Protect Your Unit 2020: The Old College Try

(DISCLAIMER: This game is for entertainment purposes only. No actual money is being wagered.)

Protect Your Unit is back for season 10!

We think. We’re going to try our best, under the circumstances.

In all seriousness: TheDailyStampede’s annual college football betting game will be online for the 2020 season, as it has since 2010. In light of the many unanswered questions about this upcoming college football season - not the least of which is “will there be one at all?” - we have to be more flexible than usual.

For those who may be new: Protect Your Unit (PYU) is TheDailyStampede’s in-house college football gambling game. Everyone starts the season with $1,000 fake dollars, with which they can enter realistic wagers on college football games over the course of the season. The winner gets some website bragging rights, and the aforementioned grand prize. It’s mostly for funsies, and so we can chatter about gambling and the college football season in general. It’s open to any site members: just send an email to me at angerthespy@gmail.com and I’ll set you up with a username and password.

The classic rules will not change. You get $1,000 in fake money at the start, you wager $50-$250 or 5-25% of it each week, and make at least three bets, including one involving an AAC team. Whoever has the most fake money at the end is crowned our champion, and wins the traditional prize: a 750ml container of silver gin. Our 2019 winner undercoverbull, who was in last place in Week 6, sampled one and went on a huge winning streak for the rest of the season. (A non-alcoholic alternative is available for any winner who wishes it.)

Due to the highly uncertain nature of the 2020 football season, we’ll have to do things a little differently than usual:

• No futures bets. PYU introduced futures for the first time in 2019, and it was a great addition to the game. But such wagers depend upon the season being played as scheduled (see rule 14.8.5.1), and we simply can’t expect normalcy this year. Even simple things like choosing a national champion may be difficult to settle.
• “Weeks” are subject to change. Normally, I define each week of competition before the season starts. The highly arbitrary nature of this season makes that impossible, so PYU reserves the right to merge or split weeks based on the number of games that are played. For example, “week zero” is normally merged with the official first weekend of the season. If enough games are moved to the weekend of August 29, we may make that a standalone week instead. Weeks will be clearly defined as soon as possible, and will not be re-defined once the week has started.
• Bets on cancelled games will be refunded. Any money wagered on a game that is cancelled, or moved to another week, will be immediately returned to your bankroll. I won’t ask what you want to do, like I have in the past. Bets on cancelled games will count towards your weekly bet minimums, if necessary. In accordance with rule 8.3.3.2, cancelled games that are part of a parlay cannot be substituted with a different game. That component of the parlay is a push and the overall parlay is calculated accordingly.
• Please review the official rules at protectyouru.net/pyu/official_rules.php.

If you played in a previous season, your existing username/password at ProtectYourU.net still works. If you need a password reset, email me and I’ll take care of it. If you’d like to join the competition, send an email to the same address, and I’ll get you set up with a username and password for the site. That’s the site where you enter all your selections.

All are welcome to join! Any questions, please ask in the comments, or by contacting me! Let’s try to have some fun this college football season.