Friends in Bowling,

WE'RE OFF. Four picks in the books. 15 picks left to be decided.

After seeing the Pop-Tarts trophy - it has a literal silver football toaster on top - Commish made the unilateral decision to make the Pop-Tarts Bowl worth 100 wins.

Hope you studied up on Kansas State and NC State.

I'm kidding, of course. But that trophy is immediately the GOAT Bowl trophy. If you tell me I'm wrong, I need evidence of something superior.

BOWL PICK'EM PICKS

• Oregon was our top pick. 97% of us picked the Ducks over Liberty in the Fiesta Bowl.
• Our other 80%+ picks: LSU (94%, over Wisconsin), Georgia (93%, over FSU), SMU (83%, over BC).
• We had SIX games with no team getting more than 55% of our picks: Arizona-Oklahoma (55/45), Penn State-Ole Miss (54/46), WVU-UNC (53/47), Michigan-Bama (52/48), Texas-Washington (52/48), KSU-NCST (50/50).
• The Pop-Tarts Bowl! 50/50!
• Both CFP semifinals had the same exact pick distro: Michigan got 262 picks to Bama's 244, and Texas got 262 to Washington's 244.
• Somewhere, the CFP Committee is gloating about this fact. Commish is in the "FSU got absurdly snubbed" camp. But if the Committee was going for juicy, even matchups... they got it. (Especially when you consider us going Georgia 93-7 over FSU.)
• 20 people went 4-0 yesterday. That's just 3.9% of our 515 players.
• 34 people have a pickline shared by 1 or 2 others. ALL other players have a unique pickline. They're the only ones with those exact picks.

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO BE OUR CHAMP?

Last year's champ was just 12-2 (we picked fewer games).

If you project that to a 19-game slate, 16-3 would be the mark.

But Commish is looking at our pick distribution, and only FOUR teams have an 80%+ pick rate. That means we expect the vast majority of Bowls to be competitive games.

And with 9 toss-ups - Commish considers any game with a 66/34 pick split or closer to be a toss-up - it's REALLY hard to get even 7 out of 9 coin flips correct.

So, 15-4 is my prediction for our champ's record.

If someone goes 18-1, don't @ me. I'm just a lowly former Daily Trojan Sports Editor who once saw Pete Carroll throw his bubble gum at the trash can, miss, and then be frustrated about the miss for an entire press conference.

COMMENT AWARDS

Dot the "i" in Moxie Award

You can't win a SZN pool without a little Moxie!

@Takedown197: "Plan on winning this pool and donating it to the Gophers collective so they can get some 5 stars and win a Natty! I am sure this will be enough! "
Commish says: Listen, my parents are both Gophers, but the amount of Moxie it takes to think that Minnesota could EVER compete for a Natty, let alone utter it for the whole SZN world to see... KEEP IT COMING.

Play Like a Champion Award

Our best weekly comment (or three)

@Keiffapro: "Ah man, I was really hoping to pick in EVERY bowl game… Scooters Coffee, Avocados from Mexico, RoofClaim.com… these are exciting, too, ya know! At least UCF gets a whole day to themselves, Go Knights!"
Commish says: We're hoping The SZN one day gets big enough to have our own bowl. Should it be TheSZN.com bowl? The POUND BLLs AND SZN PICKS Bowl? The "Just Don't Name it After Favre" Bowl? TAKING OTHER SUGGESTIONS.

Lennay Kekua Memorial Award

Most convincing comment.

@Ziqness: "Picking against as many Big East and ACC teams as I can and riding Big Blue into the sunset. Harbaugh you failed me in 2013 by not giving it to Frank the tank on the 5. Don't do me dirty again!"
Commish says: This is the type of pettiness and pride that only college football can bring out.

The "I'm a Man, I'm 40!" Award

Spiciest take

@Deacon: "I'm sure I'll have about as much success here as in the NFL pick'ems this year, which is to say, not much. In terms of rooting interests, I'd love to see upsets across the board (in terms of CFP rankings, not necessarily betting lines). The committee needs to be disbanded, its committee table burned to ashes, and the ground beneath it salted so it never arises again. "
Commish says: Serious question: If we burn the committee to the ground, who's making next year's selections? Ochocinco? LenDale "Back on the Tequila Diet" White? The trombone player from "The Band Is On The Field"? JUST TALKED MYSELF INTO IT.

MORE COMMENTS

@Farmergray: "I’m not in this for a participation trophy! Just make sure you have my email address correctly on file! Good luck to all! Do I really mean that? After I go 19 for 19 I guess I do!!"
Commish says: I LIKE YOUR ENERGY. CAN YOU STEAL THE POP-TARTS BOWL TROPHY FOR US?

@BigDaddy: "Good to see more BigTen squads represented this Bowl Season. Interested to learn the background on the “Tony the Tiger” bowl — being played in Cincinnati??"
Commish says: True story. I flew into El Paso on Tuesday to do some National Parks and when I stepped off the airplane into that small airport, guess what was awaiting me? TONY THE TIGER BOWL ADVERTISEMENTS.

@StatCzar: "Tropic Truffle x Grease Monkey = Truffle Monkey."
Commish says: Stat Czar told me that he let his high school friend who's now a well-respected attorney make his picks while he also Googled info about strains of weed for his girlfriend, who's also an attorney. THE SZN IS UNIVERSAL, PEOPLE.

@maupind4: "I’ll be lucky to get 4 out of 19 picks correct. "
Commish says: After our first day, @maupind4 has 2 correct. In the words of Bon Jovi... WE'RE HALFWAY THERE. (Btw does anyone know Bon Jovi? GET JONNY IN THE POOL!)

@bowser48: "Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, wager only what you can afford. Woohoo!"
Commish says: Pretty sure wagering gets you banned from the Liberty campus, so you would need to be able to afford... expulsion?

@joedad6452: "Florida State gets screwed and Liberty, Tulane, Rutgers are all bowling, what a weird year"
Commish says: Tulane fans: HEY DON'T INCLUDE US IN THIS LIST.

@Mcheavens13: "For a majority of these games, I've watched the participants play football probably a combined 14 times. So my picks are like my absent father on Christmas... Hammered."
Commish says: THAT GOT DARK QUICKLY. But have no fear, Santa Commish is here to bring you cheer and reassurance that you don't need to actually watch the regular season to pick bowl games correctly.

@SheehanT16: "Cocks by 90"
Commish says: You've been waiting all year to write this comment haven't you

@RedEd4: "Who's skipping the bowl again? "
Commish says: I NEVER SKIP THE NACHOS, ED.

@Autovhanchilly: "This isn’t a time to be funny. This is life or death. I will be happy to go 1-18 as long as the longhorns are the only right pick"
Commish says: HOOK 'EM... UP TO LIFE SUPPORT, BABY!

@Keno_Lady: "Finally going for Michigan, and hoping the Dawgs lose"
Commish says: If FSU beats Georgia, we might have the angriest mob in American sports history on our hands...

@PackerGuy10: "FLORIDA STATE GOT HOSED."
Commish says: PACKERGUY WILL BE IN THE MOB... IF HE'S NOT AT LAMBEAU

Yours in baggy khakis and visors,
The Commish