HOW IT WORKS
Each week during the 2024 college football season, pick one SEC team that you think will win its matchup for that week. If your pick wins, you advance to the next week. If your pick loses, you are eliminated. Because there are 16 SEC teams and only 15 weeks, you will need to pick two teams in one week of your choice. On that week, both teams must win for you to advance. A loss by either team eliminates you.
You will receive an email every Monday morning with a list of the eligible teams from which to choose for the upcoming week, as well as a link to the website where you can reference the teams you've already chosen up to that point. Please add jdlay0794@gmail.com to your safe senders list to ensure the email doesn’t go to spam.
Teams are only eligible when facing a FBS opponent. To make it easy this year, below is a list of games that are not eligible to be picked. Any game not listed below is an eligible game.
You may not pick a team more than once during the season.
There are 15 weeks in the 2024 SEC football calendar, including the conference championship game. Your SEC Champion cannot be a team you’ve used previously, so plan accordingly. Should you make it through the SEC Championship Game (SECCG), you will have used all 16 SEC teams once (having picked two teams on one week of your choice).
Games NOT Eligible in 2024
| Week |
Team |
Opponent |
| 1 |
Missouri |
Murray State |
| 1 |
Arkansas |
AR-Pine Bluff |
| 1 |
Tennessee |
Chattanooga |
| 1 |
Mississippi State |
Eastern Kentucky |
| 1 |
Ole Miss |
Furman |
| 1 |
Auburn |
Alabama A&M |
| 2 |
Florida |
Samford |
| 2 |
Georgia |
Tennessee Tech |
| 2 |
LSU |
Nicholls |
| 2 |
Texas A&M |
McNeese State |
| 2 |
Vanderbilt |
Alcorn State |
| 10 |
Oklahoma |
Maine |
| 12 |
Alabama |
Mercer |
| 12 |
Kentucky |
Murray State |
| 13 |
South Carolina |
Wofford |
TIEBREAKERS
In the event two or more players "survive" all 15 weeks, the contest will go into tiebreaker mode. During tiebreaker mode, all picks reset, meaning you can pick any SEC team that falls into the following criteria:
- Each remaining survivor will pick one SEC team of their choosing (from all those who are NOT competing in the 12-team college football playoff) to win its bowl game.
- In the event that more than one player survives the bowl round, the total prize will be split among all remaining survivors.
RULE UPDATE FOR 2024 SEASON
In the event that no one "survives" all 15 weeks, the prize will be split even between all players who made the most correct selections throughout the season. For example, if following the SECCG there are no survivors remaining, whichever players selected the most correct picks would be considered the winners. Take a look at the scenario below:
- Person A: Makes one incorrect pick for the SECCG (Correct picks throughout the year: 15/16)
- Person B: Saves the Double Week pick for the SECCG, makes one correct pick and, by default, one incorrect pick (Correct picks throughout the year: 15/16)
- Person C: Saves the Double Week pick for the SECCG, makes two incorrect picks (Correct picks throughout the year: 14/16)
In that scenario,
assuming no one survived past the SECCG,
Person A and Person B would be considered the winners, and the prize would be split between them.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE
Eligible submissions can only be made by going to the link in the email you will receive each Monday morning and submitting your pick for that week via the Google form. Picks must be submitted before the first SEC team kicks off each week. The deadline date and time for submitting picks each week will be clearly noted in the Monday morning email, and the form will close at the deadline.
If you do not receive the email from me on Monday morning, please check your junk or spam folder. It is your responsibility and yours alone to reach out prior to the deadline if for some reason you don’t get the weekly email. This is especially true in Week 1, as the Week 1 email may go to spam or junk if jdlay0794@gmail.com isn’t on your safe senders list. A mis-typed email address in the initial sign-up process may also mean you don’t get the Monday email. Again, the responsibility is on you and you alone to reach out if you don’t get it. Many players through the years have lost in Week 1 because of this.
The deadline is the deadline, and all submissions are final at that point. Any excuse for submitting after the deadline will be invalid. Submission times are counted by when they are time stamped on the Google form. You will receive an automated confirmation to your email every time you submit. Be sure that your submission goes through and that you receive the confirmation note. If you do not receive a confirmation to the email address you list when filling out the form, you are strongly encouraged to submit again. This is how you know that you’ve both typed your email address correctly and that your submission went through.
Once you submit a pick, you can still change it at any time before the deadline. To do so, simply fill out the form again to submit your new pick. Only the most recent submission will be counted, and previous picks by the same player will be discarded. If for any reason you feel that your submission didn’t go through, simply submit again. There’s no penalty for submitting more than once. Again, only the most recent submission will count.
DETERMINING WINNER(S)
The winner is the last one "surviving." If more than one player survives all 15 weeks, those players participate in the tiebreaker outlined above. If all remaining survivors are eliminated in the same week, they all split the prize (time of game has no impact on elimination). Those who fail to submit a pick in a given week, or those who submit an ineligible pick (for example, a team they have already chosen), are not eligible to win even if all players who do submit lose.
In the final week of the season (the SECCG) all survivor's picks will be automatically made based on the teams they have remaining. If no one survives, tiebreaker procedures apply as outlined above.
Prizes will not be awarded before a winner is determined (players cannot agree to forgo the rest of the contest and “split” the prize).
By entering the contest, you agree to these submission rules and cannot protest a late submission for any reason.
REFUNDS
There are no refunds once your fee has been paid. This includes missing your Week 1 pick, either because you typed your email address incorrectly and never got the email, the email went to junk/spam, or because you forgot.
CANCELLATIONS
If a game gets canceled (meaning it is announced that there will not be a makeup date) prior to the deadline for that week and a player has already submitted an eligible team playing in that game as his or her pick for the week, that player must re-pick from the list of remaining eligible teams for that week prior to that week’s deadline. In this scenario, Jake will email all players who fall into that category, and they will have to fill out the form again.
If a game gets canceled after the deadline for that week and a player has already submitted an eligible team playing in that game as his or her pick for the week, the game will be counted as a win for that player, the player will advance to the next week, and he or she cannot use that team again during the season.
POSTPONEMENTS
If a game gets postponed (meaning it is announced that the game will be made up at a later date) prior to the deadline for that week and a player has already submitted an eligible team playing in that game as his or her pick for the week, the player has two options:
- Submit a new pick before the deadline from remaining eligible teams.
- Stick with his or her current pick. If the player chooses this option, then he or she will advance to the next week but will not get a win until the game is made up. The player cannot use that team again but can continue picking in future weeks as if he or she won. If, once the game is played, the team he or she picked wins, it will count as a win retroactive to the week the game was originally scheduled. If, once the game is played, the team he or she picked loses, he or she will be eliminated from the contest retroactive to the week the game was originally scheduled.
If a game gets postponed after the deadline for that week and a player has already submitted an eligible team playing in that game as his or her pick for the week, the player’s pick will fall into option 2 above.
If a postponed game later gets canceled, then the cancellation game policy above applies.
FORFEITS
If any games involving SEC teams are deemed a forfeit, the game will be treated as if it’s a cancellation and will fall into the cancellation policy above. No Survivor Pool players will be eliminated from the contest as a result of a forfeit, but as noted above, players may have to pick a new team if the forfeit is announced prior to the deadline for that week.