9/15/26
Football is officially back! Week 1 tied the highest scoring week 1 in the Super Bowl era with a whopping 791 points scored. The other week 1 with 791 points came back in 2012 so despite a defensive battle to start the week, there were plenty of points put up. We would also see quite the entertaining battle in week 1 of Professor DW’s Football Pick ’em Challenge and the first place winner would win outright while the battle for second came down to the brand new tiebreaker.
Nate Stahley ran away with the week 1 win with only three misses to secure the first spot in Professor DW’s Exclusive Postseason Tournament. Nate only missed on the San Francisco upset of the LA Rams in Australia as well as the New York Jets win over Tennessee and the most missed game of the week with Arizona’s stunning upset of the LA Chargers. There was a chance for a tie for first place but the Kansas City Chiefs dominated the Denver Broncos on Monday night to secure Nate the win.
There would be a big tie for second with a total of four contestants finishing with 12 points. Emily Mueller, Garland Gibson, and Wes Cameron got to 12 because of the Chiefs win while John Haggerty was letdown by the Broncos in what would have created a tie for first. Thus we had to add up the total number of accepted penalties this week which was a total of 237. John Haggerty shot low with a guess of 169 while the other three all guessed in the 200s. Emily Mueller’s guess of 202 was just outdone by Wes Cameron’s 215. It was a heartbreaker for Garland Gibson who guessed 238, which was just one over and with the Price if Right rules in effect, knocked him out. That gave Wes Cameron a second place finish and a spot in Professor DW’s Exclusive Postseason Tournament.
With this being week one of the season, Nate and Wes become the first two to punch their tickets to Professor DW’s Exclusive Postseason Tournament at the end of the season. The grand prize will remain a mystery for now but there are still many chances to get qualified for the postseason. Nate and Wes are still able to play to try to block out spots and maximize their chances to take home the grand prize. Despite getting just one entry into the Tournament, fewer entrants create a better chance to win. This is Nate’s first qualification into the Postseason Tournament as well as Wes’.
Professor DW was not great despite being overly confident heading into the season. DW managed just 8 points putting him below the average score of the week. He was 50% which gives him an F. We will chalk it up to the unpredictability of week 1 and will hope that he doesn’t overreact to week 1. We are not holding our breath.
It felt like the big upset of the week happened early as Thursday saw San Francisco earn a 27-7 win over the Los Angeles Rams. However, it was the other LA team’s stunning loss that stole that title as the Chargers were shocked by the Arizona Cardinals 26-14 to begin the Mike LaFleur era. Only three people correctly called that upset as Jennifer Kickner, Darin Arthur, and West 42’s own, but ineligible, Tony Davila picked that stunner.
Week 2’s contest is up. The deadline to enter is back to 4pm on Thursday so get signed up ASAP. Congratulations Nate and Wes and best of luck to everyone this week.
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