CF2015 - Season 8 Rules

The Basics:

Preseason Rules:

All players must submit 2 items before the start of the season. 

1.  College Football Playoff Picks

2.  Power Conference (Binding for the duration of the season)

The College Football Playoff:

This year marks the inaugural season for the College Football Playoff.  Starting this season, players must predict the teams to compete in the College Football playoff and attempt to seed the teams correctly for bonus points.  You must also pick the winners of the semi-final games and the National Champion.

Scoring System for the College Football Playoff picks:

·         5 points for correctly picking a team to reach the playoff

·         10 points for correctly picking the team AND the team’s correct seed

·        15 points for correctly picking a team to win a semi-final game and advance to the national championship (format will be 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 – See Below)

·        25 points for correctly choosing the National Champion

 EXAMPLE:

Power Conference Selection:

Players must select a single conference to be their Power Conference for the entire season.  Each player must choose a minimum of 1 game a week from this conference (see below).  The 1 game will be their POWER GAME for that week and will have a higher point value than the rest of the picks.  (10 pts versus 7pts))  Conference options are listed in the table below.  More than one person can pick the same conference.  All players must choose a power conference and inform me of their selection prior to midnight on Wednesday, August 27, 2014. 

Basic Rules:

·         Each player will bet on a max of 6 games per week.  Your Power Game will be worth 10 points.  Each regular game is worth 7 points and the bonus Money Line game is worth 7 points plus the line of the game. (Detailed explanations of each bet type and scoring are explained later on)

·         Lines/Spreads will be posted on Mondays by a designated source.  These lines will be posted on the website.  They will be locked on Monday and will not change throughout the week.  

·         All picks for the week must be submitted before kickoff of your first scheduled game.  For example, if you are selecting a Tuesday or Thursday night game, all 6 of your picks must be submitted before kickoff of that game.  If you are selecting all Saturday games, your picks will be due on Friday before Midnight EST.  Saturday morning is too late.  Drunken calls at midnight on Friday are also too late.  (Any violation of this rule will result in a 7 point deduction from your overall score)

·         ALL PICKS ARE DUE AT ONCE (This helps keep the simple for the administrator and prevents other unethical practices)

Lines:

I am eliminating the possibility of the game resulting in a “Push” - All lines will be posted with a .5 point increment in the following manner:

•      I always use the website www.vegasinsider.com to pull the weekly lines.  From there, I always pull the VI Consensus lines, which represent the consensus of the major sports books list on their site.

•      If the line is a whole number (i.e. -7 or -10), I will be adjusting that line up by .5 point for consistency throughout the season

•      I will make it very clear which lines are exact from the site and which lines are changed +.5 pt by me.  (this will be obvious on the page, but let me know if you cannot figure it out)

Methods of Betting:

Straight Bets:

Betting Straight up is betting one game using the spread.   All games bet will have to use the spread, except Money Line bets (see below).  Each straight up pick is worth 7 points. 

Example:

Notre Dame -3              (Notre Dame must win by more than 3 points for you to earn your 7 points.  If they win by 3, then the game is a “push” and only 2 pts are earned.)

Notre Dame +3             (Notre Dame must either win straight up, or lose by less than 3 points for you to earn your 7 points.  If they lose by exactly 3, then the game is a “push” and only 2 points are earned.)

Stacked Bets:

Stacking games is the option of putting more points on a single game. If you feel good about a game you can make that game worth 2, 3, 4 or all 5 of your weekly games.  You cannot stack your Weekly Money Line game, but you CAN stack your Power game for that week.

Example:

When betting a stacked game use the amount (2), (3), (4) or (5) to indicate the number of times you want the game to count.

(2)Michigan -2 (game is now worth 14 pts)…and you have 3 games left to bet on.

(3)Michigan -2 (game is now worth 21 pts)…and you have 2 games left to bet on.

(4)Michigan -2 (game is now worth 28 pts)…and you have 1 game left to bet on.

(5)Michigan -2 (game is now worth 35 pts)…and you have 0 games left to bet on.

HOWEVER, losing stacked games will get you penalized, so be sure. Here are the penalties for stacks

Losing a 5 stack= -10 pts

               4 stack= -7 pts

               3 stack= -5 pts

               2 stack= -3 pts

Parlayed Bets:

Parlay your bets for more points.  To parlay, you group 2 or more games together that you are confident about, and winning points depends on all the games in your parlay being the correct pick.    YOU MUST WIN ALL GAMES IN A PARLAY TO GET POINTS. If you pick one game incorrectly in a parlay, the entire parlay is lost and no points are awarded for any of the games (even if the others are correct picks).   

Example:

When betting a parlay use (P) in front of all the games in the parlay. 3 games parlayed together for more pts (if you lose one you lose them all) MUST WIN ALL GAMES!!!

1. Mich -5,    

2. Louisville -2, and….

3. (P)Notre Dame +8

4. (P)Maryland -2           

5. (P)Miami +55                          

Points Earned for a Successful Parlay:

2 team- extra 5 pts

3 team- extra 10 pts

4 team- extra 20 pts

5 team- extra 30 pts

Money Line Bets:

Bet the money line on games to earn more points.  If you like an underdog to win the game outright, bet the money line and if you win, you win the points of the spread in addition to the base points you would earn.  

There will not be a deduction for an incorrect Money Line pick, but you are limited to 1 Money Line bet per week in addition to your required Weekly Money Line Game.  Therefore, you can have a MAXIMUM of 2 Money Lines selected in 1 week.

You may not stack Money Line bets, however you can include a Money Line bet in a Parlay (Not the Weekly Money Line Game)

Example:

When betting a money line game use ($) to indicate the money line.

($) Penn St. +5 ½  

(If Penn St Wins the game straight up, you get 5 ½ extra points)

Required Games:

Power Conference Games:

·         Before the season starts, each player will select a conference to become his or her POWER Conference.  

·         Each week you must select least one game from your Power Conference. (Your Weekly Power Game)

·         This game merely needs to involve a team from your power conference. You do not need to pick your power conference team to win (i.e. you can pick Oklahoma over Miami if your power conference is the ACC).  

·         This game will be worth 10 pts each week instead of the regular 7 pts.  

·         Failure to select a game from your Power Conference will incur a 5 pt penalty each week you don't comply

 Power Weeks:

·         Each person will choose his or her Power Week once per season.  

·         The player must pick all 5 games from his or her power conference. 

·         Power Weeks must consist of 5 different spreads with no special betting. (All games are Straight Bets)

·         These games are worth 10 pts instead of 7 pts per game

·         You can only use your Power Week ONCE per season- so use wisely

·         Each player is required to use the Power Week during the season – Failure to use the Power Week will result in a point deduction of 20 points from the overall score. 

Example:

When betting your Power week use (PWR) to indicate that it is your Power week.

(PWR)USC-10

(PWR)Oregon-4

(PWR)Arizona +25

(PWR)Cal+2 ½

(PWR)Oregon St. -5

 (All games picked from Pac-12, non stacked, non parlayed, no money lines)

Binding Conference Games:

·         You must bet and win at least once on every Division 1A conference throughout the season.  

o   Players will receive a 10 pt penalty for each conference he or she has not selected a winning game from during the season.

·         Only one conference can be used per game.  No doubling up on one game (i.e. if you bet on UCF vs. Miami, it will count towards either the ACC or Conference USA, not to both).  The uncommon conference will be used if both are still needed.

·         Tracking of each players selected conferences will be provided on a weekly basis

Weekly Money Line Games:

Each player will be required to pick a Weekly Money Line game each week.  This means you will choose an underdog that you think will win the game outright.  (See above section on methods of betting for info on money line bets) 

Example:

When betting a money line game use ($) to indicate the money line.

($) Penn St. +5 ½  

(If Penn St Wins the game straight up, you get 5 ½ extra points, if they don't win outright, you will gain 0 points and nothing will be deducted.)

 Bonuses & Other Points:

Perfect Week Bonus:

·         If a player wins all 5 games for the week, they will receive a Perfect Week Bonus of 20 points.  These bonuses DO NOT apply if you stack ANY games.  You must have correctly picked 5 separate games to receive the bonus. 

·         Since parlays and money lines are still individual games, you WILL receive the bonus if you have selected a bet of that type

·         The Weekly Money Line Game will not factor into the perfect week bonus.

Power Conference Winning Percentage:

At the end of the regular season, you will get a bonus based on your power conference winning percentage. 

For example:

·    You have chosen the Big East as your power conference. 

·    At the end of the season your overall Big East record is 15-1

·    You have a winning percentage of .9375

·    You will receive a bonus 10 times that percentage.

·    The bonus would be 93.75 points.

Rules for Special Cases: (Ties, postponed games, etc)

Postponed Games:

If a game is postponed due to weather, tragedy, or any other reason, the player will keep that game until the time it is played.  If this occurs, the player will receive the updated line and get to choose between either Team A or Team B.  The player will not have to keep their original team because of changes to the line. 

Example:

·         Clemson at UNC is scheduled for October 10th, 2009 and is postponed due to an earthquake.  The line on the game was originally UNC -21 

·         The game is rescheduled for October 17th, 2009.  The updated line is now UNC -27

·         Your Power Game for the original week was (PWR)Clemson +21

·         You may now choose either of the 2 teams using the UPDATED LINE

·         Your choices would be either: (PWR) Clemson +27

OR

(PWR)UNC -27

·         If the original bet was your Power Game for the week, then it will remain your Power Game for that week. (10 points)

·         If the original bet was a Weekly Money Line bet for the week, it will remain a Money Line Game for that week. (7 points + ML)

·         If the original bet was part of a parlay, it will remain in the parlay for the original week

·         Points will be added to the original week once the game has been played

Cancelled/Terminated Games:

If a game is permanently cancelled due to weather, tragedy, or any other reason, the player will be allowed to choose a 7^th game of the original bet type during the following week of the season. 

·         Points scored for the game will be applied to the original week of the bet

·         Player must submit the pick to the commissioner via e-mail within the normal deadline

·         If the cancelled game occurs during the final week of the Pick’em season, the game will be considered a PUSH and 50% of the points will be awarded to the player

Example:

A player selects Oklahoma -36 as their Power Game in week 1 and that game is cancelled due to lightning in the area

·         The player will be allowed to choose a 7th game from his/her power conference, during week 2

·         The game would be worth the original value of 10 points

No Power Conference Games:

If there is a week during the season when there are zero (0) games from your Power Conference taking place, then you may choose ANY game as your Power Game for that week only. (I believe only the Big 10 will have this problem) *With the conference shuffle this season, not sure what will happen in the final week.

2015 Rule Changes:

• I am eliminating the possibility of the game resulting in a “Push” - All lines will be posted with a .5 point increment

• Conference Deductions - I am switching this to a flat 10 point deduction if you have not selected a winner from the conference - This eliminates the somewhat confusing deductions for having selected vs won a game, but still encourages people to think outside the box.

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