Third annual thebowl.challenge: I hate myself

Wha' happen?

GAME ONE: Southern Miss played inspired football under already-fired coach Jeff Bower, but the fact that they're bad at football ended up winning out over their passion and grit and all that stupid shit.
GAME TWO: Nevada isn't good. New Mexico is okay, and Nevada is bad. Bad. Un-good. Terrible. The opposite of competent. Etc.
GAME THREE: This game was dominated by the defenses, as UCLA only managed 316 yards to BYU's 265. If that sounds like UCLA outplayed the Mormons, well, they didn't, because yards per play averaged out to 4.2 for each side. Each team turned it over twice, with BYU's fumble on their own 4 yard line obviously being the most costly. At the end of the game, UCLA drove down to the BYU 11-yard line, but the potential game-winning field goal was blocked as time expired.

So after our first day of multiple games, there was theoretical "movement," in that points were added to everyone's scores, but there wasn't a lot of change in the standings ... except for me dropping six spots despite getting all three games correct. I had a ton of confidence points on Cincinnati, but so did everyone; I had 3 points on New Mexico playing their Home Game Bowl against Nevada, but hardly anyone had a lot of points on Los Lobos; and the killer, I only picked BYU with 6 confidence points. Every logical thought in my head said that BYU should win, what with UCLA using their 3rd- and 4th-string QBs and playing under an interim coach after The Mediocre Karl Dorrell was canned. Then there was the whole matter of them crapping the bed last year against Florida State and pissing everyone off. So like I said: everything pointed to a BYU win. But something didn't sit right with me, and I actually had it higher on the points list and moved it down the day before games started. See, I have problems sometimes with being stupid.

People who WEREN'T stupid, on the other hand, include our Big Movers of the day: Kristin (31, 19, and 22 points on Cincinnati, New Mexico, and BYU, respectively), Unoffficial MGoBlog Cartoonist Joel A. Morgan (31, 6, and 23), Reader Wise (29, 6, and 22), Kevin (29, 2, and 23), Todd (26, 16, and 23), The Cave (26, 10, and an astonishing 30(!) points on BYU), Ryan-- all right, fuck it: everybody except ME and the people who didn't adjust their confidence points. In retrospect, I would have been much better off in this group if BYU hadn't blocked that field goal. See, I always end up winning somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-70% of the games, and now I've started 5-0, but I've hardly gotten any points out of it, and now I'm bound to regress to my own personal mean of 60-70%, so I'm gonna have to lose higher-point games. AND I DON'T WANT TO. I'M NOT WHINING! NO, YOU SHUT UP!! I HATE YOU!!

On tap today: the Hawai(slight pause)i Bowl, featuring Boise State, which is not a state, and East Carolina, which is not a state.

Rank	Team	Owner	Record	PPR	TOTAL
1	Charlie Weiss Cat	Kristin	4-1	396	104
2	Football in the Groin	J. Morgan	5-0	439	89
2	The Dur's picks = FAIL	J. Wise	5-0	442	86
4	lick my houston nutts	Kevin	5-0	451	77
5	Do me, I'm gay	Todd	4-1	454	73
6	Westender	The Cave	4-1	451	70
7	Suck on Effervescent Cocks	Ryan	4-1	458	66
8	Special Education Conference	Andrea	4-1	465	62
9	Excelsior!!!!!!	Matt	4-1	464	60
9	Simply The Vest	Jeff	5-0	468	60
11	Chereth Cutestory	Jack	5-0	472	56
12	Joel defends hate crimes	The Dur	3-2	469	54
13	Ben	Ben	4-1	468	51
13	Bean	Christina	4-1	473	51
15	Stupid Scott	Evan	3-2	468	46

Once again, Jesse Palmer has not been included. He's at #8, between husband and wife team Ryan and Andrea.