Depending on where you stand, Bowl Pick 'Em has either been the most uplifting and affirming experience of your life or it has been a figurative wedgie. I fear there is no in between.
Join me after a jump for a look at the winners, losers, and contenders to this point in the Bowl Pick 'Em contest.
Bowl Pick 'Em leaderboard: Someone stop 7398Jacob!
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| 1 | 7398Jacob 1, J. Hammond | 236 |
| 2 | Jimmy MacElroy, T. Dalling | 176 |
| 3 | willymonkey32 1, J. Williams | 174 |
| 4 | BSUINTHENC, J. Rigby | 171 |
| 5 | PeaDiddy, M. Pea | 169 |
| 6 | kevin_M_Larsen@msn.com 2, K. Larsen | 165 |
| 6 | Doug Mad_Doug Smash, O. Intern | 165 |
| 6 | Greece will win the WC..., C. Hondros | 165 |
| 6 | fightinghodgkins.com, l. strong | 165 |
| 6 | Troodon, V. Dalling | 165 |
| 6 | Butte_rat 1, M. Walsh | 165 |
(Note: The Top Ten Bowl Pick 'Em standings now lives in the sidebar on every page of OBNUG. You're welcome.)
Bowl Pick 'Em might very well be over, everybody. 7398Jacob is enjoying a 60-point lead no more than two weeks into the competition, thanks to an unheard-of run in confidence point winners. After seeing the following, tell me you're not convinced that 7398Jacob has seen the future:
- Fresno State over Wyoming, 3 confidence points: Miss.
- Rutgers over UCF, 34 confidence points: Hit.
- Middle Tennessee over Southern Miss, 33 confidence points: Hit.
- BYU over Oregon State, 32 confidence points: Hit.
- Utah over Cal, 31 confidence points: Hit.
Messrs. 7398Jacob and pickemgoodz each boast a sterling mark of 8-3, meaning they are cheating somehow. Seriously, 8-3?! The vast, vast, vast majority of Bowl Pick 'Em entries are 6-5 or worse, and only the occasional savant squeaks out a 7-4. Why are these guys not the subject of some kind of Matthew McConaughey sports betting chick flick at this point? I'll make some phone calls.
Oddly enough, pickemgoodz is picking them pretty goodz but is out of the top ten due to a dearth of confidence points. His most confident choices are Houston over Air Force and Virginia Tech over Tennessee.
As the saying goes, there is a lot of Bowl Pick 'Em left to be played.
Just a reminder of the fabulous prizes you may or probably may not win
As revealed in the last Bowl Pick 'Em update, there are fabulous at prizes at stake, the fabulousness of which is probably up for debate. To recap:
- Fabulous prize #1: A Boise State bobblehead
- Fabulous prize #2: A limited edition Boise State art print
- Fabulous prize #3: Self-confidence
- Fabulous prize #4: A spot in the OBNUG sidebar
- Fabulous prize #5: A gift certificate to Lala.com or iTunes
Fabulous prizes four and five came courtesy of the OBNUG community flooding the pick 'em gates to the tune of 123 total entries, easily surpassing the 50 and 75 people benchmarks I set. And as promised, I have a new prize to introduce for going over 100 folks: Fabulous prize #6 is Heavyweights on DVD. It's only the greatest movie of all-time and the inspiration behind each and every comment signature I have ever had. Here's a clip.
How not to play Bowl Pick 'Em: a true life example from Kevan Lee
You would think that SB Nation would require its writers to have some sort of practical knowledge about analyzing potential winners of bowl games. They don't. And that makes me very relieved.
I currently sit in 106th place overall in the OBNUG group, and I am 316,461st among all ESPN Bowl Pick 'Em participants, which ESPN is kind enough to point out qualifies me for the fifth percentile of horridness. My pick 'em selections, and the selections of those OBNUGgers below me, are an example of how not to do things. Take notes.
- Don't use up all your confidence points early. It kind of hurts your chances of coming back from 106th place.
- Don't ever pick against a Mormon team making its fifth straight appearance in a Las Vegas bowl game.
- Don't pick WAC schools to win.
Honestly though, I don't really know what I did wrong other than think I knew what I was doing when I made my selections. At the time, I was confident I had picked every game correctly. So now i guess I can add "delusional" to my list of character flaws, right alongside "failure."
Seriously, Nevada? Seriously?
SMU 45, Nevada 10. BAD WORDS. I gave the Wolf Pack 32 confidence points. Can anyone top that?
Good luck to everyone this weekend, except for those of you who are ahead of me
The time to make your move in Bowl Pick 'Em is this week as 18 games are played in the next five days. Check the OBNUG Pick 'Em group for the current standings, and enjoy rooting for bowl games you have no business having a rooting interest in.