The Wisdom of Crowds: CGB Wants You to Pick the Winner of Each Pac-12 Conference Game This Season

by Berkelium97 on Aug 24, 2011 3:00 AM PDT in California Golden Bears Football

Last week we asked you to predict how well our Golden Bears will fare against our opponents this season (and we will post the results tomorrow). This week, we expand our horizons to include all our Pac-12 brethren in an attempt to forecast the entire, 54-game Pac-12 conference schedule. Ask any one of us (even an all-knowing Marshawnthusiast) how the whole season will play out, and you will likely get an inaccurate result. Ask all of CGB and the results will be more accurate, but perhaps a bit biased. But, if we incorporate responses from all 12 fanbases, we ought to have a pretty accurate set of predictions.

With this in mind, we reach out to the CGB readers as well as the rest of the Pac-12 fanbases to pick the winner of each of the 54 Pac-12 conference games. Since we are only interested in picking winners (as opposed to likelihoods of winning, as we do in our Cal predictions), the survey should not take more than a minute or two to fill out. Once I have the submissions, I will work some magic and churn out results whose accuracy will put even Ted Miller's weekly picks to shame. Or so I hope.

After the jump we encourage you to fill in your predictions (or you can go here to fill it out). Want to discuss some of the harder choices (who will win the WSU-UCLA pillowfight? how about the first conference game of the season: Utah at USC)? Feel free to do so in the comments. Submit your predictions by Sunday at 8:00pm and we will post the results next week.

NOTE: If you're having trouble finding the submit button, try scrolling down a little bit with the scroll bar on your right. As an alternative, you could always fill out the form here.

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Very difficult to do this

I just realized that there are so many unknowns in this new league.

Will Colorado be any better with a new coach?
How will Utah fare for a whole season against tough competition?
Will Oregon State be a top half or bottom half team?
Will ASU live up to the hype?
How bad is UCLA?
Is this the year Wazzu steals a few on the road?

Questions, questions, questions…

by daveman on Aug 24, 2011 8:09 AM PDT reply actions

stop thinking, start clicking……smile

by Cal_Fan2 on Aug 24, 2011 8:30 AM PDT up reply actions

Picking winners in the WSU-Colorado-UCLA matchups was certainly a challenge for me. In fact, I’m not sure if I gave UCLA a single win.

"Some people watch adult videos on their computer - I go to YouTube and watch Jahvid Best highlight clips. That’s what gets me going."- Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions head coach

by Berkelium97 on Aug 24, 2011 8:39 AM PDT up reply actions

Don't worry

I doubt their team will give them a single win, either.

by scotty256 on Aug 24, 2011 3:18 PM PDT up reply actions 3 recs

Happy to say...I didn't the gutty little one's a single win either

Hope your front four makes hamburger out of their back field.

And don’t be afraid to run up the score :)

by TrojanJAG on Aug 24, 2011 9:25 PM PDT up reply actions

Just go for it, I had the exact same questions, but its more fun to just click away on instinct then go back and look at your first thoughts of the match up. I was surprised with how well I thought Utah was going to do (schedule assisted of course) and how poorly I view WSU and UCLA (well this didn’t shock me, but I noticed)

"Remember the Maine! TO HELL WITH STANFORD!"

by CruzinBears on Aug 24, 2011 6:52 PM PDT up reply actions

As for ASU...

I live in Arizona and haven’t talked to a single ASU fan that sees them topping .500 this year. They’ll believe it when they see it.

Rodney Sermons is my #5

by Brad Otton Is My Homeboy on Aug 24, 2011 8:04 PM PDT up reply actions

submit

I don’t see the submit button in the post.

by sacman701 on Aug 24, 2011 10:31 AM PDT reply actions

You probably have to scroll down a little bit (using the scroll-bar to the right of the questions). If, for whatever reason, that does not work, try using this form.

"Some people watch adult videos on their computer - I go to YouTube and watch Jahvid Best highlight clips. That’s what gets me going."- Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions head coach

by Berkelium97 on Aug 24, 2011 10:35 AM PDT up reply actions

Awesome!

It’s been a very difficult morning for me. I was trying EVERYTHING to submit, but.. . . . . . .dude! I just wayyyyyyyyyyyy couldn’t.

Until I found this response from you. (Comments are good for you, here on CGB!)

by BixBeiderbecke on Aug 25, 2011 8:40 AM PDT up reply actions

Cool idea.

"And like lambs to the slaughter, the Braves take the field."- Skip Caray

by TennesseeQuackAttack8 on Aug 24, 2011 12:07 PM PDT reply actions

Tie at the top of the north between 'Furd and Cal . . .

Big Game essentially decides the division winner (that Cal obviously wins).

One can dream, right?? :)

www.LosAngelesRams.org

CALIFORNIA ANGELS . . . ANAHEIM DUCKS . . . CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS
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by AndyHogan14 on Aug 24, 2011 2:19 PM PDT reply actions

250+ submissions already

Keep ’em coming!

"Some people watch adult videos on their computer - I go to YouTube and watch Jahvid Best highlight clips. That’s what gets me going."- Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions head coach

by Berkelium97 on Aug 24, 2011 2:55 PM PDT reply actions

Want to discuss some of the harder choices (who will win the WSU-UCLA pillowfight?

I’m going with everyone recruiting against them :) Which would be, er… OSU.

by scotty256 on Aug 24, 2011 3:23 PM PDT reply actions

Man!

Washington State (road) vs Colorado (home)

Cripple fight!

by impaulv on Aug 24, 2011 4:30 PM PDT reply actions

throw in UCLA v. either team as well

"Remember the Maine! TO HELL WITH STANFORD!"

by CruzinBears on Aug 24, 2011 6:54 PM PDT up reply actions

Cripple fight became last year’s big meme on Conquest Chronicles leading up to the SC/UCLA game. This year I think we’ll have to bust out some photoshops.

Rodney Sermons is my #5

by Brad Otton Is My Homeboy on Aug 24, 2011 8:03 PM PDT up reply actions

No worries guys!

Stanfurd isn’t winning a Pac-10 game this year. I said it, so it must be true.

Adopted Giant: Ryan Verdugo. The next Javier Lopez.
goldenbearlair.com

by MadBum on Aug 24, 2011 7:59 PM PDT reply actions

I did this on quick intuition..

..and optimism…here are your official Pac-12 Standings

Cal: 8-1 (we beat @Wash, lose @Ore, WIN @furd)
USC: 8-1 (what is wrong with me?)
Oregon: 8-1 (beats ’furd at home)
Oregon St: 6-3 (5-0 until ’furd)
Arizona: 6-3 (beats ’furd at home)
Utah: 5-4 (yawn)
’furd: 5-4 (yawn/ESPN HATE)
Arizona St: 3-6 (0-4 until Colorado)
Washington St: 1-8 (both Wash schools winless in conference til the last week..see Toilet Bowl..close at least)
Washington: 1-8
UCLA: 1-8 (0-8 until Colorado)

Sure, right?

Fack Muck Brown!!

by Berkules on Aug 24, 2011 8:02 PM PDT reply actions

I didn't notice till now that Utah has the first and last regular seasong games in the PAC 12

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St Larry soon would be there. -Maji Man

by daedalus17 on Aug 24, 2011 9:08 PM PDT reply actions

Cool concept - hopefully some other non-Cal alums/students will participate

I'd rather be surfing.

by Pac 10 Alum on Aug 25, 2011 7:33 AM PDT reply actions

We have over 500 responses and are seeing healthy traffic from other sites on the SBNation network.

The internet's most successful troll!
CaliforniaGoldenBlogs: Read It | Follow It | Like It | Wear It

by TwistNHook on Aug 25, 2011 11:45 AM PDT up reply actions

For some reason, I showed Utah some love in these predictions

Of course I don’t truly think Utah is eye-popping good, but at the same time- I feel the same way about Stanford. Which is weird, because although 2 family members are Tree-graduates: I EXTREMELY HATE STANFORD! I think I picked them to lose to Washington St.? If they exceed my expectations and live up to their high national ranking throughout the course of this upcoming season. . . . . .I’ll eat a bug.

I also showed Oregon State a whole lotta love too. Why? I even gave fUcla some props. I just don’t get it? I think I had a stupid cup of coffee this morning or something. I wouldn’t put it past those dudes with “dubious immigration papers” who work at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Main/Ashland here in Santa Monica to spit in my cup o’joe. Freaking paisas! They dumbed-me-down this morning.

Awesome post Berkelium. This was fun!

by BixBeiderbecke on Aug 25, 2011 8:27 AM PDT reply actions

I also showed Oregon State a whole lotta love too. Why?

I could tell you why, but I like posting on your blog, so…. 0: )

by scotty256 on Aug 25, 2011 9:39 PM PDT up reply actions

My hopes were high on this

I was thinking it would simulate the results and let us pick a championship as well.

Oh well. I can’t even remember who I picked for anything. No thinking. Just clicking. It took like 20 seconds total.

by jim2 on Aug 25, 2011 4:38 PM PDT reply actions

I wish...

I wish it would have summarized my votes at the end (after Submit) so I could see what I thought the standings would look like.

by concordtom on Aug 26, 2011 1:17 PM PDT reply actions

Okay, I did it myself

… and surprised myself.
Cal loses it’s first 3 (UW, Oregon, USC), but then rolls in it’s next 6, including @ Furd!

North:
Oregon 6-3
Stanf 6-3
Cal 6-3
UW 5-4
OSU 4-5
WSU 0-9

South
USC 8-1
Utah 6-3
ASU 5-4
UCLA 3-6
AU 3-6
Colorado 1-8

Oregon beat USC.
Furd loses to Cal, USC, and (I forget, some choke in the desert…)
Oregon loses are UW, Stanford, (some choke)

If I got this right, that’s a 3 way tie for the North (2 losses in division) and in that case it would go to the highest ranked BCS team? That’s a joke! I hate that! Go kick field goals, or something competitive!

My guesses were exactly that. Quick and not thought out.
But I noticed a few things.

Home teams won more.

Cal’s D got more dominant and so did Maynard. A running game slowly emerged and we avoided O-Line injuries.

Stanford was weaker b/c they need 3 new O-Line starters. And, maybe Luck gets injured or something. Anyways, the Harbaugh magic ain’t quite there.

Oregon simply didn’t live up to expectations. Luck was incredible against the Ducks, and UW won an emotional game in Seattle. Maybe the “quick offense” of Oregon has been figured out and they simply aren’t all that anymore.

Neuheisel gets fired in LA.

Utah represents the south in it’s first year due to USC breaking rules and being the scum of the earth.

by concordtom on Aug 26, 2011 2:15 PM PDT up reply actions

… and Oregon beats Utah to go to the Rose Bowl.

by concordtom on Aug 26, 2011 2:16 PM PDT up reply actions

Results

Looking forward to the results. Great effort.

by Utah-UCLA alum on Aug 26, 2011 7:24 PM PDT reply actions

Depending on whether you had Oregon beating LSU OOC, this game could be in SLC in November. I’m not sure Oregon’s offense translates well on snow. Another level of intrigue.

by jrj84105 on Aug 26, 2011 7:24 PM PDT reply actions

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