Theoretical question here...

[bostonsportsrule]

I'm 9-0 and #3 with Boston College in 2011. Alabama and Texas are ahead of me, both undefeated. I'm in the ACC Championship Game regardless of what happens from here on out.



Now, if I win the conference title, but I get into the national title game....who goes to the Orange Bowl? Would it be the team I beat in the conference title game, or would it look at the entire ACC Standings and send the highest team that's not me? (Theoretically, the team I beat could fall to 6-3 in the 9th conference game (ACC) and someone could be 6-2 and have lost a tiebreaker).

[Skulletor]

NCAA programming is ********, at-large selection never considers conference affiliation. So if you go to the NC game, it will pick the highest ranked at large team to fill the bowls

[Slimshoom]

the above poster is correct, for example, when I beat Ohio State to go to the National Championship, the Buckeyes should have gone to the Rose Bowl, but instead went to the Fiesta Bowl. The bowl traditions (rose bowl= pac-10 vs big ten) mean nothing to the computer.

[Squeezee12]

following with the two above me the computer takes the next highest ranked teams...

[TheGamingChef]

Quote: Originally Posted by bostonsportsrule

I'm 9-0 and #3 with Boston College in 2011. Alabama and Texas are ahead of me, both undefeated. I'm in the ACC Championship Game regardless of what happens from here on out. Now, if I win the conference title, but I get into the national title game....who goes to the Orange Bowl? Would it be the team I beat in the conference title game, or would it look at the entire ACC Standings and send the highest team that's not me? (Theoretically, the team I beat could fall to 6-3 in the 9th conference game (ACC) and someone could be 6-2 and have lost a tiebreaker).

Everyone before me is right about in the game... but in real life, the rule is that any BCS bowl that loses on of its conference tie-ins to the national championship game gets first pick for a replacement. Meaning if Ohio State was headed to the title game, the Rose Bowl would get to be first in line of picking any at-large team or conference champion without an automatic bowl tie-in (i.e. the ACC and the Orange Bowl) to replace them.

[Skulletor]

the game still lets bowls pick at large opponents, it's just done without any consideration to conference affiliation. The rose bowl will always pick #5 Boise State instead of #6 Michigan in the above post's scenario

and that's just asinine

[5xfaster]

Quote: Originally Posted by Skulletor

the game still lets bowls pick at large opponents, it's just done without any consideration to conference affiliation. The rose bowl will always pick #5 Boise State instead of #6 Michigan in the above post's scenario and that's just asinine

Doesn't make any sense, I know...I mean, I guess with all of the possible scenarios, it'd be pretty tough to program that kind of thing into the game, but maybe there's a better explanation?

[Skulletor]

Quote: Originally Posted by 5xfaster

Doesn't make any sense, I know...I mean, I guess with all of the possible scenarios, it'd be pretty tough to program that kind of thing into the game, but maybe there's a better explanation?

it's not at all a difficult problem to solve (i have 9 years of software industry experience)
here's the algorithm

there are 6 to 9 automatic qualifiers (if a non-BCS team finished in top 12 or ahead of BCS champ its the 7th qualifier, if a non conference champ finishes in the top 4 its the 8th AQ, if ND is in the top 8 it is an AQ as well)


#1, #2 in BCS CG (2/10 spots filled)
Bind conference teams to their bowls (5-8/10 spots filled)

#1 Bowl picks, if there's eligible team with its conference affiliation and enough at large spots, take it . if not, take top 4 BCS team

#2 Bowl picks, if there's eligible team with its conference affiliation and enough at large spots, take it, if not take the highest BCS eligible team

6-10 out of 10 spots filled at this point

the remaining 1-4 spots are now chosen in the proper order, ensuring that a top 4 non conference champ is taken

thats it, if EA hired me i could probably fix all their DB/non gameplay bugs in a couple weeks