Tennessee - Indiana - Wisconsin

The last quiz of the day!  Do you believe momentum matters?  I don't, but if it does, Tennessee is coming off a terrible quiz, Wisconsin is coming off a quiz where they did decently despite the other teams being ugly, and Indiana is coming off a bye.  Whom do you want to be?  Well, Tennessee got a free question on question #1, so it looks like momentum might mean nothing.

The first 4 questions represent a wonderful flow and a nice quiz.  Cullen (TN) gets one, Reid (IN) gets two, and Hannah (WI) gets one.  So, the score is TN 30 - IN - 50 - WI 20.  All good jumps, and generally, a really good quiz.  The next two questions once again saw Reid and Cullen contribute an answer.  This is where you start to see the separation of legitimate #1 quizzers.  Reid and Cullen have answered most of the questions.  If Wisconsin doesn't have a #1 quizzer type performance, they'll be vying for points after those two guys quiz out.

Timeout is called after 6 questions and the score is TN 60 - IN - 70 - WI 20.  As we enter the second third of this quiz, you see why we keep talking about Cullen and Reid and #1 quizzers on the podcast.  It seems undeniable to me that Wisconsin has the most depth of these teams (both in total quizzers and in quality of quizzers).  The problem is that those #1 quizzers are allowed to get 6 answers each, and that makes it really tough for Wisconsin (even if their top 4 quizzers are each better than the #2 of the other teams [they definitely are better than Indiana's #2 and are probably as good as Tennessee's #2], they just will struggle to compete with a team that is guaranteed to get 6 questions).

Questions 7-11 continue this pattern, TN 140 - IN - 90 - WI 0.  Reid has started to hang back, and I think this is Wisconsin's opportunity to get back in the quiz.  However, they jump too early on a tossup and Indiana gets the free-be.  When you don't have the #1 quizzer of the other two teams, you need to quiz cleanly, and the fact is that Wisconsin has 6 errors already.  Wisconsin needs a few fortunate breaks to get back in this quiz.  Timeout after the second question 11, and the score after 12 questions is TN 140 - IN - 120 - WI -10.

Reid made an error and it looked like Tennessee just laid back and let Wisconsin have the tossup.  That's a very small break, but if Reid hangs back, and Tennessee doesn't jump, that could be the window Wisconsin needs to make it back in the quiz.  We are through with 13 questions and the score is TN 140 - IN - 110 - WI 10.  Wisconsin error followed by a Cullen immediate answer on the tossup suggests that Tennessee wants Wisconsin to not have the low on Thursday.  That still leaves Wisconsin 6 questions to make up 110 points and Reid still has one question left to get, so the window is very close to shut.

A Wisconsin error on Question 15 should be the end of it.  Indiana is up 110 to -10 and there are only five questions left.  Ariana (TN) got the tossup, but barring complete meltdowns, Wisconsin will have the low going into Thursday.  At this point, everyone needs to understand that we are just playing out the string and that the better part of valor is to make sure you get the questions correct, so they don't close the mess hall before we head over there.  Ariana (TN) showed the most interest in three questions and probably wants to quiz out.  Maybe she can win a chocolate bar or something, but she clearly wanted it more than the others, as they all sat there.  Reid (IN) decided to get question #19 and quiz out.  The teams decided to abandon the ease of getting questions on question #20 and so there were a couple more errors.  Everyone waited again, and Ariana (TN) got question #20.

The final score is TN 230 - IN - 110 - WI 10

See you again on Thursday