Photo courtesy of Purdue athletics
Introduction
We’ve created a 130-team bracket using ESPN’s FPI as our ranking system.
“But, anyone can create a bracket, how will the games be simulated?” Great question; NCAA Game Sim was used.
For each game on the bracket, the matchup was simulated once and every day a write-up will be done.
For the matchup, player statistics will be simulated and included in the write-ups.
Finally, thanks to the NCAA Game Sim premium membership, we’ll show the results of doing 100 simulations all at once. This is to see if a given result was more towards the expected side or if a given result was more towards the upset or luckier side.
All of the results have been simulated and tabulated, so at the time of writing the introduction, the results are already in.
This is designed to be fun, so please enjoy.
From Georgia to Massachusetts, here’s the 130-team bracket:
Match 27
(4) Purdue vs. (13) Louisiana Tech
Louisiana Tech’s offense was able to gain chunk plays fairly well for a 13-seed.
However, there was a certain offensive consistency missing that would be necessary for an upset over Purdue.
For example, quarterback Austin Kendall threw for 297 yards on 19 completions, but he only had a 51.4% completion rate.
Running back Marcus Williams Jr. had three runs over 10 yards, but the remaining 16 attempts totaled to 27 yards.
Purdue was comparatively more consistent.
Quarterback Aidan O’Connell had a nice performance with a 69% completion percentage, 424 yards, and three touchdowns.
Player of the game honors ultimately lie with receiver David Bell, who tallied eight receptions, 128 receiving yards, and two receiving touchdowns.
Thanks to stringing more drives together thanks to more consistent quarterback production, Purdue wins this one, 37-16.
Purdue won 96 of 100 simulations by a margin of 45.5-18.4.
This also means the Conference USA is already down to six teams remaining. Conference USA is the first conference to have less than 50% of its members remaining.
Winner’s Next Matchup: Winner of (5) BYU vs. (12) Colorado
Tomorrow’s Matchup: (4) Tennessee vs. (13) Ball State
Updated Bracket
Teams Lost, In Order:
PLAY-IN
Massachusetts, Connecticut
ROUND 1
Akron, New Mexico State, Florida International, Temple, New Mexico, Bowling Green, Rice, Vanderbilt, Louisiana-Monroe, Texas State, Arkansas State, Charlotte, Southern Mississippi, Ohio, Kansas, Duke, UNLV, Georgia Southern, UTEP, South Alabama, San Jose State, South Florida, Arizona, Old Dominion, Louisiana Tech
REMAINING TEAMS BY CONFERENCE:
American: 9/11 (highest remaining: 2. Cincinnati)
ACC: 13/14 (highest remaining: 1. Clemson)
Big 12: 9/10 (highest remaining: 1. Oklahoma, 1. Oklahoma State)
Big Ten: 14/14 (highest remaining: 1. Ohio State, 1. Michigan)
Conference USA: 6/14 (highest remaining: 6. Western Kentucky)
Independents: 4/7 (highest remaining: 1. Notre Dame)
MAC: 9/12 (highest remaining: 9. Toledo)
Mountain West: 9/12 (highest remaining: 5. Boise State)
Pac-12: 11/12 (highest remaining: 2. Utah)
SEC: 13/14 (highest remaining: 1. Georgia, 1. Alabama)
Sun Belt: 6/10 (highest remaining: 5. Appalachian State)