Each year, 20 or so of my friends and I get together to pick which teams we think will win the college football bowl games. Each person playing the game puts $10 into the pool. The winner takes the entire pot in January.
The rules
The rules to our game are fairly basic:
- Pick a winner for all 35 bowl games.
- Assign a confidence number ranging from 1 – 35 with 1 being the least confident pick and 35 being the most confident pick.
- For every game you win, you get those confidence points.
- For every game you lose, you subtract confidence points.
So, if you correctly pick the winner of all 35 bowl games, you get a total of 630 points (and most likely all the cash).
My picks
I meant to post this last week but got a little too busy. I’ve already lost two and won two games at the moment.
Here’s my list in the order the games are played in.
| Bowl | Winner | Loser | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bowl | Winner | Loser | Points |
| New Mexico | BYU | UTEP | 34 |
| Humanitarian | Fresno State | Northern Illinois | 1 |
| New Orleans | Ohio | Troy | 5 |
| Las Vegas | Louisville | Southern Miss. | 11 |
| St. Petersburg | Boise State | Utah | 32 |
| Poinsettia | San Diego State | Navy | 7 |
| Hawaii | Hawaii | Tulsa | 28 |
| Little Caesars | Toledo | Florida Int. | 2 |
| Independence | Georgia Tech | Air Force | 13 |
| Champs Sports | NC State | West Virginia | 10 |
| Insight | Missouri | Iowa | 6 |
| Military | Maryland | East Carolina | 27 |
| Texas | Baylor | Illiniois | 17 |
| Alamo | Oklahoma State | Arizona | 16 |
| Armed Forces | SMU | Army | 12 |
| Pinstripe | Kansas State | Syracuse | 4 |
| Music City | Tennessee | North Carolina | 8 |
| Holiday | Nebraska | Washington | 30 |
| Meineke Car Care | Clemson | South Florida | 23 |
| Sun | Miami | Notre Dame | 19 |
| Liberty | Georgia | Central Florida | 31 |
| Chick-fil-A | South Carolina | Florida State | 15 |
| TicketCity | Texas Tech | Northwestern | 20 |
| Outback | Florida | Penn State | 18 |
| Capital One | Alabama | Michigan State | 25 |
| Gator Bowl | Mississippi State | Michigan | 14 |
| Rose Bowl | Wisconsin | TCU | 24 |
| Fiesta | Oklahoma | UConn | 35 |
| Orange | Stanford | Virginia Tech | 29 |
| Sugar | Arkansas | Ohio State | 9 |
| GoDaddy | Miami (Ohio) | Mid. Tennessee | 3 |
| Cotton | LSU | Texas A&M | 22 |
| Compass | Pittsburgh | Kentucky | 21 |
| Kraft Fight Hunger | Nevada | Boston College | 33 |
| Nat. Championship | Auburn | Oregon | 26 |
Your picks
Call me crazy on some of these. I’m definitely gambling on a few games, but you have to take a few chances to win.
Do any of you do similar pools? Feel free to write a blog post and link back here with your list. Or, just call me out in the comments when you see how horrible my picks are.
I think you’ll be a little disappointed when Oregon pulls out with the win
+1
If only online betting were legal in the US, I’d be placing bets here. Go Ducks!!!
Thanks, guys. I needed a good laugh. Definitely the best joke I’ve heard this week.
Disclosure: We’re dueling Alma maters! Beware of bias.
By the way, nice example of a semantic table.
These other guys are crazy.
For a really good laugh: Check out Camtendo. I wish I’d thought of that.
I think your picks are pretty good. I do think Kentucky will give Pitt a better run than you give them credit for though.
War Eagle!
Kentucky vs. Pitt is one of those games I’m gambling on. I like Pitt’s running backs though and think they might wear down the Kentucky defense. But, the same could be said of Kentucky; they might wear down Pitt’s defense.
I feel like I don’t know anything about football tonight though. Hawaii just got crushed, and they were one of my top picks. Of course, turning the ball over four or five times in the first half didn’t help much.
I’ll gladly trade in all my picks for one game in particular. War Eagle!
Good picks, all in all, but there are a few that might be kinda tight. I quess we will see.
Pleased to see you were so confident in BYU’s win. Go Cougars. And War Eagle!!!
My bowl picks are mostly crap now. Too many teams didn’t play to their potential or just screwed around.
Georgia? Nebraska? Those were gimme games. Losing those pretty much takes all the fun out of the whole thing.
I’m just waiting for the final game next week at this point.
awesome picks
I could have advised you better…I love this technique for confidence level etc.