enigma 42

[enigma]

I assure you this one will not take 3 months and a day.

Blue Devils
Eagles
Pirates
Panthers
Aggies
Cougars
Buckeyes
Utes
Bulldogs
Warriors
Trojans
Zips
Cornhuskers
Cardinal
Demon Deacons
Miners
Scarlet Knights

[henry296]

Blue Devils - Duke
Eagles - Boston College
Pirates - Seton Hall
Panthers - Pitt
Aggies - Texas A&M
Cougars -
Buckeyes - Ohio State
Utes - Utah
Bulldogs - Georgia
Warriors - Hawaii
Trojans - USC
Zips - Akron
Cornhuskers - Nebraska
Cardinals - Stanford?
Demon Deacons - Wake Forest
Miners - UTEP
Scarlet Knights - Rutgers

Definitely colleges of many posters here at FOFC. Is it possible that these are the teams in the FOFC FBCB?

[RPI-Fan]

Fougars - Washington State

[RPI-Fan]

Cardinals - Stanford?

Given how he typed it, Louisville is probably more correct.

[TazFTW]

I am thinking maybe it's a list or a roster. Doubtful it is a roster because there are 17 listed.

[gstelmack]

Definitely colleges of many posters here at FOFC. Is it possible that these are the teams in the FOFC FBCB?
Nope. We have no Wake Forest coach, and we have a LOT more human coaches than that...

[enigma]

Given how he typed it, Louisville is probably more correct.

Sorry, was in a hurry posting. It should be Cardinal. Now corrected.

[bhlloy]

The three months and a day clue sounds to me in my ignorance like a sporting record. For example, the longest shutout streak or time without a hit.

Alternatively a players age? A quick google brings up Nolan Ryan as the oldest man to have a no hitter at 44 years, three months and one day, but he didn't go to college so I guess that isn't going anywhere.

Another line I was looking at was NFL QB's, but Seton Hall throws that line of thought off. Maybe NBA players? If people feel this is the right way to go I can post a list of alumni from scout.com?

EDIT - a few teams in that list don't have NBA alumni either. I should really do more research in future.

[QuikSand]

The three months and a day clue sounds to me in my ignorance like a sporting record.

Three months and a day was how long it took us to solve the last enigma puzzle. I think it's unlikely to be a clue here, just a smirking reference to that sad fact.

[bhlloy]

Well don't I feel stupid then :)

[QuikSand]

Updated list, all correct I think:

Blue Devils - Duke
Eagles - Boston College
Pirates - Seton Hall
Panthers - Pitt
Aggies - Texas A&M
Cougars - Washington State or Brigham Young
Buckeyes - Ohio State
Utes - Utah
Bulldogs - Georgia
Warriors - Hawaii
Trojans - USC
Zips - Akron
Cornhuskers - Nebraska
Cardinal - Stanford
Demon Deacons - Wake Forest
Miners - UTEP
Scarlet Knights - Rutgers

[QuikSand]

Now... what is the connection? UTEP made me think that this might connect to FOFC members - as we have one outspoken UTEP alum/supporter here who has a kajillion posts, and that's really the only thing that UTEP makes me think of. But I don't see a similar connection with schols like Utah or Akron.

Utah and Akron, though, do make me think of NFL quarterbacks - rookies were drafted from those schools in this year's draft. But I don't know how on earth you could connect Duke university to the NFL in any practical way... and the absence of a school like Cal (also had a QB drafted early in this draft) suggests a problem in that theory as well.

So, I'm stuck for now...

[CraigSca]

I was thinking that perhaps this was one of those Team A lost to Team B lost to Team C, etc., sort of things to prove that Rutgers is better than Duke. No dice - UTEP didn't play Rutgers last year in basketball or football.

Soo...then I thought...since the list is of mascots, maybe it has something to do with the NCAA's recent investigation into offensive mascot names. Maybe only teams that have changed their mascots (but Demon Deacons and Blue Devils haven't changed along with many others).

So...I got nothing. Also, couldn't Cougars also be BYU?

[QuikSand]

Also, couldn't Cougars also be BYU?

good catch

[bhlloy]

If we are going with a sports angle, it would have to be basketball. Seton Hall rules out football, although the QB angle does look promising at first glance. I had a run going on early departures for the 2005 draft, but USC threw that one out of the window.

If it's not sports related I'm completely stumped.

[Solecismic]

Limiting to Division I-A (if football):

Blue Devils - Duke
Eagles - Boston College/Eastern Michigan/North Texas
Pirates - East Carolina
Panthers - Pittsburgh/Florida International
Aggies - Texas A&M/New Mexico State/Utah State
Cougars - Houston/Brigham Young/Washington State
Buckeyes - Ohio State
Utes - Utah
Bulldogs - Georgia/Mississippi State/Fresno State/Louisiana Tech
Warriors - Hawaii (note, Marquette if basketball)
Trojans - Southern California/Troy
Zips - Akron
Cornhuskers - Nebraska
Cardinal - Stanford
Demon Deacons - Wake Forest
Miners - Texas - El Paso
Scarlet Knights - Rutgers

[Solecismic]

Which spells... Deep Thought Answer

[enigma]

And that's a reference to the supercomputer in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The answer is fortytwo.

[Buccaneer]

The answer is fortytwo.
Why of course it is.