Teams advance to semi-final rounds of Academic Bowl

Opening rounds of the 2010 ASU Academic Bowl continued Tuesday night as the remaining teams fought hard for a spot in the semi-finals.

For information on the rules and format of the game, click here.

In the first face-off of the night, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) Gold team met their match in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering Maroon team, as the teams went neck-and-neck winning toss-up questions and racking up points with bonus questions. But CLAS leapt ahead as Fulton watched their tie score fall behind with a catch-up gap of more than 100 points. Final score: 290-130, CLAS Gold.

The second match-up pitted the Cronkite School Maroon team against the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, comprised mostly of saxophone performers. Herberger took the initial lead as they aptly revealed their team's eclectic knowledge base by correctly answering questions relating to science, history, literature and politics. Not missing a beat, Herberger defeated Cronkite Maroon 255 to 60.

Looking to keep with their winning rhythm, Herberger faced the College of Liberal Arts Gold team in the next match. The teams started out the match with an even score and were backed by cheers and gasps from an audience energized and amazed by this battle of wits. But in a short amount of time, CLAS sped past Herberger with ninja-like focus and a penchant for obscure facts.

Unable to catch up, Herberger fell to College of Liberal Arts and Sciences with a final score of 420 to 65. From which artist did the Impressionist movement originate? Answer: Monet.   

The fourth match-up of the night saw the Cronkite Maroon face off with Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering Maroon. Despite Cronkite's ability to correctly answer questions about French politics, Engineering cruised ahead of Cronkite with correct answers to questions pertaining to Shakespeare. With a score of 215 to 100, Engineering clinched the match and sent Cronkite Maroon home.

Taking an early lead, the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts exercised their knowledge of ancient history and then sustained the lead by correctly answering questions about geography and chemistry. In a spectacular comeback, the Fulton Schools of Engineering managed to gain back more than 100 points in a matter of two minutes to ultimately defeat the Herberger team by a mere 10 points. Final score was 240 to 230, Fulton.

Frank Lloyd Wright, James K. Polk and Flickster.com: these were the answers to a series of questions posed to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Gold team and the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering Maroon team in the sixth match of the night. Fulton led CLAS early in the match with correctly answering mathematic word problems and questions pertaining to Africa, but could not identify J.D. Salinger's third published novel "Franny and Zooey." With two minutes left in the match, Fulton secured a substantial lead and won the match 245-75. But CLAS Gold had not yet begun to fight.

A tiebreaker was needed between the two teams to appropriately identify a winner. In the final competition of the evening’s first set of matches, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Gold team and the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering Maroon team battled with an eye on advancing to the final rounds of the Academic Bowl.

In the end, CLAS Gold pulled ahead of Engineering and won the match 375 to 85. Now, they advance to the semi-final round Thursday night.
 
Elizabeth Langland, dean of the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, moderated the first three matches. Russ Knocke, director of ASU Online, moderated the second three matches in addition to the tiebreaker.

The second set of matches opened with the W.P. Carey School of Business team pitting their knowledge against a foursome from University College. Appropriately, the first questions were about electricity, as lightening and storm clouds roiled outdoors. University College held their own for the first third of the match, but as the topics veered into math and physics, Carey pulled ahead to win easily, 235 to 45.

A burst of humor rippled through the crowd in the next match, when neither the Education or Nursing teams could correctly identify Sue Sylvester as the plotting cheerleading coach on the TV show, “Glee.” No TV watchers on either team! Moderator Russ Knocke complimented them sincerely for missing the question.

In the end, the College of Nursing and Health Innovation won over the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College Maroon team, 160 to 120.

The Carey School team quickly swept ahead of the Nursing team in the third match of the evening, correctly answering questions about history, French novelists and Greek mythology. Carey came out ahead 165 to 100.

Math questions flummoxed both the University College and Fulton Teachers College teams in the next match, and neither knew which former U.S. president had been a Georgia farmer who now worked with Habitat for Humanity. But they shone on questions about South American novelists, Chopin and history. The Teachers College pulled ahead to win 125 to 60.

Nursing took on the Fulton Teachers College next, dominating the first half of the fifth match by answering questions about the Heisman Trophy, electricity and amino acids. But the Fulton team soon got their legs, correctly answering questions about geography and Arthur Conan Doyle novels. It turned into a nail-biter, with Nursing taking the match 105 to 100.

The two surviving teams from the double elimination competition went head to head at the end, the Carey School against the College of Nursing. It seemed even at first, but soon the tide turned, and the Carey team was on a roll. They correctly answered questions about quantum numbers, French history, Irish playwrights, Chinese dynasties and American composers, pulling ahead to win decisively, 250 to 75.

The W.P. Carey School of Business team, composed of students Rishi Mohnot, Daniel Hintze, Erin Dodds and Sumit Adhikari, will advance to the semi-final rounds at 7 p.m., Oct. 7. Semi-final and final rounds will be taped that night at the KAET-Channel 8 studios on the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus for later broadcasts.

The winning ASU Academic Bowl team will be awarded $24,000 scholarship funds to be split among team members. Additional cash prizes of $10,000 and $5,000, respectively, will be awarded to the second-place and third-place teams.

Written by Sarah Auffret and Britt Lewis