U.C.L. got to this stage by beating Exeter, Jesus College Oxford, Bangor and Manchester (the latter two of whom play next week in the second semi-final) en route, scoring at least 190 points on each occasion, and holding their nerve when faced with a challenge. They remained:
Adam Papaphilippopoulos, from London, studying Philosophy
Tom Tyszczuk Smith, from Cambridge, studying Medicine
Captain: Simon Dennis, from London, studying the History and Philosophy of Science
Tom Parton, from Staffordshire, studying Natural Sciences
New College Oxford's road to this stage saw them defeat Homerton College Cambridge, York, King's College Cambridge and St George's London. They were pretty good early on, but seemed to slip down a notch in the quarters, relying mainly on the buzzer to get through. They were still:
Remi Beecroft, from Letchworth in
Hertfordshire, studying Psychology and Philosophy
India Lenon, from London, studying Classics
Captain: Andy Hood, from Wasperton in
Warwickshire, studying PPEIndia Lenon, from London, studying Classics
Tom Cappleman, from Bracknell, studying Maths
So, on paper, U.C.L. looked to have the advantage, having scored over 100 more points than New College, and overall performing stronger. Also, New College's performances have been largely reliant on the buzzer work of Mr Tom Cappleman, whilst U.C.L. have provided a more collegiate effort, with all four players getting at least one starter right in all their prior matches.
On with the show, and Mr Cappleman continued his impressive showing with the first starter of the match. Then, the momentum shifted in U.C.L.'s favour, and they began an early surge away on the buzzers. I noted that captain Simon Dennis, who has sported bright orange hair in the prior rounds, had changed it to blonde and blue this time. Was this U.C.L.'s first match after a recording break?
The first picture round, on Portuguese speaking nations in Africa, saw Tom Parton get a telling off from Paxo for pausing after buzzing. After the bonuses, U.C.L. led by 85-20. Then, came a run of four unanswered starters, including one about the Aberdeenshire hamlet of Towie, and how it is an acronym of 'The Only Way Is Essex'! 'groan!' Three of these starters saw the teams lose points via incorrect interruptions.
Tom Cappleman finally stemmed the flow of dropped starters, bringing New College back into the match. Another starter was dropped, before Andy Hood got New College's second consecutive correct starter. The music round went to U.C.L., who now led by 95-45.
New College then got two consecutive starters, and slashed the gap down to just fifteen points. Andy Hood was unlucky on the next starter, on MPs who defected, by getting the right idea, but not the correct term, 'crossing the floor', which Adam Papaphilippopoulos duly picked up on. Another starter gave U.C.L. a bit more breathing space. The second picture round went to New College, but they still trailed by 130-95.
Into the final phase, and the gap was still closeable. The next starter went to U.C.L., and the lead rose again. And then another starter pulled U.C.L. into a match-winning lead of 70 points. New College were going to have to get a move on if they were going to catch up; they tried, with two consecutive starters going to them, but just one bonus came out of these.
Step in Simon Dennis, and U.C.L.'s lead rose again, and it looked unlikely that New College could catch them now. A miscue from New College seemed to confirm this, and another starter for Mr Dennis made it definite. At the gong, U.C.L. won by 195-115.
A gallant effort from New College, but it's U.C.L. who go through to the final, as most expected on here and on LAM. Simon Dennis was the best buzzer of the night, getting six starters, and his side managed 19 bonuses out of 33 with two penalties. Andy Hood and Tom Cappleman got three each for New College, who made 10 bonuses out of 24 with three penalties. It's a shame to see them go, but they've done very well this series, and, as Paxo said, going out in the semis is not at all disrespectful. Mr Cappleman may well have one of the highest individual totals of the series; I will find out for sure when I compile the overall tallies at the end of the series.
Next week: Manchester play Bangor for the right to fight U.C.L.. And then, the final!
My review of the Third Degree will hopefully be up on Friday.
Huzzah, my favourite team through and my obligatory dissatisfaction with Oxford satisfied!
ReplyDeleteAlso, it was a very good episode from my point of view - no fewer than three times did knowing the Latin names of animals help, and two of those were starters! If only I could be asked those questions when it actually mattered.
UCL have actually dropped in my ratings as a result of this match, but they're still the clear favourites for the final. I'm really hoping for a Bangor-UCL final, because either of them winning would make me happy (whereas to be entirely honest another Manchester victory would be the tiniest bit dull). Discounting Bangor's first match as an outlier, they're only a little bit behind Manchester, so anything is possible...
I was looking forward to this match but in the end it was pretty clear from very early on who was going to win. Perhaps it's just hindsight but I felt as soon as the "Lord Kelvin" starter went begging for Cappleman that it was game over. A bit unfair perhaps but it's one I would have expected him to get, and when he didn't I felt it was UCL's game to lose. A couple of pieces of back luck didn't help matters, e.g. missing out on that "crossing the floor" starter, or the (X+Y)^2 = X^2 + Y^2 one.
ReplyDelete(Incidentally, why is it that all the maths starters require people to work things out, and the Humanities starters just to remember things? Oh well.)
Well done UCL, I think the title is theirs for the taking, but we'll see.
And good luck to Bangor for next week!
I don't think that's true, James - sure, UCL were ahead for the whole match but usually not by more than about 30, which can be turned around in less than a minute of University Challenge. New College were still in with a chance almost until the very end, and you could tell that by the expressions on UCL's faces!
ReplyDelete(the above was in response to your first point)
ReplyDeleteAs to your second, you're right. I think the humanities ones are generally much easier because they don't expect people to know science "as a hobby" (another reason why scientists like Cappellman are generally more useful than humanities students like myself).
And yes, UCL certainly seem unstoppable... I suspect they're the only team (except possibly Durham, who probably don't count having only played two matches) who've averaged over 200 points in each game. In fact 195 is their lowest score (against both New College and us). We were glad to learn they'd not been drawn against us in the semis...
It's probably, what's the word for it, confirmation bias? I was right, so I reported it. I'd be willing to bet that if New College had won I wouldn't have said much about that question!
ReplyDelete