Betting is a very popular form of entertainment across North America, and many football fans, bettors or not, filled out brackets to determine which team they believed would hoist the 56th Lombardi trophy. Through our Oracle Instagram account (WSOracle), students voted each week for the teams they believed would win their respective matchups throughout the playoffs. 

In the Wildcard Round, students knocked it out of the park, going a perfect six-for-six in matchups. They picked the favorites, the Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Rams, while also nailing an upset win for the San Francisco 49ers. All six of the student’s picks moved on to the Divisional Round.

In the Divisional Round, the students slumped a little bit, correctly selecting only two of the four teams headed to the AFC and NFC championships. The Green Bay Packers and the Buffalo Bills both failed to perform as expected, but the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams won their matchups to advance to the next round.

But students were once again on fire in the championship round, correctly predicting Super Bowl 56’s matchup to a tee. The Cincinnati Bengals traveled to Los Angeles to take on the Rams in their home stadium for only the second time in league history, right after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had the first ever home Super Bowl last year. One final matchup remained for students, who had gone a stellar 11-2 in their postseason predictions. 

Heading into Super Bowl weekend, the students rode with the hot shot Bengals to win over the Los Angeles Rams. Unfortunately for students, late-game heroics by Rams receiver Cooper Kupp and defensive lineman Aaron Donald ended the Bengals season, as the Rams won 23-20. In the end, students finished with an 11-3 record throughout the playoffs, which is certainly nothing to scoff at.