All-Haiku Bowl Results, 2016 •• Some Blog Site

All-Haiku Bowl Results, 2016

Jan

2017

Okay, okay, it is 2017 at this point, but the results are headlines as 2016 because they match with the 2016 predictions made in 2016 for the 2016 season. Also, the results are not all-haiku, just the predictions were. A more accurate title would be “Results for the All-Haiku Predictions made in 2016”.

Before the bowl games commenced for this past college football season, I made some predictions. Here, for your reading enjoyment, is the tally of those predictions. Note that the results are not in haiku form, in contrast to the predictions.

Results

Here is the list (correct predictions in green, incorrect in red):

New Mexico over UTSA

Houston over SDSU

Toledo over App. St.

UCF over Arkansas St.

Southern Miss over ULL

CMU over Tulsa

WKU over Memphis

Wyoming over BYU

Idaho over Colorado St.

OD over EMU

Navy over La. Tech

Troy over Ohio

MTSU over Hawaii

Miami OH over Mississippi St.

Maryland over BC

Vanderbilt over NC St.

Army over N. Texas

Temple over Wake Forest

Washington St. over Minnesota

Boise St. over BYU

Pitt over Northwestern

WVU over Miami FL

Utah over Indiana

KSU over Texas AM

USF over S. Carolina

VT over Arkansas

Colorado over Ok. St.

Georgia over TCU

Stanford over UNC

Nebraska over Tennessee

Air Force over S. Alabama

Michigan over FSU

LSU over Louisville

GT over Kentucky

Washington over Alabama

Clemson over Ohio St.

Iowa over Florida

Wisconsin over WMU

Penn St. over USC

Oklahoma over Auburn

Clemson over Alabama

And here are the results of the various forecasting methodologies (see the first year for description of the methodologies) (also, use the word methodologies if you want to sound important; methods would work just as well and is shorter) :

Some Blog Site picks were 19-21 (worse than last year)
CBS120 picks were 23-17
HTW was 22-18 for the Geographical Home Team (GHT)
Isaacson-Tarbell Postulate (ITP) was 22-18 using GHT

I won’t analyze the results as much as I did last year, mainly because I had more time and more sleep last year. But it was a decent year for all predictors – every method except mine was at or over 50%. I just need to figure how to better predict outcomes. Especially against the spread.

Because of the disparities between institutions and between conferences, it is tougher to predict bowl games than NFL games. But one thing seems to be pretty consistent: if you don’t want to do a lot of research, just pick whatever CBS Sports says.

Thoughts on the season’s results

Last year, we could have used an 8-team playoff. This year, I’m happy with the concept of 4 teams, just not all 4 of the teams the selection committee selected. If we’re going to stick with 4 teams, then the non-conference games during the season should be with a similar conference (e.g. Big 12 teams would play B1G or SEC teams). You don’t need 4 games against cupcakes. How about 2 cupcakes and 2 interconference games?

Conferences

Since the strength of the conference has something to do with the results, I thought I would tally each conference’s bowl game record for the 2015 (and the first bit of 2016) season.

AAC: 2-5
ACC: 9-3*
Big 10: 3-7
Big 12: 4-2
Independent: 2-0
MAC: 1-5
MW: 4-3
PAC12: 3-3
SEC: 5-8*
Sun Belt: 4-2
USA: 4-3

* additional win/loss due to playoff + championship game

Normally, I take this spot to write different sentences each claiming a different conference as the best because of some different statistic. But this year, no conference could beat the ACC in any stat – they won the most bowl games, they won the championship, and they sent the most teams sent to bowls. So, I must admit that the ACC is the uncontested best conference in NCAA DIV I football.

Next year: playoffs again! A chance for someone other than the ACC to win!

Coastlands, listen to Me in silence, And let the peoples gain new strength; Let them come forward, then let them speak; Let us come together for judgment.

Isaiah 41:1