NCAA FOOTBALL 2026 — College Football Margin Pools

College Football Margin Pools

A college football margin pool scores the margin of victory on a single weekly pick, and never eliminates anyone. Pick a team, and their winning margin is added to your season total — or their losing margin is subtracted from it. Highest total at the end of the year wins.

College football is arguably the sport this format was made for. Blowouts are routine and enormous in a way they simply are not in the NFL, so a single well-chosen Saturday can be worth more than a month of careful picking. That gives entrants who fall behind a genuine path back, and makes the whole season worth following.

The pool can be scoped to all of FBS, specific conferences, or Top 25 games, and FCS opponents can be excluded — which matters here more than in most formats, since a 55-point win over an overmatched FCS team would otherwise be the dominant strategy. Team re-use rules, opponent usage caps, multiple entries and missed-pick insurance are all configurable.

How to set up a CFB Margin pool

1. Optionally Exclude FCS gamesA recommended setting for most formats, lest the optimal strategy simply be finding the biggest mismatch on the board every week. Excluding FCS opponents keeps the pool about reading real games.
2. Scope the eligible teamsAll FBS, specific conferences, or AP Top 25 teams. A conference-scoped margin pool is a good fit for a group that follows one league closely.
3. Set re-use and opponent capsDecide whether a team can be picked repeatedly, and whether an entrant can keep picking against the same opponent.
4. Invite your friendsMargins are computed from final scores automatically and running totals update as games finish.

Create your College Football Margin 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 is a college football margin pool scored?

In most formats you will pick one team each week. Their margin of victory is added to your season total, and a loss subtracts the margin of defeat. A 45-10 win is +35; a 21-24 loss is -3. The highest cumulative total throughout the season wins.

Why exclude FCS games from a margin pool?

FBS teams routinely beat FCS opponents by 40 or more, so if those games are eligible the winning strategy is just to find the biggest mismatch each week rather than to actually read games. Excluding them is arguably the single most important setting in this format.

Can you be eliminated from a margin pool?

No. There are no lives and no eliminations, so every entrant plays every week of the season regardless of how their picks have gone.

Can I scope the pool to Top 25 games?

Yes. The eligible slate can be limited to Top 25 matchups or to specific conferences, the same as the college pick'em and confidence formats.

What happens if someone misses a pick?

A missed pick can either be hit with a fixed negative penalty, a penalty aligned with the worst performing team of the week, or have an insurance/automatic pick assigned to them -- all depending on the pool's configuration.

Compare every format in survivor vs pick'em vs confidence, or look up a term in the sports pool glossary.