The conference championship games are over and we're now getting dangerously close to the end of this college football thing that we all know and love so much. Fortunately, there's an impressive slate of bowl games on the way that will include nine different Big Ten programs fighting for postseason victories.
We had seven games on the card last week as our pickers looked to improve their accuracy in the final weekend of our season-long adventure.
Ramzy, Jones, and Wertheim all had Oregon covering the 6.5 points against Utah. The Ducks did more than just that as Mario Cristobal ended up getting himself a Pac-12 championship and ruining the Utes' playoff hopes.
Oklahoma defeated Baylor by a score of 30-23 as Lincoln Riley didn't quite cover the 8.5 points in Arlington. Most of our pickers were riding with the Bears. Our staff was split on the Cincinnati/Memphis rematch that featured a 9.5-point spread in favor of the Tigers. Luke Fickell kept things close with a narrow 29-24 defeat to Mike Norvell.
| LAST WEEK | OVERALL | ACCURACY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| VANCE | 3-4 | 86-58 | 60% |
| HOPE | 5-2 | 83-61 | 58% |
| RAMZY | 4-3 | 83-61 | 58% |
| REGIMBAL | 3-4 | 78-66 | 54% |
| WERTHEIM | 5-2 | 78-66 | 54% |
| JONES | 5-2 | 76-68 | 53% |
| ELLIS | 4-3 | 75-69 | 52% |
| CHRIS | 3-4 | 74-70 | 51% |
| KEVIN | 3-4 | 68-76 | 47% |
| STAFF TOTAL | 35-28 | 701-595 | 54% |
Joe Burrow and the Tigers destroyed Georgia in the SEC title game and helped strengthen their case for that No. 1 seed. Whether you agree with the ranking or not, there's no denying it was a stellar performance against a Bulldog offense that just couldn't find its footing. Six of our nine staffers correctly sided with LSU.
Boise State was favored by 13.5 over Hawaii, and while I doubt too many folks watched this one, everyone sided with the Broncos who ended up cruising to a 31-10 victory. Clemson also crushed Virginia by 45 points. Chris and Ramzy both made the mistake of taking the Cavaliers to cover.
The Buckeyes and Badgers battled it out in the nightcap, and Wisconsin was in control for one half of football. Ohio State took over after the break and was victorious by a score of 34-21. David's strategy of picking against the Buckeyes paid off as he was the lone picker to take Wisconsin and the 16.5 points.
And with that, our season-long pick'em reaches its conclusion. Andy Vance finished in the top spot with a 60 percent hit rate on the season. That's a ridiculous accomplishment when picking any sporting event against the spread. Last year's top picker finished at just 55 percent, and a quick glimpse back at the 2018 results can be found right here.
Kevin was the only staff member to miss on more than half of his picks. A year ago we had four that met a similar fate. The overall staff accuracy jumped from a respectable 51 percent all the way up to 54 percent. Overall, it was a pretty good year for our forecasters.
Thanks for following along this season and a shoutout to all who participated. There's still more fun to come as you can check out the Army/Navy game this Saturday at 3 p.m. and the bowl season gets underway on Dec. 20. #GetRich
