Will Poll Logic in Dynasty Mode Be Fixed This Year?

[boxtrev]

To me, this is absolutely one of the most crucial fixes for dynasty mode. The problem seems to be that the top 25 polls do not seem to be *fluid* enough. For example, here is what I mean. I played through a dynasty controlling both FSU and Michigan State in 11. For FSU I scheduled both Texas and Ohio State and for MSU I scheduled Texas and Oregon to beef up my OCC schedule. I won all four games and by double digits.

The first game I played was FSU-Ohio State and I ended up beating them 24-0. At the end of week one polls, my Noles were ranked 23 and Ohio State dropped from 2 to 9. I thought, "Okay. Sure. It's possible that OSU might not drop out of the top ten after just one loss. But usually after being shut out, most voters would drop them out altogether."

So I didn't think much of it. Well, in week 2 Ohio State lost again and I won again (this time against Texas). My ranking went up a measly one to 22 and Ohio State only dropped from 9 to 13 while Texas went from 3 to 8. So, at the end of week 2 the rankings had a winless, 0-2 Ohio State at 13 and a 1-1 Texas at 8. What the heck? What's worse is the polls still have me (2-0, both wins over top 25 BCS schools) sitting at 23, beneath both Ohio State and Texas.

So to me the problem seems to be that the way the polls are programmed now there is a reluctance to remove preseason top ten teams quickly enough when they lose as well as a reluctance to move unranked teams up quickly when they win. For example, if I am unranked but I absolutely hammer a top ten team I should probably go from being unranked to being in the top 20 at least the next week...perhaps 18 or 19 (see Alabama circa 2008). But if I do it two weeks in a row over top ten teams, then the polls should put me in the top ten no doubt about it.

It's stuff like this that is a gamebreaker for me in dynasty mode. I have also heard several horror stories where people have had three teams go 11-1 (usually two of the teams are SEC teams) and the team who doesn't win their conference and who lost to the other 11-1 team from their conference goes on to play for the NC.

Hopefully, this will be fixed!

[blkrptnt819]

Wouldn't say it's not fluid enough. I will the poll logic is screwy and meant to make it hard to make it to the NC. I was #2 in the country playing #4 in the country. I won by 35! The #3 team in the country beat the #12 team in the country in overtime and they were ranked #1 the next week!!! Ok now I'm going to put names to it and see how u feel. Baylor beat TAMU by 35 and ASU beat Oregon in OT yet #2 Baylor fell to #3. How does this happen?!?! Please tell me how this happens.

[aerovt]

I agree, a lot of times the rankings dont make sense.

Another contributor to this is the conference prestige - which is true too in real life, but they are not fluid in the game. For example, in one of my dynasties the Big10 basically collapsed leaving with only OSU and PennSt ever winning 7+ games a year, while somehow the BigEast started consistently having several teams in the top10. Come bowl season however, the CPU put PennSt (11-1, loss to only top 25 team they played) in the NC, while Pitt, who was undefeated and had beaten 2 top 12 teams was left out I suppose simply because the Big10 was still listed as being 'A' prestige while BigEast was still 'B-' or whatever. It wasnt even the computer making it hard on the player either, I was down in FAU =)

[osubeavs721]

HAve you seen the poll logic in real life??? No fixing needed, its a crap shoot every year. TCU played a way harder schedule than Oregon this year and they got screwed out of the NC game. Just because you play a tougher schedule doesnt mean you get get to the NC automatically

[rollinphat]

Quote: Originally Posted by aerovt

I agree, a lot of times the rankings dont make sense. Another contributor to this is the conference prestige - which is true too in real life, but they are not fluid in the game. For example, in one of my dynasties the Big10 basically collapsed leaving with only OSU and PennSt ever winning 7+ games a year, while somehow the BigEast started consistently having several teams in the top10. Come bowl season however, the CPU put PennSt (11-1, loss to only top 25 team they played) in the NC, while Pitt, who was undefeated and had beaten 2 top 12 teams was left out I suppose simply because the Big10 was still listed as being 'A' prestige while BigEast was still 'B-' or whatever. It wasnt even the computer making it hard on the player either, I was down in FAU =)

this guy gets it! this is EXACTLY what's wrong with it.
i actually think a lot of the poll problems would be fixed if they made the conference prestige "dynamic" as they like to say because at the end of the day the SEC, Big Ten and PAC 10 conferences have a huge advantage in the game over the Big 12, ACC and Big East.

if i'm in year 10 of my dynasty and the Big East has 4 teams in the Top 10 every year there is no way they should be rated that low in conference prestige.

matter of fact i think all of the school grades should be that way even campus lifestyle.

[Roggie]

Quote: Originally Posted by osubeavs721

HAve you seen the poll logic in real life??? No fixing needed, its a crap shoot every year. TCU played a way harder schedule than Oregon this year and they got screwed out of the NC game. Just because you play a tougher schedule doesnt mean you get get to the NC automatically

It's the fact that the entire poll system is based off of Conference Prestige that needs to be fixed. Or make Conference Prestige go up and down throughout a dynasty instead of being rock solid wherever they start. That's what breaks the polls.

[saunders45]

I posted this in another thread:

It's horribly broken. I'm in my 3rd season of my Offline Dynasty. I'm the defending National Champions. I've got a returning Heisman winner. I started out #2 and moved to #1 after beating 3 ranked top 15 teams by Week 5. Week six, I play Texas Tech who is unranked, and win by 5 touchdowns. I drop from near unanimous #1 (Michigan had one #1 vote) to #5. UM, WHAT????

[blkrptnt819]

Quote: Originally Posted by rollinphat

this guy gets it! this is EXACTLY what's wrong with it. i actually think a lot of the poll problems would be fixed if they made the conference prestige "dynamic" as they like to say because at the end of the day the SEC, Big Ten and PAC 10 conferences have a huge advantage in the game over the Big 12, ACC and Big East. if i'm in year 10 of my dynasty and the Big East has 4 teams in the Top 10 every year there is no way they should be rated that low in conference prestige. matter of fact i think all of the school grades should be that way even campus lifestyle.

Everybody know the problem is tied to conference prestige but a bigger problem is how little strength of schedule plays. Also SoS needs to play a role in recruiting, not just Conference strength.