Our final round produced the greatest diversity of picks of any week in this year's contest, with seven different teams being chosen by our players. The most popular pick was the North Posey Vikings, who defeated the Pike Central Chargers by a 34-13 score. The largest margin of victory in Week 9 belonged to the Angola Hornets and the North Harrison Cougars, both recording 41 point wins over the Eastside Blazers and the Clarksville Generals, respectively. Five of our nine teams ended the regular season with a loss, with four of them running a deficit of 21 points or more.
It is time to crown our champion! Congratulations to Kdoades, the winner of the 2018 Hickory Husker Pigskin Pick'em! He earned his first trophy in his sixth year of competing in the contest with a score of 333 points. He stayed at or near the top of the leaderboard throughout the season, taking over the lead for good in Week 7 and never falling below second place at any time.
Second place through fifth place were separated by less than 30 points. Bearmo17 finished with 292 points, followed by ysuindy in third with 276, defending champion Jeremy Powers in fourth with 274, and newcomer Nick Jenkinson in fifth with 265. Three of our players - Kdoades, ysuindy, and raiderfan32 - did not receive a negative score in any week of the contest.
While it didn't factor into our standings, the correct score for our tiebreaker this year was 289, the combined scores of these eight teams which played at Scheumann Stadium on September 15:
Blackford 70, Alexandria 52 (122 points)
Eastbrook 52, Oak Hill 20 (72 points)
Mississinewa 58, Madison-Grant 0 (58 points)
Frankton 22, Elwood 15 (37 points)
Darren Smelser was the closest on the tiebreaker with his prediction of 276 points.
Here are the games for Week 9 with scores, point margins, and the number of players who picked each one:
Angola 48, Eastside 7(41 points, 1 player)
North Harrison 47, Clarksville 6 (41 points, 3 players)
Andrean 28, Highland 0 (28 points, 2 players)
North Posey 34, Pike Central 13 (21 points, 5 players)
Parke Heritage 18, Fountain Central 15 OT (-3 points, 3 players)
Knightstown 21, Centerville 0 (-21 points, 2 players)
Westfield 44, Franklin Central 16 (-28 points, 1 player)
Shenandoah 43, Monroe Central 6 (-37 points, no players)
Warsaw 45, Concord 3 (-42 points, no players)
Here are the final standings:
This season turned out to be more challenging than anticipated for several of the teams used in our contest, which therefore made things more challenging for our players. With the exception of North Posey, every team on this year's list was ranked in the preseason top 15 for their class in the 2018 Indiana Football Digest. Here is how our teams were ranked in the preseason, their records at the end of the season, and their rankings after Week 8:
Angola: Preseason 4A #8; Record 9-0; Week 8 AP #5, IFCA #4
Andrean: Preseason 3A #11; Record 8-1; Week 8 AP #4, IFCA #4
Centerville: Preseason 2A #11; Record 5-4; Week 8 unranked
Concord: Preseason 5A #10; Record 4-5; Week 8 unranked
Fountain Central: Preseason 1A #2; Record 6-3; Week 8 AP #15, IFCA #13
Franklin Central: Preseason 6A #10; Record 2-7; Week 8 unranked
Monroe Central: Preseason 1A #4; Record 7-2; Week 8 AP #7, IFCA #7
North Harrison: Preseason 3A #7; Record 6-3; Week 8 unranked
North Posey: Preseason 2A unranked; Record 5-4; Week 8 unranked
Your contest administrator (me) happens to be a software developer in real life, so I wrote a computer program to determine what the best possible score would be with this year's combination of teams. It also provides a ranking among all possible outcomes for each contestant who submitted a pick in every week of the contest. The results were interesting, to say the least.
With a contest like this, the number of possible combinations of picks is n!, where n is the number of teams. For nine teams, that comes to 362,880. The worst possible score is -192 (none of our players were anywhere near that bad!). The best possible score is 333, which also happens to be the score for our champion, Kdoades! No combination of picks this season would have resulted in a higher score than his, which was achieved with these picks:
Week 1 - Monroe Central (60)
Week 2 - Fountain Central (35)
Week 3 - North Harrison (35)
Week 4 - Andrean (59)
Week 5 - Concord (25)
Week 6 - Angola (70)
Week 7 - Centerville (19)
Week 8 - Franklin Central (9)
Week 9 - North Posey (21)
Congratulations to Kdoades on his perfect score!
Here are the rankings for the remainder of our players. Rank = numeric rank out of 362,880. Percentage Rank = Percentage of possible scores that are worse.
Bearmo17: Score = 292, Rank = 49, Percentage Rank = 99.99
ysuindy: Score = 276, Rank = 147, Percentage Rank = 99.96
Jeremy Powers: Score = 274, Rank = 182, Percentage Rank = 99.95
Nick Jenkinson: Score = 265, Rank = 323, Percentage Rank = 99.91
raiderfan32: Score = 256, Rank = 549, Percentage Rank = 99.85
hhsdawg: Score = 230, Rank = 2134, Percentage Rank = 99.41
HickoryHusker: Score = 224, Rank = 2844, Percentage Rank = 99.22
Ed Stachulak: Score = 220, Rank = 3410, Percentage Rank = 99.06
Rockman: Score = 199, Rank = 8331, Percentage Rank = 97.70
Steve03: Score = 198, Rank = 8674, Percentage Rank = 97.61
Rob Deweese: Score = 174, Rank = 19913, Percentage Rank = 94.51
hanover1989: Score = 164, Rank = 27003, Percentage Rank = 92.56
big d 2: Score = 132, Rank = 60817, Percentage Rank = 83.24
Darren Smelser: Score = 130, Rank = 63520, Percentage Rank = 82.50
Quad Runner: Score = 40, Rank = 233967, Percentage Rank = 35.52
Thanks to everyone who participated in this year's contest! We hope all of you will return to compete in the 2019 Hickory Husker Pigskin Pick'em!
It is time to crown our champion! Congratulations to Kdoades, the winner of the 2018 Hickory Husker Pigskin Pick'em! He earned his first trophy in his sixth year of competing in the contest with a score of 333 points. He stayed at or near the top of the leaderboard throughout the season, taking over the lead for good in Week 7 and never falling below second place at any time.
Second place through fifth place were separated by less than 30 points. Bearmo17 finished with 292 points, followed by ysuindy in third with 276, defending champion Jeremy Powers in fourth with 274, and newcomer Nick Jenkinson in fifth with 265. Three of our players - Kdoades, ysuindy, and raiderfan32 - did not receive a negative score in any week of the contest.
While it didn't factor into our standings, the correct score for our tiebreaker this year was 289, the combined scores of these eight teams which played at Scheumann Stadium on September 15:
Blackford 70, Alexandria 52 (122 points)
Eastbrook 52, Oak Hill 20 (72 points)
Mississinewa 58, Madison-Grant 0 (58 points)
Frankton 22, Elwood 15 (37 points)
Darren Smelser was the closest on the tiebreaker with his prediction of 276 points.
Here are the games for Week 9 with scores, point margins, and the number of players who picked each one:
Angola 48, Eastside 7(41 points, 1 player)
North Harrison 47, Clarksville 6 (41 points, 3 players)
Andrean 28, Highland 0 (28 points, 2 players)
North Posey 34, Pike Central 13 (21 points, 5 players)
Parke Heritage 18, Fountain Central 15 OT (-3 points, 3 players)
Knightstown 21, Centerville 0 (-21 points, 2 players)
Westfield 44, Franklin Central 16 (-28 points, 1 player)
Shenandoah 43, Monroe Central 6 (-37 points, no players)
Warsaw 45, Concord 3 (-42 points, no players)
Here are the final standings:
- Kdoades - 333
- Bearmo17 - 292
- ysuindy - 276
- Jeremy Powers - 274
- Nick Jenkinson - 265
- raiderfan32 - 256
- hhsdawg - 230
- HickoryHusker - 224
- Ed Stachulak - 220
- Rockman - 199
- Steve03 - 198
- Rob Deweese - 174
- hanover1989 - 164
- big d 2 - 132
- Darren Smelser - 130
- alfonsowhite75 - 89
- Quad Runner - 40
This season turned out to be more challenging than anticipated for several of the teams used in our contest, which therefore made things more challenging for our players. With the exception of North Posey, every team on this year's list was ranked in the preseason top 15 for their class in the 2018 Indiana Football Digest. Here is how our teams were ranked in the preseason, their records at the end of the season, and their rankings after Week 8:
Angola: Preseason 4A #8; Record 9-0; Week 8 AP #5, IFCA #4
Andrean: Preseason 3A #11; Record 8-1; Week 8 AP #4, IFCA #4
Centerville: Preseason 2A #11; Record 5-4; Week 8 unranked
Concord: Preseason 5A #10; Record 4-5; Week 8 unranked
Fountain Central: Preseason 1A #2; Record 6-3; Week 8 AP #15, IFCA #13
Franklin Central: Preseason 6A #10; Record 2-7; Week 8 unranked
Monroe Central: Preseason 1A #4; Record 7-2; Week 8 AP #7, IFCA #7
North Harrison: Preseason 3A #7; Record 6-3; Week 8 unranked
North Posey: Preseason 2A unranked; Record 5-4; Week 8 unranked
Your contest administrator (me) happens to be a software developer in real life, so I wrote a computer program to determine what the best possible score would be with this year's combination of teams. It also provides a ranking among all possible outcomes for each contestant who submitted a pick in every week of the contest. The results were interesting, to say the least.
With a contest like this, the number of possible combinations of picks is n!, where n is the number of teams. For nine teams, that comes to 362,880. The worst possible score is -192 (none of our players were anywhere near that bad!). The best possible score is 333, which also happens to be the score for our champion, Kdoades! No combination of picks this season would have resulted in a higher score than his, which was achieved with these picks:
Week 1 - Monroe Central (60)
Week 2 - Fountain Central (35)
Week 3 - North Harrison (35)
Week 4 - Andrean (59)
Week 5 - Concord (25)
Week 6 - Angola (70)
Week 7 - Centerville (19)
Week 8 - Franklin Central (9)
Week 9 - North Posey (21)
Congratulations to Kdoades on his perfect score!
Here are the rankings for the remainder of our players. Rank = numeric rank out of 362,880. Percentage Rank = Percentage of possible scores that are worse.
Bearmo17: Score = 292, Rank = 49, Percentage Rank = 99.99
ysuindy: Score = 276, Rank = 147, Percentage Rank = 99.96
Jeremy Powers: Score = 274, Rank = 182, Percentage Rank = 99.95
Nick Jenkinson: Score = 265, Rank = 323, Percentage Rank = 99.91
raiderfan32: Score = 256, Rank = 549, Percentage Rank = 99.85
hhsdawg: Score = 230, Rank = 2134, Percentage Rank = 99.41
HickoryHusker: Score = 224, Rank = 2844, Percentage Rank = 99.22
Ed Stachulak: Score = 220, Rank = 3410, Percentage Rank = 99.06
Rockman: Score = 199, Rank = 8331, Percentage Rank = 97.70
Steve03: Score = 198, Rank = 8674, Percentage Rank = 97.61
Rob Deweese: Score = 174, Rank = 19913, Percentage Rank = 94.51
hanover1989: Score = 164, Rank = 27003, Percentage Rank = 92.56
big d 2: Score = 132, Rank = 60817, Percentage Rank = 83.24
Darren Smelser: Score = 130, Rank = 63520, Percentage Rank = 82.50
Quad Runner: Score = 40, Rank = 233967, Percentage Rank = 35.52
Thanks to everyone who participated in this year's contest! We hope all of you will return to compete in the 2019 Hickory Husker Pigskin Pick'em!
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