Week 14 Final Standings - WhammyRammy breaks the deadlock at the top to win the championship! Q.Ram earns his first-ever weekly win

Week 14 brought a close to the sixth-annual Rams Bookstore Pigskin Pick’em contest, and while there were 13 contestants within six points of last week’s tri-leaders, nobody could break in and shake up the top three of the final standings. FormerRam, Soylent Green, and WhammyRammy all entered the week with 102 in the contest total (factoring in the omitting of each contestant’s worst two weeks). FormerRam held the slim lead due to overall season percentage, with Soylent and Whammy following in second and third, respectively. However, the final order would not stay that way…

We are proud to announce WhammyRammy as the 2006 Rams Bookstore Pigskin Pick’Em contest champion. He had the best week of the tri-leaders, posting a 9, while Soylent and FormerRam posted 8 and 7, respectively. That means Whammy with 11 total “contest picks” earns the grand prize of a $100 gift certificate to Rams Bookstore, with Soylent (110) and FormerRam (109) earning $50 and $25, respectively.

With the tri-leaders having decent, but not insurmountable weeks, they left the door ajar from some of the other contenders close on the heels. Ramwriter, who had held the top spot for a couple weeks earlier this year made a solid push with a 10 this week to land in a tie of fourth place, but his previous five straight weeks of sub-.500 prognosticating put him too far behind to finish in the top three and “in the prizes”. At 107, he tied with BuffRamMom, Go ST8, and Q.Ram.

It was a stellar finish for our contest administrator Q.Ram, who for the first time in six years – a span of 79 straight weeks, won an individual week, with 12 correct picks. We’re happy for Q, who has tirelessly run this contest each year for nothing in return. And, after years of griping of how he has never won a week, he pulls it off in dramatic fashion on the last week of Year #6. Congrats Q! For his weekly win, he earns a CSU hat or T-shirt of his choice, courtesy of Rams Bookstore. Rampage took runner-up honors for the week, beating via the tiebreaker le alpe d huez and Veeg, who all had 11 correct picks this week. Rampage’s total score guess of 36 in the CSU vs. San Diego State game was closest to the actual total of 23. Our winners should email staff@ramnation.com to arrange collecting your prize. (If you’re interested, Armchair QB earned the Toilet Bowl award this week with only 3 correct picks.)

The field closed with a bang, with a 52% clip this week, snapping a four-week span of sub-.500 picking. The solid finale ensured that the field set a new all-time high for winning percentage for the year at 51% overall. The previous best was 49.3% in 2003. The feat appeared to be a lock after the field went an unprecedented six straight plus-.500 weeks to open the season and eight of the first nine overall. However, the field then had four straight dismal weeks of no better than 47.9% and grasp of the record appeared to be in doubt. Congrats to all contestants for coming back strong in the final week to ensure we broke the record!

Now, back to the season championship results. Our champ, WhammyRammy, had a very consistent season, never leaving the top 10 of the standings from Day 1. He recorded four 11s in the first six weeks, including three straight to open the season. Despite his solid showings, he never won an individual week, nor did he ever take runner-up honors.

It’s odd, but that is a consistent trend throughout the years. With the exception of SMARUSCOG’s title year in 2001, none of our previous four champions recorded a weekly win during their title run.

Whammy’s season total and win percentage (120 overall correct picks; 57.2%) doesn’t qualify as the best of this year’s contest field. Those honors go to Soylent Green (121; 58.2%) and FormerRam (122; 58.7%). FormerRam, in fact, held on to break the all-time individual percentage record, clipping RambleOn’s record of 58.5% last year.

Now, you are probably asking why Whammy, who had fewer overall correct picks and a lesser winning percentage, edged out the others. Well, it’s simple: Whammy got more bang for his buck when we threw out each contestant’s worst two weeks, because his worst two weeks were 4 and 5, while FormerRam’s were 6 and 7 and Soylent’s were 5 and 6. Of course, we implemented the “throw-out” system so that contestants who miss a week or two during the year aren’t automatically eliminated from contention, and sometimes, it creates for interesting finishes in the standings. Congrats to all three of our winners for a tremendous showing this year!

The top of the final standings looks like this:
. WhammyRammy (111, 120, 57.7%)
2. Soylent Green (110, 121, 58.2%)
3. FormerRam (109, 122, 58.7%)
4. Go ST8 (107, 113, 58.5%)
5. ramwriter (107, 118, 56.7%)
t6. BuffRamMom (107, 117, 56.3%)
t6. Q.Ram (107, 117, 56.3%)
8. RamFan (105, 109, 56.5%)
9. BigAl (105, 117, 56.3%)
t10. BulldogRam (105, 115, 55.3%)
t10. ramitin (105, 115, 55.3%)
12. state (104, 109, 56.5%)
13. dougw65 (104, 115, 55.3%)
t14. Battering-Ram (104, 114, 54.8%)
t14. Ram Fan 2 (104, 114, 54.8%)
16. Ram_Buck (104, 114, 54.8%)
17. Rams H-86 (103, 107, 55.4%)
18. RamSack (103, 115, 55.3%)
19. varam80 (103, 113, 54.3%)

Four others (Wheat Ridge Buff, DRZRAM, Newport Coast Ram, and Rams To Dominate) finished in a tie for 20th at 102 contest picks.

As the field’s season-long winning percentage showed, it was the best year ever for our contest field. The contest continues to grow each year, making it harder and harder to win. We thank you for being a part of it, for spending your days here, and for patronizing our sponsor – Rams Bookstore – who without, this contest would not be possible.

Please stay tuned for our upcoming bowl contest, where everyone starts with a clean slate!

WEEKLY ENTRY FORM

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 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 14-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 11 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