Bantam College Judges (NCAA12)

Young Drachma · 09-19-2011, 11:58 PM

Bantam College was founded in 1784 as Litchfield Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut. Located in the tiny hamlet of Bantam, Connecticut on picturesque Bantam Lake. It became The College at Bantam in 1884.

Bantam has never had a football team, but it sits on a large endowment ($1.8 billion) and has the smallest undergraduate enrollment of any Division 1 school at 2,767 and the smallest overall enrollment at 3,905 total students.

Football was cut after the 1947 season and wasn't revived until 1985. It has always -- like all sports at the school -- been played at the NAIA level, for philosophical reasons. But in 2007, the Trustees of Bantam College decided the school was ready to make the jump to the NCAA level. After going 150-128-1 since the inception of the program, it was time to go to the big time starting with the 2011 season.

This is the story of the Judges on the big stage. Bantam will begin as an independent in all sports with the hopes that it can someday join a conference for all sports and of course, one day for football as well.

Young Drachma · 10-10-2011, 10:58 PM

Bantam College is a 1-star prestige program. Here is the program's NAIA history. Their signature win came last year in a game against FCS independent Georgia State, though that program is an upstart so that's deceiving. But a win at the Georgia Dome is a win nonetheless.

In-game we replaced Buffalo, so our primary rival is Syracuse.

Quote:

NCAA
TRANSITIONAL YEARS

2011: 10-2
2012: 5-6
2013: 8-4
2014: 6-6
2015: 6-5

BANTAM RECORDS (as an NAIA program)
2010: 4-6
2009: 12-1
2008: 8-4
2007: 3-8
2006: 5-6
2005: 5-6
2004: 6-4
2003: 9-3
2002: 6-3
2001: 3-6
2000: 7-4
1999: 8-4
1998: 7-3
1997: 4-6
1996: 9-2
1995: 10-1-1
1994: 10-3
1993: 6-4
1992: 3-7
1991: 3-7
1990: 2-7
1989: 9-2
1988: 6-4
1987: 2-7
1986: 1-8
1985: 1-7
1947: 1-4

The expectation is that we'll win against FCS teams -- the team is stocked with an "Average Joes" roster, but we'll spend five years simming to cycle through that and have an entirely new team of recruits without doing any of the actual recruiting. That way, any redshirts from the 1st season will be gone and it'll be entirely comprised of newgen recruits when we do take over the program.

It'll be in Year 6 that we take over the program and will keep an entire schedule of FBS programs (with a max of one FCS program). To that end, we'll just be reporting end-of-season results until we get to the 6th season.

The only conference moves I've made were after the 1st season.

WAC: Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado State
SEC: Missouri, Texas A&M
BIG 12: Louisville, TCU
MWC: Tulsa, Hawaii, Nevada, Fresno State, Rice, UTEP
BIG EAST: Navy, UCF, Air Force, Army, Boise State, Temple
ACC: Syracuse, UConn

Young Drachma · 10-11-2011, 02:00 AM

After five years, Bantam is finally a full fledged FBS member in the independent ranks. As far as conference options, there are possibilities and the school's officials seem pretty adamant about finding a home for its teams. Right now, the all sports teams are in a hodge podge of different leagues. Basketball plays in the Great West and football is an independent.

The MAC and Big East both need a 12th team to get a conference title game. Remaining an independent is not really that viable an option beyond the 6th season (which will for sure be an independent year, assuming that Bantam won't be invited to join a league until the following year.)

UConn doesn't want Bantam in the Big East. The MAC is a more likely possibility because it'd give us a home for all of our programs, whereas the other leagues wouldn't offer that.

What inspired this dynasty was the Boise State's of the world. Programs that ascend from the "ashes" to be successful are intriguing. To create a power school in the heart of the Yankee conference would be intriguing and so, that's the goal here with Bantam College. Apparently FCS wins matter, because the prestige for the program is 3 stars now versus the 1 star we began at. This should be enough to get us into a conference of some kind or another.

YEAR 6 REALIGNMENT
I want to cut down on the moves in this particular iteration, because well..I just do. But let's fix some of the geography on purported real life moves, shall we?

BIG 12: Tulane, BYU
C-USA: FIU
MAC: Bantam

The College of Bantam has accepted an invitation from the Mid-American Conference as an all-sports member. I intended to make Bantam wait one more year before joining, but I was moving teams around and forgot. So oh well, we're there now.

Our long-term goal is something more...prestigious. But this is a nice starting point for the program and it gives the MAC a conference title game again.

Young Drachma · 10-11-2011, 09:58 PM

BACKGROUND
Since we don't know the kids that are on the team now, I figured it might be better to just focus on recruiting for this first season entirely and then just recap results week by week, with the thing we care about being recruiting.

The process is something I like to gloss over, but if we're going to make a team here that's competitive over time, focusing on recruiting seems to be the best bet.

So with that, here's the schedule for the 2016 season.

Code:

at Northwestern
SYRACUSE
TOLEDO
@ Central Michigan
BYE
@ Miami (OH)
@ Bowling Green
AKRON
KENT STATE
BYE
OHIO
@ Western Michigan

Pre-season MAC poll has us predicted to finish #2 in the North Division. I'd like to set our goal higher, even though I'll have nothing to do with the games -- though if I do play a game out, I'll let you know -- this season and focus on bringing in a new crop entirely.

So to that end, I'm like the recruiting coordinator. No house rules on geography, because I figure that with a program like this at a school that draws nationally, we can go where we want and get who wants to play here.

PROGRAM GOAL: We want to be in the Big East. It's our goal, it's our focus and it's where want to be, period. We believe we fit better there than we do in the MAC, but being an independent isn't profitable for a program like ours, so we had to take the first offer on the table save for going to the Sun Belt or something.

So with that being said, you know our goal now. The storyline right now is that UConn is blocking our bid to join that league and that the overall feeling is tepid. While we're a Top 15 university (replace our national ranking with the real life Washington University in St. Louis) the idea of a small Ivy-caliber school with mehtastic football credentials playing in no real TV market doesn't excite the powers-that-be. Our current hope is that UConn will go to the ACC as it its goal and when it does, that we'll be able to join the Big East in their spot.

I think I'll leave this dynasty open for your own wild conference rumors and scenarios. So if you decide to read and want to throw out an idea or three in regards to where you think a team that hasn't already moved ought to end up -- whether to throw a wrinkle or to act as a conference head wooing my program (is that you WAC Commissioner?) -- then feel free. If not, I'll just act on my own devices. But it could be fun...

CURRENT ROSTER: We're currently ranked C- on offense and C- on Defense roster wise. Our best four players are:

Code:

P Trevor Clark (JR) 87
HB Joe McCloud (SR) 79
DT Dennis Carter (SR) 78
LT Jason Greene (SR) 77

My recruiting style is "go for the best available talent. My offense system is pretty much emphasizing skilled players and so we go for HB/WR/QB with some accuracy and mobility a bonus. My playbook is an adapted playbook of Mizzou's spread offense, but I've integrated a lot more running into it than a conventional 5 WR on every play offense.

So what I'll do is let you know who my key recruits are each week and we'll go from there. If I'm feeling especially ambitious, I'll list the entire list of them, but...I'm not entirely sure I will so long as we focus on the bigguns + whoever we end up actually getting.

Here we go.

Young Drachma · 10-11-2011, 10:14 PM

The College at Bantam is in Litchfield, CT in case you forgot. Our currently recruiting pipelines are officially: New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Florida. Because we're a good school, we seem to attract kids from all over the country especially in New England (NH, ME, CT all rate high) and strangely a few kids from Texas too.

So that being said, we're heavily drawing from the Northeast with a few other places colored in.

NEEDS
Game says we need a OLB, TE, FB, HB and SS.

My first search is for any pie-in-the-sky kid who might be interested in us more than he ought to be given his caliber. We seem good at attracting 3-star kids and below, which is good because we can build a solid team out of that. But no blue-chip types yet. We're just not there.

I head to Canada first. I have a theory that it's just a good place to recruit since no schools are there in-game. I'll just start listing kids I add to our board as I do this, since this is real-time typing for the most part.

QB Eric London 6'3" 190 LBS. 3*, SPARQ 65

I'm just listing the SPARQ b/c the game lists it and it's easy for shorthand.

I come back to Connecticut and throw out a few kids just for kicks.

CB Maurice McCoy 6'1 184, 4* SPQ 76
OLB Maurice Fredrick 6'2 211 3* SPQ 64
OLB Hunter Lyles 6'3" 223 3* SPQ 64

I figure, you gotta win the homefront.

I'm going to focus on getting my list together, make some pitches and then report back in Week 2 with some focused status updates. I've stuck mostly to New England, sprinkled a bit of pixie dust down in GA, FL and PA and we'll just see where we end up as this goes on.

Young Drachma · 10-11-2011, 10:33 PM

I made an offer to 4* HB Brandon Todd from Pleasantville, NJ. I noticed he had us in his Top 8, which was absolutely nuts. So I threw the sink at him. His current Top 3? BC, Miss St and UGA. It's a longshot, but it's worth it to me.

My only other "pie in the sky" was for QB Pat Long from Scotch Plains, NJ. He's a 4* too and while we're not even in his Top 10 and I forgot to make him a scholarship offer the first week, I figure that it was worth talking to him if nothing else.

CB Maurice Watson committed after I offered him a scholarship in Week 1. He's a 3* CB from Lockport, NY. 6'2, 174 lbs, 67 SPQ. We beat out UCF and Boise State for his services.

I made a few other offers to 3-star guys and decided to head to Week 2 in earnest after that.

WEEK 1 GAME
We lost to Northwestern 17-13 in the season opener.

AFTERMATH OF 1ST WEEK PITCHES

Notable bumps this week:

Brandon Todd was moved by what we had to offer him and he's elevated us into his Top 3. (Sorry UGA) We're pumped to put it mildly.

I spread a few more chips around and headed to Week 3. I'm good at recruiting. I'm not so good at week by week recaps of what I'm doing, though.

Young Drachma · 10-11-2011, 11:13 PM

Week 3: Syracuse (W, 35-28)
Week 4: Toledo (L, 45-31)
Week 5: Central Michigan (W, 28-21)
Week 6: Ball State (W, 27-16)
Week 8: Miami OH (W, 31-10)
Week 9: Bowling Green (W, 55-19)
Week 10: Akron (W, 30-0)
Week 11: Kent State (W, 42-28)
Week 12: Ohio (L, 21-18)
Week 14: Western Michigan (W, 35-21)

2016 SEASON IN REVIEW
I think I knew we'd be competitive in the MAC, I don't know that I thought we'd have this much success. Toledo plays in the MAC West, are a 5-star rated program ranked #15 in the country (hey conference commissioners, anyone want the new Boise State?) and are currently undefeated as I write this. So losing to them has no real shame. Meanwhile, we control our own destiny in the MAC East and have a shot at the rematch later this year against Toledo.

The loss to Ohio really took the wind out of our sails to a degree, but in a sense...I was almost happier without the instant success of a title game appearance in our 1st season in the league. Still, it's good to know we've kicked off the official FBS era with a good solid season against decent competition. Where it puts us long-term, I can't be sure yet. As voted, we did indeed finish 2nd in the MAC East, at 8-3 to end the regular season (I didn't schedule a 12th regular season game and won't allow us to ever do so - citing academics)

SIGNEE REPORT
Surprise, surprise that I find the week to week grind of recruiting pretty boring. I do set the priorities each week and make sure the guys are who I want to recruit. But save for that, after a few weeks I could care less and just want to see who we end up with. So with that, I'll drop our report and let you know what sort of haul we're bringing in for next season.

Through conference championship week, we have the 37th best recruiting class in the nation. (1 4*, 12 3*) Toledo at 15th is the best school in the MAC, no surprise there. Just above us Michigan State (5 4*, 4 3*) and just below us, Air Force (1 4*, 12 3*)

I'll get more info on these guys later. But here are the guys we landed:

1. HB B. Todd (4*)
2. OLB H. Lyles (3*)
3. HB J. Vincent (3*)
4. HB M. Young (3*)
5. FS C. Haynes (3*)
6. CB M. Watson (3*)
7. QB E. London (3*)
8. OLB J. Jones (3*)
9. MLB A. Booker
10. WR T. Horne
11. OLB J. Parker
12. DT J. Scruggs
13. TE A. Arnold

We've been invited to the 2016 GoDaddy.com Bowl against Troy (7-5). Georgia Tech senior HB Justin Bell won the Heisman. In ase you were wondering, five MAC schools made the postseason this year. We lose 31-21 in that bowl game.

BCS BOWLS, 2016
Sugar Bowl: Nebraska (11-2) v. Auburn (10-2)
Rose Bowl: Oregon (11-2) v. Alabama (11-2)
Orange Bowl: Toledo (12-1) v. USF (8-4)
Fiesta Bowl: Louisville (9-4) v. Georgia Tech (8-5)
BCS National Title Game: Penn State (10-2) v. Nevada (12-0)

Penn State wins the national title 27-7.

Young Drachma · 10-12-2011, 11:46 PM

No one left early, so no real issue there. I checked to see if we had any transfer requests and we didn't have any of those either.

From there, it was on to the recruiting season. We have 12 scholarships left. I'll report who we end up with after the off-season recruiting period is over.

G J. Mason 3* (FL)
DT M. Veney 3* DT (GA)
T C. Rodgers 3* T (DC)
OLB J. Randolph 3* (DE)
WR J. Robison 3* (GA)
WR M. Battle 2* (CT)
QB F. Robinson 3* (GA)
ATH L. Fletcher 1* (CN)
P M. Olson 1* (NH)
OLB K. Graham 3* (NJ)
WR C. Smith 3* (MD)
OLB L. Anderson 3* (CN)

Overall, our class ends up ranked #25th (0/1/21/1/2) in the nation. Ranked just below us? Auburn (0/7/9/0/3) and just above us, Iowa (0/6/10/3/3) Ended up making four cuts in the pre-season, several of whom were freshman recruits.

bbgunn · 10-13-2011, 12:01 AM

Following. Good luck with this!

Young Drachma · 10-13-2011, 12:45 AM

2017 CONFERENCE MOVES
-------------------
(You'll see in a second why the moves that happened hurt particular leagues)
MWC: Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Utah State
ACC: UConn, West Virginia
WAC: UTEP, Fresno State

The Big East lost four schools, which pretty much ruined its chance at keeping its auto-bid this cycle, unless they were to add enough teams to boost themselves over the threshold. Meanwhile, the Mountain West went raiding to see if they earn their own tour card.

Here's how I'll evaluate conferences for auto-BCS bids starting this year (it'll be a 5-year period)

I'll issue a conference score based on the prestige of the teams in their league. So we'll total them up. The minimum score necessary to earn a BCS bid for your league is a 30 or higher. If more than eight leagues that meet that criteria, then we'll take the top 8. We'll call this rating the Cumulative Prestige Barometer (CPB)

Here are the results for the current period (2017-2021)

Code:

ACC (16 teams): 57
SEC (14 teams): 55
Big Ten (12 teams): 48
Big 12 (12 teams): 42
Pac-12 (12 teams): 40
MWC (10 teams): 30
MAC (12 teams): 25
Big East (7 teams): 17
Sun Belt (8 teams): 16
C-USA (8 teams): 14
WAC (8 teams): 12

My house rule is that I won't allow any conference to dip below 8 teams at any point. But it's evident that if the MAC wasn't so craptastic on the bottom -- seriously there are one-star teams all over the place in there -- that it would be eligible for a bid. The Big East peers over and sees this and since this is the landscape for the next five years, the teams that are left out are looking around and trying to assess what their plans ought to be. The only teams who can really legitimately consider bargaining are back east.

The Mountain West and WAC have a defacto promotion and relegation situation that effectively enabled the MWC to get a bid -- barely -- this time around by all of the swaps I did to make it possible once AF got better and Boise's status remained pretty much the same. (Well and Nevada decided to become a 6-star Top-5 program.)

Here are the Big East's target programs to keep their bid.
-----------------

Quote:

Louisville (3*) BIG XII
Western Kentucky (3*) Sun Belt
Houston (4*) C-USA
ECU (2*) C-USA
Notre Dame (4*) INDEP.
Bantam (3*) MAC
Toledo (4*) MAC
Ohio (3*) MAC
Northern Illinois (3*) MAC

The alternative scenario would involve the MAC doing some poaching and grabbing Syracuse (2*) and Pitt (2*) from the ACC, but that wouldn't even put us over the top. We'd then need to essentially replace one of our bottom feeders (probably Kent State) in return for someone else's 2* minimum (Marshall, ECU, Rutgers, Navy) to get the conference to a 30 CPB. I'm saving this and there won't be any more decisions made tonight. The schools need to "discuss their options" and let the rumor mill fly with more crazy scenarios for a bit longer. (Feel free to chime in.)

There's a lot to think about for these programs. For us at Bantam, we're open to leaving obviously. If there's no chance of a bid, it seems silly to stay in the MAC another year and play lots of craptastic clubs because the universe thing that killed us last year in recruiting was conference prestige. We were hanging with kids left and right, but kept getting killed by that number. Can't allow it to happen again this year, even if it means going back to being independent. (Yes, we are crazy.)

Young Drachma · 10-14-2011, 12:30 AM

Things change, as they often do.

2017 FINAL FINAL REALIGNMENT

The seismic shifting in college football after nearly a decade of relative peace yielded us a very strange set of circumstances. In the end, the dust settled and here's what we were left with in terms of conference alignments.

Here are the results for the current period CONFERENCE PRESTIGE BAROMETER(2017-2021)

Code:

[b]
Big Ten (14 teams): 53
ACC (12 teams): 51
SEC (12 teams): 49
Big 12 (12 teams): 42
Pac-12 (12 teams): 40
MAC (14 teams): 40

C-USA (11 teams): 27
MWC (8 teams): 19
Sun Belt (8 teams): 14
Big East (8 teams): 11
WAC (8 teams): 12

The other rule for BCS bids is your league must have at 12 teams in order to qualify.

I just decided to make the MAC the SEC of the North. Mostly because I felt like it and because I can. The divisions are setup to emphasize the protected rivals.

REPUBLIC DIVISION
Army
Boston College
Penn State
Pitt
Syracuse
Virginia
Missouri

CONTINENTAL DIVISION
The College at Bantam
Maryland
Navy
Notre Dame
Rutgers
West Virginia
Kansas

Protected rivals:

Quote:

Pitt v. WVU
Army v. Navy
Syracuse v. Bantam
BC v. Notre Dame
UVA v. Maryland
Penn State v. Rutgers
Missouri v. Kansas

I'm excited to play in this league, it's the best one I've ever dreamt up and it's cool to have my upstart team as part of it, even though I know we have absolutely no chance of winning it for a long time.

I hadn't considered Mizzou and Kansas until I was almost finished. I started to wait until the next cycle to make that move...but I figured it worked now. So I took A&M and sent them back to the Big 12 to replace Kansas. And the SEC just goes back to 12 teams.

If you're curious and want a recap of who went where besides the MAC, let me know and I'll give you the scoop.

BOWL ROTATION
Decided for 2017 that while there are six auto-bids, we won't assign anyone to a specific bowl and we'll see where the chips fall.

bbgunn · 10-14-2011, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

If you're curious and want a recap of who went where besides the MAC, let me know and I'll give you the scoop.

You know I'm curious, but if you're busy, take your time.

Young Drachma · 10-14-2011, 01:08 AM

Hehe...

Here are the changes. The rest of the teams are were they were before, as outlined previously.

Code:

ACC: UConn, Louisville, UCF
BIG TEN: Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa State
BIG 12: Texas A&M, Nevada, Air Force, Boise State, SMU, Houston
BIG EAST: Miami (OH), Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Bowling Green, Akron, Kent State, Ball State
CONFERENCE USA: Toledo, USF, Northern Illinois, Cincy, Western Kentucky
INDEP: Temple

So essentially, the MAC bottom feeders took over the Big East shell and then I made a few other moves that sort of were dominoes for each other.

Young Drachma · 10-14-2011, 01:13 AM

In order to play with the big boys, we had to concede our 11 game schedule and go to 12. Adding Hawai'i this year made it more legit, too.

2017 COLLEGE OF BANTAM JUDGES SCHEDULE

Code:

1: WASHINGTON STATE
2. @ Hawai'i
5: RICE
6: @ Syracuse
7: @ Notre Dame
8: BOSTON COLLEGE
9: @ Kansas
10: @ Penn State
11:  WEST VIRGINIA
12: MARYLAND
13: @ Navy
14: RUTGERS

Young Drachma · 10-14-2011, 10:20 PM

With the addition of Bantam officially to major college football, the President's office at THE COLLEGE was presented with a petition from over 2,000 students, staff and faculty who want a better mascot than the Judge. There is no physical Judge mascot, it's a legacy name owing to the college's history as one of the nation's first law schools.

Being the quirky students they are, they chose names that no other school had. The College obliged, believing "mascots have usually come from students, not PR firms."

The school used the announcement of the name-the-mascot contest to also announce the groundbreaking of the expansion of Camp Stadium from 26,850 seats to 50,000. The move was made thanks to an anonymous alumni donation for $250 million and will include suites, practice facility and a room for players and cheerleaders to do it. (I made that last part up.)

10-11-2011, 02:00 AM	#3
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	After five years, Bantam is finally a full fledged FBS member in the independent ranks. As far as conference options, there are possibilities and the school's officials seem pretty adamant about finding a home for its teams. Right now, the all sports teams are in a hodge podge of different leagues. Basketball plays in the Great West and football is an independent. The MAC and Big East both need a 12th team to get a conference title game. Remaining an independent is not really that viable an option beyond the 6th season (which will for sure be an independent year, assuming that Bantam won't be invited to join a league until the following year.) UConn doesn't want Bantam in the Big East. The MAC is a more likely possibility because it'd give us a home for all of our programs, whereas the other leagues wouldn't offer that. What inspired this dynasty was the Boise State's of the world. Programs that ascend from the "ashes" to be successful are intriguing. To create a power school in the heart of the Yankee conference would be intriguing and so, that's the goal here with Bantam College. Apparently FCS wins matter, because the prestige for the program is 3 stars now versus the 1 star we began at. This should be enough to get us into a conference of some kind or another. YEAR 6 REALIGNMENT I want to cut down on the moves in this particular iteration, because well..I just do. But let's fix some of the geography on purported real life moves, shall we? BIG 12: Tulane, BYU C-USA: FIU MAC: Bantam The College of Bantam has accepted an invitation from the Mid-American Conference as an all-sports member. I intended to make Bantam wait one more year before joining, but I was moving teams around and forgot. So oh well, we're there now. Our long-term goal is something more...prestigious. But this is a nice starting point for the program and it gives the MAC a conference title game again. Last edited by Young Drachma : 10-11-2011 at 02:12 AM.

10-11-2011, 09:58 PM	#4
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	2016 BANTAM COLLEGE JUDGES BACKGROUND Since we don't know the kids that are on the team now, I figured it might be better to just focus on recruiting for this first season entirely and then just recap results week by week, with the thing we care about being recruiting. The process is something I like to gloss over, but if we're going to make a team here that's competitive over time, focusing on recruiting seems to be the best bet. So with that, here's the schedule for the 2016 season. Code: at Northwestern SYRACUSE TOLEDO @ Central Michigan BYE @ Miami (OH) @ Bowling Green AKRON KENT STATE BYE OHIO @ Western Michigan Pre-season MAC poll has us predicted to finish #2 in the North Division. I'd like to set our goal higher, even though I'll have nothing to do with the games -- though if I do play a game out, I'll let you know -- this season and focus on bringing in a new crop entirely. So to that end, I'm like the recruiting coordinator. No house rules on geography, because I figure that with a program like this at a school that draws nationally, we can go where we want and get who wants to play here. PROGRAM GOAL: We want to be in the Big East. It's our goal, it's our focus and it's where want to be, period. We believe we fit better there than we do in the MAC, but being an independent isn't profitable for a program like ours, so we had to take the first offer on the table save for going to the Sun Belt or something. So with that being said, you know our goal now. The storyline right now is that UConn is blocking our bid to join that league and that the overall feeling is tepid. While we're a Top 15 university (replace our national ranking with the real life Washington University in St. Louis) the idea of a small Ivy-caliber school with mehtastic football credentials playing in no real TV market doesn't excite the powers-that-be. Our current hope is that UConn will go to the ACC as it its goal and when it does, that we'll be able to join the Big East in their spot. I think I'll leave this dynasty open for your own wild conference rumors and scenarios. So if you decide to read and want to throw out an idea or three in regards to where you think a team that hasn't already moved ought to end up -- whether to throw a wrinkle or to act as a conference head wooing my program (is that you WAC Commissioner?) -- then feel free. If not, I'll just act on my own devices. But it could be fun... CURRENT ROSTER: We're currently ranked C- on offense and C- on Defense roster wise. Our best four players are: Code: P Trevor Clark (JR) 87 HB Joe McCloud (SR) 79 DT Dennis Carter (SR) 78 LT Jason Greene (SR) 77 My recruiting style is "go for the best available talent. My offense system is pretty much emphasizing skilled players and so we go for HB/WR/QB with some accuracy and mobility a bonus. My playbook is an adapted playbook of Mizzou's spread offense, but I've integrated a lot more running into it than a conventional 5 WR on every play offense. So what I'll do is let you know who my key recruits are each week and we'll go from there. If I'm feeling especially ambitious, I'll list the entire list of them, but...I'm not entirely sure I will so long as we focus on the bigguns + whoever we end up actually getting. Here we go.

10-11-2011, 10:14 PM	#5
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	RECRUITING - WEEK 1 (2016) The College at Bantam is in Litchfield, CT in case you forgot. Our currently recruiting pipelines are officially: New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Florida. Because we're a good school, we seem to attract kids from all over the country especially in New England (NH, ME, CT all rate high) and strangely a few kids from Texas too. So that being said, we're heavily drawing from the Northeast with a few other places colored in. NEEDS Game says we need a OLB, TE, FB, HB and SS. My first search is for any pie-in-the-sky kid who might be interested in us more than he ought to be given his caliber. We seem good at attracting 3-star kids and below, which is good because we can build a solid team out of that. But no blue-chip types yet. We're just not there. I head to Canada first. I have a theory that it's just a good place to recruit since no schools are there in-game. I'll just start listing kids I add to our board as I do this, since this is real-time typing for the most part. QB Eric London 6'3" 190 LBS. 3, SPARQ 65 I'm just listing the SPARQ b/c the game lists it and it's easy for shorthand. I come back to Connecticut and throw out a few kids just for kicks. CB Maurice McCoy* 6'1 184, 4* SPQ 76 OLB Maurice Fredrick 6'2 211 3* SPQ 64 OLB Hunter Lyles 6'3" 223 3* SPQ 64 I figure, you gotta win the homefront. I'm going to focus on getting my list together, make some pitches and then report back in Week 2 with some focused status updates. I've stuck mostly to New England, sprinkled a bit of pixie dust down in GA, FL and PA and we'll just see where we end up as this goes on.

10-11-2011, 10:33 PM	#6
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	2016 RECRUITING WEEK 2 I made an offer to 4* HB Brandon Todd from Pleasantville, NJ. I noticed he had us in his Top 8, which was absolutely nuts. So I threw the sink at him. His current Top 3? BC, Miss St and UGA. It's a longshot, but it's worth it to me. My only other "pie in the sky" was for QB Pat Long from Scotch Plains, NJ. He's a 4* too and while we're not even in his Top 10 and I forgot to make him a scholarship offer the first week, I figure that it was worth talking to him if nothing else. CB Maurice Watson committed after I offered him a scholarship in Week 1. He's a 3* CB from Lockport, NY. 6'2, 174 lbs, 67 SPQ. We beat out UCF and Boise State for his services. I made a few other offers to 3-star guys and decided to head to Week 2 in earnest after that. WEEK 1 GAME We lost to Northwestern 17-13 in the season opener. AFTERMATH OF 1ST WEEK PITCHES Notable bumps this week: Brandon Todd was moved by what we had to offer him and he's elevated us into his Top 3. (Sorry UGA) We're pumped to put it mildly. I spread a few more chips around and headed to Week 3. I'm good at recruiting. I'm not so good at week by week recaps of what I'm doing, though.

10-11-2011, 11:13 PM	#7
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	Week 3: Syracuse (W, 35-28) Week 4: Toledo (L, 45-31) Week 5: Central Michigan (W, 28-21) Week 6: Ball State (W, 27-16) Week 8: Miami OH (W, 31-10) Week 9: Bowling Green (W, 55-19) Week 10: Akron (W, 30-0) Week 11: Kent State (W, 42-28) Week 12: Ohio (L, 21-18) Week 14: Western Michigan (W, 35-21) 2016 SEASON IN REVIEW I think I knew we'd be competitive in the MAC, I don't know that I thought we'd have this much success. Toledo plays in the MAC West, are a 5-star rated program ranked #15 in the country (hey conference commissioners, anyone want the new Boise State?) and are currently undefeated as I write this. So losing to them has no real shame. Meanwhile, we control our own destiny in the MAC East and have a shot at the rematch later this year against Toledo. The loss to Ohio really took the wind out of our sails to a degree, but in a sense...I was almost happier without the instant success of a title game appearance in our 1st season in the league. Still, it's good to know we've kicked off the official FBS era with a good solid season against decent competition. Where it puts us long-term, I can't be sure yet. As voted, we did indeed finish 2nd in the MAC East, at 8-3 to end the regular season (I didn't schedule a 12th regular season game and won't allow us to ever do so - citing academics) SIGNEE REPORT Surprise, surprise that I find the week to week grind of recruiting pretty boring. I do set the priorities each week and make sure the guys are who I want to recruit. But save for that, after a few weeks I could care less and just want to see who we end up with. So with that, I'll drop our report and let you know what sort of haul we're bringing in for next season. Through conference championship week, we have the 37th best recruiting class in the nation. (1 4, 12 3) Toledo at 15th is the best school in the MAC, no surprise there. Just above us Michigan State (5 4, 4 3) and just below us, Air Force (1 4, 12 3) I'll get more info on these guys later. But here are the guys we landed: 1. HB B. Todd (4) 2. OLB H. Lyles (3) 3. HB J. Vincent (3) 4. HB M. Young (3) 5. FS C. Haynes (3) 6. CB M. Watson (3) 7. QB E. London (3) 8. OLB J. Jones (3) 9. MLB A. Booker 10. WR T. Horne 11. OLB J. Parker 12. DT J. Scruggs 13. TE A. Arnold We've been invited to the 2016 GoDaddy.com Bowl against Troy (7-5). Georgia Tech senior HB Justin Bell won the Heisman. In ase you were wondering, five MAC schools made the postseason this year. We lose 31-21 in that bowl game. BCS BOWLS, 2016 Sugar Bowl: Nebraska (11-2) v. Auburn (10-2) Rose Bowl: Oregon (11-2) v. Alabama (11-2) Orange Bowl: Toledo (12-1) v. USF (8-4) Fiesta Bowl: Louisville (9-4) v. Georgia Tech (8-5) BCS National Title Game: Penn State (10-2) v. Nevada (12-0) Penn State wins the national title 27-7. Last edited by Young Drachma : 10-12-2011 at 12:11 AM.

10-12-2011, 11:46 PM	#8
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	2017 Off-season No one left early, so no real issue there. I checked to see if we had any transfer requests and we didn't have any of those either. From there, it was on to the recruiting season. We have 12 scholarships left. I'll report who we end up with after the off-season recruiting period is over. G J. Mason 3* (FL) DT M. Veney 3* DT (GA) T C. Rodgers 3* T (DC) OLB J. Randolph 3* (DE) WR J. Robison 3* (GA) WR M. Battle 2* (CT) QB F. Robinson 3* (GA) ATH L. Fletcher 1* (CN) P M. Olson 1* (NH) OLB K. Graham 3* (NJ) WR C. Smith 3* (MD) OLB L. Anderson 3* (CN) Overall, our class ends up ranked #25th (0/1/21/1/2) in the nation. Ranked just below us? Auburn (0/7/9/0/3) and just above us, Iowa (0/6/10/3/3) Ended up making four cuts in the pre-season, several of whom were freshman recruits. Last edited by Young Drachma : 10-13-2011 at 12:17 AM.

10-13-2011, 12:01 AM	#9
bbgunn College Benchwarmer Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Osaka, Japan via Honolulu, Hawaii via Birmingham, Alabama	Following. Good luck with this! __________________ U of Hawaii \| U of Alabama \| Montreal Impact \| Montreal Canadiens \| West Ham \| West Indies cricket \| Portland Trail Blazers

10-14-2011, 01:08 AM	#13
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	Hehe... Here are the changes. The rest of the teams are were they were before, as outlined previously. Code: ACC: UConn, Louisville, UCF BIG TEN: Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa State BIG 12: Texas A&M, Nevada, Air Force, Boise State, SMU, Houston BIG EAST: Miami (OH), Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Bowling Green, Akron, Kent State, Ball State CONFERENCE USA: Toledo, USF, Northern Illinois, Cincy, Western Kentucky INDEP: Temple So essentially, the MAC bottom feeders took over the Big East shell and then I made a few other moves that sort of were dominoes for each other. Last edited by Young Drachma : 10-14-2011 at 01:08 AM.

10-14-2011, 01:13 AM	#14
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	In order to play with the big boys, we had to concede our 11 game schedule and go to 12. Adding Hawai'i this year made it more legit, too. 2017 COLLEGE OF BANTAM JUDGES SCHEDULE Code: 1: WASHINGTON STATE 2. @ Hawai'i 5: RICE 6: @ Syracuse 7: @ Notre Dame 8: BOSTON COLLEGE 9: @ Kansas 10: @ Penn State 11: WEST VIRGINIA 12: MARYLAND 13: @ Navy 14: RUTGERS

10-14-2011, 10:20 PM	#15
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	BANTAM COLLEGE EXPANDS STADIUM, ANNOUNCES NAME-THE-MASCOT CONTEST With the addition of Bantam officially to major college football, the President's office at THE COLLEGE was presented with a petition from over 2,000 students, staff and faculty who want a better mascot than the Judge. There is no physical Judge mascot, it's a legacy name owing to the college's history as one of the nation's first law schools. Being the quirky students they are, they chose names that no other school had. The College obliged, believing "mascots have usually come from students, not PR firms." The school used the announcement of the name-the-mascot contest to also announce the groundbreaking of the expansion of Camp Stadium from 26,850 seats to 50,000. The move was made thanks to an anonymous alumni donation for $250 million and will include suites, practice facility and a room for players and cheerleaders to do it. (I made that last part up.)

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