Rivalry Week 2021

With the addition of an extra game in this season Rivalry Week takes on double the importance. While the financial benefit is overall the same ($25 per matchup), it unbalances the schedule for the first time since we moved to 14 teams. I went over some of the logic behind picks in my email, but one team that I was very interested in seeing how people handled is Billy. 

Everyone knows he is going to go big on two RBs, which led to a Chef's Coat one time that is now 10 years in the past, as well as last year's debacle. With the outsized importance of 2-3 players who could very possibly be injured by Week 13, Billy seemed like an undervalued Rival in terms of ease. That changes this year, as (in all likelihood) his team will be at full strength for Week 1. Not sure anyone thought about this as much as I did, but just wanted to point out the varying strategies of Rivalry Week.

Here are the 2021 Rivalry Week(s) Matchups, ranked in order of the average points from each matchup:

1. Esco vs. Weissbard - 14.0 points - The Halloween Prank Bowl IV
2. (tie) AGD vs. Billy - 13.5 points - The Where's Marshall? Bowl II
2. (tie) Bennett vs. Nick - 13.5 points - The Ron Blomberg Bowl
4. (tie) Gutman vs. Marco - 13.0 points - The Dad Bowl IV aka The Father of Two Bowl II
4. (tie) Alan vs. Levine - 13.0 points - The Unexpected Shade Bowl
6. Barnard vs. Kumpf - 12.5 points - The One-Sided Rivalry Bowl II
7. Ajay vs. Zacherman - 8.0 points - The AARP Bowl III

Here is the raw data:

Some thoughts:

• Barnard and Weissbard complete the four-peat in finishing 1-2 in this exercise.
• Barnard ties his previous record for highest average score, with only Zacherman and Billy putting him as a below average Rival.
• Weissbard is a somewhat surprising second place given his recent success, but as we will see in next week's post, two good years does not erase a decade of disappointment (though Eli might disagree).
• Zacherman was by far the lowest rated Rival, and despite his lack of a Chef's Coat, he has a very strong historical record. The presence of Eleanor at Draft Weekend may have something to do with this as well.
• People were all over the place on AGD, with 4 teams putting them in their top three, and 5 teams putting them in their bottom three.
• Everyone was pretty consistent on Z and Billy, and Billy was especially consistent with 10/13 teams rating him between fourth and seventh.

Schedule will be updated in ESPN prior to Draft Weekend.