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Saturday, July 05 2008 @ 03:08 PM EDT
Document Icon NCAATC: Chalmers Leads Kansas to National Title; johnsig Claims Contest
CFBPredictions Story

NCAATC:  Down by nine points with just over two minutes to play in the National Championship, Kansas kept fighting and pressuring the tiring Memphis Tigers in a furious comeback attempt.  A Darrell Arthur bucket and a Kansas steal turned into a three pointer quickly cut the lead to just four points with 1:39 to play and it appeared Kansas wasn't going to go silently if they were to go at all.  After some free throw exchanges, Arthur connected on another jumper to cut the lead to two with a minute to play.  Kansas got a stop but failed to convert on the other end and sent the shaky free throw shooting Memphis Tigers to the line in the final seconds.  Chris Douglas-Roberts missed two critical free throws that would have extended the lead but teammate Robert Dozier bailed him out with an offensive rebound.  Kansas was forced to foul point guard Derrick Rose with 10 seconds to play.  Rose had a chance to ice the game with two makes but connected on just one of two free throws and left the door open for Kansas to send the game into overtime with a three-point play.  And that's exactly what clutch shooting guard Mario Chalmers did.  Chalmers took a pass from point guard Sherron Collins as the final seconds ticked off and launched a laser into the sky that looked on target all the way through the net.  The shot sent the game into overtime but Kansas had the momentum and energy to finish it off while Memphis was tired and stunned at what just slipped through their hands.  Kansas jumped out to a six point lead and never looked back.  The Jayhawks were going to win the National Championship for the first time in 20 years and would do it in dramatic fashion. 

The NCAA Tournament Challenge contest came down to two double digit seeds in the Championship Round.  South Carolina fan 10johnsig and Nebraska fan 11trevj2012 squared off to lay claim for the year's best college basketball predictor and the $100 prize.  This year's NCAA Final Four showcased four 1-seeds for the first time in the history of the NCAA Tournament so it was tough to pick the winners with four great teams in the mix.  trevj2012 was the only participant to pick a winner in the semifinal games with Memphis beating UCLA so he took a one game advantage going into the National Championship game.  Despite being down a game, johnsig nailed the National Champion Kansas Jayhawks in the title game while trevj2012 picked Memphis.  With the records even at 1-2, the title game's bonus points made the difference.  johnsig was only one point off, guessing a six-point win to Kansas' actual seven-point margin of victory over Memphis, giving him 1.90 bonus points and the contest victory.  trevj2012 fell short in the Tournament Challenge Championship round for the second straight year, falling to John Patrick in 2007

johnsig finished 20th in the regular season standings with a 60-30(.667) record but then went on a tear in the post-season tournament.  In the Tournament Challenge, johnsig recorded a combined record of 49-14(.778).  In the first round, he tallied a 25-7 record, second best on the round to advance easily.  He went 12-4 in the Sweet 16 which was also the second best record for that round.  He then picked an Elite Eight best 7-1 record and a Final Four best 4-0 record to get to the Championship round.             

Neither of the two 1-seeds reached the Final Four round.  Last year's defending Tournament Challenge Champion 1John Patrick was bumped out by 8TwoEgg in the Sweet 16 and this year's regular season Champion 1tmack62 was knocked out by 12lmontague in the Elite Eight round.  Participants that probably deserved to go further than they did were tiger81(out in the First Round after a 24-8 record), kst8no1(out in the Sweet 16 by 0.3 bonus points after a 12-4 record), dj_john69(out in the Sweet 16 on previous round record after a 12-4 record), tmack62(out in the Elite Eight after a 12-4 record), TwoEgg(out in the Elight Eight by 0.1 bonus points after a 6-2 record) and C_hawkfan(out in the Final Four by 0.9 bonus point after a 3-1 record).

Final Four
10johnsig, SCAR  49-14(.778)
11trevj2012, NEB  44-19(.670)
4C_hawkfan, UNC  46-14(.767)
12lmontague, KAN  43-17(.717)

 
Document Icon 2008 NCAA Tournament Challenge
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Qualifying participants may submit Round 1 entries into the 2008 NCAA Tournament Challenge for a chance to win $100. The deadline to make an entry for Round 1 is Thursday March 20th at 12 P.M. EDT, before the first NCAA Tournament game. Only entries from the 32 qualifying participants will be taken. Each participant's latest submitted entry will be used for the contest so if you would like to make a correction or change any picks that you have previously made, please submit another entry. Since this is a head to head single elimination contest, just like the NCAA Tournament, only the participants with the best record in each tournament round will advance to play the next. An email will be sent to those who advance for a reminder of when they must submit their next round of picks. If you haven't yet registered with the site, please do so now so that you can receive reminders and prizes, should you win. For more information about the contest and deadlines for each of the rounds or to make your contest entry, visit the NCAA Tournament Challenge home page. Good luck!

 
Document Icon Top 25 Basketball Weekly Challenge: tmack62 Wins Regular Season Contest
CFBPredictions Story

Top 25 Weekly Challenge: The 2007-08 Top 25 basketball contest went all the way down to the last weekend of the 14-week contest to decide a regular season Champion. Georgia fan tmack62 held a lead of less than a point in the season standings over Army fan John Patrick going into the final weekend of the contest -- Week 18. tmack62 finished second in the Week 18 contest with a 6-4 record and 40.40 points which was good enough to secure the top place in the overall standings.

For the season, tmack62 finished 90-40(.692) backed by 557.8 confidence points which tallied an overall rating of 386.17. In addition to finishing second in two Top 25 Weekly Challenges during the season, tmack62 also won two of the contests, including Week 7 and Week 9. His college basketball savvy earned him $25, a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament Challenge and a place in the CFBPredictions Basketball Hall of Fame. John Patrick finished Week 18 at 6-4 with 32.90 points, good enough to hold second position in the season standings with an overall rating of 380.75. Both participants hold the two No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament Challenge that will begin next week for a chance to win the $100 prize.

Top 25 Weekly Challenge Top 10

1. tmack62, UGA...386.17
2. John Patrick, ARMY...380.75
3. J06Powercat, KSU...353.47
4. jrjohnson1500, KSU...346.90
5. JohnnyBeGood06, COL...346.89
6. benjo12, IOWA...345.36
7. C_hawkfan, UNC...332.84
8. Hawkeye99, IOWA...328.36
9. Notawinner, IOWA...318.75
10. kst8no1, KSU...317.15

 
Document Icon Bowl Series Challenge: LSU Claims 2007 National Title; jgarc22 Captures Contest
CFBPredictions Story

BSC: For the second time in only five years, LSU has claimed a National Championship. After soundly defeating the top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in the BCS National Championship game, 38-24, LSU has solidified themselves as, arguably, the premier program in college football. Among other reasons, LSU has been so successful over the last several seasons because of their offensive balance, team speed, dominance in the trenches and the ability to persevere in big games. In Monday night's Championship game, these factors came to the forefront. Despite falling behind 10-0 early on after a Chris Wells 65-yard touchdown run on the fourth play from scrimmage, the Tigers responded with scoring drives on their next five possessions of the game to break the game wide open with 31 unanswered points. The five offensive drives that put up those points were impressive but if it weren't for a couple non-offensive plays, LSU's offense may not have had those opportunities. After LSU tied the game at 10 with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Matt Flynn to Richard Dickerson, Ohio State drove inside LSU territory and appeared to be set to answer with a field goal. But LSU's Ricky Jean-Francois broke through the line and blocked the attempt to give the ball back to LSU, a play that proved to be the turning point in the game. Flynn led an ensuing touchdown drive ending with a 10-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Brandon Lafell to give LSU their first lead of the game. LSU displayed their touted speed on Ohio State's next possession when LSU cornerback Chevis Jackson prevented his receiver from obtaining separation and intercepted a deep pass and returned it back into Ohio State territory. LSU took advantage of the short field and running back Jacob Hester plowed into the endzone from the 1-yard line to give the Tigers a commanding two-touchdown lead of 24-10 at halftime. LSU took advantage of a roughing the punter penalty on their opening drive of the second half to add another touchdown through the air, this one to Early Doucet from four yards out. Ohio State got it back to within two touchdowns going into the fourth quarter following LSU's only turnover of the game but the Tiger defense rose to the occasion and prevented any thought of a comeback after that. Ohio State went for a 4th and 7 inside LSU territory in the fourth quarter but LSU sent a blitz and linebacker Ali Highsmith hit quarterback Todd Boeckman as he released it, forcing a fumble and giving it back to LSU. Flynn found Dickerson wide open in the end-zone for a final dagger two possessions later to cap the victory.

LSU's spread offense had the Buckeye defense on its heels for all but the first Tiger possession. LSU's offensive line paved the way for running back Jacob Hester, which opened up a variety of option plays on the ground as well as the passing game where Flynn connected on 174 yards to eight different targets and registered a career-high four touchdown passes. LSU's defensive speed was used to lock down Buckeye receivers on the outside which allowed for more aggressive defensive play calling. The result was three forced turnovers and keeping down the number of big plays for the Buckeyes. The debate will go on about other two-loss teams being worthy of the same honor, but LSU proved they were the best team this year under the current system.

The 2007 season saw the most and some of the largest upsets in college football history so it was no surprise to see more upsets occur during bowl season. No. 8 Kansas proved they belonged in the BCS by knocking off ACC Champion No. 3 Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, 24-21. Kansas finished as the only BCS conference team with one loss with a 12-1 record. No. 9 West Virginia trounced Big 12 Champion No. 4 Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl with a 48-28 route. West Virginia compiled 525 yards of offense with 349 of it coming on the ground. West Virginia was the only team with an interim head coach that was able to overcome coaching losses and win their bowl game. Michigan's Lloyd Carr was leaving his post as head coach but still had a final game to coach in when his team went up against Heisman winner Tim Tebow and the high-powered No. 12 Florida Gators in the Florida Citrus Bowl. Michigan opened up the playbook and out gained the Gators by 125 yards while the Wolverine defense made plays to slow down Urban Meyer's spread option attack. Carr was sent off with a 41-35 victory. No one gave Oregon much of a chance to beat No. 21 South Florida after the Ducks lost all three games since quarterback Dennis Dixon went down with an injury. But the exact opposite result ended Oregon's season on a high note by smashing the up-and-coming Big East program, 56-21 in the Sun Bowl, thanks to five forced turnovers. No. 24 Boise State was suppose to dispose of East Carolina in the Hawaii Bowl, but instead, the nation got a heavy dose of East Carolina running back Chris Johnson. Johnson racked up a staggering 223 yards and scored two touchdowns for the Pirates who upset Boise State, 41-38.

Aside from upsets, the bowl season provided several more intriguing games. Many wanted to see what the only undefeated team in the country, No. 10 Hawaii, had to bring to the table when playing a big time BCS opponent on the stage of the Sugar Bowl. The answer was, not much. No. 5 Georgia pretty much had their way with the undermanned squad from the islands and the Bulldog defense was in Colt Brennan's face the entire game. Georgia ran up and down the field on the Warriors to the tune of 41-10. Another match-up that left many skeptical was in the Rose Bowl which pit No. 7 USC and No. 13 Illinois. Once again, the underdog was outmatched. USC's defense forced a fumble during the third quarter deep in their own territory that thwarted an Illini comeback bid and the Trojans were off to the races after that, turning in four consecutive touchdown drives to blow the game open for a 49-17 victory. A team that probably should have been included in the BCS party was No. 6 Missouri. Missouri completely dominated Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl, 38-7, and did so uncharacteristically for a passing team. Running back Tony Temple was fed the ball 24 times and had a breakout game with a whopping 281 yards and four touchdowns. No. 19 Texas played like many expected them to play all season when they took on No. 11 Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl. The Longhorns appeared to be on a mission and it came out on the field. The defense almost entirely shut down the Arizona State ground game by surrendering only 22 yards and forcing the Sun Devils to be one-dimensional on offense. As a result, the Texas defense teed off on the ASU passing attack and forced five turnovers which gave UT's offense a chance to put up big points. Texas gave the ball to five different running backs who accounted for 300 yards and six touchdowns. One of those backs was Jamaal Charles who rushed for 161 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Colt McCoy added 174 through the air and another touchdown in a 52-34 route. The win gave Texas its seventh consecutive 10-win season.

In other bowl game action, Texas Tech rallied late by scoring 17 points in the final three and a half minutes of the Gator Bowl to beat No. 20 Virginia, 31-28. Kicker Alex Trlica made a 41-yard field goal to give Tech the three-point lead with only a couple seconds remaining. Quarterback Graham Harrell completed 44 passes for 407 yards and three touchdowns. It was the second year in a row that Texas Tech has overcame a large deficit to win a bowl game. The Red Raiders trailed by 31 in the Insight Bowl last year before charging back to beat Minnesota in overtime. Tennessee quarterback Eric Ainge totaled 365 yards passing and two touchdowns to lead the No. 16 Vols to a 21-17 Outback Bowl victory over No. 18 Wisconsin, No. 23 Auburn forced overtime to beat No. 15 Clemson, 23-20, in the Chik-fil-A Bowl and Kentucky finished off a successful season by defeating a personnel depleted Florida State, 35-28, in the Music City Bowl. Oklahoma State knocked out Indiana, 49-33, in the Insight Bowl where Cowboy quarterback Zach Robinson threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more. California overcame a 21-0 deficit in the first half to beat Air Force, 42-36, in the Armed Forces Bowl, Alabama held off Colorado to win 30-24 in the Independence Bowl and Penn State beat Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl, 24-17. SEC Coach of the Year Sylvester Croom saw his Mississippi State Bulldogs finish off a break out season with a 10-3 Liberty Bowl win over Central Florida, No. 14 Boston College won in a dogfight in the Champs Sports Bowl over a pesky Michigan State, 24-21, BYU blocked a last second field goal to preserve a 17-16 victory over UCLA in the Las Vegas Bowl and Florida Atlantic won its first bowl game in school history by lighting up Memphis in the New Orleans Bowl, 44-27.



The Bowl Series Challenge contest was a battle up until the end, where Texas Tech fan jgarc22 pulled away with an impressive 27-5 bowl game record and 450.9 out of 528 points to win the contest. He picked upsets of Oregon over South Florida in the Sun Bowl and Kansas over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl while, at one point during the contest, won 12 games in a row. jgarc22 beat out 89 other participants for the $100 prize and his closest competitors were two games back at 25-7. Those included, South Carolina fan HAWKEYE who finished in second, Rutgers fan RUCookie placed third, Miami fan miami024 came in fourth, Kansas fan RockChalk7598 finished in fifth place and USC fan Bruce Hardin rounded out the top six. There were four games that a large majority of participants missed, which included, East Carolina(2%) over Boise State(98%) in the Hawaii Bowl, Oregon(18%) over South Florida(82%) in the Sun Bowl, Michigan(8%) over Florida(92%) in the Citrus Bowl and West Virginia(13%) over Oklahoma(87%) in the Fiesta Bowl. The average score for the contest was a 20-12 record and 343.12 points.
The Upset: East Carolina defeated 24Boise State, 41-38...2% picked East Carolina
The No-Brainer: 22Cincinnati defeated Southern Mississippi, 31-21...91% picked Cincinnati
The Big One: 2LSU defeated 1Ohio State, 38-24...79% picked LSU

Top 10 Finishers

1. jgarc22, TTU...27-5 (450.9)
2. HAWKEYE, SCAR...25-7 (439.7)
3. RUCookie, RUT...25-7 (438.3)
4. miami024, MIA...25-7 (411.6)
5. RockChalk7598, KAN...25-7 (408.9)
6. Bruce Hardin, USC...25-7 (403.8)
7. xeption, LSU...24-8 (418.6)
8. Stacker, OKLA...24-8 (412.9)
9. carlo51, OSU...24-8 (399)
10. Coach Hendy, TEX...24-8 (398.3)

 
CFB Top 10 Predictors

----Through Week 14----

1. Bruce Hardin, USC
2. skid, MICH
3. miami024, MIA
4. Aggie1025, TAMU
5. JohnnyBeGood06, COL
6. NUtball, NEB
7. Grayhound, PSU
8. tmack62, UGA
9. jrjohnson1500, KSU
10. RockChalk7598, KAN


Complete Standings

CBB Top 10 Predictors

----Through Week 18----

1. tmack62, UGA
2. John Patrick, ARMY
3. J06Powercat, KSU
4. jrjohnson1500, KSU
5. JohnnyBeGood06, COL
6. benjo12, IOWA
7. C_hawkfan, UNC
8. Hawkeye99, IOWA
9. Notawinner, IOWA
10. kst8no1, KSU


Complete Standings

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