Friends in Bowling,

Commish breaks down the race for our Pick'em title below. But first...

THE GOOD:

Wild finishes. Clemson and Kentucky scored 31 combined in the first three quarters before dropping 42 in an insane 4th quarter. (Clemson's TD with 17 seconds left gave them the win.)

Huge upsets. Boston College reminded us that, in Bowl SZN, even the team with the second lowest pick percentage can rise up and topple a ranked opponent (SMU).

THE BAD:

FSU-Georgia's fake game. Commish gets why a kid not being paid would sit out a bowl game. But nobody wants 63-3 "games" that result from this behavior en masse. Once universities start directly paying players, I hope this trend reverses itself.

THE REVOLUTIONARY:

The Pop-Tarts Bowl. Everything about it. Give us 20 Pop-Tarts Bowls next year. Give us the Pop-Tarts league. Give us the POP-TARTS NATION. Can someone please send The SZN to a Pop-Tarts person because we are clearly a match made in sports utopian heaven.

Now let's break down the current standings...

STANDINGS WITH 5 GAMES LEFT

After 14 picks, three brave souls stand as 12-2.

Not coincidentally, 12-2 was the winning record in last year's Bowl Pick'em (when we only made 14 picks).

Commish boldly predicted that 15-4 would be our winning record this year. 16-3 still has a shot, but 15-4 is certainly the likeliest outcome at this point.

Here's who our leaders picked today:

• @FranMully (12-2): 'Bama, Washington, LSU, Iowa, Oregon
• @IESSP (12-2): Michigan, Washington, LSU, Tennessee, Oregon
• @Jaybee128 (12-2): Michigan, Texas, LSU, Iowa, Oregon

Each pairing picked differently on two games. Combine that with Wisconsin's current 7-0 lead over LSU, and there remains huge shakeup potential.

Behind the leaders are 12 people at an impressive 11-3. Some notes on this crew:

• Only ONE picked Wisconsin: @Jsantos590. So, a Badgers win immediately gives us a 4-way tie at the top with a bunch still just one game back.
• Same deal with Liberty. One bold soul, @Bsommers, is on the Flames to beat the Ducks.
• These 12 favored 'Bama (7 picks to Michigan's 5) and Washington (7 to 5 over Texas), but again, the semifinals are guaranteed to give a bunch of our leaders at least one loss.

Could one of our 36 people at 10-4 take the title? Absolutely. If 'Bama and Texas win their semis, that means NONE of our leaders will have gotten both of those games right. That opens up a whole host of possibilities, including someone currently at 10-4 sweeping today's games en route to a Pick'em title.

Happy New Year, y'all. Thanks for spending some of your holidays with Commish, GM, and the whole SZN community.

We're back with one final College Football pool - the National Championship Props pool - one week from today. If you haven't already, join us!

Yours in baggy khakis and visors,
The Commish