OFFICIAL RULES FOR 2013
How the
Game is Played
Each week on Tuesday, beginning with 3 Sep 2013, ten Division 1 college football games will be posted on the Mano a Mano website, under the Games for This Week link. This posting will list the opponents in each game, indicating which team is to be considered as favored to win (the Favorite), with the other team (the Dog) playing the role of the underdog, along with a point spread as determined by what is posted by the casinos in Las Vegas (in particular the Las Vegas Hilton). Players pick the winners (NOTE: ALL MANO PICKS ARE AGAINST THE SPREAD) for these games, where the Favorite is considered to be the winner if it wins by more than the posted point-spread, with the Dog being declared the winner when this does not happen. 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 = 1, the game you are least confident about, Maximum score = 10, the game you have the most confidence in. Using each of the scores 1 through 10 once and only once, the total of your confidence level scores should be 10+ 9 + 8 + ... + 2 + 1 = 55.) As picks are received by the administrator, head-to-head matchups will be assigned roughly in the order in which the picks are received. 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, there will be a 2013 Mano a Mano Championship, using FBS conference championship games and bowl games, with invitations extended to the players who accumulated the best records (W/L, Points Scored, Picking Accuracy) during the regular season.
How to Sign Up
There is no formal registration
process this year. Send an e-mail to mano-a-mano@dpdsdogs.com if you wish
to communicate information such as e-mail address changes, Returning Player vs Mano Rookie status, or desired matchups against other
Mano players.
Conference Set-up
None this year. If we continue with
Mano a Mano 2014 we may return to the conference format then.
2013 Season Schedule
The first week of competition for Mano a Mano 2013 will
involve games played on Saturday, September 7.
(There will be a pre-season practice week,
a Mano Exhibition if you will, using games played August 31.)
This still leaves us with 13 solid weeks of exciting
football action, so there will be 13 weeks in the 2013 Mano a Mano season.
Mano Week # 13 (Thanksgiving week) may include some of the
games played on Friday, November 29.
Weekly Games
Each week the contest begins by
The games will be listed as follows: Favored Team Point
Spread Underdog
Here is an example:
Game 1 Florida 1 1/2
Game 2 Utah
1 1/2 BYU
Game 3 Pitt 2 1/2
Game 4 Florida St. 3
1/2 Miami-Fla.
Game 5
Game 6
Game 7
Game 8
Game
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, you can go ahead and post them
on the mano board or send them via e-mail, but don’t
be surprised if the most hyped games sometimes don’t appear on the slate.
Weekly Picks
Once the games and point spreads
are announced, players may begin submitting their picks for that week. Picks should be submitted beginning noon on
Tuesday until midnight on Friday. Picks
are submitted using the "Submit Picks" link located on the Mano a
Mano home page. You may also submit
picks (within the required time frame) by posting them directly on the Mano Board, or by sending them to the official contest e-mail
address, mano-a-mano@dpdsdogs.com.
Please be sure to specify all pertinent information including your contest Player Name (IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU
REMEMBER TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME WITH YOUR PICKS), 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.)
The Friday midnight deadline gives you time to check your picks against what
has been posted (picks will be posted as soon as completed matchups have been
formed), although the absolute final deadline is the first kickoff amongst the
ten slated games. Anyone failing to
submit picks for a given week within this 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 kickoff 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.
ABSOLUTELY NO PICKS WILL BE
ACCEPTED IF SUBMITTED AFTER SATURDAY KICKOFF.
(Again note this deadline will be the Friday kickoff in Mano Week 13.)
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), giving a final possible score ranging from 0 to 55
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?
This has always been the biggest
drawback to this contest, and it has been dealt with in various ways. In 2013 this will not be a problem because your
opponent will be randomly assigned to you from amongst the players who did
submit picks. The only thing that can
happen is when an odd number of players send in picks. When this happens, the opponent for the very
last person to send picks in will be dpd. (Good luck!)
Player Standings
W/L records, total points scored
during the season, and picking accuracy against the spread, are the three
factors used to determine which players will receive invitations to 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
Complete details will be posted
later. If we have a sixteen-player
playoff bracket, we might use something like this: The top eight seeds go to the eight players
with the best win/loss records, with Head-to-Head Results, Points Scored, and
Picking Accuracy (in that order) being used to break ties. The next four seeds will go to the remaining
players with the highest point totals (tie-breakers are W/L, Head-to-Head, and
Accuracy), and the final four seeds will go to the remaining players with the
best picking accuracy (tie-breakers = W/L, Points, Head-to-Head). If you think you have a better idea,
suggestions are welcome.
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:
TUESDAY: Look for this week's games and point spreads to be posted at
the Mano a Mano website, sometime around noon.
WEDNESDAY: Finalize your picking strategy for this week.
THURSDAY: Hopefully most players will have picks sent in by Thursday night.
FRIDAY: Players' picks will be posted as matchups are determined. All
players should double-check that their entries are correct.
SATURDAY: Any last-minute changes must be posted on the Mano Board (or
received via e-mail) by 10 a.m. (local time).
SUNDAY: Results from the previous day, plus updated conference
standings, will be posted at the Mano a Mano official website.
MONDAY: Rejoicing and Sobbing.
If you have any questions or
comments, feel free to contact us at any time by posting a message on the Mano
Board,
or by sending e-mail to mano-a-mano@dpdsdogs.com.
We're looking forward to a great
season — Good luck to all!!!