Football Bowl Season: Staff Confidence Pool Update

With only the National Championship Game remaining, how is our staff doing in the bowl pool?
Football Bowl Season: Staff Confidence Pool Update
Football Bowl Season: Staff Confidence Pool Update /

For the last three weeks, we’ve been entertained with 41 bowl games. Some were blowouts, while some went down to the wire. The College Football Playoffs gave us the most entertaining semifinals games since the CFP era began in 2014.

Did you participate in a bowl pool this year? How did you do? 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 is the one that gets the 1 point. After all the games are played, the person with the most points wins, not necessarily the one that wins the most.

Here's where our staff stands, with only the National Championship Game left to play

1st Place (tie) – Barry Lewis

Confidence Points Earned – 644 points (of a maximum of 861 thus far)

Wins – 27 of 41 (.659)

Percent of Total Possible Points – 71.3% (with 98% of the games played)

Most Confident Win – 41 points (TCU over Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl)

1st Place (tie) – Tyler Brown

Confidence Points Earned – 644 points

Wins – 27 of 41 (.659)

Percent of Total Possible Points – 71.3%

Most Confident Win – 41 points (TCU over Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl)

Yes. You’re reading this right. Our Sports Ignoramus, who claims to know nothing about sports, is sitting tied for first place at the moment. This is after he went 12-1 in the regular season predictions, only missing the Big 12 Championship Game.

3rd Place – Brett Gibbons

Confidence Points Earned – 629 points

Wins – 25 of 41 (.610)

Percent of Total Possible Points – 69.7%

Most Confident Win – 42 points (Oregon over North Carolina in the Holiday Bowl)

4th Place – Nathan Cross

Confidence Points Earned – 486 points

Wins – 22 of 41 (.537)

Percent of Total Possible Points – 53.8%

Most Confident Win – 41 points (TCU over Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl)

5th Place – David Tucker

Confidence Points Earned – 424 points

Wins – 20 of 41 (.463)

Percent of Total Possible Points – 47.0%

Most Confident Win –42 points (UAB over Miami in the Bahamas Bowl)

6th Place (tie) – Tori Couch

Confidence Points Earned – 413 points

Wins – 22 of 41 (.537)

Percent of Total Possible Points – 45.7%

Most Confident Win – 30 points (Air Force over Baylor in the Armed Forces Bowl)

6th Place (tie) – Derek Lytle

Confidence Points Earned – 346 points

Wins – 17 of 41 (.415)

Percent of Total Possible Points – 38.3%

Most Confident Win – 41 points (Boise State over North Texas in the Frisco Bowl)

KillerFrogs Prediction Article

Before the games began, we wrote an article predicting the bowl games’ results. Not only did we pick the winner, we predicted the score. We then used the point differential in our predicted score to determine the confidence points (the higher the differential, the more confidence points assigned. Here’s how those predictions are standing up:

Confidence Points Earned – 607 points

Wins – 25 of 41 (.620)

Percent of Total Possible Points – 67.2%

Most Confident Win – 42 points (Florida State over Oklahoma in the Cheez-It Bowl)

Football Travel – College Football Tour versus Road to CFB

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. As Road to CFB and College Football Tour, they submitted entries submitted picks based on their travel experiences and not on how the teams may or may not do on the gridiron. Here’s how those are doing:

College Football Tour

Confidence Points Earned – 516 points

Wins – 24 of 41 (.587)

Percent of Total Possible Points – 57.1%

Most Confident Win – 42 points (Wisconsin over Oklahoma State in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl)

Road to CFB

Confidence Points Earned – 458 points

Wins – 19 of 41 (.463)

Percent of Total Possible Points – 50.7%

Most Confident Win – 42 points (LSU over Purdue in the Citrus Bowl)

One last update will come after the National Championship Game with the final rankings.


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Published
Barry Lewis
BARRY LEWIS

Barry is the managing editor/publisher of TCU Horned Frogs On SI and oversees a team of 15+ writers, photographers, and podcasters covering all 22 of TCU’s sports. He writes on football, basketball (men’s and women’s), baseball, men’s tennis, and other sports as needed. His weekly articles include Big 12 Power Rankings and Poll Watching during the football, basketball, and baseball seasons. He is a frequent guest on one of the many podcasts that TCU Horned Frogs On SI writers host covering football, baseball, basketball, and other sports. Barry is a member of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). He has represented TCU Horned Frogs On SI at the 2022 Fiesta Bowl, the 2023 College Football National Championship, the 2023 College World Series, the 2024 NCAA Men’s Tennis National Championship, Big 12 Football Media Days, and Big 12 Basketball Media Days. Barry has followed TCU sports since the Jim Wacker days. He is an avid sports fan and traveler, and he loves any opportunity to see a sporting event in person. He has been to 18 of the 30 MLB ballparks, experienced game day at 25 college football stadiums, seen 21 NFL stadiums, and been to 16 bowl games.