2026 Rules

1. Pigskin Mania and all Mania pools meet the legal definition of "social gambling." The organizers make no profit nor keep any proceeds from any entry fees. All entry fees minus the cost of hosting this web site are paid out to winners or held on account for future pools.
2. Account balances and expenses are indicated on the Accounts page and the Prize Money page, respectively. The PM Rules Committee is made up of the 7 active PM Founding Fathers plus 2 longtime players. The Rules Committee will rule on any unusual circumstances which arise and require formation or interpretation of a rule. All rulings will be made in the best interests of the game. Any ruling that involves a member of the Rules Committee will not have that member as a participant in the ruling.
3. he entry fee is $60, which pays for the entire season. There are no weekly entry fees. The entry fee must be paid before the player's first selected game begins in Week 1. If the entry fee is not paid by that time, the picks in Week 1 will not count.
4. The season will start with games on Thursday, September 3, 2026. The season continues for 21 weeks to include the college football regular season, the NFL regular season, bowl games, the first two rounds of NFL playoffs, the College Football Playoffs and the championship game on Monday, January 25, 2027.
5. Each week, players will attempt to pick the winners of five football games picking against the Official Point Spreads posted on the Pigskin Mania website. From Week 1 through Week 15 and from Week 19 through Week 21 point spreads will be posted no later than 3 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday of game week. From Week 16 through Week 18, point spreads will be posted by 3 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday to allow play on midweek bowl games. Official point spreads are taken from DraftKings Sportsbook. The official spreads are those on the PM website and not the updated spreads on DraftKings Sportsbook.
6. Choices of games are limited to those listed in the Official Point Spreads. NCAA games which involve an FCS team are not included in the point spreads. Both teams in a game must be FBS teams for the game to be eligible to be played.
7. From Week 1 through Week 12, players must pick at least two college games and two NFL games on the weekend football schedule. Beginning in Week 13, players may pick any combination of five college or NFL games.
8. The weekly pool is on a Thursday through Monday schedule with the following exceptions. Week 2 has a Wednesday NFL game which will be available to pick. From Week 16-18, the pool is on a Tuesday through Monday schedule to allow play on all bowl games. Monday night games are part of the previous weekend's schedule. Games played Tuesday and Wednesday (so-called MACtion) during the regular season are not part of the schedule and are not eligible to be selected. They will not appear in the Official Point Spreads.
9. The deadline to submit picks each week is prior to the start of any one of the player's games selected. If a game has already started, a player may no longer pick that game, but the player can pick any other game that has not begun. A pick on a game that has already started counts as a loss.
10. The required mode of reporting picks is the Picks Page. If that is not available to you or if the Picks Page is not working, you can send picks by e-mail to poolmaster@pigskinmania.net or by text or phone to The Poolmaster's cell phone at (520) 444-3883. When making picks, players must make all five picks at once. They cannot pick one game and pick the rest later. If picking by text or email, be sure to include your PM ID.
11. Once players make their picks, they can change any or all of those picks up until any one of their selected games has started. At the time any ONE of the five selected games has begun, all of the player's picks are locked and no further changes can be made to any of the picks with the exception of a cancelled game (See Rule #12).
12. If a game is cancelled for any reason, the player may replace that game with any other game in the weekend that has not begun, even if it results in failure to meet the requirement of 2 college and 2 NFL games through Week 12. If a game is cancelled, a player may submit a new pick by email, text or on the Submit Picks page by selecting NO PICK for the other four games. If a player selected the cancelled game as a lock, they may select the replacement game as a lock, but only if the cancelled game was a lock. Be sure to include the name of your entry when making the new pick. If a player does not replace the pick, the cancelled game will count as a loss.
13. If a cancelled game is ruled a forfeit by one team, that game is still treated as cancelled. There is no point spread winner in a forfeited game. If a player does not replace a forfeited game with a pick on a game that is played, the game will count as a loss regardless of which team is declared the winner.
14. All players' picks will be posted on the PM website when all of the Top 10% in that week's standings have submitted picks. This is to avoid, as much as possible, the prospect of players making their picks based on other players' picks. Because some players might pick only NFL games later in the season, it is possible that picks will not be posted until Sunday afternoon.
15. Scheduled game times in the Official Point Spreads are listed with the point spreads as a courtesy. Posted game times are Eastern time, initially Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). It is the responsibility of the player to know the ACTUAL start time. In the event a game time changes, the actual time a game starts will determine whether it is eligible to be picked regardless of the time listed with the point spreads. Be advised there have been instances where weather or other considerations have caused game times to change to an earlier start, even as much as a day earlier. Likewise, if a game starts later than the time posted with the point spreads, it is eligible to be played up until the game actually begins. We will attempt to keep the listed game times current, but will not guarantee that the listed times are correct.
16. If there is an error in the Official Point Spreads that is detected at least two (2) hours before the first scheduled game in the point spreads, it may be corrected and will become the official spread. If the incorrect point spread is not detected at least two hours before the first scheduled game in a given week, it will remain as the official spread through the weekend. There will be no notification of errors that remain in the point spreads. It is considered part of the game for players to be aware of the actual spreads.
17. It is the sole responsibility of players to remember to report picks. Players will not receive reminders. Players who do not report picks will receive zero points for the week.
18. If a player forgets or is unable to submit picks until there are fewer than five remaining eligible picks, the player may submit as many picks as are available. For instance, if during the NCAA regular season a player doesn't make picks until after all NCAA games have been played, the player may submit 3 NFL picks and a Lock to try to score some points. When submitting fewer than five picks, choose No Pick in the dropdown menu where you cannot make a valid pick. No Pick is the first selection in the menus.
19. When making picks, NCAA teams are designated by the name of their school. NFL teams are designated by their mascots. For example, when you select Arizona you have selected the Arizona Wildcats and not the Arizona Cardinals. The other NCAA teams with matching NFL teams are Buffalo (Bills), Cincinnati (Bengals), Houston (Texans), Miami (Dolphins), Minnesota (Vikings), Pittsburgh (Steelers), Tennessee (Titans) and Washington (Commanders).
20. A pick is declared a win only if the team selected BEATS the point spread. A tie or "push" counts as a loss for both teams.
21. A game that has NO LINE or NL in the posted point spreads is not eligible to be picked. If a game with NO LINE is selected, a player can change that pick until the start of the player's first scheduled game as described in Rule #11. If the game is not changed before any one of the player's other games starts, it counts as a loss.
22. A point spread of zero (0) will be designated as PK (pick 'em) on the point spreads which means the winner of the game covers the point spread.
23. If a player picks both teams in the same game, the favorite in the game becomes the pick. If the game is a PK (pick 'em), the home team becomes the pick. The other pick is declared a loss.
24. If a player duplicates a pick, only one of those picks will count. The other pick is declared a loss.
25. Lock of the Week

• Each week, players have the option of declaring one of their picks a "LOCK."
• The Lock of the Week must be one of the five games in your picks.
• If you pick a Lock that is not one of those five games, the Lock is omitted from your picks.
• Players are awarded an additional 0.5 points for picking their Lock of the Week correctly, and are penalized 0.5 points for an incorrect pick.

26. Pigskin Special

• Each week, The Poolmaster will designate one game as the Pigskin Special. The designation will go to the one game each week − either NCAA or NFL − that appears to be the game that is generating the most attention from the fans, media, social media and sports talk shows. The Poolmaster will accept input from players, but reserves the right to make the final selection.
• Anyone who selects the Pigskin Special among their five games assumes the same risk as if they played a Lock of the Week. Choosing the game correctly results in an additional 0.5 points. A loss results in minus 0.5 points.
• Players do not have the option of removing the premium point value on the Pigskin Special. If you play the Pigskin Special, whether or not you are aware it is the Pigskin Special, you risk the additional points.
• The Pigskin Special is in addition to the Lock of the Week, which creates the potential for a maximum high score of 6.0 points for a perfect week with the Lock and Special and a possible low of -1.0 point for someone who plays both and loses all their games.
• The Pigskin Special will be posted on the front page of the PM website with an early line, which is the point spread at the time the website is updated on Monday nights. That point spread may change when spreads are posted on Thursday.
• If there is NO LINE on the game on Thursday, there will be no Pigskin Special that week. In the event a Pigskin Special in a given week has no line early in the week, the game can be changed by midnight Wednesday. If it is not changed, the Rules Committee has the authority to schedule two Pigskin Specials in the same week at a future date.

27. Players' point totals are the sum of total wins, points for the Lock of the Week and points for the Pigskin Special.
28. Season standings are based on players' point totals.
29. Weekly Prizes: A player must pick all five games correctly to win a weekly prize. Picking all five games correctly, including the Lock of the Week AND the Pigskin Special for a score of 6.0 is worth $60. Picking all five games correctly which results in a score of 5.5 or 5.0 pays $30. A score of 5.0 where the player picks four of five games correctly does not pay a prize.
30. Season Prizes: Season prize money will be awarded to the top 10% and ties in the standings. Prize money for the Top 25 finishers will be determined by percentage of the pot remaining after weekly prizes, prizes for 26th through the top 10%, and expenses.
31. There will be no tiebreakers for final standings. If there is a tie, players involved in the tie will split prize money. Example: If there is a two-way tie for third, prize money for third and fourth place will be combined and divided evenly among those two players.
32. All prize money, including weekly prizes, will be paid out at the end of the season.
33. The amounts in the chart below are the projected season payouts based on a 21-week season, 1,200 projected entries and the average percentage of prize money that went to weekly prizes over the last five years. There were 1,162 entries in 2025.

Updated July 21, 2026