First, I had to understand what bowl projections even are. Turns out, it's basically people trying to guess which college football teams will play in which bowl games at the end of the season. And Jerry Palm is one of the big names in this space. He's a college football analyst, and he's been doing this for a while.
Digging into Jerry Palm's Projections
So, I started by checking out his latest projections. He's got this whole list of bowl games, and he's matched up teams based on their current records, rankings, and a bunch of other factors. It's pretty complex, but kind of cool to see how it all comes together.
I spent a good chunk of time just going through his predictions, you know, trying to make sense of it all. It's a lot to take in! I mean, there are so many teams and so many bowls. But I tried to focus on the teams I knew best, see how his predictions lined up with what I thought might happen.
- Started with the big names: Looked at the College Football Playoff projections first, of course. It's always interesting to see who he thinks will make it to the top.
- Checked out my favorite teams: Naturally, I had to see where he predicted my teams would end up. Got a little excited (or disappointed) depending on the projection!
- Compared with other analysts: I didn't just stick with Jerry Palm. I looked at some other experts' projections too, just to get a broader perspective.
Trying to Make My Own Projections
After spending hours looking at Jerry Palm's and others' work, I thought, "Hey, why not try making my own projections?" I mean, how hard could it be, right? Famous last words.
It was way harder than I thought! There's so much to consider - team records, strength of schedule, potential upsets... It's a lot. I started with a few teams I knew well and tried to figure out which bowls they might end up in. It was a mess, to be honest. I kept changing my mind, second-guessing myself. But it was fun, in a frustrating kind of way.
In the end, my projections were probably way off. But I learned a lot through the process. I have a newfound respect for people like Jerry Palm who do this regularly. It's not easy! And I definitely have a better understanding of the whole college football bowl season now. It was a cool experience overall, even if my predictions were terrible.
And who knows, maybe I'll try this again next year. I might even get better at it. Or maybe I'll just stick to reading Jerry Palm's projections and leave the hard work to him. We'll see!
