The 2014 Bowl Pool survey is now open and available for entries.

Per popular request, entry fee has increased to $10 this year to make it more worth your while.

Entry Form

Congratulations to Shelby Heffner for winning this year’s bowl pool! Shelby needed the dramatic rally by Florida State to edge out all the competition with 21 points.

After a long run atop the leaderboard, Bobby Heffner was able to salvage 2nd place with 20 points and the closest tiebreaker.

Micki Schwartz took last place and will have $5 returned (but it should be noted that Micki nailed the tiebreaker score exactly!)

See below for the final standings. The final average score wound up being 15.06 out of 30, which proves once again that we might as well all just flip a coin 🙂 Thanks to everyone for playing!

Picks and Results

Completed Games:
1/6 – National Championship (2 point game)
Florida State 34, Auburn 31

Wow! Four BCS games, four upsets. Clemson’s win last night ended Bobby Heffner’s run atop the standings. Shelby Heffner has now taken the lead and is in the driver’s seat to win the pool, but she hasn’t clinched the win yet. Randy Brown can still rise up from 4th place to steal the victory, pending the outcome of Monday night’s National Championship game. Bobby Heffner and John Smeltzer are now tied for second place, and both are still in the running to finish in the money. Here are the possible scenarios with just the National Championship game remaining on Monday night.

If Florida State wins…
Shelby Heffner would win the pool with 21 points.
Bobby Heffner (tiebreaker 62 pts) and John Smeltzer (tiebreaker 49 pts) would tie for 2nd with 20 points. The person with the closest tiebreaker score would claim the 2nd place prize.

If Auburn wins…
Shelby Heffner (tiebreaker 38 pts) and Randy Brown (tiebreaker 55 pts) would tie for 1st with 19 points. The person with the closest tiebreaker score would claim the 1st place prize, and the other would claim 2nd place.

Micki Schwartz has secured last place and will have $5 returned.

After the string of recent upsets, the average score is now less than half – 13.83 out of 28 points.

Picks and Results

Completed Games:
1/3- Orange Bowl (2 point game)
Clemson 40, Ohio State 35

Monday’s Game:
8:30 PM – National Championship – ESPN (2 point game)
Florida State vs. Auburn

Another major upset last night as Oklahoma shocked Alabama. Only 3 entries picked that correctly! So with two games to go, four entries remain alive to win the pool, including the current leader, Bobby Heffner, Shelby Heffner, Bob Hermanni, and Randy Brown. Tonight’s Orange Bowl matchup will eliminate two of the four. Refer to my January 1 blog post for a complete breakdown of the potential scenarios.

Picks and Results

Completed Games:
1/2 – Sugar Bowl (2 point game)
Oklahoma 45, Alabama 31

Tonight’s Game:
8:30 PM – Orange Bowl – ESPN (2 point game)
Ohio State vs. Clemson

The upsets have finally started with the BCS games. First, Michigan State pulled the upset in the Rose Bowl, and then only 5 entries correctly predicted Central Florida’s win in the Fiesta Bowl. Bobby Heffner continues to lead the pool with 18 points. The average score is now 12.98 out of 24 points. For an analysis of the possible winning scenarios, scroll down to the previous blog post. With just 3 games remaining, 8 entries are still alive to finish in the top 2.

Picks and Results

Completed Games:
1/1 – Gator Bowl
Nebraska 24, Georgia 19

1/1 – Capital One Bowl
South Carolina 34, Wisconsin 24

1/1 – Outback Bowl
LSU 21, Iowa 14

1/1 – Rose Bowl (2 point game)
Michigan State 24, Stanford 20

1/1 – Fiesta Bowl (2 point game)
Central Florida 52, Baylor 42

Tonight’s Game:
8:30 PM – Sugar Bowl – ESPN (2 point game)
Alabama vs. Oklahoma

Michigan State’s win in the Rose Bowl eliminated a lot of entries from contention, and simplified the winning scenarios. Bobby Heffner continues to lead the pool with 18 points. Three other entries are still alive to win the pool: Shelby Heffner (17 pts), Bob Hermanni (16 pts), and Randy Brown (13 pts). This guarantees that the pool will have its 12th different winner in 12 years. Four other entries can finish as high as second place: John Smeltzer (16 pts), Nancy Heffner (16 pts), Tony Chan (16 pts), and Julie Hank (14 pts). Here are the winning combinations:

Tonight’s Fiesta Bowl result will not affect the top of the leaderboard. No entries in contention picked UCF.

Tomorrow’s Sugar Bowl only affects Randy Brown. Randy needs an Oklahoma win or he will be eliminated.

If Ohio State and Florida State win…
Bobby Heffner will win the pool
Nancy Heffner and Tony Chan will tie for 2nd, with the closest tiebreaker taking 2nd place

If Ohio State and Auburn win…
Bobby Heffner and Bob Hermanni will tie for the lead. 1st and 2nd place will be determined by the tiebreaker

If Clemson and Florida State win…
Shelby Heffner will win the pool
Bobby Heffner and John Smeltzer will tie for 2nd, with the closest tiebreaker taking 2nd place

If Alabama, Clemson and Auburn win…
Shelby Heffner will win the pool
Bobby Heffner, Bob Hermanni, John Smeltzer, and Julie Hank will all tie for 2nd, with the closest tiebreaker taking 2nd place

If Oklahoma, Clemson and Auburn win…
Shelby Heffner and Randy Brown will tie for the lead. 1st and 2nd place will be determined by the tiebreaker

More of the same yesterday as the favorites won all four games. At least the Chick Fil-a Bowl provided some drama and excitement with Texas A&M rallying to knock off Duke late. Bobby Heffner now sits alone atop the standings with 14 out of 17 correct, but with 5 games today (including a couple 2-point BCS games), there is still time for other entries to make a move towards the top. In fact, by my count, at least 16 different entries can still win the pool and another 8 entries can finish as high as 2nd place. The average score is 10.0 out of 17.

Picks and Results

Completed Games:
12/31 – AdvoCare Bowl
Arizona 42, Boston College 19

12/31 – Sun Bowl
UCLA 42, Virginia Tech 12

12/31 – Liberty Bowl
Mississippi State 44, Rice 7

12/31 – Chick Fil-a Bowl
Texas A&M 52, Duke 48

Today’s Games:
12:00 PM – Gator Bowl – ESPN2
Georgia vs. Nebraska

1:00 PM – Capital One Bowl – ABC
South Carolina vs. Wisconsin

1:00 PM – Outback Bowl – ESPN
LSU vs. Iowa

5:00 PM – Rose Bowl – ESPN (2 point game)
Michigan State vs. Stanford

8:30 PM – Fiesta Bowl – ESPN (2 point game)
Baylor vs. Central Florida

Texas Tech ended a long string of the favorites winning with their upset late last night in the Holiday Bowl. Bobby Heffner and Matt Snare continue to lead the pool with 10 out of 13 correct, but a lot of people are within striking distance. The leaders have several different picks today, so everybody has a chance to make up some ground on the top 2. The average score is 7.0 out of 13.

Quite frankly, the bowl season has been pretty boring so far this year, with most games being blowouts and only a few upsets. Let’s see if that changes as we get closer to the New Year’s Day bowls. There are four more games today to close out 2013.

Picks and Results

Completed Games:
12/30 – Music City Bowl
Mississippi 25, Georgia Tech 17

12/30 – Alamo Bowl
Oregon 30, Texas 7

12/30 – Holiday Bowl
Texas Tech 37, Arizona State 23

Today’s Games:
12:30 PM – AdvoCare Bowl – ESPN
Boston College vs. Arizona

2:00 PM – Sun Bowl – CBS
UCLA vs. Virginia Tech

4:00 PM – Liberty Bowl – ESPN
Rice vs. Mississippi State

8:00 PM – Chick Fil-a Bowl – ESPN
Duke vs. Texas A&M

On Saturday, all four favorites won their games, and the average score in the pool improved to 5.35 out of 10. Bobby Heffner and Matt Snare currently lead the pool with 8 correct picks.

The college games take the day off today to make way for the NFL, but bowl week continues on Monday with three more games.

Picks and Results

Completed Games:
12/28 – Pinstripe Bowl
Notre Dame 29, Rutgers 16

12/28 – Belk Bowl
North Carolina, 39 Cincinnati 17

12/28 – Russell Athletic Bowl
Louisville 36, Miami 9

12/28 – Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl
Kansas State 31, Michigan 14

Monday’s Games:
3:15 PM – Music City Bowl – ESPN
Mississippi vs. Georgia Tech

6:45 PM – Alamo Bowl – ESPN
Oregon vs. Texas

10:15 PM – Holiday Bowl – ESPN
Arizona State vs. Texas Tech

After yesterday’s games, all entries have at least one loss and one win. Only one entry correctly picked both Marshall and Syracuse (Brendan Galligan). Bobby Heffner and George Demers have risen to the top of the standings with 5 of 6 correct. The average score is currently 2.88 out of 6 – less than half correct.

Today is another busy day of bowl games, with four games on tap.

Picks and Results

Completed Games:
12/27 – Military Bowl
Marshall 31, Maryland 20

12/27 – Texas Bowl
Syracuse 21 Minnesota 17

12/27 – Fight Hunger Bowl
Washington 31, BYU 16

Today’s Games:
12:00 PM – Pinstripe Bowl – ESPN
Rutgers vs. Notre Dame

3:20 PM – Belk Bowl – ESPN
Cincinnati vs. North Carolina

6:45 PM – Russell Athletic Bowl – ESPN
Miami vs. Louisville

10:15 PM – Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl – ESPN
Michigan vs. Kansas State