Verge of the title edition

Well, the two games today cleared things up a little bit.  We are now down to only 9 people left alive for 3 places.  No one has locked anything up yet, although we have at least 3 people that have a 50/50 or better chance of finishing in the money.  There are still a few ways this thing can end in a tie, but at least all of the three-way or more ways are gone.

Here are the points standings:

1. Jim W.: 591 (-137)

2. Mike N.: 591 (-199)

3. James P.: 586 (-228)

4. Grant F.: 582 (-155)

5. Harrell R. #2: 574 (-159)

6. Brett W.: 571 (-188)

7. Peter F.: 571 (-243)

8. Pete J. #1: 569 (-167)

9. Harrell R. #1: 565 (-168)

10. Brian K.: 565 (-226)

11. Scott Herd. #2: 564 (-198)

12. Mike S.: 562 (-181)

13. Ben W.: 560 (-180)

14. Matt N.: 556 (-225)

15. Josiah T. #1: 555 (-184)

16. Andrzej #1: 555 (-243)

17. Andrzej #2: 554 (-244)

18. Jonathan J.: 552 (-182)

19. Pete J. #2: 551 (-185)

20. Brent S.: 541 (-189)

21. Dan Du.: 539 (-265)

22. Mason A.: 533 (-230)

23. Hutch H.: 530 (-198)

24. Dave M.: 525 (-209)

25. Scott Herd. #1: 523 (-236)

26. Klei R.: 520 (-216)

27. Marc R.: 519 (-232)

28. Scott Has. #1: 517 (-252)

29. Josiah T. #2: 514 (-225)

30. Pete J. #3: 512 (-224)

31. Adam E.: 510 (-214)

32. Andrew D.: 509 (-277)

33. Josiah T. #3: 508 (-269)

34. Emily T.: 504 (-225)

35. Mike W.: 504 (-253)

36. Nikki W.: 502 (-312)

37. Scott Has. #2: 501 (-224)

38. Dylan B.: 500 (-239)

39. Ryan G.: 500 (-277)

40. Michelle L. #1: 498 (-222)

41. Max W. #2: 497 (-302)

42. Mike Smith: 496 (-245)

43. Jaxon S.: 496 (-278)

44. Max A. #1: 495 (-316)

45. Ryan W.: 489 (-250)

46. Shawn M.: 488 (-287)

47. Damien R. #2: 487 (-276)

48. Greg McE. - ESPN: 481 (-242)

49. Brad R.: 480 (-277)

50. Michelle L. #2: 473 (-247)

51. Bryan G.: 468 (-276)

52. Jay H. #2: 460 (-298)

53. Max A. #2: 454 (-255)

54. Jay H. #1: 450 (-278)

55. Dustin B.: 449 (-285)

56. Max W. #1: 449 (-299)

57. Cory R.: 447 (-309)

58. Tim N.: 447 (-315)

59. Steve Dz.: 436 (-333)

60. Matt M.: 431 (-294)

61. Nichole W.: 430 (-325)

62. Becky H.: 428 (-335)

63. Ally H.: 426 (-354)

64. Nick B.: 423 (-280)

65. Jason S.: 399 (-388)

66. Damien R. #1: 399 (-415)

67. Kirt R.: 391 (-332)

68. Rich P.: 376 (-416)

Tough break for James P.  He’s siting at 3^rd in points right now, but has no path to winning any money.  That’s because he’s used the most points of anyone in the pool so far and there’s not enough points left over to fend off other entries.  That’s how it goes in these things sometimes.

Here is the elimination matrix:

Ranking	1st Place	2nd Place	3rd Place
1. Jim W.: 454 (LSU)	50.00%	25.00%	Indiana
3. Harrell R. #2: 415 (LSU)	Utah	31.25%	31.25%
2. Grant F.: 427 (LSU)	34.38%	15.63%	Indiana
4. Pete J. #1: 402 (LSU)	Utah	12.50%	18.75%
6. Mike N.: 392 (Ohio State)	15.63%	9.38%	6.25%
15. Brent S.: 352 (LSU)	Baylor	3.13%	18.75%
5. Harrell R. #1: 397 (LSU)	Initial	Utah	12.50%
7. Brett W.: 383 (LSU)	Indiana	3.13%	6.25%
25. Adam E.: 296 (Clemson)	Baylor	Baylor	6.25%
8. Mike S.: 381 (LSU)	Utah	Utah	BC
9. Ben W.: 380 (LSU)	Initial	Initial	Va. Tech
10. Josiah T. #1: 371 (LSU)	Auburn	Baylor	Indiana
11. Jonathan J.: 370 (LSU)	Kan. St.	Wisconsin	Wisconsin
12. Scott Herd. #2: 366 (LSU)	Initial	Initial	Kan. St.
12. Pete J. #2: 366 (LSU)	Initial	Kan. St.	Auburn
14. James P.: 358 (LSU)	Utah	Baylor	Baylor
16. Brian K.: 339 (LSU)	Initial	Va. Tech	Va. Tech
17. Hutch H.: 332 (LSU)	Kan. St.	Kan. St.	Kan. St.
18. Matt N.: 331 (Clemson)	Va. Tech	Fla. St.	Indiana
19. Peter F.: 328 (Ohio State)	Wisconsin	Wisconsin	Wisconsin
20. Dave M.: 316 (LSU)	Kan. St.	Kan. St.	Kan. St.
21. Andrzej #1: 312 (LSU)	Initial	Initial	Va. Tech
22. Andrzej #2: 310 (LSU)	Initial	Initial	Kan. St.
23. Klei R.: 304 (Clemson)	Baylor	Baylor	Baylor
24. Mason A.: 303 (LSU)	Initial	Initial	Initial
26. Josiah T. #2: 289 (Clemson)	Ga. St.	Wisconsin	Wisconsin
27. Pete J. #3: 288 (Clemson)	Michigan	Michigan	Michigan
28. Scott Herd. #1: 287 (LSU)	Ga. St.	Utah	Utah
28. Marc R.: 287 (Clemson)	BC	Indiana	Indiana
30. Emily T.: 279 (LSU)	Initial	Initial	Va. Tech
31. Scott Has. #2: 277 (LSU)	Michigan	Michigan	Michigan
32. Michelle L. #1: 276 (LSU)	Fla. St.	Fla. St.	Baylor
33. Dan Du.: 274 (Clemson)	Initial	Initial	Initial
34. Scott Has. #1: 265 (LSU)	Initial	Initial	Initial
35. Dylan B.: 261 (LSU)	Initial	Initial	Utah
36. Mike W.: 251 (Ohio State)	Initial	Initial	Initial
36. Mike Smith: 251 (Clemson)	BC	BC	BC
38. Josiah T. #3: 239 (Ohio State)	Initial	Initial	Initial
38. Ryan W.: 239 (LSU)	Ga. St.	Utah	Utah
38. Greg McE. - ESPN: 239 (LSU)	Initial	Initial	Utah
41. Andrew D.: 232 (Ohio State)	Initial	Initial	Initial
42. Michelle L. #2: 226 (Clemson)	Baylor	Baylor	Baylor
43. Ryan G.: 223 (LSU)	Initial	Initial	Initial
44. Jaxon S.: 218 (LSU)	Va. Tech	Kan. St.	Kan. St.
45. Damien R. #2: 211 (LSU)	Initial	Initial	Initial
46. Brad R.: 203 (LSU)	Va. Tech	Va. Tech	Va. Tech
47. Shawn M.: 201 (Ohio State)	Initial	Initial	Initial
48. Max A. #2: 199 (Clemson)	Kan. St.	Michigan	BC
49. Max W. #2: 195 (LSU)	Va. Tech	Initial	Utah
50. Bryan G.: 192 (Clemson)	Baylor	BC	Indiana
51. Nikki W.: 190 (Ohio State)	Initial	Va. Tech	Va. Tech
52. Max A. #1: 179 (Clemson)	Va. Tech	Va. Tech	Va. Tech
53. Jay H. #1: 172 (LSU)	Initial	Initial	Initial
54. Dustin B.: 164 (Ohio State)	Utah	Michigan	Michigan
55. Jay H. #2: 162 (Ohio State)	Initial	Fla. St.	Fla. St.
56. Max W. #1: 150 (Ohio State)	Initial	Initial	Initial
57. Nick B.: 143 (LSU)	Michigan	Auburn	Michigan
58. Cory R.: 138 (Ohio State)	Initial	Initial	Initial
59. Matt M.: 137 (Clemson)	Kan. St.	Kan. St.	Ga. St.
60. Tim N.: 132 (Ohio State)	Initial	Initial	Initial
61. Nichole W.: 105 (Ohio State)	Initial	Initial	Initial
62. Steve Dz.: 103 (Oklahoma)	Initial	Initial	Initial
63. Becky H.: 93 (LSU)	Va. Tech	Va. Tech	Va. Tech
64. Ally H.: 72 (Ohio State)	Initial	Initial	Initial
65. Kirt R.: 59 (Clemson)	Fla. St.	Kan. St.	Kan. St.
66. Jason S.: 11 (Ohio State)	Initial	Initial	Initial
67. Damien R. #1: -16 (LSU)	Initial	Initial	Va. Tech
68. Rich P.: -40 (Ohio State)	Initial	Initial	Initial

There is one game only tomorrow, so the eliminations are easy.  Here they are:

Potato Bowl:

If Nevada wins:

Harrell R. #1 is eliminated from 3rd place contention.

Harrell R. #2 is eliminated from 2nd place contention.

Jim W. is eliminated from 1st place contention.

Pete J. #1 is eliminated from 2nd & 3rd place contention.

If Ohio wins:

Brent S. is eliminated from 2nd & 3rd place contention.

Brett W. is eliminated from 2nd place contention.

Grant F. is eliminated from 2nd & 3rd place contention.

Harrell R. #2 is eliminated from 3rd place contention.

Jim W. wins the pool.

Notice that last point.  If Ohio wins tomorrow, Jim W. wins the pool.  If Nevada wins, he has no chance to win the pool, although he would still be alive for 2^nd place.  The reason is because Jim W. put 32 points on Ohio, while Grant F. has 18 on Nevada  and Mike N. has Nevada for 20.  That means Jim would make up 50 points on the remaining 2 live entries, and there isn’t enough differences between them to make up that difference.  So, this is a pretty huge game for Jim W.  Regardless of the outcome, 2^nd and 3^rd won’t be decided tomorrow, so there may be some reason to pay attention after the Potato Bowl.

Good luck to everyone!!!!!