Welcome to the CatsIllustrated Stupid Underdog Pick Contest. Each week the odds are gathered from the Oddstrader web page (usually on Sunday night) and posted in a thread on CatsIllustrated (which we will hopefully get pinned for convenience). This contest runs for the entire football season (the bowls are treated as one really long week).
There are several ways to win: there are weekly winners, the person with the highest cumulative point total after the season is over is the overall winner but we recognize the contestants that have the most correct picks also.
How do you get points? Select the underdog (second team listed in each game) and have that team pull the upset. The bigger the dog, the bigger the reward but the longer the odds.
Some rules that we need to keep things running smoothly:
1) You should make your pick before the first game of the week has kicked off. Your pick may be invalidated otherwise. I can't know with the new Rivals format that you didn't delete a pick that didn't win and then post a pick from a later game in hopes of getting a winner. You can change your pick before the first game of the week has started by editing your pick or deleting the old pick and making a new post. To change your pick after the first kick off of the week, leave the original post alone, make a new post and indicate that you want to change your pick in that new post. I'll verify that you can change it manually.
2) If you make your pick after the first game of the week kicks off, it may be invalidated. Make your pick before the first kickoff of the day or pick a game that is played on a later date. I might post that you can make picks a bit later in that day in the "Don't forget to..." thread, but don't count on it.
3) If you pick the favored team instead of the underdog, we all laugh at you. Ok, we don't but you can't expect to get points in SUP for that.
4) You can appeal an invalidation by posting in that week's thread, include what you think is wrong.
5) Don't edit your picks after the first game of the week has kicked off.
Understand that a perl script is scoring this, if you make the spelling of the teams intentionally obtuse or you are just really bad at spelling, your pick might be missed. If you want to tell us all about the underdogs you thought you might choose and then tell us about the one you finally did pick, you might be surprised which one the script finds.
So your post should look something like:
------------
Purdue
*** Everyone hates the Irish right?
------------
Don't put any other team name in your post with your SUP pick without putting an '***' in front of it. Everything after the '***' will be ignored. My program may find the wrong name if you don't. Once you post your pick, you can post in the thread any comment you like. Your first post is your pick (if I can find your pick).
Because the scoring is done by a script and not by hand, if you feel a mistake was made in scoring your SUP, post that on that Week's thread. We'll try to get it resolved quickly. The scripts are far from perfect and VegasOdds also changes the HTML for the odds page quite often so report any errors you see there as soon as you see them.
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Stupid Underdog Picks - Week 1:
Tuesday, Aug. 29
RUTGERS 34½ Howard
WAKE FOREST 37½ North Carolina A&T
UCF 42½ New Hampshire
NORTH CAROLINA STATE 33½ Western Carolina
ARKANSAS 52½ AP
MINNESOTA 2½ North Carolina
COLORADO 9½ North Dakota State
MISSOURI 47½ Murray State
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3½ Coastal Carolina
UTAH 37½ SU
ILLINOIS 30½ Eastern Illinois
Wednesday, Aug. 30
OKLAHOMA 43½ Temple
MICHIGAN STATE 11½ Florida Atlantic
DUKE 23½ Elon
WISCONSIN 24½ Western Michigan
TCU 7½ STANFORD
Thursday, Aug. 31
GEORGIA 14½ Clemson
Virginia Tech 13½ VANDERBILT
LOUISVILLE 34½ Austin Peay
IOWA 23½ Illinois State
MARYLAND 21 Connecticut
PURDUE 36½ Indiana State
PITTSBURGH 24½ Kent State
Penn State 9½ WEST VIRGINIA
TENNESSEE 41½ Chattanooga
OKLAHOMA STATE 9½ South Dakota State
CINCINNATI 33½ Towson
WASHINGTON STATE 31½ Portland State
Miami (FL) 2 FLORIDA
UTSA 24½ Kennesaw State
NEBRASKA 27½ UTEP
MASSACHUSETTS 1½ Eastern Michigan
OHIO STATE 51½ Akron
NORTHWESTERN 4½ Miami (OH)
SYRACUSE 17½ Ohio
IOWA STATE 27½ North Dakota
INDIANA 21 Florida International
TEXAS 35½ Colorado State
Boise State 11½ GEORGIA SOUTHERN
SOUTH CAROLINA 20½ Old Dominion
SOUTH ALABAMA 7½ North Texas
CALIFORNIA 22½ UC Davis
VIRGINIA 21½ Richmond
MISSISSIPPI STATE 29½ Eastern Kentucky
HOUSTON 2½ UNLV
TROY 16 Nevada
ALABAMA 31½ Western Kentucky
OLE MISS 42½ F
RICE 11 Sam Houston State
KANSAS STATE 37½ Tennessee-Martin
TEXAS TECH 32½ Abilene Christian
TEXAS A&M 2½ Notre Dame
MICHIGAN 21½ Fresno State
OREGON 43½ Idaho
AUBURN 49½ Alabama A&M
UCLA 13½ HAWAII
KENTUCKY 26 Southern Miss
GEORGIA TECH 20½ Georgia State
BRIGHAM YOUNG 19½ Southern Illinois
James Madison 7½ CHARLOTTE
ARIZONA STATE 6½ Wyoming
ARIZONA 30½ New Mexico
WASHINGTON 27½ Weber State
Friday, Sep. 1
LSU 6 USC
Saturday, Sep. 2
FLORIDA STATE 22 Boston College
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Past Stupid Underdog Picks Winners
2000: this is when Mtcatfan thinks the game started, but winner is not known
2001: did not keep record of who won
2002: did not keep record of who won
2003: SixToeJoe - most correct picks winners not tracked
2004: ThreeHogNight - most correct picks winners not tracked
2005: Hang_Time_2 with 53.5 points - 5 tied for most correct picks at 6, Hang_Time_2 was one of them
2006: JBnTN with 57 points- JBnTN had 8 correct picks which was most correct picks
2007: TaylorsvilleMike with 71.5 points - 5 tied for most correct picks at 7, TaylorsvilleMike was one of them
2008: bigbluemist with 67 points - bigbluemist & CatinSA tied for most correct picks at 9
2009: buckster1 with 95.5 points - buckster1 with 8 correct picks
2010: Hang_Time_2 won with 64 points and also won with 7 correct picks
2011: jrburt won with 70.5 points - Blue Strype had the most correct picks with 10
2012: Brother Cat with 61.5 - Brother Cat had the most correct picks with 8
2013: docholiday51 with 61.5 - adolph...ngover and number8please had the most correct picks with 8
2014: jrburt with 74 points - AsianPICat had the most correct picks with 10
2015: kyfan606 with 50.5 points - SWVA WildcatFan had the most correct picks with 7
2016: Maxwell41 with 73.5 points - maysvilleky and On_track_4_8 had 9 correct picks
2017: jsyeag with 61.5 points - *CatinIL* and jsyeag had 9 correct picks
2018: Big_Blue_1018 with 70.0 points - mash 2.4 had 10 correct picks
2019: maysvilleky with 64.5 points - maysvilleky and no_neutrality had 8 correct picks
2020: RocknRollCats with 79 points - AsianPICat had 10 correct picks
2021: CGblue with 79 points - AsianPICat had 11 correct picks
2022: Greezy Kreek and Nuke99m tie with 67 points - Larry00 had 8 correct picks
2023: RedLotMudcat with 61.5 points - jwcat30 had 8 correct picks
@Deeeefense
There are several ways to win: there are weekly winners, the person with the highest cumulative point total after the season is over is the overall winner but we recognize the contestants that have the most correct picks also.
How do you get points? Select the underdog (second team listed in each game) and have that team pull the upset. The bigger the dog, the bigger the reward but the longer the odds.
Some rules that we need to keep things running smoothly:
1) You should make your pick before the first game of the week has kicked off. Your pick may be invalidated otherwise. I can't know with the new Rivals format that you didn't delete a pick that didn't win and then post a pick from a later game in hopes of getting a winner. You can change your pick before the first game of the week has started by editing your pick or deleting the old pick and making a new post. To change your pick after the first kick off of the week, leave the original post alone, make a new post and indicate that you want to change your pick in that new post. I'll verify that you can change it manually.
2) If you make your pick after the first game of the week kicks off, it may be invalidated. Make your pick before the first kickoff of the day or pick a game that is played on a later date. I might post that you can make picks a bit later in that day in the "Don't forget to..." thread, but don't count on it.
3) If you pick the favored team instead of the underdog, we all laugh at you. Ok, we don't but you can't expect to get points in SUP for that.
4) You can appeal an invalidation by posting in that week's thread, include what you think is wrong.
5) Don't edit your picks after the first game of the week has kicked off.
Understand that a perl script is scoring this, if you make the spelling of the teams intentionally obtuse or you are just really bad at spelling, your pick might be missed. If you want to tell us all about the underdogs you thought you might choose and then tell us about the one you finally did pick, you might be surprised which one the script finds.
So your post should look something like:
------------
Purdue
*** Everyone hates the Irish right?
------------
Don't put any other team name in your post with your SUP pick without putting an '***' in front of it. Everything after the '***' will be ignored. My program may find the wrong name if you don't. Once you post your pick, you can post in the thread any comment you like. Your first post is your pick (if I can find your pick).
Because the scoring is done by a script and not by hand, if you feel a mistake was made in scoring your SUP, post that on that Week's thread. We'll try to get it resolved quickly. The scripts are far from perfect and VegasOdds also changes the HTML for the odds page quite often so report any errors you see there as soon as you see them.
----------
Stupid Underdog Picks - Week 1:
Tuesday, Aug. 29
RUTGERS 34½ Howard
WAKE FOREST 37½ North Carolina A&T
UCF 42½ New Hampshire
NORTH CAROLINA STATE 33½ Western Carolina
ARKANSAS 52½ AP
MINNESOTA 2½ North Carolina
COLORADO 9½ North Dakota State
MISSOURI 47½ Murray State
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3½ Coastal Carolina
UTAH 37½ SU
ILLINOIS 30½ Eastern Illinois
Wednesday, Aug. 30
OKLAHOMA 43½ Temple
MICHIGAN STATE 11½ Florida Atlantic
DUKE 23½ Elon
WISCONSIN 24½ Western Michigan
TCU 7½ STANFORD
Thursday, Aug. 31
GEORGIA 14½ Clemson
Virginia Tech 13½ VANDERBILT
LOUISVILLE 34½ Austin Peay
IOWA 23½ Illinois State
MARYLAND 21 Connecticut
PURDUE 36½ Indiana State
PITTSBURGH 24½ Kent State
Penn State 9½ WEST VIRGINIA
TENNESSEE 41½ Chattanooga
OKLAHOMA STATE 9½ South Dakota State
CINCINNATI 33½ Towson
WASHINGTON STATE 31½ Portland State
Miami (FL) 2 FLORIDA
UTSA 24½ Kennesaw State
NEBRASKA 27½ UTEP
MASSACHUSETTS 1½ Eastern Michigan
OHIO STATE 51½ Akron
NORTHWESTERN 4½ Miami (OH)
SYRACUSE 17½ Ohio
IOWA STATE 27½ North Dakota
INDIANA 21 Florida International
TEXAS 35½ Colorado State
Boise State 11½ GEORGIA SOUTHERN
SOUTH CAROLINA 20½ Old Dominion
SOUTH ALABAMA 7½ North Texas
CALIFORNIA 22½ UC Davis
VIRGINIA 21½ Richmond
MISSISSIPPI STATE 29½ Eastern Kentucky
HOUSTON 2½ UNLV
TROY 16 Nevada
ALABAMA 31½ Western Kentucky
OLE MISS 42½ F
RICE 11 Sam Houston State
KANSAS STATE 37½ Tennessee-Martin
TEXAS TECH 32½ Abilene Christian
TEXAS A&M 2½ Notre Dame
MICHIGAN 21½ Fresno State
OREGON 43½ Idaho
AUBURN 49½ Alabama A&M
UCLA 13½ HAWAII
KENTUCKY 26 Southern Miss
GEORGIA TECH 20½ Georgia State
BRIGHAM YOUNG 19½ Southern Illinois
James Madison 7½ CHARLOTTE
ARIZONA STATE 6½ Wyoming
ARIZONA 30½ New Mexico
WASHINGTON 27½ Weber State
Friday, Sep. 1
LSU 6 USC
Saturday, Sep. 2
FLORIDA STATE 22 Boston College
----------
Past Stupid Underdog Picks Winners
2000: this is when Mtcatfan thinks the game started, but winner is not known
2001: did not keep record of who won
2002: did not keep record of who won
2003: SixToeJoe - most correct picks winners not tracked
2004: ThreeHogNight - most correct picks winners not tracked
2005: Hang_Time_2 with 53.5 points - 5 tied for most correct picks at 6, Hang_Time_2 was one of them
2006: JBnTN with 57 points- JBnTN had 8 correct picks which was most correct picks
2007: TaylorsvilleMike with 71.5 points - 5 tied for most correct picks at 7, TaylorsvilleMike was one of them
2008: bigbluemist with 67 points - bigbluemist & CatinSA tied for most correct picks at 9
2009: buckster1 with 95.5 points - buckster1 with 8 correct picks
2010: Hang_Time_2 won with 64 points and also won with 7 correct picks
2011: jrburt won with 70.5 points - Blue Strype had the most correct picks with 10
2012: Brother Cat with 61.5 - Brother Cat had the most correct picks with 8
2013: docholiday51 with 61.5 - adolph...ngover and number8please had the most correct picks with 8
2014: jrburt with 74 points - AsianPICat had the most correct picks with 10
2015: kyfan606 with 50.5 points - SWVA WildcatFan had the most correct picks with 7
2016: Maxwell41 with 73.5 points - maysvilleky and On_track_4_8 had 9 correct picks
2017: jsyeag with 61.5 points - *CatinIL* and jsyeag had 9 correct picks
2018: Big_Blue_1018 with 70.0 points - mash 2.4 had 10 correct picks
2019: maysvilleky with 64.5 points - maysvilleky and no_neutrality had 8 correct picks
2020: RocknRollCats with 79 points - AsianPICat had 10 correct picks
2021: CGblue with 79 points - AsianPICat had 11 correct picks
2022: Greezy Kreek and Nuke99m tie with 67 points - Larry00 had 8 correct picks
2023: RedLotMudcat with 61.5 points - jwcat30 had 8 correct picks
@Deeeefense
