PYU Week 14: Championship and Bowl Eligibility Make-Up Week

(DISCLAIMER: This game is for entertainment purposes only. No actual money is being wagered.)

It’s Championship Week! Other than conference championship games, all that’s left to fake-bet on in Week 14 is the Army-Navy game, one rescheduled game (Akron-Buffalo), and one improvised game (Valparaiso-New Mexico State).

New Mexico State had a home game with San Jose State cancelled when an SJSU player was killed that week in a traffic accident. Needing a sixth win to become bowl-eligible, 5-6 NMSU added a 12th game, then lobbied the NCAA for a bowl eligibility waiver. They got it.

Buffalo is also at 5-6, and needs more win one for proper bowl eligibility. Their home game with Akron a couple weeks ago was postponed due to a blizzard in the area. They were able to move it to this weekend, once it became clear neither team would win their division.

Army is 5-6 but has two FCS wins, so they can’t get eligible and are not seeking a waiver to do so.

All other games this week are conference championship games.

This week will not be closed out until December 10 or 11, after the Army-Navy game is completed. Any winning conference championship futures bets will be paid out at that time.

Picks as of about 10 a.m. this morning:

Results will be posted to this thread after Army-Navy is completed.

RESULTS

“Week 14” lasted two weeks, because it included Championship Weekend on the 3rd, and the Army-Navy game on the 10th. Week 15 will be all of bowl season, including the National Championship Game.

There weren’t many big winners this week:

BullsOnParade96’s contrarian bet on Army-Navy going over paid off when that game went in double OT after being 10-10 after regulation. With a big lead in both races, he’s just showing off at this point.

That same result caused contender McIntryre2K7 a brutal parlay beat. Which was his second of the week after he needed only a touchdown in overtime of the Big XII championship game.

Harsh. And those weren’t even the biggest beat of championship week. That was a bold move by jrjs to retake the lead in the money race. Trailing 5436-2580 entering Week 14, he made this play:

The 3600 units it promised were enough to move him into the lead. The first two bets on Fresno State and Big XII Championship Game under came in, though unlike McIntryre2K7, he benefited from the latter game seeing only three points in overtime. But mistakes by North Carolina kept them from scoring the two cheap touchdowns they needed, and that game ended 39-10, making the parlay a loser.

I’m excited about adding the Trixie and Patent bets next season, where you can bet on a 3-way parlay, plus all its component two-way (and, optionally, one-way) bets. It makes parlay bets less of an “all or nothing” proposition; this bet would have been a small winner. With 600 spread across all seven bets:

As a Patent bet, this play would have won 378.69 and lost 342.84, for a net win of 35.85. Missing one of three bets leaves jrjs short of his ambitious goal. But it would have been a small win instead of a loss, allowing him to try again.

A Trixie bet is the same thing, without the single bets. 600 divided over 4 bets would have won 390 on one two-way parlay (150 times 2.6) and lost 450 on everything else (150 each for two 2-way parlays and a 3-way parlay).

When you win, you don’t win as much, because only a part of the bet pays off at 6 to 1. But when you lose, you don’t lose as much. I think adding these European-style bets will make the game more even and competitive.

Speaking of conference championship games: all these Futures bets are resolved now.

Tough break for ULhothot, who had two pre-season underdogs make it to their conference championship game, but both lost. The only remaining futures bets are on the national championship:

It’s unlikely either bet will affect the final money standings, which are currently:

As for the points race: BullsOnParade96 entered Week 14 with a one-point lead, and earned the maximum points, so he clinched the points race. He leads by 16, there’s only one week left, and the most you can earn in one week is 15.

Week 15 will cover all of bowl season. The “weekly” limit is raised to 500 units/50% of total. The minimum bets are raised to five bets, and two involving an AAC team. Wagers will not be visible until the game starts. (I know I’ve allowed it during the regular season, but this will be enforced now, so as to prevent anyone from copying someone else’s plays.) The first lines are already up.