College Football Contests Bowl Series Challenge 2011-12 Wrap Up
Bowl Series Challenge 2011-12 Wrap Up
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Only 36% of entrants predicted Alabama's 21-0 suffocation of LSU on their home turf in the rematch for the BCS National Championship but that didn't stop the collective field from scoring the highest average score in the Bowl Series Challenge's six year history. Nor did it stop Purdue fan kdmartin20 from clinching his first major prediction title in record time after a wide open start. (AP Photo)
kdmartin20 is our sixth annual Bowl Series Challenge Champion. The Purdue fan won on record, besting 59 other participants by going 27-8 with his predictions during the three week bowl season. In addition, kdmartin20 accumulated the most confidence points with 523 out of 630, smashing the previous record of 450.90 set in '07.
In what started out as one of the most wide open contests in its history with well over half the field trailing by no more than two games after 12 bowls, kdmartin20 ended up clinching the BSC title with three games remaining. That marked the quickest clinch of the BSC title since 2007 when jgarc22 also did it with three games left. 2007's contest was also the last time the winner scored the best record and the most confidence points when jgarc22 did so in the then 32-game contest.
A good start followed by a steady rise and two key post-New Year's predictions summed up kdmartin20's road to victory. He got off to a solid start with a 9-3 record after the first 12 games including an 8-point win on the contest's second game when Ohio rallied late to upset Utah State. He was among the 42% that picked Ohio which gave him a leg up after the first day.
Just prior to Christmas, kdmartin20 earned big points on consecutive winners TCU(100% correct) over Louisiana Tech for 34 points, Boise State(98% correct) over Arizona State for 33 points and Southern Miss(92% correct) over Nevada for 32 points. Just after Christmas, he correctly picked two critical early swing games, one of them involving his favorite team. He was a part of 64% to predict Purdue over Western Michigan for 11 points and 53% to side with North Carolina State over Louisville for seven points in the most divided game of the contest.
After 12 games, kdmartin20 was in 13th place. It was the 12th game's pick of Texas(86% correct) over California where he began to make his move into the upper echelon of contenders. He'd predict 13 of the next 14 bowls correct and land at No. 1 on the standings. During that stretch, kdmartin20 was justified in unpopular selections including Rutgers(39% correct) over Iowa State and Utah(32% correct) over Georgia Tech in a thrilling fourth quarter comeback overtime victory for the Utes.
His stay at the top of the standings was short-lived when the New Year's Day games kicked off. Michigan State(39% correct) stunned Georgia in overtime at the Outback Bowl and Florida(34% correct) bested Ohio State in the Gator Bowl. kdmartin20 missed both and dropped to 3rd, one game behind scooby10672 by the end of the day.
But as quickly as he lost the lead, kdmartin20 would get it back in high-stakes BCS bowls the next two nights.
In the Sugar Bowl, Michigan(68% correct) would send Virginia Tech home with a 23-20 overtime loss. The result left four with 24-6 records but kdmartin20 owned the points column to regain the lead.
The following night's Orange Bowl would have the biggest ramifications on the contest than any other game. Every contestant in the top ten at the time went with ACC Champion Clemson while kdmartin20 would need Big East Champion West Virginia to pull the upset. The Mountaineers did much more than pull the upset, they set a bowl game scoring record by piling up 70 points on Clemson's lackluster defense, 70-33. Ironically, the biggest margin of victory of any bowl game came from the biggest upset according to contestants. Just 10% predicted the winner and kdmartin20 was among them. The pick moved him a game up on the other front-runners and a game away from clinching the contest.
Heavy favorite Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl would help kdmartin20 place a permanent stamp on this year's contest. On Jan. 6, Arkansas(80% correct) took down Kansas State, 29-16, giving him another 23 points. scooby10672, C_hawkfan and tdlotslv remained only a game back but because they differed on only one of the three remaining games from kdmartin20, there wasn't a scenario where they could make up enough points to overtake him. Post Cotton Bowl, kdmartin20 still carried a 49-point advantage over his nearest threat scooby10672.
Which brings us to kdmartin20's remarkable placement of confidence points that earned him the new record for Most Points in a Bowl Series Challenge. Of his eight losses, only one was weighted over 20 points(FIU for 28) and three had single digits(LSU for 1, Air Force for 4 and Ohio State for 6). The four others came from the teens resulting in 523 out of 630 points. It beat jgarc22's four year old record by 72.10 points!
kdmartin20's first major prediction title earned him the $100 cash prize, 20,000 CFBPoints, a golden football and top billing on the Winners Wall. He'll also get a "One" trophy for setting a new contest mark for the most confidence points.
The top 25 finishers will receive CFBPoints. Kentucky fan STINGLE2012(26-9/482) will receive 15,000 CFBPoints for 2nd place, Iowa State fan gaisan(26-9/481) receives 10,000 CFBPoints for 3rd place and Air Force fan Sven57(25-8/500.20) gets 7,500 CFBPoints for 4th. Sven57's 500 confidence points should not go unnoticed which, had kdmartin20 lost higher point games, would have easily given Sven57 the record for most confidence points. pjrs(25-8/473) rounded out the top five to earn 5,000 CFBPoints.
JohnnyBeGood08 and scoochnew had a chance to earn the $50 incentive had they placed among the top ten. Neither of the Top 2 from the BSC Standings placed in the top ten of the Bowl Series Challenge. JohnnyBeGood08 was as close as one could get, placing just outside at 11th and scoochnew came in 39th.
We are getting smarter! Despite the field missing the National Championship winner for the first time(36% chose Alabama), this year's collective field showed some serious expertise. The average score was 22-13/424.77 for a field rating of 267.00 which is the best in the contest's six year history. This coming off of last year's second lowest average score of 18-17/347.83, a field rating of just 178.90. This year's high score easily beat the previous high of 214.45 from 2007's contest.
Give yourself a pat on the back and use this momentum going into the off-season.
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