Down to the Tie-Breaker

Well folks. It's down to the Tie-Breaker. Because RC's BC Eagles lost to Nevada last night, the Family Bowl Pool Championship will go to Alec Walker or Kathy Smith. Kathy wants a low scoring affair as she has picked 52 points to be scored. Alec wants all offense all the time as he has 56 points. If 54 points are scored we split the pot which has never happened before. The winner of the game does not matter as both have picked Auburn. Should be fun. Good luck to both.

Pitt Wins: the Contest Continues

Well, allergy season, a swim meet, and an eleven o'clock start time sunk my efforts to do a game preview. However, the big news is that Pitt has won. That means Alec and RC are still alive. Alec and Kathy are tied and have picked the same winners in the next two games: Nevada and Auburn. So, they will go to the tie-breaker. Kathy has 52 points and Alec has 56. Now, RC has picked Boston College and Oregon. Since he is only two games behind he still has a shot to get into the tie-breaker. If BC and the Ducks win RC will be in the tie-breaker with 42 points. Remember, closest wins. It does not matter if you are over. Wow, what a contest.

In the Stinky Shoe contest, it's all over! Monique, you win the first shoe. Expect your shoe in the mail shortly.

It's Down to Three (and four)

Winning time has arrived. We have three eligible to win this bowl contest. But before I outline the three still standing, a word about how crazy this picking stuff is. Last night, Arkansas is down 31-26 and Ohio St. has the ball at about their 45 yard line with a 4th and 1. Their all world QB has just scrambled for 14 yards on 3rd and 15 to get them to the position they're in. There's abour five minutes and change left in the game. They go for it. But they hand off to the tailback and take the ball out of their QB's hands. The tailback fumbles and although Ohio State recovered, they did so behind the line of scrimmage and thus turned the ball over on downs.

Arkansas supporters (including Marvetta, Patricia, Moriah, and Monique) were elated. But the Razorbacks failed to advance the ball and chose to punt with about 4 minutes left. Ohio State gets the ball at their four. They get two first downs and run the clock down to about a minute and 15 seconds left before they have to punt. It looks bad for Arkansas. But wait, Ohio State runs that spread out punt protection formation and give up a block!. Four Arkansas players have a chance to pick up the ball and score a winning touchdown. There was no reason to just fall on the ball. Even if Ohio State had recovered they would have been hopelessly caught behind the line of scrimmage and Arkansas would have gotten the ball on downs again. But, alas for Patricia and Marvetta especially who needed the Hogs to win to stay in the contest, the first Arkansas player fell on the ball at about the fifteen yard line. He was down in college football at that point. Arkansas got the ball but their stud QB threw an interception and Arkansas lost. Wow. That's how close winning and losing are. Think about those few who picked Tennessee. If they hadn't just totally handed the game to North Carolina, Joe Baker may not have lost his momentum. (Now Joe is in danger of finishing last.) How about the Kansas State game? Kansas State scores with about a minute left in the game and has a chance to tie with a two point conversion. The Kansas State receiver who scored the touchdown though saluted the crowd after the score. Two officials flagged the guy for unsportsmanlike conduct. Kansas State is penalized 15 yards and a makable three yard two point conversion becomes an impossible 18 yard two point conversion. Syracuse wins. One last example is the Rose Bowl. Wisconsin is gashing TCU with up the middle runs. Down eight they go on a five minute, run-filled drive to score a touchdown with about a minute left in the game. They line up to attempt a three yard two point conversion to tie the game. What do they do? Line up in a shot-gun formation and attempt a pass. They were gashing the smaller TCU defensive line with up the middle runs. The pass fails and TCU wins.

Three people have navigated this mine field brilliantly. The defending champion has shown us why she is the champion. She has a one game lead over Alec Walker. Four games left but these two only differ on one game: the Birmingham Bowl (or some bank now has the name). The Birmingham Bowl will be played this Saturday and features Pitt versus Kentucky. I'll have a preview. Kathy has Kentucky and Alec has Pitt. If Pitt loses, Alec is out. If Pitt wins, we could go to the tie breaker. However, there exists a third party in this contest with a shot. RC Smith is behind by three games. He differs with the leader on three contests. He has Pitt on Saturday, Boston College on Sunday, and Oregon in the Championship on Monday. If he wins all three, we'll go to the tiebreaker on points. Should be fun. Key game is Saturday. If Kentucky wins, it's all over and Kathy can keep her plaque and inscribe her name on it for a second consecutive year.

(In the race for the bottom Tim and Monique are tied. But Will and Joe are still in it. I'm calling this the stinky shoe. Winner gets a stinky, used athletic shoe filled with the snack food they identified at the beginning of the contest. Bad luck losers!)

Sugar Bowl

As I watch Va. Tech get slaughtered by Stanford, I am now more impressed by Oregon. We'll see if Auburn's Cam Newton is still as good as I think he is even though he is a cheater. The Sugar Bowl will be Ohio State trying to revive the reputation of the Big X versus the SEC's Arkansas Razorbacks. Ohio State's Tyrell Pryor was supposed to be Vince Young II, but he hasn't quite lived up to the hype. Now he will be suspended next year for the first five games for some kind of cheating. But I guess it wasn't bad enough to keep him out of the Sugar Bowl. Arkansas is the home of Bill Clinton, some of the Baker clan, and Tyson Chicken. They feature a coach, Bobby Petrino, who had a local sports reporter in Arkansas fired because she showed up to one of his press conferences wearing a Florida Gator hat. Can you believe that? Thin skinned? Maybe.

Picks? Well Ohio State supporters include leader Kathy, third placers RC and Kirsten, and second place Alec. Also-rans Will, Matt, Ana, Monique, Tim, Chris and Margaret. Arkansas supporters include third placers Pat and Marvetta (chance to move closer; note late move made by Pat) and also -rans Moriah and Joe (poor Joe, such a great start and such a complete collapse). Anyway, tomorrow's game should be fun.

Orange Bowl

Virginia Tech plays Stanford in what should be a delicious bowl game tonight. Virginia Tech started the year losing to Boise State and JAMES MADISON and then ran off ten in a row. I call that a reverse 2010Texas. Stanford only lost to Oregon. They feature the hottest name coach - Jim Harbaugh. He is wanted by Michigan (his alma mater) and maybe several NFL teams. The Cardinal have Andrew Luck, a stud quarterback who may be the first pick in the draft. Should be a great game. Picks? Stanford: Joe, Matt, Pat, Margaret, Chris and Kirsten. Va Tech: Will, Ana, RC, Kathy, Moriah, Monique, Marvetta, Tim, and Alec. Basically for the leaders and the losers it's a push. Good news for Kathy, Monique and Tim.

January 1

Congratulations to Ana Baker and Alec Walker. They went 5 and 1 on New Year's Day - best records in the contest. However, Kathy Smith is still in front by one game over Alec. Going into the post New Year's Day games, four folks seem to be in the running: Kathy Smith, Alec Walker, RC Smith and Marvetta Herron. RC and Marvetta admittedly have some real work to do to pull off the win.

Jeers to the bottom: Monique, Tim, and Will. We are in a race for the bottom. After a discussion with Tim, we have decided to add an award to the yearly contest: Worst Picker of the Year. You will receive an award to be named later. I'll take suggestions for a name of the award and the prize. Let me know your ideas. We take a deep breath today and watch pro football. Tomorrow we have the Orange Bowl. Virgina Tech versus Stanford. Preview later today.

Outback Bowl

Best game of the day. If Florida wins, Kathy is on her way to winning two years in a row. Critical game for Marvetta and RC to stay in the contest...

The Defending Champion

Kathy Smith is on fire. 8-1 in her last 9. She has vaulted quietly into a tie for the lead with Marvetta Herron. These ladies should open up their own betting service. I can hear the commercials on sports radio now:

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January First

January 1st isn't what it used to be. I used to know the day's schedule by heart. Today I've had to search the listings for just when and on what station these games will be played. So here we go people...

Dallas Football Classic: Really? You are playing the Cotton Bowl in a week? Not today? Here's how weird the college football world has become. The sponsors of the Dallas Football Classic say the reason they have created the game is to bring football back to the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day. They mean the Cotton Bowl as in the building. The Cotton Bowl the game is being played in Arlington at Jerryworld (What we Texans call the new stadium the Cowboys entertain in). This game features Texas Tech and Northwestern. Tech plays in the Big XII which is 1-4 in their bowl games so far. Northwestern has a chance folks. The Big 10 ain't bad.

Outback Bowl is the retiring Urban Meyer and the Florida Gators versus the "hell no I'm not retiring" Joe Paterno and Penn State. Gators have stolen the Texas D Coordinator as their new coach. Hate them. Go Penn State.

The Gator Bowl has Michigan and Mississippi State. Both teams do not believe in defense. This should be a high scoring affair. The Michigan QB was the early darling of the media this season, but he faded against good competition. Mississippi State didn't pay Cam Newton enough to play there so they faded too. It's the fading bowl. At least they didn't disappear like Texas.

Capital One has Michigan State and Alabama. I think this will be a good game. Nick Saban the Alabama coach used to coach at Michigan State, and then he left them to go to LSU, then the Miami Dolphins, and then Alabama. I don't think he is a very good guy, but he can coach. I wanted him to be the coach of Texas instead of Mack Brown. But, that's water under the bridge now. This bowl will be all about whether Saban can motivate his studs to play.

Rose Bowl: TCU against Wisconsin. I like this match-up. The TCU program is based on all the Texas recruits that don't go play for the Big XII schools. They are undersized usually as high school athletes. The TCU coach figures out though who can play and who might still grow. Often he hits on a kid that comes out of nowhere his senior year in high school. It's working. These kids go to TCU and they are hungry to prove the recruiting services missed on them. So they work and play hard. However, Wisconsin features big boys running. TCU may not have the power to withstand that pounding. Should be fun to watch.

Fiesta Bowl: The Mismatch Bowl. I'm glad I'll be at the Spurs game tonight and can miss this one. If Oklahoma loses to Connecticut, the team should walk back to Norman. Oklahoma is on a dreadful bowl losing streak though where they flop and either lose against underdogs (Boise St. and West Virginia) or get blown out (Florida). They better win this against UCONN, which is a basketball school and shouldn't have been in the BCS after a four loss season.

Enjoy your football people.