Paul Prattles On

Welcome Back! Here at Odds and Ends, I plan to look at some stats, trends, storylines, etc. as they play out.  I will also give my opinion on some issues, but you can take that for what it's worth.   Today's blog is a little shorter than normal, as I am focused on bowl results and winning/losing streaks. Conference Standings This is how the Conferences are doing in bowl games so far.  I will update this with the rest of the bowls next week. Big 12 2-0 (4  remaining   to play) MWC 2-0 (1 to play) Independents 2-0 (1 to play) MAC 1-0 (1 to play) SBC 4-1 (finished) AAC 1-3 (2 to play) SEC 0-0 (9 to play) Big Ten 0-0 (4 to play) ACC 0-1 (5 to play) PAC 12 0-1 (1 to play) CUSA 0-6 (finished) The SEC will play their 1st bowl game today.  The Big Ten begins play on New Year's Day. The Sun Belt and CUSA are finished with their bowl matchups, with vastly differing results. The MAC and PAC 12 have the fewest bowl games, with 2 each. 6 conferences have a chance at a perfect winning bo

Welcome Back! IThis will be a short blog, as I just want to explain a little about how my Power Rankings work, without divulging the actual formula.  As you can see below (I reprinted my year-end PR), there are some odd results.  There is no way CCU and BYU should be that high, and Oklahoma and Ohio State that low.  Basically, my formula gives you points for winning, while subtracting points for a loss.  The more wins you accumulate, the better your chances to be ranked high.  The more losses, the lower you end up.  There is also a margin of victory component, and you get bonus points for winning on the road or for beating a higher ranked (in my rankings) team.  Conversely, you lose points by losing at home or by losing to a lower ranked team.   For example, losing to #1 ranked Alabama by 3 points won't hurt you much.  Losing by 20 to #127 ULM will hurt a LOT !  On the opposite spectrum, beating Alabama by 20 is worth MUCH more than beating ULM by 2.  What this all means is that te

Welcome Back! The bowl season is off to a fantastic start!  There have been 10 played so far, and while the 1st 6 were all won by 14 points or more, 3 of the last 4 were decided by 7 points or less.  Here is my review of each of the bowl games through December 26.  To see who I picked for each one, see my posts from last week.  My Paul's Picks from last Thursday has my picks through December 30.  I will have the rest in this week's Paul's Picks on Thursday.  Let's get to the reviews! Monday, December 21 Appalachian State got the bowl season started with a 56-28 rout of  North Texas .  The Mountaineers finish their season 9-3 and remained a perfect 6-0 in bowl games, while the Mean Green dropped to 4-6, and 2-9 in bowls.  ASU RB Cameron Peoples had a bowl-record 319 yards rushing, and tied a bowl record with 5 rushing TDs. Tuesday, December 22 Nevada took a 19-0 lead over Tulane and never looked back in their 38-27 win.  The Wolf Pack finish 7-2 and raised their bowl re

Welcome Back! Last week I was a very mediocre 11-8, or 57.9%.  Overall, I am now 394-148, or 72.7%, for a drop of .5% from last week.  My goal every year is to finish at or above 80%, though I've never actually achieved that, but I almost always finish above 75%.  Last year I finished at 76.5% for the regular season, and 76.2% overall, which isn't too shabby.   I want to point out that my predictions come simply from 45+ years of watching and following college football.  I do not have the time (or staff!) to do massive research into depth charts, injuries, transfers, etc, and so, if I were you, I certainly wouldn't take my picks to Vegas (or wherever) and bet the mortgage with them!  My brothers and I have been predicting the games among ourselves off and on for many years, and I should point out that I haven't "won" in a while, but I also haven't finished last, either, so there's that.   So far, I am 4-1 in my bowl picks, which I'm pretty happy ab

Welcome Back! Here at Odds and Ends, I plan to look at some stats, trends, storylines, etc. as they play out.  I will also give my opinion on some issues, but you can take that for what it's worth.    LIR Let's start with the Last Interception Race (LIR).  In this space, I will be chronicling who has the most attempts without an interception.  This is a lot harder to keep up with, with teams playing so sporadically!  After week 16, here are the ones that finished the season without an INT (minimum 80 attempts): 1. Tyrell Pigrome, WKU- 264 2. DJ Uiagalelei, Clem- 117 3. Artur Sitkowski, Rutgers- 81 4. Brandon Peters, Ill- 80 Undefeated Teams  Here is a list of all the undefeated teams: Alabama 11-0 Cincinnati 9-0 Coastal Carolina 11-0 Ohio State 6-0 San Jose State 7-0 Winless Teams Here is a list of all the winless teams.  Unfortunately, we had more than ever, but I attribute that to playing less games. Arizona 0-5 Bowling Green 0-5 FIU 0-5 Kansas 0-9 Northern Illinois 0-6 ULM 0