It was a gut wrenching finish to Knows Bowl XXIV, a high stick to the solar plexes for Sandy Ross, as Oh-oh State fumbled once again in the finale. It's no accident that Ohio State is known as 'Oh-oh' after being ranked, along with Notre Dame, among the most likely teams to come up with an empty bowl. Knows pickers are catching on to the antics of the 'Blackeyes', though, with only 34.4% succumbing in the BCS Championship. This year's top three prognosticators went with LSU.
When Oh-oh State jumped out to a quick 10 to zip advantage, SPL (Shawn Lipp) seemed to be in deep kaka trying to overcome Sandy Ross's 22-point lead into the championship game after picking LSU by 7. At that moment, SPL had fallen to 48 points behind Ross. But Lipp, following in son Shae's 2006 title winning footsteps, sat tight to await the inevitable, turning doom to boom as the Bayou Bengals exploded for 31 unaswered scoreboard blinkers. SPL picked the winners of the final six games to stay on Ross's rear bumper, and finished with 20 correct selections including two immaculate prognostications - Texas and Liberty.
Dewitt (Doug) Spaeth (Kevin) and ESP knotted at the end of the regulation bowl schedule with Dewitt Spaeth getting the second place nod. Both picked LSU by 10 in the finale, but Dewitt Spaeth edged ESP by 4-points, 14-10, in the GMAC second tiebreaker with both tabbing Tulsa. Dewitt Spaeth started off with 10 consecutive correct selections before stumbling and finishing with 19 right as well as three on the money - Music City, Gator, and Orange.
ESP (Ed Paine), meanwhile, settled for third despite leading the pool with 5 perfect prognostications - Texas, Alamo, Independence, Chick-fil-A, and Orange. ESP finished with 19 correct, but was slobber knocked by incorrectly going with Florida by 14 in the Capital One (as did Dewitt Spaeth, by the way).
After skating along in first with a fairly comfortable 22-point cushion and just one game to go, Sandy Ross tumbled down to fourth. Ross, the very first entry in this year's Knows Bowl, spent a good portion of the schedule at, or near, the top of the standings gaining wind with 9 straight correct picks from the Champs Sports through the Humanitarian. He ended up with 19 correct picks including two right on - Meineke and Orange.
Witsssss (Doug Dewitt) placed for the second consecutive year while finishing fifth (3rd last year). Of course, Dewitt also teamed-up to get second to make XXIV quite worthwhile. After tying Marauder #2, Witsssss finally secured fifth in the Orange Bowl by perfectly picking Kansas by 3 while Marauder #2 crumbled on Virginia Tech by 3. Nothing but chopped liver in the first half of the schedule, Witsssss came on with three immaculate Knows picks after halftime. He finished with 19 correct including four on the money - Alamo, Music City, Chick-fil-A and Orange.
Throughout the course of the bowl schedule, two Marauder entries bounced around the top of the leaderboard. Marauder #2 (John Manhart) lost in the third tiebreaker to end up in sixth while correctly nailing 20 winners. No doubt, there would have been a lot more celebrating if Marauder #2 had picked more than just the Champs Sports on the nose.
Beagle (Susan Valdez), a harrier at heart, ran a steady pace and crossed the line in seventh with 20 correct picks. She hit perfect strides four times in the Champs Sports, Emerald, Alamo and Chick-fil-A.
Squeezing into eighth, the "buck stops here spot", John Marauder (Manhart) placed for the second year in a row (2nd last year). On this entry, Manhart circled four different winners than on Marauder #2 and finished with one less correct pick (19), but had a pair of perfectos in the Emerald and Music City.
MO (Mike Overton) became the '24th Bagboy' as the Knows Bowl picker left holding the bag just out of the money in ninth position. Overton landed in this dreaded spot after falling from fifth going into the finale. Indeed, it was another costly Oh-oh State boo-boo. After a horrible start that left him in 135th place at the end of the first quarter, MO scratched and clawed steadily upward until going with the 'Blackeyes'. He finished with 18 correct including two immaculates in the Emerald and Humanitarian.
Underdog (Chuck Underwood) and T.J. Walker, who finished 12th and 30th respectively, paced the pool with 21 correct winning picks. In the 25 game schedule, eight were considered to be Knows Bowl upsets - Holiday (Texas-39.2%), Liberty (Mississippi St.-34.9%), Humanitarian (Fresno St.-32.8%), Sun (Oregon-31.2%), Chick-fil-A (Auburn-49.5%), Capital One (Michigan-14.0%), Fiesta (West Virginia-10.8%) and Orange (Kansas-33.3%).
Leaders’ Tales
1. SPL (Shawn Lipp): [1,318] First Qtr-21st, Halftime-20th, Third Qtr-18th.
2. Dewitt Spaeth (Doug Dewitt/Kevin Spaeth): [725] First Qtr-32nd, Halftime-14th, Third Qtr-24th.
3. ESP (Ed Paine): [461] First Qtr-32nd, Halftime-45th, Third Qtr-10th.
4. Sandy Ross: [297] First Qtr-11th, Halftime-1st, Third Qtr-7th.
5. Witsssss (Doug Dewitt): [198] First Qtr-84th, Halftime-82nd, Third Qtr-10th.
6. Marauder #2 (John Manhart): [132] First Qtr-39th, Halftime-14th, Third Qtr-2nd.
7. Beagle (Susan Valdez): [99] First Qtr-28th, Halftime-10th, Third Qtr-8th.
8. John Marauder (Manhart): [66] First Qtr-13th, Halftime-7th, Third Qtr-5th.
9. MO (Mike Overton): [Bagboy] First Qtr-135th, Halftime-28th, Third Qtr-6th.
10. The Geek (Joe Gaspers): First Qtr-5th, Halftime-10th, Third Qtr-9th.
11. Kevin Spaeth: First Qtr-76th, Halftime-45th, Third Qtr-13th.
12. Underdog (Chuck Underwood): First Qtr-21st, Halftime-20th, Third Qtr-36th.
13. Leo 2 (Mike Vail): First Qtr-53rd, Halftime-24th, Third Qtr-15th.
14. Duke Kahanamoku (Harry Knell): First Qtr-22nd, Halftime-2nd, Third Qtr-4th.
15. Marty Spaeth: First Qtr-22nd, Halftime-13th, Third Qtr-12th.
16. TD Jags (Dave Jagla): First Qtr-38th, Halftime-27th, Third Qtr-10th.
