Updated December 31:

Editor's Note: Thursday was a rough day for our competitors, as South Lakes' Andy Hill's 2-2 record allowed him to pick up a game on everyone else. Patch Sports Editor Michael Beller still holds a 2-game lead over Centreville's Chris Haddock for first place in the Patch Bowl Game Pick'Em Challenge. Lake Braddock's Jim Poythress is tied with Hill two games behind Haddock.

The end of December may mark the holiday season for some people, but the real presents for a college football fan are the 35 bowl games packaged neatly on a television near you. To celebrate, Patch Sports Editor Michael Beller and three area high school football coaches, Lake Braddock's Jim Poythress, Centreville's Chris Haddock and South Lakes' Andy Hill, predicted the winners for each game. We'll have updates after each game to keep track of the standings, and you can chime in too with your picks. Who do you think will end up as the best bowl prognosticator?

First, let's meet the contestants.

Jim Poythress – Poythress has been the coach at Lake Braddock for the last seven years. This season, he led the Bruins to their second-straight Patriot Distirct and Division 6 Northern Region championships before losing to Battlefield in the state semifinals.

Chris Haddock – A longtime head coach at Fairfax High School, Haddock took over at Centreville this season and immediately turned the Wildcats around. After going 3-7 a year ago, the Wildcats went 8-2 this season and advanced to the Division 6 Northern Region semifinals, where they lost to Chantilly.

Andy Hill – Hill took over at South Lakes this season after five years at Park View in Sterling, where his teams made the playoffs four times and won two district titles. Hill turned the Seahawks from 5-6 in 2009 to 7-3 this year and the semifinals of the Division 5 Northern Region tournament, where they lost to state runner-up Stone Bridge.

Michael Beller – Your trusty sports editor played baseball and basketball through high school. He has a really good arm and his range starts the moment he steps foot in the gym.

And now, the picks.

Observations

We made 10 unanimous picks (BYU, Boise State, Iowa, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Clemson, Georgia, Mississippi State, Miami (Ohio) and Nevada).

In keeping with his risk-taking tendencies as a coach, Hill was a lone wolf on seven picks, including three BCS games, going against the rest of us with TCU over Wisconsin, Connecticut over Oklahoma and Arkansas over Ohio State. Beller was alone on five games, including the National Championship, as he's the only participant who thinks Oregon will beat Auburn. Haddock is by himself on four games, including the Orange Bowl, where he picked Virginia Tech to beat Stanford. Poythress did not stray from the herd on one pick. He has made it to back-to-back state semifinals, so perhaps he's onto something.

Check back here to follow along with the standings.