FanPost

SPAM Conference Championship Recaps and Bowl Predictions

If you're not familiar with SPAM, click here for a brief explanation and the pre-season predictions.

You can find SPAM's full team record analysis for all 130 division 1 teams here, updated after this week's play. Note: This link will be replaced after each week is played, so if you're coming back to this later, it'll be current for that week.

PRIOR SPAM UPDATES:

CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND

I didn't post anything about the conference championships but I did enter SPAM's picks in PSD's 'em game on Yahoo and SPAM went 5-5. The picks and hits/misses are below:

  • Oregon to cover the 6.5 (hit)
  • Baylor to cover 8.5 (hit)
  • Miami (OH) to cover 7 (hit)
  • La Lafeyette to cover 6.5 (miss)
  • UAB to cover 7.5 (miss, LOL)
  • Cincy to cover 9.5 (hit)
  • Georgia to cover 7.5 (miss, LOL)
  • Hawaii to cover 13.5 (miss, LOL)
  • Virginia to cover 28 (miss, LOL LOL LOL)
  • Wisconsin to cover 16 (hit)

SPAM basically picked all underdogs. SPAM tends to favor underdogs more than favored teams, but it's rare that it picks ALL underdogs. I do think the formula needs tweaking, though, and I may work on it in the offseason.

Overall, SPAM went 232-210 and finished in 14th place, but that's out of maybe 30 people who submitted real picks each week. I'll tweak and be back next year.

IT'S BOWL SEASON, YA'LL!

So let's talk about some bowl games, shall we? This is where SPAM is perhaps least accurate because its numbers are predicated upon the notion that most of the teams on a schedule are playing most of the other teams on the schedule. Thus, when we know Michigan is averaging X points per 100 yards, it's against the same defenses Iowa is facing (mostly). That's not the case in out of conference competition, so these bowl predictions have historically not gone well. Regardless, here you go, in the order they are happening.

December 20, 2019

  • Bahamas Bowl, Buffalo (-5.9) over Charlotte
  • Frisco Bowl, Utah State (-1.4) over Kent State

December 21, 2020

  • New Mexico Bowl, San Diego State (-2.7) over Central Michigan
  • Cure Bowl, Liberty (-2.2) over Georgia Southern
  • Boca Raton Bowl, SMU (-0.7) over FAU
  • Camellia Bowl, PUSH, FIU vs. Arkansas (never seen that before)
  • Las Vegas Bowl, Boise State (-3.3) over Washington
  • New Orleans Bowl, Appy State (-6.9) over UAB

December 23, 2019

  • Gasparilla Bowl, UCF (-10.8) over Marshall

December 24, 20

  • Hawaii Bowl, Hawaii (-0.1) over BYU

December 26, 2019

  • Quick Lane Bowl, Pittsburgh (-0.4) over E. Michigan
  • Independence Bowl, Louisiana Tech (-1.0) over Miami (FL)

December 27, 2019

  • Cheez-It Bowl, Air Force (-2.2) over Washington State
  • Texas Bowl, PUSH, Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma State (wow, TWO of these in bowl season!?)
  • Holiday Bowl, Iowa (-3.4) over USC
  • Pinstripe Bowl, Wake Forest (-2.3) over Michigan State
  • Military Bowl, North Carolina (-2.0) over Temple

December 28, 2019

  • Fiesta Bowl, Clemson (-2.3) over Ohio State
  • Peach Bowl, LSU (-4.1) over Oklahoma
  • Camping World Bowl, Notre Dame (-4.7) over Iowa State
  • Cotton Bowl, Penn State (-0.2) over Memphis
December 30, 2019
  • Redbox Bowl, Illinois (-1.5) over Cal
  • Music City Bowl, Louisville (-0.2) over Mississippi State
  • First Responder Bowl, W. Michigan (-1.6) over W. Kentucky
  • Orange Bowl, Florida (-7.8) over Virginia
December 31, 2019
  • Arizona Bowl, Wyoming (-4.4) over Georgia State
  • Liberty Bowl, Navy (-4.6) over Kansas State
  • Sun Bowl, Arizona State (-0.7) over Florida State
  • Belk Bowl, Kentucky (-1.2) over Virginia Tech

January 1, 2020

  • Rose Bowl, Oregon (-0.3) over Wisconsin
  • Sugar Bowl, Georgia (-3.0) over Baylor
  • Outback Bowl, Auburn (-1.9) over Minnesota
  • Citrus Bowl, Alabama (-9.5) over Michigan

January 2, 2020

  • Gator Bowl, Indiana (-2.6) over Tennessee
  • Birmingham Bowl, Cincy (-3.4) over Boston College

January 3, 2020

  • Idaho Potato Bowl, Ohio (-9.2) over Nevada

January 4, 2020

  • Armed Forces Bowl, Tulane (-2.3) over So. Miss
January 6. 2020
  • LendingTree Bowl, LA L. (-12.4) over Miami (OH)

WHAT'S NEXT FOR SPAM?

Once the championship game is known I'll post an update with the projected winner and at some point during the off season I'll do an early projection for Iowa 2020.

I also want to refine the formula in the offseason to deal with inter-conference play better and tweak how it scores games.

Unless otherwise expressly indicated by BHGP editors, this FanPost is strictly the viewpoint of the author and is not endorsed by BHGP in any way.