The Pick 6 football prediction contest had a photo finish. What’s your forecast for 2024?

Now that’s more like it.

After a rough start to the bowl season, Pick 6 contestants rallied for a strong showing in our final contest. Sixty-three percent of entrants had a winning record this time around (compared to 10 percent in the last contest), and only five people failed to finish at least 3-3.

Here are the winning teams, followed by the percentage of people who correctly picked them: Missouri over Ohio State (27%), Ole Miss over Penn State (42%), Georgia over Florida State (83%), Oregon over Liberty (98%), Michigan over Alabama (63%) and Washington over Texas (73%).

Two contestants finished with a perfect record this week, but no one ended the year as strong as SKHartley, who also picked the exact Michigan-Alabama score to win the tiebreaker.

Jimmy the Greek, 1861tall, Scar, Steve Ritchie, FRYsauce, Mark Munroe and Glenn McGeoch also had 5-1 records.

The overall season standings went down to the wire. Had Alabama held on to beat Michigan, it would have been a two-way tie at the top. But in the end, a familiar name held on for the title: GenXMichael, who has led for nearly the entire season and survived a late push from Glenn McGeoch.

GenXMichael and McGeoch also finished first and second in percentage leaders — which is best winning percentage for those who have participated in at least two-thirds of the contests (11 of the 16) — though Statesman editor and former Boise State beat writer Chadd Cripe used his sports savvy to finish just behind and take the bronze (we gave McGeoch the tiebreaker because he had more entries).

That wraps up the year for the Pick 6 contest. Thanks for playing. It’s been a fun — if time-consuming — adventure. And since you’re used to making six predictions at the end of these rundowns, I’ll leave you with a six-question poll as we wind down the 2023 season and start thinking about what’s ahead in 2024 for the Boise State Broncos and the rest of the college football landscape. If you can’t see the poll below on your screen, follow this link.

This story was originally published January 3, 2024 at 4:14 PM.