[Izulde]

This is something I enjoy doing with NCAA to keep things fresh and exciting for me. Normally I replace all 1-A teams in a conference with 1-AA teams but I decided to do something different this time and have 1-AA teams take over most of one conference and part of another conference.

10 1-AA teams were included as per the norm.

I'll be taking over the Idaho State Bengals in the Sun Belt.

The two conferences affected were the Sun Belt and the WAC.

Here's the conference predictions going into the first season:

2005 Sun Belt Predictions:
1. North Texas
2. UL-Monroe
3. Florida Atlantic
4. Sacramento State*
5. James Madison*
6. Idaho State*
7. Furman*
8. Appalachian State*

*=Div 1-AA member.

As expected the bona fide 1-A teams are expected to finish the top 3 in the conference. North Texas looks like the real power of the Sun Belt. Yeah, Sun Belt and power in the same sentence, I kow.

2005 WAC Predictions:

1. Boise State
2. Fresno State
3. Nevada
4. Hawaii
5. New Mexico State
6. Western Illinois*
7. Southern
8. Northwestern State*
9. Northern Arizona*

More of the same here. Oh and I also have Murray State in C-USA for some reason. Naturally the Racers are picked to finish last.

Interestingly enough, there's quite a few 1st Team Preseason Conference Selection of the 1-AA schools for both the Sun Belt and the WAC, including some underclassmen.

Murray State, on the other hand, has neither a 1st team nor a 2nd team selection in C-USA.

Naturally we all occupy the bottom of the preseason 119 polls. Here's the order:

110. Western Illinois
111. Southern
112. Sacramento State
113. Northwestern State
114. Northern Arizona
115. Murray State
116. James Madison
117. Idaho State
118. Furman
119. Appalachian State

Naturally I don't expect this to be the case by the end of the season as the cupcakes will beat up on each other in conference play to create a stronger pecking order.

The focus of this dynasty is going to be on the Idaho State Bengals if that's okay with everyone, since I'm controlling them, but I'll try and get as much detail about the other 1-AA teams in as I can.

My three impact players are all underclassmen thankfully. A JR SS rated 80, a SO RE rated 80 and a SO HB rated 76. So yeah, my emphasis is going to be on running the football, even though for some strange reason I have the 1st-Team Preseason All-Sun Belt QB with a rating of 59, also a SO.

The first game of the season will be in Week 2 against Murray State. Yeah, I tried to make an easy schedule so that I would have hopefully have a winning record. Next post will deal with that game probably.