University Challenge 2018-19: Second Round Review and Look Forward to the Quarter-Finals

OK, so we've arrived at the group stage of this year's contest. It's been a good series so far, with some excellent contests, albeit very few of real note. Both the first and second round were good rounds I'd say, both definitely among the best I've covered on here, and we can only hope that this form carries on into the quarter-finals.

So, after 24 games, we have our eight quarter-finalists: they are, in order of qualification, and alongside their aggregate and average scores:

• Emmanuel College Cambridge (605 over three matches, 201.67)
• Manchester (340 over two matches, 170)
• Edinburgh (390 over two matches, 195)
• St Edmund Hall Oxford (485 over two matches, 242.5)
• Glasgow (335 over two matches, 167.5)
• Durham (560 over two matches, 280)
• Darwin College Cambridge (465 over two matches, 232.5)
• Bristol (330 over two matches, 165)

So, those are the raw stats, now lets get analytical, what do those teams have going for them? Lets go through them...

Starting with Emmanuel, who came through the play-offs after losing narrowly to fellow quarter-finalists Glasgow in the first round. They have since comfortably seen off King's of London in the play-offs, and then St Peter's of Oxford in the second round, both by comfortable margins. To pull off two such impressive wins after the early setback is a seriously good feat, they must therefore be among the front runners to progress.

Glasgow themselves, meanwhile, after that first round victory, defeated Goldsmiths of London in the second round, racking up a big lead in the first half of the contest, but very nearly letting it slip as their opponents shot back into contention, ultimately only winning by ten points. The first round win over an impressive team in their own right, though, does tip the balance back in their favour somewhat; even the best teams have had off games in the past, and Glasgow should definitely not be totally written off.

Their aggregates five points either side of Glasgow's, Bristol and Manchester have both had similar runs thus far: a low scoring narrow first round win, over Queen's of Belfast and East London respectively, followed by a steady win over a comparable team, Warwick and Hertford of Oxford. Both will start as outsiders, but, like Glasgow, should definitely not be total write offs, Manchester especially given their track record.

Lying in the middle of the field are Edinburgh, comfortable winners over Sidney Sussex of Cambridge first time around, and narrow winners over U.C.L. in the best match of the second round. Slight outsiders, but definitely capable of springing a surprise or two, depending on who they play when.

Darwin's run so far comprises a comfortable win over SOAS of London in the first round, and a steady win over Downing in a good second round match last week. Captain Jason Golfinos has been the main driving force behind their success so far, answering the vast majority of their correct starters; whether his teammates can pick up the slack should things not fall for him remains to be seen, but they will start among the frontrunners.

As will St Edmund Hall, who, like Darwin, mainly have their captain to thank for their prowess thus far, Freddie Leo having been their MVP in both their victories thus far, both comfortable wins, over York and Clare of Cambridge. It would appear that his team are maybe a bit better prepared to pick up the slack than Mr Golfinos'; they too would be favoured to progress on the evidence of what we've seen so far.

And finally the ante post favourites, Durham, whose first round win over Strathclyde broke all sorts of long standing records, before they triumphed over Keble of Oxford in an only slightly less imperious second round performance. Comfortably strong on the buzzer in both their appearances, their bonus rate in the second round was a bit off compared to that from their first. But they will undoubtedly go into the group stage as firm favourites to progress.

So, we have a good spread of teams in these quarter-finals, all distinctively useful outfits in their own way, and all quite capable of performing when they need to. If you pushed me, I'd pick Durham, St Edmund Hall and the two Cambridge teams as the semi-finalists, but the other four are more than capable of disproving that prediction. It should be a good round. We hope.

This, I believe based on the available information at the moment, is the preliminary line-up:

• Glasgow vs Durham
• Darwin vs Bristol
• Edinburgh vs Manchester
• Emmanuel vs St Edmund Hall

Some good matches those. If I come across any further info that goes against any of those, I will post on Twitter.

Now for the annual diversity check. Only four all-male teams made it onto the show this year, two of them, Darwin and Edinburgh, are still in the contest, the other two were both beaten by St Edmund Hall! The Oxford side are the only one of the six 'mixed' teams with multiple females; of the other five, two have the sole female as their captain (Emmanuel and Bristol).

Another good thing about the quarter-final line-up is the spread of teams from across the country: only three Oxbridge teams is the lowest since the 2013-14 series, while two Scots teams is the most non-English teams since the same series, unless I'm mistaken. Two Northern teams and one Southern complete the line-up.

It's a strong line-up for what should, hopefully, be a strong round. The quarter-finals of the last two series have both been great rounds, and I can only hope the same will be true of this series. It's been a good one thus far, and I hope, and suspect, the drama is not over yet!

Back on Sunday with my belated review of Monday's OC; see yous then I guess.