Official Rules of Twelve Man Football

2026 Season

Note: these rules are currently being revised for 2026 and are subject to change.

1-3: Season Structure

The following is an outline of the season structure.

1 Structure of the League

1.1 Divisions The league has a total of sixteen teams, divided into four divisions with four teams in each division.

1.2 Regular Season The regular season consists of 12 weeks. Each team plays all divisional opponents twice and two teams from every other division with no bye weeks.

2 Playoff Structure

2.1 Division Leaders The best-ranking team in each division automatically qualifies for the playoffs. Divisional leaders are seeded 1-4 based on their ranking (see Rule 3).

2.2 Wild Cards The 4 best-performing non-divisional leaders (no matter the division) will qualify as wild cards. Wild cards are seeded 5-8 based on their ranking (see Rule 3).

2.3 Wild Card Round In the first round of the playoffs, the #5 and #8 seed wild cards, and the #6 and #7 seed wild cards, respectively, play each other.

2.4 Divisional Round The two winners of the Wild Card round will play the #3 and #4 seed divisional leaders in the Divisional round. The #4 seed plays the lower-seeded of the two Wild Card winners.

2.5 Semifinals The winners of the Divisional round compete in the Semifinals against the #1 and #2 seed divisional leaders. The #2 seed plays the lower-seeded of the two Divisional winners.

2.6 Championship The winners of the two Semifinals compete against each other for the league title in the Twelve Man Football Championship.

3 Rankings

3.1 Use of Rankings The following procedures are used for determining league rankings, both within the divisions and throughout the league, as well as determining who is eligible for the Playoffs.

3.2 Season Records Teams are ranked based on their win-loss-tie regular season results (so far) for the teams being compared. A tie is considered equal to half a win.

3.3 Tiebreakers If the above step fails, consult the tiebreaker procedures below. Tiebreakers marked with an asterisk (*) only apply to rankings within a division.

  1. The total regular-season win-loss-tie results for each team.
  2. The total regular-season win-loss-tie results for divisional games for each team.*
  3. Head-to-head regular season results, if applicable.
  4. Average points scored per game for each team.
  5. Average points scored per game in divisional games for each team.*
  6. Total points scored in regular-season head-to-head matchups, if applicable.
  7. Percent of correct picks throughout the season.
  8. Percent of correct over/unders throughout the season.
  9. Coin toss.

4-8: Game Rules

The following is the set of rules for play procedure.

4 Picking Procedure

4.1 Picking Games Each player must guess the winners of that week's CFL games.

4.2 Scoring A correct pick awards the number of points wagered (see Rule 5). Otherwise, no points are awarded.

4.3 Scoring Ties In the event that a CFL game ends in a tie, players will be awarded half of what they wagered, rounding up.

5 Wagering

5.1 Wagering Overview Each player is allotted a number of points to wager on games. They may wager any amount of their allotted points or all of it.

5.2 Point Allocation The total number of wagering points available each week is equal to the number of games that week multiplied by 10.

5.3 Maximums The maximum number of points that can be wagered on a single team is determined by the CFL power ranking of the team they picked:

The maximums for each team are refreshed every week.

6 Over/Under Bonuses

6.1 Over/Unders Each team wll also play each game's over/under.

6.2 Over/Under Scoring A correct over/under pick is worth 3 points.

6.3 Even Scoring In the event that the over-under result is even, all participating players will receive 2 points.

7 Deadlines

7.1 Standard Deadline The deadline for all players to submit their picks each week is at 1 pm the day of the first CFL game.

7.2 Forfeiture Failure to submit picks by this deadline will result in a forfeiture and a score of 0 for that week.

7.3 Deadline Extension Deadlines may be extended at our discretion, however no submissions will be accepted past the start of the first CFL game.

8 Draws

8.1 Regular Season Ties If both teams have the same number of points, the game will be counted as a tie. There will be no overtime competition.

8.2 Home-Field Advantage If a playoff game ends in a tie, the team with the better seed (see Rule 2) will advance to the next round.

For clarifications on any rules, please feel free to send an email to: garrettkrygier21@yahoo.com