Allstate Sugar Bowl: Utah 31, Alabama 17

An absolutely huge game at the top of the pool standings. Had Alabama covered, Yohan would have actually clinched the title -- could have lost all four remaining games and still won the pool.

However, Alabama didn't cover. Utah, which was a whopping 10.5-point underdog, ran out to a 21-0 lead and left the cover in the dust in the first quarter. As a result, Steve moves within four points of Yohan's lead and this thing remains a race after all.

Yohan, Steve, Ed and Jon all remain in contention for the pool title, depending upon the results of the remaining four games. I'll offer up a breakdown of possible combos sometime this weekend, but basically I ran 16 different possibilities of the final four games: Yohan won five of them. Steve won five of them. Ed won five of them. Jon won one of them. (Jon wins the pool if Buffalo, Ohio State, Tulsa and Florida all cover).

Anyway, this game here is a win for Dan, Jim, Mark, Ed, Chris, Sal and Steve.

It is a loss for Jon, Greg, Nino, Yohan and Rob.

It eliminates Jon from contention for the Louis Armstrong's Sax Bonus.

It AWARDS the 5-point Louis Armstrong's Sax Bonus to Steve, for correctly picking the results of all three bowl games that were played in the state of Louisiana.

This helps explain how Steve has stayed in the race in spite of whiffing on both his LOCK and SUPER-LOCK. He has now connected on three of the 18 combo bonuses -- Armstrong, Paulson and Sunday -- for a total of 15 bonus points.

Oh, and Alabama was Nino's SUPER-LOCK, which means he doesn't get those 10 bonus points.

Sad to say, gentlemen, only four games remain, spread over the next six days. But it sure has been a heck of a ride. Sometime in the next couple of days, I really should see how my wife and kids are doing.