Friends in fight songs,

Just after 11:15 pm PT on Saturday, Washington celebrated an entertaining Apple Cup win over its hated rival. And at that moment, we crowned a Rankings & Rivalries CHAMPION.

(We borrowed the crown they kept putting on Caleb Williams in the Notre Dame end zone a few hours earlier.)

@Dufresne tightroped a tense Rivalry Week with a 17-5 mark - one off the best total of the Interval - to take the Overall title by one over @TunaBoat and Week 12 leader @Dannyoconnor1986.

What a SZN.

BOWL GAME PICKS

• The "Jungle Juice Bowl Pick'em" starts in three weeks
• Picks will open shortly after matchups are revealed Sunday
• We'll have picking "rounds" so you can make picks close to gametime
• Champ gets $1,500!

@Dufresne held a share of the Overall lead back in weeks 8 and 9 (with Mrs. Merf!), but entered Rivalry Week two behind @Dannyoconnor1986, and tied with @TunaBoat.

While @Dufresne and @Dannyoconnor1986 both took Washington in our final matchup of the regular SZN, @TunaBoat was hoping to reel in the title with a Wazzu upset.

MOXIE’S LAST STAND.

Halfway through the third quarter, the 15-percent-picked Cougars went for a two-point conversion to tie the game. But they failed…and then failed to score the rest of the game, clinching the title for @Dufresne.
HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES, @Dufresne surely shouted after chugging a celebratory BLL.

(Also, @Dufresne > Damon.)

Alas, if Wazzu managed to pull off the upset in Pullman, @TunaBoat would have been Scrooge McDuck’n in a $1K jackpot.

Instead, @Dufresne is $1K richer, while @TunaBoat and @Dannyoconnor1986 will settle for $250 each as co-runners-up.

Painfully, @TunaBoat somehow suffered the SAME fate in the Vandy Inclusivity pick’em - our SEC contest. @TunaBoat also finished one win back in the Overall after a 2-2 final week, with Missouri’s Battle Line Rivalry upset landing the fatality.

Thoughts and BLLs, @TunaBills.

Meanwhile, Trampled Trombone Survivor MARCHES ON, with or without David Shaw and Joe Starkey.

We began Rivalry Week with five survivors. But three of us stepped on the LSU landmine. The two that were spared - @Dsackett7 and @rvarealestate - both used LSU in Week 11, a 13-10 squeaker over Arkansas.

The Survivor gods work in mysterious ways.

This means our $5K grand prize will be decided by a Championship Week pick-off. @Dsackett7 and @rvarealestate will submit picks and confidence rankings for the six conference title games between ranked opponents: Pac-12, Big-12, SEC, Big Ten, SEC and that AAC grudge match between UCF (I got you, @Keiffapro) and Tulane!

By the way, has anyone ever seen @TunaBoat and @Dsackett7 in the same room?

@Dsackett7 is, at the very least, @TunaBoat’s Survivor spirit animal. (Hopefully it’s not a buffalo.) @Dsackett7 finished runner-up in SEC-vivor after dropping a pick-off.

Yes, @Dsackett7 has not lost an actual Survivor pick in EITHER college football contest this SZN.

And with one pick-off under your belt, that just means you’re a Survivor tiebreaker VETERAN now, right @Dsackett7?

Good luck to you both. Unless you pick against USC.

TROMPLED TRAMBONE RECAP

Pick spreadsheet | Game outcomes

We picked eight different teams. We hit on seven of them. But three of us got JIMBO’d.

It was impossible. Texas A&M barely scored 20 points in that weird SEC bye week against UMass last week. They had lost six straight in the SEC. They were an Arkansas field goal away from being WINLESS in conference play.

So OF COURSE they stomped a Playoff-contending LSU by 15.

Two survivors remain, and they must parse six championship game matchups in their pick-off: No. 4 USC vs. No. 12 Utah; No. 3 TCU vs. No. 13 Kansas State; No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 11 LSU; No. 18 Tulane vs. No. 22 UCF; No. 2 Michigan vs. Purdue and No. 10 Clemson vs. No. 24 UNC.

RANKINGS & RIVALRIES RECAP

Weekly standings | Game outcomes

We played 10 weeks. Picked 120 games. Two of us finished one behind the Overall title. Two more were two back. There were 15 of us within three, and 30 of us finished within four.

Our champ @Dufresne hit 80% of the time, good for 96 wins. Our majority picks hit 76% of the time. That’s 91 wins right there, tied for 31st overall. A Moxie win every other week is all it took…

In our final Rivalry Week interval, eight of us went 18-4 to tie for top honors. Seven of us will split $500. I will get nothing and LOVE it. Team SZN plays in all of our contests, but we can’t win anything. BLLs on me!

Team SZN Bragging Rights: That’s right. I get to brag right here, BECAUSE THE HEADING SAYS SO. Actually my season is the perfect example of playing until the final whistle. I finished 254th (out of 874, MR. 71ST PERCENTILE) in Rankings & Rivalries, but hauled in a Moxie Hail Mary during Rivalry Week that would have paid for my next three SZNs. So keep making those picks! A little Moxie goes a long way!

Mrs. Merf turned in a valiant Rankings & Rivalries effort, holding at least a share of the Overall lead as late as Week 10! She ultimately finished four back in a tie for 16th. I’ll take you out to dinner with my imaginary winnings to celebrate, Hun. But maybe bring your card as backup…

Yours in baggy khakis and bubble gum,
Merf