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It was an exciting, yet somewhat disappointing weekend for the MAC. Sure NIU "upset" Iowa and BGSU dominated a good Tulsa team. But in the end, EMU struggled versus Howard, Toledo failed to launch against Florida, and Ohio failed to make an appearance against Louisville. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.
In the MAC Pick'em, we had an astounding record number of entries. Over 50 people entered, having never been above 25 TOTAL entries the past two years. It was amazing. Our winners, via both tiebreakers, with 14 points, were zibby and matt24eli.
I did not include detailed pick points this week, and I'll get to why in a moment. If you want to see the full spreadsheet, click this link here.
OK, now for the announcement.
When I started our MAC Pick'em 2 years ago, I was hoping to start the only MAC only, custom Pick'em out there that pandered strictly for the MAC fan. In a way, having fine-tuned it, I had succeeded. We had a MAC-only tiebreak, a "double point" game of the week, and conference scoring that made each pick more important. Plus, custom bowl scoring, a double-digit conference championship, and bonus points for being social and talking about the games or picks.
It was/is glorious. And shown by record numbers.
And I'm shutting it down.
This post was one of two I was/am dreading to ever write (the other being my goodbye, which I hope to postpone for MANY years). This was truly my baby, my Statue of David, my Mona Lisa, and to say I was heartbroken to hear I had to do this was an understatement.
The why is somewhat complex, but all you need to know is that the MAC Pick'em in it's current form is now defunct (we didn't even last as long as UCF in the MAC!!!). The new "MAC Pick'em Presented by Yahoo!" is live. Yes, I'm giving it a cheesy corporate bowl name like it should have now.
Pros: I no longer have to compile everything, there is no post (until the end of the season), you can make your picks up until 5 minutes before every game rather than all at once, all picks are anonymous
Cons: Every game is worth 1 point, no game of the week, no tiebreak, not sure how bowl season or the MACC will be scored (assumed 1 point), no more detailed pick bonus.
So yeah, you are welcome to join us there. I will add this week's points to the end total there, but you must have a Yahoo! account (not too hard to do, and it's free!).
http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/college/16280
LEAGUE ID: 16280
PASSWORD: MACtion
Join today, and keep this glorious thing going.
Thank you to Matt Sussman, Bryan Vance, SBNation, and of course ALL OF YOU! Without you loyal players, this would've died out after either the past two years, and it appeared to be headed for a very, very long life in it's current format. But of course, without the encouragement of Sussman, the compliance of Bryan, and the site's creation and allowance to exist by the big wigs, this would've never even existed.
Thank you, thank you all.
And no, I'm not crying. I have Iowa tears in my eyes.