The 12th and final week of the VHTRC contest saw a massive pile-up at the top of the results table. Six players tied for first with 13 games picked correctly. Paul Blackman, who picks the strong majority of each week's games, was in that group of weekly winners for the Fourth week in a row! Amazing. Perhaps TOO amazing?! In his own words: 'Good grief. Am I subject to impeachment?' The others who joined Paul atop this week's charts: Eric Thornton, Philip Westlake, Jim Daniels, Heath Harris, and, interestingly enough, the other person who selects the games, Quatro Hubbard. Jim Daniels was ultimately less interested in his luck in this contest, as he was among a number of VHTRC members who got lucky in the Western States lottery this past weekend. Heath Harris was last year's overall contest winner; he now gets to pass the 'green jacket' on to this year's decisive winner, Scott Lee.
Scott had quite the weekend. The highlight for him no doubt was being the 2019 season champion in our contest. But incidentally, he, too, was a winner in the Western States lottery. Good luck with your training for not only Western, but the Grand Slam! And congratulations on your dominant win in this year's football contest - Scott averaged just under 12 correct picks each week. Second place this year went to Jim Harris, Heath's dad. Paul Blackman's hot streak to end the season earned him a place on the podium, as he edged out Darin Dunham, Michael Strzelecki and Charlie Miracle.
And now, on to the bowls! All 41(!) of them. Twice as much fun as the regular season for you - literally. The first games are Friday December 20th, so get your picks in prior.
About the Contest and Rules (read before playing the first time)
| Games | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowl | Date-TV | Team One | Team Two | |||
| Bahamas Bowl Bahamas | Dec 20 2:00 ESPN | Charlotte (7–5) | Buffalo (7–5) | |||
| Frisco Bowl Frisco, TX | Dec 20 7:30 ESPN2 | Kent State (6–6) | Utah State (7–5) | |||
| Celebration Bowl Atlanta | Dec 21 Noon ABC | Alcorn State (9-3) | North Carolina A&T (8-3) | |||
| New Mexico Bowl Albuquerque | Dec 21 2:00 ESPN | Central Michigan (8–5) | San Diego State (9–3) | |||
| Cure Bowl Orlando | Dec 21 2:30 CBSSN | Liberty (7–5) | Georgia Southern (7–5) | |||
| Boca Raton Bowl Boca Raton | Dec 21 3:30 ABC | Florida Atlantic (10–3) | SMU (10–2) | |||
| Camellia Bowl Montgomery, AL | Dec 21 5:30 ESPN | FIU (6–6) | Arkansas State (7–5) | |||
| Las Vegas Bowl Las Vegas | Dec 21 7:30 ABC | Washington (7–5) | Boise State (19) (12–1) | |||
| New Orleans Bowl New Orleans | Dec 21 9:00 ESPN | UAB (9–4) | Appalachian State (20) (12–1) | |||
| Gasparilla Bowl Tampa | Dec 23 2:30 ESPN | Marshall (8–4) | UCF (9–3) | |||
| Hawai'i Bowl Honolulu | Dec 24 8:00 ESPN | BYU (7–5) | Hawaii (9–5) | |||
| Independence Bowl Shreveport, LA | Dec 26 4:00 ESPN | Louisiana Tech (9–3) | Miami (FL) (6–6) | |||
| Quick Lane Bowl Detroit | Dec 26 8:00 ESPN | Eastern Michigan (6–6) | Pittsburgh (7–5) | |||
| Military Bowl Annapolis | Dec 27 Noon ESPN | Temple (8–4) | North Carolina (6–6) | |||
| Pinstripe Bowl Bronx, NY | Dec 27 3:20 ESPN | Michigan State (6–6) | Wake Forest (8–4) | |||
| Texas Bowl Houston | Dec 27 6:45 ESPN | Oklahoma State (25)(8–4) | Texas A&M (7–5) | |||
| Holiday Bowl San Diego | Dec 27 8:00 FS1 | Iowa Hawkeyes (16) (9–3) | USC (22) (8–4) | |||
| Cheez It Bowl Phoenix | Dec 27 10:15 ESPN | Air Force (10–2) | Washington State (6–6) | |||
| Cotton Bowl Arlington, TX | Dec 28 Noon ESPN | Memphis (17) (12–1) | Penn State (10) (10–2) | |||
| Camping World Bowl Orlando, FL | Dec 28 Noon ABC | Iowa State (7–5) | Notre Dame (15) (10–2) | |||
| Peach Bowl Atlanta | Dec 28 4:00 ESPN | LSU (1) (13–0) | Oklahoma (4) (12–1) | |||
| Fiesta Bowl Glendale, AZ | Dec 28 8:00 ESPN | Ohio State (2) (13–0) | Clemson (3) (13–0) | |||
| First Responder Bowl Dallas | Dec 30 12:30 ESPN | Western Michigan (7–5) | Western Kentucky (8–4) | |||
| Music City Bowl Nashville | Dec 30 4:00 ESPN | Mississippi State (6–6) | Louisville (7–5) | |||
| Redbox Bowl Santa Clara | Dec 30 4:00 FOX | Illinois (6–6) | California (7–5) | |||
| Orange Bowl Miami Gardens, FL | Dec 30 8:00 ESPN | Florida (9) (10–2) | Virginia (24) (9–4) | |||
| Belk Bowl Charlotte, NC | Dec 31 Noon ESPN | Kentucky (7–5) | Virginia Tech (8–4) | |||
| Sun Bowl El Paso | Dec 31 2:00 CBS | Arizona State (7–5) | Florida State (6–6) | |||
| Liberty Bowl Memphis | Dec 31 3:45 ESPN | Navy (23) (10–2) | Kansas State (8–4) | |||
| Arizona Bowl Tucson | Dec 31 4:30 CBSSN | Wyoming (7–5) | Georgia State (7–5) | |||
| Alamo Bowl San Antonio | Dec 31 7:30 ESPN | Texas (7–5) | Utah (11) (11–2) | |||
| Outback Bowl Tampa | Jan 1 1:00 ESPN | Minnesota (18) (10–2) | Auburn (12) (9–3) | |||
| Citrus Bowl Orlando | Jan 1 1:00 ABC | Michigan (14) (9–3) | Alabama (13) (10–2) | |||
| Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA | Jan 1 5:00 ESPN | Oregon (6) (11–2) | Wisconsin (8) (10–3) | |||
| Sugar Bowl New Orleans | Jan 1 8:45 ESPN | Georgia (5) (11–2) | Baylor (7) (11–2) | |||
| Birmingham Bowl Birmingham, AL | Jan 2 3:00 ESPN | Boston College (6–6) | Cincinnati (21) (10–3) | |||
| Gator Bowl Jacksonville | Jan 2 7:00 ESPN | Tennessee (7–5) | Indiana (8–4) | |||
| Potato Bowl Boise | Jan 3 3:30 ESPN | Ohio (6–6) | Nevada (7–5) | |||
| Armed Forces Bowl Fort Worth | Jan 4 11:30am ESPN | Tulane (6–6) | Southern Miss (7–5) | |||
| LendingTree Bowl Mobile | Jan 6 7:30 ESPN | Miami (Ohio) (8–5) | La.-Lafayette (10–3) | |||
| CFP National Championship New Orleans | Jan 13 8:00 ESPN | Peach Winner | Fiesta Winner | |||
In this contest, VHTRC members pick the winners of 16 college and four NFL games each week. The contestants are ranked by correct picks. (NFL ties don't count.)
Quatro (and any other volunteers) selects the games each week. Contestants must submit their picks by 11 p.m. on Friday. We tally scores for the week and over the season. (For the season totals, a contestant who misses a week's submission will receive the number of correct picks of the worst player minus two.)
Point Spreads We will continue to have point spreads for some games. We will list a number of points that will be added to or subtracted from the score of the home team before determining the game winner for our purposes. If the home team is the favorite, the spread will be a negative number, e.g. "-3.5," meaning that, in this case, if the home teams wins the game, 10-7, it will lose for our purposes because we will subtract 3.5 points from the home team's score.
If the home team is an underdog, the points will be postive, e.g. +3.5 points. In this case, if the home team loses 10-7, it will win for our purposes.
All point spreads will include half a point to prevent ties.
Ties in Regulation New this year, if a game with a point spread is tied in regulation, we will stop there and declare the underdog the winner. We will not use the final score. If there was no point spread or the game was "pick 'em," we will use the final score.
Some games will not have points. We will obtain points from Internet sources of Las Vegas odds, we may make up spreads ourselves. In any case, the points we list are the points that count regardless of what any other Web site says or how they may change during the week.
The goal of having points is to be able to have games like Notre Dame vs. Navy in the contest even if the game is in South Bend.
Regular entrants will receive a reminder e-mail on Thursday if they have not yet submitted picks for that week. A contestant may submit picks each week multiple times, but only the last submission counts.
There is no tangible award for the winner. Winning is priceless! (So suck eggs, Mr. IG!)
Your ranking will be public, so don't do this if you don't want that.