College Football Contests Conference Challenges Wrap-Up: ACC, Big 12, Big East
Conference Challenges Wrap-Up: ACC, Big 12, Big East
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Longevity and consistency, clutch second half rally's and one record breaking campaign summed up 2011 conference challenge races. Three of the six conference challenge leaders at the half-way point were able to finish in the same winning standing to include scoochnew in the ACC, kst8no1 in the Big 12 and slwlion in the Big Ten. bobbyd and TwoEgg rallied from twelve spots down to win Big East and Pac 12 contests, respectively, and J06Powercat broke all three previously held SEC prediction records.
ACC Challenge
Champion: scoochnew went 75-22(.773) to win his second conference challenge in as many seasons with an ACC Challenge title. In terms of holding a lead, no one did it better in 2011 in any weekly contest than scoochnew. The Iowa fan held the No. 1 ranking from Week 2 all the way to the end!
This was scoochnew's third season participating in the contest and had finished No. 25 in the two season's prior. The ACC Challenge title comes one season after he won the Pac 10 Challenge.
When it was over: Following a 7-1 effort in Week 5, scoochnew commanded a double-digit lead all the way through Week 11. But after a 27th place (4-3 record) in Week 12, the field had trimmed his lead back down to five points. scoochnew answered the very next weekend, Week 13, the final full weekend of ACC games. In that week, he was among the minority to predict Vanderbilt over Wake Forest on the road to finish 15th (6-2 record) and secure a 7-point overall lead and the victory.
Records: No new records were set but scoochnew came within one confidence point of tying J06Powercat's record of 360 points set in 2007.
Champion: scoochnew, IOWA; 277.58
Margin of Victory: 6.76 over slwlion
Weeks at No. 1: 13 (Weeks 2-14)
Total Lead Changes: 1
1st Place Finishes: 2
Top 10 Finishes: 6
Single Season CFBP Record: 288.68; skid, MICH, '10-'11
Big 12 Challenge
Champion: kst8no1 rattled off a historic 67-8(.893) record predicting the new 10-team Big 12 en route to his second Big 12 Challenge title and third conference title. The Kansas State's 2011 campaign was the most dominant in any weekly contest this season and perhaps in site history. Along the way, he recorded 11 Top 10 finishes, nine 1st place finishes and a margin of victory of 28.55 points -- the largest margin ever recorded in any conference challenge.
No one has participated in the Big 12 Challenge longer than kst8no1. He was the contest's very first winner back in the 2006 which makes him the first member* to win the same conference challenge twice. The win marked his third conference challenge title which is tied for the most all-time and 12th Championship Top 10 finish which ties for third all-time.
When it was over: After the first half of the season, kst8no1 sat, incredibly, with only one blemish on the first seven score-sheets! Through seven weeks, his record was 44-1(.978) which is undoubtedly the best start to any weekly contest in the site's first six years online. When sonyawc made it a 15-point game following kst8no1's only bad week of the season after Week 9's 39th place finish (2-3 record) there was a glimmer of potential for other contenders. However, kst8no1 quickly put that idea to rest in Week 10 with one of his numerous 1st place finishes and a 5-0 record. The result pushed his lead back to 20 points and never let up thereafter.
Records: Since this was the first season the Big 12 competed with ten teams instead of 12, kst8no1 will hold all three records. If and when the conference goes back to 12 teams, the 12-team records will come back into play.
Champion: kst8no1, KSU; 218.87
Margin of Victory: 28.55 over nitemare64 and decampo42
Weeks at No. 1: 11 (Weeks 4-14)
Total Lead Changes: 1
1st Place Finishes: 9
Top 10 Finishes: 11
Single Season CFBP Record: 218.87; kst8no1, KSU, '11-'12
*J06Powercat also won the same conference challenge for the second time in this season's SEC Challenge
Big East Challenge
Champion: bobbyd waded through the parity driven Big East Challenge with a 51-17(.750) record on his way to capturing his very first conference challenge title. At the mid-way point, the Florida State fan was not among the top contenders at No. 13 but behind five Top 10 finishes in the second half of the season, he steadily rose up the rankings until he found himself at No. 1 in the waning weeks of the season. It was the most competitive conference contest with seven lead changes but the only one that matters is the last one and bobbyd owned it.
bobbyd has been quite competitive in the four previous Big East Challenge's including a No. 4 finish in 2009 and No. 9 ranking in 2010 before being crowned this year's champion. This was his ninth Championship Top 10 finish in college football contests.
When it was over: It wouldn't be a Big East Challenge without uncertainty throughout. That is the competitive nature of the conference itself which spills right over into our contest. After a sluggish start, bobbyd wasn't in serious contention until after Week 11 when he finished tied for 1st (4-0 record) to move to up four spots to No. 3 in the rankings. He was among a couple handful to pick West Virginia's season-defining win at then No. 23 Cincinnati. bobbyd's season-defining effort came a couple week's later during the last two weeks. In Week's 13 and 14 he finished 7th and 1st, respectively. He took over his first lead following Week 13 but ultimate victory wasn't in hand until that final whistle in Week 14. In that final weekend, bobbyd left no doubt with a 3-0 record to edge runner-up decampo42 by less than two points.
Records: No new records were set this season.
Champion: bobbyd, FSU; 135.00
Margin of Victory: 1.91 over decampo42
Weeks at No. 1: 2 (Weeks 13, 14)
Total Lead Changes: 7
1st Place Finishes: 3
Top 10 Finishes: 8
Single Season CFBP Record: 173.53; gaisan, ISU, '09-'10
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