Rowe Bowl
2023
Only 30 entries correctly selected a Michigan over
Washington national championship. Too many homers taking the Horns and those
still mesmerized by the Alabama/SEC mystique. Correctly picking those three was
Chris Kamburis and it made the difference as he won the Rowe Bowl by one game
over Josh Neff and Donald Smith. Josh had a one game lead going into the
playoffs but his UT alliance got to him. Finishing out the top five was Jason
Ledsworth and Bill Boyd who both picked the Michigan over Washington finals.
Chris got 31 games correct. That’s a record for most points but due to a record
number of games he didn’t have the highest win percentage record. On the other
side of the standings, there were five entries tied for last with 14 correct
picks. Chet Steubing predicted a high scoring game and that led him to taking
the last place position.
The Rowe side of the competition was a battle of
experience as the oldest Rowe narrowly beat the youngest Rowe. Dad (who just
turned 90) defeated his great grandson Preston (8) by one point. Dad also set a
Rowe record for most points. This is his second high Rowe honor with 2010 being
his other glory year. Dad also has one low Rowe honor. Low Rowe honors had some
controversy. When are you eligible for Rowe consideration. Does a fiancée
qualify? Does the timing of the engagement matter? Jonny Trevino asked for my
youngest daughter Sophie’s hand on December 28. In large part to qualify for the
Rowe category. Sophie could have said “no” but Sophie would have been low Rowe.
As such, she said “yes”, Jonny gets qualified, Sophie comes in second to last
low Rowe and new addition, Jonny, take the low Rowe honors.
2022
I know I’m sending the wrap-up out late. The championship
game was so awful, I think I dozed off and then forgot there was even a football
season. The new website allowed for more games and real-time updates (for the
most part). I got a couple of complaints but overall was happy with it. Feel
free to respond with any suggestions (though I’m limited to what the site
allows).
Congratulations to Bruce Harris who is now a two-time
winner of the Rowe Bowl (also 2014). He won the tiebreaker over Jason Jaynes.
They finished one point better than Jason Church. Thanks to expanding the number
of games, Bruce did set a new record for total correct picks (29). On the other
side of the standings, Harrison McMahan easily took the last place position with
10 correct picks. He was 4 clear of the field.
On the Rowe side of things,
nephew Kolby (congrats again on the new baby) finished top 10 (11) overall which
was good enough to take high Rowe honors. He too set a scoring record with 26
correct. This was Kolby’s third high Rowe win (2019 and 2006). He has one low
Rowe honor from 2008. On the other end of the standings was Mom who finished
with 16 correct picks (good for 239th place overall). This is only the second
low Rowe honor for Mom with the other being in 2001. She has taken high Rowe
five times with an overall win in 2012.
2021
It's always good when someone other than Alabama wins the championship. Interesting fact: If you know Stetson Bennett's backstory, he was at the JUCO between his Georgia stints the year UT beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. I throw that out there since Texas didn't play in a bowl game and I needed to make some kind of connection. The championship game didn't create drama for who was going to win the Rowe Bowl. Brad Reagan had already clinched a win. Not only did he win first place but he took second place as well. The first time in Rowe Bowl history that has happened. Brad also set a record for the highest pick percentage at 85%. Should have been in Vegas. Sid Ball finished in third. On the other end of the standings was James Boyd. He took last place by a solid two points. His 5 points tied for the lowest score ever.
The Rowe competition was very close as four contestants finished with 16 points - legal wiz Ben, city slicker Kolby, my mom and myself. Ben took the title based on the tiebreaker. This was Ben's third high Rowe win (to go with his three low Rowe wins). Daughter/Aggie Sophie got on the honor roll taking low Rowe honors. She scored 7 points which won low Rowe by 7 points. She also tied for the lowest pick percentage.
2020
It seemed like a strange college football season except the final result. Alabama wins another championship in a blow out win. The Rowe Bowl definitely had a strange season with bowl cancelations and teams being replaced. There ended up being 20 games which was the same amount as the 1996 contest. No tie breakers were needed to determine a winner. Chris Hope was the 2021 winner with 16 correct selections. Three players finished one game behind - Arora Andrew, Steve David, and Mom. Finishing the top five was Justin Kauffman. Low score was a closer race with Jeff Mayes winning(?) the tie breaker over Chris Hayers to finish in last place.
Needless to say, Mom took high Rowe honors and is the first in some time to finish in the money as well (since she won in 2012). This is her 5th high Rowe honor and she tied for the highest pick percentage by a Rowe. Low Rowe for the first time was Stanzi Rowe who managed 8 points. She won(?) the tie breaker over Zach and Kolby.
2019
Mark, why haven’t you sent out the final Rowe Bowl results
already? Well, I’ve been explaining to anyone who will listen how the Longhorns
should have been ranked no worse than 4th because we only lost to LSU
by 7 points (A&M lost to LSU by 43). We didn’t end up 4th but we were
ranked (A&M wasn’t).
This had to be one of the closest races in Rowe Bowl
history. 38 entries were within 2 points of each other. The best score was 23
which was shared by 9 entries. The winner missed the tiebreaker by 1 point while
second place missed by 2 points. Pretty exciting stuff. Jeff Maffe was your 2019
winner with the very precise total score prediction. The rest of the top five
was Ronnie Gee, Brad Powell, James Boyd, and Josh Neff. The winner has scored 23
points in the last four contests and 9 times overall. The low score race was
also close with 24 entries within 2 points of each other. Worst score was 11
shared by 7 entries. Taking the prize(?) was Tim Deithloff who either thought it
was going to be a low scoring affair or forgot to add up both teams’ points.
Doesn’t matter now, he’s last place. It was the highest score of a last place
finisher ever.
The Rowe portion of the Rowe Bowl was equally exciting with
family members moving up and down the standings all bowl season. At the end of
the day, it was newlywed Kolby taking high Rowe honors with 21 points. This is
the second high Rowe honor (other time was 2006). Low Rowe (for the 4th
time) isn’t worth mentioning. I will say it is the highest score by a low Rowe.
Hope everyone has a great new decade.
2018
There was a three-way tie for first going into the championship game. All three had Alabama and that allowed Jeb Buddecke to catch up with the other three and then win the tie-breaker. Jeb is a repeat winner also winning the 2011 contest. Shane Cook took 2nd place while Tony Radichel came in 3rd. Justin Webb was the only contestant to score only 7 points and take the coveted last place position. On the Rowe side of things, nephew Zach went from low Rowe last year to high Rowe this year. Not much to brag about as it was the second lowest winning percentage of any high Rowe winner. This is Zach’s second high Rowe win with his first coming in 1998. On the low Rowe side was my wife, Rebecca. This is her 5th low Rowe honor(?) narrowly beating out daughter, Sophie.
Congratulations to all of the honorees.
2017
Megan Spinn had it wrapped up before the championship game
even began. It was a good thing as she finished with only a one game lead over
10 other contestants. She got 23 or 72% of the games correctly. Mitchell
Regenstreif came closest to predicting the total points and finished in second
place. On the other end of the standings, Mike Schow has also wrapped things up
before the championship game guaranteeing himself the last place position (289th).
His 7 wins (22%) were two worse than Ryan Williams and Mike Livermore. Within
the Rowe family, Katie Rowe showed that she is not only the best golfer in the
Rowe family but also the best college bowl picker. She got 18 correct which was
one better than my Mom (who started off with something like five straight
losses). At the bottom of the Rowe standings was Zach Rowe with 12 wins (is he
also the worst golfer?). He was one game worse than Stanzi who has an excuse as
she just started her first year at A&M.
Thanks everyone who participated. Hope your 2018 is great.
2016
It was a crazy championship game with the right outcome for Lee Borton. Lee wins his first Rowe Bowl sitting alone with 23 points (72% pick percentage). Lou Mays won the tiebreaker over Wookie to take second place. Lou also had an entry that came in at 257th place but that wasn't enough for last place. Adam Wolf won (lost?) the tiebreaker with Dan Peterson to take last place (259th) with 8 points (25%). Props to Shane Cook who had an entry that lost its first 18 games but still finished strong enough to not finish in dead last.
My house was abuzz about the Rowe honors this year. I was unable to repeat as high Rowe but my daughter Stanzi got her first Rowe honor winning high Rowe with 18 points. She even beat her boyfriend (thanks to the tiebreaker). My other daughter, Sophie, was very worried about low Rowe as she was battling nephew Ben most of the Bowl season. In the end, Ben was able to reclaim low Rowe honors for the third time. I'm guessing he was riding those SEC teams.
Thanks to all for participating and hope your 2017 is great.
2015
Bill Boyd rode Alabama to win the 2015 Rowe Bowl contest.
Bill set the record for most points with 25 to win by one point over Hamilton
Hayers and Connor Cassady. Bill previously finished 2nd in 2011. On
the other side of the standings, Clemmis Futrell finished in last place with 10
points. That tied the record for most points by a last place contestant. Clemmis
also had an entry that finished in 9th place so maybe they were
opposite picks. Honorable mention to Bill McKeon who finished 4th but
came in dead last in 2014. Perseverance pays off.
I’m very excited about the Rowe honors of the Rowe Bowl
since, for the first time since 2001, I actually finished as high Rowe. Also a
top 10 finish. Pretty good for me. Low Rowe came down to the final game as well
and nephew Zach Rowe just finished a little worse than my daughter Stanzi. This
was Zach’s third time to finish as low Rowe. Honorable mention goes to Stanzi’s
boyfriend Kyle Tschirhart who finished 7th overall and beat me by one
point.
Thanks everyone for participating and have a great 2016.
2014
Sorry I took so long to send out the recap. I was waiting
for the Ohio St.-TCU championship game and someone told me it was over. After
the confusion wore off, I realized that the Big 12 got hosed. Let’s get it to 8
teams so we can eventually get it to 32 teams (that’s right 32 teams). As for
the winners, it was a close competition. There were 17 entries within two points
of each other. Two teams tied with 22 points. Ed Ellis correctly picked the
championship game which put him in a tie with Soonerlaw but Soonerlaw took first
place anyway with the tiebreaker. Chip Rives was in a group of 7 contestants
that were one point back with 21 points but the tiebreaker determined their
final place. Chip eloquently stated to me how it felt to be one of those who
fell out of the top five due to the tiebreaker. Chip, Jackson Holland, Jennifer
Holland and Lynn Person finished in second half of the top 10 along with Todd
Kernaghan, Will Richardson, and Robert Schrickel (those last three scored 20
points). Minion took third with the best tiebreaker score of the 21 point folks
followed by Matt Koidin and JB. On the other end of the standings, Bill McKeon
won (lost?) the tiebreaker to finish in 288th place (a/k/a last). He
won (lost?) that tiebreaker against Scott Finger and Tom Maleski (8 points).
In the Rowe competition, Mom is creating an Alabama like
dynasty. She took top Rowe for the third time in the last four years (18
points). Not sure what that says about my family but congratulations to Mom all
the same. At the bottom of the Rowe competition was Landon (11 points). Landon
is also starting a dynasty but more like SMU. Landon has taken low Rowe two of
the last three years.
2013
Though the championship game was close
and very exciting (finally the SEC loses), the Rowe Bowl was anticlimactic. Both
the winner and last place were clinched before the final game. Erik Lemke had an
incredible three point win for 1st place. It was the first time since
2005 that a win was by three points. Erik also tied the record for most points
in a season with 24 (2006 – William LaFayette). Don Smith came in 2nd
and Jeb Buddecke and Ty Howard tied for 3rd. Daniel Ostalowski
didn’t set any records but did take last place by two games scoring a total of
6 points. If he would have just taken the opposite team on each pick, he would
have tied for first.
Ben Rowe took High Rowe for the first
time since 1999 continuing the roll that the Aggies have been on. Three years
ago Ben was Low Rowe so the move to the SEC has helped all Aggies. Low Rowe was
a battle between Mother and Daughter and Mother was finally victorious as
Rebecca “Becky” Rowe took Low Rowe with 9 points (one better than Sophie).
This makes four Low Rowe prizes for Becky which breaks the tie she had with me.
Thanks Beck.
2012
It's been almost a week since the BCS championship game (another horrible game to watch) and I'm just now announcing the results. That's because I've had to recalculate and recalculate to ensure there wasn't an error. There have been a lot of selection theories discussed at the house I grew up in over the years. Home team getting points, Jets-Miami over, underdog in the UT-OU game (not any more) were just a few that had some merit at one point but failed. One that never worked until now was the jersey color theory. My mother (a/k/a Mom, a/k/a Francine Rowe) has used this theory over the years with limited success. Finally though, it paid off. Bucking common wisdom and predicting a high scoring championship game, my mom was able to win the tiebreaker against Molly Cassady and win the 2012 Rowe Bowl. She is the second Rowe to win the Rowe Bowl with the first by yours truly in 2001. Mom and Molly both finished with 22 points and a 69% pick percentage. Three contestants finished with 21 points - Christopher Baskin, Marla Quick, and Todd Kernaghan. What wasn't close was the bottom of the standings. Chris Tilley dominated the competition for last place winning by three full points over the next worst entry (Carson Coon). Chris tied the lowest point total of all time (5 points - Garrod Huebner 2003) and set the lowest pick percentage ever with a 16% winning percentage. Las Vegas would have loved you.
In the Rowe section of the Rowe Bowl, Mom, of course, was the highest Rowe easily out distancing second place Rowe, Sophie Rowe. This was Mom's second year in a row to finish as high Rowe and her third overall. Landon Rowe easily took the low Rowe honors with only 10 points. This is Landon's first finish at the bottom of the Rowe list.
2011
Just as expected. It was a field goal snooze fest. First shut out in a BCS game. Have fun Aggies. Congratulations to Jeb Buddecke. There were five players tied for first going into the final game and they all picked LSU. Of the group one point behind the leaders, Jeb was the only one to pick Alabama. He also picked the lowest scoring game (36 points) of everyone who had 23 games correct which game him the top prize. Bill Boyd and Chris Funai came in second and third thanks to tiebreaker picks of 37 and 38 points. There was also a tie at the other end of the spectrum. Three contestants finished with only 9 correct picks. Bruce Nadall ignored all the talk around the SEC's defense and had a tiebreaker of 52 points. This was good enough to "win" the tiebreaker and finish in last place (300th) beating out Robert Johnson and JT Maddox.
In the Rowe section of the Rowe Bowl, there were actually some decent finishers. There were three Rowes who got 21 games correct which was the most in a number of years. Based on the tiebreaker, Mom took her second high Rowe title narrowly beating out Becky and Randi (who was low Rowe last year - nice turnaround). Speaking of Aggies, Aggie Ben Rowe took his second low Rowe honor. It was the highest score by a low Rowe matching the other time Ben took low Rowe.
2010
I was going to wait until the Longhorn bowl game before I sent out my final results and kept waiting - and waiting - and waiting. Finally gave up. They must have canceled the game or something. The championship game was a good game but didn't impact the standings like it could have. There were three entries tied for first going into the championship game with one picking Auburn and two picking Oregon. The game was a push so it came down to the tiebreaker. Scott Finger picked the lowest scoring game of the three with 67 points and therefore took the top prize. Scott needed a Nevada win in the game before the championship game to force the tie as the other top contestants all had Boston College. Following in the tiebreaker for second and third were Marla Quick and Melanie Spradling. Even with the extra games this year, the high score record of 24 points wasn't broken.
The bottom of the standings looked like a north Texas Class A football homecoming game. The bottom four entries had connections to Petrolia, Electra, Archer City, and I think Scotland. Ross Harrison may have been second team RB in the Lone Star Conference South Division in 2005 but he doesn't know much about Division I football. He missed the last four bowl games and that let him beat Ashton Hayers (Chris) and Randi Rowe for last place. Ross finished with 10 points while Ashton and Randi had 11 points. If it's any consolation, Ross did tie for the best score of a last place contestant. Not really much of a consolation.
Since I mentioned a Rowe already, you know that Randi took low Rowe honors. It was a close race there as well as Randi just defeated her husband Zach by one point (maybe they cheated on each others picks). This is the first low Rowe for Randi who took high Rowe in 2008. My wife, Rebecca, was hoping to repeat as high Rowe but was defeated by one point by my dad. This was quite the upset as my dad isn't very good at gambling (almost as bad as my mom). In fact, Dad too not only low Rowe honors in 1996 but was last place in the whole contest. It took a while but you have redeemed yourself (somewhat).
Tried something new this year with the new website. I know it was difficult for folks and it cost me on entries. The good part is that now all standings and updates are real time and you don't have to wait on me.
2009
I usually send out a recap immediately after the championship game but I can't get over the fact we were running the option when Colt got hurt. The option! Seriously, how many yards have we picked up all year from that play? Regardless, something good did come from the Alabama win. It kept me out of last place (which would have been a first). Instead, I finished in 327th. Josh Neff and Garrod Huebner tied with 8 points but Garrod won(?) the tie-breaker to take last place (329th place). Impressively, this is the third last place finish for Garrod who came in 154th in 2003 and 428th in 2007. That is hard to do. On the other end of the spectrum (the good end), there was a four way tie for first with JP Letendre, Scott Hill, Hal Cromwell, and Brad Powell all with 22 points. The Gilbert fumble and following TD decided the final order with JP taking first place.
I kept the Rowe honors in the house this year. As previously discussed, I stunk it up and no other Rowe did worse. On the other side of the standings, I'm afraid my wife took high Rowe honors. This is Becky's first time to be high Rowe after being low Rowe two other times. My low Rowe honor was my third. It was a very tough bowl season.
2008
Will Russell caught Jerry Buster on the championship game but thought it would be high scoring. Jerry missed the tiebreaker by 30 points but it was still closer than Will. They were the only two at 23 points and it made Jerry Buster the 2008 Rowe Bowl champion. 23 points tied the second highest point total. Five contestants finished one point back with Brett Holland, Chris Malone, and Heath Hindman taking third through fifth respectively. Alone at the bottom of the standings was Trey O'Neil with 10 points. 10 points is actually the highest score ever for a last place contestant so some solace can be taken for that feat. Seven contestants finished one point higher.
High Rowe honors went to newcomer Randi Rowe with 18 points. I guess that Tech pick didn't hurt her too bad. Of course, she also took Ohio St. Nephew Kolby takes low Rowe honors for the first time with 11 points. Kolby was high Rowe in 2006. I guess the Class A playoff run hurt his research time.
Thanks everyone for participating.
2007
It came down to a tiebreaker this year as Ty Howard and Mark Kane both finished with 23 points. Ty picked a high scoring championship game and that gave him the first place finish. Chris Hope finished tied for third with seven other contestants but got closest to the tiebreaker score to take the third place prize.
There were no repeat winners at the top of the standings but we did have a repeat winner at the bottom. Garrod Huebner scored 9 points (along with John Slating and Tom Scott) but the tiebreaker (by one point) earned him 428th place (otherwise known as last). 9 points ties the most scored by a last place contestant so maybe there is some consolation. The reason there isn't any consolation is that Garrod has done this before. Garrod came in last place in 2003 setting an all-time low in points and pick percentage. We all appreciate his entry fee.
Nephew Landon tied the Rowe record for most points and took high Rowe honors. Poker player extraordinaire, nephew Ben, won high Rowe honors in 1999 but took the low Rowe honors this year. He did have the most points and highest pick percentage of any low Rowe winner. I guess that means we're getting better as a family but I don't think Vegas should be worried yet.
Thanks everyone for participating. I hope 2008 is a good one.
2006
This
is about the third time I’ve tried to update my website with some sort of
interruption stopping me. The last was the blackout from the Great Ice Storm of
2007.
I
know. It’s taken me forever to provide a wrap-up. That’s what happens when
you finish in 333rd place. No typo there. Only one entry scored less
points than my 9 but he did it in a big way. Kevin Cashman has the second lowest
pick percentage in contest history (Garrod Huebner carries that distinction -
2003). That 22% pick percentage was good for 7 points and last place by two
whole points – not even a tiebreaker needed.
My
awful finished ensured that I took low Rowe honors for the second time the last
four years. Only my wife has taken low Rowe honors more often. High honors went
to nephew Kolby who scored 21 points and came in 6th overall.
That’s the best Rowe finish in a number of years.
Main honors go to William LaFayette who came in 1st place pretty easily. He finished with a two point lead over 2nd (Janet Bates) and 3rd (Brian Barron). William finished with 24 points and a 75% pick percentage.
2005
Congratulations to Chris McMahan who easily won this year's Rowe Bowl. I only had pick percentages back to 1999 and this was the first time anyone exceeded 80% (82%). You should have been in Vegas. Chris turned in three picks and it looks like he went with the opposites on one of them. His other two entries finished 66th and 309th (out of 317 entries). Speaking of 317 entries, number 317 in the standings was Adam Young. His winning percentage was 29%. Bad but not the worst ever. In second was Paul Rohlfs (20 wins), three wins less than Chris (23). There were five entries with 19 wins and Todd Hughes predicted the highest scoring Rose Bowl and winning the tiebreaker. Yours truly finished with 16 wins one less than brother David who took the high Rowe honors. Low Rowe was won by nephew Zach with 12 wins. He is a football player for Midwestern State so he's probably been spending too much time studying and not watching much football.
2004
2003
2002
2001
Please look over you picks and make sure I didn't make any mistakes.
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996