The Dozen play-in had a clean setup: GRINDERS vs. RYDERS, winner gets the 8-seed and the last ticket into Tournament 6, loser goes home and watches the bracket on YouTube. Gruden, NjTank99 and Jake Malasek on one side. Rico Bosco, kellykeegs and KFC on the other. Simple math, ugly stakes.
The pregame card: 9-Grinders vs. 8-Ryders for the final tournament spot.
The Grinders walked in already feeling themselves coming off a strong showing the night before, and they didn't waste any time hammering that point home. Round 3 was NBA trivia presented by DraftKings — 2000s Finals runners-up, the kind of question that should favor the Ryders side with KFC on it. Instead the Grinders bullied it.
The Grinders going scorched-earth in the NBA round.
From there it just kept tilting. The New Amsterdam bonus round threw out a Ludacris question — how many times he says 'Rollout' in the 2001 song — and Gruden, of all people, locked in like he'd been studying the liner notes. The answer was 67. The Grinders nodded along like world beaters. The Ryders were toast.
Gruden flexing surprising Luda knowledge in the bonus round.
Earlier in the broadcast Gruden had already been operating as the heel, lobbing a softball trivia question at Dante — 'who sang Hit The Road, Jack?' — and watching the panel come unglued. By the time the NBA round and the Luda bomb hit, the energy on the Grinders side was the kind of thing you can't really come back from in a one-night elimination format.
Gruden going ruthless at Dante earlier in the episode.
So the 8-seed belongs to the Grinders, the Ryders are out, and Tournament 6 has its full field. Gruden himself called Jake the MVP and tagged Frank the Tank as money in the bank, which is the kind of postgame quote you only fire off when you know the bracket spot is locked. On to the tournament.
Gruden's MVP shout to Jake after the dust settled.
@TheDozenTrivia @jakemalasek @DraftKings Jake is the MVP!!!Frank the Tank you can take to the bank !