Standings Update, Bowl Updates & Picks

Well last night sucked. Gabbert makes a horrible pass and gives Iowa a bowl win and loses a bet all at the same time. Gophers hoops played 39 nice minutes and 1 bad one and lose by 8. SYR wins easily but not covering the large 13 pt line, and the MICH afternoon pick was just plain awful...my bad. I did save face with a little NBA and SA -3 over LAL...so only a -2 day for me...could have been better, could have been worse.

Anyway, it's all about today. First, here are the updated Regular Season Football Challenge standings:

MR	136	104	56.7%
MH	135	105	56.3%
RO	129	111	53.8%
SS	126	114	52.5%
JR	123	117	51.3%
GR	123	117	51.3%
MC	123	117	51.3%
JG	122	118	50.8%
AW	122	118	50.8%

Only 3 guys with a chance at winning this thing. As a reminder - payout is $360 for 1st, $40 for 2nd, and a participation ribbon for 3rd. In the same sense, we have quite a race to not finish last...Bomber looked like he had it locked in a few weeks back, but after a nice late season push we now have 5 guys within a game of last place...who will claim this dubious honor this season?

One other note - MH holds the tiebreaker over MR by having a better NCAA Record, so if they tie then MH will be declared the winner and get the lion's share of the pot.

Bowl Updates
GR housed us all with his NCST call from yesterday and it wasn't even close. These games seem so much more obvious after seeing what happens and justifying it in your head...oh well. 2 guys hit the Iowa game correctly as well - although I'm tempted not to count that one since it was such a weak win.

STANDINGS
GR-13
AW-10
MH-10
RO-10
JR-9
MR-8
SS-6
JG-5
MC-4

The last 3 2-point games will be played today...here's a quick preview:

ECU-MARY (-7.5)
MARY fired ACC coach of the year, so this is Ralph's last game...which I have to believe will be uber-inspiring for the Terps. ECU gives up 43.4 ppg...and they still made a Bowl?!? I watched them about 3 times this year, and they are a wreck while MARY was much better than I expected. Along with the coach/motivation factor I think this is a no brainer. AW, GR, MC disagree with me...the rest are on MARY.

ILL-BAY (-1.5)
Tough call in this one as both teams finished the season dreadfully. It's in Houston, and it's Baylor's 1st Bowl game in nearly forever...so I have to think they have a lot of the motivational edges. ILL has the better D, but I'll give coach and QB edge to BAY...and that's the pick for today. SS and RO are on ILL...rest on BAY.

AZ-OKST (-6)
The ALAMO BOWL should be a good one. I see OKST much in the same light as MIZZOU from last night - they we're thinking big things, finished the season on a sour note, and this lesser bowl game is kind of a let down for them. AZ finished the season horribly, but I think they may have enough firepower to keep up with the Cowboys. The lines has gone down to 4.5 at most places, so the $$$ is coming in on AZ. OKST also lost their star OC who moved along to WV as the coach in waiting for 2012. Lots of factors on AZ's side, so that's my pick. JG, AW, SS also like AZ while the rest of you are on OKST.

I'm also going to play the HEAT -5 tonight at a bad HOU Rockets team.

Most Week 18 lines are up, but I'll give it until this afternoon to hopefully be able to add a few more before posting it.