The winning play last week for the cowards was Rutgers. 27 cowards advanced. 26 picked Rutgers. The lone other cowardly survivor - Bridgeport - was out of FCS games and now is forced to find another time to select Rutgers (probably against Maryland if we are being honest).
Meanwhile, DeadRead missed the Friday kickoff and selected Washington resulting in their exile to the losers' pool. They are joined by NU06er who also took Washington (in addition to Rutgers). Biff & rlclang round out the cowards pool eliminations as neither got a pick in.
But I'm burying the lead. Our legends competition is down to TWO survivors: JayMPSU and meangene86. tech01 jumped into the cowards pool in week 4 (good luck finding a spot to pick Purdue and Maryland this late in the season) while ExiledinVT was eliminated by Penn State's loss and RockyMtnBlue by Washington. ExiledinVT & RockyMtnBlue - a bronze medal isn't bad.
Now seems like a good time to refresh JayMPSU and meangene86 on the tiebreakers. Last contestant standing wins. In the event of a tie, strength of victory over FBS opponents. If the competition is still tied, first to submit their pick in the week they are both eliminated wins. Currently meangene86 leads with a 8-13 record vs. 7-14 but that could easily change this week.
The Rules
I'm not typing all of that out again. Click the week 0/week 1 article and read all the way through.
BoilerUp89
BoilerUp89
BoilerUp89
BoilerUp89
Survivor's Pool
Once during weeks 5-7, each contestant must make an extra pick. Reminder that you may only pick against each Big Ten team a maximum of three times.
Legends*
One or two picks this week. Good luck!
| FCS Picks Left | Picks this week | Teams Picked | B1G Teams Picked Against | ||
| LEGEND* | JayMPSU | 3 | 1 or 2 | Minn, MSU, UNL, UCLA, Wash | MSU (1X) |
| LEGEND* | meangene86 | 3 | 1 or 2 | MD, Minn, MSU, UCLA, USC | Rutgers (1X), Maryland (1X) |
*for now. If they pick a win over a FCS team they join the cowards.
Cowards
One or two picks this week. Many contestants are out of FCS picks. 27 cowards left.
| FCS Picks Left | Picks this week | Teams Picked | B1G Teams Picked Against | |
| AlmaOtter | 0 | 1 or 2 | MD, Minn, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers | |
| Atinat | 1 | 1 or 2 | MD, Minn, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers | |
| Badgersrox | 0 | 1 or 2 | MD, Purdue, USC, Rutgers, wiscon | |
| Boilermaker5 | 0 | 1 or 2 | MD, Minn, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers | |
| BoilerUp89 | 0 | 1 or 2 | MD, Minn, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers | |
| BoilerUp89's nephew | 1 | 1 or 2 | MD, Minn, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers | |
| Bridgeport | 0 | 1 or 2 | IU, MD, Purdue, UCLA, wiscon | Purdue (1X), Northwestern (1X) |
| cericjo | 1 | 1 or 2 | MD, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers, wiscon | |
| dlrhawks | 0 | 1 or 2 | MD, Minn, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers | |
| hoeger | 1 | 1 or 2 | MD, MSU, UNL, Rutgers, wiscon | |
| Hoosiers47 | 0 | 1 or 2 | MD, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers, wiscon | |
| HoustonBoiler | 0 | 1 or 2 | MD, Minn, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers | |
| HuskersFirst | 0 | 1 or 2 | IU, MD, Purdue, Rutgers, Wash | Northwestern (1X) |
| LTW_O_MI | 1 | 1 or 2 | Minn, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA | Purdue (1X) |
| Mlurker19 | 0 | 1 or 2 | MD, Minn, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers | |
| Nothsa | 1 | 1 or 2 | MD, Minn, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers | |
| OhioOtter | 0 | 1 or 2 | MD, Minn, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers | |
| redbear | 1 | 1 or 2 | MD, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers, wiscon | |
| Rubber_Duck | 1 | 1 or 2 | Minn, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers, wiscon | |
| SeeJayBee | 0 | 1 or 2 | NW, Purdue, UCLA, Rutgers, wiscon | Purdue (1X) |
| SkyBlueH20 | 1 | 1 or 2 | MD, Minn, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers | |
| tech01 | 2 | 1 or 2 | Minn, MSU, UNL, Rutgers, Wash | |
| Tralfaz | 0 | 1 or 2 | MD, Minn, MSU, Rutgers, wisc | |
| Wacker Era Survivor | 0 | 1 or 2 | MD, MSU, PSU, Purdue, Rutgers | |
| wesd2005 | 0 | 1 or 2 | MD, Minn, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers | |
| winless | 0 | 1 or 2 | MD, Minn, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers | |
| ziowa9 | 0 | 1 or 2 | MD, Minn, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers |
Week 5 picks made previously: Penn St & Nebraska (LTW_O_MI), Illinois & Nebraska (Wacker Era Survivor). Any of these may be changed up until kickoff but I suspect we see these three hold their positions this week.
Losers' Pool
It was a rough week for the losers' pool with 8 contestants guessing games incorrectly while only 6 picked correctly. Thankfully there are 5 reinforcements. 1 or 2 picks from everyone except riclang (you need 2 or 3 picks) after missing last week. Reminder that you can only pick against a Big Ten team a maximum of three times.
We say goodbye to the cowardly ajcusterIU, BoilerUp81, and WarlockOfWestwood. Meanwhile we salute our fallen leaders allthegoodnamesrgone, LordFerentzofHouseKinnick, Sasser, Whipples, and scarlet-pimpernal_hand. Variety was the word of the week. Four eliminations from Wisconsin, 2 from Minnesota, 1 from Iowa, and 1 from Oregon. Better luck next year.
| Picks this week | Teams Picked | B1G Teams Picked Against | |
| MiddleWestAverage | 1 or 2 | MSU, OSU, Purdue, rutger, USC | Oregon (1X) |
| TheDuluthPerspective | 1 or 2 | Ill, MSU, OSU, Purdue, rutger | OSU (1X) |
| BradNortmansActingCoach | 1 or 2 | MSU, NW, OSU, Purdue, rutger | UCLA (1X), IU (1X) |
| Transient Buckeye | 1 or 2 | MSU, UNL, NW, OSU, rutger | IU (1X) |
| waw | 1 or 2 | MSU, Mich, OSU, Purdue, rutger | UCLA (1X), Iowa (1X) |
| thumpasaurus | 1 or 2 | Ill, MD, MSU, Purdue, rutger | OSU (1X) |
| riclang | 2 or 3 | MD, Minn, MSU, Purdue | |
| DeadRead | 1 or 2 | MD, MSU, Purdue, Wash, wiscon | Minn (1X) |
| NU06er | 1 or 2 | Minn, MSU, Purdue, Rutgers, Wash | Minn (1X) |
| ExiledinVT | 1 or 2 | MD, Minn, MSU, PSU, UNL | wiscon (1X) |
| RockyMtnBlue | 1 or 2 | MSU, UNL, PSU, Wash, wiscon | Minn (1X) |
NU06er previously made future picks in the survivor pool. I'm going to assume they want to change them, but if they don't submit a pick I'll use their future survivor picks.
Week 5 Games
All times ET
Friday, October 2
Penn State Nittany Lions at Northwestern Wildcats, 8 PM
Saturday, October 3
Michigan Wolverines at Minnesota Golden Gophers, Noon
Michigan State Spartans at Wisconsin Badgers, 12:30 PM
The Ohio State Buckeyes at Iowa Hawkeyes, 3:30 PM
Maryland Terrapins at Nebraska Cornhuskers, 4 PM
Purdue Boilermakers at Illinois Fighting Illini, 4:15 PM
Washington Huskies at USC Trojans, 7:30 PM
Indiana Hoosiers at Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 8 PM
BoilerUp89's pick for week 5: I finally sat down and mapped out the rest of the season. Naturally that means I'll be eliminated this week. Nevertheless, I'll take Illinois to retain Purdue's cannon.
Good luck everyone. As always, please let me know of any mistakes in the comments.
