After Boca Raton Bowl

I gotta be honest, when I saw the point spreads for the games, I thought (with a few exceptions) we could wind up with some pretty good games.  Since I was going to submit myself to watching a lot of them, I kind of wanted them to be at least entertaining.  Unfortunately for us so far, they really have not been.  Of the 7 games we’ve had, only one was decided by less than 10 points.  Tonight’s game was borderline unwatchable.  By the time I got home from work, UAB was already up by 14 points, and NIU never got all that close from there on out.  I actually turned the game off midway through the 3^rd quarter to watch DVR’d episodes of the Daily Show.

Remember how the other day when I said that if I was going to cheat by picking games with the full knowledge of how everyone else picked, I would take UAB.  That seems even more true now that the game is over.  Unfortunately for me, I didn’t cheat or take my own advice because I blew 29 points on NIU.  This marks the first time this Bowl season that the team that won was picked for fewer points than the team that lost.  That makes this a quasi-upset (since UAB was actually the Vegas favorite).

There were some people that nailed this one.  Here are the top 5 entries that gained points.

1.       Nick S. (31 points, currently 1^st place in points, 24^th in net points)

2.       Jason S. (24 points, 28^th, 31^st)

3.       Peter F. (17 points, 14^th, 11^th)

4.       Emily J. (16 points, 35^th, 27^th)

5.       Ava S. (15 points, 56^th, 58^th)

We have a new leader in total points, as Nick S. took over the top spot with 31 points added to his total.  Hutch H. dropped from 1 to 2, despite still not losing a game so far.  We are down to 5 entries that have gone 7/7.  Those lucky few are:  Dan Du., Eric V., Harrell R. #1, Harrell R. #2 and Hutch H.  That’s pretty good picking.  Traditionally, if  you van get about 75-80% of the total points, you are in contention.  Every year is different, but that seems to be a pretty good rule of thumb.

Here are the total points rankings:

1. Nick S.: 167 (-72)

2. Hutch H.: 159 (0)

3. Marc R.: 147 (-38)

4. Andrzej R.: 145 (-5)

5. Ben S. #2: 142 (-5)

6. Josiah T. #4: 142 (-13)

7. Tim N.: 142 (-96)

8. James P.: 141 (-11)

9. Dylan B.: 140 (-3)

10. Josiah T. #2: 134 (-1)

11. Josiah T. #1: 133 (-2)

12. Brent E. #4: 124 (-9)

13. Jim D.: 122 (-1)

14. Peter F.: 121 (-5)

15. Jay H. #1: 121 (-6)

16. Matt N.: 121 (-9)

17. Harrell R. #2: 119 (0)

18. Nichole W.: 118 (-85)

19. Adam E.: 114 (-3)

20. Ben S. #1: 111 (-14)

21. Pete J. #1: 108 (-5)

22. Klei R.: 108 (-43)

23. Harrell R. #1: 106 (0)

24. Scott Her. #2: 106 (-1)

25. Brent E. #1: 106 (-6)

25. Brent E. #2: 106 (-6)

27. Josiah T. #3: 106 (-21)

28. Jason S.: 106 (-40)

29. Brent E. #3: 103 (-9)

30. Dan Du.: 102 (0)

31. Pete J. #2: 100 (-13)

32. Mike S.: 100 (-22)

33. Ryan W.: 94 (-53)

34. Eric V.: 90 (0)

35. Emily J.: 90 (-1)

36. Grant F.: 88 (-38)

37. Damien R. #1: 88 (-40)

38. Michelle L. #1: 80 (-29)

39. Brad R.: 80 (-42)

40. Scott Has.: 73 (-10)

41. Craig G.: 72 (-33)

42. Michelle L. #2: 72 (-59)

43. Bosun S.: 69 (-9)

44. Jim W.: 68 (-5)

45. Dustin B.: 66 (-5)

46. Jay H. #3: 63 (-20)

47. Ally H.: 60 (-32)

48. Dan Dz.: 59 (-18)

49. Damien R. #2: 55 (-7)

50. Becky H.: 53 (-37)

51. Scott Her. #1: 50 (-52)

52. Kevin W.: 48 (-40)

53. Brett W.: 45 (-23)

54. Amos W.: 44 (-35)

55. Sally R.: 44 (-102)

56. Ava S.: 43 (-35)

57. Justin H.: 38 (-23)

58. Julie S.: 37 (-41)

59. Mike W.: 23 (-7)

60. Ashley D.: 23 (-44)

61. Dan S.: 23 (-55)

62. Eric L.: 22 (-6)

63. Jay H. #2: 21 (-7)

64. Max W. #2: 19 (-9)

65. Mike N.: 18 (-10)

66. Max W. #1: 9 (-26)

…and the net points rankings:

1. Hutch H.: 159

2. Andrzej R.: 140

3. Ben S. #2: 137

3. Dylan B.: 137

5. Josiah T. #2: 133

6. Josiah T. #1: 131

7. James P.: 130

8. Josiah T. #4: 129

9. Jim D.: 121

10. Harrell R. #2: 119

11. Peter F.: 116

12. Brent E. #4: 115

12. Jay H. #1: 115

14. Matt N.: 112

15. Adam E.: 111

16. Marc R.: 109

17. Harrell R. #1: 106

18. Scott Her. #2: 105

19. Pete J. #1: 103

20. Dan Du.: 102

21. Brent E. #1: 100

21. Brent E. #2: 100

23. Ben S. #1: 97

24. Nick S.: 95

25. Brent E. #3: 94

26. Eric V.: 90

27. Emily J.: 89

28. Pete J. #2: 87

29. Josiah T. #3: 85

30. Mike S.: 78

31. Jason S.: 66

32. Klei R.: 65

33. Scott Has.: 63

33. Jim W.: 63

35. Dustin B.: 61

36. Bosun S.: 60

37. Michelle L. #1: 51

38. Grant F.: 50

39. Damien R. #1: 48

39. Damien R. #2: 48

41. Tim N.: 46

42. Jay H. #3: 43

43. Ryan W.: 41

43. Dan Dz.: 41

45. Craig G.: 39

46. Brad R.: 38

47. Nichole W.: 33

48. Ally H.: 28

49. Brett W.: 22

50. Becky H.: 16

50. Mike W.: 16

50. Eric L.: 16

53. Justin H.: 15

54. Jay H. #2: 14

55. Michelle L. #2: 13

56. Max W. #2: 10

57. Amos W.: 9

58. Kevin W.: 8

58. Ava S.: 8

58. Mike N.: 8

61. Scott Her. #1: -2

62. Julie S.: -4

63. Max W. #1: -17

64. Ashley D.: -21

65. Dan S.: -32

66. Sally R.: -58

OK.  Let’s hope for a better game tomorrow.  It features one of the two schools that actually granted me a degree.

The Frisco Bowl:

Picks:

San Diego State: 35 (18.26 pts average)

Ohio: 31 (16.26 pts average)

Median Pick: San Diego State for 5 points.

Mean Pick: San Diego State for 2 points.

Total points wagered: 1,143 (28^th overall).

Vegas Line: Ohio (-3)

Again, we see that there is a bit of a spike at 8 points, because of the 1-40 method.  There also seems to be a lot of people that are taking the Aztecs for 32.  When I say “a lot of people”, what I really mean is that Brent E. took San Diego State for 32 in all 4 of his entries.  Otherwise, this game looks to be all over the place.  That’s a good thing.  Less than a 1/3 of the entries put <10 points on this game, so it’s a bit of a high risk / high reward game.  That’s what we like to see.  Good Luck to everyone!!!!