After 7 Game College Football Extravaganza!!!

Well, that was an eventful day.  I managed to watch a little bit of the Camelia Bowl, and about a half of the New Orleans Bowl.  It sounds like I missed out on some decent games.  I had a feeling that the Celebration Bowl was going to be pretty good, and it looks like it was (>100 points scored).  That Bowl Game never seems to let me down.

A few people sent me notes because they saw that the teams that I had listed as their Champions weren’t correct.  What happened was that I have a separate sheet for the actual scoring, and another sheet that ranks the scores.  I had a column of data in the rank spreadsheet that linked the Championship picks.  When I sorted the rank spreadsheet, the column with the Championship picks did get sorted with the rest of the spreadsheet, so the picks were misaligned.  The scoring spreadsheet had all the picks you sent me correct.  It was just the spreadsheet I use to keep track of the ranks that get a little jumbled.  I have corrected it.  Thanks to the people that saw that.  Please let me know if you see anything that looks like that again in the future.  That’s why I give a link to the scoring spreadsheet.  You can keep me honest.

Another reason I link to that spreadsheet is for the following reason:  I am currently in 1^st place, and I don’t want people to think I’m cheating.  A big part of why I’m in 1^st place is that I’ve wagered the 2^nd most points of anyone in the pool.  I also have managed to get a lot of games correct so far.  For example, I won 134 points today (and lost 54 points).  That was the most of anyone.  Add in that I went 2/2 yesterday, and that’s how I wind up at the top of the standings.  Unfortunately for me, there’s still 31 more games to play, so I’m not holding my breath that I’ll win.  At least I’m doing good for now.

There were upsets and pseudo-upsets all over the place today.  North Carolina A&T and Washington weren’t technically upsets, but more people had picked the underdog in these games.  The weird thing is that about 1/3 of the games finished in upsets, so picking upsets wasn’t a bad strategy.  You just had to pick the right ones, I guess.

Nobody went 7/7 today.  Then again, no one went 0/7.  The most anyone got right today was 6 games correct, which was accomplished by 5 people.  Unfortunately, Cory R. was the only person that went 1/7.  Complements of a lot of people wagering a ton of points on Appalachian State, only 21 entries finished with a net negative point total today.  The average sheet won 3.6 games, won 66.1 points, but lost 50.1 points.

4 people gained over 100 points today.  Despite me doing well today, I only finished 3^rd on the day in net points.  Top honors went to Bryan G. (95 – 6 = 89 points).  2^nd was Marc R. (109 – 22 = 87).  That’s not only good picking of games, it is really good allocating of points.  Marc R. only went 4/7 for his points.  That’s a great way to do well in these pools.  If you are going to lose games, make sure you don’t lose a ton of points as well.  Great picking guys!

Here are the total points standings:

1. Klei R.: 166 (-54)

2. Brett W.: 150 (-92)

3. Marc R.: 130 (-42)

4. Josiah T. #1: 118 (-42)

5. Pete J. #1: 118 (-57)

6. Dave M.: 117 (-59)

7. Scott Herd. #2: 117 (-75)

8. Harrell R. #2: 116 (-15)

9. Dylan B.: 111 (-95)

10. Greg McE. - ESPN: 109 (-105)

11. Jim W.: 106 (-60)

12. Jason S.: 106 (-96)

13. Ryan W.: 104 (-58)

14. Pete J. #2: 104 (-71)

15. Brad R.: 101 (-80)

16. Matt N.: 101 (-90)

17. Brent S.: 98 (-81)

18. James P.: 98 (-84)

19. Harrell R. #1: 97 (-38)

20. Josiah T. #2: 97 (-52)

21. Brian K.: 97 (-79)

22. Bryan G.: 95 (-14)

23. Max W. #2: 95 (-46)

24. Pete J. #3: 95 (-80)

25. Michelle L. #1: 94 (-72)

26. Peter F.: 93 (-75)

27. Matt M.: 92 (-14)

28. Jonathan J.: 92 (-38)

29. Jay H. #2: 92 (-78)

30. Hutch H.: 89 (-78)

31. Damien R. #1: 89 (-84)

32. Andrzej #1: 89 (-98)

33. Andrzej #2: 88 (-99)

34. Andrew D.: 88 (-102)

35. Jay H. #1: 87 (-83)

36. Ben W.: 86 (-83)

37. Kirt R.: 83 (-90)

38. Grant F.: 82 (-34)

39. Mike N.: 80 (-45)

40. Ryan G.: 77 (-61)

41. Nikki W.: 73 (-57)

42. Michelle L. #2: 72 (-94)

43. Ally H.: 72 (-124)

44. Mike S.: 70 (-52)

45. Dustin B.: 70 (-69)

46. Mason A.: 70 (-74)

47. Becky H.: 68 (-56)

48. Dan Du.: 68 (-90)

49. Cory R.: 67 (-125)

50. Scott Herd. #1: 66 (-113)

51. Mike W.: 65 (-70)

52. Shawn M.: 61 (-45)

53. Adam E.: 60 (-61)

54. Josiah T. #3: 60 (-63)

55. Emily T.: 58 (-101)

56. Tim N.: 57 (-19)

57. Steve Dz.: 57 (-144)

58. Max A. #2: 56 (-34)

59. Rich P.: 51 (-76)

60. Scott Has. #2: 49 (-63)

61. Scott Has. #1: 45 (-116)

62. Nick B.: 42 (-3)

63. Damien R. #2: 41 (-121)

64. Max A. #1: 30 (-60)

65. Max W. #1: 28 (-17)

66. Mike Smith: 28 (-71)

67. Jaxon S.: 27 (-36)

68. Nichole W.: 23 (-51)

Here’s the net points rankings:

1. Klei R.: 112 (Clemson)

2. Harrell R. #2: 101 (LSU)

3. Marc R.: 88 (Clemson)

4. Bryan G.: 81 (Clemson)

5. Matt M.: 78 (Clemson)

6. Josiah T. #1: 76 (LSU)

7. Pete J. #1: 61 (LSU)

8. Harrell R. #1: 59 (LSU)

9. Brett W.: 58 (LSU)

9. Dave M.: 58 (LSU)

11. Jonathan J.: 54 (LSU)

12. Max W. #2: 49 (LSU)

13. Grant F.: 48 (LSU)

14. Jim W.: 46 (LSU)

14. Ryan W.: 46 (LSU)

16. Josiah T. #2: 45 (Clemson)

17. Scott Herd. #2: 42 (LSU)

18. Nick B.: 39 (LSU)

19. Tim N.: 38 (Ohio State)

20. Mike N.: 35 (Ohio State)

21. Pete J. #2: 33 (LSU)

22. Michelle L. #1: 22 (LSU)

22. Max A. #2: 22 (Clemson)

24. Brad R.: 21 (LSU)

25. Brian K.: 18 (LSU)

25. Peter F.: 18 (Ohio State)

25. Mike S.: 18 (LSU)

28. Brent S.: 17 (LSU)

29. Dylan B.: 16 (LSU)

29. Ryan G.: 16 (LSU)

29. Nikki W.: 16 (Ohio State)

29. Shawn M.: 16 (Ohio State)

33. Pete J. #3: 15 (Clemson)

34. James P.: 14 (LSU)

34. Jay H. #2: 14 (Ohio State)

36. Becky H.: 12 (LSU)

37. Matt N.: 11 (Clemson)

37. Hutch H.: 11 (LSU)

37. Max W. #1: 11 (Ohio State)

40. Jason S.: 10 (Ohio State)

41. Damien R. #1: 5 (LSU)

42. Greg McE. - ESPN: 4 (LSU)

42. Jay H. #1: 4 (LSU)

44. Ben W.: 3 (LSU)

45. Dustin B.: 1 (Ohio State)

46. Adam E.: -1 (Clemson)

47. Josiah T. #3: -3 (Ohio State)

48. Mason A.: -4 (LSU)

49. Mike W.: -5 (Ohio State)

50. Kirt R.: -7 (Clemson)

51. Andrzej #1: -9 (LSU)

51. Jaxon S.: -9 (LSU)

53. Andrzej #2: -11 (LSU)

54. Andrew D.: -14 (Ohio State)

54. Scott Has. #2: -14 (LSU)

56. Michelle L. #2: -22 (Clemson)

56. Dan Du.: -22 (Clemson)

58. Rich P.: -25 (Ohio State)

59. Nichole W.: -28 (Ohio State)

60. Max A. #1: -30 (Clemson)

61. Emily T.: -43 (LSU)

61. Mike Smith: -43 (Clemson)

63. Scott Herd. #1: -47 (LSU)

64. Ally H.: -52 (Ohio State)

65. Cory R.: -58 (Ohio State)

66. Scott Has. #1: -71 (LSU)

67. Damien R. #2: -80 (LSU)

68. Steve Dz.: -87 (Oklahoma)

The biggest difference between the two rankings goes to Nick B.  In the total points, he is in 62^nd place.  In the net points, he’s 18^th.  The reason is because he’s gone 8-1, but did the 1-40 scoring system.  I know I’ve railed against this strategy before, and the reason I don’t like it is exactly for this reason.  8-1 is really good picking, but because the scoring is 1-40, you aren’t maximizing your points.  It could still work out.  There’s a lot of games left.

There’s no games tomorrow.  The next game is the one game on 12/23.  I love it when there’s only one game per day.  Putting together stats for 7 games in one day is kind of ridiculous.  Here’s the particulars on the Gasparilla Bowl:

Vegas Line: UCF -16

Picks for UCF: 62 (30.16 points average)

Picks for Marshall: 6 (12 point average)

Median Pick: UCF for 33

This graph looks a lot like the one for the New Orleans Bowl today.  According to Vegas, this is the 2^nd most lopsided point spread.  According to us, it’s got the 5^th highest median score.  That doesn’t make me feel really confident that this will be a game worth watching.  I bet that means I’ll watch the bulk of it.  What else do I have going on Monday afternoon?  Nothing…  Maybe I’ll see a huge upset.  Maybe I’ll sit on the couch with the game on mute while I Duolingo Spanish.  I’m going to bet it’s the latter.  We’ll see!!  Enjoy your Sunday.  I’ll see everyone on Monday night.

PS: Here is the link to scoring spreadsheet.  It’s an updated version.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1HFfsILyNzSeTcZkS20SNcWl6KrBkO7gC