From Dictionary.com: Unprecedented: adjective. Without previous instance; never before known or experienced; unexampled or unparalleled.
Perfect weeks are not completely uncommon in the history of the pool. There have been quite a few since I’ve started keeping records in the 2009 season. There have even been weeks where two people have had a perfect week, and even once before where three did. But nine? There has never even been an entire season since 2009 where we’ve had nine perfect weeks. For this to happen in a week, you generally need every favorite to win (which doesn’t happen nearly as often as you might think, but actually did happen this week). But some games can be extremely close to choose – it’s worth noting that had Auburn won its game against Clemson, three different pickers would have had perfect weeks.
All this meant that the tiebreaker would have incredible significance, and it literally came down to the type of score that Virginia Tech made in OT to win against Georgia Tech that gave CUtigers the tiebreaker win for the week. Congratulations! The other perfect pickers this week (it seems right to list them all) were Crimson Gator, Rocky Tide, gatorbamalover, Allison, The Tradition, bamaken, maestro, and Bamarock.
In addition to this plethora of perfection, everyone as a whole did quite well. With 29 people participating in the first week’s picks, 92.05% of the games were picked correctly – the second-best week that I have in my records since 2009 (week 1 in 2010 was 92.6%). The percentage of possible points scored was 96.002%, only the fourth time since 2009 that the 96% mark was reached. Well done, everyone!
Now, if you didn’t pick perfectly this week, or even forgot to pick, don’t fret! This year, we’re bringing back the “drop two worst weeks” method of determining the overall winner, so anyone can still win!
In the world of college football itself, what have we learned after week 1? Well, probably not a whole lot overall. There were not too many games between ranked (or even reasonably-matched) teams, and it’s hard to get a read on teams after one game anyway. So I’ll hold off on football-related analysis until next week.
There is another huge slate of games this upcoming week – 24 in all! The first games start Saturday, September 8 @ Noon ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!
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Brandon German
e-Systems.net, Inc.