Prediction Contest Help

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The prediction software was written in a format that should be both challenging and entertaining. College football is not a game ruled by parity, so we could not have a program that just predicted wins and losses. It would not be too challenging to predict that FSU is going to beat DUKE.

We have devised a program that is similar to the way you would bet on college football games in Vegas. The goal of your selection is to predict whether a team will "cover" the spread and to predict the winner of the ballgame.

You will receive 2 pts for accurately predicting whether the favored team will win by a certain margin (the spread).

You will receive 1 pt for accurately predicting the winner of the game.

It sounds complicated but it is simple once you get the hang of it.

Every week the betting "line" or the “spread” is released for all Division I college football games. This will look like this:

Kansas (+30) at NEBRASKA (the home team is always CAPITALIZED)

Practically speaking this means that if you were to bet that Nebraska will "cover" then they would have to beat Kansas by 30 or more points. If you were to bet on Nebraska not to "cover" then either Nebraska has to beat Kansas by less than 30 pts or Kansas has to beat Nebraska.

In our prediction program you enter the predicted score of the game.

So if you enter:

Kansas 20 Nebraska 55

then you are saying two things:

A) Nebraska will win the game

B) Nebraska will cover the 30 pt spread.

1. If the actual game score is Nebraska 60 Kansas 20 then you will receive 3pts, because:

a) you accurately predicted the winner of the game (Nebraska)

b) you also accurately predicted that Nebraska would "cover" the line (Nebraska won by 40 pts which is the point differential if you take the favored team's score and subtract the other teams score (60 - 20 = 40)

2. If the actual game score is Nebraska 50 Kansas 30 then you will receive only 1 pt, because:

a) you incorrectly predicted that Nebraska would "cover" the line (Nebraska won by 20 pts which is below the 30pt line)

b) however you still receive 1 pt for accurately picking that Nebraska would win the game

3. If the actual game score is Nebraska 32 Kansas 33 then you will receive 0 pts, because:

a) you incorrectly predicted that Nebraska would "cover" the line (Nebraska did not win by 30. They lost the game)

b) you also incorrectly picked that Nebraska would win the game so no point given


1. Above the lines = favored team will win and cover

2. In between the lines = favored team will win and will not cover

3. Below the lines = favored team will lose

LOOKING AT THE LISTING ABOVE

1 & 2 are predicting that Colorado State will cover the 3 pt spread and that Colorado State will win the game.

3 & 4 are predicting that Colorado State will not cover the 3 pt spread, however Colorado State will win the game.

5 thru 13 are predicting that Colorado State will not cover the 3 pt spread and Colorado State will lose the game.

If Colorado State wins the game by 3 or more pts then:
1 & 2 will get 3 pts (1 pt for accurately predicting the winner and 2 pts for accurately predicting the spread)

3 & 4 will get 1 pt (1 pt for accurately predicting the winner and no points because they incorrectly picked the spread)

5 thru 13 will receive 0 pts (no points because they incorrectly picked Colorado State to lose and they incorrectly picked the spread)

If Colorado State wins the game by less than 3 pts then:
1 & 2 will receive 1 pt (1 pt for accurately predicting the winner and no pts for inaccurately predicting the spread)

3 & 4 will receive 3 pts (2 pts for accurately predicting that Colorado State will not “cover” the spread

5 thru 13 will receive 2 pts (2 pts for accurately predicting that Colorado State will not “cover” the spread and no points for inaccurately picking the winner)

If Colorado State loses the game then:
1 & 2 will receive 0 pts (no points because they incorrectly picked Colorado State to both win and cover the spread)

3 & 4 will receive 2 pts (2 points for accurately picking that Colorado State will not cover the spread and no points for incorrectly picking the winner)

5 thru 13 will receive 3 pts (2 points for accurately picking that Colorado State will not cover the spread and 1 point for picking that Col State would lose)

Rules specific to our program

The favored team will always be Team 2. If there is no favored team then the HOME team will be Team 2.
If you enter a score that mirrors the spread (spread is +3 and you pick the favored team to win by +3) then your score will be deemed to have picked the favored team to cover.

The score must be entered in by 11:00p.m. the night before the game. (I say this b/c we will occasionally have Thursday night games)

Once you have entered the score then it CANNOT be changed so be careful when entering your predicted scores.
The charts in the “View Stats” section are just aids to help you see how you are performing from week to week. It does not represent the Official Standings.

The OFFICIAL STANDINGS of the Stingtalk Prediction Contest are in the Game Prediction section listed under “View Standings.”

*The prediction program is for entertainment purposes only. Stingtalk.com in no way endorses or promotes gambling on college athletics.