Post-Christmas hangover edition

 Good morning, and welcome back to the 2022-23 Bowl pool.  I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.  I had a fun time visiting with family and stuffing my face with Christmas cookies.  Unfortunately for me, I have to go back to work tomorrow, so this is the last day I get to sleep in for a little while.  Hopefully, most of you are able to take the rest of this week off as there are a ton of football games coming up.

There was one game played since the last time I updated this blog, and it was a massive disappointment.  Not that the game was bad, but that my San Diego State team ran out to a 2 TD lead and then lost.  I watched quite a bit of this game, and this seemed to be a game where neither team had any offense, and a both teams had pretty decent defense.  How bad were the offenses?  Keep in mind that the negative yards for a sack count against your rushing total in college – San Diego State, as a team total, rushed for 56 yards.  Middle Tennessee State rushed for -57 yards.  Wow.  That means if you add up all the rushing attempts in the game for both teams, they wound up losing more yards than gained.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen that.  That also may explain the 7 FGs.  No one could really get too close to the end zone.  Ugh…  That one was rough.

Despite the bigger point spread, the Armed Forces Bowl is still going to be classified as the bigger upset in the pool, but it’s a solid second right now.

Here are the updated standings:

1. Michelle L.: 310 (-94)

2. CAAT 3: 281 (-12)

3. Mark B.: 277 (-112)

4. Hutch H.: 276 (-125)

5. Steve D.: 272 (-91)

6. Marc R. #2: 270 (-149)

7. Kylee T.: 268 (-81)

8. Dylan B.: 268 (-117)

9. Jim W.: 266 (-130)

10. Harrell R. #1: 264 (-114)

11. Rich F.: 263 (-116)

12. Kylar G.: 262 (-109)

13. CAAT 1: 260 (-33)

13. CAAT 5: 260 (-33)

15. Andrew Du.: 258 (-61)

16. Pete J. #1: 255 (-105)

17. Harrell R. #2: 255 (-123)

18. Hero R.: 254 (-104)

19. Otis L.: 252 (-110)

20. Mike S.: 248 (-145)

21. Brad R.: 243 (-92)

22. Scott H. #2: 243 (-104)

23. CAAT 2: 238 (-76)

24. Larry G.: 238 (-115)

25. Pete J. #2: 238 (-122)

26. Grant F.: 238 (-135)

27. CAAT 4: 233 (-53)

28. Scott H. #1: 233 (-136)

29. Dan E.: 228 (-57)

30. Jay H. #2: 228 (-107)

30. Jay H. #1: 228 (-107)

32. Matt M.: 227 (-114)

33. Matt N.: 227 (-135)

34. Mike N.: 224 (-86)

35. Brian K.: 221 (-122)

36. Mike W.: 219 (-68)

37. Hurley 357: 218 (-87)

38. Dave M.: 212 (-134)

39. Ally H.: 210 (-127)

40. Marc R. #1: 204 (-56)

41. Josiah T.: 201 (-98)

42. Brett G.: 200 (-128)

43. Paul K.: 191 (-104)

44. Emily T.: 190 (-100)

45. Brett W.: 188 (-77)

46. Eric K.: 187 (-83)

47. Ryan W.: 180 (-99)

48. Dan D.: 178 (-98)

49. Adam E.: 176 (-96)

50. Miela 314: 176 (-178)

51. Fr. Guido S. #2: 172 (-112)

52. Fr. Guido S. #1: 165 (-119)

53. Klei R.: 150 (-148)

54. Mason A.: 147 (-110)

55. Becky H.: 136 (-178)

56. Vincent W.: 131 (-208)

57. Brent E. #2: 128 (-102)

58. Dustin B.: 118 (-179)

59. Peter F.: 117 (-115)

60. Baily T.: 102 (-90)

61. Quinn 1130: 97 (-179)

62. Brent E. #1: 93 (-137)

63. Jason S.: 86 (-123)

64. Tim N.: 85 (-54)

65. Dennis R.: 83 (-195)

66. Christa M.: 70 (-76)

…and the updated net points:

1. CAAT 3: 269

2. CAAT 1: 227

2. CAAT 5: 227

4. Michelle L.: 216

5. Andrew Du.: 197

6. Kylee T.: 187

7. Steve D.: 181

8. CAAT 4: 180

9. Dan E.: 171

10. Mark B.: 165

11. CAAT 2: 162

12. Kylar G.: 153

13. Hutch H.: 151

13. Dylan B.: 151

13. Brad R.: 151

13. Mike W.: 151

17. Harrell R. #1: 150

17. Pete J. #1: 150

17. Hero R.: 150

20. Marc R. #1: 148

21. Rich F.: 147

22. Otis L.: 142

23. Scott H. #2: 139

24. Mike N.: 138

25. Jim W.: 136

26. Harrell R. #2: 132

27. Hurley 357: 131

28. Larry G.: 123

29. Marc R. #2: 121

29. Jay H. #2: 121

29. Jay H. #1: 121

32. Pete J. #2: 116

33. Matt M.: 113

34. Brett W.: 111

35. Eric K.: 104

36. Mike S.: 103

36. Grant F.: 103

36. Josiah T.: 103

39. Brian K.: 99

40. Scott H. #1: 97

41. Matt N.: 92

42. Emily T.: 90

43. Paul K.: 87

44. Ally H.: 83

45. Ryan W.: 81

46. Dan D.: 80

46. Adam E.: 80

48. Dave M.: 78

49. Brett G.: 72

50. Fr. Guido S. #2: 60

51. Fr. Guido S. #1: 46

52. Mason A.: 37

53. Tim N.: 31

54. Brent E. #2: 26

55. Baily T.: 12

56. Klei R.: 2

56. Peter F.: 2

58. Miela 314: -2

59. Christa M.: -6

60. Jason S.: -37

61. Becky H.: -42

62. Brent E. #1: -44

63. Dustin B.: -61

64. Vincent W.: -77

65. Quinn 1130: -82

66. Dennis R.: -112

The Borg-like hive mind of the CAAT entries all had Middle Tennessee State for 20 points.  The Locutus of the group this game was CAAT 4, who switched to San Diego State, but still toed the line for 20 points.

There is one game today before the dyke bursts on the Bowl game canal and the city gets flooded over the next 5 days.  So, take some time today to relax, eat leftovers and try to see if you can return any lumps of coal you may have gotten in your stocking.

Quick Lane Bowl

Vegas Line: Bowling Green -3.5

Median Pick: Bowling Green for 7 points

Picks for Bowling Green: 48 (average points: 12.75)

Picks for New Mexico State: 18 (average points: 14.83)

 

Couple of things about this game.  First, is it Bowling Green, or Bowling Green State?  I feel like I’ve seen both and I tend to drop the “state” part if it is indeed there.  Second, I always say that this Bowl game sucks.  Detroit is not a December destination for college football fans.  It’s slightly better than Boise, but it’s still bad.  I’ve been to Detroit in the winter many, many times, and it’s not a vacation wonderland.  This doesn’t really feel like a reward, but maybe it is for slightly better than mediocre mid-tier college football teams.  Third, considering almost 3/4 of the pool took Bowling Green, we didn’t take them for much.  I would have expected the average pick for a 48-pick team to be higher than 12.75 points.  It seems like the consensus is that we like Bowling Green, but we don’t LOVE Bowling Green.

Good luck to everyone today!!!