SolaScriptura
Puritanboard Brimstone
WELCOME to the 2024 PB Pick’em BOWL BASH!!!
You, the eligible participant, have been invited to compete alongside your fellow hopefuls in pursuit of the dream of being crowned the 2024 PB Pick’em Champion, complete with all the rights and privileges attending thereunto. As a reminder – participation in the annual PB Pick’em Bowl Bash is strictly limited to those who earned an invitation during the regular season by winning at least 1 week. Invitations are non-transferrable.
Our eligible participants for 2024 are: Edward, Andrew, Jason, Willis, Lane, Rick, Brad, Todd, and Me.
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Bonus points: Points for weekly wins. One weekly win was required in order to participate in the Bowl Bash, and any subsequent weekly win earns the victor 1 bonus point per weekly win they accumulated in the regular season. Accordingly: Edward and Andrew each won a total of 3 weekly competitions, so each enters the Bowl Bash with 2 points. Jason, Willis, and Lane each won 2 weekly victories, so they each enter with 1 point. Rick, Brad, Todd, and myself each won 1 week, so while we are eligible participants in the Bowl Bash, we do not begin with any bonus points.
Point for player with most correctly picked games during the regular season. When I announced that the player with the most picks would get a bonus point, I did not imagine that there would be a tie... but that is exactly what we have! Maybe in future years the convener will come up with an equitable tie breaking method, but as it is I'm not willing to engage in parsing out the correct picks to determine whose picks were "better" (or however it wants to be understood). I said the person with the most correct picks would get a bonus point, and we ended up with 2 in a tie... so I'm generously awarding each 1 bonus point.... So... Edward and Andrew... y'all each got 157 correct picks over the course of the season. WELL DONE and CONGRATULATIONS! Enjoy your extra point. With the application of this extra point to those which you already earned for your multiple weekly wins... the two of you each begin the Bowl Bash with 3 points... that's quite a commanding lead!
Here's how everyone else did in terms of correct picks for regular season:
Edward, Andrew - 157
Willis - 147
Jason, Rick - 146
Lane - 143
Todd - 142
Me - 135
Brad - 129
Zach - 119
Mark - 106
EdM - 94
Joseph - 42
Jean - 35
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The 2024 Bowl Bash will commence on Tuesday, December 17, with the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl featuring #25 Memphis and West Virginia. The 2024 Bowl Bash will conclude with the National Championship game on Monday, January 20.
This year is the inaugural year of the 12-team playoff bracket. I’ve pondered long and hard about what would be the best way to handle it, and what follows is what I’ve decided. My hope is that seeing this in use will get the creative juices flowing and perhaps lead next year’s convener to do it even better.
Without further ado…
The 2024 PB Pick’em Bowl Bash will consist of two parts: (1) the main slate of bowl games and (2) the Championship Bracket. I realize that the 1st Round CFP games on Dec 20/21 are technically part of the bracket, but as the teams in those games are already set/known, they will be reckoned in the main slate of games. Thus, the main slate of bowl games will have 38 matchups, at 1pt each. As usual, picks for the main slate of bowl games must be in before kickoff at 8pm CDT on Dec 17.
For our purposes the CFP playoff bracket (that is: the quarterfinals and semifinals) will consist of the “New Years Six” games + the Championship game itself. Thus 7 games are included in the playoff bracket portion of the Bowl Bash. But here’s the twist: As a boy I loved reading “choose your own adventure” novels. It was so much fun to have a say in how the story unfolded. So in the spirit of that boyhood memory, I’ve decided I’ll provide each of you a choice as to how you want to proceed… You come to a point and the trail diverges, splits, in two directions. Which direction will you proceed?
Option A: You are bold, confident in your choices, confident you know who will win it all, and you like being rewarded for the risk you take. In that case, game the playoff bracket in your head, fill it out blind, and submit it with your picks for the main slate of bowl games no later than kickoff on the 17th. In exchange, you’ll be rewarded with each of the New Years Six games being worth 2pts and the National Championship Game being worth 4pts for correctly prognosticating the victor.
Option B: You prefer to limit risk and believe seeking a steady string of base hits is a more reliable strategy for victory than is swinging for the fences every at-bat. If this is you, then LEAVE THE BRACKET BLANK. After the 1st round Games on the 21st, and the Quarterfinal teams are set, I’ll open submissions for you to make your picks, and again with the Semifinals, and again heading into the National Championship. This route is safer, but the tradeoff is that each game will be worth the same 1pt as each of the 38 games in the main slate.
But whatever you do know this: NO changing your mind. If you have submitted so much as 1 bracket pick by Dec 17, you are locked into Option A… no changes or modifications permitted, and if you left a game blank, well, it’ll count as a loss. Conversely, if after Dec 17 you decide that you want to switch from Option B to Option A, even if that decision is made prior to Dec 20… nope, you’re locked in.
So CHOOSE WISELY.... which course will YOU take? And please let me know if you have any questions…
Have fun!
2024 PB Pick’em Bowl Bash Games
Dec 17 – 8pm – Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl – #25 Memphis @ West Virginia
Dec 18 - 4:30pm – Boca Raton Bowl – Western Kentucky @ James Madison
Dec 18 - 8pm – Art of Sport LA Bowl – California @ #24 UNLV
Dec 19 – 6pm – R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl – Georgia Southern @ Sam Houston
Dec 20 – 11am – StaffDNA Cure Bowl – Ohio @ Jacksonville State
Dec 20 – 2:30pm – Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl – Tulane @ Florida
Dec 20 – CFP 1st Round Game – 7pm – #10 Indiana @ #7 Notre Dame (winner plays #2 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl)
Dec 21 – CFP 1st Round Game – 11am – #11 SMU @ #6 Penn State (winner plays #3 Boise St in the Fiesta Bowl)
Dec 21 – CFP 1st Round Game – 3pm – #12 Clemson @ #5 Texas (winner plays #4 Arizona St in the Peach Bowl)
Dec 21 – CFP 1st Round Game – 7pm – #9 Tennessee @ #8 Ohio State (winner plays #1 Oregon in the Rose Bowl)
Dec 23 – 10am – Myrtle Beach Bowl – Coastal Carolina @ UTSA
Dec 23 – 1:30pm – Famous Idaho Potato Bowl – Northern Illinois @ Fresno State
Dec 24 – 7pm – Hawaii Bowl – South Florida @ San Jose State
Dec 26 – 1pm – GameAbove Sports Bowl – Pittsburgh @ Toledo
Dec 26 – 4:30pm – Rate Bowl – Rutgers @ Kansas State
Dec 26 – 8pm – 68 Ventures Bowl – Arkansas State @ Bowling Green
Dec 27 – 11am - Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl – Oklahoma @ Navy
Dec 27 – 2:30pm - Birmingham Bowl – Georgia Tech @ Vanderbilt
Dec 27 – 6pm – AutoZone Liberty Bowl – Texas Tech @ Arkansas
Dec 27 – 7pm – DirecTV Holiday Bowl – #21 Syracuse @ Washington State
Dec 27 – 9:30pm – SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl – Texas A&M @ USC
Dec 28 – 10am – Wasabi Fenway Bowl – UConn @ North Carolina
Dec 28 – 11am – Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl – Boston College @ Nebraska
Dec 28 – 1:15pm – Isleta New Mexico Bowl – Louisiana @ TCU
Dec 28 – 2:30pm – Pop-Tarts Bowl – #18 Iowa State @ #13 Miami
Dec 28 – 3:30pm – Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl – Miami (OH) @ Colorado State
Dec 28 – 4:45pm – Go Bowling Military Bowl – East Carolina @ NC State
Dec 28 – 6:30pm – Valero Alamo Bowl – #17 BYU @ #23 Colorado
Dec 28 – 8:15pm – Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl – Louisiana Tech @ #22 Army
Dec 30 – 1:30pm – TransPerfect Music City Bowl – Iowa @ #19 Missouri
Dec 31 – 11am – ReliaQuest Bowl – #11 Alabama @ Michigan
Dec 31 – 1pm – Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl – Louisville @ Washington
Dec 31 – 2pm – Cheez-It Citrus Bowl – #15 South Carolina @ #20 Illinois
Dec 31 – 2:30pm – Texas Bowl – Baylor @ LSU
Jan 2 – 6:30pm – TaxSlayer Gator Bowl – Duke @ #14 Ole Miss
Jan 3 – 3pm – SERVPRO First Responder Bowl – North Texas @ Texas State
Jan 3 – 6:30pm – Duke’s Mayo Bowl – Minnesota @ Virginia Tech
Jan 4 – 10am – Bahamas Bowl – Buffalo @ Liberty
CFP Championship Bracket – “New Years Six”
& National Championship
& National Championship
CFP Quarterfinal Games
Dec 31 – 6:30pm – Vrbo Fiesta Bowl – TBD @ #3 Boise State
Jan 1 – 12pm – Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl – TBD @ #4 Arizona State
Jan 1 – 4pm – Rose Bowl – TBD @ #1 Oregon
Jan 1 – 7:45pm – Allstate Sugar Bowl – TBD @ #2 Georgia
CFP Semifinal Games
Jan 9 – 6:30pm – Orange Bowl – (Fiesta Bowl Winner) @ (Sugar Bowl Winner)
Jan 10 – 6:30pm – Cotton Bowl – (Peach Bowl Winner) @ (Rose Bowl Winner)
CFP National Championship
Jan 20 – 6:30pm – (Orange Bowl Winner) @ (Cotton Bowl Winner)
** The National Championship Game will serve as the "tiebreaker" so please remember to include a projected score. **
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