2012-2013 Bowl Blitz Invitational: Top 10 Players in 33 Statistical Categories

With this entry, we come to the end of the 2012-2013 Bowl Blitz Invitational.  As with the Top 10 Team article, this entry is short on words but gives you the Top 10 Player results in 33 different statistical categories which were tracked over the course of this year’s project.  Read on to see which players performed at the highest (and lowest, in terms of statistics like turnovers) level over this year’s 35 Bowl Games!

2012-2013 Bowl Blitz Invitational: Top 10 Teams in 30 Statistical Categories

On this, the final day of entries for the 2012-2013 Bowl Blitz Invitational, we’re going out with few words but plenty of statistical reporting to consume.  This entry gives you the Top 10 Team results in 30 different statistical categories which were tracked over the course of this year’s project.  Read on to see which teams performed at the highest (and lowest, in terms of statistics like turnovers) level over this year’s 35 Bowl Games!

2012-2013 Bowl Blitz Invitational: 1,873 Points, and How They Happened

One thousand, eight hundred, seventy-three… that’s the number of points scored in the entirety of the 2012-2013 Bowl Blitz Invitational, 70 teams over 35 Bowl Games in one Bowl Season.  With special attention paid to scoring plays in the tracking of this year’s games as compared with last year’s project, we are very excited to share with you the details of how the points ended up on the scoreboard in this year’s project; read on for all of the details!

2012-2013 Bowl Blitz Invitational Fan Vote: Game of the Season

One of the new features we’re rolling out for the 2012-2013 Bowl Blitz Invitational here at STAT BOX STORIES this year is a fan vote for Game of the Season.  When gamers play 35 Bowl Games in NCAA Football and real-life gives us 35 more “takes” on the games of Bowl Season, there can be a lot of memorable results which come about for fans of college football.  This year, we’re taking some time to recognize the more intriguing games of Bowl Season; read on for the nominees!

2012-2013 Bowl Blitz Invitational Final Results & Bowl Blitz Invitational Champion

With the conclusion of Bowl Season last night and the Alabama Crimson Tide’s victory over Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship Game, the game article portion of the 2012-2013 Bowl Blitz Invitational has finally come to a close.  That said, the project continues on this week, and we will be sharing multiple articles recounting all of the statistical data that has been collected over the 35 Bowl Games played over the past month.

The first matter of business, however, is to analyze the “game within a game” here at the Bowl Blitz Invitational; each game is given a “Game Score” based on how close the NCAA Football 13 playthrough score came to the actual real-life result.  The person responsible for playing the game with the lowest “Game Score”—the lower the score, the closer the game came to matching the real-life final—is crowned “Bowl Blitz Invitational Champion,” a largely ceremonial title to recognize whoever managed to most closely replicate reality in the wholly unscientific process of playing a video game.

Last year, Eric Veneziano became the inaugural “Bowl Blitz Invitational Champion” with a Gator Bowl result that earned a “Game Score” of 2; read on to find out who emerged victorious this year!

2012 Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl: Baylor Bears vs. UCLA Bruins

The 2012-2013 Bowl Blitz Invitational presented by Stat Box Stories continues with the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl, which sees the Baylor Bears (7-5, 4-5 Big 12) taking on the #17 UCLA Bruins (9-4, 6-3 Pac-12) in a battle between two high-scoring teams whose defenses sometimes have difficulty keeping up with the opposition.  Jeremy Bennett of The Gaming Tailgate took control of the Pac-12 Conference representative for this Bowl Game showdown.

Welcome to the 2012-2013 Bowl Blitz Invitational

Almost exactly one year ago, a wild idea was hatched here at STAT BOX STORIES to get people to volunteer to play EA SPORTS NCAA Football 12 and report on every match-up of the college Bowl Season.  When that project started, there were no guarantees that it would be successful; when the BCS National Championship Game was played on January 9^th, 2012 between Alabama and LSU and all 35 Bowl Games had been successfully completed, it was an unexpected achievement.  The efforts of so many people who had nothing to gain from their participation but to say that they were part of something helped the Bowl Blitz Invitational become a project worth repeating, and it is now just about time for the sophomore year to start.

This year, the core goals remain the same: volunteers have been gathered, Bowl Games have been claimed, and gaming consoles around the country are booting up NCAA Football 13 to play the games and report the results.  Game statistics are being tracked in real-time, and as the real-life games are contested every play-through on the site will be matched up against those results to see which participant was able to most closely mirror reality.

One difference readers will notice is an emphasis on reporting each game as though it were an actual football game being contested; not just a video game played on an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.  Volunteers have been encouraged to report even more statistical tidbits than last year, building from the editorial template of ESPN.com’s college football game summaries to bring about a more consistent theme in the writing across this year’s 35 entries.  Along with this new format, the familiar box scores, scoring summaries, team statistics, and player statistics will be present, along with screenshot and video highlights captured both using the in-game tools offered by NCAA Football 13 as well as through more sophisticated avenues such as HD video recorders.

With increased development in the ability to track statistics as the games are played this year, readers can look forward to an even more robust series of entries after the BCS National Championship Game is played between Alabama and Notre Dame on January 7^th, 2013.  With statistics and statistical analysis such a large part of what inspired the creation of STAT BOX STORIES in the first place, the goal for the 2012-2013 Bowl Blitz Invitational is to improve upon every aspect of the statistical breakdowns offered in last year’s project.  For the next month and a half (and beyond), you won’t want to miss a single day of content as we celebrate college football and the 70 teams which have been invited to play a part in writing the story of the 2012-2013 Bowl Season.

The games begin this Saturday, December 15^th, with the Gildan New Mexico Bowl (Nevada versus Arizona) and the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Toledo versus Utah State).  Our coverage here at STAT BOX STORIES for the Bowl Blitz Invitational begins Friday morning, December 14^th, with the posting of the write-up for the 2012 Gildan New Mexico Bowl.  Here is the rest of the content schedule (all entries will be uploaded by 8:00AM ET on the date specified):

Saturday, December 15^th

• Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Toledo versus Utah State)

Thursday, December 20^th

• San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl (BYU versus San Diego State)

Friday, December 21^st

• Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl (UCF versus Ball State)

Saturday, December 22^nd

• R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl (East Carolina versus Louisiana-Lafayette)
• MAACO Bowl Las Vegas (Washington versus Boise State)

Monday, December 24^th

• Sheraton Hawai’I Bowl (Fresno State versus SMU)

Wednesday, December 26^th

• Little Caesars Pizza Bowl (Western Kentucky versus Central Michigan)

Thursday, December 27^th

• Military Bowl (San Jose State versus Bowling Green)
• Belk Bowl (Cincinnati versus Duke)
• Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl (Baylor versus UCLA)

Friday, December 28^th

• Advocare V100 Independence Bowl (Ohio versus Louisiana-Monroe)
• Russell Athletic Bowl (Rutgers versus Virginia Tech)
• Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas (Minnesota versus Texas Tech)

Saturday, December 29^th

• Armed Forces Bowl (Rice versus Air Force)
• Pinstripe Bowl (West Virginia versus Syracuse)
• Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (Navy versus Arizona State)
• Valero Alamo Bowl (Texas versus Oregon State)
• Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl (TCU versus Michigan State)

Monday, December 31^st

• Music City Bowl (NC State versus Vanderbilt)
• Hyundai Sun Bowl (USC versus Georgia Tech)
• AutoZone Liberty Bowl (Iowa State versus Tulsa)
• Chick-fil-A Bowl (LSU versus Clemson)

Tuesday, January 1^st

• TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl (Mississippi State versus Northwestern)
• Heart of Dallas Bowl (Purdue versus Oklahoma State)
• Outback Bowl (South Carolina versus Michigan)
• Capital One Bowl (Georgia versus Nebraska)
• Rose Bowl (Wisconsin versus Stanford)
• Discover Orange Bowl (Northern Illinois versus Florida State)

Wednesday, January 2^nd

• Allstate Sugar Bowl (Louisville versus Florida)

Thursday, January 3^rd

• Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (Oregon versus Kansas State)

Friday, January 4^th

• AT&T Cotton Bowl (Texas A&M versus Oklahoma)

Saturday, January 5^th

• BBVA Compass Bowl (Pittsburgh versus Ole Miss)

Sunday, January 6^th

• GoDaddy.com Bowl (Kent State versus Arkansas State)

Monday, January 7^th

• Discover BCS National Championship Game (Alabama versus Notre Dame)

We sincerely hope that you are as excited as we are here at STAT BOX STORIES for the start of Bowl Season and the 2012-2013 Bowl Blitz Invitational; be sure to visit the “official” discussion thread at The Gaming Tailgate (http://www.thegamingtailgate.com/forums/showthread.php?6217-Introducing-the-2012-2013-Bowl-Blitz-Invitational) to follow along with the results as they are made available, and be sure to keep coming back to STAT BOX STORIES as the games get played!

Bowl Blitz Invitational #9: 2011 Alamo Bowl — Washington @ Baylor in NCAA Football 12

One of the better “showcase games” of the 2011-2012 Bowl Season is the 2011 Valero Alamo Bowl, with the Washington Huskies set to take on the Baylor Bears’ Heisman-winning quarterback.  Jeremy Bennett–better known around the web as JBHuskers–takes control of the team from Waco, Texas, in today’s guest entry for the BOWL BLITZ INVITATIONAL here at STAT BOX STORIES.

A bowl game has a little extra panache when it includes any star on any team.  That level of importance and excitement is increased tenfold when the bowl game includes a Heisman Trophy winner.   Baylor’s QB #10 was able to set 46 school records this year in leading Baylor football into the national spotlight in 2011.   He was thrust into the spotlight by winning five straight games to end the season including wins over then #5 Oklahoma and then #22 Texas.    Though he has one year of eligibility left, it is almost a foregone conclusion that QB #10 will head to the NFL for the 2012 NFL Draft.  This 9-3 Baylor squad has the luxury of playing a virtual home game as they compete in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas.

Week 3 Recap & Vote for Week 4′s NHL 12 Game

As we approach the week of Thanksgiving, Week 3 of STAT BOX STORIES has now wrapped up and I have posted a second consecutive 2-2 record against the CPU AI in the games featured for this blog.  Here’s a quick look back at the links from the past week:

Monday, November 14th: Colorado Avalanche at Detroit Red Wings in NHL 12

Tuesday, November 15th: Los Angeles Galaxy host Seattle Sounders FC in FIFA 12

Wednesday, November 16th: Oklahoma Sooners at Baylor Bears in NCAA Football 12

Thursday, November 17th: Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants in Madden NFL 12

Next week’s “fan vote” game is NHL 12; here are the choices you have to select from as fans of STAT BOX STORIES:

• Philadelphia Flyers @ New York Rangers
• Chicago Blackhawks @ San Jose Sharks
• Toronto Maple Leafs @ Tampa Bay Lightning

To vote, either leave your preferred game choice in the comments here for this entry or head over to Facebook and “Like” STAT BOX STORIES here.  Voting will be open until 7:00PM ET on Saturday, November 19th, 2011.

Now, for a quick preview of the games scheduled for Week 4 of STAT BOX STORIES:

Monday, November 21st

Los Angeles Galaxy hosts Houston Dynamo

Tuesday, November 22nd

Ohio State Buckeyes @ Michigan Wolverines

Wednesday, November 23rd

Green Bay Packers @ Detroit Lions

Thursday, November 24th

Winner of the Fan Vote

Thanks to everyone who continues to come and check out this humble little blog site, and enjoy the coming weekend before Thanksgiving preparations begin in earnest!  No time off here at STAT BOX STORIES!

#11: Oklahoma @ Baylor in NCAA Football 12

When looking through this weekend’s NCAA football games for a suitable match-up for this week’s entry of STAT BOX STORIES, one game stood out to me in particular: Oklahoma at Baylor.  The Sooners were the consensus #1 team in college football to enter the season, and until a shocking home loss to Texas Tech they appeared to be on the fast track to a berth in the BCS National Championship Game.  On the other end of the spectrum, Baylor began the season outside of the Top 25 and took advantage of a big early win over the TCU Horned Frogs to fight their way into the top of the heap; though the Bears have picked up some losses between then and now, they remain in the upper echelon of college football at this point in the season.