Bowl Pool Update: December 19, 2010

So, our first day of games is in the books. Let's take a look at wha happen before addressing the early, early results of the pick 'em.

BYU 52, UTEP 24
In a colossal mismatch, BYU jumped out to a 31-3 lead and never looked back. BYU doubled-up the Miners in both first downs and total yardage, and scored at least 14 points in each of the first three quarters. In the pick 'em, there were TONS of points on this game, with the majority picking BYU (19-13; although there are 34 entrants in the pool, one of them -- the mysterious "JudgeSmails" -- accidentally made two entries, one of which has no picks in it, while Amanda signed up and forgot to make her picks).

Northern Illinois 40, Fresno State 17
Another blowout, No Ill got down 7-0 and rolled off 40 of the remaining 50 points scored in the game. Full disclosure: I picked Fresno State with 28 confidence points. As such, I don't understand how this game happened the way it did. Fresno played Wisconsin tough (sort of - that game wasn't anywhere near as close as the score made it appear) and beat Illinois. How could they not beat a Husky team that lost comfortably to the Illini? How could they get blown out? I don't understand Fresno at all. They seem so Jekyll & Hyde - they also hung with Boise for a full half ... before losing by 50. A quick look into their recent bowl resume reveals that they're 4-4 in their last eight bowl games, with the four wins all coming against BCS conference teams and the four losses coming against Tulsa, Colorado State, Wyoming, and now No Ill.  WTF? Again, quite a few points on this game in the pick 'em. I can take solace in the fact that I didn't lose the most points on this game - Frange put 32 on Fresno, and I haven't even gotten to Tyrone yet...

Troy 48, Ohio 21
Continuing the theme of the day, Troy got up on OU 41-7 by the early part of the third quarter in another dog of a bowl game. I guess games like these are the reason some people say there are too many bowl games. I firmly come down on the side of "blowout bowl games are better than no bowl games," but yeah, this one was ... not good. That's the main reason the majority of the Christmas party we were at last night spent a good chunk of the evening watching a VHS tape of this.


In pick 'em news, we have four 3-0 entries and a solitary one 0-3, with everyone else falling in-between. Leading the pack is Aly, who got 35, 18, and 28 points from BYU, Northern Illinois, and Troy, respectively. Joel Morgan's "Silent Velcro" and (*sigh*) Todd McShay are also undefeated with a good point haul. Sidenote: unfortunately Jesse Palmer did not put out picks on ESPN this year, so we can't measure ourselves against him and his gorgeous hair and teeth and *swoon*. So, instead we're getting Todd McShay, who is Todd McShay. And, also unfortunately, he's hanging in contention. Bummer. Our fourth 3-0 entrant is Elliott, who has accumulated fewer points, but is still in the running for a perfect entry. Marianne, Kate, and Mike are 2-1, but those "1"s were costly: they lost 33, 34, and 32 points, respectively, in their losses. I am not one to talk, obviously, as I lost 28 on Fresno.

Other bad losses: The Mysterious Judge Smails (Phil?) is in the top 15 with 35 points; the bad news is that he went 1-2 and lost his 34- and 33-point games. Oops. Other tough days: Al lost his 33- and 31-point games; Frange lost his 33- and 32-point games; Schill lost his 26- and 24-point games; Evan lost his 28- and 20-point games; and someone named "K. Keenan" lost his/her 33- and 26-point games. However, they all pale in comparion to our first...


TYRONE OF THE DAY

Now, I know that some of you decided not to change your confidence points at all. And that's cool; it is somewhat daunting, and I can understand why someone would look at the number of games you have to pick and the user interface for adjusting the confidence levels and decide "the hell with this - I'm just gonna pick the games." But you know what? You better get some of them right early on. And that's where Javy comes in. Javy did not change his confidence levels. And he picked UTEP, Fresno, and OU. As such, one day into the bowls, he has lost his 35-, 34-, and 33-point games.

Shit Javy, get it together.

Top fifteen is below.

Rank	Team	Owner	Record	TOTAL	PPR
1	Little Orphan Aly	Aly	3-0	81	279
2	MarianneSharp 1	Take a Guess	2-1	69	258
3	Christmas Ale	Scott	2-1	67	287
4	katemunger 1	Take a Guess	2-1	65	261
4	Silent Velcro	Joel M.	3-0	65	295
6	Chokin' on Applesauce	Yours Truly	2-1	54	278
7	Leave Me Alone Jackson	Mike N.	2-1	53	275
8	Todd McShay's Picks	Take a Guess	3-0	46	314
8	Shablagoo!BringTheCrunch	Matt N.	2-1	46	292
10	god bless us everyone	Di	2-1	42	297
11	Ampersanzenbacher!&&&!&!!	Jeff	2-1	39	302
12	TheJudgeSmails	[unknown]	1-2	35	258
13	Zoe's First Bowl Pick Em	Kristin and Zoe	1-2	34	285
13	Where is LA Tech.com/fart	Sean	2-1	34	318
15	aaronjw725 1	Aaron	2-1	32	314
15	LightsCameronWhere'dHeGo?	Al	1-2	32	264
15	Dantonios Heart Attackers	Elliott	3-0	32	328