Bowl Pool Update: January 3, 2011

So, as Big Ten fans ... that could have gone better. Quick change!

South Florida 31, Clemson 26
Whatever.

No-trah Dame 33, Miami (That Miami) 17
Not even that close.

Central Florida 10, Georgia 6
This one is gonna look great on George O'Leary's resume, right next to his victory over the Intergalactic All-Stars while he was at Georgia Tech.

Florida State 26, South Carolina 17
You are never, ever going to win anything at South Carolina, Steve Spurrier.

Texas Tech 45, Northwestern 38

Florida 37, Penn State 24
Matt McGloin just threw another TaINT on an out route.

Alabama 49, Michigan State 7
Well, that was embarrassing.

Mississippi State 52, Michigan 14
Probably wouldn't have made much of a difference in the outcome, but this game was 24-14 at halftime and Michigan forced a punt on the first possession of the third quarter. They then drove down the field and faced a 4th-and-five (I think) at (around) the MSU fifteen. Rodriguez chose to bring out one of Michigan's myriad incompetent kickers, who promptly shanked the approximately 30-yard field goal. At the time, at our bowl watching party, I said that that was the exact moment when Rodriguez was definitely getting fired.

TCU 21, Wisconsin 19
Neither team turned it over, but Wisconsin lost in spite of outgaining TCU by almost 100 yards. The difference was that TCU finished their drives and Wisconsin didn't. The Horned Frogs only really had three sustained drives in the game (the teams only got eight drives a piece), and they punched all three into the endzone. Wisconsin, meanwhile, settled for a couple of field goals and missed another, which would (in retrospect) have won the game.

Oklahoma 48, Connecticut 20
This was exactly what absolute everyone expected. Nine of the ten BCS teams are ranked in the top 13. UConn is the lone exception, and they are unranked. The result reflects that.


Todd and I had the following text message exchange the day after the Big Ten's New Year's Day Massacre:

Me: "Well, yesterday could have gone better."
Todd: "Shit Tyrone."

Obviously, the Big Ten as a whole is Tyrone. For the foreseeable future.

Top 15 is below.

Rank	Team	Owner	Record	TOTAL
1	Silent Velcro	Joel M.	16-12	352
2	Todd McShay's Picks	Take a Guess	19-9	350
3	MarianneSharp 1	Take a Guess	15-13	347
4	Boogr, Boogr, & FartyButt	Al	16-14	333
5	Little Orphan Aly	Aly	16-12	317
6	I can haz Cam Newton?	Todd	15-13	316
7	Joanna	Take a Guess	13-15	314
8	Leave Me Alone Jackson	Mike N.	14-14	309
9	Dantonios Heart Attackers	Elliott	15-13	304
10	katemunger 1	Take a Guess	15-13	301
10	god bless us everyone	Di	15-13	301
12	Ampersanzenbacher!&&&!&!!	Jeff	15-13	297
13	Zoe's First Bowl Pick Em	Kristin	15-13	294
13	It's a furry pig!	Fred	17-11	294
15	Shablagoo!BringTheCrunch	Matt N.	14-14	292