Football Bowl Season: Staff Confidence Pool

Who’s competing in a college bowl pool this year? Did you get your picks in before the games began on Friday? Is your pool based just on wins and losses? Or are you playing a confidence pool?

Several of our staff are competing in a confidence pool this bowl season. What is a confidence pool? Well, it takes the games to a different level and adds to the excitement of watching 42 games over the next three weeks. First, you pick the winners of each game, including the national championship game. Then, once you have the winners, you rank them 1-42. The game you’re most confident in the outcome of is the one that gets the 42 points. The game you’re least confident in the outcome of is the one that gets the 1 point. After all the games are played, it’s the person with the most points who wins, not necessarily the one that wins the most games.

Different people have different strategies. Do you go off of the regular season win/loss record? Or maybe you base it on the Vegas point spread. Or you could look at all sorts of stats and analyze each team in depth. Others may pick by team colors or by team mascots.

One unique way to pick is based on travel and experiences at each stadium. Our friends at Road to CFB and College Football Tour did that. Take some time and listen to Brett and Andrew chat about their travel and how they’d rank the bowls based on that. Catch their video chat here.

So, seven of our staff have their picks in a bowl pool. Over the next three weeks, we will update you on how we are doing and who is at the top of the leaderboard.

We are one game into the season and already nearly had some upset players. Most of us not only had UAB but had UAB with a LOT of confidence points. It looked like Miami (Ohio) was going to pull off the win, costing us all those points and sending our picks spiraling in the wrong direction. But Miami fell a yard short and lost 24-20 as time expired. Whew!

In this opening article, we won’t bore you with all 42 picks the seven of us picked. Instead, we will share with you the three games we were most and least confident in choosing.

Barry Lewis

Most Confident Games

TCU over Georgia (National Championship Game, 42 points) – you know what they say, go big or go home. Everyone else seems to be picking Georgia, so why not?
TCU over Michigan (Fiesta Bowl, 41 points)
Florida State over Oklahoma (Cheez-It Bowl, 40 points)

Least Confident Games

Utah over Penn State (Rose Bowl, 1 point)
South Carolina over Notre Dame (TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, 2 points)
Clemson over Tennessee (Orange Bowl, 3 points)

Brett Gibbons

Most Confident Games

Oregon over North Carolina (Holiday Bowl, 42 points)
Florida State over Oklahoma (Cheez-It Bowl, 41 points)
LSU over Purdue (Citrus Bowl, 40 points)

Least Confident Games

Georgia over Michigan (National Championship Game, 1 point)
Mississippi State over Illinois (ReliaQuest Tampa Bay Bowl, 2 points)
Texas Tech over Ole Miss (Texas Bowl, 3 points)

David Tucker

Most Confident Games

UAB over Miami/Ohio (Bahamas Bowl, 42 points)
UTSA over Troy (Cure Bowl, 41 points)
Louisville over Cincinnati (40 points)

Least Confident Games

Georgia over TCU (National Championship Game, 1 point)
USC over Tulane (Cotton Bowl, 2 points)
Utah over Penn State (Rose Bowl, 3 points)

Derek Lytle

Most Confident Games

Liberty over Toledo (Boca Raton Bowl, 42 points)
Boise State over Fresno State (Frisco Bowl, 41 points)
UConn over Marshall (Myrtle Beach Bowl, 40 points)

Least Confident Games

Louisiana over Houston (Independence Bowl, 1 point)
Georgia over TCU (National Championship Game, 2 points)
Coastal Carolina over East Carolina (Birmingham Bowl, 3 points)

Nathan Cross

Most Confident Games

Georgia over TCU (National Championship Game, 42 points)
TCU over Michigan (Fiesta Bowl, 41 points)
San Jose State over Eastern Michigan (Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, 40 points)

Least Confident Games

Georgia over Ohio State (Peach Bowl, 1 point)
Alabama over Kansas State (Sugar Bowl, 2 points)
USC over Tulane (Cotton Bowl, 3 points)

Tori Couch

Most Confident Games

Georgia over Michigan (National Championship Game, 42 points)
Georgia over Ohio State (Peach Bowl, 41 points)
Michigan over TCU (Fiesta Bowl, 40 points)

Least Confident Games

UAB over Miami/Ohio (Bahamas Bowl, 1 point)
BYU over SMU (New Mexico Bowl, 2 points)
Southern Miss over Rice (LendingTree Bowl, 3 points)

Tyler Brown

TCU over Georgia (National Championship Game, 42 points)
TCU over Michigan (Fiesta Bowl, 41 points)
Air Force over Baylor (Armed Forces Bowl, 40 points)

Least Confident Games

Utah over Penn State (Rose Bowl, 1 point)
South Carolina over Notre Dame (TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, 2 points)
Clemson over Tennessee (Orange Bowl, 3 points)

Just looking at that handful of games, we will certainly have some big discrepancies in our picks. Next week, we will update our leaderboard, and you can see how we all are doing. Until then, sit back and enjoy. We’re in for three weeks of crazy football games.

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