Author: maplecupgolf

Prelims:

Alabama (Navin) knocks off Georgia (Wile E.-2X) = 18 point swing

Ole Miss (Squirrel-2X) beats LSU (Sergio) = 24 point swing

Main Event:

Oregon (Bronko-2X) wins at Penn State (Cletus-2X) = 30 point swing

3 Top 5 teams get upset – and the standings reflect the aftermath.

Powered by the Ducks, Bronko cracks the 60-point point barrier and takes the lead in the pool. 5-1 vs. the spread. The Vols needed OT to beat Mississippi State, Louisville gets a come-from-behind win at Pitt.

Sergio slides to 2nd place. After. an opening 60+ point week, it’s been a steady decline. Losses by LSU, Kansas, and NC State this week – but his Buckeyes keep on rolling – 88 points in double games keeps him right in the hunt.

Navin keeps climbing the standings. Ga Tech needed OT (and help from the refs) to win his double game at Wake Forest. Colorado State scores only 3 points in a home loss to Washington State.

Squirrel loses 4 games with a admittedly awful line-up. USC, TCU, Arizona, and Okie State all fall. Ole Miss’s double win avoids a complete disaster.

Cletus tumbles to 5th place – Penn State continues to come up short in the biggest tests. 2-4 vs. the spread. He’s in 5th, 10 points clear of the Zone of Pizza.

Champ sits in 6th- A solid 5-1 week including a nice double win by the Irish at Arkansas – getting Sam Pittman fired. The Zoomies home loss to Hawaii was the lone setback.

Wile E. also gets 5 wins, but that loss was a biggie – a double loss by the Dawgs at the hands of resurgent Alabama. 7th place, chasing points the rest of the way.

Operaman muddles to a 3-3 week, getting a guaranteed win by starting Indiana and Iowa in a head-to-head battle. Florida State crashes back to reality losing a wild one in Virginia. He’s not in last – but closing fast is…

Squiggy! 6-0 and a 51 point week. Boise covers in a double win, Toledo and Tulane roll, and the Gophers are the cherry on top. Watch out above!

A month in and the 2025 CFB Pool picture is starting to take shape. Operaman’s last 2 first round picks have a troubling theme. Doubling Clemson this week (-6) and UTEP losing to La Monroe (-3) – It ain’t good. He did start Indiana and Iowa, chalking up a 10 point-ranked win over the Illini and a roadie at Rutgers. 24 points for the week, thankfully he has…

Squiggy. Arkansas, FlaInt and Toledo were all losers for the Squigtone. He continues a record-threatening total – yet to break the 100 point mark through 4 weeks.

Champ takes a double loss this week in a big way. Illinois gets blistered at Indiana. And So Alabama loses as a 14 point fave to Coastal. He slides into the Group of Pizza in 7th place.

Joining him, Wile E. – As with all his schemes, the ACME rocket power roller skates had a solid start – blasting through 5 wins, but chasing an Arkansas State win was a mirage. Off the end of a cliff for the loss. (Next week, he’ll REALLY have a plan). Trying to avoid relegation.

Navin jumps into the Premier league with a 6-0, 48 point weekly win. Miami gets defensive points in a double win, JMU collects a road-win over Liberty.

Squirrel sits in 4th, his boy-crush Lane Kiffen gets a double win over Tulane. The Oklahoma State loss was the only setback in a solid 40 point week.

Cletus – had the befuddling loss of the week. A double-point shutout loss by Cal at San Diego State. (The Gopher-win hangover is real!- Proof!!) AND his Utes get shellacked at home the the Te$as Te$$ Red-RaiderS. He slides back to 3rd.

Bronko posts a 6-0 week, but goes 1-3 vs the spread. His double team, Oregon, wins 41-7 – and doesn’t cover. Tennessee (-39.5) and Louisville (-26.5) couldn’t beat the odds as well. 40 points though – gaining 8 points on our leader.

Sergio. He takes hist first 2 losses of the season with NC State and Louisiana. He leads the pool in double-win points (68*). He is 9-7 vs. the spread, enjoying the slimmest margin of winning point differential vs. the spread this season. (Yes, I track that.) Kansas had no problem covering his double game vs. W Virginia.

(*)Squirrel – This is important.

The Greatest Pool in the History of the World has something in common with NASCAR racing on the super-speedways. You need to avoid the “Big One”.

Squiggy was unable to avoid the train-wreck of Week 3. Va Tech gets demolished by ODU at home in his double game. So Carolina loses a QB and a home game. Jax. State loses to Ga. Southern and PJ and the Gophs are the cherry on top of a disaster weekend. 2 points for the week – 68 total points in 3 weeks. How bad is it? The epically bad Chip Diller squad had 83 points after 3 weeks last year.

Cletus wins the week (6-0, 4-0 vs the spread). Utah scores 20 points with a road win at Wyoming in his double game.

Sergio remains our leader but the margin shrinks a bit each week. Ohio State couldn’t cover the number in his in-state double game.

Bronko gets 5 wins this week, Boston College falls to Stanford as a 12 point fave. He sits in 3rd place.

Squirrel is off to a solid 17-1 start, checking in at the 4 spot. 0-3 vs the spread this week. No Squirrel, Incarnate Word is not an FBS team. Neither is Southern.

Champ marks the deregulation line in 5th place. The double-edged sword of the pool gets him again. An Irish home loss was his demise (and joy) this week.

Navin and Operaman post 34 point weeks and sit in a tie atop the “Group of Pizza”. Navin’s UCLA squad loses at home to New Mexico and gets their coach fired.

For Operaman, Clemson loses its 2nd game, following in the footsteps of his #1 pick last year, Liberty.

Wile E. pulls out a double-win with his Dawgs downing ranked Tennessee. UConn loses as a 10 point favorite at upstart Delaware.

On to week 4 – and into conference play. The bye weeks will be an interesting path to navigate. I see stormy Saturdays on the horizon.

Wile E.‘s “genius” plan of doubling road-dog Michigan backfired in Week 2. Throw in an Oregon State loss to the mighty Entzes of Fresno and you get a pool-low 15 points for the week. He plummets into last place. (Look, you can see the dust rising.) It gets late early in the college football pool. The long road uphill starts next week. Better come up with a new plan – genius.

Dogs and cats living together – mass hysteria! Squirrel wins the week! Big wins by USC (2X), Memphis and Wisconsin led the way, he scores 50 points and climbs to 3rd.

Sergio follows up a massive opening weekend with a solid 49 point week. Colorado posts 18 points in his double game. 5 of his 6 teams get defensive points with the Buckeyes pitching a shutout.

Bronko stays in 2nd- 45 points for the week. Arizona State’s loss at Mississippi State denies him the top score for the week. The Ducks get 18 points sending a message to Mike Gundy- “Keep yer yap shut.”

Cletus remains unblemished this year with a 12-0 start. Only 38 points for the week though; 0-4 vs. the spread. Penn State wins 34-0 in his double game. And doesn’t cover.

Navin bounces back in week 2 – Alabama (73-0) took out it’s frustrations on poor La. Monroe.

Operaman loses to another FCS opponent. It’s becoming a trend. This week it’s Eastern Michigan, losing at home to Long Island. Clemson survives Troy in a shaky double win.

Champ gets a nice double win from Illinois and a win over ranked Michigan with Oklahoma. Losses by Liberty and San Diego State ruin the week.

Squiggy. Big winners Boise St. and Minnesota didn’t crack his line-up this week. Instead he gets losses from Marshall and Va Tech. Those decisions land you in 8th place.

The 5-day opening weekend of the season is in the books and it’s safe to say we’ve never seen more carnage for 1st round picks in CFB Pool history. 5 of the first round picks in the CFB Pool Draft suffer losses.

#1 pick Texas goes on the road and loses a ballsy head to head double game showdown vs. Ohio State.

Sergio takes full advantage of the rare road, ranked bonus points setting the tone for a huge Saturday. Later that day his LSU Tigers win in the “other” Death Valley at #3 pick Clemson. Another road, ranked bonus win and Sergio tops the charts with a blistering 62 point week.

#4 pick Notre Dame heads to Miami and loses a double-pointer at the hands of the Hurricanes. Champ takes the double loss.

#7 pick Boise State gets slobber-knocked at South Florida. Squiggy is certainly second-guessing that strategery and enters the cone of confusion for the 2025 season.

Joining Boise in the the Twilight Zone of uncertaintude is #9 pick Alabama. What in the hell was that? and how do you trust them going forward? The Tide lose our 3-time defending champ’s doubler. From the penthouse to the outhouse. A riches to rags CFB Pool crash for…

Navin.

Bronko bucks up in week 1 with 6 wins – even with his #1 (Oregon) on the bench. Iowa State picks up 2 wins and 15 points for the week. He cracks 50 points and gets the task of being closest in proximity to Sergio’s backside.

Cletus sits in 3rd – Patience pays off as his Utah Utes throttle UCLA in his double win.

Wile E. takes advantage of getting Georgia at #8 – beating Marshall by 38 points points in his double game. The rub? The Dawgs were a 39.5 favorite. That’s an 8 point swing.

Squirrel leads the pack at the bottom half of the pool – on the “Pizza Line” in week 1 despite the double-loss by his Longhorns.

Operaman had an FCS opponent drama-filled weekend. 5th round pick Amy loses to a plucky Tarleton State team and Kansas State had to rally at home to beat the SiouxHawks.

The Greatest Pool in the History of the World (2024 edition) is in the books.

Bruce Dickinson completes his quest, wining a 3rd straight championship. Texas loses to Georgia in his final game but it’s still a 24 point margin as he completes the 3-peat.

Latching onto Miami, Ohio in his last gasp was not the ticket. Barn finishes in 2nd place for the 2nd straight year. Always the bridesmaid. Still looking for that “modern era” championship. 21 years and counting next year. He continues, undaunted.

Wile E.

Fueled by Oregon’s 20 point win, Sween finishes in 3rd place. Artie (Paul Shaffer) is one of the best-known sidekicks in history. How about a sidekick of a sidekick? Yes, that shit exists.

Squiggy.

Sergio under-estimated the power of a Sun Devil and finishes in 4th.

Bronko finishes 5th – Tulane falls to Army in the final week.

Which leaves us with our relegated “Group of Pizza”.

Champ gets a big win out of Georgia.

Operaman finishes 7th with a final Jax State win, which is more of an indictment of how crappy the teams were below him.

Cletus‘s Fighting Dabos finished strong with a big win over SMU. 8th place.

We were wire-to-wire at the bottom and the top of the pool. Squirrel finishes the year with his 6th double-loss – Western Kentucky losing to Jax St.

2025 Draft Order:

1. Squirrel
2. Cletus
3. Operaman
4. Champ
5. Bronko
6. Sergio
7. Squiggy
8. Wile E.
9. Bruce Dickinson

9 combatants in the Greatest Pool in the History of the World.

14 weeks. 6 teams per week. 756 games. 1 winner.

The furious charge of Bombo looks like it will come up just a bit short. Back-to-back 6-0 finishes and 108 total points the last 2 weeks, but still trailing Bruce Dickinson by 22 points. His last gasp next week starting Army or UNLV? – a miracle shutout win by UNLV at Boise St?

Bruce Dickinson closing the door going 5-1, USF will never be drafted by him again. Ever. Penn State punches a ticket to Indy and ices the 2024 pool with an 18 point double win over Maryland.

Sergio’s Buckeyes get ran over (again) by the school from up north. In the current 4 game win-streak’s 4th quarters – Michigan has rushed the ball for 396 yards, 6.7 yards per carry. There it is. Sergio leads the pool in double games this year. 14-0, 212 pts.

11 points back, Bronko gets 35 points out of 5 wins. BYU gets nipped by the hook in his double game vs. Houston. Tulane gets upset by Memphis.

Artie Fufkin is limping to the finish line. Home losses by ECU, UCF, and Washington State doomed him this week. He sits in 5th place. Safe for 2024.

Which leaves us the regulated “Group of Pizza”. The bottom 4.

Champ is clearly the “class” of the field, 64 points clear of 7th place. he gets 5 wins this week, Miami’s loss to Syracuse was the spoiler.

Operaman sits in 7th. Liberty is certainly the 2nd worst first round draft pick of 2024.

Cletus gets 20 points in Arizona State’s ass-whipping of Arizona. But 5 double losses on the year? Yep, 8th place.

Squirrel started bad, the middle of the season was…bad. And he is ending the season, horrible. The Aggies get a -8 point double loss. (No cover, home loss, scores 9 or less) At least they didn’t get shutout. 22 points for the week. He’s 60 points out of 8th place. 247 points behind the leader. A historically bad rookie season. And really, from week 1 this year, Squirrel is on the clock.

Nobody said it better than Yogi.

In a repeat of 2023, it comes down to a battle at the top between Bruce Dickinson looking for an unprecedented 3-peat and Bombo, looking for his first championship in the modern era.

Bruce D. is limping to the finish line scoring a meager 21 points on 4 wins. Texas fails to cover his double game (again) – JMU and Colorado lose road games. His lead shrinks to 28 points.

Bombo gains 31 points with a 52 point week. 5-1 and 5-1 vs. the spread. The Irish bully Army in his double game, Tennessee gets a shutout over UTEP. His only loss is the Hokies losing a squeaker to the Dookies.

The low score of the week goes to Artie Fufkin. His loses his first double-game of the season as Texas State gives up 52 points to Georgia State. Wazzou and No Texas also take losses. 8 points for the week. An ass-kicking week indeed.

Bad Bama showed up again in Norman, OK Saturday night dealing a double-point loss to Bronko. The Stormin’ Mormons also lose again. Bronko’s the “lousiest of the best” sitting in 5th – safely out of the Pizza Zone.

Champ’s roll of the dice doubling Indiana came up “snake eyes”. It’s his only loss. 5 wins, 26 points for the week. He’s the “best of the lousiest” sitting in 6th place 49 points behind Bronko and 60 points ahead of…

Cletus. Note to the Pool, doubling FLAINT is not a good idea. The Panthers lose to Kennesaw State for Cletus’ only loss of the week. A solid week outside of that pick, he scores 35 points and sits in 7th place.

Operaman hits a sour note with a Rutgers home loss to his antagonist Bret Bielema. LSU bounces back for a double win over plucky Vanderbilt. It’s a battle for 8th place – he trails Cletus by a point.

Another 3 loss week for Squirrel including a double loss by Texas A&M in OT at Auburn. Ole Miss loses in the Swamp and No. Illinois loses again in MACtion. The basement has been his home wire-to-wire, the rook playing like a rook.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/ By any other name would smell as sweet”

After filtering out all of the incessant whining about his name, we get our only 6 win week. Ohio State’s beatdown of Indiana was worth 22 points. 2-4 vs. the spread results in a 49 point week, climbing to 3rd place almost assuredly disrupting his strategery for 2025 draft positioning. A name change is a serious matter and, after giving it the appropriate amount of thought, the commish has determined that his consistently milquetoast results merit no name. And who created a man with no name? Sergio.

Week 12 offered little in the way of movement in the pool. It was a tough week vs. the spread. We were 1-7 covering double games. Champ’s Georgia start over Tennessee was the only cover. Bronko played it safe with Bama vs. Mercer.

Scores ranged from 18 (Squirrel) to 41 (Bruce Dickinson).

3 weeks left to make your move.

Bruce Dickinson goes 5-1 and maintains the lead. Ga Southern losing to Troy. Texas fails to cover his double game at Arkansas.

Cletus score 38 for the week with a 5-1 record. His Huskers lose to USC and will have to beat either Wisconsin or Iowa to claim their elusive bowl bid. Clemson edges Pitt in his double game.

Artie Fufkin and Bombo score 34 points for the week. Washington State loses to New Mexico for Artie. His Ducks survive the trip to Mad-town. Kansas State loses for Bombo against red-hot Arizona State.

EB Beaumont muddles along in the middle of the pack with a 4-2, 32 point week. Oregon State gets shutout by Air Force and Missouri loses to So. Carolina.

Champ posts the big win of week, Georgia getting 22 points for the win over the Vols. Louisiana, FAU, and Cal lose. 3-3 results in a 26 point week.

Bronko also scores 26 for the week. UCLA, Louisville, and BYU all lose for Bronko. Bama gets defensive points in a double win over Mercer in the annual SEC in-season lay down week.

Operaman scores 23 for the week on 4 wins. LSU adds to a miserable season with a loss in the Swamp and Hawaii gives up half a hundred to Utah State.

Squirrel. Please. 5 wins for 18 points? That’s a first. Western Kentucky loses at home as a 13.5 point favorite, scoring 7 points vs. La. Tech. -8 for the game. UTSA’s upset of No Texas was his only cover. He’s been on the clock for next year’s #1 draft pick since week 1.

LSU’s Tiger Stadium is storied as “where opponent’s dreams come to die”.

In the CFB Pool, November is our “Death Valley”, the month for chasing points, rolling the dice on big-time matchups, and determining the Group of Pizza. (The bottom 4 teams are relegated to the group and are on the hook for pizza at next year’s draft.)

Bombo bounces back with a pool-high 52 point week. 6 wins, 4 on the road. Notre Dame making its case for the playoffs, pummeling 1 win FSU and scoring 18 in his double game. He sits in 4th place.

EB Beaumont is in 5th – one clear of regulation. Pitt, Oregon State, and Iowa State lose for EB – Ohio State shuts out Purdue and scores 20 points. He’s in 5th with a little breathing room.

Champ is “first team out” in 6th place. Georgia loses his double game at Ole Miss, Miami suffers loss #1 to the Wreck and Fresno State loses to A Force. A pool-low 14 points for the week.

Operaman, Cletus, and Squirrel round out the Group of Pizza.

Cletus goes 4-2, including a double-loss by Iowa at UCLA. Utah’s misery continues losing the Holy War at home.

Operaman’s only loss was LSU getting pounded at home by “High Tide!”

Squirrel is starting to get it. He scores a season-high 44 points led by Ole Miss’s 22 point double win over Georgia.

Bruce Dickinson marches on – Oklahoma and NC State take losses. He scores 38 for the week, maintaining the lead.

Artie Fufkin sits in 2nd – 32 points behind. Syracuse was his only loss, 2-4 vs. the spread for a 33 point week.

Bronko gets an 18 point double win from Tulane. Cincy and the Gophers took losses.

3 weeks left with full schedules. The season is flying by, enjoy!