Week 13 (Final week): RambleOn concludes best season in contest history to win overall title

RambleOn concluded the 2005 Rams Bookstore Pigskin Pick'Em contest in style, finishing with a 9 in Week 13 to cruise to the title by a three-game margin and to record the top season-long performance in contest history. Going into the final week, he held a one-game lead on FormerRam, but pulled away with a nine this week to clinch first place. RambleOn nearly went wire-to-wire in the overall contest to win the title. After starting the season with a 10, he followed it up with a 12 in Week 2 to assume the top spot--a position he held or shared for much of the season.

RambleOn ended the year with 114 correct picks (101 contest picks, factoring out the worst two weeks) and finished at a 59.1% clip. That mark shattered the next-best finishers-CM_Ram_Fan and Rams H-86 who finished at 57.2% last year. In 2003, dRAMve (now Kit Karson) finished at 56.2%, in 2002 tRAMpledunderfoot (now Lubick's Cube) and Fort Freak Geek finished at 54.8%, and in 2001 SMARUSCOG finished at 56.7%.

It was an amazing year for RambleOn, as his worst week of the season was a 6 in Week 12. He had a 7 in Week 10, but every other week was plus-.500. For his first-place finish, he wins a gift certificate for $100 at Rams Bookstore. Congratulations RambleOn on the tremendous season!

The battle for second and third was a tight one. FormerRam went into the week with a three-game lead for second place, but his 6 this week opened the door for Young RAMC, whose 10 helped him into a tie with FormerRam (after all contestants' two worst weeks were dropped from consideration) at 98 correct "contest picks". Since Young RAMC held a higher overall win percentage (57.3% vs. FormerRam's 57.0%), he takes the runner-up spot. Young RAMC's throw-out weeks were a 0 in Week 7 and a 4 in Week 12; FormerRam's throw-out weeks were a pair of 6s in Weeks 7 and 13. But, RAMC had a few higher scores than FormerRam and thus had the slightly higher percentage. Young RAMC wins the $50 gift certificate to Rams Bookstore, while FormerRam wins the $25 gift certificate.

In the fourth-place spot, 1Rams held on despite his 5 this week, finishing with 87 correct contest picks (55.6%) and thus will win a RamNation.com T-shirt. Rounding out the top five (but being left out of the prizes) is WEB, who finished at 93 correct contest picks (53.9%). Despite not winning a prize, WEB proved that he still "has it". He's one of only a couple of participants who have participated in every week since the contest's inception in 2001. He had an uncharacteristic 93rd-place finish last year, but now has four top-20 finishes, including seventh-place in 2002 and second place in 2001.

One other item of note is Trash, who despite earning two Toilet Bowl Awards this year (with 2s in Weeks 7 and 8) finished in a tie for sixth place with Ramdog. Considering Trash had to use his two discards on those weeks, he still finished with a solid season at 92 correct contest picks.

So, the final Top 10 looks like this:
1. RambleOn
2. Young RAMC
3. FormerRam
4. 1Rams
5. WEB
t6. Ramdog
t6. Trash
t8. Doc
t8. Ram_Buck
t10. BigAl
t10. txRAM

These players should all be commended on their feat. Showing how truly difficult it is to win at sports gambling, of the 120 or so contestants who participated in a minimum of 10 weeks, only 35 finished above .500. That means, had we all been betting these games in Las Vegas, there would be a lot of people losing a lot of money.

The field didn't necessarily go out with a bang in the final week, getting just 45.7% of the picks correct. The mark put the field at 48.3% for the season--second worst in contest history. The field went 49.1% in 2004, 49.3% in 2003, 47.3% in 2002, and 48.8% in 2001.

As for the individual week, Rammies Fan won with 11 of 15 correct picks. G-RAMS10 took second with 10, beating out the others with a total points tiebreaker guess of 66 for the Texas - Texas A&M game (actual score total was 69). For his efforts, Rammies Fan wins a hat or T-shirt, courtesy of Rams Bookstore. G-RAMS10 earns the CSU car sticker, also from Rams Bookstore. (Winners should please email us to arrange collecting your prize "Thosedernramz" had the misfortune of winning the Toilet Bowl award this week, with only three correct picks. On a positive note, she is one of two contestants who has played every week since the contest's inception in 2001. She struggled a bit this season, but still finished in the top 50. It's the first time, however, that she's finished outside the top 25. She has two top-10 finishes.

Overall, I want to thank you all for participating in the contest. To view the final standings/results, click the link in the right-hand column of this page. (If your browser is not showing an updated version of the file, try clearing your cache). Please also remember to give your business to Rams Bookstore, who supports this contest and contributes a lot as a sponsor of this site. We hope to announce our bowl contest sometime next week. It will be the same format, except it will include all the bowl games, giving all contestants a fresh start.

Thanks again for playing, and for spending your days on RamNation. If you're not a RamNation Pass member, try it out today and help support the website. It's just $4.99/month or $49.99 for the year for the best Ram coverage you'll find!

Back to the Bowl Contest

Contest details/rules

Prizes:

Each weekly winner will receive their choice of CSU T-shirt or hat, compliments of Rams Bookstore. The contestant with the most correct picks at the end of the season will receive a grand prize courtesy of Rams Bookstore. The second, third, and fourth-place finishers will also receive prizes.

Rules:

• Each week contestant's will pick a winner in 15 games.
• Contestant's should make their picks "against the spread". For instance, if Utah is favored by 7.5 vs. Arizona, and Utah wins by more than 7.5 points, they win "against the spread." If Utah does not win by more than 7.5 points, then Arizona wins "against the spread," even though they might lose the game.
• The weekly winner will be the contestant with the most correct picks.
• In the event of a tie against the spread, all contestant's will be counted with a loss. For instance, if Washington State is favored by 1 against New Mexico, and they beat New Mexico by 1 point, then both teams would tie "against the spread." In this case, for contest purposes, every contestant will be counted with an "incorrect pick" for that game.
• In the event of a tie between contestants at the end of a week, the first tiebreaker is the total points scored in the "tiebreaker" game (usually CSU). 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.
• Please have picks in each Friday by 4 p.m. MST, with the exception of Thanksgiving week, when picks will be due by Wednesday afternoon. We will send out a reminder that week.
• Please submit only one entry form per contestant.
• The system is set up so that if you want to change your picks, you simply have to to resumbit your entry, and it will overwrite the exisiting entry.

Season Contest:

• In addition to each weekly contest, there is a contest for the entire 13-week season.
• The season winners will be the contestant's with the most correct picks throughout the season, while dropping your worst two weekly win totals. If you miss a week or have a bad week with four or five wins, you can drop that week against your season total. This allows for contestants who may miss the first week, or who may miss a week during the season for whatever reason, or for contestant's like me who have a couple of weeks with five wins.
• If there is a tie for the season, the highest win percentage for all weeks will be the first tiebreaker. (A contestant must have participated in 10 or more weeks to be eligible.) If the tie is not broken by win percentage, then there will be a final playoff during the Conference Championship weekend, between contestants who are tied.

Guidelines and other notes:

The contest administrator (Q.Ram) will determine the weekly games on the following basis:

1. All games involving MWC teams.
2. All games involving two teams rated in the Top 25 AP Poll or receiving votes.
3. At least one game involving each of the eight biggest conferences.
4. Any other games of note (rivalry games or games involving Top 10 teams).

Please note that CSU games will not be included because the contest administrator (Q.Ram) is highly superstitious and doesn’t believe in betting on games in which he is emotionally involved. (Most of us are CSU fans, and we would all pick CSU to win every week anyway, so that game would be a wash.)

CSU games will, however, be used for the Tiebreaker game, unless they are on a Thursday night.

Results will be posted the following Monday. Please track your picks and make sure you are credited with the right amount of wins. Q.Ram has been known on a very, very rare occurrence to make a mistake.

Q.Ram will make his picks known on the message board prior to deadline, so that everyone will know the contest administrator 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