Alabama's cover gives hawkram fan the outright championship!

1/8/10, Final Recap--The 2009-10 bowl season is finally over, which means we get to crown this year's Rams Bookstore Bowl Pick'Em Champion. It came down to the BCS National Championship Thursday night in Pasadena, Calif. to determine the winner. Hawkram fan had to have Alabama cover the -5.5 point spread over Texas to avoid a tie (and thus the tiebreaker system), and he got what he needed to seal the championship. Alabama ended up pulling away from Texas late in the game to ultimately win 37-21. Alabama had controlled much of the game after Texas senior QB Colt McCoy went out with an injury on the first drive of the game. But, Texas somehow pulled within 24-21 with under five minutes to play. Alabama recovered a fumble inside the Texas 5-yard line with about two minutes left, and punched in the touchdown to cover the spread for good. With that good fortune, Hawkram fan wins the title, and thus a $100 gifst certificate from Rams Bookstore.

Hawkram fan finished with a phenomenal record of 25-9 -- good for a 73.5% winning percentage, which ranks second best all-time behind only Good SHEP's 22-6 record in 2002 (78.6%). Hawkram fan's 25 wins is the most ever, ahead of nateDiggsCSU's 24 wins in 2008 -- the only other year that there have been the high-watermark of 34 bowl games. It's not the first time we've heard from hawkram fan. He took runner-up in the 2007 regular season contest.

On the losing side of the BCS Championship game were RambleOn and Rams H-86, who each went into the day in second and third place, respectively. RambleOn needed Texas to cover the point spread in order to force a tiebreaker situation with Hawkram fan. Instead, he takes sole possession of second place at 23-11. For his efforts, RambleOn earns a $50 gift certificate from Rams Bookstore. Tack that on to the $25 he earned for taking third place in the regular season contest this year. RambleOn also owns a regular season championship from 2005, so he is certainly a formiddable contestant over the nine years of this contest. He also became just the second contestant to finish in the top three of the regular season contest and bowl contest in the same year. Young RAMC is the only other contestant to accomplish such a feat, taking third place in the 2002 regular season contest and then second place in the bowl contest.

Third place in this year's bowl contest got interesting. Rams H-86 went into Thursday night's game needing Texas to cover the point spread to avoid a five-way tie for third place. With Alabama covering the spread, Rams H-86 indeed fell into that tie, at 22-12; however, he managed to still eek out third place thanks to the tiebreaker. The first tiebreaker is total points in the BCS National Championship game, which was 58. His guess of 55 total points was closest, and thus he officially earns the third-place prize of a $25 gift certificate from Rams Bookstore. It's not the first time we've heard from Rams H-86. He took runner-up in the 2006 bowl contest, as well as second place in the 2004 regular season contest.

As for our other contestants tied for third, Bigballinram, who had battled near the top for much of the contest, missed out of the prizes, officially taking fourth place with a total score guess of 48 points. The others in the deadlock were cotter-ram (45), pjcsu (42), and Young RAMC (33). For a while, it appeared cotter-ram would have a great shot at the title, as he was once at 16-6. But, he couldn't quite keep the momentum down the stretch. It was also a close call for Young RAMC, who is one of the best all-time competitors in the history of the contest. He took runner-up in the 2002 bowl contest, and had three top-three finishes in the regular season contest, including a championship in 2007. Pjcsu made a valiant run, winning 9 out of the last 10 games to creep into the tie of third place, but missed out on prizes due to the tiebreaker.

The next set of finishers, at 21-13 were: rollramsroll, 98RAM, cuscks2, Battering-Ram, and StateFair Child. Some of you might be wondering what happened to Bezzie_Wifey, who led the field for the first half of the contest at 14-2 despite taking the Toilet Bowl in the 2008 bowl contest. However, her storybook ending never came to fruition, as she faded with a 5-13 stretch to close the contest. She still finished in a respectable tie of 23rd place with a total record of 19-15, which was much better than her husband's record of 13-21 (good for a tie of 113th place).

The field as a whole benefitted from favored Alabama covering the spread, and thus climbed up to a final winning percentage of .500. It's the fourth-best mark in the history of the contest, behind 2007's 52%, and 51% marks in 2006 and 2004. Well done, field! The field's worst performance came in 2005, when it recorded a lowly 42% winning percentage through 28 games. Speaking of lowly, the Toilet Bowl this year went to RB Fan and gocanesgo, who each finished with a record of 11-23 (32.4%). It is the first time in the history of the contest that the champion of our regular season contest (RB Fan) has taken last place in the bowl contest in the same year. But, neither RB Fan or gocanesgo should feel too awful, considering their winning percentage was higher than any other Toilet Bowlers in the history of the contest. The worst winning percentage came by Good SHEP and Montana Ram, who notched disgusting records of 4-24 (14.2%) in the 2005 bowl contest. That may never be topped....or bottomed?!

Lastly, for those of you keeping score at home, in the 34-game bowl schedule, 22 underdogs (64.7%) covered the point spread, with 15 winning outright (44.1%). Only 12 favorites (35.1%) covered the point spread. So, needless to say, it was a banner year for the underdogs, and it made for an exciting contest. Kudos to the field for a solid performance, and congratulations to our winners! Now, it's onto basketball season. Stay tuned for our annual Rams Bookstore March Madness Contest in a few months! Thank you for your support and for spending your days on RamNation.com.

As always, we ask you to please give your business to Rams Bookstore, who has sponsored this site and this contest for nine years! Visit their online catalog by clicking here.

--Joel Cantalamessa
(Good SHEPHERD)

Contest details/rules

Prizes:

The contestant with the most correct picks against the point spread a the end of the bowl season will be the Bowl Contest champion, and will win our grand prize, compliments of Rams Bookstore. The second, third, and fourth-place finishers will also receive prizes.

Rules:

• Contestants will pick a point-spread winner in every bowl game games.
• Contestant's should make their picks "against the spread". For instance, if Fresno State is favored by 10.5 vs. Wyoming, and Fresno State wins by more than 10.5 points, they win "against the spread." If Fresno State does not win by more than 10.5 points, then Wyoming wins "against the spread," even though they might lose the game.
• In the event of a tie between contestants at the end of the bowl season, the first tiebreaker is the total points scored in the "tiebreaker" game. The contestant that picks closest to the total points scored wins the tiebreaker. If total points does not break the tie, then total yards will be used. Again, closest guess to the total yards gained from scrimmage by both teams during that game will win the tiebreaker.
• Entries are due before the first bowl game on December 19 (St. Petersburg and New Mexico Bowls).
• Please submit only one entry form per contestant.
• The system is set up so that if you want to change your picks (before the start of the first game), you simply have to to resumbit your entry, and it will overwrite the exisiting entry.

Guidelines and other notes:

Q.Ram, our contest administrator, will make his picks known on the message board prior to deadline, so that everyone will know he is not rigging the game to win all of the prizes.

When in Fort Collins, please pay a visit to our gracious sponsor, Rams Bookstore, for furnishing the prizes. Their sponsorship is what helps make RamNation go.

All registered posters are welcome to join the contest, but remember all you Ram foes out there...the prizes are limited to what Rams Bookstore has in stock, which is primarily CSU-related gear! Thanks and best of luck to everyone (except Buffaloes, Cowboys, and Falcons).

--Q.Ram, Good SHEP, and CSURamFan