Overtimes Decide ALL Games

By Steven Nicolet
President

And Then There Were Four!

By Gary Bonn
Executive Vice President

All pickers went a dismal 1-3 in picking the Divisional Play-Off round, but so did most NFL experts.  Which meant overtime for each and every match-up this week.

Rachelle Sova pulled the first upset of the day when she took down the #2 seeded Gary Bonn.  This was an upset because Gary had already swept the division rival, Rachelle during the regular season.  But it wasn't an upset to most pickers if you viewed the poll that was posted in the Forum this week.  According to the PYX Poll, 58% thought that Rachelle would win compared to only 41% favoring Gary.  Why was this?  It may be attributed to the difficulty of defeating the same opponent three times in the same season (just ask the Georgetown Hoyas about Villanova in 1984).

No matter what, Sova moves on and Gary is left to regroup and prepare for next year.  This is the furthest that Rachelle has ever advanced in the play-offs.  As a matter of fact, this is the first time she has ever qualified for the play-offs!  Now here she is, just one more victory away from the PYX Bowl.

The other big upset took place between Kevin Sandoval and Linda Dalman.  Some bizarre circumstances surrounded the outcome of this match-up.  First, each picker picked the same teams and went 1-3 with Pittsburgh being their only correct pick.  Linda put confidence points of 3 on the Pittsburgh game, while Kevin placed 4 points on Pittsburgh.  Kevin wins...right?  WRONG!  After carefully re-examining the Sandoval entry form, The PYX Fairness Committee discovered that Mr. Sandoval had already placed 4 confidence points on the Carolina/Arizona game.  It was a tough decision, but the committee decided that Kevin would not be allowed confidence point credit for this game.  The decision gave Linda Dalman the tie-breaking victory.

It was if Sandoval pulled a "Jake Delhomme" and fumbled this game away.  It is a bitter pill to swallow, but The PYX is a tough league.  We are confident that Kevin will bounce back from this loss and come back strong next season.  For Linda, this marks only the 2nd time that she has seen post-season play and it's her first play-off victory in the history of the Dalman franchise.  In 2007, Linda was the #1 seed in the NPC but she upset by the eventual PYX Bowl VIII Champion, Brent Van Wieren.

In the first round, the #4 and #3 seeds were eliminated and then in the first two games of the 2nd round, the #2 seeds were bounced from the play-offs.  Many picking pundits were beginning to wonder if if it would be one-and-done for the #1 seeds.  Just when it looked like ALL of the lower seeds would prevail, the top pickers (the number #1 seeds) in each conference delivered. 

Kyle Chauv was the true wild-card trying to do the unthinkable and advance to The PYX Bowl.  But Mike Colliau was there to flex his muscle and put an end to the Cinderella run.  As they went into overtime, Kyle placed only 1 point of confidence on Pittsburgh while Mike placed everything he had on the Steelers.  The gamble paid off as Kyle was easily put away.

Mike Colliau is the last Metro Brother alive in the play-offs.  He is trying to become the 2nd Metro Brotherhood member to win the PYX Bowl (Kevin Rosenau took home the trophy in 2005).  Looking back on the Colliau franchise history we find that he joined The PYX in the Fall of 2001.  He took a few years to build up his picking skills, but finally cracked into the play-offs for the first time in 2004.  From there he seemed to be on the two year pattern by reaching the play-offs in 2004 (#3 seed), 2006 (#5 seed) and 2008 (#6 seed).  This year he is a #1 seed and is enjoying that home field advantage.  He will now move on to the Championship game for the first time.

Probably the most exciting game of the week had to be Brian Klingenberg vs. Gene Koon.  Koon proved he was worthy to face the top seed after whipping Steven Nicolet last week in the first round.  However, Klingenberg was not only the #1 seed, and boasted a 14-2 record for the season (an all-time record), but is also a perfect 9-0 in overtime matches this year.  With the home field advantage, and Brian's ability to destroy any picker he faces (as long as their name is not Nate Lucas), most picking experts predicted that Klingenberg would make quick work out of Mr. Koon.

Right from the opening Kick-Off it was clear to see that Gene was no push-over.  He stood toe to toe with Brian...quarter after quarter and pick after pick.  Anything that Brian did, Gene did equally as well.  After picking the exact same teams and the exact same confidence points...this game went into double overtime!

This is where Brian's experience paid off and Gene was completely caught off guard.  Gene picked a relatively low scoring game with 38 points and Brian called the old "Play-52" out of Hamilton play-book.  Gene should have spent more time in the film room when preparing for the Hamilton FFA President...because all of those Klingenberg fans out there and those who have been paying close attention this year, know that Brian has picked the score of "52" in each and every week of the season.  And if that isn't amazing enough, Brian has gone into overtime 9 times...let me repeat that, NINE TIMES this season.  Each and every time he called play 52 and each and every time he won the game.  Gene should have known this, but...well...it doesn't matter now.  Brian moves on to the Championship game.

We started the week with, in theory, the 8 greatest picking minds The PYX has to offer.  With that being the case, all eight pickers submitted the same predictions.  All of them predicted Tennessee, Carolina, New York, and Pittsburgh.  Yup, our greatest picking minds went 1-3 this week.  And being that they all had the same picks, it came down to either confidence points or overtime.

Let's break it down and see what happened in this week's matchups...

APC

(6) Gene Koon @ (1) Brian Klingenberg

It just wouldn't be Klingenberg in the playoffs without it going down to OT!  Gene and Brian split confidence points, as well as had all the picks the same.  For tie-breaking points, Klingenberg picked 52 points, while Gene went low with 38.  Brian wins another thrilling overtime game, and moves on to play for the right to go to the PYX Bowl.

(5) Rachelle Sova @ (2) Gary Bonn 

Rachelle played mind games with Gary throughout this contest.  Not only did she get the win over Gary, she did it using Gary's Steelers to her advantage.  Gary put 3 confidence points on Pittsburgh winning, while Rachelle gave Pittsburgh 4 confidence points.  Being that this is the only game the two picked correctly this week, all confidence points leaned on this game.  Congratulations Rachelle, good luck against Klingenberg!

NPC 

(6) Kyle Chauv @ (1) Mike Colliau

These two had all the same picks, so it came down to confidence points.  Again, since the only game they picked correct was Pittsburgh, Mike gets the edge since he gave 4 points to Pitt, vs. Kyle's one point to the mighty Steelers.  This sets up a powerful rematch in the next round...

(5) Linda Dalman @ (2) Kevin Sandoval

Kevin errored in making his confidence points.  As a result, Linda beat out Kevin when Pittsburgh beat San Diego.  Congratulations Linda.  You seem back on track to your early season form, and one win away from the PYX bowl.

THE FINAL FOUR

APC

(5) Rachelle Sova @ (1) Brian Klingenberg

This is the first time this season these two have met.  Can Rachelle pull off a huge upset?  She will have to pick aggressively and win early, because if it goes to overtime, Klingenberg is virtually unbeatable!  Rachelle is the master of mind-games, perhaps she can find a way to beat Brian at his own game.

NPC

(5) Linda Dalman @ (1) Mike Colliau

This is the third time these two power pickers have met this season.  Linda beat Mike by one game in week 5, Mike got the best of Linda in week 12, by one game.  This is a GREAT matchup that offers a lot of excitement.

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After this week, we will know who will be playing for PYX Bowl 10.  There has never been a female winning the PYX, and this season it is possible that two women could play for the PYX Bowl.  It is also possible two Hamiltonians could play for the PYX Bowl. 

How will it shake out?  Stay tuned...

 

(Click on the above image for the Play-Off Brackets) 

NOTE:  You can take a look at the final scores between you and your opponent in the Schedule.  You can also click on this NFL link to see the final scores of the games already completed: 
NFL Schedule.