The 2015-16 season of college football brought excitement and many hours wasted in front of the television, and it is with great sadness that we now enter the offseason. However, that also means that it is time to crown the 2015-16 GAMEDAYCOLE.COM SEASON CHAMPION!!! Competition was fierce this year, with 4,271 picks tracked this year and an average correct pick rate of 70.03% on the season. We had 33 competitors eligible for this year’s championship, and it is without further adieu that I present to you our 2015-16 season champion, Mr. Phil Steele!
Mr. Steele finished off this season with a record of 597-174 straight up and 121-105-2 against the spread, which comes out to 77.03% straight up and 53.54% against the spread. I don’t know what his secret is to picking games. Maybe it is his computer. Maybe it is the mustache. Maybe it is the fact that he hasn’t slept since June due to football. Whatever it is, it works. Congratulations Phil. You can now add this to your long and impressive resume, and no doubt impress acquaintances at cocktail parties with this accolade.
There are plenty of other notes to get to for this season’s wrap up. As you may notice, Greg McElroy topped the straight up percentages on the year at 84.54% with a record of 82-15 on the year. While this is impressive and deserving of congratulations, he was hurt by the limited number of games he picked, and the fact that his picks are almost entirely SEC conference picks. Phil Steele had a much larger body of work, and combined with his win rate against the spread that was enough to vault him over McElroy on the season. Next year we will probably have a separate award for the experts focusing on a single conference, but it is too late to be starting that nonsense right now.
Lee Corso’s headgear picks on the year were his worst year on record. He went 6-12 on the year in the headgear picks due to some tough breaks and close losses on underdogs. Charley the Cat had a season on par with Coach Corso, and ended up squeezing out a 7-11 season to beat Corso on the year picking games. Gameday Jen had her best season on record, going 153-59 (72.17%) on the year, so watch out Phil; she is coming for you! Maybe next year we’ll have her pick against the spread and make us some money. Our Gameday guest celebrities had an abysmal year at 56.39% picking games straight up this year. Maybe you shouldn’t be trusting Rick Ross, the Philly Phanatic, or Eric Church for your betting advice after all.
You can see the full rankings below to see how everyone else did on the year. We will be putting together a recap of preseason predictions this week to see how great everyone’s preseason picks surely went, so keep an eye out for that and much more to come.
| Straight Up | SU % | ATS | ATS % | |
| Greg McElroy | 82-15 | 84.54% | ||
| Phil Steele | 597-174 | 77.03% | 121-105-2 | 53.54% |
| Paul Finebaum | 78-27 | 74.29% | ||
| Pat Forde | 256-89 | 73.99% | ||
| Andrea Adelson | 84-30 | 73.68% | ||
| Booger McFarland | 80-32 | 72.73% | ||
| Tim Tebow | 45-17 | 72.58% | ||
| Trevor Matich | 68-26 | 72.34% | 14-21-1 | 40.00% |
| Jennifer | 153-59 | 72.17% | ||
| Jason Sehorn | 82-33 | 71.30% | ||
| Kirk Herbstreit | 120-49 | 71.01% | ||
| Marcus Spears | 55-23 | 70.51% | ||
| Brad Edwards | 89-38 | 70.08% | 22-20-1 | 52.38% |
| Colin Cowherd | 73-32 | 69.52% | ||
| David Pollack | 71-32 | 68.93% | ||
| Joey Galloway | 93-43 | 68.38% | ||
| Robert Smith | 49-23 | 68.06% | 10-17-0 | 37.04% |
| Mark May | 23-11 | 67.65% | ||
| Kevin Carter | 38-19 | 66.67% | ||
| Jon Berger | 32-16 | 66.67% | ||
| Todd McShay | 33-17 | 66.00% | ||
| Danny Kanell | 88-47 | 65.19% | 20-23-0 | 46.51% |
| Desmond Howard | 111-60 | 64.91% | ||
| Chris Fallica | 77-42 | 64.71% | 71-67-3 | 51.45% |
| Lee Corso | 101-56 | 64.33% | ||
| Ryen Russillo | 46-27 | 63.01% | 23-19-0 | 54.76% |
| Scott Van Pelt | 5-3 | 62.50% | 34-35 | 49.28% |
| Joel Klatt | 105-64 | 62.13% | ||
| Celebrity Guests | 75-58 | 56.39% | ||
| Dari Nowhkah | 46-36 | 56.10% | 10-8-0 | 55.56% |
| Lou Holtz | 13-11 | 54.17% | ||
| Stanford Steve Coughlin | 42-37 | 53.16% | 40-44-3 | 48.19% |
| Season Average | 2925-1250 | 70.06% | 365-359-10 | 50.41% |