| Daily Blog • Thursday, December 23rd |
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Each day during bowl season in my daily blog, I will give you my forecasts on the bowl games taking place that day. My forecasts will include a detailed write-up with my computer’s projected box score including rushing and passing yards, points and turnovers along with a detailed write-up on each game.
Please make sure to check PhilSteele.com everyday for complete information and coverage on all the bowl matchups. On the homepage click on the Bowl matchups link, where you will find all 35 bowl games. Click on the bowl logo for each game to get all the information you need to become an expert!
Also I just put up my 2011 NFL Draft Preview with the top 10 prospects at each of the positions. Take a look now to see where your favorite player is ranked and get a sneak peek at who will be taken in the early rounds next April.
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POINSETTIA BOWL |
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NAVY (9-3) VS SAN DIEGO ST (8-4) |
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Rushing |
Passing |
Points |
TO’s |
ST |
A.O.R |
|
| NAVY | 279 | 95 |
28 |
1.0 |
• |
95.8 |
| SAN DIEGO ST | 136 |
335 |
32 |
2.4 |
- |
93.3 |
| This bowl game has a couple of interesting notes with this being SDSt’s first bowl appearance since the 1998 Las Vegas Bowl, a 20-13 loss to NC. Also the Aztecs will be playing on their home field but may not have a big crowd edge as San Diego is one of the biggest cities in America with a Naval presence. This is Navy’s 8th str bowl, a school record, and their 3rd trip to the Poinsettia Bowl with their last trip a 35-32 loss to Utah in ‘07. Both teams faced Air Force with SDSt winning 27-25 despite being outgained 487-452 and outFD’d 29-16 and Navy losing 14-6. Both teams feature exciting offenses as Navy has senior QB Dobbs who suffered thru some injuries earlier TY but rebounded to lead the Middies to avg 40 ppg in their L/6 gms. SDSt meanwhile has a pair of NFL caliber WR's in Sampson and Brown, a dynamite frosh RB in Hillman and experienced slinger with QB Lindley. When breaking down this game a couple of things stood out...first, one of the biggest mismatches of this bowl season are the WR’s of SDSt vs the CB’s of Navy as the Midshipmen are just #104 in my pass eff D ratings giving up 220 ypg (68%) with a 20-7 ratio. Also while Navy has the huge bowl experience edge and service academies always play well in bowl games, SDSt's coaching staff has plenty of bowl experience and you have to like the fact that DC Long has faced the option so many times in his career. | ||||||
PHIL’S FORECAST: San Diego st 34 Navy 24 |
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The Bowl confidence contest is under way and Congratulations to the top two players who both have perfect scores thru the first five games with a perfect 165 pts. However many times the players that rank in the top early are those that wagered the most pts and if you are not on the top leaderboard right now, naturally you still have plenty of opportunities to rise up/fall down the standings in the coming weeks.
Last year we expanded the contest to nearly 1200 contestants, which was double from any other previous season and this year we more than doubled the number of contestants with nearly 3000 entries!
So far thru 5 games nearly 300 hundred of the 3000 are a perfect 5 for 5 in picking the winners with the Humanitarian and New Orleans Bowls knocking most people from the ranks of the undefeated.
Top 10 Overall Standings
Rank |
Picksheet |
W |
L |
Points |
1t |
andtinez |
5 |
0 |
165 |
1t |
Bickel |
5 |
0 |
165 |
3 |
kwcno12 |
5 |
0 |
145 |
4 |
jadams |
5 |
0 |
143 |
5 |
gatorsnc75 |
5 |
0 |
141 |
6 |
mudhead |
5 |
0 |
140 |
7 |
VCN |
5 |
0 |
138 |
8 |
jape |
5 |
0 |
137 |
9 |
Vegas |
5 |
0 |
136 |
10 |
Jai Alai |
4 |
1 |
134 |
Last year we had four different radio stations participate with their own groups and this year we expanded to a dozen different groups.
Here are the total number of contestants for the major groups and the current leaders.
WKNR Cleveland, Ohio w/Michael Reghi
(236 Contestants)
Rank |
Picksheet |
W |
L |
Points |
1 |
Bickel |
5 |
0 |
165 |
2 |
Rob Nov |
5 |
0 |
129 |
3 |
Plucky |
4 |
1 |
124 |
4 |
weaver1263 |
4 |
1 |
122 |
5 |
natesworld |
5 |
0 |
119 |
WVSP Virginia Beach, Virginia w/Tony Mercurio
(202 Contestants)
Rank |
Picksheet |
W |
L |
Points |
1 |
dumbster |
4 |
1 |
132 |
2 |
tdtarheels |
4 |
1 |
130 |
3 |
jhudge81 |
4 |
1 |
119 |
4 |
player2ma |
5 |
0 |
115 |
5 |
gwente |
5 |
0 |
111 |
5 |
Rachel R | 5 |
0 |
111 |
STO Cleveland, Ohio w/Bruce Drennan
(172 Contestants)
Rank |
Picksheet |
W |
L |
Points |
1 |
dg7783 |
4 |
1 |
122 |
1 |
tribefan17 |
4 |
1 |
122 |
3 |
steelerhater |
5 |
0 |
113 |
4 |
Burtus8145 |
5 |
0 |
111 |
5 |
jjakubson |
4 |
1 |
110 |
Erik Kuselias (114 Contestants)
Rank |
Picksheet |
W |
L |
Points |
1 |
MichaelV |
4 |
1 |
128 |
2 |
joe pa 2 |
4 |
1 |
115 |
3 |
huskymd |
4 |
1 |
113 |
4 |
biglvway |
4 |
1 |
110 |
5 |
quackattack |
5 |
0 |
102 |
5 |
tasmith13579 | 3 |
2 |
102 |
KMBE Houston, Texas w/Charlie Pallilo
(94 Contestants)
Rank |
Picksheet |
W |
L |
Points |
1 |
andtinez |
5 |
0 |
165 |
2 |
mudhead |
5 |
0 |
140 |
3 |
Kreg Barrett |
4 |
1 |
109 |
4 |
TXHITMAN |
4 |
1 |
107 |
5 |
andrew b |
4 |
1 |
103 |
WDFN Detroit, Michigan w/Sean Baligian
(53 Contestants)
Rank |
Picksheet |
W |
L |
Points |
1 |
jonnyrolo |
5 |
0 |
129 |
2 |
larspetzke79 |
4 |
1 |
119 |
3 |
chelseachris |
5 |
0 |
115 |
4 |
schlimmy |
5 |
0 |
109 |
5 |
sammytime |
5 |
0 |
103 |
5 |
Wolverine Keith |
5 |
0 |
103 |
For complete overall standings or each individual group click here.