NCAA Football 12 News Post

NCAA Football 12 Blog - Custom Conferences

04:22 PM - May 26, 2011 by mr janny

NCAA Football 12 developer Ben Haumiller talks at great length about the addition of custom conferences in today's blog at EA.com.

This addition ties in with what seems to be the team's overarching goal of providing users with more customization options throughout the Dynasty mode this year.

Quote:


	This is without a doubt one of the deepest features added to the game in years. With conference membership movements, conference rule changes, and editing BCS bowl tie-ins the combinations you can make in your Dynasty are almost endless. Plus, you can make updates in future years of the Dynasty, which not only allows you to make updates based on changes in the real world, but also allows you to make whatever changes you prefer to see in your Dynasty.

Check out the rest of the blog to get all the details.

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Member Comments

# 61 Jeff George @ 05/27/11 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jello1717


	Same here. After year2 I'll be moving TCU to the Big East and BSU to the MWC and some of the other MWC changes, but that'll likely be about it.

Half your work is done, because Boise's already in the MWC for the 2011 season. The other changes (Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada to MWC; TCU to Big East) happen in 2012.

# 62 Jakeness23 @ 05/27/11 04:27 PM

I only have one question... probably be in future versions, but are we able to make certain teams not able to play in bowl games, such as USC this year?

# 63 majesty95 @ 05/30/11 01:52 PM

If you look at the screenshot of editing the BCS tie-ins, its has RB/LB next to "BCS Bowls". Could this mean editing other bowls is possible by changing screens? According to the blogs not everything has been revealed...

# 64 majesty95 @ 05/30/11 01:54 PM

Also, there has been nothing stating FCS teams will be generic Southwest, East, etc. They could be included but just not announced. I would refrain from criticizing something you are not sure hasn't been changed...

# 65 illwill10 @ 05/30/11 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by majesty95


	Also, there has been nothing stating FCS teams will be generic Southwest, East, etc. They could be included but just not announced. I would refrain from criticizing something you are not sure hasn't been changed...

I was hoping/wishing that we could at least sub out the Generic FCS teams with TB teams. Or at least have the ability to edit the current FCS teams. I never face any of them in a dynasty because of the it was a automatic 56+-0 game. The only time I looked forward to a FCS team in NCAA was in RTG. because since there was only 5 min quarters I could stack up on stats

# 66 dochalladay32 @ 05/30/11 02:16 PM

Why did they take out the FCS teams anyway. I remember in the past gen, they had no problem throwing in tons of IAA/FCS teams. I never used them, but it was nice to have them show up on schedules.

# 67 dpw1717 @ 05/30/11 02:20 PM

If we were going to dismantle conferences, why not do it right? Let's just keep it somewhat simple. I don't understand why every other sport organizes teams geographically, except for college football. Sure, it kind of worked out that way for natural reasons, but it also gets really messed up. For instance, the WAC spreads from Hawai'i to Louisiana! Conference-USA form Carolina to Texas! Etc.*

Here is my answer, redo all the conferences so they're in geographical order. It saves the schools money, and will keep most rivalries intact, since most are in-state rivalries. The one thing you must do is make sure that a conference has all the teams from a given state. Thus, the 10 schools in Texas must all be in the same conference, same for the 7 from Florida and California, etc.

Here it is: 12 conferences, 10 teams each, you play 9 conference games and 3 non-conference games (scheduled at your will, just like normal). Each conference must play its top two teams in a championship game and name a conference champ. That would be the start of the bowl games is the conference championship game. Then you have 12 teams left and the way you seed it by total points scored. You then have to add 4 more teams to make the bracket right and the way to do that is by adding teams that played in the conference championship game and again by total points scored. When you start the playoffs it�s 16 teams and for the next three weeks are the playoffs for a total in the season of 17 weeks. The way I see it, it's still 12 games in the regular season (I believe stretched out over 14-15 weeks), and still 4 weeks in the post-season one week being the championship game. I added all the bowl games up for my new playoff system and it would be 25 and that�s less than 30 plus it has been.

In case you wanted an idea of how the conferences would look, I'll include that below. I take no responsibilities for bad conference names. I just now put this together, and making each conference have exactly 10 teams takes some wiggle room. I'm sure if it was actually to happen it could be perfected:

Southwest: California, Hawai'i, Nevada

California
Fresno State
Hawai'i
Nevada
San Diego State
San Jose State
Stanford
UCLA
UNLV
USC

Northwest: Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming

Boise State
Idaho
Kansas
Kansas State
Nebraska
Oregon
Oregon State
Washington
Washington State
Wyoming

Four Corners: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah

Air Force
Arizona
Arizona State
Brigham Young
Colorado
Colorado State
New Mexico
New Mexico State
Utah
Utah State

Lone Star: Texas

Baylor
Houston
North Texas
Rice
Southern Methodist
TCU
Texas
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
UTEP

Louisiana Purchase: Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma

Arkansas
Arkansas State
Louisiana - Lafayette
Louisiana - Monroe
Louisiana Tech
LSU
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Tulane
Tulsa

Gulf Coast: Florida, Mississippi

FIU
Florida
Florida Atlantic
Florida State
Miami (FL)
Mississippi
Mississippi State
South Florida
Southern Miss
UCF

Southeast: Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee

Alabama
Auburn
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Memphis
Middle Tennessee
Tennessee
Troy
UAB
Vanderbilt

Atlantic: New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia

Clemson
Duke
East Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina State
Rutgers
South Carolina
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest

Richland: Ohio, West Virginia

Akron
Bowling Green
Cincinnati
Kent State
Marshall
Miami (OH)
Ohio
Ohio State
Toledo
West Virginia

Great Plains: Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri

Illinois
Iowa
Iowa State
Kentucky
Louisville
Missouri
Northern Illinois
Northwestern
Purdue
Western Kentucky

Great Lakes: Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin

Ball State
Central Michigan
Eastern Michigan
Indiana
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Notre Dame
Western Michigan
Wisconsin

New England: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania

Army
Boston College
Buffalo
Connecticut
Maryland
Navy
Penn State
Pittsburgh
Syracuse
Temple

# 68 majesty95 @ 05/30/11 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dochalladay32


	Why did they take out the FCS teams anyway. I remember in the past gen, they had no problem throwing in tons of IAA/FCS teams. I never used them, but it was nice to have them show up on schedules.

It most likely had to do with memory and time. What most people don't realize when complaining about what is or is not in a game is that there is a finite amount of data the game disc can store and olny so many resources they can allocate to a particular item.

When the game moved to next gen they essentially had to build the game from scratch, so all of the resources were in the gameplay and the FBS teams, players and stadiums. Then their attention shifted to tuning and adding new features to help sagging sales. With most of their resources dedicated to new innovations and improving existing features I'm sure they just simply haven't had the time or resources to dedicate to adding another 126 schools with full rosters and uniforms.

I'm sure adding FCS teams is on the list of things to add somewhere down the road but everyone has to realize that when that decision is made, the time spent on improving existing features and especially adding new ones will be significantly decreased. I think the best way to appease the fans who want FCS and also those demanding innovation and new features is to add just the top 25 FCS teams then the following year fill out the top five or six conferences. They could stop there or if memory permits, fill out one or two more conferences each year until all FCS teams are included. There is just no way it will happen all at once however.

# 69 dochalladay32 @ 05/30/11 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dpw1717


	For the sake of space...

I hope you don't plan on implementing your complete idea in game because you must have 12 teams in order to have a conference title game. A title game is also pointless if you play a round robin; your champion is already determined because everyone played each other.

# 70 dpw1717 @ 05/30/11 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dochalladay32


	I hope you don't plan on implementing your complete idea in game because you must have 12 teams in order to have a conference title game. A title game is also pointless if you play a round robin; your champion is already determined because everyone played each other.

Not once did I say anything about a round robin and is that an NCAA rule you have to have 12 teams to have a conference title game if so do you have a link?

# 71 majesty95 @ 05/30/11 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yukon46


	They say they cant go above 120 teams.... But all of the blank FCS teams, that we cant edit, are in the game too ! So let us replace those FCS teams with TeamBuilder teams, are atleast let us edit the FCS teams !

I think editing generic FCS schools is possible and would be a passable alternative in the meantime. However, I can see how capping the teams FBS at 120 is necessary.

To allow the league to expand to 130 ro 140 ro even more teams there would have to be a complete overhaul of the system. The coding that it would take to accomodate that would be enormous. They would have to account for adding new conferences (which may be easier now), adjusitng schedules and scheduling logic, bowl selection, poll logic, etc. It seems like ti wuld atake an awful lot of resources to code that ability and would significantly detract from new features.

With that being said, I think the things they are adding like complete custom conferences and changes to scheduling logic will make that possible and easier to implement down the line. It is something we may see in two years after adding custom bowls and improving the custom conferences and schedules based off of this year's feedback.

# 72 majesty95 @ 05/30/11 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dpw1717


	Not once did I say anything about a round robin and is that an NCAA rule you have to have 12 teams to have a conference title game if so do you have a link?

Not sure where to find a link but yes it is an NCAA rule that you hav to have 12 teams to hold a conference championship game (which is why the BIg 10 added Nebraska so they could hold a championship game) and it is implemented this way in the game.

# 73 majesty95 @ 05/30/11 02:50 PM

Also, I'm not sure you can add conferences but I believe you can contract them as EA stated you have the ability to make all 120 teams independents.

# 74 dochalladay32 @ 05/30/11 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dpw1717


	Not once did I say anything about a round robin and is that an NCAA rule you have to have 12 teams to have a conference title game if so do you have a link?

You said you would have 10-team conferences with 9 conference games; that is a round robin. Everyone plays every body else. You didn't say it, but you sure described it

And you can only have 32 independents. So technically, with your system, one conference would be independents and you could control them and make them play each other, but it would not happen by default. Conferences cannot be added or deleted. You cannot change their names. You cannot go below 4 teams or above 16.

# 75 majesty95 @ 05/30/11 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dochalladay32


	You said you would have 10-team conferences with 9 conference games; that is a round robin. Everyone plays every body else. You didn't say it, but you sure described it And you can only have 32 independents. So technically, with your system, one conference would be independents and you could control them and make them play each other, but it would not happen by default. Conferences cannot be added or deleted. You cannot change their names. You cannot go below 4 teams or above 16.

I heard it wrong in the dynasty trailer. Herbstreit says "How about a 12 member dynasty where everyone is an independent". I heard that to be every team could be an independent. OOps

You are most likely right but I have not heard that you cannot change names of or remove conferences.

# 76 dochalladay32 @ 05/30/11 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by majesty95


	I heard it wrong in the dynasty trailer. Herbstreit says "How about a 12 member dynasty where everyone is an independent". I heard that to be every team could be an independent. OOps You are most likely right but I have not heard that you cannot change names of or remove conferences.

Pretty sure it was stated somewhere that conferences cannot be removed, but the fact you can only take a conference down to 4 teams seems to hint at that as well. Also, I believe it was also stated that only division names can be changed; not conference names. Just means we'll have to use our imagination in many cases because the name and logo will stay. For instance, the Mountain West is the Big West in many of my scenarios, the Big East the Big Eight. If I was part of a group in the Big 12 that decided to let EA use my conference in the game, I sure wouldn't agree to letting players change my name, logo, or even deleting my conference from the game, so I can understand from a marketing point of view.

# 77 Bullet Sponge @ 05/30/11 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DorianDonP


	Everything sounds good except only being able to edit the BCS bowl tie-ins. I hope everyone realizes that before they start going crazy with the custom conferences.

It's not as big a deal as it could be though. For instance if you give the BCS status to the WAC and take it away from the Big 12, the non-BCS bowl tie-ins are still better for the Big 12, but the game doesn't make any meaningful difference in bowls, since it doesn't track money for the schools, money from bigger TV ratings/contracts etc. Playing in the Papa John's Pizza bowl is for all intents and purposes the same as playing in the Cotton bowl. I do agree I'd prefer to be able to control the non-BCS bowl tie ins but it's not a game breaker without a monetary system in place.

# 78 zmcman1 @ 05/30/11 04:33 PM

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spre...thkey=CIip9rMH

My attempt at realigning by Regions. I just used Independents as a collection of schools I couldn't work in.

Didn't see the point in attempting to make 12 conferences. Figured it's pretty likely we won't be able to treat Independents like an actual conference with its own schedule.

edit: And here's my realignment I think I may use for most of my dynasties.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spre...thkey=CK3Zv88P

# 79 dennis580 @ 05/30/11 05:02 PM

Actually their are a lot of unecessary restrictions in place. That will hamper what you can do.

#1. You can NOT add or remove conferences. So you are stuck at a 11 conferences.
#2. You can NOT have less then 4 teams in a conferences. So you cann't manually remove conferences by taking all the teams out either.
#3. You must have at least 1 Indepenedent so you can NOT put everybody in a conference
#4. You can NOT add or remove teams. So if you want to make every conference a 12 team conference with a championship game you can NOT do that. Or if you want to cut 20 scrub teams out, and get down to just 100 teams in the BSD you can NOT do that either.

# 80 zmcman1 @ 05/30/11 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheRealCar10ck


	Also you have Cowboys Stadium as a Conf. Title Site. Jerry World? Is this confirmed in the game.

I'm just assuming it is in the game since it hosts the Cotton Bowl.

as far as the spreadsheet, type "Google Documents" into Google. You can make/save spreadsheets there.

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