Merry Christmas to all!!

OK, so four more games have been played, and two of them threw nearly everyone for a loop. Let's recap.

First there was BYU and San Diego State. Playing at home, this figured to set up well for San Diego State, right? Uhh...no. San Diego State had no answer for BYU's defense. None. BYU's defense also doubled as their offense, as the either scored or set up practically every point in a less than exhilarating Poinsettia Bowl. It was boring and painful to watch at times, particularly for the 40 people who picked San Diego State.

Next up was two mediocre teams playing in a mediocre baseball stadium in a bowl sponsored by Beef O'Brady's, home of mediocre food. The only thing above average was Central Florida, who impressively took care of Ball State from start to finish. George O'Leary won't even have to lie about his role in this one.

On Saturday we were treated to two fairly entertaining games, beginning with the New Orleans Bowl, won by Louisiana-Lafayette. With over a thousand yards of offense and 77 total points, it's what a bowl game should be!

Saturday was capped off by Boise State beating yet another BCS conference team, this time taking out Washington. Boise seemed to be in control for most of the game but Washington fought back to take the lead late. Boise would not be denied though, and kicked the game-winning field goal with a little over a minute remaining.

Then there was the Hawaii Bowl. Horrible, horrible effort by Fresno State. It would seem to me that if you traveled all the way out to Hawaii you would at least TRY to compete in the game. Not so for Fresno State. They were never competitive with SMU, who, to their credit, took full advantage in cruising to an easy win. NOT cruising to an easy win were the 67 people who picked Fresno State. Pats on the back to Callum7024-2, 1SG Bob and Robster910 for correctly calling the Mustang victory.

As we sit here on Christmas night, Kimmco leads the way with 144 points. Mike Waldrop has the highest ceiling remaining though, as he can still earn 624 total points.

The bowls were off to a rousing start; me, not so much

The first bowl games of the year were played last Saturday, and though I didn't see either game in completion, what I did see was well worth the time I was able to devote to each of them. I watched enough of Arizona and Nevada to feel pretty confident that Nevada was going to win when I left with Turner to attend a birthday party. When I checked the score at the party, I was very confident that it was over. It was much, much later when I saw that Arizona had scored twice late in the game to win.

I caught a good portion of the second game of the year - the Idaho Potato Bowl between Toledo and Utah State. This one was 13-6 early in the fourth and Toledo had the ball deep with a chance to tie or take the lead, but couldn't do it, then Utah State's offense took over in the fourth quarter. Then Utah State's talented running back rushed for 181 yards and three touchdowns. IN THE FOURTH QUARTER.

So that's how the first two ended up. For allegedly mediocre teams, they all played pretty well, save the fourth quarter for Toledo. And at least there was a reason to watch.

I know I am off to a slow start on the pool this year. But thanks to the 70 of you who stuck it out and are entered. I hope in the next week or so I get in a bit of a groove with this and we will all be back to actively cheering for teams we know nothing about.

A new year, a new look

Well, hopefully you found me here.

I got an email about a month ago from the website we've used for the last two years, and in it he informed me that he wasn't going to operate the site for bowls again this year. I begged a little bit, made sure that he was still going to do his NCAA site (he is), and began looking for a new host site.

Unfortunately no one else provides all the customization that I had become used to on the other site, so in the end I decided to go with officefootball.com for the nuts and bolts of things and this blog for the entertainment part, which is the reason you're in this pool anyway I am sure.

So bear with me. There will be growing pains I am sure. I think the pool will run just fine, and we'll all get used to clicking two different places for the standings and the commentary (until I figure out how to combine them). Thanks for playing again, and good luck to all.