See if you can guess, judging by the looks on their faces, what Gale and Evelle Snoats have just witnessed:
- FSU embarrassing Alabama in the first game of the season
- FSU embarrassing their next three opponents by scoring 143 points against their opponents 13 in their next two games
- FSU embarrassing themselves by losing their next 4 games to Virginia, Miami, <checks notes> Pitt, and <checks notes> Stanford, and finishing with a losing record…AGAIN.
- Georgia embarrassing Alabama in their last game of the season
- The Playoff Committee embarrassing itself by keeping 3-loss Alabama in the playoff and leaving Notre Dame out
- The Playoff Committee embarrassing themselves further by creating a system where the 12-team playoff drops the 11th and 12th ranked teams in the final playoff rankings and, instead, includes <checks notes> the #20 and #24th ranked teams.
- ALL OF THE ABOVE?
Yep, I reckon the Snoats brothers, were they not the strange byproduct of some wicked chemical reaction in Joel and Ethan Cohen’s blood streams, would be plain stupefied by the state of college football in this post-BCS era. We here at the SBBPA are still smarting from the disastrous process a few years ago that eliminated an undefeated and conference champion FSU from the playoff in favor of Alabama. Who knew that, in 2025, the NCAA would say…“hold my beer!” and double down to screw a superior Notre Dame team by gifting Alabama with another underserved playoff spot!!!
Something stinks about the whole damned thing.
If it’s all the same to you, honey, I think I’ll skip this little get together, slip out with the boys, and knock back a couple of Coca Colas.”
– Notre Dame Captains after being snubbed by the NCAA/ESPN
Well, let’s not let the stench of the NCAA and ESPN’s fecklessness ruin our moods as we anticipate this 14th SEASON of the SBBPA Bowl Pick’em Challenge! We’ve got a new champion to crown and another trophy to award!
Here’s a refresher for how the challenge is organized.
There are TWO DIVISIONS:
The VEGAS Division
The CHAMPIONS Division
The VEGAS Division (non-playoff games)
Division 1: The VEGAS DIVISION covers the Division 1 non-playoff games. In the first section, pick the team that you believe will win the game. HOWEVER, you will only win the point IF your team covers the spread. In this year’s form, the favored team will have a negative number by their name. For example:
Sam Houston State (-6.5)
This means that Sam Houston State is favored to win by more than 6.5 points. In order to “win” against the spread, we take 6.5 points AWAY from Sam Houston State’s final score, and THEN we compare the score against their opponent. If it’s still GREATER THAN their opponents score, then Sam Houston State beat the spread!
But a tie, well, bad news – a tie against the spread is a LOSS!
So, if you pick the favorite but that team does not win by more than the spread, you do not get the point and anyone who picked the losing team WILL get the point.
If a team wins by exactly the spread, that’s a PUSH and no point is awarded.
If you pick the underdog (the team without the negative number) and that team wins, you get the point. If you pick the underdog and your team loses by LESS than the spread, you still win the point.
The Champions Division (playoff games)
Division 2: The CHAMPIONS DIVISION covers the 12-team playoff games. Points won in Division 1 are carried forward into this section. There is no spread, no Over/Under challenge. Players will simply pick the winner of EVERY playoff game for the entire playoff bracket. This means that those Round 1 picks are extremely important as the winners advance to the quarterfinal round. Miss a few picks in the first round and your bracket could be blown! Point awards for each round are weighted:
Round 1 = 1 point
Round 2 (quarterfinals) = 2 points
Round 3 (semifinals) = 4 points
Round 4 (championship) = 8 points
Remember that you must stay consistent with your picks through the entire bracket. Unfortunately, this form does not allow us to enforce your pick consistency, so you’ll have to manage this on your own this year. If we see that you were not consistent, we’ll try to contact you to correct your picks before the deadline.
Now remember, there are a few additional rules:
- All picks must be complete and submitted by 12:00pm, Saturday December 13.
- You have to provide an email so your picks can be sent to you by the form.
- You have to make a pick for every game.
- Once you submit your picks, they are locked. no changes, unless we note an inconsistency with your playoff bracket.
- We do not track player opt-outs or coaching changes. If your picked winner suffers massive player opt-outs or loses a coach or two, that’s too bad. You are stuck with that pick!
- Your pick for the National Champion must be an SEC team….wait…that’s not right. Your pick must be one of your projected winners of the semifinal games.
GOT IT? Well, let’s get to pickin’!
Use THIS LINK to make your picks and be sure the get them in before Saturday, December 13th at Noon EST.