This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
All-Haiku Bowl Results, 2009
Jan
8
2010
Okay, okay, it is 2010 at this point, but the results are headlines as 2009 because they match with the 2009 predictions made in 2009 for the 2009 season. Also, the results are not all-haiku, just the predictions were. A more accurate title would be “Results for the All-Haiku Predictions made in 2009”.
Before the bowl games commenced for this past college football season, I made some predictions. Here, for your reading enjoyment, is the tally of those predictions. Note that the results are not in haiku form, in contrast to the predictions.
Results
Here is the list (correct predictions in green, incorrect in red):
Fresno State over Wyoming
UCF over Rutgers
Southern Miss over Middle Tennessee
Oregon St. over BYU
Utah over Cal
Nevada over SMU
Ohio over Marshall
Pitt over UNC
BC over USC
Kentucky over Clemson
Georgia over Texas A&M
UCLA over Temple
Miami over Wisconsin
Bowling Green over Idaho
Arizona over Nebraska
Houston over Air Force
Stanford over Oklahoma
Navy over Missouri
Iowa State over Minnesota
VT over Tennessee
Northwestern over Auburn
PSU over LSU
WVU over FSU
Oregon over Ohio State
Florida over Cincinnati
NIU over USF
UConn over South Carolina
OK St. over Ole Miss
Arkansas over East Carolina
Texas Tech over MSU
Boise St. over TCU
Iowa over Georgia Tech
CMU over Troy
Texas over Alabama
And here are the results of the various forecasting methodologies (see last year’s results for description of the methodologies) (also, use the word methodologies if you want to sound important; methods would work just as well and is shorter) :
- Some Blog Site picks were 15-19 (better than last year!)
- CBS120 picks were 19-15
- HTW was 20-14 for the official Home Team Wins (HTW)
- HTW was 11-23 for the Geographical Home Team (GHT)
- Isaacson-Tarbell Postulate (ITP) was 20-14 if using HTW
- ITP was 16-18 if using GHT
I won’t analyze the results as much as I did last year, mainly because I had more time and more sleep last year. But it was a bad year for GHT; last year it was by far the best method. Just goes to show that college ball isn’t as uniform and well-behaved as the NFL. Of course, by well-behaved, I mean the predictability of the statistics and games, not the manners of the players themselves.
Thoughts on the season’s results
- What more does Boise St. have to do? They should be ranked second, not fourth, in the season-end polls. Texas didn’t prove they’re the second-best team in the country; they just proved they’re not the best. Boise St. had better get a top-5 pre-season ranking because they deserve the same presumption of excellence that any other big-name school (of which they are now one) would get.
- Texas did not get a fair deal in the championship game with Colt McCoy taken out on the first drive. That is what happens during football sometimes, but it still felt like I was swindled. I was all set to watch the two Heisman candidates battle it out, and I didn’t get to do so.
- I don’t personally know Nick Saban, but his expression and demeanor after the Gatorade bath really made me think that he is not friendly. Your team is about to win the championship, your players just dumped a cooler full of beverage on you to celebrate, and all you do is scowl? Maybe his all-business attitude helps him win, but he is the face of Alabama football and he needs to remember to help out the PR department a bit. Yes, winning a national championship is great PR. All I’m saying is that my main memory from the game is the expression on his face and how unhappy it looked. It was so out of place.
Conferences
Since the strength of the conference has something to do with the results, I thought I would tally each conference’s bowl game record for the 2009 (and the first bit of 2010) season.
- ACC: 3-4
- Big 10: 4-3
- Big 12: 4-4
- Big East: 4-2
- Independent: 1-0
- MAC: 1-4
- MW: 4-1
- PAC10: 2-5
- SEC: 6-4
- Sun Belt: 1-1
- USA: 2-4
- WAC: 2-2
So the best conference was the Mt. West and the worst was the MAC. Perhaps you could say that the SEC was the best because they had ten teams go to bowls. Or you could say the SEC was just the most popular conference.
If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.
Genesis 4:7
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 11:06 pm and has been carefully placed in the Sports category.
January 9th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
I agree that Texas shouldn’t be #2, but I think I understand why they made that choice: their second-half comeback with a freshman quarterback. If Bama had blown out Texas, there’s no way they’d be #2. But the unlikely comeback — along with Saban’s off-putting grumpiness even after the game and general jerkiness with the unnecessary late touchdown — made Texas a sympathetic team.