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Posts Tagged ‘Bowl Confidence Contest’

Bowl Confidence Contest Winners!

January 10th, 2012 No comments

Every year people ask me who my favorite team is. It is the team I pick #1. Last year I rooted AGAINST Alabama almost every week as my magazine was about the only one out there not to pick them to win (or even play in) the title game. This year I picked them #1 and it was not easy but I will admit I rooted for the Tide each week and they held LSU to under 100 yards (4 to 1 yardage edge) last night in a dominating 21-0 national title win!!!

The Daily blog will be undergoing some changes in the next couple of days now that the college football season is complete. Tomorrow’s blog will give you some bowl notes on 15 bowl games with also some top bowl performances from a stats perspective in Friday’s blog. Later on this week you will get my forecasts for the NFL Divisional games played that day including my computer’s projected box score of the games.

Starting next week I will be going to a Monday, Wednesday and weekend blog format until magazine season is over in late spring/early summer. In early February, my projection of what the Preseason AP top 10 will be for 2012 and that will be coming after January 15th when juniors have to declare or not declare for the NFL Draft. I also will be updating you with 2012 NFL Draft and 2012 Frosh Recruiting updates. Read more…

Contest Leaderboard/Pick Statistics

December 19th, 2011 No comments

The Bowl confidence contest is under way and Congratulations to the top player (Noles 1959) who has a perfect score thru the first three games with a perfect 102 pts. However many times the players that rank in the top early are those that wagered the most pts and if you are not on the top leaderboard right now, naturally you still have plenty of opportunities to rise up/fall down the standings in the coming weeks.

Two years ago we expanded the contest to nearly 1200 contestants, which was double from any other previous season and last year we more than doubled the number of contestants with nearly 3000 entries! This year we topped that 3000 mark and have our largest entry pool to date!

So far thru 3 games a lot of people already have one loss as 80.6% of you picked San Diego St and they were beaten by Louisiana on the final play. Also 43.5% of you had Ohio winning so the remaining 56.5% of you who picked Utah St in the Potato Bowl bowl also lost. Most of you (72.6%) had Temple winning and that came as no surprise as they rolled over Wyoming. Only 900 out of more than 3000 remain perfect. Here are the top 10 picksheets so far after the first 3 bowl games.

Top 10 Overall Standings

Rank Picksheet

W

L

Points

1

Noles 1959

3

0

102

2

razorbacker1

3

0

96

3

FWRick

3

0

93

4t

DawgBone

3

0

90

4t

wolverine40

3

0

90

6

farmdog62

3

0

89

7

mbranch

3

0

87

8t

football99

3

0

85

8t

PitDawg

3

0

85

10t

justknox

3

0

84

10t

scbeatty78

3

0

84

Read more…

2 Days Left To Enter the Bowl Contest!

December 15th, 2011 No comments

Phil Steele’s 2011-12
Bowl Confidence Contest

Pick the Winners of all 35 Bowl Games and rank them in order of 1-35 with 35 being your most confident pick and 1 being your least confident pick.

FREE to ENTER with Cash Prizes!!!

1st Place: $250 and a Set of 2012 Preview Magazines
2nd Place: $100 and a Set of 2012 Preview Magazines
3rd Place: $50 and a Set of 2012 Preview Magazines

One Picksheet Per Person!

All picks must be completed by Saturday Dec 17th at 2:00 PM EST

The last couple of years I have had a Bowl Confidence Contest that generated a lot of interest on our site and we had hundreds and hundreds of entries. Two years ago we had the biggest entry pool yet with nearly 1200 entries and it was a huge success with more than double the amount of entries compared to ‘08! Last year we outdid ourselves again with an incredible 2922 entries! This year we will again have a “Bowl Confidence Contest” and I hope there will be many more participants!

You can enter the contest by simply clicking here. To enter, just go to the sign up page and log in your information. Then after that go to your picksheet page and simply pick who you think will win each of the 35 bowl games. You then award your confidence points to each. The team you think will definitely win their game would get 35 points and the team who you picked at the bottom which was very tough for you to call would get 1 point.

For each team that wins their bowl game that you picked correctly, you get the confidence points you assigned to them. Those with the highest points are the winners. The first bowl game takes place on December 17th at 2:00 PM EST and Good Luck!!

One Bowl Entry Per Person Please!! For more contest rules click here and if you have any questions or concerns please email brandon@philsteele.com.

Make Your Group and Compete Against Your Friends!

Also make sure to check PhilSteele.com everyday for complete information and coverage on all the bowl matchups. On the homepage click on the Bowl Matchups link, where you will find all 35 bowl games. Click on the bowl logo for each game to get all the information you need to become an expert! Start doing your homework now and get your 35 bowl predictions done.

2011-2012 Bowl Confidence Contest!

December 6th, 2011 No comments

The last couple of years I have had a Bowl Confidence Contest that generated a lot of interest on our site and we had hundreds and hundreds of entries. Two years ago we had the biggest entry pool yet with nearly 1200 entries and it was a huge success with more than double the amount of entries compared to ‘08! Last year we outdid ourselves again with an incredible 2922 entries! Congratulations again to Jim Martin the winner of the 2010-11 Bowl Confidence Contest!! Jim finished with an amazing 518 points and took home the grand prize of $250 and a set of 2011 magazines. Jim Logue finished in 2nd with 503 points and got $100 and a set of magazines while Rob Simunovic finished in 3rd with 494 points and got $50 and set of magazines. The last couple of years I was at a disadvantage as I posted my plays first and they were up for everyone to see before they made their plays but I am pleased that I routinely finish in the Top 10%.

This year we will again have a “Bowl Confidence Contest” and I hope there will be many more participants! Like the last couple of years I will update two categories after each bowl game. The first category is total points. If you picked a team and they won their bowl you receive the points that you risked. Sometimes the early leaders are the ones that risked the most on the early bowls and they fall by the wayside as the contest goes on. Sometimes the early leaders in this category will remain at the top through it all it all. I will also keep track of those that have the best win percentage of their points. The morning after each bowl game I will list the current leaders in two categories on the website. Like last year we will have great prizes with 1st place getting $250 and a set of 2012 magazines!! 2nd place receives $100 and a set of magazines and 3rd place $50 and a set of magazines!!

You can enter the contest by simply clicking here. To enter, just go to the sign up page and log in your information. Then after that go to your picksheet page and simply pick who you think will win each of the 35 bowl games. You then award your confidence points to each. The team you think will definitely win their game would get 35 points and the team who you picked at the bottom which was very tough for you to call would get 1 point. For each team that wins their bowl game that you picked correctly, you get the confidence points you assigned to them. Those with the highest points are the winners. The first bowl game takes place on December 17th at 2:00 PM EST and Good Luck!!

One Bowl Entry Per Person Please!! For more contest rules click here and if you have any questions or concerns please email brandon@philsteele.com.

Also make sure to check PhilSteele.com everyday for complete information and coverage on all the bowl matchups. Later this week on the homepage click on the Bowl Matchups link, where you will find all 35 bowl games. Click on the bowl logo for each game to get all the information you need to become an expert! Start doing your homework now and get your 35 bowl predictions done.

Off-Season Blog Schedule Plus Final Bowl Contest Standings

January 11th, 2011 No comments

The Daily blog will be undergoing some changes in the next couple of days now that the college football season is complete. Tomorrow’s blog will give you the final conference standings from the bowls plus the top performances from all the bowl games both team/individual. Later on this week you will get my forecasts for the NFL Divisional games played that day including my computer’s projected box score of the games. Starting next week I will be going to a Monday, Wednesday and weekend blog format until magazine season is over in late spring/early summer. Next week may feature my projection of what the Preseason AP top 10 will be for 2011 and that will be coming after January 15th when juniors have to declare or not declare for the NFL Draft. I also will be updating you with 2011 NFL Draft and 2011 Frosh Recruiting updates. Read more…

Bowl News and Notes

January 5th, 2011 No comments

NEW MEXICO BOWL

BYU continued their impressive finish to the season with a 52-24 rout of UTEP. Jake Heaps became the first BYU frosh QB to start a bowl game and hit 25-34-264. This one was a demolition as at one point in the 1H BYU had a 228-(-1) yd edge and led 31-3. UTEP had a shot to get back in it trailing 31-10 as they had a FD at the BYU3 with :04 left in the half but their pass fell incomplete and their scoring opportunity was lost. Trailing 38-17 UTEP was int’d and BYU drove 46/5pl for a TD to make it 45-17. For the game BYU had 28-13 FD and 514-233 yd edges. Another key for UTEP was the fact that QB Trevor Vittatoe was playing on a left ankle in need of surgery which he postponed until after the game and clearly was hobbled. His ankle was taped and he wore a shoe 3 sizes bigger. Also RB Donald Buckram was supposed to be close to 100% but got only 6 carries for 10 yds. Read more…

Tonight’s Orange Bowl Forecast

January 3rd, 2011 No comments
ORANGE BOWL
8:30 PM ESPN
Click on the bowl logo for MORE info!!!!

VIRGINIA TECH (11-2) VS STANFORD (11-1)

Rushing
Passing
Points
TO’s
ST
A.O.R
VIRGINIA TECH 194
190
30
2.0
101.1
STANFORD
196
230
31
2.2
-
103.7
First meeting between these two schools. After an 0-2 start to the season, VT capped its incredible turnaround with a win in the ACC Champ game. The Hokies rattled off 11 straight wins and are the only school in the FBS to win 10 gms in each of the L/7Y. They also became the 1st tm S/’00 to win every ACC gm (Fla St). The Cardinal had a superb regular season as they never trailed heading into HT the entire year with one 2H slip up coming against BCS Champ bound Oregon. Both teams faced and destroyed Wake Forest TY with the Deacons being their only common opp. Stanford does have the benefit of an extra week of rest (Hokies played into Dec with ACC Title gm) but does travel more than 3,000 miles to get to Miami while VT is playing in ACC country.
The #20 VT offense is led by prolific QB Taylor who is one of only two active FBS QB’s with 6,000 pass yds and 2,000 rush yds in his career (Nevada’s Kaepernick). He also owns the most wins by a QB in VT history. VT has used a 3-headed monster to man the RB spot with Evans, Wilson and Williams combining for 25 of the team’s 30 rush TD’s (Taylor other 5). on defense, LB Taylor leads VT in tkls and has tallied 15.5 tfl TY. The secondary comes in ranked #6 in my pass eff D all’g 199 ypg (51%) with a 15-22 ratio. CB Hosley has grabbed an NCAA leading 8 int TY. He needs one here to tie Ron Davidson’s 1967 record of 9 in a season. Overall the D ranks #22. Once again VT relied on a Sr walk-on PK to handle the duties and he’s responded by hitting 20 straight (only miss was first att of ssn vs Boise). The return teams have been spectacular as VT avg’s 12.4 ypr on PR with 1 TD while the KR’s avg 23.7 ypr with 2 TD’s (by Wilson). VT (#20 ST ranking) has blocked a kick in 126 gms under Beamer.

With the departure of Heisman runner-up Gerhart, many thought the offense could be down some but they answered critics early and avg’d 40 ppg. The group is led by AA QB Luck who some expect to be the #1 overall pick in the ‘11 draft. This will be his 1st bowl game as he was unable to go in the Sun Bowl LY (inj). Luck took 98% of the team’s passes and was so durable that coaches flirted with using bkup Loukas at other positions during the spg. Overall the SU offense finished with my #4 ranking. The SU defense finished with my #25 ranking all’g just 18 ppg on the ssn (7 opp under 300 yds). The LB’s were the most stable part of the D led by Skov and Thomas who finished #1 and #2 in tkls. The secondary all’d 200 ypg (58%) with a 15-17 ratio ranking #19 in my pass def. Special Team’s were led by the steady kicking of Whitaker who delivered the GW FG vs USC and SU has my #42 ST ranking.
While a lot of analysts will look at both “star” QB’s and predict a ton of points, keep in mind both defenses rank in my top 25. VT will try to run the clock with their diversified rush offense and prior to the ACC Championship, the D had all’d 21 pts or under 7 straight games. SU’s D gets overlooked but has 3 shutouts this year and finished the season all’g 8.8 ppg the L/5. It will also be interesting to see if the rumors surrounding HC Harbaugh’s future employment will effect the play of his team but in the end, I think Luck is the better QB and the Cardinal the better team in a very competitive game. Read more…

Indpendence Bowl Forecast!

December 27th, 2010 No comments
INDEPENDENCE BOWL
5:00 PM ESPN2
Click on the bowl logo for MORE info!!!!

GEORGIA TECH (6-6) VS AIR FORCE (8-4)

Rushing
Passing
Points
TO’s
ST
A.O.R
GEORGIA TECH 347
60
27
2.4
-
99.2
AIR FORCE
308
120
27
2.3
••••
96.4
If you are wanting to watch this bowl game tonight make sure you tune in right at 5:00 PM as this bowl matches up two option offenses and it could be the shortest bowl game in actual time length this season. A couple of interesting notes in this game will be GT HC Johnson facing his former rival (Johnson former Navy HC) as he won his final 5 games against the Falcons from ’03-’07. Another important recent development is that Johnson suspended 3 defensive players for the 1H for violating curfew as well.

While GT is likely disappointed with the season as a whole, as after winning the ACC Title LY, they’ve fallen to 6-6. AF, however is thrilled, after going 8-4 TY beating BYU and winning the CIC Trophy for the 1st time since 2002. The Jackets have taken on the tougher sked (#58-81) but remember that AF travelled to Oklahoma and gave them a scare, only losing by 3. This is a long distance from both schools but AF has the edge with military bases located nearby and the Bowl offering up a Military Ticket Initiative to donate to local bases. While AF ended its season earlier (11/18, GT done 11/27), this is the offense each team takes on daily, so extra prep time weighs no benefit to either.

GT comes in with my #51 offense but there is a question at QB. Against VA Tech, st’r Nesbitt broke his arm while trying to make a tkl. He was aiming to return here, but currently is doubtful. His bkup Washington has thrown for 97 ypg (63%) with a 2-1 ratio while adding 289 rush (4.4) in his 3 starts. HC Johnson called out RB Allen at times throughout the season and he responded by earning 1st Tm ACC and finished #2 in the conference in rushing. Johnson had some issues with the OL and was forced to alter the rotation due to injuries throughout the season (5 different starting combos used). Their #65 defense has not had the same inj issues as they’ve missed 1 start due to inj this entire year. The special teams come in with just my #105 ranking and this could be a problem area for the Jackets tonight.

On the other side Air Force’s #43 offense is led by QB Jefferson. While AF is definitely a run first offense (699 rush att, 145 pass TY), Jefferson went over 100 yds pass 7x’s incl a ssn high 201 vs Utah. Three of AF’s top 5 rushers are underclassmen led by Jr Clark. AF was thin at FB after losing Tew vs SDSt but Walker stepped up and rushed for 264 (5.0) in the L/3. Tew is expected to return and that should bolster AF’s run offense that ranks #2 in the NCAA and the Falcons are 20-4 when a player goes over 100 rush yds in a gm. AF’s D has been known for TO’s under HC Calhoun as into TY they were +46 in his tenure! While they’ve forced 20 fmbl’s TY, they’ve only recovered 7 and on the season they’re just +1 TO. LY the run D all’d zero 200 yd rush gm, but TY 6 have gone over that number (incl 377 all’d to TCU). They do rank #21 in my pass eff D all’g 157 ypg (56%) with a 10-11 ratio. The #12 ST’s unit is led by KR Warzeka who had a 100 yd KR TD. The unit has blk’d at least 1 kick every year since ‘90 and has 3 TY.

Air Force, as all service academies do, prepares well for the bowls and this year they see a new venue after having been to the Armed Forces Bowl three straight years. Georgia Tech, with 6 wins, is disappointed at being here but, of course, does not have to spend the time most teams do prepping for this opponent. The Yellow Jackets have dropped 4 of their last 5 gms, all by a TD plus and I feel that it’ll be tough for them to be motivated plus Johnson’s bowl performances the past two years have left a lot to be desired. Read more…

Little Caesar’s Forecast Plus Contest Standings

December 26th, 2010 No comments
LITTLE CAESARS PIZZA BOWL
8:30PM ESPN
Click on the bowl logo for MORE info!!!!

FIU (6-6) VS TOLEDO (8-4)

Rushing
Passing
Points
TO’s
ST
A.O.R
FIU 151
230
28
2.7
-
93.3
TOLEDO
184
225
31
1.7
94.9

This is the Rockets and Golden Panthers third meeting in the past three seasons. The series is tied at 1-1 with the road team winning both matchups. In 2008 FIU won 35-16 despite Toledo having 20-12 FD and 302-239 yd edges as FIU was +4 TO’s. Last year UT had a 566-372 yd edge but gave up a TD with :03 left and only won 41-31. FIU won its first ever SBC Title and this is also its first ever bowl. While the SBC Champion has usually gone to the New Orleans Bowl, the Panthers avg’d just 16,545 fans this year while a huge turnout from nearby Toledo is expected (UT campus just 60 miles from Detroit) to fill Ford Field.

FIU has 5 players with 278+ rush yds who all avg at least 4.0 ypc. That includes WR Hilton who avg 157 all-purp ypg. FIU’s #82 defense is the reason they are here as they led the SBC in both scoring and total def despite having 7 underclassmen starters in the lineup. The Golden Panthers have my #36 pass eff D led by Sr DB Gaitor and is all’g 206 ypg (54%) with an 18-12 ratio.

On the other side UT lost starting QB Dantin to a shoulder injury early vs Eastern Michigan causing him basically miss the L/4 games of the regular season. He clearly is not 100% but would like to see some action tonight because of his experience. Backup Owens took over and surprisingly, after the Rockets avg’d 318 ypg in the first 8 games under Dantin, they avg 443 ypg in the L/4 under Owens. Owens avg 237 (62%) with an 11-2 ratio in those 4. 1st Tm All-MAC WR Page posted more receptions than the next 5 Rocket receivers combined and leads the conference in all-purp yds (159 ypg). While UT’s D was #3 in the FBS in takeaways with 33 (T-#3 TO margin, +14) and they have my #61 pass eff def allowing 239 ypg (63%) with an outstanding 15-19 ratio.

Toledo, again, has a winning record for the 1st time in 5 seasons while FIU has reached 6 wins for the 1st time since they started a football program in 2002. FIU started impressively playing 4 BCS schools and were only outgained by 18 ypg. They finished the ssn winning 4 straight and had clinched the SBC Title prior to their loss to Middle Tennessee. Toledo did knock off Purdue on the road and then later finished the season winning 5 of 6 gms but they did get mauled vs Northern Illinois in what was a quazi-MAC West Title gm. While the tms are even on paper, the deciding factor is FIU being +6.8 ypg vs bowl elig tms while UT was -174 ypg vs the same. Read more…

Poinsettia Bowl Forecast/Bowl Contest Update

December 23rd, 2010 No comments

Each day during bowl season in my daily blog, I will give you my forecasts on the bowl games taking place that day. My forecasts will include a detailed write-up with my computer’s projected box score including rushing and passing yards, points and turnovers along with a detailed write-up on each game.

Please make sure to check PhilSteele.com everyday for complete information and coverage on all the bowl matchups. On the homepage click on the Bowl matchups link, where you will find all 35 bowl games. Click on the bowl logo for each game to get all the information you need to become an expert!

Also I just put up my 2011 NFL Draft Preview with the top 10 prospects at each of the positions. Take a look now to see where your favorite player is ranked and get a sneak peek at who will be taken in the early rounds next April. Read more…