Big Ten Football OTR Survivor Pool - Week 9

I'm 5 beers deep, so let's keep things simple this week

Big Ten Football OTR Survivor Pool - Week 9
Photo by Giorgio Trovato / Unsplash

WE HAVE A WINNER! BY VIRTUE OF never picking a game involving UCLA, our very own winless is... well, no longer winless!

Congratulations to winless who literally has not stopped picking winners all season long.

Here are the list of people they've defeated to be the last survivor:

WhersMyElephant
AutoRecBot
Big weaz
MnBornAndBred
ajcusterIU
WarlockOfWestwood
87RAS
MNW
Ohio Otter
RUReady4Brazil
HumbleStarscream
ardichoke
Atinat
Dead Read
HoustonBoiler
RTVF82
Scarlet Pimpernal Hand
thumpasaurus
waw
wesd2005
Transient Buckeye
Whipples
NU'06er
BoilerUp81
HuskersFirst
glassjawed
MiddlewestAverage
cericjo
IronMonkee
SeeJayBee
Nothsa
BoilerUp89
Broated Nutcrackle
IWasSayingBooUrns
RockyMtnBlue
AlmaOtter
BobS
IUinVA
Louis Street

Admit it. It feels good!

Congratulations also go to WhersMyElephant who played a blinder of a season but came up just short in 2nd place.

But wait! The competition to be the biggest loser is still ongoing! And can winless complete a perfect season? Let's find out.

Rules are as follows:

There are 2 brackets, Winners and Losers. Everyone starts in the Winners bracket and continues in the Winners' bracket until you lose. If you are eliminated from the Winners bracket you will have a second chance to continue making picks in the Losers' bracket (more on that later).

Big Ten Football OTR Survivor Pool - Week 8
Two challengers remain, but only one can be the champion of the 2025 OTR Big Ten football survivor pool!

The Winners' Bracket rules:

The rules for the game are pretty simple, and follow most standard Survivor/Eliminator pools. You pick one* B1G team each week to win. If that team wins, you move on to the next week, but cannot pick that team again for the rest of the season. If your pick loses, you're out. The goal is to correctly pick each team in the conference once each to win a game over the course of the season. Since there are 15 weeks in the B1G season (including championship week), you´ll have to reserve your presumed champion for week 15 if you wish to complete a perfect season. *And since the Big Ten has expanded to 18 teams, three times during the season you will have to make an additional pick in a week.

You must get both picks correct to advance to the next week.

We will partition these extra picks into thirds of the season. So in weeks 1-5 you will make one pick each week excepting one week of your choosing over that span where you choose to roll the dice and make an extra pick. Same thing in weeks 6-10 and weeks 11-15 (noting there is only one game in week 15). You will again have to make an extra pick during those periods. Please note that if you want to feast on cupcakes, you should make your first additional pick early before conference play starts. If you fail to make a pick in any particular week you will be eliminated.

If you fail to make 6 picks by the end of week 5, or 12 picks by the end of week 10, or 17 picks by the end of week 14 you will be eliminated. You may only pick against any particular team a maximum of 3 times. So as you are picking a team to win each week... those teams you are picking have opponents. Once you have divined that Michigan State would lose to your picks three times, for example, you may not make another pick where your winning pick would once again vanquish the Spartans.

If all remaining players get eliminated the same week, the tiebreaker rules are as follows (same as previous years): 1. Most combined wins of B1G teams you haven't used 2. Strength of Victory (Total combined wins of your picks opponents) If you pick against a team 3 times, that teams season wins count for you 3 times. Non FBS teams' records get converted to 0-for 3. Whomever got their losing pick in first

Please be mindful of dates and kickoff times as the deadline for making your pick is the announced kickoff time of the game you choose to pick.

The Losers' Bracket rules:

If you get knocked out of the Winners' bracket you'll get a second chance, if you wish, to continue making picks in the Losers' bracket. The idea is much the same as the Winners bracket except contestants in the Losers' bracket pick pick a Big Ten team each week* to lose their football game. If your pick wins, you are out. You may not pick any team you have picked before; this includes ALL picks you made in the Winners' bracket. The goal remains to pick each B1G once over the course of the season and championship game (you would need to pick the loser of the conference championship game to get a correct pick in week 15).

Your Champion

Previous Picks

Previous Picks Against
winless Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Northwestern, Oregon, Purdue, Rutgers, USC, Washington Michigan State, Michigan State, Rutgers, Rutgers, USC, Wisconsin

winless, I'll keep track of your picks if you want to attempt to complete a perfect season. You aren't eligible to also win the losers' pool so completely up to you.

Losers' Pool

Previous Picks

AlmaOtter, BobS, and Louis Street all declined to compete in the losers' pool. That means we have just six remaining losers and I'm getting dangerously close to being the biggest loser. Someone eliminate me please.

Previous Picks Against
BoilerUp89 Ill, Iowa, MD, MN, MSU, Pur, Rut, UCLA, USC, Uw IU, OSU, OSU, USC, Washington
Broated Nutcrackle Ill, Iowa, MD, MSU, NW, Oregon, Pur, Rut, UCLA, Uw IU, IU, MI, OSU, UCLA, USC
IWasSayingBooUrns Ill, Iowa, MD, MSU, NW, Pur, Rut, UCLA, USC, Uw IU, MI, OSU, Nebraska, USC, Washington
RockyMtnBlue MD, NW, MI, MSU, OSU, PSU, Rut, Udub, Uw IU, UCLA, USC, Washington
IUinVA IU, Iowa, MD, MI, MSU, NW, PSU, Pur, USC, Udub Iowa, NW, UCLA, Wisconsin
WhersMyElephant Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Purdue, Washington, wisconsin Minnesota, Purdue, Washington, Wisconsin

WhersMyElephant previously picked Iowa and Oregon when they were in the winners' pool

Week 9 Games

Saturday, October 25

Rutgers at Purdue

UCLA at Indiana

Northwestern at Nebraska

Illinois at Washington

Minnesota at Iowa

Wisconsin at Oregon

Michigan at Michigan State

BoilerUp89 takes Illinois to lose because I don't want to be the biggest loser and also Illionis isn't losing to any of Rutgers, Maryland, or Wisconsin so the pick probably has to be now.