2006 Bowl Game Pool
Today's update (archived updates at bottom): Well, we're nearing the end of the bowl season. On New Year's Eve, Miami managed to salvage its poor season and beat Nevada. Then on Jan. 1, we had a full New Year's Day of bowl action. They were indeed happy in Happy Valley when Penn State beat Tennessee. Auburn managed to squeak by Nebraska, a win that turned out to be crucial to our pool. As we all predicted, West Virginia beat Georgia Tech, but they had to come back to do it. In another close game, Wisconsin beat Arkansas, and somewhere Dan Kwon gave up all hope for this contest.
Then came The Granddaddy of Them All, the Rose Bowl, which turned out to be...The Granddaddy of Suckitude, as Michigan played like a bunch of high schoolers and the game managed to be the most boring in quite a while. Damn it. Of course, then I was too depressed to watch the Fiesta Bowl, where Boise State beat Oklahoma in one of the best games of all time or something. Whatever. Good job Mat for picking the WAC underdogs, who finished at 13-0 but won't get a national title unless something really wacky happens next week.
That turned out to be the only close BCS bowl game so far, as Louisville beat Wake Forest handily last night and LSU absolutely humiliated Notre Dame tonight.
The end result: You should all check your picks and score!! But as it stands now, I have won the pool since no one else can catch me in the next three games (two crappy ones plus the championship). Yay me! So yeah, you all can pay me at Mystery Hunt. I feel so sleazy typing that.
Also, I'd like some feedback on the structure of the pool. I think it was better this year than last year, since the big games mattered more, but we still have a champ before the championship game is played. That sucks, because that should be the biggest focus of betting. If Joe or Mat had picked Florida, though, it would be a different story. (Speaking of Florida, I feel bad for them because Dan picked them...those aren't good odds for the Gators.)
I'll continue to update if I get time, but for now, enjoy the BCS Championship if you watch, and thanks for playing!!
TOTAL POINTS
| Ryan | Joe | Dan | Henry | Mat |
| 40 | 37 | 30 | 33 | 37 |
Point value: 1
| Bowl | Date | Ryan | Joe | Dan | Henry | Mat |
| New Orleans Bowl | Dec. 22 | Rice | Rice | Rice | Rice | Troy |
| PapaJohns.com Bowl | Dec. 23 | South Florida | South Florida | South Florida | East Carolina | South Florida |
| New Mexico Bowl | Dec. 23 | New Mexico | New Mexico | New Mexico | San Jose State | New Mexico |
| Armed Forces Bowl | Dec. 23 | Utah | Tulsa | Utah | Tulsa | Tulsa |
| Hawaii Bowl | Dec. 24 | Hawaii | Hawaii | Hawaii | Hawaii | Hawaii |
| Motor City Bowl | Dec. 26 | Central Michigan | Central Michigan | Middle Tennessee | Central Michigan | Middle Tennessee |
| Emerald Bowl | Dec. 27 | UCLA | UCLA | UCLA | UCLA | Florida State |
| Independence Bowl | Dec. 28 | Alabama | Alabama | Alabama | Oklahoma State | Alabama |
| Music City Bowl | Dec. 29 | Kentucky | Clemson | Clemson | Clemson | Clemson |
| Liberty Bowl | Dec. 29 | South Carolina | South Carolina | South Carolina | South Carolina | South Carolina |
| Insight Bowl | Dec. 29 | Texas Tech | Texas Tech | Minnesota | Minnesota | Texas Tech |
| Champs Sports Bowl | Dec. 29 | Purdue | Purdue | Maryland | Maryland | Purdue |
| MPC Computers Bowl | Dec. 31 | Nevada | Miami | Miami | Nevada | Miami |
| International Bowl | Jan. 6 | Cincinnati | Cincinnati | Western Michigan | Cincinnati | Cincinnati |
| GMAC Bowl | Jan. 7 | Southern Miss. | Southern Miss. | Ohio | Southern Miss. | Ohio |
| Points | | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
Point value: 2
| Bowl | Date | Ryan | Joe | Dan | Henry | Mat |
| Poinsettia Bowl | Dec. 19 | TCU | TCU | TCU | TCU | TCU |
| Las Vegas Bowl | Dec. 21 | BYU | BYU | Oregon | BYU | BYU |
| Texas Bowl | Dec. 28 | Rutgers | Rutgers | Rutgers | Rutgers | Rutgers |
| Sun Bowl | Dec. 29 | Oregon State | Oregon State | Oregon State | Missouri | Oregon State |
| Meineke Car Care Bowl | Dec. 30 | Boston College | Boston College | Boston College | Boston College | Navy |
| Alamo Bowl | Dec. 30 | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas | Texas |
| Chick-fil-A Bowl | Dec. 30 | Georgia | Virginia Tech | Virginia Tech | Virginia Tech | Georgia |
| Outback Bowl | Jan. 1 | Tennessee | Tennessee | Penn State | Penn State | Penn State |
| Gator Bowl | Jan. 1 | West Virginia | West Virginia | West Virginia | West Virginia | West Virginia |
| Points | | 16 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 16 |
Point value: 3
| Bowl | Date | Ryan | Joe | Dan | Henry | Mat |
| Holiday Bowl | Dec. 28 | California | California | California | California | California |
| Cotton Bowl | Jan. 1 | Auburn | Auburn | Auburn | Auburn | Nebraska |
| Capital One Bowl | Jan. 1 | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | Arkansas | Wisconsin | Wisconsin |
| Points | | 9 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 6 |
Point value: 4
| Bowl | Date | Ryan | Joe | Dan | Henry | Mat |
| Rose Bowl | Jan. 1 | Michigan | Michigan | Michigan | Michigan | Michigan |
| Fiesta Bowl | Jan. 1 | Oklahoma | Oklahoma | Oklahoma | Oklahoma | Boise State |
| Orange Bowl | Jan. 2 | Louisville | Louisville | Louisville | Louisville | Louisville |
| Sugar Bowl | Jan. 3 | LSU | LSU | Notre Dame | Notre Dame | Notre Dame |
| Points | | 8 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
Point value: 5
| Bowl | Date | Ryan | Joe | Dan | Henry | Mat |
| BCS Championship | Jan. 8 | Ohio State | Ohio State | Florida | Ohio State | Ohio State |
| Points | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Archived comments:
(12/20) The 2006 bowl season is off to a boring start: TCU crushed Northern Illinois 37-7. This was an easy pick, although Northern Illinois' star running back
Garrett Wolfe might have lured someone into picking the upset. Luckily, none of us did.
Next up: Another 2 pointer and another seemingly obvious pick...can the Oregon Ducks pull the upset and give Dan an early lead?
(12/22) Another blowout! BYU knocks off Oregon, 38-8, and Dan Kwon takes an early hit. And now we enter a long stretch of one point games. Tonight is Rice vs. Troy, where again four of us picked one team (Rice), while one picked the other. Can Mat ride out to an early lead in defense of his 2005 pool victory?
(12/23) And Mat takes the early lead by picking Troy! Somehow he manages to be a college football expert, year in and year out. Coming up on Saturday: three games!
(12/24) Three games today... First, everyone but Henry correctly picked South Florida over East Carolina. But Henry got his revenge by being the only person to correctly pick San Jose State over New Mexico. San Jose State had been favored, but the rest of us were counting on New Mexico's home field advantage. New Mexico almost pulled out a miracle; down 20-3 with a minute left, they managed a safety and a touchdown to make it 20-12. Then it appeared they recovered the onside kick with 15 seconds left, but alas, the ball had not traveled 10 yards. Still, it was the most exciting moment so far in this bowl season--not that I've been watching that much! Finally, Utah beat Tulsa to finish off the night, a big boost for me and Dan. I'm now tied with Mat for the lead, while Dan desperately needed the win to stay within reach of the field. Tomorrow we all picked Hawaii, so no big deal there. See you after Christmas for more action!
(12/29) Welcome back! With 3 out of 4 correct 1 point picks, Henry has moved into a tie for the lead with me and Mat. Meanwhile, Dan only picked 1 of 4 correctly and fell another point behind. All of us agreed on today's 2 and 3 point games. Tomorrow: 5 games.
(12/30) This was a good day for me, as I swept into the lead by being the only person to pick Kentucky over Clemson. There were also four other games on this big day of bowl action, although I only got to see snippets of each since I was attending a college hockey tournament at Joe Louis Arena. While there, I did get to see Houston somehow turn a 1st and goal from (duh) inside the 10 to a 4th and goal at the 50...including a ridiculous play where the QB was chasing the snap backwards and had to kick it out of bounds. So it was no surprise that South Carolina finished them off. Maryland beat Purdue in my only loss of the night. Dan and Henry were happy, because that gave them a bit of revenge for Texas Tech-Minnesota. Minnesota had a 38-7 lead in the third quarter and blew it to lose in overtime. It was the biggest comeback in bowl history and the second biggest of all time. Finally, in our only two point game, Henry was sad to see Oregon State go for the win, not the!
tie, down 1 at the end of the game--and succeed. In any case, the focus is beginning to shift to the bigger games, where a few picks could solidify a lead or ruin it. Enjoy!
(12/31) More comebacks today! Mat and I were thrilled to see Georgia battle back against Virginia Tech, helped by a gutsy onside kick when it was 21-6. Texas also came back to beat Iowa (but we all predicted that!), and BC won with a last minute field goal over Navy. Now this is college football at its most exciting. I've extended my lead, but all the big games are coming up in the next two days. Happy New Year everyone, and Go Blue!