Consider this probably your last one of these for awhile, since I am guessing Baby Beef will arrive before the Okie State series next weekend. MU heads west for a Friday night, Sat twin-bill series against Oregon.

Sometimes I am right.

At any rate, while I had hoped to get some info on the site about the Regional last weekend, it just never happened. As it stands, and really only because I am at work on a slow, before-a-holiday-weekend Friday is this one getting done. That said, lots of interesting info out there, so let's get right to it.

MU Since Last We Talked:

Um...a lot has happened since then. (Deep breathe)...and here we go.

Mizzou headed out to Eugene and took two of three from the #13 Ducks. The pitching was not great, but the Tigers plated 15 runs over three days, which is a solid output. They returned home after that to finish the regular/conference season against the Lady Pokes from Okie State. The pitching improved, with two shutouts in three days and the Tigers swept the weekend, finishing with a 1-0, 10 inning win. Of note in that game was Chelsea Thomas setting the career strikeout record at 893, as she K'ed 13 over the course of 10 innings. This gave the Tigers a final record of 43-12 (46-12 now) and 17-7 in conference, which was good enough for second place. They went 23-3 at home, 12-6 on the road and 11-3 at neutral games (which includes the NCAA games). They finished ranked 10th in THIS poll and their RPI was 14th per THIS link.

On to the Regional round of the NCAA tournament, the #9 seeded Tigers once again got to host, and once again welcomed #26 (RPI) Depaul and #52 Illinois State, along with #34 UMASS. I will tell you Mizzou lucked out a bit in never having to face UMASS (seeded #3 in the pod), as they have a pitcher with over 1,600 career K's. Yes, go back and read what I said about Thomas above and come back to me...I'll wait. Yeah. Seriously.

At any rate, the bats were a little slow to get going against a game Redbird team, but eventually the Tigers prevailed by a solid 6-0 score. Thomas spun the shut-out and Kelsey Roth went yard. That set up a winner's bracket match against Depaul and the pitching was on full display. Once again, Thomas was amazing, but the MU bats went to sleep until Ashley Fleming woke them up with the 9th inning walk-off to win the game 1-0 for Mizzou. The Tigers then waited as #4 seeded (in the pod) Illinois State went about upsetting Depaul to set up a rematch in the pod Finals. I-State was solid and squeezed across the first run against Mizzou in the tourney, but it was not enough and the Tigers advanced on a 2-1 win. They then found out that LSU had upset #8 seed aTm and the Tigers would get to stay home for the third straight year in the Super Regional round.

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Sorry about missing the ISU preview last week...just too much going on these days at work and home. Consider this probably your last one of these for awhile, since I am guessing Baby Beef will arrive before the Okie State series next weekend. MU heads west for a Friday night, Sat twin-bill series against Oregon. Some MU fans will recall Oregon from their trip to Como two years ago in the Super Regional, which saw Mizzou sweep the Ducks out and themselves into their second straight WCWS. How many Ducks are left from that team? All in good time ... but let's see how Mizzou has been doing of late.

MU Since Last We Talked:

Going all the way back to April 20, Mizzou started the big series with OU in tough fashion, losing a 10-inning heart-breaker, 2-1. Chelsea Thomas was her fairly amazing self, but the offense could not get going against Keilani Ricketts. The Tigers returned on Saturday and got their win in another extra-inning battle, prevailing 4-2. Ashley Fleming saved the day for the Tigers, tying the game in the sixth (which she had done the previous day before MU ultimately lost) before Kelsi Roth drove in the game-winning run. With a potential series win on the line on national TV on Sunday, the Tigers came up short by a score of 2-1, this time in regulation. Thomas battled as she has all year, but the Tigers were held to 4 hits and could not come back from being down 2-0 after 2.

The Tigers rested during the week last week before heading to Ames for a set of games against Big XII softball bottom-feeder Iowa State. The Tigers made quick work of the Cyclones in the first two games, winning 9-0 in 5 and 8-0 in 6. They had more HR's (6) than ISU had hits (5). The Sunday game featured the Tigers getting out to a 6-0 lead after 6 innings, but Kristen Nottelmann struggle in hanging on to the win for Bailey Erwin who had pitched the first 4 innings of the game. The Tigers needed all 6 runs, as they hung on to win and sweep the series with a 6-5 tally.

Mizzou entered the week at #9 in the polls and #17 in the RPI as they faced a late-added double-header in the form of Murray State on Wed. Erwin started Game 1 and was solid again, allowing MU to build a 4-0 lead after 5. Coach E then moved Ashley Fleming to circle (he has tried to limit Erwin at times, and I am sure he did not want to throw Thomas while keeping Nottelmann for Game 2). Fleming struggled and actually was replaced by Erwin, who returned to stop the bleeding that had resulted in a 4-4 tie. Fortunately, as she has done so many times this year, Fleming saved the day (and herself a bit) by cracking her 13th HR in the bottom of the sixth to make it 5-4, which would be the final score.

In Game 2, The Racers scored three off of Nottlemann in the top of the fourth and Mizzou came to the plate in the bottom of the 7th down 3-0. The inning started well, with the Tigers getting 2 runs on a Rachel Hay single with no outs. Ashtin Stephens laid down a SAC bunt that put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, and then Jenna Marston was intentionally passed to load them up. However, Kayla Kingsley went down swinging on a 2-2 pitch and Fleming could not save MU as she popped out to SS to end the game. This put Mizzou at 38-11 overall and 14-7 in conference. The scenario laid out by Bill C. here already has some issues as UT beat Baylor on Tuesday, moving the Horns to 14-6 while OU is 14-4. It is what it is.

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[Bumped back to top of the page. First game is tonight at 7:00 p.m. CT.]

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With the Easter Weekend series last week, it feels like longer than it really has been since last we checked in of the team, doesn't it? Anyway, MU has ascended to ninth in the major polls, and they were sitting at 14th in the RPI as of Monday afternoon (linked here). So what has the team done this past week? How are they looking so far on the season? What is on the horizon? All good questions ... let's get to some answers.

MU Since Last We Talked:

As reviewed on the site already over the weekend and on Monday, the Tigers travelled down to Austin and did what they needed to do to stay in the race for the Big XII title (since there is no tournament title) by taking two of three from the then-#3 Longhorns. Mizzou jumped out to 3-0 lead on Thursday night after the top of the 5th, and with Chelsea Thomas in the circle, MU fans had to feel good. But that UT offense took hold and pounded out nine runs (though only five earned thanks to three Mizzou errors) to take control of the game before MU score two late runs to tighten up the score at a 9-5 final. Friday night saw Thomas back in the circle, and the Tigers raced out to a similar 4-1 lead after the top of the 5th. UT scored three runs combined in the 5th and 6th to leave the score knotted at 4-4 heading to the 7th. However, the Tigers pounced for 7 runs in the inning to stake Thomas to a huge, late lead they would not relinquish, winning 11-4. The rubber match on Sunday had Thomas back in the circle for the third straight day, and she was an absolute warrior. Staked to an early 2-0 lead after the top of the 3rd, Thomas gave up only five hits and two BB's on the day, striking out nine on her way to a complete-game shutout and series winner for Mizzou, 2-0. On offense, senior Ashley Fleming was the straw that stirred the Tigers' drink, going 6-for-10 on the weekend with eight RBI's, enough to merit her winning NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK honors.

The Tigers returned home to start a short, five-game homestand by taking on the streaking UNI Panthers, winners of 15 straight. Senior Kristen Nottelmann provided Thomas some well-deserved rest by taking the circle, and she was sharp. Despite a second batter solo-shot, Nottelmann went on to give up only one additonal hit, while striking out seven and only walking one over 5 innings, which was a good sign considering her recent issues with control. Frosh Bailey Erwin picked up her second save of the year with two innings of two-hit ball (with two K's to boot). On offense, the Tigers sputtered a bit, but were able to push across single runs in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Jenna Marston had an interesting game, going 0-0 at the plate with a run scored and FOUR walks. With the win, Mizzou extended their home-field winning streak to 22 games (17 this season) and moved to 31-6 overall. They are 9-3 in conference, sitting one game back in the loss column to OU and one game up in the win column to UT.

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Well, let's keep this going, shall we? Now #11 Mizzou survived the week unscathed (though it did not always look so good at points) and moves on to one of their two biggest conference series of the season. No mid-week games this week, as the Tigers will head to Austin a day early to take on the #3 Texas Longhorns for a Thurs/Sat "weekend" series. Thursday and Friday will have games starting at 7pm with the finale kicking off at noon on Saturday so both teams can return home prior to the holiday.

MU Since Last We Talked:

Mizzou dominated in three games this week and looked perfectly mediocre in the other two. The first of those mediocre two was the first game of the week on Wednesday afternoon against Evansville. The Tigers would take an eventual 4-2 win, but Kristen Nottelmann was less than solid in the circle, walking six. The offense never really got going against a pretty terrible opponent, scoring only three earned runs on five hits, and the defense committed two errors. But all in all, a win was a win and the Tigers came back in the late-afternoon-cap to score an easy 7-0 win. Chelsea Thomas was as stout as ever, giving up one hit and one walk in 4.1 innings, striking out 11 in the process. Frosh Bailey Erwin, who has not started many games of late but is getting some somewhat consistent, late-inning work, got her first career save with the final 2.2 innings. Ashley Fleming, Rachel Hay and Kelsi Roth each went yard as the Tigers finally cracked the Aces' pitching in their second-go-round through the lineup, scoring all seven runs in innings 4-6.

That brought us to the weekend and an important home series against a down but certainly not out (and now #25) Baylor squad. Mizzou got the start it needed on Friday night, waiting around just a bit before eventually winning convincingly, 6-1. Early solo HRs by Corrin Genovese and Nicole Hudson staked the Tigers to a 2-0 lead before Lindsey Muller put the game out of reach with a 5th inning grand slam. Thomas was pulled after five innings, giving up just three hits and two walks while setting down seven. Erwin cleaned up the last two innings and gave up a single, albeit unearned run. Saturday (in front of a regional TV audience) saw the Tigers struggle at the plate against Liz Paul. Krisin Nottelmann threw one bad pitch, and all of a sudden, the Tigers were down 2-0 entering the bottom of the sixth. But Nicole Hudson came to the rescue, crushing a bases-loaded offering and staking the Tigers to a 4-2 lead that Chelsea Thomas would not relingquish in the seventh, earning her second save of the season. The finale on Sunday had Mizzou get out early and often, with Roth striking her second HR of the week as part of a seven-run burst in the opening two innings. The Tigers would not push across the eighth run, but they would not need it as Thomas gave up only two hits and two walks while setting down 10 for her 14th win of the season. Mizzou now sits at 28-5 overall, 7-2 in conference and in third place in the league. They are (as of 4/2) sitting 18th in RPI per this poll. A top-16 finish there would be desirable to help bolster Mizzou's hopes of hosting (at least) another NCAA Regional.

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Since last we talked, Mizzou had a bit of an up-and-down weekend and week, and now faces down a big home series against #17 Baylor. The weather looks like it will cooperate for the weekend, giving you one less excuse about why you were not out there wearing gold and cheering on the Tigers. Before we get to what the #17 Bears have done this year, let's get caught up on the week-that-was for Mizzou,

MU Since Last We Talked:

Clearly I had big hopes for their road-trip last weekend down to College Station, but as Bill C. has lamented, Mizzou basically went 1-2 on the weekend thanks to two swings of the bat by the Aggies. While that is obviously a drastic over-simplification of what happened, you cannot help but feel that way after looking at the box scores. Friday night saw Chelsea Thomas give up a first inning, two-out walk and then a HR to put the Tigers down early. Thomas would go on to only give up two additional hits, but the Tigers couldn't muster enough, falling 2-1. Saturday saw Mizzou get out to a 6-1 lead in the top of the 2nd and then hold on to give Kristen Nottelmann a win (and Thomas a save) by the final of 6-5. The rubber game on Sunday had Thomas pitch another gem, but she was matched (just like Friday) by Dumezich (who also accounted for the HR on Friday) of aTm, and it was scoreless through 7. Thomas, carrying a no-hitter into the decisive 8th inning gave up a lead-off double and then game-winning single one out later, giving aTm the series and a 1-0 win. The Tigers bounced back Wednesday, sweeping Evansville in a double-header 4-2 and 7-0. Nottelmann was a little erratic in the first game, walking 6 but giving up only 1 earned run for her 9th win of the year, while Thomas was again brilliant in the night-cap, buoyed by three Mizzou HR's. That leaves Thomas at 12-3 on the year and the Tigers at 25-5 overall.

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In the interest of full disclosure, I had intended (along with Bill C.) to put together some sort of Softball preview before the season got going. But, you know how it is. Basketball decided to have one of their best seasons in history and all of a sudden it was February and the season was underway. But as our Tigers head out for their first conference test of the season (24-0 over kU over three days obviously did not count), I thought maybe it was time to get people up to speed. Consider this a peace offering to those that missed it.

Mizzou, having completed a stretch of 11 home games in their last 12, takes to the road for the first time in their conference goodbye tour against a team they really are not saying goodbye to: the Texas A&M Aggies. In the past, these posts have focused solely on our opponent, but I am going to split it up a bit here to update people on how the Mizzou season has gone to this point as well. You can thank me later. So, let's start with the Tigers before moving over to the Aggies

MU Season:

Overall, the Tigers are currently sitting at 22-3 after completing a mid-week sweep of the Iowa Hawkeyes. The Tigers have won 17 in a row since last dropping a game (7-1 to Northwestern on 2/26). They have won via run-rule in 12 games this year and are 0-1 in extra inning games. Their losses have come against Eastern Kentucky (6-5 in 10 innings), the aforementioned loss to Northwestern and 6-4 to Nebraska. None of those teams are currently receiving votes per this poll. The Tigers do hold solid wins over #3 Washington (their only loss of the season, as they were no-hit by Chelsea Thomas) and #16 UCLA. For the most part, the Tigers have not really played the toughest competition to date, but have six series worth of games (18) coming up against currently-ranked opponents. The Tigers are a perfect 11-0 at home and 3-0 on the road, with their only losses coming at neutral site games, where they have gone 8-3.

MU Offense:

Thus far, the Tigers are batting .320 with an OBP of .421 and a slugging percentage of .503. They have 165 runs in 25 games with 22 HR's. There seems to be some power throughout the lineup -- Ashley Fleming leads the team in HR's, but there are seven players with 2 HR's or more. Fleming also leads the team in batting average (.405) and RBI's with Jenna Marston leading in runs. On the base paths, the team is 43-for-48 in SB's, but the distribution is pretty amazing. No one player has more than 5 SB's, and every position player who has played this year except for Rachel Hay (who is a catcher by trade) has at least 2 SB's. The team has drawn 99 BB's on the year, while only striking out 85 times. The Tigers have left an average of 6.4 runners on base per game.

MU Defense:

The team has appeared to settle down in the field from some early-season issues and is now sporting a decent fielding percentage of .973. They have committed 18 errors on the season, leading to 11 unearned runs. Those 11 unearned actually make up just over ONE-THIRD of all runs given up by the Tigers, and certainly have bitten Mizzou hard in their losses. Freshmen account for 13 of the 18 errors. The Tigers have given up 11 SB's in 12 chances.

MU Pitching:

What can you say? Dominating. The team has a combined ERA on the year of just 0.95, dropping below 1,00 after the twin shutouts of Iowa, and they have given up 21 earned runs in 154 innings. Thomas has over 45 straight innings of shutout ball, which has her ERA down to 0.54 (11-1 record on the season) and her opponent's batting average down to .116. She has given up just 24 hits and 16 BB's on the year while K'ing 89 in her 64.1 innings. Frosh Bailey Irwin is actually next in line with ERA at 1.05 while Kristen Nottelmann brings up the rear (if you can even call it that) at 1.37. The trio has held opponents to a batting average of .175 and struck out 174 batters while walking 42 and surrendering 95 hits. That is an average of less than one runner reaching base per inning....tough to score that way. I would expect to see Thomas on both Friday and Sunday (now that the Big XII-II-II+II) has only IX member institutions with teams and now plays III-game conference series) with Nottelmann on Saturday and Irwin getting some work if needed or wanted.

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It was a decent day for the Tigers yesterday, as they had seven out of ten wrestlers advance in the tournament. Unfortunately, only one of those (197 Brent Haynes) is still alive on the top of the bracket, while the other six will have their work cut out for them to stay in it and keep advancing towards All-American status (which would require they win their next three in a row). Done on the year are Drake Houdashelt at 157, Zach Toal at 165 and Devin Mellon at HWY.

Action will start at 10am today, and I believe many of the matches will be on ESPNU. For my money, Friday night's session is the best of the entire year, as it will feature the national semi-finals, as well as the high-level wrestlebacks. It will be the top of the top in terms of wrestlers at each class, and certainly worth a click or two during commercials in the hoops tournament.

Once again, some helpful links, and a big thanks to those who kept me company in here yesterday. Hopefully more folks will stop by. Also please remember to rec this to move the thread to the top of the page so folks can find it.

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Mizzou heads 120 miles to the east to start the 2012 NCAA Wrestling Championships today in St. Louis. The team had a fantastically strong run in the Big XII Championships two weeks ago, winning the title for the first time in school history and placing 9 wrestlers (of the 10 weight classes) automatically into the NCAA's. Thanks to a final, wild-card berth, HWY Devin Mellon was selected to also head to the tournament, making Mizzou the only squad in the country to have all ten wrestlers particpating. Though having the best head count, Mizzou is not expected to make a ton of noise at the very top (still reserved for Iowa and Penn State most likely this season), but that should not keep the Tigers from still having a solid finish to VERY solid season.

I will do my best over the next few days to keep this (and other) threads up to date with team information. All action can be viewed on ESPN3 (I believe for the first time) starting at 11am this morning (and then again at 6:30pm tonight) and plenty of action will be on ESPN U tomorrow before the finals on Sat. night on the mothership.

First, some helpful links to allow you to follow the action on your own (and update back here should I be out of pocket :-)

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It worked so well last weekend that with Bill out of town this weekend nerding it up, we figured we would bring it back around. Consider this your central HQ to discuss all that is going on in the Olympic Sports world this weekend. Lots of action (especially if you are actually in Como this weekend), so let's check it out...

Mizzou Baseball
Who: Ball State @ Mizzou
Game 1: Friday, 6:00 p.m. CT (Gametracker)
Game 2: 2:00 p.m. CT (Gametracker)
Game 3: 1:00 p.m. CT (Gametracker)
Radio: KTGR 1580 AM/100.5 FM in Columbia
Mizzou Notes: Here
Twitter: @MUTigerBaseball

Mizzou Swimming & Diving
What: American Short Course Championships
Where: Austin, TX
When: Thurs-Sat
The Only Info I Could Find (and it ain't much): Here

Mizzou Gymnastics
Who: #13 Mizzou @ #19 Denver, #24 WVU and Western Michigan
Where: Denver, CO
When: Saturday, 7:00 p.m. CT
Release: Here
Mizzou Notes: Here
Live Stats: Here
Live Video (Maybe): Here
Twitter: @TigerGymnastics

Mizzou Wrestling
Who: Big XII Wrestling Championships (#4 Okie State, #10 Iowa State, #13 Mizzou and #15 OU)
Where: Hearnes Center, Como
When: All day Saturday, starting at 11:00 a.m. CT
Mizzou Notes: Here
Live Results (text): Here
Live Video: Here
Twitter: @MizzouWrestling

Mizzou Softball
What: Missouri Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament (Kansas City, MO) (now weather-altered)
UKMC Website (Schedule): Here
Mizzou Release: Here
Game 2: #13 Mizzou vs SLU -- Saturday, 11:00 a.m. CT (Gametracker) (first game of the day)
Game 3: #13 Mizzou vs SEMO -- Saturday, 3:00 p.m. CT (Gametracker) (approx time)
Game 4: #13 Mizzou vs UMKC -- Sunday, 3:00 p.m. CT (Gametracker) (approx time)
Game 1: #13 Mizzou vs. SMS -- (moved to) Sunday, 5:00 p.m. CT (Gametracker) (approx time)
Twitter: @MizzouSoftball

Go Tigers! Beat everyone you are playing in whatever sport in which you are participating!

(similar to the message RPT re-posted from Coach Haith, here is the same from MU AD Mike Alden)

It has certainly been a very special last several weeks at the University of Missouri, and in particular Mizzou Athletics. The national awareness of our institution and our program has been at an extremely high level.

As examples: we've seen a minimum of two major national in-depth stories on the Tigers (Men's Basketball and the signing of the top football recruit); national exposure on ESPN Big Monday (in our win over Texas); national exposure on ESPNU (on national signing day Wednesday); national exposure on ESPN College GameDay (Saturday from Mizzou Arena) and national exposure on ESPN (in our win over Kansas Saturday night). These are but a few examples of the tremendous exposure Athletics can have as an advertising vehicle for all that we are doing at the University of Missouri in education, research, student development, Extension, etc. Athletics is clearly not the most important thing that we do at Mizzou by any stretch of the imagination, but... it gives us an opportunity to continue to let folks know of the world-class faculty, staff and students we have at the Flagship Institution in the State of Missouri.

In each of these examples, we have an opportunity to present our brand... not just the black and gold, but those characteristics of Mizzou that make us such a special community. As a leading AAU institution in this country, it allows us to promote those values of Respect, Responsibility, Discovery and Excellence and to let folks who haven't experienced our university to see all that we are through the window of Athletics.

On Saturday, we let folks around the country see what a first class institution we have in Mizzou. Our students, alums, fans and friends showed that we show up early for our competition, we wear gold (unless we're told to wear black for those special contests!), we are loud, we are respectful of the game and of our opponent and we represent Mizzou in a first class manner.

In particular, our students at Mizzou were outstanding in their support of the Tigers, the respect they showed our opponent, the respect that they showed our "MIZ-ZOU" cheer and the way they represented the University of Missouri in a first class and enthusiastic manner to a national television audience. Our students are the true brand ambassadors of Mizzou... and they were outstanding ambassadors on Saturday.

On behalf of all of us in Athletics... thanks to everyone for an exciting display of those positive values that truly make Mizzou a special place! Let's keep building on that momentum as we move forward throughout the year and into the SEC! Go Tigers!

Mike Alden

I know, I know...I said yesterday I did not think I would get to it. I am all about underpromising and overdelivering, so the spreadsheet has now been updated. A few "short-comings" of the spreadsheet:

• Unless you participated in each of the five years, I really have no way of knowing what year you started and what year is associated to what set of picks
• I did not break the picks up between spread and O/U. Would that be nice? Sure. Will I ever do it? Very doubtful
• I am sure there are still a few people with two screen names on here. If you are one of said people, please do reach out to me (again all more than likely) and I will do my best to get it corrected now.

So, feel free to peruse all the records at THIS LINK. In the meantime, here are some milestones to be aware of:

• Best single-season record is 45-25, as shared by Bill C., golf2804, and jcmufan (who was a single season participant only)
• Best two-year winning percentage belongs to Addison Walton at 57.14%
• Best three-year winning percentage belongs to Country Cal and MarioVanPeeblesRepublicofChina at 53.57%
• Best four-year winning percentage belongs to M7Tiger, who took it on the chin this year, but is still holding at 54.04%
• Best five-year winning percentage now belongs to MU 1839, who overtook Bill C. and is now at 53.55%

Thanks again everyone for a great year!

First off, allow me to thank everyone for participating this year. 160+ folks is a pretty special number to me because it represents the growth this community has experienced in just five short years. Let me also thank Bill who worked as hard as Bill ever works on spreadsheets (no one really knows how hard that actually is I suppose) to put together a tool which really did make this possible. Also thanks to MUPete for the occasional statistical augmentations. Everyone's effort was greatly appreciated.

To the fun stuff, congrats to our winner, smbz5b, who came from behind and won the only way he could, with Alabama and the Under, finishing with a 43-27 record. I have no idea what your prize could possibly be. We had a three-way tie for second place, with mizzou2396, optiger and TigerBartender, who were one game back at 42-28.

Other finishes of note:

• The Beef with 39 wins
• RPT and The Tailgate Queen with 38 wins
• MU1839 also with 38 wins, becoming our all-time leader in wins
• Pat Forde with 37 wins (dude was at the bottom early on)
• Mrs. Bill C with 36 wins
• Coin Phlip with 35 wins (that is the break even point for those of you scoring at home)
• ESPN Sim Center with 33 wins
• M7Tiger with 32 wins, likely not making him the winning percentage leader anymore
• Bill C. with 31 wins...ouch

As was determined a few days ago, Grrrrr.... was our bottom of the barrel leader at 25-45, two games "better" than anyone else. Congrats on your...um...achievement. For the group, the contest finished at 5571-5769, for a winning percentage of 49.13%. We had our chances, that is for sure. All-time, the contest now sits at 13995-14361, for a winning percentage of 49.35%. Every year we dont get back to .500 makes it all the tougher, but if the contest continues to grow, we still have a shot.

I will do my best to update the all-time stuff in the coming weeks (which means I will forget until about Dec. 4th of 2012, and by then the world will be about three weeks away from ending, so no one will care at that point).

As always, you can check my math or access your picks and all the totals (located at the bottom of the page) by clicking on this link. Be on the lookout for the annual Bracket Challenge in the coming months.

Let's waste no time and get right into the four potential finishes tonight and how each would determine a winner.

• LSU and the Under (most common pick) - mizzou2396, optiger and TigerBartender would tie at 43. Mizzou2396 and TigerBartender are even on their "spread" picks (and ahead of OPTiger) so perhaps we should go with total points scored?
• LSU and the Over - mizzou2396 wins outright with 44.
• Alabama and the Under - smbz5b wins outright with 43
• Alabama and the Over - mizzou2396 wins outright with 43

So it looks like mizzou2396 has a 75% chance of winning tonight.

For the contest, LSU and the Under should get us real close to .500, but not quite there. I guess there is always next year. Speaking of next year, I will do my best to get the all-time picks updated just a bit quicker than I did this past year....so that gives me about 360 days to do so :-)

As always, you can check my math or access your picks and all the totals (located at the bottom of the page) by clicking on this link.

{Edited because I am an idiot)

....sort of. I do believe that Grrr.... cannot be overtaken at the bottom of the barrel thanks to the SMU/Under result of today. So with 23 (current) wins, congrats on the accomplishment.

At the other end of the pile, mizzou2396 has pulled ahead with his 41st win of the contest, taking a one game lead over a group of four others. Three of them (optiger, cchstove and smbz5b) can still win it and all differ from one another at some point in their last four. The other is BYUHusker, who the best they will be able to do will be tie due to the lack of remaining variation in picks. Behind them is another group of four at 39 wins, but of them, only TigerBartender has a shot to gain a tie if he finishes perfect. I will lay out all the potential finishes in the next update before the final game.

Speaking of ties, I suppose I will try to break them by looking at the wins of just the "spread" picks. If that does not dictate a winner, I will probably just call it a tie.

Two more days, and just two more games left before the season comes to an end. The contest is still sitting at just over 49 percent. Right now, I believe the remaining majority picks are Northern Illinois, Over, LSU and Under. If that comes to pass, it will leave us TWO GAMES UNDER .500 on the season. Funny stuff.

As always, you can check my math or access your picks and all the totals (located at the bottom of the page) by clicking on this link.

The Hog win over the Wildcats has given us a three-way tie at the top, as optiger, mizzou2396 and smbz5b now all have 40 wins each. With just three games remaining (and six picks), we can start to look at potential movement between the three. Interestingly, optiger and smbz5b only differ on one of the final six picks (LSU or Alabama to cover). However, mizzou2396 has four different from optiger and five different from smbz5b. So this could be real close between optiger and smbz5b and come down to the winner of the national championship game, or mizzou2396 may very well still run away with it.

Behind them, we still find cchstove in the hunt with 39 wins and then a trio of folks back at 38. Is there enough time and enough variability for them to scratch back to the top? Time will tell.

At the other end, Grrrr..... still has a one-pick "lead" over crwbp3. These two folks differ on their next three picks, but are the same on their last three, so this weekend will be big for them. Watch out though for Ryan The Phillips who is lurking with just 25 wins (two ahead of Grrr....) and who differs on four of the final six.

For the contest, we are hovering at the 49% mark. After doing some fidgeting around, it looks like we have two ways to get to over .500 for this year (over .500 for all-time is out). SMU and Pitt are pretty split (SMU is the slight majority pick), so either one can win and we can still get there. After that though, we need the Over, Northern Illinois, Over, LSU and Under in the last five to get there. Anything else I believe will keep us under .500 for the year.

As always, you can check my math or access your picks and all the totals (located at the bottom of the page) by clicking on this link.

SMU and Pitt will be live while the Tigers are hooping it up in the Little Apple, so we may get another update later today. Until then, enjoy the weekend!

So as I am getting ready to turn the TV off last night, I remembered there was a game last night. I then realized the Orange Bowl (in Florida) is at halftime. It was 10:45pm Eastern. I did not even know what the score was, but I knew there was no way I was going to stay up to watch the rest. Guess I missed out on the fireworks.

Two-way tie at the top between mizzou2396 and optiger with cchstove and smbz5b right behind at 38 wins and BYUHusker and Jerilac right behind them at 37 wins. With just eight picks to go, I am guessing our winner will come from this group. At the very top, our two leaders differ on SIX of their final eight picks, so lots of movement still left to be made.

At the other end, Grrr.... moved up to 22 wins, and now is just one away from escaping the basement, as crwbp3 is just one better, with a small group also at 24.

For the year, we have slipped back to 48.6%, as Clemson was the popular (and very wrong) play last night. No game tonight, with the Hogs and Cats going on Friday night. That one seems to be pretty split on both sides of the pick.

As always, you can access your picks and all the totals (located at the bottom of the page) by clicking on this link.

With apologies, updates are going to be short and sweet for the rest of this week as I face some 14-20 hour days.

Michigan did manage the cover last night with the FG in OT, and with the Under being the correct play, we now have a four-way tie atop the leaderboard. cchstove, optiger, smbz5b and mizzou2396 are all sitting at 38-22. I will add in Jerilac at 36-24 as another name to look out for, but with only 10 picks left, both he and the seven-way tie at 35-25 have their work cut out for them.

At the bottom, Grrrr... achieved some separation as well, now sitting two picks clear of anyone at 21-39.

One game tonight, with Clemson and the Over appearing to be the strong play. The group got back to 48.9 percent yesterday, small steps, right?

As always, you can access your picks and all the totals (located at the bottom of the page) by clicking on this link.

Don't have a ton of time, so here we go.

Okie State winning by 3 was not enough, and we lost our best chance to clear 50%. cchstove and optiger sit at the top with 37 wins each. smbz5b and mizzou2396 are close at 36 wins, and then a group at 34. Not too much time left though for those folks. grrrr.... is the new name at the bottom with only 21 wins. Michigan and the over appears to be the majority picks for tonight's game.

As always, you can access your picks and all the totals (located at the bottom of the page) by clicking on this link.

If you happened to see the live thread yesterday, then you already know who sits atop the leaderboard. At 30-16, cchstove has a one pick lead over smbz5b, mizzou2396 and J. Rife. At two picks back, new names dot the board with both tallboyers and optiger sitting within shouting distance. After Monday however, with only a handful of games remaining, you had better be close if you want a shot at the title.

At the bottom of the barrel, the ever-fluxing names have left us with an eight-person log jam at 17-29. 23 wins may have been the all-time lowest, so with about a dozen games left, it seems like everyone should be able to avoid the ultra-basement.

On the whole, I think we missed on some majority picks yesterday, but still managed to move to just over 49%. .500 seems to be a pipe-dream at this point, as only Okie State and LSU appear to be so preferred that they may be able to move the needle all by themselves.

I hope everyone was safe and smart last night, and if you are smart today, then you are going to change the channel to NFL Red Zone in about 10 minutes and then not touch the remote for about 6 and a half hours. In the meantime, and as always, you can access your picks and all the totals (located at the bottom of the page) by clicking on this link.

Halfway home

As Oklahoma finished off their cover last night, and as Trent Ratterree finished off his career, the bowl season officially was half over as well. In the next 3 days, there will be 11 bowl games, so the leaderboard you see today is not really likely to be the same board you see come Tuesday morning. However, with four games yesterday, we had some changes at the top.

smbz5b used an impressive 7-1 day to shoot to the top of the list at 24-14. That is one game in front of mizzou2396 and two games ahead of a large pack at 22-16, including our leader for pretty much the entire contest, the good ol' Coin Phlip. At the opposite end, we have a three-way tie at 12-26 between j in jc, ewmw6 and hane5. Interesting that we have had some new names there, meaning the contest is pretty fluid at this point.

If only Miss St. had not given up a somewhat (in the end) meaningless field goal to Wake Forest, we would be much better off as a whole. Miss St. was a HUGE majority pick, but the 6.5 spread was just missed. That one pick would have kept us within spitting distance of .500, but alas we have fallen back to just over 48%. Lots of games to go, but not nearly as many majority picks left.

Speaking of which, today's action really seems pretty split all over the place. From a simple scroll, Ga Tech appears to be the strongest play among us. As always, you can access your picks and all the totals (located at the bottom of the page) by clicking on this link.

Happy almost New Year!

If only we could move points scored from one game to another

Baylor and UW broke just about every record last night, and when Terrance Ganaway scored with still HALF OF THE THIRD QUARTER REMAINING to make it 42-39 UW, the Over/Under of 78 was blown away. The teams would go on to combine for 123 points, making an Over/Under of 100 a sucker bet. I simply cannot wait to see the BTBS from this game over on Football Study Hall later on. I will even steal a little of his thunder by telling you Ganaway, Jarred Salubi and Tevin Reese combined for the following line:

28 carries for 402 yards (14.4 yards per carry) and 7 TD's. Reese had 2 carries for 101 yards and somehow did not score, but Salubi had 2 TD's and Ganaway had 5. Just sick.

However, for as great as the offenses were in the second game, that is as bad as they were in the first, especially the first half. Just miserable football. Alas, we did not reach the 48 points I was hoping for. In the end though, we did move the needle to the positive, now sitting just 22 picks under .500 at 49.76%. All-time, we are within 200 picks of .500, so we keep getting closer.

Speaking of closer, someone is finally gaining some ground on the Coin Phlip,. which is still in the lead with a 20-8 record. Now just one pick back, mizzou2396 is sitting at 19-9, and is trailed by a group of 4 at 18-10. There is a HUGE pack at 17-11, and they are certainly not out of it, especially with 9 games (18 picks) in the next two days.

As for the bottom of the barrel, we have a three-way tie at 9-19, as wooderson has been joined by Mikschoone28 and Bingo12, who gets special recognition for going 0-4 last night. Well played!

At a very quick glance, it appears the most popular plays were Iowa State, Miss. St. and OU. Everything else seems relatively split. As always, you can access your picks and all the totals (located at the bottom of the page) by clicking on this link.

Let the goodness of Bowl Week wash over you.

Just too many points.

Though the finish of the Toledo/Air Force was heartbreaking (if you are an Air Force fan), Air Force scoring the TD had already given them the cover. Of course, with all the TD's scored in the first half, the Over was darn near covered at the half. Had these teams kept it in check, we'd be over .500, but alas it was not to be. The Under in the UT/Cal game helped, but we still took a step back to 49.28% The question is, who did it help the most?

Well, the Coin Phlip has not been really on fire of late, but continues to hold its two game lead at the top, now rocking the 18-6 record. smbz5b kept pace, and is now joined at 16-8 by mizzou2396 and mac6uffin (who went 4-0 yesterday to make the jump). A HUGE group at 15-9 is just off the pace, but with all the games coming up, certainly within striking distance.

Our previous cellar-dwellers got hot, and a few new names now grace the bottom, as both wooderson and HHKB Chris currently sit at 7-17. At least Pat Forde was able to go nuts and sneak out of the basement while no one was looking.

As for today/tonight, two more games. The ND/FSU matchup seems to be pretty split on winner, with the slight edge to Florida State, but the Over/Under is really tilted. I am guessing not everyone read the post where it said the line of "3" was not actually correct :-) As for the nightcap, a Baylor cover would be enormous, while the Under seems to be the favorite on the other side. ND/FSU going over and Baylor covering should most certainly move us over .500 on the contest and may actually get us to .500 after 21,000 picks all-time. The pressure is ON!

As always, you can access your picks and all the totals (located at the bottom of the page) by clicking on this link.

Keep hoping for points in the ND/FSU game!

Yep, the needle moved that little. 162 people making 4 picks each. A total of 648 picks and we moved towards the positive by two hundreths of a percent. I guess the split was pretty even last night.

Purdue hung on to the cover, as did NC St., and both games hit the Over pretty easily. In the end, and as has become the norm this year, it kept the Coin Phlip out in front of the competition, where it now sits at 16-4. In fact, while the lead stayed at two games, it now leads only one person, a newcomer to the bold'ness in smbz5b, who went 3-1 last night to make the leap to 14-6. At the bottom of the pack, it is a three-way tie of folks at 6-14, featuring two RMN posters, and a nationally-known columnist. Thanks for playing Mr. Forde!

Air Force and the Under in the early game are pretty solid majority picks, with the Under in the second game also looking pretty strong. Texas and Cal do seem pretty evenly split.

As always, and as the pain starts to subside a bit more, you can access your picks and all the totals (located at the bottom of the page) by clicking on this link.

Let the party roll on!

And now the real fun begins!

15 games between now and Sunday (where there will be none due to the final day of the NFL season). I imagine the leaderboard may look a lot different between now and then. However, the wild ride of The Coin Phlip continues, as it once again swept the picks and now sits at a pretty staggering 14-2. Only two folks are within 2 picks of the top right now, as MacTiger and mizzoufan1 are hanging in at 12-4. There are another six folks within shouting distance back at 11-5.

As for the bottom of the barrel, the records are improving a bit, as we now have a 4-way tie at 4-12. Mythryl, blackgoldorange, Mikschoone28 and Pat Forde (no, the real Pat Forde did not submit his picks, but made them in his annual article, so he is participating once again) all hold the low record currently, with another 8 folks behind them at 5-11.

On the whole, the Mizzou cover really moved the needle, as we are now just 28 games under .500 overall, with a winning percentage now at 49.46%. The all-time record is within 200 games of .500 (as we quickly approach 20,000 total selections made) at a 49.5% winning clip.

Today's majority picks appear to be Purdue (though Western Michigan was popular amongst our leaders) and the Under, as well as Louisville and the Over against NC St. Neither one of these matchups gives us a HUGE majority like Mizzou did, and Baylor (against Washington) appears to be the next needle mover.

As always, and as the pain starts to subside a bit, you can access your picks and all the totals (located at the bottom of the page) by clicking on this link.

Enjoy the enjoyment!

I reached out to T.H. from Carolina March and despite the craziness of the season (especially since it is both basketball and football season, and UNC fans do enjoy their basketball), he was kind enough to get back to me with some answers about the general state of their program and what Mizzou fans might expect from the game today. Take a read!

Positive, for the most part. Considering the fanbase was rather adamantly split between those who supported Butch Davis and those who felt he permanently besmirched the good name of the university, the fact that there wasn’t a large outcry from some faction says a lot. We’ll know a lot more once all the other hires have been announced and how the first draft class goes.

Despite have an entire season with an interim coach, the actual coaching search was pretty short, as there was a new athletic director to be hired as well. So there were a lot of names fans for kicking around right after Davis was fired – Mike Leach got a lot of early buzz, despite never really having a shot, in my opinion. Once Bubba Cunningham came along, Gus Malzahn was assumed to be the front-runner, as he and Cunningham had worked together at Tulsa, and Chris Petersen was name-dropped a lot, because Chris Petersen is listed in every coaching search, and will be until the end of time.

Continue reading this post »

Southern Miss and the Under hit last night, moving the contest closer to the .500 mark. And wouldn't you know it, the Coin Phlip nailed both and moved to a staggering 12-2, 2 games ahead of anyone (real or otherwise). The bottom of the pack also had a good day, as we now have a small log jam at 3-11. Hey...it is better than 0-14, am I right?

No bowl games tonight, and just the one tomorrow, but you know that already, didn't you? Needless to say, Mizzou covering the spread would be a good thing in a number of ways, and might get us back to even before the real fun begins on Tuesday.

As always, and if you can stand the pain, your picks and all the contest info can be found at the very bottom of the data sheet, which is available at this link.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!