Protect Your Unit Week 5 Results Thread: Dead Cat Bounce

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

Look who’s back:

Yep, it’s 2021 points race winner BullsOnParade96, who last season turned a longshot money line bet on Louisiana-Monroe to beat Liberty into a huge money lead (which he later lost). This year, he comes back from the brink of elimination with this out-of-nowhere money line hit. The 111.91 were his last units for the season, meaning he was reduced to a sudden death bet next week if it failed.

This was not enough to push him into first place, however, because there were a lot of big wins this week:

ULhothot also had a win on UConn +1400 to beat... well, it could have been anyone, really, but Fresno State in this case. Good for them getting a solid win. I wonder what it feels like.

The SMU-UCF game was moved from Sunday to Wednesday. This means it moves from Week 5 to Week 6, which by rule 14.6.2 means bets on the game this week were voided:

14.6.2. If a game is postponed to a later week, any bets placed do not carry over to the later date. You must re-bet if you want to make the same bet again.

Any bets on this game for Week 5 were returned to the player. Bets that were part of a parlay were moved from the parlay, as per the usual procedure. You can see from the list above that several winning parlays included this game; since this game was removed and the other bets won, the winner was paid at the lower payout rate. Danj725 paid 1 to 1 for a parlay that contained only one winning bet, and no losses. Rule 8.3.3.1 comes up more often than you’d think.

Winnings and points awarded are:

After Danj725 won the first two weeks and McIntyre2K7 won the second two, we have a new winner this week. But Danj725 did earn some points this week with a third-place finish, which is enough to push him into the overall points lead:

Before I get into the money standings, there is one more book to balance. Because USF’s game against East Carolina was moved from Tampa to Boca Raton, all Futures bets on USF to win more or less than 4.5 games have been voided. The units will be removed from “pending futures” and returned to your bankroll. This is by rule:

14.8.5.1. A team must play its complete, as-scheduled season for a Win Total bet to have any effect. If any game is unplayed, incomplete, or if an opponent or location changes, the bet is voided and the player neither wins or loses. Postponement of a game to a later date without changing the opponent or location does not void a bet.

This is good news for most of you, who bet on USF to win over 4.5 games. It doesn’t look like that’s happening, so getting your money back instead of taking an L is a good outcome. Here are the affected bets:

Only McIntyre2K7 bet on the Bulls to win less than 4.5, so this likely costs him a win when the season ends and the futures are paid out. I wonder if this will be a deciding factor at season’s end. That would be an ironic way to lose.

With these futures bets processed, the season standings are now:

The 250-unit refund was enough to leap bullsonparade96 into second place, and also had a positive impact on the other affected players as well. And, the error from last week that double-counted futures bets has already been corrected. So no one is in imminent danger of having to use their sudden death bet. Only speruche is below 250, at 238.70.

Please note that Week 5 winnings do not include these refunded futures bets. Money won, lost, or returned on futures bets don’t count towards any week.

Week 6 games start with the rescheduled SMU-UCF game on Wednesday. If you still want to bet that game, you will have to bet it again - existing bets have been returned and do not carry over.

National games of note will be Arkansas-Mississippi State, TCU-Kansas, Tennessee-LSU, Utah-UCLA, and Florida State-North Carolina State. Texas A&M-Alabama certainly isn’t as big as it was.

AAC games (keeping in mind that the incoming teams count) are: the aforementioned SMU-UCF, Houston-Memphis, East Carolina-Tulane, Tulsa-Navy, Middle Tennessee-UAB, Western Kentucky-UTSA. Temple, Rice, Charlotte, North Texas, Florida Atlantic are all off. USF is playing against... does it even matter who?