My Custom Conferences Project

[attheskylines]

After hearing the announcement about custom conferences in NCAA 12, I honestly wasn't that excited about it. Thinking about all the possibilities of teams switching conferences just seemed to be a bit overwhelming. But, I had a thought early this week along the lines of...what if I just completely randomized every conference in the game?

I started by gathering up a listing of the 12 FBS conferences, including the Independent designation. I found that list at the following address:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_I_(NCAA)#Football_Bowl_Subdivision

I copied that table and dumped it into a spreadsheet. I then copied the first column which contained the conference names. I put those into a list randomizer at random.org/lists I did this 11 times to get a good mix of conferences.


After that I decided how big I wanted to make the conferences. I settled with:
- 5 conferences of 12 teams (these conferences will have a championship since there will be divisions)
- 5 conferences of 10 teams
- 1 conference of 9 teams
- 1 Independent (this is a minimum requirement of the game)


I then found a list of the 120 FBS schools in the game at the following address:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NCAA_Division_I_FBS_football_programs

I copied that table into another spreadsheet and took out the first column and put it back into the randomizer. I did 11 randomizations to accommodate my 11 different conference alignments. After the list was randomized it was just a matter of copying and pasting the first 12 teams on the list into the first conference on the first column. I just went down the list after that.

If anyone has any ideas on how to improve the process or if you think this could be fun/useful, let me know! I'd be happy to share the spreadsheet with anyone if they want to take a look. I've also attached a screenshot of one section of the spreadsheet. Each column represents a entirely different way of setting up the conferences. I didn't want to post a massive picture, but the spreadsheet scrolls down showing all the other conferences and the teams in them.


Here's an example of the first 3 conferences on my spreadsheet that are all 12 team conferences with a champioship:

1. Western Athletic Conference

Indiana

Clemson

California

Southern Miss

Iowa State

Wyoming

Utah

BYU

Syracuse

South Carolina

Nebraska

Cincinnati

2. Pacific-12 Conference **

North Carolina

Oklahoma State

New Mexico State

Tulsa

Army

UAB

Texas A&M

Ole Miss

Kansas

South Florida

Louisiana-Monroe

Nevada

3. Conference USA

Texas

Fresno State

Marshall

Buffalo

Temple

Wisconsin

Houston

Florida

Eastern Michigan

Texas Tech

Arkansas

TCU

[FightinSnydersKSU]

You have the PAC 12 twice and Kansas Twice

[attheskylines]

Quote: Originally Posted by FightinSnydersKSU

You have the PAC 12 twice and Kansas Twice

That picture is only a small selection from the entire spreadsheet. Each column is its own instance. I just didn't want to post a picture that scrolled all the way down the spreadsheet to show one entire instance. I didn't want the thread to look too messy.

Good catch though!