biggest games of the year against UNC in 2025, which, analytically, has no real value, but sure doesn’t hurt to have in the pocket for our best-ball season.
Unlike FSU above, there are no positives to how this then impacts the rest of their non-conference schedule. We don’t see a G6 or FCS matchup pushed past Week 3; instead, we see a loaded back half of the schedule with Kansas State, Utah, and Texas Tech in Weeks 11-13. On top of that, we see a bye week before an FCS matchup in Week 1 (an early bye that likely won’t help with nursing injuries) and a bye before a road matchup at Baylor. It’s nice to get a bye before a winnable game, but it might have been better to have that before a tougher matchup.
