OFFICIAL RULES
FOR 2008
How the Game is Played
The pool of contest players is divided into conferences,
with the number of conferences and the number of players per conference to be
determined by the number of players. A
weekly schedule is created, pitting every player against a different player
each week. Players pick the winners
(NOTE: ALL MANO PICKS ARE AGAINST THE SPREAD) for ten Division
I-A college football games which have been selected for each week. Players then assign confidence points to
each of their ten picks, with 10 points assigned to the pick with the highest
confidence level, down to1 point for the least confident pick. Players’ scores are then determined by adding up the points
for all games that were picked correctly.
(Minimum score = 0, Maximum score
= 10 + 9 + 8 + ... + 2 + 1 = 55.)
Between the two opponents in each week’s Mano a Mano matchup, a Win is
declared if one player scores more points than the other, with a Loss being
declared for the loser. Win/Loss records are thus accumulated throughout the
season. At the regular season’s end,
the conference champions and any wildcard winner(s) will advance to the
playoffs for a shot at the Mano a Mano
Championship.
Note: the Mano a Mano 2008 season will be 13 weeks long, with each player having a "Bye" week once during the season.
How to Sign Up
Send an e-mail to
admin@dpdsdogs.com. Include the
player’s name you want to use for the contest, your e-mail address*, your
favorite division I-A college football team, and any Mano conference
preference. Please also indicate if you
are a returning Mano player, or if you will be participating this year as a
Mano Rookie.
The deadline to sign-up is
Thursday, August 28, 2008.
* There is a maximum of one entry
per league for each e-mail address.
Conference Set-up
Each participant has the option
of either selecting the conference in which they wish to participate or having
contest administrators randomly place them into a conference. The number of conferences depends on the
total number of players who sign up, with roughly ten players in each
conference. Contest administrators
reserve the right to alter league and conference set-ups as needed to ensure
all the conferences contain a nearly equal number of players.
Weekly Schedules
Once conference assignments have
been made, the Mano a Mano conference schedule, which begins in Week # 3, will
be finalized for the entire length of the contest season and posted at the
official Mano site. This schedule will
match contest participants against each other from week to week. Each player will have the opportunity to
play all players within their conference and will be matched up against players
from other conferences, with OOC (out-of-conference) match-ups being randomly
determined during the final process of creating the schedule. During the
first two weeks of the season, individual match-ups may be altered in case of
no-shows, i.e. people who sign up but have no intention of actually playing the
entire season. Once conference play
begins, the final schedule will be set and no-shows will be replaced by Mano
Consensus (see below).
Weekly Games
Each week the contest begins by
noon Tuesday with the posting of that week’s ten games and point spreads on the
official Mano a Mano forum, maintained at workmanpoll.com.
The games will be listed as follows: Favored Team Point
Spread Underdog
Here is an example:
Game 1 Florida 1 1/2 Georgia
Game 2 Utah 1 1/2 BYU
Game 3 Pitt 2 1/2 Syracuse
Game 4 Florida St. 3 1/2 Miami-Fla.
Game 5 Alabama 3 1/2 Tennessee
Game 6 Texas 4 1/2 Oklahoma
Game 7 Toledo 5 1/2 Bowling Green
Game 8 Michigan 6 1/2 Ohio
State
Game 9 Boise St. 7 1/2 Fresno St.
Game 10 USC 8 1/2 UCLA
All games will be listed with
half-point spreads (e.g. 3 1/2 rather than 3 or 4) to eliminate pushes (i.e.
games that are tied ATS). We will try to
ensure that contest point spreads mirror the published “Latest Lines” for all
games used. However, the point spreads
published on Tuesday are final regardless of whether they coincide with the
Vegas odds. We will try to select the
10 most intriguing match-ups from week to week and will try to get a variety of
teams throughout the season. If you
have any suggestions for games to use for any week,
e-mail us your suggestions and we will try to accommodate as many requests as
possible.
Weekly Picks
Once the games and point spreads
are announced, players may begin submitting their picks for that week. Picks may be submitted beginning noon on
Tuesday until midnight on Thursday.
Picks are submitted by clicking on the "Submit Picks" link
located on the Mano a Mano
forum. You may also submit picks
(within the required time frame) by posting them directing on the Mano
forum. Please be sure to specify all
pertinent information including your contest name, your picks for the winners
(against the spread) for all 10 games, and the confidence points for all 10
games. When assigning confidence
points, assign 10 to the game pick that you feel the most confident about, then
assign 9 points to your next most confident pick, and so on down to assigning 1
point to your least confident pick. Do not assign the same confidence
points to more than one game in a given week.
(As a numerical check, the total sum of all your confidence points
should be equal to 55.) We ask that you
submit picks on time so that we can post all players picks on the website by
5pm on Friday, so that all players can review their picks, review their opponent’s picks, and review the picks of all other contest
participants. If you can not meet the
midnight Thursday deadline, if your picks are not posted correctly, or if you
wish to change one or more of your picks, we will allow last minute changes.
Any changes or late submission of picks after the midnight Thursday deadline can only be accomplished by posting your picks or
changes on the Mano a Mano
message board prior to 10 a.m. on Saturday. We ask that you use this
last-minute option as a one-time exception.
Timely posting of picks will allow for all players to have the ability
to easily find all picks that have been posted in one place instead of having
to scan through several message board posts containing numerous changes. Anyone
failing to submit picks for a given week within the required deadline will
automatically receive a Loss for that week of the competition. It is the responsibility of all players to
review their picks once they have been posted on the website on Friday to
ensure that their picks were received and posted accurately. Picks posted are final unless modified on
the message board prior to noon Saturday.
If you notice that your picks have not been received or have not been
posted accurately, simply post your picks on the message board prior to 10 a.m.
Saturday.
ANY PICKS NOT SUBMITTED BY
MIDNIGHT THURSDAY OR POSTED ON THE MANO MESSAGE BOARD BY TEN A.M. SATURDAY WILL
NOT BE ACCEPTED.
Weekly Results
For each game a player picks
correctly, the confidence points assigned to that game are added to that
player’s weekly score (points are not deducted for incorrectly picked games,
which score zero points). In each Mano
a Mano match-up, the player who scores the most
points will get credited with a Win for that week, while the player with the
least points will be credited with a Loss.
Yes, it is very possible for such a match-up to end in a tie, and
tie-breakers for weekly match-ups, based on assigned confidence levels, are
explained below. Weekly results will be
posted to each player’s seasonal standings and will
accumulate throughout each week of the contest. The outcomes of the weekly match-ups
will be officially posted on the website by noon on Monday.
What happens if my Mano opponent fails to submit picks?
As stated above any player who
fails to submit picks will automatically receive a Loss for that given
week. If a player is matched against an
opponent who fails to submit picks, that player will then compete against the
Mano Consensus for that week. If the
player has better luck making picks than the Mano community, then that player
receives a Win for that week, otherwise a Loss (with usual tie-breakers in case
of a tie). In 2006 there were 24
games against the Mano Consensus, which had a season record of 12-12.
If I get around to it I'll figure out what Consensus's record was for 2007.
Player Standings
Players conference standing, including W/L record, accuracy %,
total points scored, and games behind the conference leader accumulate
throughout the contest season based upon all weekly results. This information will determine which
players qualify for the Mano a Mano
playoffs at the end of the Mano a Mano
regular season. Weekly player standings
will be officially posted on the website by noon on Monday.
Tie-breaker(s) for Weekly Results
If opponents earn the same
points for their picks, here are the tie-breakers:
1. Most games picked correctly.
2. Whoever correctly picked their
10 point game.
3. Whoever correctly picked their
9 point game.
and so on.
So if both players earn 20 points
for their picks, then the first tie-breaker is who picked the most games
correctly. If both picked 6 of 10
correctly, then the next tie-breaker is who picked their 10 point game correctly,
if both or neither picked the 10 point game correctly then the next tie-breaker
is who picked the 9 point game correctly and so on all the way down until the
tie is broken. If by some chance the
tie is still not broken after all of these tie-breakers, both players will earn
a tie for that weekly competition. The exception to players earning a tie would
be during a playoff match-up. In that
situation, if a tie is not broken by all of the tie breaker methods listed
above, then the final tie-breaker would be whichever player had the better
accuracy % rate on their picks throughout the entire contest season.
Playoff Details
At the conclusion of the Mano a Mano regular season, 16
players will earn a spot in the Mano a Mano playoffs. The
16 participants will consist of conference winners and wildcard winners. The conference winners will be the player in
each conference with the best win/loss record during the regular season. The wildcard winner(s) will be the player(s)
who have earned the highest number of points during the regular season AND are
not conference champions. Playoff seedings will work as follows. The 8 conference champions will be seeded from #1 thru #8 based
upon W/L records, then by total points, then by accuracy%. The 8 wildcard winners will be seeded from
#9 thru #16 based upon total points, then by W/L records, then by accuracy
%. It will then function as a normal
tourney (#1 vs #16, #8 vs
#9, etc). Players will NOT be re-seeded
after each round. Winners from round #1
will advance to the quarterfinals, and then possibly on to the semifinals and
then possibly to the Mano a Mano
championship game. One loss and you are
out. Playoff forecasts will be provided
each week during the second half of the contest regular season and all playoff
qualifiers will be announced at the conclusion of the regular season.
Tie-breaker(s) for Conference Winners
If players in the same conference
have an identical Win/Loss record at the end of the regular season, here are
the tiebreakers to determine the conference winner:
1. Most total points earned
during the season.
2. Head-to-head W/L record.
3. Most points earned in week 13.
4. Most points earned in week 12.
and so on.
Tie-breaker(s) for Wildcard Winners
If more than one player, who is not
a conference champion, has accumulated the most total points throughout the
regular season, here are the tiebreakers to determine the wildcard winner(s):
1. Seasonal W/L record.
2. Head-to-head record.
3. Most points earned in week 13.
4. Most points earned in week 12.
and so on.
Contest Administration
Contest administrators reserve
the right to make decisions relating to the contest at their discretion. Judgments rendered
by contest administrators are final.
Weekly Summary:
MONDAY: Prior week results and updated standings will be posted on the workmanpoll.com website by noon.
TUESDAY: Upcoming week’s games and point spreads will be posted on the workmanpoll.com website by noon.
WEDNESDAY: Nothing.
THURSDAY: All picks
must be submitted via the website no later than midnight.
FRIDAY: All players’ picks will be posted on the website by 5:00 p.m.
EST.
SATURDAY: All last-minute changes/picks must be
posted on the Mano a Mano
message board by 10 a.m. (local time).
SUNDAY: Rejoicing
and sobbing.
The contest begins with games to
be played on Saturday, 30 August 2008, which means picks for Week # 1 will be
due by Thursday, August 28, which is the official starting date for Division I
college football.
If you have any questions or
comments, feel free to contact us at any time by posting a message on the Mano a Mano board, or by sending
e-mail to admin@dpdsdogs.com.
We're looking forward to a great season — Good luck to all!!!