Our contestants picked five different teams in the final week of the season, with 1A #2 South Adams being the most popular pick. But no one picked the 2A #1 Western Boone Stars, who had the largest margin of victory in Week 9 with their 40 point win over the Lebanon Tigers. None of our teams pitched a shutout in this round, the first time that has been the case since the start of this year's contest. 4A #9 Delta was the only one of our teams to lose this week, as the Eagles had their wings clipped by the 5A #1 New Palestine Dragons.
It is time to crown our champion! Congratulations to Kdoades, the winner of the 2019 Hickory Husker Pigskin Pick'em! His final pick of Columbus North in the week in which they had their biggest win moved him from second to first place by a margin of six points. He is the first contestant to win back-to-back championships since enrichment won in 2012 and was co-champion in 2013. Kdoades was in first or second place for seven of the nine rounds of the contest, including the last six in a row.
Second through fifth place were separated by less than 40 points. hhsdawg was the runner-up with 443 points, followed by ysuindy in third with 428. Rob Deweese finished fourth with 426 points, and Ranger 20 completed the top five with 406.
While it didn't factor into our standings, the correct score for our tiebreaker this year was 213, the combined scores of these eight teams which played at Lucas Oil Stadium on September 7:
Greensburg 42, Connersville 0 (42 points)
Franklin County 53, Rushville 20 (73 points)
South Dearborn 35, Batesville 7 (42 points)
Lawrenceburg 42, Milan 14 (56 points)
Quad Runner and Rockman were the closest on the tiebreaker with their predictions of 200 and 226 points, respectively.
Here are the games for Week 9 with scores, point margins, and the number of players who picked each one:
Western Boone 47, Lebanon 7 (40 points, no players)
South Adams 49, Southern Wells 15 (34 points, 8 players)
Columbus North 45, Terre Haute South 14 (31 points, 1 player)
Valparaiso 44, Lake Central 14 (30 points, 2 players)
Mishawaka Marian 35, South Bend Washington 6 (29 points, 2 players)
North Vermillion 35, Seeger 20 (15 points, no players)
Evansville Mater Dei 31, Evansville Reitz 28 (3 points, 4 players)
Gibson Southern 22, Southridge 21 (1 point, no players)
New Palestine 49, Delta 13 (-36 points, no players)
Here are the final standings:
Kdoades - 449
hhsdawg - 443
ysuindy - 428
Rob Deweese - 426
Ranger 20 - 406
Rockman - 403
Northerncoach - 402
Nick Jenkinson - 380
Brett Deckard - 366
thegorilla23 - 362
HickoryHusker - 317
bearmo17 - 316
Steve03 - 287
Quad Runner - 274
Raiderfan32 - 269
hanover1989 - 261
Ed Stachulak - 251
With the exception of Valparaiso, every team on this year's list was ranked in the preseason top ten for their class in the 2019 Indiana Football Digest (Valparaiso was ranked in the top ten for 6A but was reassigned to 5A by the IHSAA after the Indiana Football Digest had gone to print). Here is how our teams were ranked in the preseason, their records at the end of the season, and their rankings after Week 8:
Columbus North: Preseason 6A #10; Record 5-4; Week 8 unranked
Delta: Preseason 4A #8; Record 7-2; Week 8 AP #9, IFCA #8
Evansville Mater Dei: Preseason 2A #5; Record 7-2; Week 8 AP #4, IFCA #4
Gibson Southern: Preseason 3A # 4; Record 7-2; Week 8 AP #7, IFCA #7
Mishawaka Marian: Preseason 3A #9; Record 8-1; Week 8 AP #5, IFCA #6
North Vermillion: Preaseason 1A #1; Record 8-1; Week 8 AP #5, IFCA #6
South Adams: Preseason 1A #4; Record 9-0; Week 8 AP #2, IFCA #2
Valparaiso: Preseason 6A #6 (reassigned to 5A); Record 9-0; Week 8 AP #2, IFCA #3
Western Boone: Preseason 2A #1; Record 8-1; Week 8 AP #1, IFCA #1
Two of our teams (South Adams and Valparaiso) finished the season undefeated, and three (Mishawaka Marian, North Vermillion and Western Boone) suffered only one loss. Delta recorded the largest margin of victory with an 85 point win in Week 3, and they also recorded the worst defeat in their 36 point Week 9 loss to the New Palestine Dragons.
Your humble contest administrator is 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. 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 -82 (none of our players were anywhere near that bad!). The best possible score is 507, with these picks:
Week 1 - Mishawaka Marian (51)
Week 2 - Evansville Mater Dei (44)
Week 3 - Delta (85)
Week 4 - South Adams (76)
Week 5 - Valparaiso (34)
Week 6 - Western Boone (56)
Week 7 - Gibson Southern (74)
Week 8 - North Vermillion (56)
Week 9 - Columbus North (31)
Here are the rankings for our players. Rank = numeric rank out of 362,880. Percentage Rank = Percentage of possible scores that are worse.
Kdoades: Score = 449, Rank = 96, Percentage Rank = 99.97
hhsdawg: Score = 443, Rank = 131, Percentage Rank = 99.96
ysuindy: Score = 428, Rank = 297, Percentage Rank = 99.92
Rob Deweese: Score = 426, Rank = 335, Percentage Rank = 99.91
Ranger 20: Score = 406, Rank = 994, Percentage Rank = 99.73
Rockman: Score = 403, Rank = 1154, Percentage Rank = 99.68
Northerncoach: Score = 402, Rank = 1213, Percentage Rank = 99.67
Nick Jenkinson: Score = 380, Rank = 3296, Percentage Rank = 99.09
Brett Deckard: Score = 366, Rank = 5712, Percentage Rank = 98.43
thegorilla23: Score = 362, Rank = 6694, Percentage Rank = 98.16
HickoryHusker: Score = 317, Rank = 29498, Percentage Rank = 91.87
bearmo17: Score = 316, Rank = 30328, Percentage Rank = 91.64
Steve03: Score = 287, Rank = 62482, Percentage Rank = 82.78
Quad Runner: Score = 274, Rank = 82124, Percentage Rank = 77.37
Raiderfan32: Score = 269, Rank = 90430, Percentage Rank = 75.08
hanover1989: Score = 261, Rank = 104688, Percentage Rank = 71.15
Ed Stachulak: Score = 251, Rank = 123570, Percentage Rank = 65.95
This was the 10th consecutive season that I have served as the administrator for this game. Thanks to everyone who participated in this year's contest! We hope all of you will return to compete in the 2020 Hickory Husker Pigskin Pick'em!
It is time to crown our champion! Congratulations to Kdoades, the winner of the 2019 Hickory Husker Pigskin Pick'em! His final pick of Columbus North in the week in which they had their biggest win moved him from second to first place by a margin of six points. He is the first contestant to win back-to-back championships since enrichment won in 2012 and was co-champion in 2013. Kdoades was in first or second place for seven of the nine rounds of the contest, including the last six in a row.
Second through fifth place were separated by less than 40 points. hhsdawg was the runner-up with 443 points, followed by ysuindy in third with 428. Rob Deweese finished fourth with 426 points, and Ranger 20 completed the top five with 406.
While it didn't factor into our standings, the correct score for our tiebreaker this year was 213, the combined scores of these eight teams which played at Lucas Oil Stadium on September 7:
Greensburg 42, Connersville 0 (42 points)
Franklin County 53, Rushville 20 (73 points)
South Dearborn 35, Batesville 7 (42 points)
Lawrenceburg 42, Milan 14 (56 points)
Quad Runner and Rockman were the closest on the tiebreaker with their predictions of 200 and 226 points, respectively.
Here are the games for Week 9 with scores, point margins, and the number of players who picked each one:
Western Boone 47, Lebanon 7 (40 points, no players)
South Adams 49, Southern Wells 15 (34 points, 8 players)
Columbus North 45, Terre Haute South 14 (31 points, 1 player)
Valparaiso 44, Lake Central 14 (30 points, 2 players)
Mishawaka Marian 35, South Bend Washington 6 (29 points, 2 players)
North Vermillion 35, Seeger 20 (15 points, no players)
Evansville Mater Dei 31, Evansville Reitz 28 (3 points, 4 players)
Gibson Southern 22, Southridge 21 (1 point, no players)
New Palestine 49, Delta 13 (-36 points, no players)
Here are the final standings:
Kdoades - 449
hhsdawg - 443
ysuindy - 428
Rob Deweese - 426
Ranger 20 - 406
Rockman - 403
Northerncoach - 402
Nick Jenkinson - 380
Brett Deckard - 366
thegorilla23 - 362
HickoryHusker - 317
bearmo17 - 316
Steve03 - 287
Quad Runner - 274
Raiderfan32 - 269
hanover1989 - 261
Ed Stachulak - 251
With the exception of Valparaiso, every team on this year's list was ranked in the preseason top ten for their class in the 2019 Indiana Football Digest (Valparaiso was ranked in the top ten for 6A but was reassigned to 5A by the IHSAA after the Indiana Football Digest had gone to print). Here is how our teams were ranked in the preseason, their records at the end of the season, and their rankings after Week 8:
Columbus North: Preseason 6A #10; Record 5-4; Week 8 unranked
Delta: Preseason 4A #8; Record 7-2; Week 8 AP #9, IFCA #8
Evansville Mater Dei: Preseason 2A #5; Record 7-2; Week 8 AP #4, IFCA #4
Gibson Southern: Preseason 3A # 4; Record 7-2; Week 8 AP #7, IFCA #7
Mishawaka Marian: Preseason 3A #9; Record 8-1; Week 8 AP #5, IFCA #6
North Vermillion: Preaseason 1A #1; Record 8-1; Week 8 AP #5, IFCA #6
South Adams: Preseason 1A #4; Record 9-0; Week 8 AP #2, IFCA #2
Valparaiso: Preseason 6A #6 (reassigned to 5A); Record 9-0; Week 8 AP #2, IFCA #3
Western Boone: Preseason 2A #1; Record 8-1; Week 8 AP #1, IFCA #1
Two of our teams (South Adams and Valparaiso) finished the season undefeated, and three (Mishawaka Marian, North Vermillion and Western Boone) suffered only one loss. Delta recorded the largest margin of victory with an 85 point win in Week 3, and they also recorded the worst defeat in their 36 point Week 9 loss to the New Palestine Dragons.
Your humble contest administrator is 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. 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 -82 (none of our players were anywhere near that bad!). The best possible score is 507, with these picks:
Week 1 - Mishawaka Marian (51)
Week 2 - Evansville Mater Dei (44)
Week 3 - Delta (85)
Week 4 - South Adams (76)
Week 5 - Valparaiso (34)
Week 6 - Western Boone (56)
Week 7 - Gibson Southern (74)
Week 8 - North Vermillion (56)
Week 9 - Columbus North (31)
Here are the rankings for our players. Rank = numeric rank out of 362,880. Percentage Rank = Percentage of possible scores that are worse.
Kdoades: Score = 449, Rank = 96, Percentage Rank = 99.97
hhsdawg: Score = 443, Rank = 131, Percentage Rank = 99.96
ysuindy: Score = 428, Rank = 297, Percentage Rank = 99.92
Rob Deweese: Score = 426, Rank = 335, Percentage Rank = 99.91
Ranger 20: Score = 406, Rank = 994, Percentage Rank = 99.73
Rockman: Score = 403, Rank = 1154, Percentage Rank = 99.68
Northerncoach: Score = 402, Rank = 1213, Percentage Rank = 99.67
Nick Jenkinson: Score = 380, Rank = 3296, Percentage Rank = 99.09
Brett Deckard: Score = 366, Rank = 5712, Percentage Rank = 98.43
thegorilla23: Score = 362, Rank = 6694, Percentage Rank = 98.16
HickoryHusker: Score = 317, Rank = 29498, Percentage Rank = 91.87
bearmo17: Score = 316, Rank = 30328, Percentage Rank = 91.64
Steve03: Score = 287, Rank = 62482, Percentage Rank = 82.78
Quad Runner: Score = 274, Rank = 82124, Percentage Rank = 77.37
Raiderfan32: Score = 269, Rank = 90430, Percentage Rank = 75.08
hanover1989: Score = 261, Rank = 104688, Percentage Rank = 71.15
Ed Stachulak: Score = 251, Rank = 123570, Percentage Rank = 65.95
This was the 10th consecutive season that I have served as the administrator for this game. Thanks to everyone who participated in this year's contest! We hope all of you will return to compete in the 2020 Hickory Husker Pigskin Pick'em!
