Week 1 2014: Results are in, grades are posted! #saturdayselections

It was a pretty good week for our panel of experts picking football games this week, and we are excited for the debut of several new members to our group of experts.  With the launch of the SEC network, we are welcoming the greatest 3rd string quarterback in NFL history, Tim Tebow, along with Marcus Spears to our panel.  It looks like they will be making picks at the end of the SEC Network pseudo-Gameday each week, so we will be watching closely.  We also welcome to the team the overly handsome Greg McElroy who will likely be joining the Dari & Mel Saturday morning broadcast.  Tim and Marcus started off the season 4-0, with Greg going 5-0.  Pretty nice little debut.

Winners this week include Desmond Howard (10-1), Lee Corso (9-1), Kirk Herbstreit (9-1), Robert Smith (6-1), Pat Forde (27-4), and Phil Steele (7-1).  Losers this week were in short supply, so we will give it to special guest celebrity Stone Cold Steve Austin (5-4) and Trevor Matich (1-2).  However, our undisputed Week 1 champion is without a doubt Colin Cowherd, who posted a perfect 12-0 on the week.

Other notable personalities include my wife Jennifer, who posted a solid 8-3 on the week, as well as Charley the Cat, who went 1-0 picking FSU over Oklahoma State.  Charley the Cat will be replacing Billy the Cat, who retired unexpectedly mid-season last year, and Charley will be going head to head with Lee Corso’s headgear picks to finally answer the ultimate question:  who is better at picking big games?  Lee Corso, or our cat?

Charley picks FSU
Charley picks FSU

Check out the full slate below to see how your favorite (or most hated) personality did this week.

Lee Corso: 9-1
RIGHT Bama over WVU
RIGHT USC over Fresno St
RIGHT Tennessee over Utah St
RIGHT Louisville over Miami Fl
WRONG Iowa St over NDSU
RIGHT Ohio St over Navy
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson
RIGHT EWU over SHSU (headgear pick)
RIGHT FSU over Okla St (headgear pick)

Kirk Herbstreit: 9-1
WRONG UCF over Penn St
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin
RIGHT USC over Fresno St
RIGHT Tennessee over Utah St
RIGHT Louisville over Miami Fl
RIGHT NDSU over Iowa St
RIGHT UCLA over UVA
RIGHT Ohio St over Navy
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson
RIGHT Bama over WVU

Desmond Howard: 10-1
RIGHT Bama over WVU
RIGHT FSU over Okla St
RIGHT Michigan over App St
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson
RIGHT Auburn over Arkansas
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin
RIGHT Tennessee over Utah St
RIGHT Louisville over Miami Fl
WRONG Iowa St over NDSU
RIGHT UCLA over Virginia
RIGHT Ohio St over Navy

Stone Cold Steve Austin: 5-4
WRONG Utah St over Tennessee
WRONG Miami Fl over Louisville
WRONG Iowa St over NDSU
RIGHT UCLA over UVA
RIGHT Ohio St over Navy
WRONG Wisconsin over LSU
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson
RIGHT Bama over WVU
RIGHT FSU over Okla St

David Pollack: 5-0
RIGHT FSU over Okla St
RIGHT Bama over WVU
RIGHT Michigan over App St
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin

Jennifer’s Picks: 8-3
WRONG S.Carolina over TAMU
WRONG Wisconsin over LSU
RIGHT USC over Fresno St
RIGHT Bama over WVU
RIGHT Tennessee over Utah St
RIGHT Louisville over Miami Fl
RIGHT NDSU over Iowa St
RIGHT UCLA over Virginia
RIGHT Ohio St over Navy (closer than the experts think)
WRONG Clemson over Georgia (upset special)
RIGHT FSU over Okla St

Tim Tebow: 4-0
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin
RIGHT Bama over WVU
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson
RIGHT Auburn over Arkansas

Marcus Spears: 4-0
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson
RIGHT Bama over WVU
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin
RIGHT Auburn over Arkansas

Paul Finebaum: 4-0
RIGHT Bama over WVU
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin
RIGHT Auburn over Arkansas

Greg McElroy: 5-0
RIGHT Ohio St over Navy
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin
RIGHT FSU over Okla St
RIGHT Bama over WVU

Dari Nowkhah: 4-0
RIGHT FSU over Okla St
RIGHT Ohio St over Navy
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin

Mel Kiper Jr.: 4-0
RIGHT Ohio St over Navy
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin
RIGHT FSU over Okla St

Danny Kanell: 1-0
RIGHT FSU over Okla St

Colin Cowherd: 12-0
RIGHT Mich St over Jax St
RIGHT Ohio St over Navy
RIGHT UCLA over UVA
RIGHT Bama over WVU
RIGHT ND over Rice
RIGHT Auburn over Arkansas
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson
RIGHT USC over Fresno St
RIGHT FSU over Okla St
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin
RIGHT Oregon over S.Dakota
RIGHT Washington over Hawaii

Mark May: 1-0
RIGHT Ole Miss over Boise St

Brian Griese: 1-0
RIGHT Ole Miss over Boise St

Todd McShay: 1-1
WRONG S.Carolina over TAMU
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson

Trevor Matich: 1-2
WRONG S.Carolina over TAMU
WRONG Clemson over Georgia
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin

Ryen Russillo: 1-0
RIGHT Ohio St over Navy

Robert Smith: 6-1
WRONG S.Carolina over TAMU
RIGHT Michigan over App St
RIGHT Ohio St over Navy
RIGHT FSU over Okla St
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson
RIGHT OU over LaTech
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin

Pat Forde: 27-4
WRONG Colorado over CSU
RIGHT Mich St over Jax St
RIGHT Arizona over UNLV
RIGHT UNC over Liberty
RIGHT UCLA over UVA
WRONG Iowa St over ND St
RIGHT KState over SFA
RIGHT Mizzou over SD St
RIGHT Nebraska over FAU
RIGHT OU over LaTech
RIGHT FSU over Okla St
RIGHT Iowa over N Iowa
RIGHT Michigan over App St
WRONG NW over Cal
RIGHT Ohio over Kent St
RIGHT Marshall over Mia(OH)
RIGHT Toledo over NH
RIGHT Oregon over S Dakota
RIGHT USC over Fresno St
RIGHT Stanford over UCD
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson
RIGHT Bama over WVU
RIGHT Auburn over Arkansas
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin
RIGHT Washington over Hawaii
RIGHT Wyoming over Montana
RIGHT Ohio St over Navy
RIGHT ND over Rice
WRONG UCF over Penn St
RIGHT Tennessee over Utah St
RIGHT Baylor over SMU

Tim Cowlishaw: 3-0
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin
RIGHT FSU over Okla St
RIGHT Texas over UNT

Phil Steele: 7-1
RIGHT Bama over WVU
RIGHT Marshall over MiaOH
RIGHT Mich over App St
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson
WRONG S.Carolina over TAMU
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin
RIGHT FSU over Okla St
RIGHT Ohio St over Navy

Joey Galloway: 1-0
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson

Mike Bellotti: 1-0
RIGHT FSU over Okla St

Kevin Carter: 1-0
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin

Jason Sehorn: 4-0
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin
RIGHT Bama over WVU
RIGHT Louisville over Miami FL
RIGHT Georgia over Clemson

Jon Berger: 2-0
RIGHT Bama over WVU
RIGHT Louisville over Miami FL

Chris Fallica: 1-1
WRONG South Carolina over TAMU
RIGHT LSU over Wisconsin

2013-14 Season Awards!

Yeah so it is a little bit delayed, but here are the awards for our 2013-14 season of Cole’s Gameday Blog Football Championship Stuff Edition!!!

2013-14 Bowl Co-Champions:
Phil Steele/Robert Smith (21-14).  It was a down year in the Bowl Pick’em leagues, but our two champs this year include multiple Bowl Pick’em winner Robert Smith, and newcomer (to this blog) Phil Steele.

Best preseason pick of the year: Colin Cowherd, Ole Miss over Texas.  It was supposed to be a bounce-back year for Mack Brown and the Texas Longhorns, and nobody was predicting big things for the Ole Miss Rebels.  However, Colin went out on a limb and called this one week before the season started, and was amazingly right!

Best Weeks of the Year:
Colin Cowherd, Week 9 (11-0)
Bubba Watson, Week 5 (10-0)
Jennifer’s Picks, Week 5 (13-1)
Pat Forde, Week 4 (30-3)

Worst Week of the Year:
Robert Smith, Week 8 (0-9)

Best Picks of the Year:
Lou Holtz, Week 1: NDSU over KState
Lou Holtz, Fiest Bowl: UCF over Baylor
Nobody on earth would have picked either of these upsets.  Somehow Lou Holtz picked both.  What does this mean?  I don’t know, but it is impressive.

Upset Specialists:
Jennifer’s upset specials: 10-5, 66.67%
Mark Schlabach: 7-5, 58.33%
Todd McShay: 8-10, 44.44%
Brad Edwards: 6-8, 42.86%
Lee Corso: 2-3, 40%
Kirk Herbstreit: 1-4, 20%

2013-14 Cole’s Gameday Blog SEASON CHAMPION!!!
Pat Forde: 301-95, 76.01%
This year’s champion, Pat Forde, is unusual in the sense that not only did he finish with the strongest record amongst our competitors, but he also had the most picks of anyone this year.  I would say that is strong to quite strong.  The full slate of results is below, but let’s take a minute to congratulate Pat Forde for a historic season.

The first section is our true competitors this season, and the second section are those who didn’t have enough picks to qualify for the yearly awards.

Pat Forde: 301-95, 76.01%
Phil Steele: 102-36, 73.91%
Colin Cowherd: 115-43, 72.78%
Desmond Howard: 71-30, 70.30%
Jennifer’s Picks: 149-63, 70.28%
Mel Kiper Jr.: 54-27, 66.67%
Lee Corso: 128-50, 66.07%
Mike Bellotti: 26-14, 65.00%
Mark May: 46-25, 64.79%
Kirk Herbstreit: 114-63, 64.41%
Dari Nowkhah: 117-66, 63.93%
Jason Sehorn: 72-43, 62.61%
Brad Edwards: 31-19, 62.00%
Celebrity Guests: 95-60, 61.29%
Todd McShay: 65-44, 59.63%
David Pollack: 32-22, 59.26%
Mark Schlabach: 31-24, 56.36%
Robert Smith: 70-55, 56.00%
Lou Holtz: 38-31, 55.07%

Tim Cowlishaw: 3-0, 100.00%
Tim Tebow: 1-0, 100.00%
Kevin Blackistone: 1-0, 100.00%
Charles Arbuckle: 26-5, 83.87%
Ivan Maisel: 16-5, 76.19%
Chris Fowler: 12-4, 75.00%
Trevor Matich: 29-10, 74.36%
Tom Luginbill: 24-10, 70.59%
Paul Finebaum: 15-7, 68.18%
Bill Plaschke: 4-2, 66.67%
Matt Millen: 5-3, 62.50%
Ryen Russillo: 23-14, 62.16%
Danny Kanell: 12-8, 60.00%
Joey Galloway: 3-2, 60.00%
Andre Ware: 3-2, 60.00^
Jesse Palmer: 14-10, 58.33%
Skip Bayless: 9-7, 56.25%
Brian Griese: 21-18, 53.85%
Ed Cunningham: 18-17, 51.43%
Chris Fallia: 11-11, 50.00%
Kevin Carter: 4-4, 50.00%
Scott Van Pelt: 3-3, 50.00%
Woody Paige: 2-2, 50.00%
JA Adande: 1-1, 50.00%
Mike Golic: 1-1, 50.00%
Stephen A. Smith: 1-1, 50.00%
Matt Stinchcomb: 7-8, 46.67%
Brock Huard: 2-3, 40.00%
Jackie MacMullen: 0-1, 0.00%
Mike Greenberg: 0-2, 0.00%
Rod Gilmore: 0-4, 0.00%

2013-14 Bowl Season: Results are in! #bowlmania

In this reporter’s opinion, the 2013-14 Bowl Season was one that upfront looked like a disapointing schedule, yet turned out to be one of the more exciting bowl seasons I can remember.  The BCS era definitely went out with a bang thanks to four of five major upsets, and a championship game which will be remembered for a long time.  However, our panel of experts struggled this year with the bowl picks.  For reference, the previous bowl season champions are:

2006-2007 Bowl Season Champion: Howie Schwab @ 24-8, 75%
2007-2008 Bowl Season Champion: Colin Cowherd @ 25-7, 78.1%
2008-2009 Bowl Season Champion: Pat Forde @ 17-10, 63%
2009-2010 Bowl Season Champion: Jesse Palmer @ 18-16, 52.9%
2010-2011 Bowl Season Champion: Todd McShay @ 20-11, 64.52%
2011-2012 Bowl Season Champion: Tony Reali @ 25-10, 71.43%
2012-13 Bowl Season Co-Champions: Robert Smith & Jennifer, 25-10, 71.43%

So some years are up and others are down.  This wasn’t quite as bad as the 2009-10 season when Jesse Palmer won the championship basically because I already ordered the trophy and had to send it to somebody.  However, this year I would like to present to you a set of co-champions for the second year in a row.  This year’s winners are last year’s co-champion Robert Smith and newcomer Phil Steele.  They went 21-14 this season, which is low for a champion, but this is also a year in which none of our main competitors (defined as those who picked all 35 games) finished with a losing record.  It was a very tight group.  Check out the records below to see how your favorite (or most hated) personality did this year in the bowl games.

Qualifying Competitors:
Phil Steele: 21-14
Robert Smith: 21-14
Dari Nowkhah: 20-15
Jennifer’s Picks: 20-15
Pat Forde: 20-15
Todd McShay: 19-16
Mark Schlabach: 18-17
Ed Cunningham: 18-17

Others receiving votes:
Mel Kiper Jr.: 1-0
Mike Golic: 1-0
Chris Fowler: 1-0
Trevor Matich: 1-0
Tim Tebow: 1-0
Brad Edwards: 1-0
Scott Van Pelt: 1-0
Bill Plaschke: 1-0
Ivan Maisel: 1-0
Stephen A Smith: 1-0
Andre Ware: 3-2
Joey Galloway: 3-2
Matt Millen: 3-2
David Pollack: 7-7
Brian Griese: 3-3
Magic Johnson: 3-3
Ryen Russillo: 2-2
Kirk Herbstreit: 6-7
Lee Corso: 4-5
Desmond Howard: 2-3
Kevin Carter: 2-3
Brock Huard: 2-3
Danny Kanell: 3-4
Jesse Palmer: 3-5
Mark May: 2-4
Lou Holtz: 2-4
Mike Bellotti: 1-4
Tom Luginbill: 1-4
Matt Stinchcomb: 1-4
Colin Cowherd: 1-5
Mike Greenberg: 0-1
Paul Finebaum: 0-1
Skip Bayless: 0-1
Woody Paige: 0-1
Jackie MacMullen: 0-1
Rod Gilmore: 0-4