Favorite Post-2010 Custom Conferences

[RazorbackJeremy]

I would try it, but I don't have any way of modifying the data to do it

[thekodinator]

Quote: Originally Posted by thekodinator

I'm in year 8 of my Ty Detmer coaching dynasty (all at BYU). I joined the Big 12 back in year 2, but this past season (2020) I came up with a new conference alignment and method for selecting teams for the 4-team playoff. To this point, I was just using the top 4 teams according to the BCS rankings. Here's my conference alignment: As for selection criteria for the 4-team CFP, I wanted to make it rules-based and add extra importance to conference championships. Using the final BCS rankings, qualification into the 4-team CFP goes as follows, filling as many teams as qualify in each step until 4 are selected: CFP Qualification step 1- Any undefeated teams ranked in the top 4 of the BCS standings automatically qualify, regardless of conference. (This is the only way for a G3 team to qualify for the CFP) step 2- P5 conference champions or Notre Dame ranked in the top 6 of the BCS rankings. Must have 2 or fewer losses. Higher-ranked teams qualify first. step 3- MM conference champions ranked in the top 6 of the BCS rankings. Must have 2 or fewer losses. Higher-ranked teams qualify first. step 4- P5 conference champions or Notre Dame ranked between 7-10 of the BCS rankings. Must have 2 or fewer losses. Higher-ranked teams qualify first. step 5- MM conference champions ranked between 7-10 of the BCS rankings. Must have 2 or fewer losses. Higher-ranked teams qualify first. step 6- Highest ranked P5 or MM teams in the BCS top 12 with 2 or fewer losses (conference title not required). Running this in 2020 for the first time, it all came out very clean. Final BCS Rankings: 1-Ohio State (11-2) *Big Ten Champs 2-Texas (12-1) *Big 12 Champs 3-Tennessee (11-2) *SEC Champs 4-Miami (11-2) *ACC Champs 5-Michigan State (10-2) 6-Notre Dame (11-1) So in this scenario, 1-4 all made it to the CFP. If at least two teams above Notre Dame hadn't won their conference, then the Irish would've gotten in instead. Major Bowls & Semi-Finals The last thing that I've done is changed around the major bowl structure for the semi-finals. The major bowls are the Rose (B1G & Pac12 champs), Cotton (Big 12 champs), Fiesta (Notre Dame or non-P5 team), Sugar (SEC champ), and Orange (ACC champ). The semi-finals are played at the corresponding bowl tie-in associated with the #1 and #2 ranked teams. So in the example above, #1 Ohio State would play #4 Miami in the Rose Bowl, and #2 Texas plays #3 Tennessee in the Cotton Bowl. This means that there is no official bowl rotation for the semi-finals every year. Really happy with this set-up, and excited to see how it goes for a few years.

I just got through my 2nd season with this set up, and the results were much more controversial than season 1, so I thought I'd share.

Keeping in mind that I'm running a 4-team playoff with CFP Qualification criteria in the quoted post above, year 1 was very straight forward. The top 4 ranked teams were all P5 conference winners with 2 or fewer losses, so they all made it into the CFP.

In year 2, it got a little more interesting. Here are the final BCS rankings (top 10):


Final BCS Rankings:
1-BYU (13-0) *Big 12 Champs
2-Auburn (12-1) *SEC Champs
3-Florida State (11-2) *ACC Champs
4-LSU (10-2)
5-Ohio State (10-3) *Big Ten Champs
6-Tennessee (11-2)
7-Notre Dame (9-3)
8-Penn State (9-3)
9-Miami (10-3)
10-Pitt (11-2) *AAC Champs

Based on my CFP Qualification criteria, the #1 BYU qualified via 'Step 1', and Auburn and Florida State qualified via 'Step 2'. After that, the only other P5 conference champ was #5 Ohio State. But with 3 losses, they didn't satisfy 'Step 2'. So it came down to #10 Pitt being a Mid-Major conf champ making it into the CFP via 'Step 5'! Had they not climbed a couple spots in the rankings the previous week to get into the top 10, LSU would've made it via 'Step 6'.

I don't know if it's a perfect system or not, but I really like the added emphasis on conference champs. The '2 or fewer loss' rule is kind of arbitrary, but I don't like the idea of a 3-loss team making it into the CFP, and it keeps it a little more realistic in that way as the rankings can get janky. (I've seen a 4-loss team ranked 3rd before. wild).

Sorry for the long post but this is a new system for me and I'm having a BLAST finding out how it works in practice.

[Collegefbfan]

Being that I still play a ps2, all this structuring interests me. Is it something that you actually tell the game to do? Or is it done game by game outside the game system? Like, are the parameters set in the game? I mean you can actually do this on a newer game system? Or do I have it all wrong?