After Poinsettia Bowl

If you look at the point distributions, we just had our biggest upset of the season so far with Navy beating San Diego State in the Poinsettia Bowl.  The unremarkable thing about that statistic is that this was only the 25th most lopsided pick of the pool overall, and the 3rd most lopsided that we've had so far.   If we could somehow manage to have about 1/3 of the games end in upsets, I think I would be very happy.  Chaos always makes for more interesting pools, and it I always like rewarding people that take chances that pay off.

The Navy victory kills off the last of the perfect sheets.  That actually lasted quite a while considering how many of the games seemed to be coin flips.  We now have 2 people in the lead for wins, going 7/8.  CBS Hinnen, who was the last of the undefeated and is the current leader in points and net points.  Tied with CBS Hinnen is Hal R. #3, who, despite picking very well is only in 10th in points, and 12th in net points.  Unfortunately for him, 5 of his 7 wins were for <20 points, and the one loss was for 26.  He did pick up 43 points in the 2 games today to move from 17th to 10th, so that's still pretty good.  Good picking so far, Hal R. #3.

I didn't watch much of the early game today, but I caught enough of it to see that one guy for Marshall had upwards of 20 receptions in the game.  It reminded me of the 100 point Wilt Chamberlain game.  At some point during the game, didn't the coach have to pull the defense to the sidelines and ask "Who's covering that guy?"  I don't know, maybe after 12 receptions...  20 is a crazy amount of receptions.

I watched most of the Poinsettia Bowl.  The good thing is that it was close and either team could've won.  The bad thing was that neither team could hold on to the ball in the second half.  I think there was something like 4 turnovers in the 4th quarter, and a couple other times when the ball was loose, but the refs ruled it down.  All in all, it was a pretty poorly played game, and it came down to a missed field goal, which seems about right for a game that sloppy.   Since only 16 people got points for Navy, the rankings weren't terribly affected, but the net points were, since a lot of people lost quite a few points on the Aztecs.

Here's the points standings:

1. CBS Hinnen: 176 (-27)

2. Andrew D.: 165 (-52)

3. Ray R.: 153 (-30)

4. CBS Fornelli: 141 (-27)

5. Mark N. #2: 140 (-31)

6. Brent E. #1: 133 (-22)

7. Ryan W.: 131 (-14)

8. Brett W.: 129 (-116)

9. Brent E. #2: 114 (-22)

10. Hal R. #3: 113 (-26)

11. Brent S. #1: 113 (-65)

12. Mike S.: 112 (-9)

13. Mark N. #1: 111 (-24)

14. Mike W.: 109 (-60)

15. Adam E.: 108 (-11)

16. Matt N.: 107 (-36)

17. Ryan G.: 105 (-25)

18. Hutch H. #1: 102 (-10)

19. Bruce G.: 102 (-87)

20. Pete J. #2: 101 (-39)

21. Pete J. #1: 100 (-40)

22. Andrew O.: 96 (-20)

23. Kevin W.: 94 (-13)

24. Lance L.: 93 (-44)

25. Jim W.: 92 (-71)

26. Scott H. #2: 91 (-14)

27. Hal R. #2: 89 (-33)

28. Ben W.: 89 (-67)

29. Brent S. #2: 87 (-19)

30. Hutch H. #2: 85 (-20)

31. Dave M.: 85 (-21)

32. Chad L.: 82 (-40)

33. Marc R.: 80 (-45)

34. Ally H.: 80 (-92)

35. Michelle L. #1: 76 (-48)

36. Carl B.: 75 (-15)

37. Sarah G.: 74 (-53)

38. Mandi A.: 74 (-74)

39. Hal R. #1: 72 (-50)

40. Damien R. #2: 69 (-47)

41. Tim N.: 68 (-57)

42. Michelle L. #2: 65 (-31)

43. Damien R. #1: 63 (-56)

44. Daniel D.: 62 (-41)

45. Presley J.: 57 (-87)

46. Scott H. #1: 55 (-57)

47. Klei R.: 55 (-111)

48. Amos W.: 52 (-68)

49. Brad R.: 49 (-134)

50. Becky H.: 49 (-136)

51. Dustin B.: 47 (-40)

52. Dylan B.: 46 (-35)

53. Jay H. #2: 33 (-36)

54. Sally R.: 33 (-124)

55. Chad C.: 29 (-9)

56. Jay H. #1: 19 (-17)

...and here's the net points standings:

1. CBS Hinnen: 149

2. Ray R.: 123

3. Ryan W.: 117

4. CBS Fornelli: 114

5. Andrew D.: 113

6. Brent E. #1: 111

7. Mark N. #2: 109

8. Mike S.: 103

9. Adam E.: 97

10. Brent E. #2: 92

10. Hutch H. #1: 92

12. Hal R. #3: 87

12. Mark N. #1: 87

14. Kevin W.: 81

15. Ryan G.: 80

16. Scott H. #2: 77

17. Andrew O.: 76

18. Matt N.: 71

19. Brent S. #2: 68

20. Hutch H. #2: 65

21. Dave M.: 64

22. Pete J. #2: 62

23. Pete J. #1: 60

23. Carl B.: 60

25. Hal R. #2: 56

26. Mike W.: 49

26. Lance L.: 49

28. Brent S. #1: 48

29. Chad L.: 42

30. Marc R.: 35

31. Michelle L. #2: 34

32. Michelle L. #1: 28

33. Ben W.: 22

33. Hal R. #1: 22

33. Damien R. #2: 22

36. Jim W.: 21

36. Sarah G.: 21

36. Daniel D.: 21

39. Chad C.: 20

40. Bruce G.: 15

41. Brett W.: 13

42. Tim N.: 11

42. Dylan B.: 11

44. Damien R. #1: 7

44. Dustin B.: 7

46. Jay H. #1: 2

47. Mandi A.: 0

48. Scott H. #1: -2

49. Jay H. #2: -3

50. Ally H.: -12

51. Amos W.: -16

52. Presley J.: -30

53. Klei R.: -56

54. Brad R.: -85

55. Becky H.: -87

56. Sally R.: -91

On the day, 12 people managed to go 2/2.  The big winner on the day was Andrew O., who managed to get 66 points in the 2 games, boosting him from 52nd to 22nd in points.  Great picking Andrew O.   On the opposite end of the spectrum, 9 people went 0/2 on the day.  The big loser for the day was Jim W., who lost 66 points over the span of the 2 games.   That only dropped him from 8th to 25th, but put him 36th in net points.  The overall averages for the day were 1.05 games won for 23.89 points won and 14.25 points lost.  That seems like a pretty good day to me.

There are 2 more games tomorrow, and they couldn't really be much more different...

The first is really early in the morning.  It's the inaugural Bahamas Bowl.  I thought this might be the first time a Bowl game was played in another country until I remembered that they used to play a Bowl game in Toronto. I think this probably a little nicer, although I'm sure Toronto is a fine city.  The game features Western Kentucky vs. Central Michigan.  I'm going to bet that most people in the pool probably can't name the mascots for both schools, and probably even less have actually seen either of these teams play this season.  It won't stop all of us from picking this game though....  The Vegas line is currently Western Kentucky -4.

We all seemed to love the Hilltoppers, since 40 people chose them to win (average wager = 16.60 points).  Fewer (16) seemed to love the Chippewas (average wager = 11.56 points).  That makes this the 28th ranked bowl game in terms of points wagered.  The average pick was Western Kentucky for 8.55 points, and the median was WKU for 9.5, making this just slightly more lopsided than the Poinsettia Bowl tonight.

Here are the picks for WKU:

Brett W.: 38

Mike W.: 35

Becky H.: 33

Mark N. #2: 26

Klei R.: 24

Michelle L. #2: 24

Scott H. #1: 24

Scott H. #2: 24

Brent S. #2: 23

Chad L.: 22

Michelle L. #1: 22

Mike S.: 22

Brad R.: 21

Ray R.: 21

Amos W.: 20

CBS Hinnen: 20

Ryan G.: 19

Sarah G.: 19

Hutch H. #2: 18

Bruce G.: 18

Damien R. #2: 17

Carl B.: 14

Daniel D.: 14

Pete J. #2: 14

Mark N. #1: 13

Lance L.: 12

Andrew D.: 10

CBS Fornelli: 10

Dustin B.: 9

Hal R. #1: 9

Hal R. #2: 9

Jay H. #2: 9

Kevin W.: 9

Chad C.: 8

Hutch H. #1: 7

Jim W.: 7

Brent S. #1: 6

Presley J.: 6

Dave M.: 5

Sally R.: 3

...and for CMU:

Tim N.: 25

Ally H.: 22

Mandi A.: 18

Ben W.: 16

Andrew O.: 15

Pete J. #1: 14

Dylan B.: 11

Hal R. #3: 9

Jay H. #1: 9

Marc R.: 9

Matt N.: 9

Adam E.: 7

Ryan W.: 6

Brent E. #1: 5

Brent E. #2: 5

Damien R. #1: 5

The second game of the day comes in prime time, which means that if you don't like spending Christmas Eve with your family, you can enjoy it watching a pretty worthless college football game.  5,050 miles away from the first game of the day is the Hawaii Bowl.  I say this is a worthless bowl mostly because it has the fewest points wagered on it than any other bowl game.  That's probably because the Vegas line is pretty close.  They have Rice favored by 2.5.  We have a median pick of Fresno State for 3, making it the 35th most lopsided pick of the pool.  It's actually tied with the Miami Beach Bowl for that honor, and that game was pretty good, so there's hope for this game yet.

As a group. we picked Fresno State 32 times for an average of 10.25 points.  We chose Rice 24 times for an average of 10.63 points.  The overall average was Fresno State for 1.3 points.

Here are the Fresno State picks:

Sally R.: 37

Mandi A.: 30

Damien R. #2: 23

Andrew D.: 19

Ben W.: 17

Hal R. #1: 17

Hal R. #3: 17

Jim W.: 17

Bruce G.: 17

Damien R. #1: 12

Matt N.: 11

Ryan W.: 11

Andrew O.: 10

Marc R.: 10

Adam E.: 9

Lance L.: 9

Kevin W.: 7

Klei R.: 6

Brent S. #1: 5

CBS Fornelli: 5

Brent S. #2: 4

Jay H. #2: 4

Pete J. #1: 4

Pete J. #2: 4

Presley J.: 4

Scott H. #1: 4

Tim N.: 4

Mike S.: 3

Sarah G.: 3

Brad R.: 2

Scott H. #2: 2

Mark N. #2: 1

...and here are the Rice picks:

Ally H.: 33

Carl B.: 31

Brett W.: 25

Daniel D.: 21

Hal R. #2: 17

Dylan B.: 16

Chad L.: 15

Dustin B.: 12

Mike W.: 12

Hutch H. #2: 10

Jay H. #1: 10

Chad C.: 9

Becky H.: 8

Dave M.: 6

Hutch H. #1: 5

Michelle L. #2: 5

Ray R.: 5

Amos W.: 3

CBS Hinnen: 3

Michelle L. #1: 3

Ryan G.: 3

Brent E. #1: 1

Brent E. #2: 1

Mark N. #1: 1

I think that's it for me tonight.  Enjoy the games tomorrow if you wind up watching them.  If not, enjoy the holiday.  I'll enjoy sleeping in and avoiding the year end crunch to make arbitrary revenue goals for a few days.  Good Luck everyone!!!!!