20th Annual Pioneer Bowl Pool

College Bowl Pool Rules

• Pick the winners of each of the 19 bowl games versus the point spread. Note all point spreads supplied are with a 1/2. This is to assure that no game ends in a tie in the pool. For example, Florida State is a 4 1/2 point favorite over Tennessee. If you pick Florida State, they must win by at least 5 points for you to win that game. If the Seminoles wins by only 4 points, they may win the National Championship, but YOU would lose that game.

• Weigh each game by assigning a value from 19 (best pick) to 1 (worst pick) for each bowl.

• Picks may be entered directly at the Bowl Pool web site (see below) if your are a Pioneer user. If outside Pioneer, enter by e-mail (stowe@phibred.com) preferably, or SLOWLY leave your picks on voice-mail (515-270-3216).   List your picks in the order the games are played NOT in your order of preference, to facilitate my transcribing.

• New users must contact me to set them up first.

• If the team you pick in a game beats the spread, you score the value you assigned to the game (a perfect score would be 190 (and Bowl Pool immortality!.))

• If you lose the game, you get no points (go figure.)

• Pool winnings are distributed as follows:
  1st place 30%
  2nd place 22%
  3rd place 17%
  4th place 13%
  5th place 9%
  6th place 6%
  7th place 3%
  8th place free
  Proceeds coming from 9th place and on at $20 a piece.

• For example, if 50 contestants are in the pool the payoff would be:
  1 - $252.00
  2 - $184.80
  3 - $142.80
  4 - $109.20
  5 - $75.60
  6 - $50.40
  7 - $25.20
  8 - had fun
  rest pay $20 each.

• Payment ($20) is expected as soon as possible after the New Year! Do not pay till the pool is over, because - who knows? - you might win.

• Any ties in positions are broken by looking at the games in the tie-breaker order. Tie-breaker order is the reverse order of the games as listed. For example, if there is a tie and one person picked the correct winner of the Fiesta Bowl and the other didn't, the one who picked the Fiesta Bowl winner would win. But - not to worry - I will list reports that show every possible outcome.

• All picks must be in by 2:30pm, Friday, December 25th, which is when the first game kicks off.
  No late entries will be accepted.

• Bowl Pool recap and results will be updated at the bowl pool web site:
  • http://www.budmans.com/football/bowlpool/

• Let others know about the pool. Anyone may enter (as long as someone knows who the heck you are and can vouch for you (or at least, for your $20).)