by Wally
Now who thought the final score of the BCS Chan’ship game would be 22-19?? Ah … the wonders of sport. I thought the key factors in the outcome of the ballgame were a) Auburn’s defensive line (esp Fairley) is a dominant unit and they imposed their will on Oregon and b) Oregon at times got too fancy and exhibited very questionable play-calling/ decision-making in the red zone, esp early in the 4th quarter when they were stuffed at the goal line repeatedly. Points were precious in a game like this … put ’em on the board. Anyway, great season for both teams, especially Auburn, and I hope we’ve seen the last of Scam Newton wearing a college uniform.
But it was an even better season for AC! He wins the gold helmet which is emblematic of the PPP Champ. What a race it was. Here are the final standings:
| 1 | AC (Pete) | 95 |
| 2 | Dan | 90 |
| 3 | Smitty | 89 |
| 4 | Pete | 88 |
| 5 | Joe | 86 |
| 6 | Rey | 84 |
| 7 | ND Dad | 83 |
| 8 | Chas | 82 |
| 9 | Mark (Pete) | 82 |
| 10 | Crash | 73 |
| 11 | Bill | 62 |
| 12 | Wannabe | 62 |
| 13 | Casey | 60 |
| 14 | Wally | 60 |
| 15 | Pete Jr | 55 |
Dan gets the silver helmet and Smitty the Bronze. Looks like Smitty ran out of gas down the homestretch after leading most of the way. Congrats to all our winners! And thanks for playing. For the rest of you, we have some nice parting gifts ….
Hey Wally, do you also have the unweighted scores? Just curious what it looks like without the points. And hey, is that Casey below me? heh heh heh.
The SEC has won the last 5 championships and went 5-5 this year in bowl games. Pretty understandable why some people would favor the SEC and crown it the elite of college football at this time.
Thanks Wally. I had fun.
The size AND speed of most SEC teams is quite impressive. Auburn was just as fast as Oregon, but much bigger at many positions. LSU also displayed these traits vs Texas A&M.
Speed is indeed the SEC trait of note. Just ask TOSU.
BTW, congrats to AC (Alan Cooke). His faith in his 2 favorite teams (Iowa and ND) paid handsomely in a Gold helmet award. Alan is an ND friend of my son’s and a regular in that group of friends yearly NCAA BB tourney player draft pool. Some of you should join us in that pool in March so we can return the favor of “victory by guests”! I will post on the Pine when we start organizing that event.
Pete —
Glad you and cohorts enjoyed it. Look forward to participating in the March event!
Bill … sorry, I don’t have the unweighted scores. If I have time tonight, I may try to compute that.
What I’ve noticed about the SEC over the recent years … esp the top half of teams in that conference … is that they’ve got size, speed and athleticism all over the field. What it means is that on offense, you have to earn EVERY yard … SEC defenses will get to you quickly and bring you down in one shot. If you don’t execute your offense almost perfectly and exhibit some balance and threat through the air, you’re gonna be in for a long afternoon.
If one of these SEC teams gets great, or at least very good, QB play, they will likely win the conference and contend for the national title. Tim Tebow and Scam Newton are prime examples of QBs pushing their teams to the top. LSU’s shortcoming this year was spotty QB play, but their defense and running game kept them firmly in the Top 10. Bama’s offense was inconsistent this year, but everyone feared playing them … and we saw how they destroyed Michigan State.
Again, no other conference can boast the top-to-bottom size AND speed of the SEC. There are some teams here or there in other conferences that can typically compete with it occasionally though … Ohio State, USC, Texas, Oklahoma, etc. Boils down to recruiting great athletes, esp on defense and esp on the D-line.
No hurry Wally, like I said, I was just curious, and beside, all my picks were random anyway.
Gotta love this. Initial reports are saying that Les Miles will stay at LSU and not move to Ann Arbor to coach his alma mater, the Michigan Skunkbears. How tense it must be near the AD’s office when two former players have spurned your overtures. Man, this is great … tee hee, tee hee 🙂
I know I don’t contribute as much as Bill, and Wally, and Casey, and Pete, and Rey, but I do consider myself one of the insiders as I do read daily (when school is in session) and I feel like I know everyone based on their voices on here. With that said, I am proud to be the winner of what I consider the “insider bracket”. I really appreciate you doing that Wally. Very interesting and it gave me a reason to pay attention to many of the bowl games that I probably would not have.
It is worth noting, though, that I picked nearly all favorites. Once again showing that those guys in Vegas seem to know a thing or two…
By the way, anyone notice all of the “Pete”s on the list. I didn’t know there were so many out there…Mr. Montenaro, you must be very proud…
When you live to be as old as me Dan, you get to know a lot of people. Glad to number you among my friends.
Pete – Whaddya say – we could use more people in on the Who Am I? discussion. Think you could take of the promotions?
I’m hoping some of the PPPers stay on.
Being in the pool was fun, should have listened to my son about the SEC, oh well. Pete keep me in mind for Basketball. Go Irish!!!
Dan —
Here’s what you wanted to see … the number of correct picks out of 35 games:
AC 21
Smitty 21
Dan 20
Pete 20
Chas 19
ND Dad 19
Joe 19
Rey 18
Crash 18
.
.
.
and so on, all the way down to 12.
60% most successful indicates how either the bowls do a good job of matching teams so that it is hard to pick winners or so many obscure teams make it that no one knows who is capable of what. I actually think it’s a combination of the 2 factors; just look at the way we split on our championship game picks.
Yyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssss!
Stud WR Michael Floyd is returning to Notre Dame for his senior season instead of going to NFL. This is a HUGE boost to ND’s prospects/chances for emerging into the Top 10 in the 2011 season. It’s all coming together.