Mr. Nation's Relegation(Final)

[aarnation8]

Ok fellas. Here is the final setup and all info. I suggest if you want to test it out 5-10 seasons is a pretty good sample if you're simming. I had a blast once I figured out it started working, and I haven't even played any games yet. Time to start it up and get after it

League Tier setup
Geographically set up

Tier 1(15) MWC PAC12 BIG10 SEC
Tier 2(9) CUSA BIG12 Beast ACC
Tier 3(6-8) WAC Indep MAC SUN

Each tier has a competitive Conference Prestige within its competitors and is separated from each tier. This makes recruiting much more exciting as the 4 separate groupings are fighting for better recruiting pitches, and tier movement is a big difference in prestige.

Tier 1-Usually ends up between 8-20 (A+ through B+)
SEC 10.8
MWC 11.7
B10 13.3
PAC12 14.3

Tier 2-Usually ends up between 50-75(B through C)
USA 63.2
ACC 65.2
B12 67.8
Beast 72.0

Tier 3-Usually ends up between 80-105(C- through D-)
WAC 85.2
MAC 90.7
SUN 102
Indep Last

You’ll notice the SUN and Indep league have fewer teams than the WAC and MAC. Mainly geographical reasons, but a nice addition means their prestige is lower. This offsets the fact they are located in the easier to recruit states(CA, TX, AL, FL, etc…)
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Conference settings-
Night games in November-YES(real men play football in the cold)
Weekday games-Set all to no(personal preference, I like all the action on Saturdays)
Start conference games-Week 1 all conferences
No rivals set due to 15 teams(don’t worry, most rivalries will be played because the geographical setup)
League Drink of choice-Ice cold PBR with Bulleit Bourbon scattered shots(a must if any of this is going to work correctly)

Championship games(personal preference)
MWC-Denver, CO
BIG10-Pennsylvania, PA
SEC-Charlotte, NC
PAC12-San Fran, CA

Bowl Games
MWC Champ-ANY
PAC12 Champ-ANY
BIG10 Champ-ANY
SEC Champ-ANY
BEAST and ACC-Sugar Bowl
CUSA and BIG12-Fiesta Bowl

It is important to have the Tier 2 champs get the bowls so no at large teams get a bid(keeps Tier 2 highly ranked teams from getting into a major bowl).
Its weird, but if any Tier 2 teams are ranked, it is not the conference champion. I will explain how to handle these teams later, but it matches them up in a bowl against a team more fit to their abilities, and if they lose, they get punished for it not being a top 10 team.

Scheduling-
*VERY IMPORTANT, make sure you redo schedule before start of first season to NOT INCLUDE known games

Tier 1- The 15 team(usually rated 99-high 80’s) conference leads to 10 in conference games. This means the top teams only play the top teams. Only 2 OOC games leads to less Tier 2 matchups where they can boost their Top 25 ranking. In fact, if you have the risk of being demoted, you should have to show your skills against mainly your competition.

Tier 2- 9 teams(higher 80’s to high 70’s) leads to 8 conference games against the same caliber teams. The rest of the scheduling is filled with mainly other Tier 2 or Tier 3 teams.

Tier 3- 6 to 8 teams in each conference. Leads to enough conference games to get a good base of who is the better team. Mainly they end up being filler teams in higher ranking Tier 2 schedules.

Conference Setup-Geographically
*-Penn St was given a “death penalty”ish treatment by me. Made into a cupcake team, and lowered their prestige for coaching, fan base, tv exposer, etc…
**-Nebraska St is my custom team in place of Akron. The MAC would have too many teams in their Tier 3 due to geography. If you don’t do something similar, just keep Akron in MAC and move Minnesota to WAC to keep geography as close as possible.
BOLD-Indicates teams that are affiliated with first division

Each Tier 1 conference has two division. Which each team in the entire group being affiliated with a certain division. This keeps the regions intact without too much power going to one side(although the extra 8^th team can be moved from one side to another on a given season). This also keeps most rivalry games together because there is no way to guarantee those with scheduling.


Mountain West-Tier 1
Mountain Division
Kansas St
Utah
Colorado St
Nevada
BYU
Nebraska
Iowa
Colorado

Plains Division
Arkansas
LSU
Oklahoma
Ok St
Tulsa
Missouri
Northwestern

CUSA-Tier 2
Purdue
LA Tech
Kansas
Indiana
Illinois
Iowa St
Wyoming
UL Lafayette
Arkansas St

WAC-Tier 3
Nebraska St**
Northern Illinois
UL Monroe
Tulane
UNLV
Air Force
Utah St

PAC12-Tier 1
Coastal/Pacific Division
USC
UCLA
Boise St
Oregon
Washington
CAl
Stanford

TexMex Division
SMU
Arizona
Arizona St
Baylor
TCU
Texas A&M
Houston
Texas

BIG12-Tier 2
UTEP
Hawaii
Washington St
Fresno St
Oregon St
San Jose St
Rice
Texas Tech
San Diego St

INDEP-Tier 3
UTSA
Idaho
Texas ST
New Mexico St
North Texas
New Mexico

BIG10-Tier 1
Rural Division
Norte Dame
Ohio St
Cincinnati
Michigan St
Wisconsin
Toledo
Michigan

Metro/Urban Division
Virginia
Boston College
West Virginia
Maryland
Connecticut
Pittsburgh
Rutgers
Virginia Tech

Big East-Tier 2
Miami(ohio)
Bowling Green
Western Michigan
Syracuse
Ohio
Navy
Temple
Eastern Michigan
Minnesota

MAC-Tier 3
UMASS
Kent St
Ball State
Central Michigan
Army
Buffalo
Penn State*
Marshall

SEC-Tier 1
Bluegrass Division
Georgia
NC State
Clemson
N Carolina
S Carolina
Louisville
Georgia Tech
Tennessee

Swamp Division
Florida
UCF
Alabama
Miami
Florida St
Miss St
Auburn

ACC-Tier 2
Vanderbilt
Ole Miss
USF
Southern Miss
ECU
Kentucky
FIU
Wake Forest
Duke

Sun Belt-Tier 3
UAB
Mid Tenn St
Troy
Memphis
Florida Atlantic
Western Kentucky



How Relegation works-
Tier 3 champ replaces last place Tier 2 team, easy enough, never difficult. Drink a PBR because there are many scenarios for moving up from Tier 2 to Tier 1.

We will use the MWC as an example…

Scenario 1-The norm
MWC standings
7.Colorado 7.Tulsa
8.Colorado St(worst)

CUSA Standings
1.Illinois(conference champ)
2.Kansas

This is the basic swap. First rule, swap the worst team from Tier 1 with the conference champ of Tier 2. CSU would move down and Illinois would be moved up. Illinois would be moved into Tulsa division due to affiliation. This is how the 8^th place team transfers divisional power. If Kansas would have placed 1^st, then they would just swap with CSU. Its really easy when the 8^th place team is the worst team in the conference.

Scenario 2-Grateful 8
MWC standings
7.Colorado 7.Tulsa(worst)
8.Colorado St

CUSA Standings
1.Illinois(conference champ)
2.Kansas

Tulsa sucked. The balance of power stays in the Mountain division. 8^th seed doesn’t always move down.

Scenario 3- Lucky 7’s
MWC standings
7.Colorado 7.Tulsa(worst)
8.Colorado St

CUSA Standings
1.Kansas(conference champ)
2.Illinois

Tulsa clearly was the worst. Unfortunately for Colorado State, there is a requirement of 7 teams in each division. In this situation Tulsa lucks out and Kansas swaps with Colorado St. If the worst record is in the weak division, but the Tier 2 champ is from the strong division, you must take the worst record in the strong division.

Scenario 4- Ranked team
MWC standings
7.Colorado 7.Tulsa
8.Colorado St(worst)

CUSA Standings
1.Kansas(conference champ)
2.Illinois(finishes ranked in TOP25 after bowls)

This is where things start getting fun. You’re never safe in the 7^th or 8^th seed in Tier 1. Gotta play every game like its your last. You follow all the scenarios 1-3 for the normal conference champ swap. So Kansas and Colorado St. swap. However to make sure that the Tier 1 recruiting prestige stays the best possible, and not allow any tier 2 teams to start the season ranked too high, any ranked team below the conference champ of Tier 2 is moved up as well.(its kind of funny, but the conference champ of Tier 2 is usually not ranked, while the team below it can be) Illinois then swaps with the 7 seed in the division it is affiliated with…Tulsa.

Scenario 5- Ranked team, Lucky 7’s
MWC standings
7.Colorado 7.Tulsa(worst)
8.Colorado St

CUSA Standings
1.Kansas(conference champ)
2.Iowa St(finishes ranked in TOP25 after bowls)

Using the “laws” of the scenarios above, Tulsa lucks out and the two Mountain division teams are swapped with the conference champ. If the top two were from the weak Plains division, then Tulsa and Colorado St would be swapped. Thus changing the balance of power to the Plains!

Scenario 7- Multiple Ranked teams
MWC standings
7.Colorado 7.Tulsa
8.Colorado St(worst)

CUSA Standings
1.Kansas(conference champ)
2.Illinois(finishes ranked in TOP25 after bowls)
3.Iowa St/LA Tech(finishes ranked in TOP25 after bowls)

Following all the rules we’ve learned, All three of the teams get switched out. It doesn’t matter if the 3^rd team in Tier 2 is from either conference, as it would just go in its affiliated conference as the 8^th seed. This situation only happens every once in a while.

Scenario 8- Multiple Ranked teams, Lucky 7
MWC standings
7.Colorado 7.Tulsa(worst)
8.Colorado St

CUSA Standings
1.Kansas(conference champ)
2.Utah St(finishes ranked in TOP25 after bowls)
3.Iowa St (finishes ranked in TOP25 after bowls)

3 teams affiliated with the same division may not move up. I will usually take whatever team won the regular season matchup, but you could go by ranking in top 25. This situation only happened once during my years. I wouldn’t count on it being a regular thing. The team that stays in Tier 2 does have the higher ranking to start the next season, but usually the 2 teams that are demoted are good enough to guarantee a loss or two for the Tier 2 leftover, so they shouldn’t go too high the next season.

Summary for relegation-The main goal is to remove the worst team, but due to balancing the power it is not always an option. You must also make sure to keep the divisions balanced. If you set up your own custom conferences, you could avoid the balance of power situation that comes up and always take out the worst 1-3 teams in the Tier-1, but I like to keep rivalries intact as much as possible. Moving the TOP 25 ranked teams after bowls is A MUST due to the fact it keeps the separation of tiers for recruiting prestige and ensures all teams left in Tier 2 do not start ranked high enough to make a national championship run. Sometimes a Tier 3 team will end up ranked at the end of the year, but moving up to Tier 2 usually means they are brought back down to Earth with the rise in competition. A scenario that hasn’t ended up happening, but I had a plan for was if a Tier 3 team ended up ranked behind its conference champ. I would just reward them and move them up while moving 2^nd worst tier 2 team down. Sometimes a tier 2 team will end up ranked in the top ten when its all said and done. This is fine because they don’t play in major bowls, and the National Championship. It just means they raise the ranking of themselves and for their group’s scheduling on their move up to Tier 1. This is how the Best Teams in the conferences always end up playing for National Championships.

Main Points of System-
1.EVERY GAME counts. With the teams rated 7^th and 8^th , you never know if the games you play or the games tier 2 plays will lead you to moving down.
2. EVERY BOWL counts. Winning your bowl could lead to your Tier 2 team getting ranked and moving up a level.
3. Recruiting becomes more in depth. If you move up or down a level, it will surely affect your team in the coming years. A team that is promoted/demoted usually ends up in the Tier for at least 2 or 3 seasons. Also it makes you think about PROMISES more. If you move up can you still promise that game in the players home state? What happens if you guarantee a conference championship next season to a recruit, but you didn’t think you’d be moving up…Now it seems a lot harder to fulfill in Tier 1 when you made the promise in Tier 2. All the teams recruiting in your home states are in your grouping. It’s a year long fight with all the tiers in your Group.
4. The Tiers stay separated, and no Tier 2 teams play for a title.
5. A million different side stories can pop up in the final weeks of the regular/bowl season. Will your team make the push to stay in Tier 1? Will that Tier 3 team upset the ranked tier 2 team in the bowl game to keep you alive in Tier 1? I could go on forever!
6. You’re never safe! If you’re a 7^th or 8^th seed, you never know what will happen. Also, if you lose that bowl game and you’re ranked between 20-25, you might miss out on moving up to Tier 1!
7. Tier 1 teams pretty much clog the TOP 25. Some Tier 2’s will make the top 10 or 15 , but most will be at the end of the Top 25. Rarely a Tier 3 will make it to the Top 20-25
8. This is my second time, typing this up, so I’ve probably forgot some of the cool *** reasons I put here before.
9. The conference championship games for Tier 1 usually involve the top 4-6 (out of 8 teams) teams in Top 25, ensuring the victors play in the National Championship.
10. Most excitement I've had and I just did simming so far. Now I get to play and take part in all the fun!




Extras-
I may have forgotten some relegation scenarios. If something pops up, let me know and I’ll let you know how I would handle it.
If you set up your own conferences YOU MUST try to not let any Tier 2 outliers (highly ranked) teams in the first season. The first season is usually when a Tier 2 team will make a big push into the top 10/Title game. After that, everything works itself out.

[Matt10]

This is awesome. It'd be even more awesome if someone made a video or picture on how to do this exactly. I'm a visual learner

[aarnation8]

A video of me setting this up 20 times in a week trying to get a system that worked would be hilarious. Many freak outs.

[Dirty Turtles]

I actually ended up with more teams in my Independent and WAC conferences.

My alignment:
West (CA, OR, WA, HI, NV, NM, AZ, CO, WY, ID, KS, with UTEP and Texas Tech added in because they are the westernmost TX schools)
North (NE, KS, IA, MN, WI, MI, IL, IN, KY, OH, MI)
South (AL, MS, TN, AR, LA, OK, TX minus UTEP and Tech)
East (MA, CT, NY, NJ, PA, WV, VA, MD, NC, SC, GA, FL)

I wanted to keep as many teams together as possible from in state.

The East is the toughest with average rankings of 26.7 in Tier 1, followed by the South at 27.6, the West at 34.2, and the North at 36.1.

The East really starts to blow the rest of the regions out in Tier 2 with a rating of 64.2, followed by the West at 78.6, the South at 82.2, and the North at 89.3.

The East clean sweeps the initial rankings at 101.7 in Tier 3, with the West at 107.9, the South at 112.7, and the North at 113.3.

[aarnation8]

As long as the lower tier 1 levels dont get too close to the higher Tier 2s you should be good. It may take a season or two longer to get the big seperation to remove the risk of tier 21 champs, but let me know how it goes!

[Dirty Turtles]

I might try shifting things around and move the Northeastern schools into the North region. Not sure yet. Penn State, Syracuse, Boston College, Pitt, and Temple are all better than the lower end of the Tier 1 in the North. We shall see. As long as I don't end up with another NCG of Fresno State vs FIU, I'll be happy!

[aarnation8]

Yup. Like i said, it may take a season or two, but sticking to the plan does work itself out. Try to keep tier 1 under 25 and tier 2 around 50 or 60 for best results

[jayenomics]

Why is Penn State in Tier 3 again? Some sort of penalty like Rangers got in the Scottish Premier League? Or did you gut them like a fish?