College Football Playoff Squares

Bowl games, the 12-team playoff, and the National Championship — an online squares pool for any of them

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Your school made a bowl game, your alumni chapter is meeting up for the playoff, or you just want something riding on the title game. Set up a college football squares board, share the link, and everyone picks their squares from their phone before kickoff.

The 2026–27 college football postseason

Thirty-six bowl games and an eleven-game playoff, spread across six weeks from mid-December to the National Championship on Monday, January 25, 2027. Run a board for one game or one for every round.

Bowl season

  • Dec 12 – Jan 2

    36 bowl games

    Three weeks of games, several a day over the holidays

  • Sun, Dec 6

    Selection Day

    The 12-team bracket and first-round matchups are announced

College Football Playoff

  • Fri & Sat · Dec 18–19

    First round

    Four games at campus sites · Friday night, then Saturday noon, 3:30 and 7:30 PM ET

  • Wed, Dec 30 & Fri, Jan 1

    Quarterfinals

    Fiesta Bowl on the 30th, then a New Year's Day triple-header: Cotton, Rose and Peach

  • Thu & Fri · Jan 14–15

    Semifinals

    Orange Bowl on Thursday, Sugar Bowl on Friday · 7:30 PM ET

  • Mon, Jan 25 · 7:30 PM ET

    National Championship

    Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas · ABC / ESPN

How college football squares work

The rules are the same as Super Bowl Squares. Players claim squares, then numbers are randomly assigned to the rows and columns. At the end of each quarter, the last digit of each team's score determines the winning square.

Example: end of the third quarter

Buckeyes 24 — Longhorns 17

The Buckeyes' last digit is 4 and the Longhorns' is 7. The square where column 4 meets row 7 wins.

College games score more than NFL games and overtime is common in the playoff, so say in your rules whether the final-score payout includes overtime. Most pools do, and the site's automatic winner tracking follows the final whistle either way.

Read the full squares rules
Simplified example showing part of a 100-square board.

Set up your college football pool

  1. Create your board

    Pick the game and a 25, 50, or 100-square grid. Name it after your matchup, theme it in your school's colors, and add your rules, price per square, and payouts.

  2. Invite your players

    Share the board link by text, email, or a QR code at the watch party. Players choose their squares online, and you can track who has paid.

  3. Draw numbers before kickoff

    Once picks are complete, randomly assign the numbers. Bind the board to the game and the winning squares are marked from the live score at the end of each quarter.

One game, one day, or the whole playoff?

Bowl season stretches over six weeks, so pick the shape that fits your group. All three work well.

One grid for one game

Your team's bowl game, a first-round game on campus, or the National Championship. One board, one matchup, four quarters of winners.

Best for a single watch party, or when only one game matters to your group.

One grid, several sets of numbers

For a day with back-to-back games, like the New Year's Day quarterfinals or the Saturday first-round triple-header. Everyone picks once, and choosing 3 sets of numbers gives each game its own random rows and columns.

Best when you want one link to share, one pot, and one set of picks to manage.

A grid for every round

Follow the bracket with a fresh board for each round your group cares about: first round, quarterfinals, semifinals, and the championship. Each has its own matchup, picks, and payouts, so people can join the games they'll watch.

Best for alumni chapters and bars running pools all postseason. Orders of four or more grids qualify for a volume discount.

Whichever you choose, you handle collecting payments and paying winners; the site helps you organize the pool.

A holiday-season fundraising opportunity

Bowl season lands between Thanksgiving and the Super Bowl, when alumni associations, booster clubs, band parents, and campus charities already have supporters gathered around the games. A bowl-game board raises money while the school is in the spotlight, and a National Championship board gives your group a second shot in January without competing with every Super Bowl pool in February.

Example: $20 squares, the National Championship

  • One 100-square grid: $2,000 collected
  • Your cause keeps half: $1,000
  • Prizes: the other $1,000, split across the four quarters

Alumni will pay more for a square on the title game than on a random Sunday, so price it accordingly.

Set your square price and payout split before you open the board, and put both in the rules so everyone sees them. Our squares fundraiser guide walks through pricing, splits, and selling out the board step by step.

Start your college football pool

Create your board and have it ready to share before kickoff.

Create Your Board

More Ways to Play Squares All Year

Super Bowl Squares

The big one. Run the classic 100-square pool for the biggest game of the year.

Thanksgiving Squares

Set up an online football squares pool for Thanksgiving Day.

Christmas Squares

Set up an online squares pool for the NFL and NBA Christmas Day games.

NFL Playoff Squares

Set up a squares pool for Wild Card weekend, the Divisional round, or Championship Sunday.

March Madness Squares

Set up an online basketball squares pool for the NCAA tournament.