Bowl Pool 2016 - Golden Russet Upset Edition

So, the Idaho Potato Bowl or the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl or whatever it's called nowadays was a great mixture of everything that I love and hate about college football.  Let's start with what I loved about this game.  If you remember, Idaho was almost a 2-touchdown underdog going into that game.  There were only 6 people that took Idaho.  I always claim that I don't know how to win these types of pools, but one sure fire formula is to pick upsets to happen, and then actually have them happen.  Let's take a closer look at the 6 people that picked the Vandals to win:

Damien R.: 3 points (+1 position in points, +13 positions in net points)

Dustin B.: 7 points (+2 in points, +2 in net points)

Pete J. #2:  19 points (+2 in points, +3 in net points)

Ally H.: 32 points (+3 in points, +7 in net points)

Deborah G.: 36 points (+12 in points, +21 in net points)

Dorthea R.: 39 points (+9 in points, +11 in net points)

Those are some pretty good movers in the standings.  Keep in mind that the median pick in this game was Colorado State for 32.5, so if you even had Colorado State for something like 20, you came out ahead in this game, as you managed to avoid losing a lot of points.

Now for what I didn't like about this game.  Most of you will probably assume it's the blue turf that they play on, or the fact that Boise is the worst destination for any Bowl game, but really it was the basketball score.  I was surprised to see that the score after the first quarter was 0-0.  Even halftime was a reasonable 20-7.  Somehow, these teams managed to score a whopping 84 points in the second half, including 56 in the 4th quarter alone.  Seriously?!?!  Were both teams committed to playing D with just 8 guys, or all defensive players wearing blindfolds?  It's hard to fathom how terrible this defense is.  I'm not a fan.  Rant over....

Here are the new standings.  Most people got 0 points in this game, so the points only rankings didn't change too much:

1. Freitag B.: 226 (-41)

2. Brent E. #2: 219 (-37)

3. Brent E. #1: 203 (-53)

4. Deborah G.: 203 (-67)

5. Dave M.: 193 (-94)

6. Klei R.: 186 (-24)

7. Hutch H.: 186 (-81)

8. Roth W.: 186 (-90)

9. Mark ESPN: 183 (-54)

10. Josiah T. #2: 178 (-67)

11. Michelle L. #1: 175 (-62)

12. Adam E.: 173 (-46)

13. Hal R. #1: 169 (-83)

13. Hal R. #2: 169 (-83)

15. Tim N.: 168 (-28)

16. Mason A.: 168 (-77)

17. Mike S.: 164 (-90)

18. Michelle L. #2: 161 (-85)

19. Marc R.: 160 (-62)

20. Ben S.: 159 (-79)

21. Pete J. #1: 151 (-48)

22. Brent S.: 150 (-72)

23. Marc S.: 148 (-86)

24. Mike W.: 147 (-70)

25. Matt N.: 145 (-52)

26. Nick B.: 142 (-81)

27. Josiah T. #1: 141 (-85)

28. Ryan W.: 139 (-89)

29. Damien R.: 137 (-30)

30. Scott Her. #2: 137 (-52)

31. Jay H. #3: 133 (-118)

32. Scott H.: 132 (-69)

33. Ray R.: 128 (-84)

34. Kevin F. #1: 126 (-67)

35. Pete J. #2: 123 (-76)

36. Kevin F. #2: 112 (-82)

37. Jim P.: 109 (-56)

38. Stephanie P.: 103 (-60)

39. Dorthea R.: 98 (-112)

40. Brad R.: 95 (-130)

41. Julie S.: 91 (-162)

42. Dan S.: 88 (-165)

43. Dustin B.: 85 (-37)

44. Jay H. #1: 84 (-113)

45. Dylan B.: 81 (-103)

46. Scott Her. #1: 79 (-69)

47. Ally H.: 74 (-22)

48. Jim W.: 71 (-96)

49. Chad L.: 70 (-87)

50. Becky H.: 52 (-80)

51. Ash D.: 34 (-103)

52. Brett W.: 33 (-29)

53. Jay H. #2: 32 (-23)

54. Dan Du.: 32 (-152)

55. Dan Dz.: 24 (-88)

56. Nichole W.: 12 (-71)

The net points were shook up a little.  There was still a lot of people that had a lot riding on this game, so the damage was somewhat limited:

1. Freitag B.: 185

2. Brent E. #2: 182

3. Klei R.: 162

4. Brent E. #1: 150

5. Tim N.: 140

6. Deborah G.: 136

7. Mark ESPN: 129

8. Adam E.: 127

9. Michelle L. #1: 113

10. Josiah T. #2: 111

11. Damien R.: 107

12. Hutch H.: 105

13. Pete J. #1: 103

14. Dave M.: 99

15. Marc R.: 98

16. Roth W.: 96

17. Matt N.: 93

18. Mason A.: 91

19. Hal R. #1: 86

19. Hal R. #2: 86

21. Scott Her. #2: 85

22. Ben S.: 80

23. Brent S.: 78

24. Mike W.: 77

25. Michelle L. #2: 76

26. Mike S.: 74

27. Scott H.: 63

28. Marc S.: 62

29. Nick B.: 61

30. Kevin F. #1: 59

31. Josiah T. #1: 56

32. Jim P.: 53

33. Ally H.: 52

34. Ryan W.: 50

35. Dustin B.: 48

36. Pete J. #2: 47

37. Ray R.: 44

38. Stephanie P.: 43

39. Kevin F. #2: 30

40. Jay H. #3: 15

41. Scott Her. #1: 10

42. Jay H. #2: 9

43. Brett W.: 4

44. Dorthea R.: -14

45. Chad L.: -17

46. Dylan B.: -22

47. Jim W.: -25

48. Becky H.: -28

49. Jay H. #1: -29

50. Brad R.: -35

51. Nichole W.: -59

52. Dan Dz.: -64

53. Ash D.: -69

54. Julie S.: -71

55. Dan S.: -77

56. Dan Du.: -120

I think it probably goes without saying, but there are no longer any sheets that remain perfect.  It was good while it lasted.

OK, so there's 3 games tomorrow.  I will probably be hiking, and not watching many of them.  Here are the particulars anyway:

The Armed Forces Bowl (#40 in points wagered)

Vegas Line: Louisiana Tech -5.5

Median Pick: Louisiana Tech for 3.5

Picks:

Louisiana Tech: 33 (Average points: 16.24)

Navy: 23 (Average points: 10.91)

The Bahamas Bowl (#31 in points wagered)

Vegas Line: Old Dominion -4

Median Pick: Old Dominion for 12.5

Picks:

Old Dominion: 36 (average points: 20.33)

Eastern Michigan: 20 (average points: 9.20)

Dollar General Bowl (#37 in points wagered)

Vegas Line: Troy -3.5

Median Pick: Troy for 9.5

Picks:

Troy: 34 (average points: 16.59)

Ohio: 22 (average points: 11.59)

The person with the most at stake tomorrow is Freitag B., who took all the favorites (ODU for 31, Louisiana Tech for 29 & Troy for 20).  Ben S. is on the other end of the spectrum with 18 points up for grabs (Troy for 7, EMU for 5 & Navy for 4).

20 sheets took all three favorites tomorrow, which doesn't seem especially gutless, but is gutless-adjacent.  10 people took all underdogs tomorrow, which I totally support.  Since there's only 3 games yet to be played that were more skewed on points than tonight's upset, I doubt we will see a bigger won this bowl season, but then again, I didn't think we'd see this one, so there's still hope for you, Washington, Miami (Ohio) and South Alabama!!!

Good luck to everyone tomorrow!!!!  Enjoy the games.