Super Bowl 2014 Wisdom of Crowds: 100+ Score Predictions for SB XLVIII

Jan 31, 2014; New York, NY, USA; Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos helmets are on display with the Vince Lombardi Trophy prior to a press conference at Rose Theater in advance of Super Bowl XLVIII. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Finally the actual Super Bowl game is upon us, and not a moment too soon. The Super Bowl “Hype” out-hypes itself so much every year to the point that it doesn’t just Jump the Shark, it puts little NFL helmets on the shark, then has the FOX robot crush it to pieces.

Apparently “Eli the ape,” yes an actual ape who’s correctly guessed the last 8 Super Bowls in a row, is calling for a Seattle victory. Prediction Machine’s Predictalator ran 50,000 Super Bowl simulations, and predicted that the most likely score would be Seahawks 24, Broncos 21, according to CBS Local Philadelphia. And EA Sports Madden game simulation (8-2 in its last 10 Super Bowl predictions) came up with Denver winning 31-28.

I broke down some best bets for Super Bowl XLVIII in my NFL Picks column the other day, but didn’t give a score prediction. For the record, I’ll go with the Broncos to win 31-25. Yes, 25 for Seattle (since my square in a “blocks” pool ended up with AFC-1 and NFC-5).

Before the season, Grantland’s Bill Barnwell predicted Seattle would beat Denver in the Super Bowl, and he’s sticking with it. Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders picked that same outcome in the preseason and again in his excellent in-depth Super Bowl preview this week.

Some major outlets like CBS Sports (5 out of 8 picked Denver) and ESPN (9 out of 13 picked Denver) had their staff just pick the winner, but not exact scores, so they are not included in this list (though we did track down a handful of ESPN predictions to include here). We still found plenty of other “expert” opinions from various sports media all over the world wide web, and rounded up a list of over 100 other predictions (listed below).

Interestingly enough, tallying up these 100+ predictions reveals the following: Denver was picked to win 60 times, Seattle 51 times… but when we average all the scores it comes out to Seattle 25.1, Denver 23.6. Seems about right, since the initial opening point spread out of Vegas when this matchup was set two weeks ago was actually Seattle favored by 1 or 2, with an Over/Under of 48. Funny how that worked out.

FANSIDED.COM
Patrick Allen, VP of Content: Broncos, 24-20
Josh Sanchez, Editor-in-Chief: Seahawks, 31-17
Mike Dyce, Editor: Broncos, 27-20
Josh Hill, Editor: Broncos, 24-21
Bryan Rosa, Assistant Editor: Broncos, 24-21

NFL SPIN ZONE
Joe Soriano: Seahawks, 24-21
Ernie Padaon: Seahawks, 28-24
Todd Salem: Broncos 21-20
Michael Passaro: Broncos, 27-23
Conor Cahill: Seahawks, 24-21
Justen Rosenberg: Broncos, 24-14
Carter Mulvihill: Seahawks, 26-16
Rishi Pochiraju: Broncos, 31-24
Dan Salem: Seahawks, 26-21
Larry Mitros: Broncos, 27-20
Chris Heath: Broncos, 38-31
Jackson Cowart: Seahawks, 24-21
Todd Levinson Frank: Broncos, 31-25

NFL.COM
Mike Silver: Seahawks, 34-27
Judy Battista: Seahawks, 23-21
Ian Rappoport: Broncos, 28-17
Adam Schein: Seahawks, 28-27
Elliot Harrison: Broncos, 27-23
Gregg Rosenthal: Seahawks, 24-13
Gil Brandt: Seahawks, 23-20
Charley Casserly: Broncos, 21-14
Jason Smith: Seahawks, 27-17
Daniel Jeremiah: Seahawks, 28-21
Adam Rank: Seahawks, 38-12

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
Don Banks: Broncos, 24-20
Chris Burke: Broncos, 27-24
Doug Farrar: Seahawks, 26-24
Tom Mantzouranis: Seahawks, 31-20
Austin Murphy: Seahawks, 27-24
Jim Trotter: Broncos, 27-24

BLEACHER REPORT
Michael Schottey, National Lead NFL Writer: Broncos, 28-27
Matt Bowen, National Lead NFL Writer: Broncos, 23-20
Mike Freeman, National Lead NFL Writer: Broncos, 24-20
Ty Schalter, National Lead NFL Writer: Seahawks, 27-24
Matt Miller, National Lead NFL Draft Writer: Seahawks, 21-20
Erik Frenz, AFC East Lead NFL Writer: Broncos, 31-27
Andrea Hangst, AFC North Lead NFL Writer: Broncos, 27-21
Chris Hansen, AFC West Lead NFL Writer: Seahawks, 24-23
Knox Bardeen, NFC South Lead NFL Writer: Broncos, 34-26
Brad Gagnon, NFC East Lead NFL Writer: Seahawks, 24-21 (OT)
Tyson Langland, NFC West Lead NFL Writer: Seahawks, 24-21
Zach Kruse, NFC North Lead NFL Writer: Broncos, 27-21
Aaron Nagler, B/R NFL Analyst: Seahawks, 27-24

THE SPORTING NEWS LINEMAKERS TEAM
Richie Baccellieri: Broncos, 22-20
Brian Blessing: Broncos, 30-13
Vinny Magliulo: Broncos, 24-21
Micah Roberts : Broncos, 31-20
Jimmy Vaccaro: Broncos, 24-23
Kenny White: Broncos, 31-20

ENTERTAINMENT SPORTS PROGRAMMING NETWORK
John Clayton, ESPN.com senior writer: Seahawks, 21-17
Jeffri Chadiha, ESPN.com columnist: Broncos, 28-24
Ashley Fox, ESPN.com columnist: Broncos, 27-20
Terry Blount, ESPN Seahawks reporter: Seahawks, 27-20
Jeff Legwold, ESPN Broncos reporter: Broncos, 28-23
Seth Wickersham, ESPN The Magazine senior writer: Seahawks, 23-20
Matt Williamson, ESPN.com Insider: Seahawks, 23-20
Merril Hoge, ESPN: Broncos, 28-24
Jemele Hill, Co-host ESPN’s Numbers Never Lie: Broncos, 28-17
Ron Jaworski, ESPN: Broncos, 27-24
Sage Steele, ESPN Sports Anchor: Broncos, 31-21
Paul Gutierrez, ESPN NFL: Seahawks, 26-24
Wally Matthews, ESPN Reporter: Broncos, 31-27

OTHER MEDIA
Bill Barnwell, Grantland: Seahawks, 27-16
Robert Klemko, TheMMQB.si.com: Broncos, 21-17
Rick Snider, Washington Post: Seahawks, 27-21
Tim Dahlberg, Associated Press Sports Writer: Seahawks, 23-14
Michael David Smith, Pro Football Talk: Seahawks, 23-20
Tom Fornelli, CBS Sports Football Writer: Broncos, 27-17
Bill Simmons, Grantland: Broncos 22-19
Peter King, TheMMQB.si.com: Broncos, 27-24
Mike Hill, Host FOX Sports 1: Broncos, 23-17
Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk: Seahawks, 24-20
Jon Saraceno, Former Sports Columnist USA Today: Broncos, 24-17
Mike Tanier, Sports on Earth: Broncos, 27-23
Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Broncos, 24-20

FROM SPORTSBOOKS AND LAS VEGAS MEDIA
Marc Nelson, Aliante sports book: Seahawks, 24-20
Tony Miller, Golden Nugget sports book director: Seahawks, 20-17
Aaron Kessler, Golden Nugget sports book supervisor: Seahawks, 23-13
Jay Kornegay, LVH SuperBook VP: Bronco,s 23-20
Ed Salmons, LVH SuperBook manager: Seahawks, 27-10
Jeff Sherman, LVH SuperBook assistant manager: Seahawks, 27-17
Chris Bennett, LVH SuperBook supervisor: Seahawks, 23-20
Jay Rood, MGM Resorts VP race and sport: Broncos, 24-23
Jeff Stoneback, MGM Resorts sports book hub manager: Seahawks, 20-17
Jason McCormick, Red Rock Station sports book director: Broncos, 22-20
Chuck Esposito, Sunset Station sports book director: Seahawks, 23-20
Nick Bogdanovich, William Hill sports book director: Broncos, 27-24
KellyinVegas, pro handicapper, KellyinVegas.com: Broncos, 28-14
Bryan Leonard, pro bettor, FootballWinners.com: Seahawks, 24-20
Matt Jacob, sports betting columnist, Vegas Seven magazine: Seahawks, 24-20
Matt Youmans, Las Vegas Review-Journal: Seahawks, 24-20
Brittany Anderson, ESPN Radio, Las Vegas: Broncos, 34-31
Mark Anderson, Las Vegas Review Journal Sports Writer: Seahawks, 24-21
RJ Bell, Founder Pregame.com: Broncos, 24-23
Ray Brewer, Las Vegas Sun Sports Editor: Seahawks, 26-21
Steve Carp, LV Review Journal Sports Writer: Seahawks, 24-21
Sean DeFrank, Vegas 7 Magazine, Associate Editor: Seahawks, 24- 21
Ed Graney, LV Review Journal Columnist: Seahawks, 27-24
Steve Guiremand, MyLVsports.com Sports Writer: Seahawks, 23-20
Barry Wong, Sports Reporter for MyLVsports.com: Broncos, 27-21
Matt Jacob, Vegas 7 Magazine Sports Reporter: Seahawks, 24-20
Chris Murray, Reno Gazette-Journal Sports Writer: Broncos, 27-20
Adam Hill, LV Review Journal, Sports Writer: Broncos, 31-23
David Purdum, Sports Betting Journalist: Broncos, 34-24