Third annual thebowl.challenge: we all had 1 point on that

... or just about everyone did. In what could end up being the least compelling matchup of the bowl season, Florida Atlantic beat Memphis 44-27 in the N'Awlins Bowl, and very very very VERY few people in the pick 'em had that game at a confidence level above 1 or 2. Well, except for group leader Kristin and Her Completely Random Picks (29 points on Memphis. Woops.), Kevin (22 points on FAU), Ryan (9 points on FAU), and huge notable exception Fred, who stands at 0-2 in the group, having lost his 25- and 23-point picks (Navy and Memphis). As it stands, seven entrants are languishing at 0-2: Fred, Schill, Katey, Dustin, Kat, coworker Stephen, and someone named "R. Davis." No one is out of it (except Fred), but Katey and Kat (and Kat's spectacular pick set name) stand a particularly good chance at getting back into it, as they have only lost 5 and 3 points, respectively. As always this early in the bowl season, THINGS GON' CHANGE. On tap for today:

1:00 PM - Cincinnati vs. Southern Miss (ESPN2)
4:30 PM - Nevada at New Mexico (ESPN)
8:00 PM - UCLA vs BYU (ESPN)

As a final sidenote, I'm watching the pregame stuff on FSC right now, before the Liverpool-Portsmouth game. Host Guy asks Analyst Guy why Portsmouth is so good on the road and so middling at home, and Analyst Guy gives an answer that would be right at home on any number of American Football broadcasts: Portsmouth has lots of speed (A BUNCH OF GUYS OF AFRICAN DESCENT), and when they play on the road the opponents have a tendency to come out and attack more often, and Portsmouth can just run past them (PRESUMABLY WITH ALL THEIR FAST TWITCH MUSCLE FIBER). Conversely, when Pompey is playing at home, the visiting teams tend to pack it in, and Portsmouth doesn't possess the skill to penetrate those packed-in defenses (NOT ENOUGH GRITTY ECKSTEIN TYPES, "GOOD DECISION-MAKERS," AND "POSSESSION" PLAYERS). I couldn't believe it. For what it's worth, Liverpool is dominating, up 2-0 thirty minutes into the game and absolutely carrying play right now.

On to the standings (sidenote: I haven't included Jesse Palmer yet, because I want to include as many people we know into the 15 spots as possible. Right now Jesse stands at #5, one point behind Kev and six points ahead of me. Should I include him in the blog standings or not?):

Rank	Team	Owner	Record	PPR	TOTAL
1	Charlie Weiss Cat	Kristin	1-1	468	32
2	Football in the Groin	J. Morgan	2-0	499	29
2	The Dur's picks = FAIL	J. Wise	2-0	499	29
4	lick my houston nutts	Kevin	2-0	505	23
5	Chereth Cutestory	Jack	2-0	512	16
6	Excelsior!!!!!!	Matt	1-1	512	12
6	Simply The Vest	Jeff	2-0	516	12
8	Joel defends hate crimes	The Dur	1-1	518	9
8	Suck on Effervescent Cocks	Ryan	1-1	518	9
10	Do me, I'm gay	Todd	1-1	519	8
11	Stupid Scott	Evan	1-1	510	7
12	I'm kind of a big deal	B. Gordon	1-1	519	5
13	Westender	The Cave	1-1	517	4
14	Special Education Conference	Andrea	1-1	524	3
14	Bean	Christina	1-1	521	3
14	The Thunder	S. Lawrence	1-1	524	3