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 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 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl: TCU Horned Frogs vs. Michigan State Spartans

The 2012-2013 Bowl Blitz Invitational presented by STAT BOX STORIES continues with the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, which matches up the TCU Horned Frogs (7-5, 4-5 Big 12) and Michigan State Spartans (6-6, 3-5 Big Ten).  STAT BOX STORIES owner Brian Parker took control of the Horned Frogs looking to bring home a bowl win for the Big 12 in TCU’s first season as members of the conference.

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 Update — 9 Games Remain Unclaimed

For anyone who may just be stumbling onto the site today, right now we are just about a week into the STAT BOX STORIES project known as BOWL BLITZ INVITATIONAL.  The goal of this project is to have gamers play all 35 FBS Bowl Games for the 2011-2012 season in NCAA Football 12, recording statistics, photos, and videos from their time with the game to accompany a write-up of the game experience here at the site.

Through today, six Bowl Games have been played.  Here are the links, just in case you haven’t seen them yet:

• 2011 New Mexico Bowl: Temple Owls at Wyoming Cowboys
• 2011 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Ohio Bobcats at Utah State Aggies
• 2011 New Orleans Bowl: San Diego State Aztecs at Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns
• 2011 Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl: Florida International Golden Panthers at Marshall Thundering Herd
• 2011 Poinsettia Bowl: TCU Horned Frogs at Lousiana Tech Bulldogs
• 2011 MAACO Bowl Las Vegas: Arizona State Sun Devils at Boise State Broncos

Tomorrow will see the posting of the 2011 Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl between the Nevada Wolf Pack and Southern Miss Golden Eagles, and many Bowl Games going forward have been claimed and prepared for posting already.  However, there still remain nine games to be claimed, and that’s where you come in!

Do you want to be a part of the BOWL BLITZ INVITATIONAL and help us play out all 35 Bowl Games in NCAA Football 12?  Hit up the forum sign-up at The Gaming Tailgate now to stake your claim for one of the following unclaimed match-ups:

• 2011 Holiday Bowl: Cal Golden Bears at Texas Longhorns
• 2011 Music City Bowl: Mississippi State Bulldogs at Wake Forest Demon Deacons
• 2011 Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas: Texas A&M Aggies at Northwestern Wildcats
• 2011 Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl: Illinois Fighting Illini at UCLA Bruins
• 2011 Liberty Bowl: Cincinnati Bearcats at Vanderbilt Commodores
• 2011 Chick-fil-a Bowl: Virginia Cavaliers at Auburn Tigers
• 2012 Gator Bowl: Ohio State Buckeyes at Florida Gators
• 2012 Cotton Bowl: Kansas State Wildcats at Arkansas Razorbacks
• 2012 BBVA Compass Bowl: SMU Mustangs at Pittsburgh Panthers

If we can cover all 35 Bowl Games from this college football postseason–with each game completed and submitted at least a day before the game is played in real life so that it can be posted the day of the Bowl Game–then the person whose playthrough of the game in NCAA Football 12 most closely matches the final score of the real-life game will be the inaugural winner of the BOWL BLITZ INVITATIONAL and take home a to-be-determined prize for their efforts.  Before that can happen, however, all 9 of the above games must be claimed!

Tell your friends and family today, and help the STAT BOX STORIES BOWL BLITZ INVITATIONAL achieve its goal of 35 featured Bowl Games!

Bowl Blitz Invitational #4: 2011 Poinsettia Bowl — TCU @ Louisiana Tech in NCAA Football 12

Today’s guest contribution for the STAT BOX STORIES BOWL BLITZ INVITATIONAL comes from site regular Eric Veneziano as he plays the Poinsettia Bowl between the Horned Frogs of TCU and the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.  This is Eric’s fourth contibution to STAT BOX STORIES; if you would like to join in on this project as we try to get entries for every Bowl Game from this college football season, visit the forum game list at The Gaming Tailgate to see which games are still available to sign up for.

Bowl season is in full swing as STAT BOX STORIES takes on another match-up in recreating some of the electricity of bowl season. San Diego, California is the destination for this entry as I will play out the Poinsettia Bowl. This may be one of the more interesting match-ups in all of the bowls as TCU, a Top 25 team and once potential BCS buster takes on Louisiana Tech, the WAC champion.

Week 1 Recap & Vote for Week 2’s NCAA Football 12 Game

The first week of STAT BOX STORIES wrapped up yesterday with my entry on Manchester City hosting Manchester United in FIFA 12.  If–for any reason–you missed any of the entries, feel free to use these quick links here:

Monday, October 31st — NCAA Football 12: LSU at Alabama

Tuesday, November 1st — Madden NFL 12: Ravens at Steelers

Wednesday, November 2nd — NHL 12: Bruins at Canadiens

Thursday, November 3rd — FIFA 12: Manchester City hosts Manchester United

Now, for the voting; in this first vote, I’m going to open up next week’s NCAA Football 12 game to your whims.  Comment on this post with your choice for one of the following match-ups:

•  Oregon Ducks at Stanford Cardinal
•  Nebraska Cornhuskers at Penn State Nittany Lions
• TCU Horned Frogs at Boise State Broncos

The voting will be open until 8:00PM ET on Saturday, November 5th.  Whichever match-up has the most points will be the winner and will be featured as the NCAA Football 12 STAT BOX STORIES entry next week.

Since this is a fan vote, the day for each game to be featured will be on a “sliding” schedule; this means that NCAA Football 12 will be featured next Thursday, and Madden NFL 12 will slide up to Monday, and so on.

STAT BOX STORIES WEEK 2 SCHEDULE

 Monday, November 7th, 2011

New Orleans Saints at Atlanta Falcons

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

Phoenix Coyotes at Winnipeg Jets

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

FC Barcelona hosts Real Madrid

Thursday, November 10th, 2011

Winner of the Fan Vote

I sincerely hope that you enjoyed Week 1 of STAT BOX STORIES and hope that you will vote for next week’s NCAA Football 12 showdown and come back next week for another series of game stories.