University Challenge 2013-14: Grand Final Preview

OK, so we've finally made it to the Grand Final of this year's University Challenge. It's been a good series, with some very impressive performances by teams throughout. Whichever team wins will deserve the title.

The final two teams are:
Trinity College Cambridge: Matthew Ridley, Filip Drnovšek Zorko, Ralph Morley, and Richard Freeland.
and
Somerville College Oxford: Hasneen Karbalai, Sam Walker, Zac Vermeer, Michael Davies, and Chris Beer.

So, those are the two teams; how did they get this far?

Trinity looked impressive from the off, defeating the very good Christ Church Oxford team, before recovering from a shaky start to beat Peterhouse Cambridge. In the quarter-finals, they won a high scoring match over Manchester, before comfortably defeating SOAS, and then beating Manchester again in the semis.

Somerville also looked impressive early on, with victories over Pembroke College Cambridge and York in the early stages. They're only really shaky moment so far came with a come-from-behind win over Clare College Cambridge, but they've since made up for that with comfortable wins over our old friends Southampton and then SOAS in the semis.

Let's look at their stats then: both have played five matches, over which Trinity have accumulated 1,365 points, while Somerville have managed 1,095. On average, Trinity have scored 273 points per match, and Somerville 219 points per match.

So, so far, Trinity look better. Looking at the points conceded though, Trinity have conceded 745 points (149 per match on average), and Somerville 640 points (128 per match on average). That might swing things back in Somerville's favour, but then, bear in mind that Trinity's matches have tended to be higher scoring than Somerville's.

In practice, the two teams are quite similar in terms of performance rate. When both build up a head of steam, they really do go for it, but they are prone to stopping for long periods. Apart from in their first match, Trinity have been prone to getting stuck for a few minutes in all the matches they've played. Somerville have been a bit better on that front, but they have been prone to the same.

It may come down to a simple race on the buzzer to determine the final result. Trinity's lead buzzers are LAM and JOW contributor Filip 'opaltiger' Drnovšek Zorko and captain Ralph Morley, with Messrs Ridley and Freeland ably supporting both. Somerville's best performers are Messrs Vermeer and Beer, with captain Michael Davies also contributing well. Since replacing Mr Karbalai at the start of the QFs, Sam Walker has been somewhat quiet, while still contributing reasonably.

If any of the four lead players have an off-day in the final, the rest of their team will have to pull together, and that may or may not be too much of a problem. Both have given collegiate efforts on the buzzer.

On the bonuses, both teams have been highly impressive so far, both getting around two thirds of their bonuses in each of their matches. However, Trinity's bonus rate is maybe slightly higher overall.

Overall, I genuinely cannot call which way the final is going to go. Both teams have played very well indeed to get this far, and, as I said earlier, whoever wins the title will deserve it. All we can hope for is that we get a good match to end the series. Best of luck once again to all involved!