2015 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 17

2015 is winding down now as I complete the 175th post of the calendar year. It's been my busiest with Confessions of a Sportscaster, mostly due to the NBA Tournament of Champions I ran this past summer. It's also the finale of this season's Pigskin Pick 'Em and the conclusion of my playing out the string.

Adam took four of the seven disputed games last week to push his lead over me to ten games. Barring a ridiculous amount of disparity or me cheating by waiting until he sends me his picks leading to my picking the opposite of him and hoping for a miracle, he has me beat this season, and I tip my cap to the man who kicked butt this season, especially on his hero picks. I can, however, conceivably catch both my dad and Geoffy depending on how things play out this week.

I hope you've enjoyed the 2015 edition of Adam and I (and a special thanks to Geoffy for filling in for a week while Adam was on vacation) picking games against the spread, cracking jokes, and showing that to a degree we know absolutely nothing about football. In this final edition of the season, Adam and I disagree on seven games on Sunday's slate.

From all of us here at Confessions of a Sportscaster, I hope you have a blessed and happy 2016! Let's get to the picks.

2015 Death to the BCS Playoffs: Quarterfinals

Sixteen teams entered. Only eight remain.

It's the second weekend of my borrowed edition of a playoff in college football. Since reading Wetzel, Peter and Passan's work a few years back, I have been a proponent of their "Death to the BCS" playoff system, and will give them credit for the innovation. I've just taken that system and tried to simulate through a postseason done in that fashion.

This past weekend showed the value of such a system. For the most part, chalk reigned. However, we had a pair of incredibly notable games in the massive upset by Bowling Green over third-seeded Michigan State and the instant classic that was Stanford-TCU. It sets up four games scheduled for yesterday that will determine the last four teams that will play in 2016.

The schedule has been adjusted such that no playoff game will compete against another, though we're going to have one super late game in the Midwest. The rules are the same as last round: the higher seeded team in each game will have hosting privileges, and I will take actual weather at those locales into account when setting this up. In an attempt to make this game as accurate as possible, I use injury reports from Don Best's handicapping website to keep injured players out, something that did come into play with a few teams last week. These games will be simulated as a best-of-three to minimize luck, with the "clinching" game being the official result. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play some football.

2015 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 16

I think I am 2014 Jay Cutler.

After pretty much surrendering for the season due to trailing Adam by several games and being pretty much out of the race in our little group, last week was my garbage time touchdown. Somehow, some way... I swept my seven disputed games with Adam and pulled back to within nine games of the lead, and am back with the rest of the pack. I'm not going to suddenly reverse course and proclaim that this is a sign of victory, because the odds just aren't in my favor. I'd have to pull a similar thing this week to get back within respectable striking distance for Week 17 and then pray for a miracle. When Adam sent me his picks for the week, he said, "Lets see if I can hang on and not have an epic - Tony Romo like - 4th quarter F-up." Bear in mind, I almost did this last year before hanging on by a thread in Week 17.

This season we get a game on Christmas Eve, then one on the day after to go up against the Death to the BCS Playoffs before we get into the Sunday action. This week, Adam and I disagree on seven games again. This does mean I can get back within striking distance.

Adam did update the spreadsheet with pick statistics, and you can view those updated statistics here.

From all of us here at Confessions of a Sportscaster, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas! Let's take a look at our Week 16 picks.

Game Notes: (MBK) Benedictine University @ North Central College(12/22/15)

Final Score

Benedictine 75, NCC 73

Game Summary
It was a great start to the Battle of Chicago/Maple Avenue as the Cardinals (6-4) got the ball inside early and took firm control of the game, scoring 16 of the contest's first 20 points. The Eagles (10-0) slowly worked their way back into the game, but couldn't stop the Cardinal offense, as North Central took a 36-26 lead into halftime. The Eagles came out strong to start the second half though, opening on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to three. The Cardinals would push it back up as high as seven, but it would not last, with a corner three giving Benedictine a short-lived lead. The Cardinals got it back but couldn't hold it. The Eagles led by five with about two minutes left, but the Cardinals tied it with 32 seconds left. However, the Eagles got the game winning basket with two seconds left, and the Cardinals were unable to answer.

Key Stats

• Tahron Harvey (BEN): 10-16 FG (0-1 3PT), 7-9 FT; 27 pts, 7 reb (3 off), 6 ast, 1 stl. Harvey scored 18 of his 27 points in the second half, but saved his best for last. He got the ball with about ten seconds to go in the game, drove down the right side of the floor and got a great look at the game-winning layup. He was phenomenal throughout the night, converting a ton of layups and hitting some mid range jumpers.
• Lucas Johnson (BEN): 2-6 FG (2-3 3PT), 2-3 FT; 8 pts, 6 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 3 blk. It was actually really good to see Luke in action last night; I coached him when I was a senior in high school and he was in eighth grade at Aurora Christian. Johnson wasn't much of a factor on the offensive side, though his pair of threes came at crucial moments late in the game. He was a force on the defensive end, using his length to create some contested shots by the Cardinals (plus those three blocks) and was solid on the glass. An all around good performance.
• Alex Sorenson (NCC): 9-23 FG (0-2 3PT), 2-3 FT; 20 pts, 8 reb (3 off), 1 blk. Sorenson dominated the paint in the early going, helping build that 16-6 North Central lead while playing excellent defense at the other end. The Eagles must have made their adjustments at halftime, because he didn't get going as well in the second half. He avoided foul trouble, which was great, but he was strangely out of the game late in the half before returning with a couple minutes left. I'm not sure if he was tired or what, but I found it weird that they went away from him towards the end other than his game-tying layup with 31 ticks left.

Final Thoughts

First note: the officiating throughout the game wasn't great, but it was abysmal at the end. Benedictine called timeout with 23.1 seconds left to draw up their final play, then NCC called timeout right after. They had one left, and Coach Raridon told the refs that he wanted to use his last one after a made basket. Kevin Homn, who was on the floor at the time, also screamed for a timeout after the make. Both requests were ignored. This is a terrible failure by the officials, even though in all likelihood, with two seconds left, you aren't getting off a great shot. In principle though, this was bad.

That said, even though it cost the Cardinals a chance to tie or possibly win, I can't blame that solely for the loss. The Cardinals had a ten point cushion at halftime after leading by as many as 13 in the first half. You figured a Benedictine run was coming, and it came immediately. The Cardinals were a little late to respond and had decent leads as the half went on, but failed to execute to keep that lead.

At the end of the day though, I have to tip my cap to the Eagles. They're undefeated and ranked seventh in the country, and unlike their women's team, their record isn't inflated. They are a very, very good team and at this point you can all but pencil them in for the NCAA Tournament. It was a frustrating end to the evening, but they earned the win.

The Cardinals are off now through Christmas and close out the non-conference schedule next week at Robert Morris before diving head first into CCIW play in the new year.

2015 Death to the BCS Playoffs: First Round

Yesterday marked the official beginning of bowl season. With that in mind, now comes the fun part for me of the year in running through the what ifs of a 16 team playoff.

The College Football Playoff doesn't begin until New Year's Eve, but their top four teams match the Death to the BCS Playoffs' top four seeds. This playoff just adds the six remaining conference champions along with six other at large teams. Here's the fun part: the higher seeds in this round and the two to follow get home field advantage. It makes things more exciting, as the campuses get to come alive with fans and alums for games that matter more.

So here's how I work running through the results of these games, if you're new to this concept. You can view last year's first round post as an example. The higher seeds (1-8 this week) get to host the matchups, with weather at the time of kickoff being taken into account. In an attempt to make this game as accurate as possible, I use injury reports from Don Best's handicapping website to keep injured players out. I will simulate these games using WhatIfSports.com and to minimize luck, I will simulate these games as a best of three, with the clinching game going down as the official result.

Without further ado, here are yesterday's results from the first round.

Game Notes: (WBK) Benedictine University @ North Central College(12/17/15)

Final Score
NCC 104, Benedictine 88

Game Summary
The Cardinals (4-4) got off to a slow start offensively, but were locked in defensively as the Eagles (8-2) struggled to hang onto the ball. A 14-0 Cardinal run built a 10 point lead, and it hovered around that for most of the frame with North Central taking a 23-12 lead after one quarter. The Cardinals got into foul trouble in the second quarter, mucking up the pace of the game and allowing the Eagles to get back into it. They closed the gap to three a couple times, but the Cardinals hit well-times threes, including one right before the buzzer to go into the locker room up 44-38. The Cardinals would build their lead to 59-49 at one point, but an 11-0 Eagle run gave Benedictine the lead. North Central answered back to retake the lead, and held onto a 72-66 lead after three. The Eagles surged to start the fourth, hitting a three to make it 76-73 Cardinals, but North Central went on an 11-2 run to put the game away.

Key Stats

• Mayson Whipple (NCC): 7-15 FG (1-5 3PT); 15 pts, 2 reb (1 off), 3 ast, 2 stl. It was hard to narrow this list of key stats down with seven Cardinals scoring in double figures, but Mayson was one of the leading scorers on the team with 15 points. She struggled from deep, but was able to get to the basket plenty of times. On a night like this where the threes weren't really falling, they needed offense from other sources, and Mayson helped provide it. She was also second on the team in assists last night, which is a good sign.
• Corrine Rowe (NCC): 6-12 FG (1-4 3PT), 2-4 FT; 15 pts, 2 ast, 3 stl. In just her second game this season due to injury, she looked pretty good. Her handles are better than they were last year and she seems to be a little more disciplined with a year of experience. She was also able to get to the basket for some key buckets to help create offense, and was good in the press at stealing the ball.
• Paula Zerante (NCC): 5-9 FG (1-2 3PT), 4-4 FT; 15 pts, 4 reb, 2 stl. A lot of balance among these three guards, but Paula may have had the best night. She had a pair of and-ones at some key moments in the game to help keep the tide in the Cardinals' favor and had one of the best shooting nights out of everyone.

North Central System Watch

• Benedictine Turnovers: 41. This is a ton, even by North Central standards. The Eagles couldn't handle the pressure early, coughing it up 14 times in the first ten minutes. They calmed down a ton in the second quarter, only committing seven, but still had 20 more turnovers in the second half. Of those, 23 came on Cardinal steals, paced by four from Kim Wilson. Corrine Rowe and Jamie Cuny each had three thefts.
• NCC 3PT: 12-53 (22.6%). I think the Cardinals may have had as many air balls as they did made threes last night. It was pretty rough to watch. That said, when they needed a key three to fall, they made it happen. This brings them down to 26.7 percent for the season, but with the sheer volume of shots, it almost doesn't matter. I'm sure they'll get their legs back under them again.
• NCC Charges Drawn: 3. Guess who? Anita Sterling drew one in the first quarter, then another in the second quarter, both of which were kind of close but legit despite the protestations of Benedictine's coach. Her third charge was a no-doubter, and one that I have no idea why Benedictine's coach protested it.

Final Thoughts
I did some scouting Thursday morning to see what the Cardinals were up against, and it kind of surprised me that Benedictine was 8-1 coming into the game. They've taken advantage of, honestly, a soft schedule with their first loss coming at home to Elmhurst before rattling off that eight game winning streak against the bottom of the NACC and some non-conference tilts against teams that are not off to good starts. This is clearly a pretty good team, don't get me wrong, but their record was clearly artificially inflated. Also, shooting 11 of 29 at the free throw line didn't help their cause.

It doesn't really show up in the stats, but there's one other player who impressed me last night: Kelly Wallner. The sophomore was playing in her first game of the season, and she did all right. She went 0-3 from the field, all threes, but she had four rebounds, a steal, and played phenomenal defense down low, altering probably at least half a dozen shots last night. They need that defense just as much as they need the offense, and it helps to have some reliable help in the back.

The Cardinals go on their longest road trip of the season now, with a trip to Dubuque on Saturday, followed by a tournament at Otterbein in Ohio after Christmas to prep for CCIW play. The Cardinals will open their adventure into the Gauntlet at home against North Park on January 2nd.

2015 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 15

Apparently, Adam doesn't understand the concept of a white flag.

I kid, of course, but he took three of our four disputed picks last week to further establish his dominance over me this season and take firm control of the group as a whole. He is up by 11 games over Geoffy and 13 over my dad, at least according to our ESPN standings.

Adam did go above and beyond early this week and sent me a spreadsheet with data from our picks so far this season. It's not perfect; he's off by a couple games on a couple of folks, but the principle of the data remains the same. I've put that spreadsheet on my Google Drive, and have it available here for your perusal. The big stat that jumps out to me: Adam has won 60 percent of his "hero" picks, which is second in the group behind Geoffy, but Adam has gone with the most hero picks out of all of us, hence his dominance.

Meanwhile in Week 15, Adam and I disagree on seven games. Let's get to it!

Game Notes: Albion College @ North Central College (12/15/15)

Final Score
NCC 77, Albion 63

Game Summary
It was a very quick first half that started even, but the Cardinals (3-3) started strong down low to jump to an early lead. The Britons (4-3) had some trouble early, falling behind by double figures just six minutes into the game. They started to hit shots though and worked their way back into the game, using a 7-0 run to turn a 10 point game into a one possession deficit. The Cardinals scored the final five points of the half, however, and took a 37-29 lead into the break. Albion came out strong in the second half but the Cardinals made baskets to answer every attempted run. They then stood strong on defense to shut down the Britons and got to the basket to finish it off.

Key Stats

• Alex Sorenson (NCC): 10-15 FG (2-3 3PT); 22 pts, 7 reb (1 off), 2 ast, 1 stl, 3 blk. I said to the official scorer right before tip off that we had an edge in size, and Sorenson proceeded to score 11 of the Cardinals' first 13 points, dominating in the post. Foul trouble and adjustments slowed him down, and due to that foul trouble he only played 21 minutes. That's terrifying to consider what he could have done without the foul trouble.
• Jagger Anderson (NCC): 9-12 FG (1-2 3PT), 2-2 FT; 21 pts, 5 reb, 2 ast. With Sorenson in foul trouble, Anderson helped take over the game with a sublime offensive performance. He hit a number of circus shots, including a pair of and-ones to help put the game away.
• Connor Raridon (NCC): 5-7 FG, 6-9 FT; 16 pts, 5 reb (2 off), 3 ast. Other than missing all three freebie attempts after getting fouled on a corner three, the freshman had a fantastic second half. He only had four points at the intermission, but got more confident as the game went along, including a nice post up basket that I'm pretty sure head coach Todd Raridon had a little "proud dad" look in his eyes.

Final Thoughts
This was a tough one for Albion before the game even started; they came into Tuesday night on the back end of a back-to-back after losing at North Park on Monday. It may have contributed to the slow start.

I was talking after the game with former Cardinal Derek Raridon and freelance Tribune writer and NCC alum Paul Johnson about this team, and we are amazed at the sheer depth; this squad goes eight or nine deep with legitimate players. It has us excited for conference play; I touched on it a bit in my season preview, but the CCIW is going to be a bloodbath this year. I can't wait.

The Cardinals are escaping Illinois just in time to avoid the cold, as they play in a tournament in Miami this weekend, but return home on Tuesday to face seventh-ranked Benedictine. The Battle of Chicago Avenue is always tough, and the Eagles are off to their best start in recent memory. It's easily their best season since 2010-11.

I have one more game this week in the meantime, as the Benedictine women come to face The System Thursday night for my final dose of yelling "THREEEEEEEEE!" a ton for 2015. If you're in the Naperville area and want something to do, come on out and support this Cardinal team.

Fandom, Generalizations, and "The Best Fans In Baseball"

Photo from @BestFansStLouis

Friday was a great day for me as a Cubs fan. The much discussed topic of the past week was the landing spot for outfielder Jason Heyward, who just finished his first season with the St. Louis Cardinals. Needless to say, Cardinals fans wanted him back. The announcement broke early Friday afternoon that Heyward was leaving the Gateway to the West behind and coming to the North Side. This set off a firestorm.

I've referred to the "Best Fans St. Louis" Twitter account a couple of times before. It's one of my favorite follows on social media just because of the collection of sheer idiocy on display. Also, schadenfreude is fun. It's especially fun when the fanbase of the team you hate is exploding with rage at the loss of their premier free agent to their biggest rival. It's also kind of fun to rile them up a little bit. I've traded jabs with a few, attempting to be respectful (most of the time), only to be called a "faggot", "self-righteous" for calling out one fan's self-righteous elitism, and been blocked by a "juggalo" who stupidly suggested that Yadier Molina is a better catcher than Yogi Berra was, though that may have just been a successful attempt at trolling. I don't know.

And that gets to the crux of the argument that I wanted to make today. The so-called "Best Fans in Baseball" are anything but. There is a very vocal portion of the fanbase of the St. Louis Cardinals that are racist, homophobic, elitist, outright dumb, or a combination of the four. The purpose of @BestFansStLouis is to expose these people to the criticism that they deserve. When you tell me that Matt Carpenter deserved to make the All Star Game over Kris Bryant, claim that "All Stars aren't based on stats", then use stats to justify your argument, you deserve to be raked through the coals. When you glorify a drunk driving murderer who just so happened to play baseball for your favorite team, you deserve to be raked through the coals even more so.

All of that said... this should not represent the entirety of the St. Louis Cardinals fan base. Yes, the people retweeted on @BestFansStLouis are scum and deserve to be called out for their idiocy/hate/whatever, but we need to not judge the entire area or fan base based solely on this sample. I know multiple Cardinal fans who absolutely disagree with the notions this vocal minority express and are in fact the classy people that the so-called "Best Fans in Baseball" claim to be.

Jay Rush, a WONC alum who just barely overlapped my time there and Quad Cities radio personality, is a die hard Cardinals fan, but he expressed respect when Heyward signed with the Cubs, was respectful when the Cubs knocked the Cardinals out of the playoffs, and I've never noticed the self-righteousness about the franchise that other Cardinals fans express. He epitomizes what the fan standard of conduct should be.

I went to St. Louis in 2009 with my dad for a couple games at Busch Stadium when the Twins were in town. I wore Cubs gear because I was a 19 year old idiot (though let's be honest, I'd do it again), and I only got two comments about it: a pastor who joked about how my dad and I "need to be saved" (and while some people might take offense at being told that, it's clear he was joking and we'd had a respectful conversation up to that point), and a concession worker said that I was "a brave soul" for wearing Cubs gear to Busch Stadium. That was it. I also saw the fans in attendance that second day give Mark DeRosa, who had just been traded to St. Louis, a standing ovation for his first at bat. It was painful to see after seeing DeRosa in Cubbie blue the two years prior, but I appreciated the respect he got. I'm sure a large chunk of those people wouldn't agree with the hate speech expressed online.

Long story short, there are plenty of classy Cardinals fans. What @BestFansStLouis wouldn't have showed were the Cardinals fans that expressed disappointment that Heyward was leaving, but thanked him for his time in St. Louis and wished him well. It doesn't fit the agenda of the account, and that's fine. What it does is shows that the St. Louis Cardinal fan base, as a whole, is no better and no worse than any other fan base. I'm a Cub fan, and I know there are a ton of drunk idiots that are Cubs fans, and former Cubs have claimed that they heard fans say racist things at Wrigley while they were wearing Cubbie blue. I hate that that happened, and those actions deserve to be condemned, but they don't represent the entirety of the fan base. Likewise, not all Cardinal fans are elitist, racist homophobes who deify an aging catcher who spits on umpires.

I guess the tricky part for me is that no other fan base has the audacity to call itself the "best fans in [insert sport]". Organizations will claim such on behalf of its fans, but the self-declarations as far as I'm aware exist only with the St. Louis Cardinals' fans. It can be tricky to find that balance, but it needs to be done. Of course, personal vendettas that I may or may not have don't help the matter either. Whatever the case, it's important not to judge the entirety of the fan base to be these horrible people... but when the horrible people surface, call them out on it.

2015 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 14

I think I'm gonna wave the white flag now.

Adam has increased his lead overall in our group, going 4-1 on hero picks and taking seven of our ten disputed games last week to open up a 14 game lead with four weeks to go. I'm out of it at this point, I've accepted it. So congratulations to Adam for leading wire to wire this season and at least defeating me, with a good shot of winning the group outright.

I'm playing out the string here, but I enjoy picking these games still even though I've had an awful year. This week, Adam and I disagree on only four games out of the 16 to be played. He was busy with work this week so he had to do quick picks for this edition. Without further ado, here we go.

Game Notes: University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point @ North Central College (12/9/15)

Final Score
NCC 63, Wisconsin-Stevens Point 49

Game Summary
It was a defensive battle early, but the Cardinals (3-3) took control early with a couple of baskets while locking down the other end. The Pointers (3-3) hung around though by playing solid defense as well, while the Cardinals missed some free throws to keep it close. Stevens Point finally hit a couple threes late in the half to make it close again, but some late free throws and a couple Cardinal buckets pushed the lead back to eight, going into halftime up 26-18. North Central forced turnovers on the first three possessions of the second half and tried to pull away, though the Pointers hung tough and kept it close for a while. A couple Cardinal threes expanded the lead, and they finished it off by going to the basket.

Key Stats

• UWSP: 16-58 FG (27.6%). When I talk about how dominant a defensive performance this was... This is your proof. North Central just held the defending national champions to under 30 percent shooting. The Pointers also hit just 32.4 percent of their two point shots. Incredible.
• Alex Sorenson (NCC): 7-9 FG (1-2 3PT), 5-13 FT; 20 pts, 12 reb (3 off), 1 ast, 2 blk. Alex struggled a bit offensively early (at the line especially), but controlled the game for the first ten minutes or so by locking down the defensive side. He heated up in the second half while continuing to control the glass. He also got his rhythm down at the line in the second half, hitting five of eight freebies.
• Erwin Henry (NCC): 5-9 FG (0-3 3PT), 8-8 FT; 18 pts, 10 reb (1 off), 2 ast, 1 stl. Erwin did pretty well in the first half (eight points, six boards) but really took over as the second half continued. He managed a pair of key and-ones to prevent the Pointers from mounting more of a comeback. For his first start of the year, this was a great game.

Final Thoughts
The defending national champs had to reload a little bit, and they have the size, but they had no answer for a tough Cardinal defense. If you didn't know much about either team coming in, you'd think the Cardinals were the defending national champs the way they played. They were ready for this one, and showed it from the get go.

This was a huge win for the program and could be critical later in the season, but the important thing for now is that the Cardinals don't get too high after this win. They blew a 16 point lead at Aurora a couple weeks ago, and had multiple chances to beat Alma on Sunday but couldn't get over the top despite holding them without a basket for the final 4:27 of the game. Consistency is key, and we'll see how they handle it. The boys get a few days to rest up and prepare for Albion this coming Tuesday.

Game Notes: Carroll University @ North Central College (12/8/15)

Final Score
NCC 109, Carroll 81

Game Summary
After a ten day layoff, the Cardinals (3-3) went unorthodox on offense, driving the lane and getting layups to take the early lead. The Pioneers (3-5) hung tough early and only trailed 21-15 after the first quarter. North Central went cold for much of the early second quarter and Carroll took advantage, eventually taking a 30-29 lead midway through the frame. The Cardinals didn't give up, continuing to attack the basket and retook control, but only led 42-39 going into the break. The Cardinals made adjustments in the second half though while also starting to hit their trees, building a 75-56 lead through three quarters and topping the century mark with under three minutes left in the game.

Key Stats

• NCC: 60 points in the paint. I was caught off guard by this strategy to start the game, but Coach Roof said afterward that Carroll was tightly guarding the perimeter and forcing the Cardinals to go inside. That seemed to suit North Central just fine; they looked quicker pretty much all game. They got a good post contribution while at the same time, they got great dribble penetration by the guards all game. It shows that this team isn't just a one trick pony.
• Therese Pettersson (NCC): 8-14 FG, 1-2 FT; 17 pts, 5 reb (3 off), 2 ast. I was worried coming into the season that we wouldn't have a go to person down low. T might have taken the torch left by Tess Godhardt officially last night, as she looked fantastic on the blocks. I'm excited for her future with this team.
• Malory Christenson (CRRLL): 12-22 FG, 6-8 FT; 30 pts, 14 reb (6 off), 4 ast, 1 blk. The forwards always seem to be the beneficiaries for opponents against this system, as Christenson took advantage of multiple layup opportunities and also hit some jumpers while having a great night on the glass.

North Central System Watch

• Carroll Turnovers: 30. Another day at the office, this total really picked up as the game went along and Carroll started to tire. The Cardinals picked up 18 steals on the night, paced by Paula Zerante's five. North Central also forced a ten second call as well as one backcourt violation.
• NCC 3PT: 11-38 (28.9%). The season average goes up a tad, though it took a while. The Cardinals hit just two of their 17 threes in the first half, some way off. They then got hot in the second half going 9-21, which was a big factor in their pulling away for the win.
• NCC Charges Drawn: 1. Anita Sterling picked up her third charge at home, though I'm not sure what happened out in Colorado. Either way I'm pretty sure she's in the lead on the team by a lot.

Final Thoughts
I need to get used to this matchup; this is the conclusion of a home-and-home series, but the Pioneers are joining the CCIW next season, so we'll be seeing them every year from here on out.

It's fun to watch for the expressions of opponents whenever they play the Cardinals. You could tell in the fourth quarter that Carroll was done. They looked absolutely gassed and maybe a tad frustrated, but they showed heart to the end. I have to tip my cap.

The Cardinals are on the road this weekend to complete a home-and -home from last year with Wisconsin-Eau Claire (that game was fun), but will be back home next Thursday in the Battle of Chicago Avenue against Benedictine. I'll have another Game Notes tomorrow though, as the North Central men complete a home-and-home from last year and take on defending national champion Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

2015 Death to the BCS Playoffs: Official Bracket

With the exception of the Army-Navy game, the 2015 regular season is in the books. Now, it's for all the marbles.

This weekend, two conferences concluded their regular seasons while the other eight played their conference championship games. The former all had their automatic bids claimed; the latter needed to make it official. Now that they are, it's time to go to the Playoff Laboratory one final time... only this time, I'm doing this for real.

Those ten aforementioned conference champions all received an automatic berth to the 16 team field, while the remaining six spots were awarded at large to deserving teams who couldn't claim their conference crown. So how were those six decided, and how did I work out where everyone should be seeded? That latter question is just as important as the former; higher seeds get home field advantage for the first three rounds.

As for the selection criteria, I am a one-man selection committee who builds a bracket with the help of some metrics. I will use my own Non-Conference Schedule Strength and Playoff Points metrics to get started, and then I follow up with a pair of computer rankings that incorporate margin of victory (because that matters). These rankings are compiled by Jeff Sagarin and by a UCLA faculty member who uses the publicly available formula created by the late David Rothman. I try to combine these factors together to not be biased towards my own metrics while also looking at standings to come up with a playoff field.

Seeding is a little trickier. I'm using the same criteria to assign seedings, but I also want to keep a couple other factors in mind. I want to minimize travel to the best of my ability. Some of that will be unavoidable and TV revenues would make up for travel costs, but at the same time the travel costs would be significantly less than they would for a bowl game. This matters. The other, more important factor is one that I've kept in mind over the years: I want to try to avoid rematches as much as possible. This is vital in the first round, and it goes down in importance as the tournament progresses, but it remains in the back of my head.

So, fourteen weeks of football have all led up to this. Here is the official bracket for the 2015 Death to the BCS Playoffs.

2015 NCAA Playoff Points: Week 14

For the most part, this week's post of this nature is just formality. But it is important for the purposes of building the Death to the BCS Playoffs.

Last week, an overwhelming majority of the nation played its 12th and final game of the season, largely locking up most teams' Playoff Points scenarios. However, the Big 12 and Sun Belt do not have conference championship games because they aren't big enough, and thus had to finish out their regular seasons yesterday.

If you need a refresher on how Playoff Points work, you can refer back to my Week 1 post. Now, in the interests of full disclosure because it's important: the conference championship games do not count towards Playoff Points, either in team win totals or going towards First or Second Degree Playoff Points. I do this because it's not fair to the Big 12 or the Sun Belt to reward the other conferences for bring bigger. We may see some changes in other conferences though based on non-conference games involving those two conferences. Let's take a look at the final rankings of the year.

2015 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 13

We have five weeks left in the NFL season, and I'm working on my concession speech.

Adam took four out of our six disputed games last week, and now has a ten game lead with 80 more games to pick. The way things have gone, even though I did okay this week, I don't have much faith in leading a comeback. Weird things happen though, so I'm going to keep at it. Plus, this series of posts is fun to do, and I enjoy having Adam along for the ride.

Adam remains in first place in our little group, though my dad has surged in recent weeks to be in the conversation, and Geoffrey is in striking distance as well. I guess I am too, but the gap is probably too much to overcome.

If I'm going to make a miraculous comeback, the best opportunity is now. This week, Adam and I disagree on a whopping ten games out of 16. Let's get to the picks.

2015 NCAA NCSS Rankings: Week 14/15

For the final time this season, it's time to take a look at the upcoming schedule.

Last week pretty much finalized the rankings, with one exception that I'm going to do a week ahead of time, hence the post title where I'm combining the two weeks. I won't do the same for Playoff Points, however, because Navy is out of the mix at this point. I'll end up updating the spreadsheet regardless, but it won't impact the Death to the BCS Playoffs.

What will, however, are a chunk of the games this week. We have multiple conference championship games, while two conferences close out their regular season schedules. I'll touch on all of these after the jump.