Let me sincerely apologize for the anticlimactic finish.  I'd intended to update the scoreboard more often, but Rose Bowl travel plans got in the way.  What follows are the final results.

Congratulations to our 2009 OPC Bowl Edition Winner PaternosGrandaughter!  She takes home this signature Nike Wool Classic Cap to commemorate the come-from-behind effort.  (E-mail me at Franz.50@osu.edu to claim your prize).

Thanks to everyone for making our second annual bowl competition a roaring success.  The Obligatory Predictions Competition will return in September.  Until then...

Five of the 34 bowl games have been played and the results are less than exemplary.  Half of the group earned 3 points or less.  Thirty percent of the group earned just one point.  Fifty-five percent of us picked one game or less correctly.  And one poor bastard -- our very own Grahamfiller10 -- becomes the first contestant in the two year history of the Obligatory Predictions Competition to get shutout.

Here are the standings out of the gate:

Welcome to the second annual Obligatory Predictions Competition - Bowl Edition.  As the holidays beckon, and the last remaining vestiges of fall become frozen in impenetrable permafrost, it's time we Midwesterners fly south for the season.  Pull out your plaid swimming trunks, Hawaiian Tropic bronzer, and sear sucker shorts -- it's time to go bowling.

Yes, teams from the Big Ten will soon be dispatched on fair weather flyways to Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, and Los Angeles and if you have half a brain you'll be going with them.  But before bidding bon voyage, take a second to tell us how you think all 34 bowl games will turn out.  Your predictions will be scored against one another, and our resident "experts."

Wanna play?  Here's how to get in on the action:

Step 1: Download the official OPC Bowl Bracket.

Step 2: Fill in a winner and margin of victory for all 34 bowls.

Step 3: Save the document as your SB Nation User ID (e.g. "Law Buckeye.doc").

Step 4: E-Mail your bracket to Franz.50@osu.edu no later than Saturday, December 19th at 12:00 p.m. (EST).

Your picks will be scored as follows:

• One (1) point is earned for a correctly picking the winning team.
• If you pick the winning team, earn an additional two (2) points for correctly identifying the winning spread by seven points or less.
• If you pick the winning team, earn an additional two (2) points for picking a perfect spread (i.e. The PATERNOSGRANDDAUGHTER Bonus).
• Two (2) bonus points are awarded for the "upset pick" -- an upset being defined as predicting: 1. Any AP/BCS Top 25 ranked team to defeat any opponent of higher rank, which in fact does occur, or 2. Any non-ranked AP/BCS Top 25 team to defeat any ranked opponent, which in fact does occur.

We'll release score updates throughout bowl season, so you can check your stock.  In the meantime, safe travels. And don't forget to get your picks in by this Saturday (December 19th).

Good luck!

After 14 weeks, and 70 picks the winner of the Regular Season Obligatory Predictions Competition with 148 points is...

SeattleHawkeye

As a small token of our appreciation, Seattle gets this sweet Nike Orange Bowl Bound cap from the SB Nation Fan Shop, perfect for rainy morning walks in the Emerald City.

(Seattle, please e-mail me at Franz.50@osu.edu with your mailing address, and we'll get the goods to you).

As for the rest of us, the final season scoreboard is below.  Honorable mentions go to our very own hmlee (Runner Up, 135 points), and Lakeeriemonstar (Third Place, 133 points). 

Think you can do better?  Want to go double or nothing?  Lucky for you, we're just getting started.  Stay tuned for the Obligatory Predictions Competition - Bowl Edition.  Starting Monday you'll have the chance to pick all 34 bowls at once, in a comprehensive winner-take-all melee.  We hope to see you back on the wagon.

Thanks to everyone for making this year's competition the biggest we've had!

So, it all comes down to this.  Seattle Hawkeye leads by a comfortable 12 points.  Like Charlie Weis's late game instructions to his defense to let Stanford score the go ahead touchdown so that the Irish could get the ball back with time on the clock, the smart thing to do here is to go for upset points and hope for the impossible.  If Pitt upsets Cincinnati, Alabama upsets Florida, Clemson upsets Georgia Tech and Seattle Hawkeye does what I expect him to do, and gets more conservative than Jim Tressel with a two touchdown lead, you just might pull it off.

Then again, perhaps you'd rather stick to your gut, and play for second or third place.  After all, if this season continues its annoying upsetless ways, your "balls to the wall" ballot might blow up in your face, dropping you to the second tier of the standings.

On the other hand, what if Seattle Hawkeye anticipates the upset strategy, and hedges his bets by picking an upset or two, and buttoning things up the rest of the way?  Then, it would appear, you're better off following Vegas and playing straight probabilities, hoping his upsets don't materialize and you catch a lucky break in the form of a perfect margin of victory.

For that matter, when should you enter your picks?  Are you brazen enough to show your cards right away, or rather, will you try to snipe the contest eBay-style, publishing your picks mere minutes before Saturday's 11:00 a.m. (EST) deadline?  It's certainly to Seattle Hawkeye's advantage to do so.  But, then (of course) there's the risk of an unforeseen complication (internet outage, memory lapse, alarm clock failure etc.) that results in you missing the deadline.

I can think of at least seven people that wouldn't be too broken up if Seattle Hawkeye didn't show up at all this week.

The winner of the regular season Obligatory Predictions Competition will be announced next week. 

Choose wisely.

1. No. 5 CINCINNATI at No. 15 PITTSBURGH, 12:00 p.m. EST (12/5), ABC

GRAHAMFILLER10 predicts CINCINNATI by 10

Cinci sports a monster passing game with a defensive unit shaped like a sieve. Pitt has a two headed monster for a run game, with the turnover prone Bill Stull at quarterback. During the Pitt-WVU game, ESPN showed the Stull family standing on their own private porch about 200 yards from the field of play - according to Lisa Salters, the family was sick of the constant barrage of insults directed at Stull from the Pitt faithful. That doesn't sound like home field advantage to me.

LAW BUCKEYE predicts CINCINNATI by 10

On December 1st, 2007 No. 2 West Virginia faced unranked Pittsburgh as 28 point favorites, with a bid to the national championship game on the line.  Pat White injured his thumb, the Panthers ran the ball out the back of their own endzone (taking the clock with it), and two weeks later Rich Rodriguez belonged to Michigan.  True, even with a victory, Cincinnati wil need some unlikely assistance to climb unto the BCS National Championship Game.  But the stakes in this one feel errily similar to that cold December night in Morgantown.

Pittsburgh revealed some schematic chinks in its armor in last's week's loss to West Virginia, particularly quarterback Bill Stull's overall decision making.  The Panther's rushing attack, led by Freshman Dion Lewis, finds success early, but the long, laborious marching is overshadowed out by a simple truth: no one has figured out how to slow Cincinnati down on offense.

2. FRESNO STATE vs. ILLINOIS, 12:30 p.m. EST (12/5), Big Ten Network

GRAHAMFILLER10 predicts FRESNO STATE by 7

Balanced Bulldogs versus revitalized Juice Williams in his final game. This game has points written all over it. FSU gets an early lead behind their balanced attack and hangs on.

LAW BUCKEYE predicts ILLINOIS by 10

It took 9 weeks, but the Illini finally found an offense against Cincinnati.  Nice going Ron.  Keep it up!

Continue reading this post »

Here are the results down the stretch. Please congratulate Week 13 winner RossWB, who returned from exile with a vengence.  Remember, this upcoming week represents the final picks for the regular season.  We'll have the games up tomorrow morning.

After much adieu, here is your Week 12 Scoreboard, current through November 21st.  Congratulations to back-to-back weekly winner Lakeeriemonstar who moves into second place with a second-consecutive triumph.  

This week's (Week 13) predictions will be scored on schedule, by the middle of next week.  Thanks for your patience.