Please refer to this earlier post for links to last year’s Bowl Polls/Threads.
How should we improve on last year’s format(s)? What should be the change(s) to make this coming season more fun to endure?
Here’s the schedule for the Bowls: 2023 Bowl Schedule | College Football Poll.com
There have been some comments in Week 15 CFB – Which AP Top 25 team(s) will lose? (namely these by Zakalwe ) relating to ways to improve on last year’s approach.
There are numerous versions of the Bowls schedule, including
http://www.ncaa.com/sports/football/bowls
and I have chosen this batch to repost here:
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http://www.ncaa.com/sports/football/bowls
BOWL MATCHUP LOCATION TIME (ET) DATE TV
New Orleans Nevada vs. La.-Lafayette New Orleans 11 a.m. Dec. 20 ESPN
New Mexico UTEP vs. Utah State Albuquerque, N.M. 2:20 p.m. Dec. 20 ESPN
Las Vegas Colorado St. vs. Utah Las Vegas 3:30 p.m. Dec. 20 ABC
Famous Idaho Potato West. Mich. vs. Air Force Boise, Idaho 5:45 p.m. Dec. 20 ESPN
Camellia Bowl. Green vs. South Ala. Montgomery, Ala. 9:15 p.m. Dec. 20 ESPN
Miami Beach BYU vs. Memphis Miami 2 p.m. Dec. 22 ESPN
Boca Raton Marshall vs. Northern Ill. Boca Raton, Fla. 6 p.m. Dec. 23 ESPN
Poinsettia Navy vs. San Diego St. San Diego 9:30 p.m. Dec. 23 ESPN
Popeyes West. Ky. vs. Central Mich. Nassau, Bahamas Noon Dec. 24 ESPN
Hawaii Rice vs. Fresno State Honolulu 8 p.m. Dec. 24 ESPN
Heart of Dallas Illinois vs. La. Tech Dallas 1 p.m. Dec. 26 ESPN
Quick Lane Rutgers vs. North Carolina Detroit 4:30 p.m. Dec. 26 ESPN
St. Petersburg NC State vs. UCF St. Petersburg, Fla. 8 p.m. Dec. 26 ESPN
Military Virginia Tech vs. Cincinnati Annapolis, Md. 1 p.m. Dec. 27 ESPN
Sun Duke vs. Arizona State El Paso, Texas 2 p.m. Dec. 27 CBS
Independence Miami (Fla.) vs. South Caro. Shreveport, La. 3:30 p.m. Dec. 27 ABC
Pinstripe Boston College vs. Penn St. Bronx, N.Y. 4:30 p.m. Dec. 27 ESPN
Holiday Nebraska vs. USC San Diego 8 p.m. Dec. 27 ESPN
Liberty West Va. vs. Texas A&M Memphis, Tenn. 2 p.m. Dec. 29 ESPN
Russell Athletic Clemson vs. Oklahoma Orlando, Fla. 5:30 p.m. Dec. 29 ESPN
Texas Texas vs. Arkansas Houston 9 p.m. Dec. 29 ESPN
Music City Notre Dame vs. LSU Nashville, Tenn. 3 p.m. Dec. 30 ESPN
Belk Louisville vs. Georgia Charlotte, N.C. 6:30 p.m. Dec. 30 ESPN
Foster Farms Maryland vs. Stanford Santa Clara, Calif. 10 p.m. Dec. 30 ESPN
Peach Ole Miss vs. TCU Atlanta 12:30 p.m. Dec. 31 ESPN
Fiesta Boise St. vs. Arizona Glendale, Ariz. 4 p.m. Dec. 31 ESPN
Orange Miss. State vs. Ga. Tech Miami Gardens, Fla. 8 p.m. Dec. 31 ESPN
Cotton Mich. St. vs. Baylor Arlington, Texas 12:30 p.m. Jan. 1 ESPN
Citrus Minnesota vs. Missouri Orlando, Fla. 12:30 p.m. Jan. 1 ABC
Outback Wisconsin vs. Auburn Tampa, Fla. 1 p.m. Jan. 1 ESPN2
* Rose Oregon vs. Florida State Pasadena, Calif. 5 p.m. Jan. 1 ESPN
* Sugar Alabama vs. Ohio State New Orleans 8:30 p.m. Jan. 1 ESPN
Armed Forces Pittsburgh vs. Houston Fort Worth, Texas Noon Jan. 2 ESPN
TaxSlayer Iowa vs. Tennessee Jacksonville, Fla. 3:20 p.m. Jan. 2 ESPN
Alamo Kansas State vs. UCLA San Antonio 6:45 p.m. Jan. 2 ESPN
Cactus Oklahoma St. vs. Washington Tempe, Ariz. 10:15 p.m. Jan. 2 ESPN
Birmingham Florida vs. East Carolina Birmingham, Ala. 1 p.m. Jan. 3 ESPN2
GoDaddy Toledo vs. Arkansas St. Mobile, Ala. 9 p.m. Jan. 4 ESPN
CFP Champ. Game TBD vs. TBD Arlington, Texas 8:30 p.m. Jan. 12 ESPN
* -- College Football Playoff semifinal games
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Those visual breaks are to show one way to break up the 39 games into smaller groups, to make the polls a little easier to work with. There may be better subdivisions than those, so let’s talk about that aspect of it all.
To me, the Wikipedia link ( 2014–15 NCAA football bowl games - Wikipedia ) has the most information in one place that I’ve run across. If you have an even better version please post a link to it.
I thought I’d look into a different approach to the problem of the Postseason Games.
Based on my own lack of intense interest in at least half of the matchups, I thought I’d look at the Massey Rankings to see which games have the closest matchups in those numbers.
Here are the ones where the difference is ten or less:
http://www.ncaa.com/sports/football/bowls
http://masseyratings.com/cf/compare.htm
BOWL MATCHUP LOCATION TIME (ET) DATE TV
New Orleans Nevada vs. La.-Lafayette New Orleans 11 a.m. Dec. 20 ESPN 63 73
Camellia Bowl. Green vs. South Ala. Montgomery, Ala. 9:15 p.m. Dec. 20 ESPN 95 92
Miami Beach BYU vs. Memphis Miami 2 p.m. Dec. 22 ESPN 44 37
Poinsettia Navy vs. San Diego St. San Diego 9:30 p.m. Dec. 23 ESPN 64 74
Hawaii Rice vs. Fresno State Honolulu 8 p.m. Dec. 24 ESPN 77 84
Quick Lane Rutgers vs. North Carolina Detroit 4:30 p.m. Dec. 26 ESPN 57 61
St. Petersburg NC State vs. UCF St. Petersburg, Fla. 8 p.m. Dec. 26 ESPN 52 46
Independence Miami (Fla.) vs. South Caro. Shreveport, La. 3:30 p.m. Dec. 27 ABC 43 48
Holiday Nebraska vs. USC San Diego 8 p.m. Dec. 27 ESPN 25 23
Liberty West Va. vs. Texas A&M Memphis, Tenn. 2 p.m. Dec. 29 ESPN 30 31
Russell Athletic Clemson vs. Oklahoma Orlando, Fla. 5:30 p.m. Dec. 29 ESPN 21 22
Peach Ole Miss vs. TCU Atlanta 12:30 p.m. Dec. 31 ESPN 7 3
Fiesta Boise St. vs. Arizona Glendale, Ariz. 4 p.m. Dec. 31 ESPN 19 15
Orange Miss. State vs. Ga. Tech Miami Gardens, Fla. 8 p.m. Dec. 31 ESPN 8 13
Cotton Mich. St. vs. Baylor Arlington, Texas 12:30 p.m. Jan. 1 ESPN 9 5
Outback Wisconsin vs. Auburn Tampa, Fla. 1 p.m. Jan. 1 ESPN2 16 11
* Rose Oregon vs. Florida State Pasadena, Calif. 5 p.m. Jan. 1 ESPN 2 6
* Sugar Alabama vs. Ohio State New Orleans 8:30 p.m. Jan. 1 ESPN 1 4
Alamo Kansas State vs. UCLA San Antonio 6:45 p.m. Jan. 2 ESPN 12 14
CFP Champ. Game TBD vs. TBD Arlington, Texas 8:30 p.m. Jan. 12 ESPN
* -- College Football Playoff semifinal games
==================================================
We could split that group into the Early Half and the Later Half and have ten games in each set. Picking the Winner (or Loser) the way we have been doing would be easy enough to set up.
Any thoughts/comments on this idea?
ETA: Found one of those articles: 2014-2015 college football bowl watchability rankings, according to the numbers - SBNation.com
Here’s some reading that might assist in getting fewer games to have to pick winners/losers in.
Speaking for me, I don’t want fewer games. I want 'em all! Those boys worked hard all season to make it to a bowl game, the least we can do is lay down no-cost on-line bets for bragging rights, right?
Well, Zakalwe, that would surely cut down on any serious head-scratching as to who’s in and who’s out! 
But based on last year’s participation, it’s only the Big Games near New Year’s Day that get much in the way of voting.
I have even toyed with an idea of a pre-polls poll to see if there’s more interest in some specific Bowls than others. May not be worth the effort seeing as you and I are only ones speaking up yet!
I appreciate all the work that you’ve put into setting these up each week and will be participating no matter how divide up the bowls. I personally would like to see all the bowls represented but I’ll go with whatever you decide to do.
That’s beginning to look like the best approach after all, so as not to have to play favorites and such. Thanks for the reply.
Here’s my latest thinking (thanks to your input) on the threads to do with CFB Post Season Games:
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http://www.ncaa.com/sports/football/bowls
http://masseyratings.com/cf/compare.htm
BOWL MATCHUP LOCATION TIME (ET) DATE TV Massey SBN Sat
New Orleans Nevada vs. La.-Lafayette New Orleans 11 a.m. Dec. 20 ESPN 63 73 36 36
New Mexico UTEP vs. Utah State Albuquerque, N.M. 2:20 p.m. Dec. 20 ESPN 99 47 38 24
Las Vegas Colorado St. vs. Utah Las Vegas 3:30 p.m. Dec. 20 ABC 91 29 16 15
Famous Idaho Potato West. Mich. vs. Air Force Boise, Idaho 5:45 p.m. Dec. 20 ESPN 71 53 13 20
Camellia Bowl. Green vs. South Ala. Montgomery, Ala. 9:15 p.m. Dec. 20 ESPN 95 92 30 32
Miami Beach BYU vs. Memphis Miami 2 p.m. Dec. 22 ESPN 44 37 6 28
Boca Raton Marshall vs. Northern Ill. Boca Raton, Fla. 6 p.m. Dec. 23 ESPN 26 49 23 10
Poinsettia Navy vs. San Diego St. San Diego 9:30 p.m. Dec. 23 ESPN 64 74 32 26
Popeyes West. Ky. vs. Central Mich. Nassau, Bahamas Noon Dec. 24 ESPN 67 85 29 21
Hawaii Rice vs. Fresno State Honolulu 8 p.m. Dec. 24 ESPN 77 84 27 38
Heart of Dallas Illinois vs. La. Tech Dallas 1 p.m. Dec. 26 ESPN 70 45 35 37
Quick Lane Rutgers vs. North Carolina Detroit 4:30 p.m. Dec. 26 ESPN 57 61 26 35
St. Petersburg NC State vs. UCF St. Petersburg, Fla. 8 p.m. Dec. 26 ESPN 52 46 17 23
Military Virginia Tech vs. Cincinnati Annapolis, Md. 1 p.m. Dec. 27 ESPN 54 40 18 31
Sun Duke vs. Arizona State El Paso, Texas 2 p.m. Dec. 27 CBS 38 20 11 13
Independence Miami (Fla.) vs. South Caro. Shreveport, La. 3:30 p.m. Dec. 27 ABC 43 48 34 22
Pinstripe Boston College vs. Penn St. Bronx, N.Y. 4:30 p.m. Dec. 27 ESPN 41 62 22 33
Holiday Nebraska vs. USC San Diego 8 p.m. Dec. 27 ESPN 25 23 7 12
Liberty West Va. vs. Texas A&M Memphis, Tenn. 2 p.m. Dec. 29 ESPN 30 31 31 16
Russell Athletic Clemson vs. Oklahoma Orlando, Fla. 5:30 p.m. Dec. 29 ESPN 21 22 4 14
Texas Texas vs. Arkansas Houston 9 p.m. Dec. 29 ESPN 42 27 24 17
Music City Notre Dame vs. LSU Nashville, Tenn. 3 p.m. Dec. 30 ESPN 36 18 19 19
Belk Louisville vs. Georgia Charlotte, N.C. 6:30 p.m. Dec. 30 ESPN 24 10 14 8
Foster Farms Maryland vs. Stanford Santa Clara, Calif. 10 p.m. Dec. 30 ESPN 51 28 28 27
Peach Ole Miss vs. TCU Atlanta 12:30 p.m. Dec. 31 ESPN 7 3 1 4
Fiesta Boise St. vs. Arizona Glendale, Ariz. 4 p.m. Dec. 31 ESPN 19 15 8 6
Orange Miss. State vs. Ga. Tech Miami Gardens, Fla. 8 p.m. Dec. 31 ESPN 8 13 3 5
Cotton Mich. St. vs. Baylor Arlington, Texas 12:30 p.m. Jan. 1 ESPN 9 5 5 3
Citrus Minnesota vs. Missouri Orlando, Fla. 12:30 p.m. Jan. 1 ABC 32 17 10 11
Outback Wisconsin vs. Auburn Tampa, Fla. 1 p.m. Jan. 1 ESPN2 16 11 9 9
* Rose Oregon vs. Florida State Pasadena, Calif. 5 p.m. Jan. 1 ESPN 2 6 14 1
* Sugar Alabama vs. Ohio State New Orleans 8:30 p.m. Jan. 1 ESPN 1 4 2 2
Armed Forces Pittsburgh vs. Houston Fort Worth, Texas Noon Jan. 2 ESPN 59 75 37 29
TaxSlayer Iowa vs. Tennessee Jacksonville, Fla. 3:20 p.m. Jan. 2 ESPN 50 39 21 18
Alamo Kansas State vs. UCLA San Antonio 6:45 p.m. Jan. 2 ESPN 12 14 12 7
Cactus Oklahoma St. vs. Washington Tempe, Ariz. 10:15 p.m. Jan. 2 ESPN 55 35 33 30
Birmingham Florida vs. East Carolina Birmingham, Ala. 1 p.m. Jan. 3 ESPN2 34 56 20 25
GoDaddy Toledo vs. Arkansas St. Mobile, Ala. 9 p.m. Jan. 4 ESPN 68 79 25 34
CFP Champ. Game TBD vs. TBD Arlington, Texas 8:30 p.m. Jan. 12 ESPN
* -- College Football Playoff semifinal games
=======================================================
The deadlines for voting/picking in each group will be the day before the first game in the group.
Must pick the WINNER in each game and will be docked -1 for no pick in that game (or both teams in the same game).
Polls will show Game-Team for each school in that date group.
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What other tweaks or embellishments need to be there?
I’ll give this thread another couple of days before putting up the polls themselves. Let’s say Saturday?
I’m starting now to put together the set of Polls/Threads covering the CFB Postseason. They will be posted Saturday, Dec/13.
Using the groupings in my previous post – essentially by ranges of dates – you will have the option of not voting in each thread/poll. But if you do vote the scoring will be along the lines of the threads from the regular season:
- You will pick a WINNER in each game on that particular poll
- Correct (WINNER) pick(s) score +1 point for each game
- Incorrect (LOSER), NO PICK IN THAT GAME. and PICK BOTH TEAMS will all result in a -1 point score for that game
Each game will have a poll choice for both teams in the game. PICK JUST ONE WINNER per game.
Omit voting at all in polls/threads you don’t care about. NO penalty for not participating in a particular poll/thread.
Each thread/poll will have a deadline for voting: the day BEFORE the first game in that poll.
That should cover it unless I have left out something important. If I have done such a thing please alert me before this Saturday (tomorrow Dec/13).
If you have yet to do so, check out Oak’s Bowl Pick’em 2014 where the whole set of 39 Bowls is available for picking WINNERS in one poll/thread.
The first six Threads/Polls are now up:
Pick the WINNERS in the Dec/20 CFB Bowl Games
Pick the WINNERS in the Dec/22-24 CFB Bowl Games
Pick the WINNERS in the Dec/26-27 CFB Bowl Games
Pick the WINNERS in the Dec/29-30 CFB Bowl Games
Pick the WINNERS in the Dec/31-Jan/1 CFB Bowl Games
Pick the WINNERS in the Jan/2-Jan/4 CFB Bowl Games
The one for the Championship Game will go up after the results are in from
* Rose Oregon vs. Florida State Pasadena, Calif. 5 p.m. Jan. 1 ESPN
* Sugar Alabama vs. Ohio State New Orleans 8:30 p.m. Jan. 1 ESPN
I will be posting summaries of voting in the individual threads along the way as they change significantly.
Comments and discussion are welcome both here and in the individual threads.
ENJOY the Bowl Season! 
Can I ask why you decided to post a bunch of individual threads rather than just one?
Too many options in an all-in-one poll.
So far, a total of 8 individuals have voted in at least one of the six threads listed in the post just above. They all have different deadlines, but the Pick the WINNERS in the Dec/20 CFB Bowl Games will close on 12-19-2014 at 07:06 AM
Just FYI…
Here’s a progress report on the six threads/polls so far:
Pick the WINNERS in the Dec/20 CFB Bowl Games
This poll will close on 12-19-2014 at 07:06 AM
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 7
Pick the WINNERS in the Dec/22-24 CFB Bowl Games
This poll will close on 12-21-2014 at 07:47 AM
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 7
Pick the WINNERS in the Dec/26-27 CFB Bowl Games
This poll will close on 12-25-2014 at 08:04 AM
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 8
Pick the WINNERS in the Dec/29-30 CFB Bowl Games
This poll will close on 12-28-2014 at 08:30 AM
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 7
Pick the WINNERS in the Dec/31-Jan/1 CFB Bowl Games
This poll will close on 12-30-2014 at 08:47 AM
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 11
Pick the WINNERS in the Jan/2-Jan/4 CFB Bowl Games
This poll will close on 01-01-2015 at 08:58 AM
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 8
A total of 12 individuals have voted in at least one thread/poll!
No, not really. At least in my opinion. It’s nice to have just one thread that you can see the results, the polling, the options, etc.
If it were just a poll and no crosstable I could agree. Have you looked at the regular season things? There’s no way I can think of to simulate those summaries for 39 games (78 teams).
Another problem I tried to address is the lack of interest some people have in some of the games. This way you can avoid certain parts of the schedule and still participate in the big picture. Even if Zakalwe doesn’t choose to keep a running score of the polls, they can be treated as individual guessing games.
I did try to get input BEFORE things got underway. Then would have been a better time to offer suggestions. I went with what I had.
ETA: Have you looked at Oakminster’s Bowl Pick’em? (Link upthread – Post #11.)
I try not to.
Well, it’s an all-in-one way of picking all the postseason games, if that’s your thing. 