Crazy bowl season results in close race in Gridiron contest
By ED LEWIS
For The Vista
What a crazy, unusual 41 game bowl season college football fans just observed, and that included the 20 bowl games that comprised the annual Vista contest for six local “experts” who made predictions regarding winning teams.
Congratulations to contest co-winners Greg Dorton and Keith Walther for their winning records of 13-7. They picked Southern California over Penn State, and the Trojans came back in the fourth quarter to win the decisive game 52-49 as time expired.
Until that miraculous finish, the Trojans were losing by fourteen points and if Penn State had won, Greg and Keith would have tied for third behind Tom Flagg and Ed Lewis, who finished tied for third and fourth at 12-8. Geoff Fine and Landry Walther were 11-9.
The lead in the contest changed several times during the course of the 20 games, but the winners were successful in the end, although their winning record was far less than defending champion Greg’s fabulous 17-3 record last year.
Due to the difficulty this year in trying to predict the winners of many closely matched opponents, the combined records of the participants was 72 – 48, far below last year’s combined record of 81 – 39, the highest in years.
The underdog won 13 of the 41 gamesand in the contest, the underdog won seven of the 20 games. A good lesson is for fans not to rely on the oddsmakers, unless you usually favor the underdogs.
As in last year’s bowls, offense was again well displayed in almost all of the games, and a total of 1,027 points were scored in the 20 game contest, 647 by the winners and 380 by the losers, which resulted in an average game score of 32-19.
Many long-time fans who enjoy great offenses certainly enjoyed this year’s competition. SEC and Big 10 fans were not pleased with their respective records this year. The SEC had 12 teams in bowls and finished 6-6. The Big 10 had nine teams in bowls and finished 3-6. Better luck next year to these two conferences, both of which have many local fans.
The Championship game was played Monday evening, January 9 between Alabama and Clemson, after The Vista went to press. ‘Bama defeated Washington in the Peach Bowl 24-7 and Clemson won the Fiesta Bowl over Ohio State 31-0.
The margin of victory for Clemson was one of several surprises in the overall bowl schedule, particularly since the two teams finished second and third in the season ending polls.
The Vista wishes to thank all contestants for their participation in the contest.