Some closing thoughts on questions:
#1 - Name a team that will lose their opening game (most games August 12th).
32 right, 20 wrong, SHEEP 8, incorrects 14.
I think this question was fine. Could ask it again this way, or ask for a team to win. I think this way was good, though, especially if I keep q2 the same.
#2 - Name a team that will be undefeated at the end of Week 2 (August 20th).
32 right, 20 wrong, SHEEP 9, incorrects 15.
The funny thing about this question was that Southampton was the correct SHEEP for this question, then almost got relegated. I think this question was good & will keep it.
#3 - Name a team that will have 3 or less points by the end of Week 3 (August 27th).
13 right, 39 wrong, SHEEP 5, incorrects 9 or 15.
So if Burnley had 3 points or less, this would have been 28 right & 24 wrong. Burnley was a huge SHEEP, & people who picked it were punished far more than other incorrects. This reminds me, I'll probably just keep this scoring system as is for next season. I think the question is still fine & will probably keep it.
#4 - Name a player who will have 2 or more goals by the end of Week 5 (September 17th).
32 right, 20 wrong, SHEEP 8, incorrects 17.
Question seems fine. Will keep.
#5 - Name a goalkeeper who will have 2 or more clean sheets by the end of Week 7 (October 1st).
44 right, 8 wrong, SHEEP 9, incorrects 19.
This one was probably too easy. I think if I keep this question in this slot it would need to be 3 or more. Or I could just keep it because there is still a decent amount of leveling involved. Dunno.
#6 - Name a team that will have 5 or more road points by the end of Week 9 (October 22nd).
43 right, 9 wrong, SHEEP 13, incorrects 19.
This is another with a lot of correct answers, but I don't think it's necessarily a bad question anyway. 39 of the 43 correct answers given were ManU/ManCity/Spurs/Chelsea, so there was room for movement if you hit on a less obvious team.
If I raised the # of points necessary, I think all it would do is make people even more concentrated on the best teams, so I think it's fine.
#7 - Name a player with at least 20 interceptions by the end of Week 11 (November 5th).
15 right, 37 wrong, SHEEP 4, incorrects 12 or 13.
13 people said Kante for this question, & were barely wrong because he got injured. I think overall the question is ok-ish, but would be willing to listen to other theories.
#8 - Name a player with at least 15 shots on target by the end of Week 13 (November 26th).
16 right, 36 wrong, SHEEP 6, incorrects 12.
Maybe lowering the threshhold to 13 would help.
#9 - Name any team with an own goal by the end of Week 15 (December 10th).
23 right, 29 wrong, SHEEP 5, incorrects 13.
I kind of like this question, even if it's kind of a crap shoot. It also gave me my favorite answer of the game, "no O.G.". Will probably keep.
#10 - Name a player who will score a goal or record an assist on Boxing Day (December 26th).
20 right, 32 wrong, SHEEP 4, incorrects 14.
I think this question was ~ok. I like the idea of the single-day question. Not sure if there's a way to tweak it to make it more fun, though.
#11 - Name a team that is neither in the top 4 or the bottom 4 after the New Year’s Day games (January 1st).
36 right, 16 wrong, SHEEP 7, incorrects 17.
I think this question was fine.
#12 - Name a player who will have hit the woodwork at least twice by the end of Week 20 (January 21st).
24 right, 28 wrong, SHEEP 7, incorrects 18.
I think this was ~fine, but I'd be willing to listen if people wanted it gone.
#13 - Name any team that will be in the top 8 for most Goals Allowed at the end of Week 22 (February 4th).
34 right, 18 wrong, SHEEP 8, incorrects 15.
I think this was ~ok.
#14 - Name any team that will be in the top 8 in most Goals Scored by the end of Week 24 (February 25th).
42 right, 10 wrong, SHEEP 9, incorrects 16.
Seems like too many correct answers, but I think it's still basically ok?
#15 - Name a player to have converted at least 2 penalty kicks by the end of Week 26 (March 11th).
33 right, 19 wrong, SHEEP 14, incorrects 23.
I think this was pretty good. Tons of Kane picks, room to be made up if you were correct with not Kane, & lost if you were incorrect.
#16 - Name any team that will have tied Chelsea at least once by the end of Week 28 (April 1st).
18 right, 34 wrong, SHEEP 11, incorrects 14.
Not thrilled with this question. Not that many ties. Next year's team would be ManCity. Maybe I'll do something like tie or lose by 4+...or scrap the concept entirely. Dunno.
#17 - Name a player who will have had at least one red card by the end of Week 30 (April 15th).
9 right, 43 wrong, SHEEP 4, incorrects 8.
This was a pretty bad question. Just because a fair # of players have red cards doesn't mean who has them is particularly predictable. I think I should scrap the red card concept completely, or mix it with the yellow card question later.
#18 - Name a team in the top 8 in saves by the end of Week 32 (April 29th).
27 right, 25 wrong, SHEEP 10, incorrects 18.
Seems like a nice balance.
#19 - Name a team that will be playing in a game that matters on the last day of the season either for a top 6 spot, or a relegation spot. The game can matter either for that team, or for their opponent (May 13th).
25 right, 27 wrong, SHEEP 9, incorrects 18.
This question was weird, & if I ask it again I would definitely completely define the parameters in the actual question, but on the whole I think it was fairly interesting.
#20 (Season's End) - Name someone who will have scored at least 15 goals.
23 right, 29 wrong, SHEEP 10, incorrects 14.
I might lower this to 13 or 14 next year to open it up a bit.
#21 (Season's End) - Name someone who will have at least 8 assists.
29 right, 23 wrong, SHEEP 8, incorrects 15.
This seems fine.
#22 (Season's End) - Name someone who will make at least 2,000 passes.
24 right, 28 wrong, SHEEP 7, incorrects 16.
This seems mostly fine, although maybe I could pick something more interesting than passes?
#23 (Season's End) - Name someone who will take at least 100 shots.
11 right, 41 wrong, SHEEP 11, incorrects 12.
This question was the biggest fail of all. I'm not sure if this was bad luck or bad question design. Usually there are between 7 & 10 people who have at least 100 shots in a season...this season it was just Kane + Salah. If I do it again the options are to either lower the threshold to like 80-85, or to say something like top 10 in the league in shots.
#24 (Season's End) - Name someone who will make at least 150 crosses.
20 right, 32 wrong, SHEEP 5, incorrects 12.
Not sure how I feel about this one. I think the question was generally ok'ish.
#25 (Season's End) - Name someone who will receive at least 8 yellow cards.
11 right, 41 wrong, SHEEP 6, incorrects 9.
Well, this went poorly. I think if I asked it again, I'd make it 7 yellow cards or at least 1 red card. I think that might provide a better balance, & make it so only 1 question was about cards.
#26 (Season’s End) - Name someone who will make at least 85 tackles.
17 right, 35 wrong, SHEEP 11, incorrects 15.
This question seemed like somewhat of a fail. Maybe lower the tackles # required if asking again.
#27 (Season's End) - Name any team that had at least one game where they scored at least 4 goals, and at least one game where they allowed at least 4 goals.
46 right, 6 wrong, SHEEP 8, incorrects 21.
This question seems like a bit of a fail, but I don't actually hate it. I think there was a decent amount of variance that led to so many correct answers. Would be willing to listen to alternatives, though.
#28 (Season's End) - Name any team that finishes the season in the top 6 in the standings.
50 right, 2 wrong, SHEEP 16, incorrects 22.
I think it was fine that this was a leveling question, kind of. Not sure if it makes sense to say top 7 or top 8 or something, or maybe 3 through 8?
#29 (Season's End) - Name any team that finished in the top half of the table last year that will finish in the bottom half this year, or any team that finished in the bottom half last year (or didn’t play in the Premier League last year) that will finish in the top half this year.
41 right, 11 wrong, SHEEP 19, incorrects 24.
19 people picking 1 team is pretty impressive. I think overall the question was fine, though? It's kind of a takeoff on KK's name a team that made the playoffs last year that will miss them this year.
#30 (Season's End) - Name any team that will finish the season with a negative goal differential.
52 right, 0 wrong, SHEEP 9, incorrects N/A.
I think this was actually fine, even though everyone got it right, but I'm amenable to other suggestions.
Other individual stats questions I might consider adding:
* Clearances - 15 players had at least 200
* Headed clearances - 19 players had at least 100
* Goals from header - 14 players had at least 3
* Goals from free kick - 14 players scored at least 1
* Arial battles won - 24 players had at least 120
* Offsides - 17 players had at least 20
* Touches - 24 players had at least 2,300
* Through balls - 19 players had at least 13
* Minutes played - 25 players had at least 3,200
* Substituted off - 22 players had at least 15
* Substituted on - 25 players had at least 15
* Corners taken - 17 players had at least 70
* Errors leading to goal - 26 players had at least 2
* Penalties conceded - 68 players had at least 1
* Goalie punches - 13 players had at least 13
* Goalie high claims - 14 players had at least 19
* Goalie sweeper clearances - 13 players had at least 13
* Goalie throw outs - 13 players had at least 105
* Goal kicks - 14 players had at least 225
* Appearances - 15 players played 38 games, 30 played at least 37
Other random possibilities:
* Teams to replace a coach during the season
* Teams to win at least 11 games
* Teams to lose at least 15 games
I'm definitely swapping out the red card question, & maybe will add a couple others just to keep it fresh.
Happy to hear which ones you want to replace with what, & any new ideas y'all might have.
