University Challenge 2016-17: Second Round Review and Look Forward to the Quarter-Finals

OK, right, we've made it through the two knockout rounds, if you can call the first round a knockout round, and we've made it to the ever popular QF stage, or the group stage as would be a better name for it now. And contesting it this year, we have:

• Edinburgh (375, 187.5)
• Birmingham (360, 180)
• Warwick (430, 215)
• Emmanuel College Cambridge (370, 185)
• Wolfson College Cambridge (400, 200)
• Balliol College Oxford (430, 215)
• Bristol (475, 237.5)
• Corpus Christi College Oxford (375, 187.5)

Those are, of course, the teams' aggregate and average scores over their first two matches (note that Edinburgh's and Wolfson's excludes the ten from their respective tie-breakers). Of course, these are just raw figures, so lets take their performances into account as well. In order of aggregate score:

• Bristol: Defeated Sheffield 210-130 in first match of series, then trounced Oriel of Oxford 265-70, largest victory of the series so far. All four players contribute on the buzzer, and their bonus rate slightly less than two thirds on both occasions. Will start as favourites, but can they repeat their performances against stronger opposition than their first two.
• Balliol: Comfortable winners over Imperial of London, 220-55, and Robinson of Cambridge, 210-90. Again, all players pull their weight, while their bonus rates have varied from 2/3 to just over half. Only slight worry is their slow start in first match, but they too will start as lukewarm favourites to progress.
• Warwick: Two comfortable victories over Liverpool, 235-95, and East London, 195-55, have taken them this far. Two very different victories though; their first was mainly on the buzzer, with only about half their bonuses, while their second saw fewer starters but better bonus work. Whether they can perform as well against stronger opponents, we shall see, but they too will be lukewarmly fancied to make it through.
• Wolfson: Defeated SOAS in a thrilling 175-each tie-breaker, before easing past Jesus of Cambridge 225-140. Bonus rates decently around the 2/3 mark both times, while captain Mr Monkman has been doing most of their buzzer work, though his colleagues have done their bit too. Whatever happens, most will root for them, but their progression will largely depend on individual matches rather than consistancy.
• Corpus Christi: Narrow winners over Jesus of Cambridge 200-175, and Peterhouse of Cambridge 175-150 yesterday. Decent on the bonuses both times, and all four add their all on the buzzer. Most likely of the bottom four to make it through IMO, but we can only judge on what we see them do.
• Edinburgh: Narrowly won a good match against Durham 190-155, before scraping a thriller against Open on a 185-each tie-breaker. Decent teamwork on the buzzers, but their bonus rates have largely got them so far, excellent in first round, and not bad in second. Certainly not out of the race, but may not want to cut it so fine against this lot.
• Emmanuel: Came from behind on both occasions to beat Nottingham, 175-135, and SOAS, 195-130. Pretty good on the buzzer, opposite sides of half way with their bonuses all the time. Progression certainly not out of the question, but will probably depend largely on matches between the other sides outside the top three.
• Birmingham: Defeated Queen's of Belfast 165-105, and St Andrews, 195-115. Largely on the back of excellent buzzer performances by captain Mr Greenlees, with their bonus rates around half-way on both occasions. Will start as slight outsiders, but with their trump card Mr Greenlees, definitely capable of pulling something out the hat.

So, we start with three slight favourites, one lukewarm favourites, and four outsiders who certainly mustn't been ruled out. Push me, and I'd tip the top four to go through, but I'm ruling nothing out from the other four teams. This has been a great series so far, and I really hope that momentum and unpredictability carries on into the group stage.

It will all largely depend on the draw. It's been all but confirmed that Wolfson vs Balliol, as most of us expected, will be seen on Monday, which points to Bristol vs Corpus Christi the week after, and then a random draw amongst the other four. It really will all come down to who plays who when this time; that has largely been the story of the series so far, and it seems likely to continue.

On the diversity front, I am pleased to report the majority of the teams in the group stage have at least one female panelist: we have two with two (Warwick and Bristol), three with one (Edinburgh, Emmanuel and Corpus Christi), and three all-male line-ups (Birmingham, Wolfson and Balliol). So, we're guaranteed at least one female-containing team into the semis, which is good.

And in terms of representation, we a line-up 25% Oxford, 25% Cambridge, 25% Midlands, 12.5% Scotland and 12.5% South of England! In layman's terms, it's half Oxbridge, half other. That might sound promising for those anti-Oxbridge folk amongst yous, but bear in mind we had the same split last year, and still ended up with an all-Oxbridge final. But one can never quite tell with UC what you're gonna get.

What I hope we're gonna get is a group stage that maintains the high drama and high standard of play we've seen over the first two rounds. The group stage and final three have developed a bad tendency to fizzle out in the past two years, so lets hope that that's not the case this year. I've really enjoyed the series so far, as have most of the people I've observed on here and other sites, so fingers crossed for great things to come! Good (retrospective) luck all involved; it should be a cracker!

Back next week with UC as usual on Monday and OC back on Tuesday, which will be the norm from now on unless I say otherwise, plus possibly some more thoughts on online commentary following my short thoughts last night.