Florida wins the BCS Championship Game remains, nateDiggsCSU wins the Rams Bookstore Bowl Pick'em!

1/9/08--Congratulations to nateDiggsCSU for his tremendous run and for punctuating is victory by winning the final two games to slam the door shut on any other contenders threatening to steal the title from him. Nate had Florida covering the -3.5 to finish with an impressive bowl record of 24-10, an amazing 71% clip. Nate seized the lead from Ro Sham Bo after a good showing on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, and never let anyone catch him, going 13-4 down the stretch. He ended up two wins better than the rest of the field, and for his efforts, he wins a $100 store credit to Rams Bookstore. Unfortunately for Ro Sham Bo, even though he led the field for half of the bowl season, and survived a devastating 3-9 stretch around New Years, he could not even hold on to second place, after being edged out via the tiebreaker. He ended in a three-way tie for second place at 22-12 and the final standings had to be determined the the tiebreaker (total score in the BCS Championship game). Florida beat Oklahoma 24-14 for a total score of 38, and Ro Sham Bo's total score guess was 62, which was beat by dougw65's 60. So, after hanging around the outskirts of the leaderboard for most of bowl season, dougw65 made his move when it counted and jumped into second place for a $50 store credit to Rams Bookstore. For third place, Ro Sham Bo ends up with a $25 store credit. The other contestant at 22-12 was StateFair Child, whose tiebreaker guess was 66, giving him a fourth-place finish. He takes home a $10 store credit. For a final list of standings visit the Bowl Contest Standings link to the right.

The final tally of the 34 games played was just 14 favorites covering the point spread vs. 20 underdogs. The field as a whole managed to get only 48% of the games right, meaning Las Vegas would have made a nice chunk off of us. Bezzie_Wifey took the Toilet Bowl, with just an 8-26 record...but she's coming off child berth, so cut her some slack. Jcl508, who finished fourth in the regular season contest, was runner-up Toilet Bowl at just 10-24. Bleh! Thanks to everybody for playing...and we ask our winners to please contact us at staff@ramnation.com to arrange collecting your prize.

Please give your business to Rams Bookstore, who has sponsored this site and this contest for eight years! And while Quality Audio Video
is not sponsoring this bowl contest, we encourage you to give them first shot at your business if you're in the market for a new TV, or other audio/video equipment and home-theater installation. They were very gracious in their sponsorship of the regular season contest, and Ram_Buck can attest to that as the winner of the Samsung LCD HDTV!

--Joel Cantalamessa
(Good SHEPHERD)

BOWL LINES

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 3.5 vs. Colorado State, and Fresno State wins by more than 3.5 points, they win "against the spread." If Fresno State does not win by more than 3.5 points, then CSU 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 20 (Congressional Bowl and New Mexico Bowl).
• 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