After Spud Bowl

What a disappointment.  I was revolving my day around the eventual WMU victory in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.  That dream was dashed pretty quick.  Now I just get to hang around the apartment in my WMU sweatshirt wondering why I picked a team that had NEVER WON A BOWL GAME IN SCHOOL HISTORY for 38 points.  That sucks - at least for me.

For 8 sheets, the perfection continues.  The last 8 standing are:

Andrew D.

Ray R.

CBS Hinnen

CBS Fornelli

Brent S. #1

Mike S.

Damien R. #2

Carl B.

Good job to them.  All 8 are currently in the top 20, which means that not too many people are adopting the 1-38 approach to putting points in.  I personally like that not many are doing that.  First reason is because it's lazy.  The second reason is because I think it's not a smart approach.  As evidenced by the amount of points assigned to the 2nd game of the season.

Those astute viewers will notice that  there are 2 additional entries in the pool.  The first was Brett W.  He actually was the first person to enter, but he did it so early that I forgot about his entry until he astutely brought to my attention that his name was not in the standings.  The other belongs to my uncle Bruce, who mailed me a physical copy of his sheet that I just got today.  That's not my preferred method, but I'll take it.  That brings the total entries up to 56.  Still a decent number.

Here are the standings after the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl:

1. Andrew D.: 120 (0)

2. Ray R.: 114 (0)

3. CBS Hinnen: 109 (0)

4. CBS Fornelli: 97 (0)

5. Brent E. #1: 95 (-20)

6. Bruce G.: 82 (-22)

7. Matt N.: 80 (-5)

8. Brent E. #2: 76 (-20)

9. Ally H.: 75 (-31)

10. Brett W.: 67 (-53)

11. Brent S. #1: 66 (0)

11. Mike S.: 66 (0)

13. Adam E.: 66 (-5)

14. Ryan G.: 64 (-5)

15. Pete J. #1: 64 (-8)

15. Pete J. #2: 64 (-8)

17. Mark N. #2: 60 (-31)

18. Mark N. #1: 59 (-5)

19. Dave M.: 59 (-12)

20. Jim W.: 57 (-5)

21. Kevin W.: 57 (-7)

22. Hutch H. #1: 56 (-4)

23. Scott H. #2: 56 (-8)

24. Damien R. #2: 55 (0)

25. Brent S. #2: 55 (-8)

26. Hal R. #3: 55 (-26)

26. Hal R. #2: 55 (-26)

28. Lance L.: 52 (-9)

29. Hal R. #1: 52 (-29)

30. Damien R. #1: 52 (-34)

31. Carl B.: 49 (0)

32. Becky H.: 49 (-60)

33. Marc R.: 48 (-11)

34. Dustin B.: 47 (-12)

35. Scott H. #1: 47 (-20)

36. Daniel D.: 45 (-24)

37. Hutch H. #2: 44 (-3)

38. Ben W.: 44 (-27)

39. Presley J.: 39 (-18)

40. Michelle L. #1: 37 (-15)

41. Chad L.: 37 (-28)

42. Ryan W.: 36 (-4)

43. Sarah G.: 36 (-33)

44. Mandi A.: 36 (-47)

45. Tim N.: 34 (-33)

46. Mike W.: 34 (-45)

47. Dylan B.: 33 (-8)

48. Klei R.: 33 (-51)

49. Andrew O.: 29 (-8)

50. Brad R.: 26 (-59)

51. Amos W.: 25 (-55)

52. Michelle L. #2: 24 (-13)

53. Sally R.: 21 (-51)

54. Chad C.: 12 (-6)

55. Jay H. #2: 10 (-21)

56. Jay H. #1: 7 (-3)

It's starting to make a difference, so here's the ranking of net points.  I get this by adding the points you've won and subtracting off the points you've lost.  It's almost a better indicator of strength, since you can rack up a ton of points just by loading up on these early games.

1. Andrew D.: 120

2. Ray R.: 114

3. CBS Hinnen: 109

4. CBS Fornelli: 97

5. Brent E. #1: 75

5. Matt N.: 75

7. Brent S. #1: 66

7. Mike S.: 66

9. Adam E.: 61

10. Bruce G.: 60

11. Ryan G.: 59

12. Brent E. #2: 56

12. Pete J. #1: 56

12. Pete J. #2: 56

15. Damien R. #2: 55

16. Mark N. #1: 54

17. Jim W.: 52

17. Hutch H. #1: 52

19. Kevin W.: 50

20. Carl B.: 49

21. Scott H. #2: 48

22. Dave M.: 47

22. Brent S. #2: 47

24. Ally H.: 44

25. Lance L.: 43

26. Hutch H. #2: 41

27. Marc R.: 37

28. Dustin B.: 35

29. Ryan W.: 32

30. Mark N. #2: 29

30. Hal R. #3: 29

30. Hal R. #2: 29

33. Scott H. #1: 27

34. Dylan B.: 25

35. Hal R. #1: 23

36. Michelle L. #1: 22

37. Daniel D.: 21

37. Presley J.: 21

37. Andrew O.: 21

40. Damien R. #1: 18

41. Ben W.: 17

42. Brett W.: 14

43. Michelle L. #2: 11

44. Chad L.: 9

45. Chad C.: 6

46. Jay H. #1: 4

47. Sarah G.: 3

48. Tim N.: 1

49. Becky H.: -11

49. Mandi A.: -11

49. Mike W.: -11

49. Jay H. #2: -11

53. Klei R.: -18

54. Amos W.: -30

54. Sally R.: -30

56. Brad R.: -33

Ouch.  It's a rough day in the Richards household.  Me, my Mom and my Dad occupy 3 of the 4 lowest places in this ranking.  Welcome to the neighborhood, Amos.  I don't think you'll want to be staying.

There's still another game to go.  It's the inaugural Raycom Media Camellia Bowl, featuring South Alabama and Bowling Green.  This is another "Who cares?" Bowl, as it is the 37th in points assigned.   It also marks another Bowl game that I'm not sure what it's named after.  Apparently, they are flowers that grow primarily in the Himalayas and eastern Asia.  Not sure why that was the first choice for naming a Bowl game, but maybe they have a botanist on the Bowl committee.  Vegas has this as South Alabama -3.

Our little group has gone the other way on this one.  There are 30 sheets picking Bowling Green (Avg pick:  11.47 points) and 26 taking South Alabama (Avg pick: 12.38 points).  The mean pick is Bowling Green for 0.39 points and the median as Bowling Green for 3.

Here is the distribution of the picks:

For Bowling Green:

Ryan W.: 29

Mike W.: 28

Mandi A.: 25

Brad R.: 23

Mark N. #2: 22

Jay H. #2: 20

CBS Hinnen: 19

Presley J.: 18

Daniel D.: 17

Brent S. #1: 15

Ben W.: 14

Sally R.: 12

Chad L.: 9

Amos W.: 8

Damien R. #1: 8

Brent S. #2: 7

Hal R. #3: 7

Scott H. #2: 7

Chad C.: 6

Jim W.: 6

Lance L.: 6

Ray R.: 6

Ally H.: 5

Dylan B.: 5

Jay H. #1: 5

Brent E. #1: 4

Brent E. #2: 4

Adam E.: 3

Hutch H. #1: 3

Kevin W.: 3

...and for South Alabama:

Brett W.: 36

CBS Fornelli: 26

Becky H.: 21

Bruce G.: 21

Klei R.: 20

Marc R.: 19

Damien R. #2: 18

Pete J. #1: 16

Pete J. #2: 16

Mark N. #1: 15

Andrew D.: 14

Andrew O.: 12

Ryan G.: 11

Sarah G.: 11

Matt N.: 8

Michelle L. #1: 8

Michelle L. #2: 8

Hal R. #1: 7

Hal R. #2: 7

Dustin B.: 6

Hutch H. #2: 6

Tim N.: 6

Carl B.: 5

Dave M.: 2

Scott H. #1: 2

Mike S.: 1

Given that Bowling Green is already up 14 points, this looks like it could be a long night for me....  Booo....

Good luck to everyone else.