New York - South Carolina - Wisconsin Seven teams left, so no more easy quizzes. Having said that, the scuttlebutt around the hallway is that this is the quiz where WI is likely to be eliminated. WI has been great all day, but they don't have the firepower of either of these two teams. New York may have the two best quizzers in this quiz and has nary a middle win. South Carolina has the best 3rd and 4th quizzers in this tournament and has nary a middle win. Wisconsin has had the best situation answers so far today, and have survived off middles all day. Jonathan (SC) gets question #1. Joe (NY) gets up first on question 2, but after the error on a 50-50, WI gets the tossup. So, after two questions, New York has fallen behind 0-20-20. Questions 3-6 had one question from Humility (NY), an error for Joe(NY), and 3 questions for SC from three different quizzers. NY calls a timeout, and they are sitting in a fine position though they certainly can't be happy with their start. I think Mr. Lofgren feels like the team is trying to outjump SC instead of just quizzing their game. After six questions, the score is NY 20 (2 errors), SC 80 (0 errors), and WI 20 (0 errors). Question 7a is an error for Joe (NY) and an error for SC, free question for WI. Question 7b is an error for Joe (NY) and an error for SC, free question for WI. Question 7c is an error for Joe (NY) and an error for SC, but wait. Challenge by Humility. Saves the day. Joe's answer is now correct. I've never seen a team get 3 frees on the same question number, and that viewing will have to wait for another day. So, after question 7, the score is NY 30 (error zone), SC 80 (2 errors), and WI 40 (0 errors). Wisconsin gets question 8, and they are doing phenomenally well in this matchup where we wondered if they had the firepower to compete. Joe gets his 5th error (thankfully that challenge was accepted or he'd be out) and South Carolina gets the tossup. Another timeout for NY. After question 9, the score is NY 20 (error zone), SC 100 (2 errors), and WI 60 (0 errors). It is very rare to see a team call both timeouts before the halfway point of a quiz. But New York won SCQANIT yesterday, and they don't even have a middle win today, so they have not faced that much adversity until this quiz. And if they need strategy later, I am guessing (or, rather, NY is) that other teams will call timeouts at those points, and NY needs Joe to make no more errors NOW. Question 10 goes to SC. Humilty and Joe combine to get questions 11-13 in quick succession and, just as I predicted, Wisconsin calls a timeout. New York doesn't need timeouts if the other teams call them. After question 13, the score is NY 80 (error zone), SC 120 (2 errors), and WI 60 (0 errors). Wisconsin may yet be outclassed in this quiz. Uh oh, question 14 could not have been worse for NY. Joe errors out and Wisconsin gets the tossup. I think Joe jumped a little early and it showed. I believe Humility can beat Wisconsin, but South Carolina is definitely not going to help their cause. I think they purposefully let Wisconsin get that tossup. South Carolina clearly favors a loss for New York. Now that Wisconsin is ahead again, South Carolina is getting notiacbly focused. SC gets question 15, and before we enter the error zone, they call a timeout. After question 15, the score is NY 70, SC 140, and WI 80. I don't know what was said, but I believe SC is saying that if NY (Humility) misses, they will sit for WI. If WI misses, they will try to get the tossup. Is that homage for Wisconsin (where most of them are from) or is it because they want NY to lose? I don't know, but that certainly appears to be their tenor. Question 16: Humility error, uncontested 20 for Wisconsin Question 17: Wisconsin error, contested 20 for Humility Question 18: Humility error, uncontested 20 for Wisconsin Timeout for South Carolina. After Question 18, the score is NY 70, SC 140, WI 110. Humility needs both to force a tiebreaker. The problem with that is that would give her 6 and she could not get the tiebreaker. So, as long as Wisconsin does not make an error, the quiz is essentially over. I think Wisconsin is figuring this out. South Carolina certainly noticed and said that to their quizzers loud enough for us all to hear (it seems to be why they called a timeout). Humility's only hope is that Wisconsin makes an error on a question and then she gets that one and the next one. Wisconsin gets question 19 that Humility was trying to let them error. South Carolina wraps up Question #20 which noone seemed enthused about hearing. Make no mistake, this quiz was decided on Question 18, and even if the score doesn't show it, New York was closer than a team with 9 errors should be. If they had that third quizzer, an entirely new dynamic would have existed. However, they don't and they finish with a 4-0-1 record. South Carolina is 5-0-0, while Wisconsin is 0-5-1. Wisconsin having survived a 6th quiz will be important, and I think they are prime canidates for the next bye. Final score is NY 70, SC 160, WI 130.