Bowl Pool final wrap-up

 I was really hoping of an exciting Championship Game – boy was I disappointed.  I was on the phone when the game started and by the time I turned the game on, it was already something like 28-7.  I watched long enough to see halftime, but that was more than enough.  Yuck…

Unlike the March Madness pool, where getting the Champion right counts about 17%, the Champion of the college football pool is only worth about 4%.  That’s part of the reason I was able to figure out that Eric K. was going to win.  2^nd and 3^rd were up for grabs however, but not for long.

So, the 35 points went to Georgia.  That means that Jim W., who was a strong candidate to win for a good chunk of the pool, peaking at a 20.2% chance of winning after Pittsburgh beat UCLA.  However, the 1-2 punch of Kansas State followed by Michigan knocked him completely out of 1^st place contention.  But, because he had logged a lot of points, he was able to stick around and finish 2^nd.

As for 3^rd, that went to Matt M.  I don’t remember much about Matt’s picks, mostly because the closest he ever got to the top of the 1^st place probabilities was around 2.1%, and was eliminated from 1^st place contention with 9 games to go (Kentucky).  He still rallied, going 7/9 over those games to wind up in 3^rd.  That’s why it pays to still follow until you are mathematically eliminated.  You never know.

Here are the final standings:

Total	1st Place	2nd Place	3rd Place
1. Eric K.: 683 (-213)	100.00%	USC	Purdue
2. Jim W.: 665 (-231)	Michigan	100.00%	Purdue
3. Matt M.: 645 (-251)	Kentucky	USC	100.00%
4. Ally H.: 641 (-255)	Clemson	Illinois	Purdue
5. CAAT 3: 640 (-256)	Michigan	Utah	Utah
6. Michelle L.: 636 (-260)	USC	Purdue	TCU
7. Emily T.: 624 (-272)	Illinois	USC	Purdue
8. CAAT 1: 619 (-277)	Initial	Clemson	Kentucky
9. Dan E.: 612 (-284)	Kentucky	Kentucky	Kentucky
10. Brian K.: 610 (-286)	Michigan	Michigan	Michigan
11. Rich F.: 605 (-291)	UCLA	Clemson	Clemson
12. Mark B.: 603 (-293)	Ohio St.	Illinois	USC
12. Hutch H.: 603 (-293)	Initial	Texas	Texas
14. CAAT 5: 602 (-294)	USC	TCU	Purdue
15. Larry G.: 595 (-301)	UCLA	Wyoming	Wyoming
16. Scott H. #2: 594 (-302)	Clemson	Michigan	Michigan
16. Paul K.: 594 (-302)	Illinois	Illinois	Illinois
16. Scott H. #1: 594 (-302)	UCLA	Clemson	Clemson
19. Andrew Du.: 590 (-306)	Kentucky	Kentucky	Michigan
20. Matt N.: 589 (-307)	Initial	Syracuse	Oklahoma
21. Marc R. #2: 585 (-311)	Initial	NC State	UCLA
22. Marc R. #1: 579 (-317)	Michigan	Illinois	Illinois
23. Adam E.: 577 (-319)	Michigan	Ohio St.	Ohio St.
24. Hurley 357: 574 (-322)	Texas	Texas	NC State
24. Kylar G.: 574 (-322)	Syracuse	Syracuse	Oklahoma
26. Kylee T.: 571 (-325)	Kentucky	Wyoming	Kentucky
27. Pete J. #2: 570 (-326)	Kentucky	Kentucky	Kanas St.
28. Dave M.: 565 (-331)	Texas	UCLA	UCLA
29. Dylan B.: 564 (-332)	Clemson	Kanas St.	Michigan
30. Harrell R. #2: 563 (-333)	UCLA	UCLA	So. Car.
31. CAAT 4: 562 (-334)	Kentucky	Kentucky	Kanas St.
32. Harrell R. #1: 561 (-335)	Texas	NC State	UCLA
33. Mike N.: 560 (-336)	So. Car.	Clemson	Ohio St.
33. CAAT 2: 560 (-336)	Initial	Syracuse	Texas
35. Brent E. #1: 559 (-337)	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	Texas
36. Steve D.: 552 (-344)	Kanas St.	Illinois	Illinois
37. Otis L.: 551 (-345)	Ohio St.	Ohio St.	Ohio St.
37. Quinn 1130: 551 (-345)	Initial	Initial	Texas
39. Mason A.: 548 (-348)	So. Car.	So. Car.	So. Car.
40. Jay H. #1: 546 (-350)	NC State	So. Car.	So. Car.
40. Jay H. #2: 546 (-350)	NC State	So. Car.	So. Car.
42. Grant F.: 543 (-353)	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	Oklahoma
43. Pete J. #1: 542 (-354)	Kentucky	Michigan	Michigan
44. Ryan W.: 540 (-356)	Initial	Clemson	Clemson
45. Mike W.: 538 (-358)	Kentucky	Michigan	Ohio St.
46. Tim N.: 536 (-360)	Wyoming	Michigan	Clemson
47. Peter F.: 531 (-365)	Wyoming	UCLA	Wyoming
48. Brad R.: 520 (-376)	Initial	Initial	Oklahoma
48. Mike S.: 520 (-376)	Syracuse	Syracuse	Texas
50. Brent E. #2: 519 (-377)	Kentucky	Kentucky	Michigan
51. Josiah T.: 511 (-385)	Initial	Initial	Initial
52. Brett G.: 506 (-390)	Initial	UCLA	So. Car.
53. Brett W.: 505 (-391)	So. Car.	So. Car.	So. Car.
54. Dustin B.: 502 (-394)	Initial	Initial	Initial
55. Dan D.: 498 (-398)	Wyoming	Wyoming	Wyoming
56. Vincent W.: 483 (-413)	Clemson	Kentucky	Michigan
57. Hero R.: 475 (-421)	Clemson	So. Car.	Clemson
58. Baily T.: 465 (-431)	Syracuse	Syracuse	Texas
59. Miela 314: 464 (-432)	Initial	Initial	Initial
60. Fr. Guido S. #1: 451 (-445)	Oklahoma	UCLA	UCLA
61. Fr. Guido S. #2: 438 (-458)	Initial	Initial	Initial
62. Klei R.: 426 (-470)	Oklahoma	NC State	NC State
63. Becky H.: 393 (-503)	Initial	Initial	Initial
64. Christa M.: 388 (-508)	Syracuse	Syracuse	Texas
65. Jason S.: 378 (-518)	Initial	Initial	Initial
66. Dennis R.: 343 (-553)	Initial	Initial	Initial

I did enjoy the CAAT entries.  For most the pool, all 5 were near the top of the standings, and I loved saying “CAAT!!!” like “Khan!!!” from the Star Trek movies.  Unfortunately, they kind of faded down the stretch and only finished as high as 5^th.  Still, a good effort.

Finishing 4^th was someone that I always root for, Ally H.  Turns out Ally H. tied for the most games picked correctly with 30 correct picks (Eric K. also had 30 correct picks).  It seems like a few confidence points one way or another would have put her in the money.  That kind of sucks – unless you are Matt M.

There were only 5 entries that nailed all 10 of their top 10 picks by way of points.  I say 5 entries because 4 of them belonged to 2 people.  Hutch H, Marc R (#1 & #2) and Scott H. (#1 & #2).  I always say that those toss up games that you still have to put 15-25 points on determine the winner.  That is largely true of this pool, as none of those 5 entries finished in the top 10.

All right.  I’m done for this season.  I hope everyone is watching as much college basketball as possible in preparation for March Madness.  I am really looking forward to that this year (as I am most years).  I hope to make it the biggest pool ever, so please tell anyone you know that might be interested in playing about it.

I’ll contact Jim and Matt regarding winnings.  Congratulations to them and thank you for playing to everyone else!!!!