Against The Spread Pool: Final Standings

Over the past few years, we have given the subscribers of Footballguys.com the Staff Confidence Pool Challenge, where numerous staffers try and pick the winners each week with a confidence ranking, and Jeff Pasquino’s “For The Win” column where Jeff attempts to pick each and every NFL game against the Las Vegas spread. Both of these have been very popular features, so this year Footballguys is proud to bring you the combination of the two. The Footballguys.com Staff Against the Spread Pool Challenge. Multiple staff members (18) will pick the winner of each NFL game against the Las Vegas line. As a tie-breaker, the person who is closest to the total points scored on the last Monday Night game will be the winner. Winners will be announced from week to week and the best overall record will be crowned Against the Spread Champion. Picks and ranks are due on Wednesday, so any late-breaking news may not be reflected in the choices.

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS

Here are the results from last week:

Vegas Winners - Over 52.4% Hit Rate
Over 50% Hit Rate

This week we had a tie atop the standings once again, with Keith Roberts and Sean Settle not only getting 11 games right but also both having the same total (45) for Monday Night Football, which was very close (a late touchdown made it 50 points). The staff overall had a solid and winning week, going 153-135 in Week 17 (53.1%) which helped the staff improve on their overall record (2,316-2,532 overall, or a 47.8% success rate). While this total record did not beat the Las Vegas standard for success (52.4% to overcome the house odds), the staff's record was rather remarkable when factoring in that the picks are due on Wednesday night, making it even more challenging.

As far as the overall standings, it all came down to Week 17. Here are the final standings for 2018:

Both Devin Knotts and James Brimacombe continued their strong season in Week 17, going 10-6 each and ending the year with 136 correct picks. They finished tied with Jeff Haseley and Alex Miglio in a remarkable four-way tie atop the standings. These four staffers had a 136-120 record on the year (53.1% win rate) - and were the only staffers to have a record that would have been successful against Las Vegas (over 52.4% winning percentage). Six more staffers were above 50% for the year, while three more went 50% overall (128-128). That means 13 of 18 Footballguys' staff members had a winning or breakeven pick rate for 2018. Even with all that success, only four staffers were even close to that 52.4% mark, which just goes to show you how tough it is to beat the sportsbooks, especially if you play (wager on) every game.

Congratulations once again to our weekly and season-long winners on the staff. I hope you enjoyed this contest and that it helped you in some way in 2018. Happy New Year and we will see you again next season!

Questions, suggestions, and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com.

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