None of us are going to leave this competition. That's the plan. You know it, of course, perfectly. What, perhaps, you can't understand is the relief.
The 2026 survivor pool is over. We are gathered here today to declare a winner (and administer the losers' pool). Both of our final two contestants lost last week so we will go down to tiebreakers. Why anybody would trust Michigan and The Ohio State to win in football with a survivor pool on the line - I honestly don't know.
Will we get a double champion? The losers pool contains just three. Our two finalists (Boilermaker5 and cericjo) in the coward's portion of the survivor pool and Hoosiers47 who correctly determined that Penn State would lose to Washington. LTW_O_MI (Illinois) and wesd2005 (Washington) incorrectly picked teams to lose last week. Better luck next year.
Before I go through the effort of determining strength of schedule, let's take a moment to remember our Legendary champion: meangene86 who made it through week 5 before beating JayMPSU on the strength of schedule tiebreaker.
Here we go...
Boilermaker5 picked Purdue (week 1, FCS), Maryland (week 1, FCS), Michigan State over Eastern Michigan (week 2, 4-5 thru week 10), Minnesota over Akron (week 3, 1-8), Rutgers (week 4, FCS), Nebraska over Maryland (week 5, 3-6), USC over Washington (week 5, 5-4), Northwestern over Ball St (week 6, 3-6), Oregon over Nebraska (week 7, 5-4), UCLA over Michigan St (week 8, 3-6), Penn State over Purdue (week 9, 3-6), and Illinois over Maryland (week 9, 3-6). Their run ended when Michigan State beat down Michigan in week 10. Assuming my math is correct (it probably isn't), the combined record of their correct, non-FCS picks was 32-49.
cericjo picked Purdue (week 1, FCS), Michigan State over Toledo (week 1, 7-2), Maryland over UConn (week 2, 4-5), Wisconsin over Eastern Michigan (week 3, 4-5), Rutgers (week 4, FCS), Nebraska over Maryland (week 5, 3-6), Northwestern over Ball St (week 6, 3-6), Michigan over Penn St (week 7, 5-4), Washington over Purdue (week 7, 3-6), UCLA over Michigan St (week 8, 3-6), Penn St over Purdue (week 9, 3-6), Illinois over Maryland (week 9, 3-6). Their run ended when the Ohio State was bullied by Oregon in week 10. The combined record of their correct, non-FCS picks was 38-52. I'm not entirely sure my math is 100% correct but it is close enough for me to be confident in declaring a winner. cericoj's use of only two FCS opponents means they picked up a bunch of extra wins with that extra game and earned the crown of cowards.
Congratulations to cericjo and a well fought season Boilermaker5. Better luck in the losers' pool and next year.
The Rules
I'm not typing all of that out again. Click the week 0/week 1 article and read all the way through.
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Survivor's Pool
Legends division champion: meangene86
Cowards division champion: cericjo
Losers' Pool
Reminder: you are picking teams to lose. You cannot pick a team you picked during the survivor pool portion of the competition. 1 extra pick must be made in weeks 11-13.
| Teams Picked | B1G Teams Picked Against | |
| Boilermaker5 | Ill, MD, Mich, Minn, MSU, UNL, NW, Oreg, PSU, Purdue, Rut, UCLA, USC | MD (2X), MSU (2x), UNL, Purdue, Wash |
| cericjo | Ill, MD, Mich, MSU, UNL, NW, OSU, PSU, Purdue, Rut, UCLA, Wash, wisc | MD (2x), MSU, Oregon, PSU, Purdue (2x) |
| Hoosiers47 | Ill, Iowa, MD, Minn, MSU, UNL, NW, Oreg, PSU, Purdue, Rut, Wash, wisc | Mich, MSU, UNL, Purdue, PSU, Rut, Wash (2) |
Week 11 picks made previously: Boilermaker5 made picks for the survivor pool that I'm assuming won't be used here. No one has made picks for the losers' pool.
Week 11 Games
All times ET
Friday, November 13
Illinois Fighting Illini at UCLA Bruins, 9 pm
Saturday, November 14
Northwestern Wildcats at The Ohio State Buckeyes, Noon
Wisconsin Badgers at Maryland Terrapins, Noon
Nebraska Cornhuskers at Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 12:30 pm
USC Trojans at Indiana Hoosiers, 3:30 pm
Michigan Wolverines at Oregon Ducks, 3:30 pm
Washington Huskies at Michigan State Spartans, 4:15 pm
Minnesota Golden Gophers at Penn State Nittany Lions, 7 pm
Purdue Boilermakers at Iowa Hawkeyes, 7:30 pm
Good luck to the three remaining. As always, please let me know of any mistakes in the comments.
