Confidence Man (Kraig Massey) and Kake (Kelsey Mertes) duelled for the top spot in Knows Bowl XXV. Confidence was shaky with Kake entering the championship bout sporting a twenty point advantage. Three crucial goal-line stands by the Gators, holding the Sooners pointless, made the difference in determining who would be the 25th supreme Knows picker. When Florida scored with 3:07 remaining in the game, Confidence Man was nudged two points ahead to seal the seesaw battle.

Confidence Man spurted into contention by picking the final four games correctly. Oddly for a Knows Bowl champ, not a single one of his point spreads was on the nose. However, he paced the pool with 19 correct selections including four critical upsets - Maryland in the Humanitarian, Oregon in the Holiday, Kentucky in the Liberty and Tulsa in the GMAC.

Kake sat in the driver's seat for about two-thirds of the schedule. Using a complex method of prognostication, evidently developed as a grad student at Syracuse University's Maxwell School, involving whether or not she knew someone who had attended a particular school or was from that state, or if she liked where the school was located, she stumbled out of the chute with a pair of losses, then rallied with a dozen correct picks in a row from the Champs Sports through the Outback bowls. Among 18 correct Knows picks, two were immaculate - Alamo and Sun. Kake's strength became her downfall - six correct upsets (Humanitarian, Holiday, Music City, Chick-fil-A, Liberty and GMAC) but one underdog, the Oklahoma Swooners, did her in at the BCS Championship.

Bambi (Karin Hughes) had an opening misfire followed by nine correct picks in succession. Among a pool co-pacing four perfect picks, she nailed two of them in the final three games (Fiesta and BCS Championship). Bambi also had immaculate prognostications in the Sun and Rose bowls, but danced with Godzilla too often by going mostly with favorites and only picking the Liberty Bowl upset correctly. She finished with 18 correct selections.

After a bunch of 'wait 'til next years', Mark Kearny finally made it into the chips by selecting the final four games correctly. Kearny nailed three of the first six contests on the nose (Meineke, Emerald and Papajohns - his only perfect picks, by the way) and correctly tabbed four upsets (Humanitarian, Chick-fil-A, Liberty and GMAC). In all, he was right in 18 bowl games.

Bowl Me (Steve Castleman) bounced up the standings big time by making an immaculate prognostication in the final game among four closing correct picks. He completed the schedule with 17 right and three perfectos (Emerald, Alamo and BCS Championship). Bowl Me foresaw three upsets correctly (Holiday, Gator and GMAC).

Robbo (Robb Myers) followed Bowl Me's lead by completing a hail Mary in the last game with Florida by 10 to leap-frog from 11th up to 6th as a result. He was also perfect in the Meineke Bowl. Robbo made his move to contend with seven correct picks in a row from the Rose through the Fiesta bowls. Also in that skein were three consecutive upset selections - Ole Miss in the Cotton, Kentucky in the Liberty and Utah in the Sugar. He finished with 17 correct.

Another with an extended history of Knows Bowl frustration, Paquipoo (Carol Dewitt-Aponte) finally got some sugar after correctly tabbing 18 games. She upheld the proud Dewitt Knows Bowl tradition of being in the chips by picking her only perfecto in the Rose Bowl, and correctly circling three underdogs - Maryland in the Humanitarian, Nebraska in the Gator and Kentucky in the Liberty.

Ciderman (Ron Wehrs) and Kirk Spaeth knotted for the final spot in the chips after both had selected Florida by 3 in the BCS Championship. Ciderman got the nod by correcly picking Tulsa in the GMAC second tiebreaker while Spaeth had incorrectly gone with Ball State. Both Knows pickers counted just California's 7 point win in the Emerald Bowl as their only immaculate selection and both ended with 17 correct. Although they were identical by picking three underdogs, only two matched up (Gator and Liberty). Ciderman's other correct upset was Tulsa in the GMAC while Spaeth's other book breaker was Vanderbilt in the Music City. As a result, Ciderman wedged into the final money spot and Kirk Spaeth became the '25th Bagboy' as the Knows Bowl picker left holding an empty bag in ninth just out of the chips.

Bambi, in third place, and Scott Sylvester, in 19th, were Knows Bowl XXV co-leaders in perfect prognostications with four. Ten of the bowl games on this year's schedule were considered to be upsets (that's 40% of the games) - Motor City [Florida Atlantic], Humanitarian [Maryland], Holiday [Oregon], Music City [Vanderbilt], Chick-fil-A [LSU], Gator [Nebraska], Cotton [Mississippi], Liberty [Kentucky], Sugar [Utah], and GMAC [Tulsa]. The pool's Consensus (or average) of entered picks and spreads finished 70th.

1. Confidence Man (Kraig Massey): [1,288] First Qtr-23rd, Halftime-7th, Third Qtr-11th.
2. Kake (Kelsey Mertes): [708] First Qtr-14th, Halftime-1st, Third Qtr-1st.
3. Bambi (Karin Hughes): [451] First Qtr-63rd, Halftime-13th, Third Qtr-15th.
4. Mark Kearny: [290] First Qtr-18th, Halftime-16th, Third Qtr-12th.
5. Bowl Me (Steve Castleman): [193] First Qtr-13th, Halftime-37th, Third Qtr-17th.
6. Robbo (Robb Myers): [129] First Qtr-31st, Halftime-69th, Third Qtr-31st.
7. Paquipoo (Carol Dewitt-Aponte): [97] First Qtr-37th, Halftime-37th, Third Qtr-5th.
8. Ciderman (Ron Wehrs): [64] First Qtr-3rd, Halftime-52nd, Third Qtr-27th.
9. Kirk Spaeth: [Bagboy] First Qtr-8th, Halftime-37th, Third Qtr-15th.
10. Beagle (Susan Valdez): First Qtr-51st, Halftime-7th, Third Qtr-12th.
11. Kevin Spaeth: First Qtr-45th, Halftime-16th, Third Qtr-22nd.
12. M. Sly (Mike Sylvester): First Qtr-33rd, Halftime-43rd, Third Qtr-18th.
13. Spaeth Bashers: First Qtr-10th, Halftime-3rd, Third Qtr-3rd.
14. V Dad Returns (Jim Haglund): First Qtr-40th, Halftime-3rd, Third Qtr-24th.
15. Brandon Kettel: First Qtr-57th, Halftime-15th, Third Qtr-4th.
16. Z-man (Randy Zielinski): First Qtr-23rd, Halftime-35th, Third Qtr-6th.
17. Duke Kahanamoku (Harry Knell): First Qtr-5th, Halftime-18th, Third Qtr-61st.
18. benh (Ben Haberman): First Qtr-88th, Halftime-35th, Third Qtr-7th.
19. Scott Sylvester: First Qtr-3rd, Halftime-5th, Third Qtr-21st.
20. Chiquita (Carol Dewitt-Aponte): First Qtr-128th, Halftime-117th, Third Qtr-81st.