Snack Madness: Bring on the Sweet Sixteen!

As the “real” March Madness heads into the Final Four this weekend, Snack Madness heads into the Sweet Sixteen and is on track for our tournament to take exactly one month. On Monday and Tuesday we will vote on all the Sweet Sixteen match-ups. On Monday we’ll vote on match-ups in the Potato Chip and Cookie brackets, on Tuesday we’ll vote on match-ups in the Cracker and Misc. Snack brackets. Wednesday and Thursday those winners will face off in our Elite Eight match-ups, and by 12 pm on Friday morning, we will know our Snack Madness Final Four!

If you are unfamiliar with Snack Madness, read up on it HERE. This is where our bracket stands right now after several rounds of voting, including the margin of victory in each match-up so far:

(Click to Enlarge)

Four competitors remain in each of the brackets. Let’s take a look at the remaining competitors and their odds at making the Final Four to represent their brackets.

Cookie Bracket: #1 Oreo, #12 Teddy Grahams, #6 Milanos, #7 Tollhouse

Favorite: Oreo
Top Challenger: Tollhouse
Dark Horse: Teddy Grahams

#1 Oreo has cruised so far without facing any serious competition. Unless there is a flood of nostalgic votes for Teddy Grahams, (which has barely squeaked out wins each of the first two rounds) that seems unlikely to change in the Sweet Sixteen. However, trouble looms in the Elite Eight. Milano’s continue to pull out victories thanks to loyal fans, and Tollhouse has been flat-out dominating. Oreo will need to look out against either competitor.

Potato Chip Bracket: #1 Lay’s, #12 popchips, #2 Cape Cod, #3 Pringles

Favorite: Lay’s
Top Challenger: Pringles
Dark Horse: popchips

popchips is the spoiler in this bracket. The top 3 seeds have all advanced as expected, but popchips has been crushing it with some very strong social media mobilization of its voters, and easily dispensed with a strong competitor in Kettle chips. Lay’s seems to be cruising on name alone and we’ve seen no effort to date to mobilize their supporters through Facebook or Twitter. Can popchips cinderella run continue? Or will Lay’s wake-up and realize the power of activating its much more massive fan base? Cape Cod vs. Pringles should be a barn burner. Both are very popular chips and I have no idea which way the vote will go.

Cracker Bracket: #1 Ritz, #4 Cheez-Its, #2 Goldfish, #3 Wheat Thins

Favorite: Winner of Ritz vs. Cheez-Its
Top Challenger: Wheat Thins
Dark Horse: None

No upsets here as all four top seeds have advanced relatively easily. That ends now, as both these match-ups should be TIGHT. #1 Ritz vs. #4 Cheez-Its is probably the cracker match-up we’ve all been waiting for. Ritz is the favorite, but Cheez-Its easily dispensed with a tough Triscuits match-up last round. Call this one a coin flip. Ditto Goldfish vs. Wheat Thins, which could go either way depending on which snack does a better job to rally its supporters.

Misc. Snack Bracket: #1 Tostitos, #4 Chex Mix, #2 Doritos, #3 Cheetos

Favorite: Tostitos
Top Challenger: Doritos
Dark Horse: None

Once again, no upsets in this bracket, proving that I am amazing at making arbitrary seeding of food items. Cheetos got a scare from SunChips last round, but otherwise all four of these snacks have cruised. No longer. Can Chex Mix leverage its popularity to knock off the widely available Tostitos? Cheetos vs. Doritos is the powder-on-our-fingers match-up we’ve all been waiting for, and this match-up is no doubt making the heads of stoners all over America explode.

What are your predictions for these match-ups and who will make the Final Four?