2024 Monster Teaser League (MTL) - College Football (NCAAF) Rules

  1. MTL SPREADS: published Wednesday by 9:00 AM ET

REGULAR SEASON - The MTL Spread is the published spread +15 points during the regular season.

BOWLS, PLAYOFF & SPECIAL WEEKS - The teaser format changes on certain weeks due to the fact that there are fewer games on the NCAAF slate, and thus fewer games to choose from, MTL expands the number of picking options by making the OVER/UNDER spreads available for selection and the weekly number of picks and MTL Spreads will change slightly as follows:

  • Week 17: Bowl Week 1 (12/14-12/21 - 13 games): Select 4 picks. Each pick is teased by +15 points.
  • Week 18: Bowl Week 2 (12/23-12/28 - 18 games): Select 4 picks. Each pick is teased by +15 points.
  • Week 19: Bowl Week 3 (12/30-1/4 - 13 games): Select 4 picks. Each pick is teased by +15 points.
  • Week 20: Semifinals (1/9-1/10 - 2 games): Select 2 picks, over/under selections available. Each pick is teased by +6 points.
  • Week 21: National Championship Game: A stand alone game for the week. Select 1 pick, over/under selections available. No teaser line, each pick is teased by 0 points. Guaranteed blood!

  1. A WIN: Cover all 4 picks and win for the week (see rule 14 & 16).
  2. A LOSS: Fail to cover 1 or more picks and get a loss for the week (see rule 15 & 16). IMPORTANT: a “push” or “tie” with the MTL Spread is a loss.
  3. A PENALTY: Fail to cover 2, 3 or all 4 picks and incur a Penalty (see rule 17).
  4. SLATE OF GAMES: The games available for selection each week shall consist of the Top 25 teams, as determined by the AP Poll, competing from Wednesday to Saturday plus a handful of competitive games as chosen by MTL’s expert.
  5. LEAGUE SIZE: Generally speaking, the bigger the better and to reduce risk, if desired, adjust the MTL Points. The size of a league is determined by the league Commissioner. A league must have at least 2 members and there is no cap on members. The ideal league size is between 20 and 50 members. It’s a little less fun but fine to play with as little as 10 members.
  6. MTL POINTS: Determined by each league’s Commissioner. It’s important for a commissioner to know that the overall risk factor in the MTL is a function of BOTH League Size and MTL Points. Both variables need to be managed to effectively manage the risk factor and set expectations for the teams in the league.  

Example: A good estimate is to calculate the “Maximum Risk Scenario” and take 20% of that number to identify the average outcome of MTL Points the biggest winner will win, and the biggest loser will lose and then know that it’s a bell curve in between. If a commissioner chooses to have a 20-team league with a Juice amount of 10 then the Maximum Risk Scenario would be 4,180 MTL Points (19 winning teams x 10 MTL Points x 22 weeks of action = 4,180) and 20% would be 836 MTL Points. In this example, the biggest winner would win 836 MTL Points, the biggest loser would lose 836 MTL Points and the rest of the field would either win or lose on a bell curve between 836 and -836.

  1. DURATION: A full NCAAF MTL season is played over the course of a 21-week season. Each team should commit to, and participate in, MTL for each week of the 21-week season. There are no “bye” weeks. Teams that fail to submit picks will always be subject to a loss. The 21-week season corresponds with Week 1 through Week 16 of the NCAAF regular season, Weeks 17 through 19 are 3-weeks of NCAAF Bowl Games, Week 20 is the CFP Semifinals, and Week 21 is the CFP National Championship game.
  2. POSTING OF SPREADS: On WEDNESDAY of each week, the published spreads and associated MTL Spreads will be posted on MonsterTeaserLeague.com by 9:00 AM ET. Once posted, spreads are locked and will not change. However, games initially listed without a spread may be updated to include a spread at any time prior to the scheduled kickoff time of that game.
  3. MAKING PICKS / PICK DEADLINES: Every week, each team shall submit its picks via the website, MonsterTeaserLeague.com.

PICK DEADLINE: The pick deadline for each game is the SCHEDULED KICKOFF time of each game.

Note: when making picks on the website, a team will ALWAYS be able to edit, change, remove and/or re-select picks so long as the scheduled kickoff time for that game has not occurred.

Note: There is NOT a default rule that gives or assigns late picks to teams that fail to submit picks. Should a team forget to make picks prior to the early games of Saturday’s slate, that team will still have the afternoon and night games to pick from.

  1. WEEKLY PICKS: Each team shall make weekly picks by selecting 4 teams to cover against a teased spread known as the MTL Spread. The MTL Spread is the published spread adjusted by +15 points in favor of EACH chosen pick.

Example: The Buckeyes are playing the Wolverines and the Wolverines are favored by 6 points. The published spread would be Ohio St +6 and Michigan -6, and the MTL Spread would be Ohio St +21 (+6+15=+21) and Michigan +9 (-6+15=+9). So, in a given week, if a team wanted to pick the following NCAAF teams and associated published spreads: Hoosiers +3; Tarheels -17; Bama -15; and Oklahoma -7.5, their picks and associated MTL Spreads for that week would be: Hoosiers +18; Tarheels -2; Bama +0 (or even); and Oklahoma +7.5.

Note: Due to the nature of a MTL Spread, it is possible to pick both NCAAF teams playing each other in a single game. We call this “THE STRADDLE”. Picking both teams is essentially saying the game will finish close to the original spread.

  1. BOWL & UNUSUAL WEEKS WEEKLY PICKS: Weeks 17, 18, 19 will all consist of bowl games.  Weeks 20 and 21 will have fewer NCAAF games to choose from. So, MTL adjusts the format. MTL expands the number of picking options by making the OVER/UNDER spread available for selection. The teaser and MTL Spread is also adjusted for weeks where teams make less than 4 picks:

  • Weeks 17-19: Bowl games: Select 4 picks. Each pick is teased by +15 points.
  • Week 20: Semifinals (1/9-1/10 - 2 games): Select 2 picks, over/under selections available. Each pick is teased by +6 points.
  • Week 21: National Championship Game: A stand alone game for the week. Select 1 pick, over/under selections available. No teaser line, each pick is teased by 0 points. Guaranteed blood!
  1. WEEKLY WINNERS: Each week, winners and losers will be established. A team gets a “Win” for the week when it covers each one of its 4 picks. (1 in the case of the Week 15 the Army/Navy game, and Week 20 the National Championship game).
  2. WEEKLY LOSERS: A team gets a “Loss” for the week when 1 or more of its picks does not cover the MTL Spread. IMPORTANT: a “push” or “tie” with the MTL Spread is a loss.
  3. IMPLICATIONS OF WEEKLY WINS & LOSSES: Each week, each team that loses will concede to each team that wins the number of MTL Points the commissioner has established. All MTL Points accumulated or conceded shall accrue over the course of the 21-week season, and a running total will be tracked on the “Standings” page of MonsterTeaserLeague.com.

Example: Suppose on a given week, in a league with 50 teams, there are 20 teams that win and 30 teams that lose. In a League with a MTL Point amount of 20 MTL Points, a winning team would gain 20 MTL Points from each of the 30 losing teams, for a total winning of 600 MTL Points for the week. Conversely, a losing team would concede to each of the 20 winning teams 20 MTL Points, for a total loss of 400 MTL Points for the week.

  1. PENALTY POT: In addition to the standard win/loss structure set forth above, each commissioner shall have the option of using the Progressive Penalty Pot or the Standard Penalty Pot. This required  feature is extremely useful in creating separation within the standings so there are less ties and it also adds excitement and consequences for teams making really bad picks!

The Penalty Pot structure is customizable by the commissioner, but we recommend a Standard Penalty be set at 2x the MTL Points and the Progressive Penalty Pot be set at 2x for 2 incorrect picks, 3x for 3 incorrect picks and 4x for 4 incorrect picks. Penalty Pot fees are assessed each week to any team that does not cover 2, 3 or all 4 of its 4 picks in a given week. Note: if the league is a high MTL Point league, the commissioner may want to reduce the recommended multiple for the Progressive Penalty Penalty Pot to 1x, 2x, and 3x.

MTL Points in the Penalty Pot shall be accounted for and accumulated over the 21-week season and will be distributed at the end of the season based on the settings the commissioner determines. Penalty Pot Points shall be tracked on the website by Monster Teaser League and will be reflected in the cumulative Standings.

Example Standard Penalty Pot: If a team loses for the week by failing to cover 1 of its 4 picks, then it is NOT subject to any Penalty Pot. However, if a team loses for the week by failing to cover 2 or more of its 4 picks, then that team shall concede 2x the MTL Point amount to the Penalty Pot for that week. Teams are subject to the Penalty Pot for each week of the 21-week season however the Weeks 15 & 20 will not have a Penalty Pot since we only make 1 pick.

Example Progressive Penalty Pot: If a team loses for the week by failing to cover 1 of its 4 picks, then it is NOT subject to any Penalty Pot. However, if a team loses for the week by failing to cover 2 of its 4 picks, then that team shall concede 2x the MTL Point amount to the Penalty Pot for that week. If a team loses for the week by failing to cover 3 of its 4 picks, then that team shall concede 3x the MTL Point amount to the Penalty Pot for that week and if they lost all 4 picks they would concede 4x the MTL Point amount. Teams are subject to the Penalty Pot for each week of the 21-week season however the Weeks 15 & 20 will not have a Penalty Pot since we only make 1 pick.

  1. PENALTY POT MTL POINTS: The commissioner shall award the MTL Points from the Penalty Pot as the commissioner sees fit. We suggest distributing the Penalty Pot MTL Points to the 1st through 5th place finishers, as determined by the overall standings at the end of the 21-week season, based on the following percentages:  40% / 30% / 15% / 10% / 5%. If there are any ties, the MTL POINTS shall be split accordingly. There are many other ways to award the MTL Points in the Penalty Pot, if a commissioner wants to customize please contact MTL.
  2. LATE PICKS: If a team does not submit picks, it gets a loss for the week and a corresponding penalty. All deadlines are strictly enforced and no exceptions for technology related issues or user errors (i.e. not submitting picks) will be granted. Teams that fail to submit 4 picks by the Pick Deadline will be assessed a LOSS for that week and incur the corresponding Penalty Pot consequences.

Note: Teams who lose on an early game in the week or early game on Saturday should still submit the remainder of their picks because there are still implications for the Penalty Pot.

Note: If a team misses the 1st round of games on Saturday or even the 1st and 2nd round of games, it has until there are no longer 4 picks available for selection to submit picks. A game is no longer available for selection once the game scheduled kickoff has occurred.

  1. MTL REGISTRATION FEE: A fee of $50 per team must be paid to MTL prior to being able to submit picks and participate in a league. Payments are now securely handled through MonsterTeaserLeague.com and we accept all credit cards and many forms of online payments like Apple Pay and Google Pay. Teams will be directed to pay via the registration process. If a team is new to MTL it will receive a discount of 50% off the MTL Registration Fee. 
  2. COMMISH RULES: The Commish of each league has the authority to change, modify or establish new rules as situations arise that require addressing. The Commish ruling will be final and enforceable on all teams.

PROHIBITION ON GAMBLING - Monster Teaser League (MTL) is provided solely for entertainment and news/editorial purposes and may not be used in connection with any form of gambling. To the extent that any MTL website or feature offers the opportunity to earn, win or lose MTL Points, prizes or other indicia of status as a user of such Site (collectively, "MTL Points"), such opportunities are for entertainment purposes only, and MTL Points have no monetary value and may not be bought, sold, or traded, and may only be transferred as permitted or required by the rules of the applicable promotion. In addition, although MTL has no responsibility or liability for the actions of its users, it reserves the right to investigate and possibly terminate any user that it suspects of using the Site for gambling purposes.

If there are any questions on game rules or league management, please contact us. We are here to help support all commissioners and leagues!

- Monster Teaser League