# CFP Survivor Pool — Rules, Scoring & Hosting > How CFP Survivor pools work: pick one College Football Playoff team each round, with configurable strikes, team reuse and against-the-spread picks using posted CFP lines. Source: https://piksheet.com/pools/cfp_survivor Last updated: 2026-10-29 **CFP Survivor:** One team a round. Lose and you're out. Pick one team to win in each College Football Playoff round. A wrong pick or a missed pick adds a strike; an against-the-spread push adds a strike when ATS is on. Sport: [College Football](https://piksheet.com/college-football) ## How it works 1. Pick one team to win in each CFP round. The top four seeds have a first-round bye, so they are not available to pick until the quarterfinals. 2. A wrong pick, a missed pick or an against-the-spread push adds a strike. One strike is the default; the commissioner can set one to five and can have members pick winners or losers. 3. Teams cannot be reused by default. The commissioner can allow any team to be picked again in a later round, and can require two picks in earlier rounds; the one-game championship stays at one pick. 4. Each pick locks when its game starts, and other members cannot see it before then. Members can join until the First Round ends. A missed pick in any round, including the First Round, adds a strike; late joiners can still pick any First Round game that has not started. 5. There is no tiebreaker. Entries alive at the end share the win, and entries eliminated together in the same round share it too. The pool ends early when at most one entry remains after a completed round; the commissioner can revive everyone eliminated in the latest round before the championship is complete. ## A two-round example 1. Pick one team in the First Round, then one in the Quarterfinals. 2. A correct pick survives. A wrong pick, a missed pick or an against-the-spread push adds one strike. 3. With the default one-strike limit, the first strike eliminates the entry. ## How to win - Reuse is off by default, so a team you pick in the First Round is gone for the rest of the playoff. Think about who you'll need in the later rounds. - The top four seeds cannot be picked in the first round because they have byes. Plan a first-round choice from the teams that actually play. - With ATS enabled, compare the posted line as well as the matchup. A wrong pick, a missed pick or an against-the-spread push adds a strike. ## What the commissioner controls Pool name, fee, member caps and Survivor rules stay editable until the first game starts; team reuse and picks per round lock as soon as anyone saves a pick. - Pick winners (default) or losers - Strikes to eliminate: 1–5 (default 1) - No team reuse (default) or allow reuse - Straight up (default) or ATS with posted CFP lines - One pick per round by default; up to two in earlier rounds, never two in the one-game championship - Individual game locks; no tiebreaker ## Frequently asked questions ### How many strikes can a CFP Survivor pool allow? One strike is the default. The commissioner can set the limit from one to five. A wrong pick, a missed pick or an against-the-spread push adds a strike. ### Can I pick the same team twice? No, not by default. The commissioner can allow team reuse, which lets an entry pick any team again in another round. ### Can CFP Survivor picks be against the spread? Yes. The CFP has posted lines. The commissioner can use straight-up picks or ATS picks; with ATS, a push is a strike. ### Can an entry pick a top-four seed in the first round? No. The top four CFP seeds have byes and do not play in the first round, so they are unavailable until the quarterfinals. ### What if everyone is eliminated in the same round? There are no tiebreakers. Entries eliminated in the same round share the win. The pool also ends early if one or zero entries remain after a fully played round. ## Related - [CFP Survivor walkthrough](https://piksheet.com/help/pool-types/cfp_survivor) - [Compare every pool format](https://piksheet.com/pools/compare) - [Pricing](https://piksheet.com/pricing) --- Most pages on https://piksheet.com have a markdown version: add .md to the URL (the home page is https://piksheet.com/index.md) or request the page with `Accept: text/markdown`. https://piksheet.com/llms.txt lists every page and links each markdown version.