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Pick one team from the pool to win in each week of the season. If your selection wins, you survive to the next week. If your team loses, you are eliminated from the pool.

Players

The Survivor Pool is a contest open to anyone. Please encourage friends, family members, colleagues, etc. to sign up.

Key Guidelines

• Pick Every Team: You must pick 1 or 2 teams every week, and have picked every team by the end of the season.
• No Repeats: You cannot pick the same team more than once during the regular season.
• Strict Deadline: All picks must be submitted before the deadline each week. No exceptions.
• Missed Picks: Failing to submit a pick by the deadline results in an automatic elimination.

Each week during the 2026 college football season, pick one 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. By the end of the season, you will have picked every team once. Because there are more teams in the pool than there are weeks in the season, you will need to pick two teams in some weeks. On those weeks, both teams must win for you to advance. A loss by either team eliminates you.

Teams are only eligible when facing an FBS opponent. You can download the Survivor Picks Helper at the bottom of this page to see a full list of eligible games and to map out your selection strategy. You may not pick a team more than once during the season.

Every week of the season requires a selection, including the conference championship week. Your conference champion cannot be a team you’ve used previously, so plan accordingly. Should you make it through the Conference Championship Game (CCG), you will have successfully picked every team in the conference once (having picked two teams in some weeks).

Tiebreakers

In the event two or more players "survive" all weeks, the contest will go into a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker will be one selection from bowl-eligible teams. If there are still ties, everyone remaining will be declared winners.

Selection submissions must be made on this website by the deadline. The deadline will be displayed on the pool page, and the selection form will not accept selections after 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.

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.

The deadline is the deadline, it is held very strictly 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 by the browser. 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 your submission went through, and is your "receipt".

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.

The winner is the last one "surviving." If more than one player survives through the CCG, those players participate in the tiebreaker outlined above. If all remaining survivors are eliminated in the same week, they will all be considered winners (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 CCGs) all survivors' picks will be automatically made based on the teams they have remaining. If no one survives, tiebreaker procedures apply as outlined above. The contest will continue until there are no survivors left, or after bowl season concludes, whichever is earlier. The contest will not end early under any normal circumstances.

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.

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.

Schedules

Helmet schedules for the SEC and B1G courtesy of FBSchedules.com

Pick Helpers

Excel worksheet to aid in mapping out your picks throughout the season, ensuring you get every team.