Super(quiz)bowl

As far as I can tell (and my research has mainly involved googling the phrase 'Tom Brady University Challenge' in various guises), tonight's match will be the first UC episode to feature someone who shares a name with a Superbowl winning quarterback.

Edinburgh's Matthew Stafford will be hoping he can emulate the sporting success of the LA Rams' signal caller, who nabbed himself a Vince Lombardi Trophy in 2022.

Of the twenty-nine players to have won this accolade, Matt Stafford ranks pretty highly on the list in terms of likelihood that their namesake would appear on University Challenge at some point.

However, having another look through the Wikipedia page, I'm starting to get worried that this fact isn't actually right.

Russell Wilson could definitely have studied English at Trinity College, and Brad Johnson may have done biology at Durham. John Elway sounds very much like he could have been doing a degree in medieval history with the Open University, and Steve Young almost certainly did economics at UCL.

We're on safer ground with Joe Flacco and Peyton Manning, and Johnny Unitas has the sort of name with which you can only be an American Football player, but there is the very real possibility that a Terry Bradshaw did a PhD in contemporary philosophy.

Anyway, tonight's first round match is the twelfth of the series and sees the aforementioned Edinburgh take on Bangor.

Last Appearance

Edinburgh - SF (22)

Bangor - 2R (23)

Best Appearance

Edinburgh - W (19)

Bangor - SF (99, 13)

Edinburgh have a lot of recent UC pedigree, with three semi finals and a title in their past six appearances. Their win came in 2019 thanks to a brilliant buzz from Robbie Campbell Hewson. I named my pub quiz team after him that week and it turned out that one of the bartenders had gone to school with him. Small world!

I have no equivalent story about Bangor, but if they can go a few better than their semi-final tilts of 1999 and 2013 then I promise I'll name a pub quiz team after their title-winning MVP too.

Here's your first starter for ten - if you want to watch the episode before reading the rest of this post you can do so here.

Edinburgh's captain Uttamchandani is wearing the kind of glasses are so vibrant they look like they've been added in post (the best kind of glasses in my opinion. His teammate McGovern also has a pair in this category) and he takes the first starter with Guy Fawkes.

Bhatt hits back for Bangor with Boston, recognising the city as the location of The Social Network, among other films. They struggle with a bonus set on rock bands, missing The Kinks, much to Rajan's disgust - or at least what passes for disgust from him. Its not quite as cutting as Paxman's.

Stafford throws a bad pass on the first picture starter, but Bangor can't make the interception, giving him another chance to make the completion, which he duly does on the next question. Touchdown!

Another for Uttamchandani cements Edinburgh's lead, and I've just realised that their mascot is meant to be library cat! Library cat, as you can probably guess from the name, is a cat who can often be found outside the Edinburgh University library. I'm presuming that Bangor's mascot, a dragon, does not have a nickname with a similar etymology.

A second from Stafford wins Edinburgh a very easy bonus set on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (so easy that Martin Scorsese would probably get a hat-trick).

Going into the music round, they had a healthy lead, which Uttamchandani extended with The Ronettes, though it looked for a moment like the starter was going to be dropped. He continued his good form with yet another ten pointer, forcing an early buzz from Cunliffe next time out.

The Bangor skipper recognised that he needed to stop the rot, but unfortunately for the Welsh side he was wrong, and they fell further behind.

By now the deficit was 135 points. If they were to stand any chance of even making the play-offs they'd have to get a move on, and O'Hagan duly delivered with Alexandria. Stafford doesn't want to allow them a fourth quarter comeback though, and puts paid to these hopes with a pair of long-range efforts.

Library cat and his team are purring at this point, and they cruise their way up close to 300 points, with Hadley getting in on the act too. Bangor grab a few starters to join them in three digits, but they've left it too late to make the play-offs.

Or have they? I wasn't watching the scores, but Bangor have crept up to 150 points. They only need five more to give themselves a chance.

But Stafford, who else, buzzes in casually to end their hopes.

Bangor 150 - 320 Edinburgh

Blooming heck! A combined 470 points, with Edinburgh posting the highest individual score of the series too.

Bangor can count themselves mightily unlucky to have come up against such quality opposition. And Edinburgh have made quite the demonstration of strength, too. I said last week that I wasn't sure exactly how good a score of 265 was, with Rajan's increased reading speed, but 320 is pretty hard to argue with either way.

I'll see you next week for the penultimate first round match - in the meantime subscribe here to never miss an episode.