After Boca Raton Bowl

Well, well, well.  It was a day of upsets.  It was a great day if you had a "pick the MAC team" strategy, as they both won, and they both scored upsets in doing so.  So far, the Akron game in the Potato Bowl ranks as the biggest upset of the season in regards to median pick.

Because upsets went 2/2 today, only 21 sheets managed to get any points at all.  Only 6 people managed to go 2/2.  When I look at who gained the most points today, it bodes well for competitiveness in the pool as most of the people at the top of the daily points were people that were at the bottom of the standings.  That begins with Mindi W. who managed to get 48 points today.  That was good enough to move her from 44th up to 36th.  Hey, it's a move upward, and that's a good start.

The rankings didn't move too  much over yesterday, since a lot of people only got 0 points, so that doesn't really cause much change in the overall standings.  If I was able to figure odds of winning, I think a day like today would make a difference, but losses at this point only affect the tiebreaker in the overall points.  It does make more of a difference to the net points.  For the 21 people that didn't get any points, the average number of points lost was 43 points.  The most was 77 points from Brent S. #1.  He only dropped from 17th to 19th in overall points because of that, but he dropped from 17th to 33rd in net points.  Ouch....

Here are the overall points standings:

1. Jim W.: 144 (-41)

2. Brett W.: 142 (-43)

3. Brad R.: 142 (-173)

4. Dustin B.: 132 (-18)

5. Scott H. #1: 132 (-32)

6. Klei R.: 131 (-52)

7. Dave M.: 126 (-47)

8. Roth W. #1: 126 (-53)

9. Sally R.: 124 (-57)

10. Adam E.: 119 (-27)

11. Craig G.: 118 (-55)

12. Jay H. #1: 111 (-20)

13. Pete J. #2: 103 (-27)

14. Marc R. #2: 101 (-28)

15. Ray R.: 101 (-64)

16. Mike S. #1: 98 (-90)

17. Marc R. #1: 96 (-40)

18. Mike S. #2: 95 (-55)

19. Brent S. #1: 94 (-100)

20. Matt N.: 92 (-32)

21. Scott H. #2: 92 (-40)

22. Ryan W.: 91 (-18)

23. Brent E. #1: 90 (-66)

23. Brent E. #2: 90 (-66)

25. Dan D.: 86 (-66)

26. Jay H. #3: 84 (-89)

27. Michelle L. #1: 83 (-51)

28. Nichole W.: 82 (-9)

29. Mike W.: 82 (-49)

30. Ashley D.: 78 (-107)

31. Ally H.: 71 (-91)

32. James R.: 70 (-114)

33. Damien R. #1: 66 (-121)

34. Becky H.: 65 (-63)

35. Chris L.: 63 (-63)

36. Mindi W.: 57 (-19)

37. Brent S. #2: 54 (-68)

38. Pete J. #1: 51 (-79)

39. Tim N.: 48 (-78)

40. Dylan B.: 47 (-71)

41. Michelle L. #2: 45 (-86)

42. Jay H. #2: 32 (-13)

43. Damien R. #2: 28 (-58)

44. Roth W. #2: 25 (-20)

...and the net points rankings:

1. Dustin B.: 114

2. Jim W.: 103

3. Scott H. #1: 100

4. Brett W.: 99

5. Adam E.: 92

6. Jay H. #1: 91

7. Klei R.: 79

7. Dave M.: 79

9. Pete J. #2: 76

10. Roth W. #1: 73

10. Marc R. #2: 73

10. Ryan W.: 73

10. Nichole W.: 73

14. Sally R.: 67

15. Craig G.: 63

16. Matt N.: 60

17. Marc R. #1: 56

18. Scott H. #2: 52

19. Mike S. #2: 40

20. Mindi W.: 38

21. Ray R.: 37

22. Mike W.: 33

23. Michelle L. #1: 32

24. Brent E. #1: 24

24. Brent E. #2: 24

26. Dan D.: 20

27. Jay H. #2: 19

28. Mike S. #1: 8

29. Roth W. #2: 5

30. Becky H.: 2

31. Chris L.: 0

32. Jay H. #3: -5

33. Brent S. #1: -6

34. Brent S. #2: -14

35. Ally H.: -20

36. Dylan B.: -24

37. Pete J. #1: -28

38. Ashley D.: -29

39. Tim N.: -30

39. Damien R. #2: -30

41. Brad R.: -31

42. Michelle L. #2: -41

43. James R.: -44

44. Damien R. #1: -55

Tomorrow, there are another two bowls, and if my numbers are right, there are a ton of points at stake.

The first bowl game of the day is the GoDaddy Bowl.  I remember this bowl game being much later in the schedule last year.  The NCAA must have forced them to move up the date.  I seem to remember this being one of the last Bowl games.  Hmmm...  Oh well.  This one is #10 in overall points, making it the most wagered on bowl up to that point.  Here are the particulars:

Bowling Green: 39 (Average pick = 26.87)

Georgia Southern: 5 (Average pick = 11.60)

The median pick for this game is Bowling Green for 28 points.  The average pick is Bowling Green for 22.50 points.  The point spread for this game is Bowling Green -7.5.  21 people have Bowling Green as a top 10 pick.  No one has Georgia Southern as a top 10 pick.

The next game is the Poinsettia Bowl.  A Bowl game that I attend in person from time to time, as it's just down the road in San Diego.  I almost went this year, but when I found that Western Michigan wasn't going to be playing in it, I passed.  I mentioned that the GoDaddy Bowl had the most points wagered on it up until that point.  I chose that phrasing because it surpassed in the very next game, as the Poinsettia Bowl is 5th in overall points wagered on it.  Here are the particulars:

Boise State: 39 (Average pick = 27.10)

Northern Illinois: 5 (Average pick = 21.00)

The median pick for this game is Boise State for 29.5 points.  The average pick is Boise State for 21.64 points.  The point spread for this game is Boise State -8.5.  25 people have Boise State as a top 10 play.  Only 1 person has chosen Northern Illinois in their top 10 (Becky H.).

I like the upsets.  I'm hoping for more of that.  I like rewarding people that take risks on picking upsets.  There's nothing more boring than favorites winning.  It's no challenge to pick nothing but favorites.  It's like picking by the seeds in the NCAA tournament, and I can't stand that in the slightest.

So, good job to those that got points today.  Your bravery in picking was rewarded.