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College Football Survivor Pools
A college football survivor pool runs on the same knockout rule as its NFL cousin — pick one team a week, survive or lose a life — but the sport makes it a completely different ballgame. There are more than 130 FBS teams instead of 32 NFL teams, so ALA offers myriad options to fine-tune your pool to your liking.
An ALA college football survivor pool can be scoped to the whole FBS, have selections restricted to specific conferences, or have the rotating AP Top 25 available for selection. Games against FCS opponents can also be excluded from available selections.
The rest of the standard Survivor toolkit applies: multiple lives, multiple entries per person, more than one pick per week, team re-use rules, and caps on how often an entrant can pick against the same opponent. Pools can also pick teams to LOSE, or cover their point spread, instead of just winning outright.
How to set up a CFB Survivor pool
- Scope the team poolOpen the pool to all of FBS, limit it to one or more conferences, or restrict team selections to the AP Top 25. A conference-scoped pool is much harder and much more fun for a group that follows one league.
- Decide on FCS gamesChoose whether games against FCS opponents are eligible. Excluding them removes the easiest picks of September and keeps the early weeks competitive.
- Set the pick rule and livesPick to win, to lose, or against the spread. Add lives and allow multiple entries if you want the pool to survive its first big upset weekend.
- Invite your groupWeekly slates, eliminations and standings are handled automatically.
Create your College Football Survivor pool — free to set up. Payment is due only after your game has kicked off and you are certain ALA's software can provide you with everything you need.
Frequently asked questions
- How does a college football survivor pool work?
- Each week you pick one college football team. If they win — or lose / cover the spread, depending on the pool's rules — you advance to the next week. If they lose you forfeit a life, and when your lives run out you are eliminated. The last entry standing wins.
- Can I limit picks to one conference?
- Yes. A pool can be scoped to the full FBS or restricted to specific conferences, so an SEC-only or Big Ten-only pool is a supported configuration rather than something you have to police by hand.
- Can I exclude games against FCS teams?
- Yes, and many commissioners do. Non-conference games against FCS opponents are close to automatic wins, and excluding them keeps the first month of the season from being a formality.
- How does the pool handle Week 0?
- College football's 'Week 0' typically includes a significantly smaller slate with only a handful of FBS teams in action. You can open your pool up to include Week 0, or kick it off when the majority of FBS play begins in Week 1.
New to survivor? Read survivor pool rules, explained, or how to run a survivor pool if you're the commissioner. Compare every format in survivor vs pick'em vs confidence, or look up a term in the sports pool glossary.