The Wiz of Odds

Let the Voting Begin for Poster Primary No. 10

This is our last poster primary. Contestants in this round: Wake Forest, California, Stanford, Mississippi, Purdue and South Florida. Click here to view the candidates on one page.

We finished with 69 posters, easily smashing the previous record of 54, set last year. A 70th poster, entered by Boise State, was not allowed in the contest because it was an all-sports poster.

Voting for each primary will remain open until midnight (Pacific) on Wednesday. The 10 primary winners advance to the final and voting for the Wiz Readers' Choice Poster of the Year will begin Thursday and run for one week.

There are several close races as we enter the final days of primary voting. Let's break it down:

Primary No. 1: A remarkable turnaround this week. Iowa State, which trailed West Virginia 250 votes, now has a 1,249-vote lead.
Primary No. 2: Texas Tech has a lock on this primary and will advance to the final.
Primary No. 3: Michigan State has a 122-vote lead over North Carolina. North Carolina State and Missouri are third and fourth.
Primary No. 4: Louisiana Tech has extended its lead over Colorado by 1,602 votes. Florida State is a distant third, followed by the Florida.
Primary No. 5: Middle Tennessee is clinging to a 17-vote lead over Bowling Green. Washington, Wisconsin, Auburn and Kansas State continue to get blown out.
Primary No. 6: Penn State leads Iowa by 841 votes. Brigham Young is third and Houston is fourth.
Primary No. 7: Oklahoma has a 248-vote lead over Louisiana Lafayette. Still time for Tennessee, Minnesota, Texas El Paso and Syracuse to make a run.
Primary No. 8: Georgia Tech leads Louisiana State by 48 votes. Michigan was expected to be a factor but is a distant third.
Primary No. 9: USC leads by only 43 votes over Nebraska, but any of the other five teams — East Carolina, UCLA, Notre Dame, Washington State or Illinois — could make a run.

Wake Forest

In a classy move, the Demon Deacons honor the senior members of the team. Wake Forest plays five of its first six games at home, then will be building up its frequent flyer miles. Four of the last six games are on the road. Thanks to Michael!

California

Can't figure out the gang from Berkeley. While the university is tapping into its wealthy alumni base to raise more than $250 million to seismically upgrade 86-year-old Memorial Stadium, the football team is on the street corner, begging for change. The Golden Bears will bus to Pasadena for an Oct. 17 game against UCLA at the Rose Bowl, a move that is expected to save the program $100,000. Brother, can you spare a dime? Two budding journalists on the team. Kicker David Seawright is a contributor to the Daily Californian. Check out this piece he wrote on the Memorial Stadium renovation. Offensive tackle Mike Tepper, No. 79 in the front row on the far right, was blogging, but his site hasn't been updated since Aug. 28. Thanks to Dan!

Stanford

The Cardinal decided to go with "We Work" as their marketing campaign. It hasn't gone over well in the Bay Area. Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News wrote, "Personally, on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a minus-16." FanHouse's Clay Travis had this to say: "You know what I'm offended by? A smart school being so stupid. Can I retroactively withdraw my Stanford Law School application? The one that got rejected 25 seconds after it arrived on campus?" OK, the slogan ain't great, but the design, done by Old Hat Creative, is top notch.

Mississippi

The Rebels opened with a victory at Memphis, then had last week off, which turned out to be a good thing. Up to 30 players came down with flu symptoms, including quarterback Jevan Snead, who is front and center in the poster. Mississippi plays its home opener Saturday night against Southeastern Louisiana, one of two Division I-AA teams on the schedule. A reminder to click any poster schedule for an enlarged view. Thanks to Erik at Deep South Sports and Brandon.

Purdue

Not much was expected of the Boilermakers, but Danny Hope's team has played well, coming within a whisker of a 2-0 start. Purdue lost a heartbreaker Saturday at Oregon, the only game among the first five away from Ross-Ade Stadium. Up next is Northern Illinois, followed by Notre Dame and Northwestern. Thanks to Jackie!