Tokyo Olympics 2021

Posted on 02/07/2021

By: Hans Themistode

Super middleweight contender Avni Yildirim has essentially become an afterthought. His upcoming showdown against the consensus best boxer in the world in Canelo Alvarez has already been chalked up as a loss.

In addition to what round Yildirim will be knocked out in, fans are already discussing how Alvarez will fare in his matchup against Billy Joe Saunders. The doubters however, don’t bother Yildirim or his trainer Joel Diaz. They simply ask that you don’t jump out of your seat once they take care of business in a few short weeks.

“Avni may be an underdog but he doesn’t care what anybody says,” said his trainer Joel Diaz. “He’s fighting for his country and he’s going to shock the world. This guy is not only a gym rat and a hard worker, but he’s a smart fighter, he loves learning. It doesn’t matter how hard the work is, he never complains.”

Yildirim, of course, is an overwhelming underdog against Alvarez come February 27th. In the mind’s eye of many, the Turkish native is fortunate to be in the position he is in today. Having been out of the ring for two years, Yildirim hasn’t officially won a fight since 2018. In his most recent ring appearance, Yildirim came up just short in his first bid to become a world champion. However, the loss wasn’t without a bit of controversy.

Roughly two years ago, Yildirim took on former belt holder Anthony Dirrell with the vacant WBC super middleweight title on the line. Although he came out of the gates slow, Yildirim picked up momentum during the second half of their contest. While Yildirim appeared to be the fresher and stronger fighter down the stretch, an unfortunate clash of heads in the seventh round forced their bout to end prematurely due to the gash on Dirrell’s eyebrow refusing to close.

Yildirim would then reluctantly accept a technical decision loss as the scorecards were read. Despite the defeat and ring inactivity, for some inexplicable reason, the WBC left Yildirim in the mandatory position and now finds himself in the most high-profile matchup of his career.

Regardless of his lack of ring appearances, Yildirim’s time on the sidelines wasn’t spent twiddling his thumbs. He worked constantly with Diaz as the COVID-19 induced shutdown helped speed up their time together. Now, with years to help mold him into the fighter he wants, Diaz believes he has just the right man to make the rest of the boxing world look stupid for doubting him.

“He’s a completely different fighter from when he fought Dirrell. I said to him, you are a physically stronger guy than Dirrell but you had no defense. That’s why they called him ‘Mr. Robot’, but there’s no robot in him now, I can tell you. I made a complete transformation because I dedicated time to him. The COVID situation helped him in a way because there was nothing to do. There were no fights, so just to keep him busy we would go to the gym and work on technique and making him a better fighter. Any trainer would like to have him, he just does what you tell him to do. He’s a true soldier – you tell him to do something, he just does it.”

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Air Force not only snapped a 53-match losing streak to Colorado State, it swept the Rams on their home court Saturday in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball.

The big number on Saturday was 29, which is how many kills Caitlyn Newton had for Purdue, but also 26, because Tommi Stockham had 26 kills for Indiana, McKenna Melville had 26 kills for UCF and Taylor Jacobsen had 26 for Northern Arizona.

Things were exactly that in Happy Valley as the Penn State women beat Illinois in five and the Penn State men won their fourth in a row.

The recaps and highlights follow, but first a look at Sunday’s schedule that includes Stanford getting back on the court at Arizona, where the Cardinal was swept Friday in its delayed season opener. Also in the Pac-12, Cal is at Colorado, Utah is at Arizona State, and Oregon is at USC.

The Ohio Valley Conference gets its spring season under way with a full slate including Tennessee State at Murray State, Tennessee Tech at Austin Peay, SIUE at Belmont, UT Martin at Eastern Kentucky, Southeast Missouri at Jacksonville State, and Morehead State at Eastern Illinois. 

There’s a full slate in the Big Sky, including Sacramento State at Northern Colorado, Montana at Southern Utah, Northern Arizona at Montana State, Portland State at Eastern Washington, and Idaho at Idaho State.

In the West Coast Conference, Portland is at Loyola Marymount and Saint Mary’s is at San Diego, which finally opening its season.

Conference USA action includes FAU at Western Kentucky, Charlotte at Marshall, UAB at North Texas, Southern Miss at UTEP, and Louisiana Tech at Rice.

The Missouri Valley slate has Illinois State at Indiana State, Loyola at SIU, Valparaiso at Missouri State, Bradley at Drake, and UNI at Evansville. 

Three Summit League matches have Kansas City at Omaha, South Dakota State at North Dakota State, and Oral Roberts at Western Illinois.

Other matches include Western Carolina at Samford in the Southern Conference, Lipscomb playing an ASUN match at Liberty.

Go to the VolleyballMag.com TV and Streaming listings to get links to any match that is being broadcast.

BIG TEN — Penn State completed a 2-0 start to its spring season with a 25-16, 27-29, 26-28, 25-15, 15-8 win over visiting Illinois (2-4). Annie Cate Fitzpatrick led the Nittany Lions with 17 kills as she hit .382 and added an assist and a match-high 17 digs. Jonni Parker had 12 kills, six assists, an ace, seven blocks, and 12 digs. Kaitlyn Hord had 11 kills with one error in 18 attacks and added an assist and nine blocks, one solo. Anastasiya Kudryashova had 11 kills and five blocks, one solo. Megan Cooney led Illinois with 16 kills, two aces, two blocks, and a career-high 12 digs. Raina Terry had 13 kills, an assist, three acces, three blocks, and eight digs … 

Minnesota (6-0) stayed unbeaten with a 25-18, 17-25, 17-25, 25-21, 15-9 victory at Purdue (2-4). Stephanie Samedy continued her hot play with 20 kills, three blocks, and 10 digs. Taylor Landfair had 17 kills, two blocks, and four digs, and Adanna Rollins had 10 kills, two assists, an ace, three blocks, and 22 digs. Shea Rubright had nine kills and hit .571 and added five blocks. Melanie Shaffmaster had three kills, 53 assists, 15 digs, and three blocks, one solo. 

Catilyn Newton had a career-high 29 kills and added an ace, three blocks, and six digs. Grace Cleveland had 13 kills, an ace, five blocks, and six digs. Taylor Trammel had seven kills with no errors in 13 swings and six blocks. Hayley Bush had a kill, 51 assists, a block, and 22 digs, and Jena Otec had 21 digs and seven assists … 

Nebraska (4-0) swept visiting Maryland (0-6) 25-14, 25-21, 25-18 as the Huskers hit .337 and had five players with eight or more kills. Madi Kubik led with 12 as she hit .308 and had three aces and four digs. Riley Zuhn had 11 kills and hit .500 and added an assist and two blocks. Kayla Caffey, Lauren Stivrins, and Lexi Sun had eight kills each. Nicklin Hames had two kills in three attempts, 29 assists, and 10 digs. Erika Pritchard led Maryland with 10 kills, an assist, two aces, a block, and three digs … 

Wisconsin (6-0) hit .323 and swept visiting Rutgers (1-5) 25-13, 25-11, 25-21. Grace Loberg led a balanced attack with 10 kills as she hit .346 after having one error in 26 attacks. She added three aces, two blocks, and eight digs. Dana Rettke had nine kills with no errors in 17 attacks, an assist, and six blocks. Rutgers, which hit .109, got seven kills each from Beka Kojadinovic and Anastasiia Maksimova … 

Indiana (2-4) came back and won in five at Iowa (1-5) as Tommi Stockham had 26 kills, hit .393, and had an assist, two aces, 10 digs, and four blocks, one solo, in a 28-30, 25-14, 25-18, 23-25, 15-13 victory. Breanna Edwards had 12 kills, four digs, and five blocks, and Savannah Kjolhede had nine kills, hit .467, and had two digs, and eight blocks, one solo. Courtney Buzzerio and Hannah Clayton had 13 kills each for Iowa.

PAC-12 — UCLA rebounded from losing at Washington State on Friday by winning in four in Pullman on Saturday, leaving both teams 4-2. Mac May led with 21 kills in the 25-20, 13-25, 25-15, 25-21 victory. May had two aces and 10 digs. Iman Ndiaye added 10 kills and hit .381 to go with two blocks and two digs. elan McCall added nine kills, two assists, two blocks, and 12 digs. The Bruins hit .198 but WSU hit .127. Pia Timmer led the Cougars with 13 kills, three assists, six digs, and three blocks, one solo … 

The Huskies hit .347 as Washington (5-1) won its fifth in a row with a 25-18, 27-25, 25-17 sweep of visiting Oregon State (1-5). Claire Hoffman and Madi Endsley had 14 kills apiece. Hoffman had no errors in 23 attacks to hit .609 and had an assist, a block, and eight digs. Endsley hit .424 and had two aces and a dig. Samantha Drechsel had 12 kills, hit .417, and had two assists, four aces, three blocks, and six digs. Mychael Vernon led OSU with 12 kills, an assist, a block, and four digs. 

MARQUETTE SWEEPS — Marquette (4-2), which lost at Creighton (4-2) in five on Friday, came back and swept the Bluejays 25-21, 25-14, 25-23 Saturday in a battle of Big East teams.

Kaitlyn Lines led Marquette with nine kills and hit .421 after having one error in 19 attacks. She added an ace, two blocks, and two digs. Taylor Wolf had eight kills, 18 assists, two aces, a block, and three digs. Savannah Rennie had seven kills, hit .385, and had three aces, a block, and a dig. 

While Marquette hit .259, Creighton hit .173. Keely Davis led the Bluejays with 13 kills and added a block and four digs. Jaela Zimmerman had 11 kills, an assist, an ace, two blocks, and eight digs. 

Neither of the matches count as Big East competition, although Creighton goes to Marquette on February for back-to-back conference matches.

AMERICAN ATHLETIC — There was one conference match and two other AAC teams played.

In league play, McKenna Melville had 26 kills and hit .318 as UCF (5-0, 2-0) beat visiting Tulane (2-5, 0-2). Melville, who had five errors in 66 attacks, had three assists, three aces, two blocks, and nine digs. Nerissa Moravec had seven kills in 13 errorless swings and had had 10 blocks, two solo. Lexie Douglas led Tulane with 17 kills, four assists, two blocks, and three digs. Kayla Dinkins and Mackenzie Martin had 13 kills each. Makala Heidelberg had 29 digs, an assist, and an ace … 

Temple (4-0) swept visiting St. John’s (1-1) of the Big East. Miray Bolukbasi led with 24 kills and Gem Grimshaw had 10 kills and 10 digs. Efrosini Alexakou of St. John’s had 13 kills … And Xavier (2-0) of the Big East gained a split of the weekend with a four-set win at Cincinnati (2-2) as Delaney Hogan had 12 kills and four blocks, one solo, and Norah Painter and MaryAnn O’Toole had 10 kills and three blocks each. Four Bearcats had 10 or more kills, led by Sarah Norcom’s 13 … 

SOUTHLAND — Stephen F. Austin (14-4, 2-0) hit .304 in a sweep of UIW (0-4, 0-2). Ariana Pagan had 11 kills with no errors in 25 attacks to hit .440 and had an assist, two aces, a block, and six digs. Bethany Clapp had 13 kills, two aces, and 12 digs for Incarnate Word … 

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (3-1, 1-1) beat visiting Abilene Christian (2-2, 1-1) in four as the Islanders hit .350. Rachel Young led with 13 kills as she hit .476 and had an assist and two digs. Carissa Barnes had 21 digs, an assist and four aces. Katelyn Mueller had 14 kills for Abilene Christian to go with an ace, a block, and nine digs …

And Regan Stiawalt had 23 kills as McNeese (2-0) completed a successful first weekend with a 25-22, 22-25, 24-26, 25-19, 17-15 win over visiting Nicholls (0-2). Stiawalt hit .380 and added an assist, an ace, 14 digs, and two blocks, one solo. Alexis Lambert had 15 kills, four assists, and 15 digs, and Kendall Glueck had 12 kills and four blocks. Kate Hoerdemann had 19 kills, nine digs, an assist, and three blocks for Nicholls. Emily Gauthreaux had 15 kills, two assists, 16 digs, and two blocks.

McNeese, of course, was playing at home for the first time since a hurricane ravaged Lake Charles, Louisiana, and the campus.

“I don’t have words,” first-year coach Kristee Porter said. “It speaks to who we are as a team and who they are and how much they love this university and how much they love competing. 

“Regardless of what happened in the past couple of months, they wanted to represent our university well at the highest level and I think they have done that. The have gone above and beyond what we have asked them to do. We basically had three weeks of practice and it was a grind for them. The girls have embraced it and every day they continued to improve.”

MOUNTAIN WEST — Air Force (1-1) turned the table on Colorado State (1-1) and swept the Rams, breaking a 53-match losing streak to the perennial MWC frontrunners. What’s more, CSU had not been swept in conference play since 2010. Air Force, which hit .301, got nine kills each from Cambria Galloway and Brookelyn Messenger and eight apiece fromi Aaryn Scires and Joi Harvey. Galloway had one error in 15 attacks and had two blocks, and Harvery had one error in 16 swings and had four blocks. CSU, which won in four the day before, hit .221. Breanna Edwards led with nine kills and eight digs … 

Kali Wolf had 20 kills and hit .354 and had 14 digs as New Mexico (2-0) swept at Nevada (0-2). Kaitlynn Biassou had 16 kills and hit .387 and Uxue Guereca had 11 kills, two aces, two blocks, and 18 digs. Reka Monteleone had 18 kills, three blocks, and eight digs for Nevada. Kassie McGill had 15 kills and hit .400, and Brianna Souza had 10 kills, an assist, an ace, three digs, and four blocks, one solo … Wyoming (0-2) swept at Utah State (0-2). Five players had six or more kills, led by Hailey Zuroske, who had eight to go with two assists, three aces, two blocks, and four digs. Kristy Frank had nine kills  with one error in 22 swings for Utah State. 

AROUND THE NATION — There were supposed to be three SEC matches Saturday after previously announced cancelations and postponements, but then not only was Tennessee-Texas A&M off, so, too was Missouri at Florida. Which left Alabama (4-8) to win in five — 22-25, 27-25, 27-29, 25-20, 16-14 — at Ole Miss (0-10) as Abby Marjama had 19 kills, an assist, and 11 digs. Kendyl Reaugh had 16 kills, an ace, a block, and 10 digs. Kennedy Muckelroy added 14 kills, an ace, two blocks, and two digs, and Alyiah Wells had 11 kills and three blocks. Ole Miss also had four players with 10 or more kills, led by Anna Bair, who had 21 while hitting .425. She added three blocks and four digs. Sasha Ratliff had 15 kills, hit .500, and had nine blocks, two solo. Ole Miss hit .315, while Alabama hit .226 … 

The Fighting Camels won their Big South opener as Campbell started its spring season with a sweep over visiting USC Upstate. Lailah Green led with 15 kills as she hit .444 to go with an assist, an ace, and 10 digs. Chloe Cook had 10 kills, an assist, three aces, and seven digs. USC Upstate hit minus .012 … Also in the Big South, Radford opened with a four-set win over visiting Gardner-Webb as Taylor O’Neal had 12 kills, an assist, two aces, two blocks, and 18 digs. Kylee Garriston had 11 kills, an assist, an ace, two blocks, and nine digs for G-W, which hit .069 … 

Pacific gained a West Coast Conference split with visiting Gonzaga as the two teams finished their first weekend. Alexa Edwards had 16 kills for Pacific in the four-set win. She added an assist, eight digs, and five blocks, four solo. Riley Patterson had 12 kills, two blocks, and 14 digs, and Jadyn Tubbs had 25 digs, a kill in her only attempt, four assists, and two aces. Sarah Penner led Gonzaga with 10 kills, an ace, 18 digs, and four blocks, one solo … The other WCC match scheduled for Saturday, Portland at Loyola Marymount, was postponed. According to the LMU website they are still hoping to play Sunday …

Lipscomb (4-1) swept at Liberty (0-2) in the ASUN opener for both teams. Megan Kuper had 11 kills, an assist, two aces, 10 digs and a block for Lipscomb. Julia Mangum had 11 kills for Liberty to go with an assist, four digs, and five blocks … Also in the ASUN, Kennesaw State hit .374 (2-0, 0-2) as it swept at Bellarmine (1-5, 0-2). Lauren Chastang led with 14 kills and Emma Schurfranz had 13 and hit .550 to go with four blocks. Julia Dailey had 10 kills for Bellarmine … 

George Mason (1-5, 1-0) swept visiting George Washington (0-3, 0-1) in the Atlantic 10 opener for both teams. Peyton Ehmke had 10 kills and six blocks for Mason, while three GWU players had eight kills each … 

There were two Big Sky matches. Taylor Jacobsen had 26 kills as Northern Arizona (4-1) won in five at Montana State (1-2) and Idaho State (2-3) beat visiting Idaho (3-2) in five. NAU’s Jacobsen had six errors in 51 attacks and hit .392 to go with an assist, three aces, 12 digs, and two blocks, one solo. Six players had seven or more kills for Montana State, including Susanna Sovde, who had 11, hit .625, and added an assist, a dig, and five blocks … Five ISU players had 10 or more kills. Reagan Kunz had 23 to lead Idaho State as she hit .391 and added an assist, an ace, seven digs, and three blocks one solo. Kennedee Tracy added 12 kills, an assist, an ace and 16 digs. Nicole Ball had 17 kills for Idaho and hit .536 to go with four digs and six blocks, one solo …

Tarleton (2-6) of the WAC swept visiting UT Arlington (13-9) of the Sun Belt as Hali’a Hogan and Amber Strange had 12 kills each and Lauren Kersey had 11.  Brooke Townsend had 14 kills and 11 digs for UTA … 

MEN — Penn State (5-1, 2-0 EIVA)) had to go five to beat visiting Saint Francis (1-7, 0-1) for its fourth win in a row. Brett Wildman had 17 kills for the Nittany Lions to go with two aces, two blocks, and 11 digs. Cal Fisher had 17 kills, an ace, two blocks, and four digs. 

Michael Fisher led SFU with 21 kills, four blocks, and eight digs. AJ Schmidt had 11 kills, an assist, two aces, two blocks, and a dig.

The setters for both teams had big matches. SFU’s Roman Szwabinsky had a kill, 41 assists, four blocks, and six digs, and Penn State’s Cole Bogner also had 41 assists, an ace, three blocks, and six digs … 

Also in the EIVA, George Mason (5-1, 2-0) also won its fourth in a row, a sweep of visiting Charleston (0-2, 0-2) behind 17 kills from Hayden Wagner, who hit .429, and had three aces, a block, and four digs. Sam Greenslade had nine kills. Charleston’s Maarten Bartels had 11 kills, hit .360, and had two aces, two blocks, and seven digs …  

In the only MPSF match of the day, BYU hit .406 and gained a split with UCLA by sweeping the visiting Bruins 25-16, 25-21, 25-17 in the season-opening series. Gabi Garcia Fernandez led BYU with 12 kills and hit .800 after having no errors in 15 attacks. He added two aces, nine digs, and two blocks. Davide Gardini had 11 kills, hit .368, and had two aces, three digs, and block. The Cougars also got a boost from the return of setter Wil Stanley who had a kill, 30 assists, four digs, and three blocks. UCLA’s Austin Matautia had nine kills, an assist, two digs, and a block … 

Lewis (6-1, 1-1 MIVA) gained revenge at Ohio State (2-4, 1-1) where the Flyers lost in four the day before. This time Lewis won 25-23, 25-21, 25-11 behind 10 kills from Ryan Coenen, who hit .360 after having one error in 25 attacks to go with an assist, an ace, a dig, and two blocks. Jacob Pasteur had 11 kills, an ace, 11 digs, and a block for Ohio State … 

Also in the MIVA, Ball State (4-1, 1-0) swept visiting Purdue Fort Wayne (0-2, 0-2). Kaleb Jenness led Ball State with 15 kills, three aces, 10 digs, and four blocks, two solo. Blake Reardon had 13 kills, an assist, two aces, two blocks, and four digs. Quinn Jackson had three kills on three attempts, 42 assists, an ace, a block, and 12 digs. Pelegrin Vargas had 13 kills for PFW and added two assists and three blocks … 

Loyola (6-0, 2-0) swept at Quincy (3-2, 0-2) behind 10 kills each from Luke Denton and Cole Schlothauer and nine from Colton Brooks, who had four blocks. Denton hit .571 and had two aces, three blocks, and three digs. Schlothauer had no errors in 17 attacks, an ace, a block, and five digs … And McKendree (3-0, 2-0) swept at Lindenwood (3-2, 0-2). Ethan Carroll got nine kills and Patrick Ross eight. AJ Lewis had 14 kills for Lindenwood to go with four blocks and three digs … 

After two matches were postponed, Barton (1-0, 1-0) beat Emmanuel (0-3, 0-2) in Conference Carolinas play as Adrian Iglesias and Jayton Hall had 15 kills each in the four-set win. Don Thompson had 12 kills for Emmanuel. Another CC team, King, swept independent Queens. Yes, Joshua Kim had 16 kills and hit .500 as King swept Queens.

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Leicester missed the chance to pull level on points with second-placed Manchester United in the Premier League table after a series of Wolves blocks denied them in a 0-0 at Molineux.

Brendan Rodgers’ side were below their best throughout the contest but would have found the net if Jonny – on his return from a cruciate injury – had not made a brilliant double-block to deny James Maddison in the first half, or Max Kilman hadn’t put his body on the line to keep out Harvey Barnes’ effort after the break.

Wolves wasted a couple of good early moments of their own, with Ruben Neves volleying badly off target before James Justin got in the way of Adama Traore’s shot, and when they did eventually hit the target for the first time in the 77th minute, Kasper Schmeichel was quick off his line to deny sub Fabio Silva.

The result leaves Leicester in third, while Wolves stay 14th, 12 points above the drop zone.

How the draw played out…

Both teams had been boosted by important midweek wins and there were big chances – and crucial blocks – at both ends of the pitch during a fascinating first half, which saw a blockbuster battle between Leicester left-back Justin and Wolves winger Traore.

It was the hosts who had the first opening, with Neves surprisingly getting a volley all wrong from a flicked-on corner, which had been won by Traore, before Justin made a vital intervention on 15 minutes to get in the way of Traore’s shot from 15 yards out after Pedro Neto brilliance on the left flank.

At the other end, Kelechi Iheanacho fired wildly off target before James Maddison whipped a cross through the Wolves box which just needed to be turned in. More Neto skill saw him skip past Ricardo Pereira before sending a similarly tempting pass through the Leicester six-yard area soon after.

Maddison warmed Rui Patricio’s hands with a couple of tame efforts from range – but there was some brilliant defending from the returning Jonny in between.

The defender was making his first appearance of the season after recovering from a cruciate ligament injury but was perfectly placed to make a double block to deny Maddison a certain opener.

Jonny was taken off at half-time but his team-mates were nearly celebrating shortly after the restart when Traore – who increasingly got the better of Justin after the break – fired across goal, but Ricardo was handily placed to prevent Neto from tucking in.

Rodgers sent on Jamie Vardy on 60 minutes to try to come up with the breakthrough but Neto almost orchestrated the opener for Wolves when he beat Ricardo and cutback for Joao Moutinho, who wasted time and space on the edge of the box by shooting badly over.

Barnes was the latest Leicester player to be denied by a brilliant block, when Max Kilman threw himself in front of the winger’s shot, before Wolves finally registered a shot on target, with Silva halted by a sharp Schmeichel.

There was a late chance for fit-again Vardy in stoppage time but the striker was unable to steer his header on target and clinch all three points on his return to the side.

What’s next?

Wolves host Southampton in the FA Cup on Thursday evening, before travelling to the Saints on Sunday in the Premier League. Leicester host Brighton in the FA Cup on Wednesday before taking on Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday.

When the Chiefs and Buccaneers square off in Super Bowl 55 on Sunday, chances are you’re going to ask the age-old question.  

How do you win Super Bowl squares? 

Super Bowl squares is a common office pool or party game played during the game, and because of the COVID-19 pandemic the game will be more prominent online in 2021.  

It’s a game of chance and each player draws two “numbers” but it can make the Super Bowl experience more rewarding if your favorite team isn’t playing.  

How do you play Super Bowl squares? Which numbers produce the winning combination most? Here is SN’s guide to those questions, including rules, tips and a printable squares grid.  

SUPER BOWL PICKS: Against the spread | Straight-up predictions

How do Super Bowl squares work?  

Most Super Bowl squares are played on a 10×10 grid with a “home” team row on top and the “visitor” column on the side:   

An empty board starts with 100 “squares.” The next step is filling out the board, which can be done online or using a poster. In the online version, squares are generally labeled 1-100.  

There is no perfect science to picking a square, because the numbers down the “home team” row and “visiting team” column are drawn at random.  

Keep in mind, however that if you pick multiple squares in the same row or column you will have fewer number combinations to work with.   

TIP: You can also use “winning score” and “losing score” instead of the team names for a more complex pool, but for the sake of simplicity we will stick with “Chiefs” and “Buccaneers.”   

When all 100 squares have been filled out with players, then the board is set. It should look like this:  

It’s almost time to draw numbers. First here are the combinations with the best statistical odds of winning on Super Bowl Sunday.  

What are the best numbers for Super Bowl squares?  

There have been a total of 216 winning number combinations in Super Bowl history (which is a limited sample size), but here’s how those combinations have hit by quarter. The home team is on the horizontal access and the road team is on the vertical axis.   

For reference, in the game between the Chiefs and 49ers last season the winning combos were 7-3, 0-0, 0-0 and 1-0. 

In the history of the Super Bowl, the four best combinations have been 0-0 (19 times), 0-3 (11 times), 0-7 (10 times) and 7-0 (10 times).  

How to draw numbers for squares 

You should designate a person to hold a drawing to randomly place numbers 0-9 across the Chiefs row and the Buccaneers column. Use Post-It notes in a hat or an online number generator. 

TIP: You could also do a 25-square grid where each home and road team gets two numbers instead of one. In that case, each player would have two numbers for each team.  

Once the board is full, each player has two numbers.  

Your numbers should align with your square from both the vertical and horizontal position. So, let’s say your numbers are “7” for the Chiefs and “3” for the Buccaneers.     

How do you win Super Bowl squares?   

Most standard Super Bowl squares pools pay a winner after the first quarter, second quarter, third quarter and final score. How is that determined?   

Go back to those numbers of “7” and “3.”  

That player would win if Kansas City leads 7-3 or Tampa Bay leads 13-7 after the first quarter. The magic “number” is always the last number in the score. Obviously, 7, 3 and 0 are among the most-popular numbers, even if it doesn’t always work out.  

Printable Super Bowl squares grid 

Need a printable grid for your Super Bowl squares? Now that you know how to fill it out, here’s a PDF version for Super Bowl 55. 

You can download the grid by clicking here.