Your 2018 Program/University

[saintrules]

With less than 100 days to go until the 2018 season, it's time to start getting the ole wheels turning on NCAA 18 (14), god I love this game. With that said, what are your plans for this coming season? Will you start a new, low tier program with the updated rosters? How about trying to keep a dynasty alive with the updated rosters? A save from last year? A save from 2014?

Personally, I am toying with three different ideas:

1. Purdue Boilermakers - Jeff Brohm killed it last season and is continuing to rebuild this program properly and efficiently. While I don't think the Boilers will be winning the B1G this season, they can absolutely play spoiler with a lot of big names on their schedule. Six or seven wins and another bowl season is massive for this program that has been a bottom feeder for a while.

2. Alabama Crimson Tide - The dynasty speaks for itself & my intent may be to keep it going. Bama is at the point where people are hoping they lose so it is something different in the playoffs, but the Tide ain't going nowhere. This is a plug and chug team who's expectation is Natty or bust, lot's of pressure.

3. UCLA Bruins - Chip is back in the PAC and things are about to get interesting. Is this the same Chip that transformed Nike University into a consistent contender? Or is this same Chip that couldn't cut it in the NFL and has maybe lost his touch? Either way, you've got a legendary college coach and a pretty studly QB coming into a program that plays in a pretty wide open conference.

Let's hear your ideas!

[MDSavageBeast]

I'm thinking about starting as an OC for an SEC school (Kentucky or Tennessee) before taking my talents to a non-Power 5 school.

[jwilphl]

I'm going to start using a promotion-relegation system to try and keep things a little more interesting between seasons. It might be hard to conceptualize without a visual aid, but here's the basics:

• One conference on top consisting of 10 teams. At the end of the year, the bottom four teams in this conference drop down, split between two conferences.
• Two conferences at the second level of 12 teams each. At the end of a season, the top two in each goes up into the title conference, while the bottom three in each goes down split between three conferences.
• At the third level, I'll have three conferences of 12 teams each. These are considered the "major" conferences because each has a corresponding "minor" conference.
• With these three "major" conferences, two teams from each goes up into the second level of the pyramid, one team each into those two conferences. Likewise, the three teams on the bottom of each conference drop down the corresponding "minor" conference.
• At the fourth level, there are another three conferences of 12 teams each. These are the "minor" conferences.
• These "minor" conferences work in the same way as the majors, essentially. The top three at the end of a season go up into the affiliated major conference. Meanwhile, the bottom two of these three conferences drop into a single 14-team conference at the bottom.
• This single 14-team conference acts as the funnel for the bottom of the pyramid. The top six teams of this conference move up after each season, two into each of the minor conferences.
• On the other side, the bottom three teams of this 14-team conference drop into an "independent" division that consists of six teams, or the basement.
• Each season, the top three teams in the "basement" rise up into the 14-team conference.

With so much movement on the bottom of the organization, the hope is that teams won't stagnate too much down there. I'm not sure how unique this arrangement is, either, but it took me a bit to come up with a proper structure, going through a number of variations.

In terms of rankings, in order to make the conferences somewhat even at each level, I will essentially do a "snake draft" in terms of placing teams in their respective conferences.

The top conference is straight ranked 1 thru 10. At the second level are teams ranked 11 thru 34, but instead of doing two conferences straight ranked 11-22 and 23-34, which would create two clearly uneven conferences in terms of strength, I'll "snake" the teams across the conferences based on rank.

#11 in X, #12 and #13 in Y, #14 and #15 in X, and so on. I'll do this for the two three-team tiers, as well (the "major" and "minor" conferences), instead snaking through three conferences (#35 in A, #36 in B, #37 and #38 in C, #39 in B, #40 in A, and so on).

That will leave the bottom funnel conference plus the independents, both of which will be straight ranked. The 14-team conference contains teams ranked #107 to #120, while the independents are #121 thru #126.

This should create a good amount of variation between seasons, plus with "splitting" teams at times when dropping or rising between levels, conference competitors don't always remain static. As an example, say Ohio State and Michigan are both in the Top-10, but finish a season ranked #7 and #8. They'll drop down into different conferences, so they won't have to play each other for at least one season (at least not in-conference).

This also, at least theoretically, allows for the Top-2 teams in the title conference to play each other in the National Championship game each year (as these should ultimately be teams ranked #1 and #2 in the FBS). I realize in practice it probably won't always work that way.

As for conference affiliations, it really doesn't matter. You could set these up however you wanted. For my own structure, however, I've set it up like this:

• SEC is the title conference.
• The BIG TEN and the ACC are at the second level.
• The BIG XII, PAC-12, and the AAC (American) are the "major" conferences.
• The "minor" conference affiliations tied to them are C-USA, MWC (Mountain West), and the MAC (Mid-American), respectively.
• I've kept the majors and minors affiliated somewhat by geography, though I acknowledge that's not hugely important with teams moving around. It's a nice "bow" on organization, but geography won't really come into play much in this context.
• The SUN BELT is the 14-team conference on the fifth level.

I think this will make things interesting for a while. I've played just about every other scenario in this game, including strict geographical conferences and so on. The worst part will obviously be having to go through all team rankings at the end of each season and then re-adjusting conferences.

To start, I imagine I'll choose a team on the bottom (an independent) and see if I can work my way up into the SEC (title conference).

[SilverBullet19]

I plan to keep rolling with my teambuilder Sonoma State Seawolves. I'm in year 2021 and gunning for my first title (lost in my last appearance in 2019). I've had 6 straight conference titles (C-USA 2015-16, MWC 2017-18, Big 12 2019-20) and hoping for #7.

I have considered another dynasty as a coach career, getting an itch to play with real teams again.

[LightMan]

Quote: Originally Posted by jwilphl

I'm going to start using a promotion-relegation system to try and keep things a little more interesting between seasons. It might be hard to conceptualize without a visual aid, but here's the basics: One conference on top consisting of 10 teams. At the end of the year, the bottom four teams in this conference drop down, split between two conferences. Two conferences at the second level of 12 teams each. At the end of a season, the top two in each goes up into the title conference, while the bottom three in each goes down split between three conferences. At the third level, I'll have three conferences of 12 teams each. These are considered the "major" conferences because each has a corresponding "minor" conference. With these three "major" conferences, two teams from each goes up into the second level of the pyramid, one team each into those two conferences. Likewise, the three teams on the bottom of each conference drop down the corresponding "minor" conference. At the fourth level, there are another three conferences of 12 teams each. These are the "minor" conferences. These "minor" conferences work in the same way as the majors, essentially. The top three at the end of a season go up into the affiliated major conference. Meanwhile, the bottom two of these three conferences drop into a single 14-team conference at the bottom. This single 14-team conference acts as the funnel for the bottom of the pyramid. The top six teams of this conference move up after each season, two into each of the minor conferences. On the other side, the bottom three teams of this 14-team conference drop into an "independent" division that consists of six teams, or the basement. Each season, the top three teams in the "basement" rise up into the 14-team conference. With so much movement on the bottom of the organization, the hope is that teams won't stagnate too much down there. I'm not sure how unique this arrangement is, either, but it took me a bit to come up with a proper structure, going through a number of variations. In terms of rankings, in order to make the conferences somewhat even at each level, I will essentially do a "snake draft" in terms of placing teams in their respective conferences. The top conference is straight ranked 1 thru 10. At the second level are teams ranked 11 thru 34, but instead of doing two conferences straight ranked 11-22 and 23-34, which would create two clearly uneven conferences in terms of strength, I'll "snake" the teams across the conferences based on rank. #11 in X, #12 and #13 in Y, #14 and #15 in X, and so on. I'll do this for the two three-team tiers, as well (the "major" and "minor" conferences), instead snaking through three conferences (#35 in A, #36 in B, #37 and #38 in C, #39 in B, #40 in A, and so on). That will leave the bottom funnel conference plus the independents, both of which will be straight ranked. The 14-team conference contains teams ranked #107 to #120, while the independents are #121 thru #126. This should create a good amount of variation between seasons, plus with "splitting" teams at times when dropping or rising between levels, conference competitors don't always remain static. As an example, say Ohio State and Michigan are both in the Top-10, but finish a season ranked #7 and #8. They'll drop down into different conferences, so they won't have to play each other for at least one season (at least not in-conference). This also, at least theoretically, allows for the Top-2 teams in the title conference to play each other in the National Championship game each year (as these should ultimately be teams ranked #1 and #2 in the FBS). I realize in practice it probably won't always work that way. As for conference affiliations, it really doesn't matter. You could set these up however you wanted. For my own structure, however, I've set it up like this: SEC is the title conference. The BIG TEN and the ACC are at the second level. The BIG XII, PAC-12, and the AAC (American) are the "major" conferences. The "minor" conference affiliations tied to them are C-USA, MWC (Mountain West), and the MAC (Mid-American), respectively. I've kept the majors and minors affiliated somewhat by geography, though I acknowledge that's not hugely important with teams moving around. It's a nice "bow" on organization, but geography won't really come into play much in this context. The SUN BELT is the 14-team conference on the fifth level. I think this will make things interesting for a while. I've played just about every other scenario in this game, including strict geographical conferences and so on. The worst part will obviously be having to go through all team rankings at the end of each season and then re-adjusting conferences. To start, I imagine I'll choose a team on the bottom (an independent) and see if I can work my way up into the SEC (title conference).

This is awesome. It would be cool to see how it progresses.

[whughes]

I’ll probably continue with my dynasty that’s in 2028. But I’ve also been thinking about running one with Illinois, because I’m a huge Chicago Bears fan and I was really hoping Lovie Smith would do great things with the Fighting Illini

[thesportsguru11]

Still pecking away at my UConn dynasty that I rebooted last summer. I've gotten to the middle of season nine right now (2022), so that takes first priority. Crazy to think I started that dynasty late in 2014, and now we're nearing four years since.

Like SB, I've gotten the itch to play with real teams/players again, now that we're a few years removed from the rosters I started with at UConn. I have files from each of the last three seasons saved on the PS3, but never got around to playing with them, so hopefully this will be the year I do.

I'll absolutely consider A.J. Dillon and my boys from BC, but now that I've gotten the editor going for Teambuilder squads, I'd love to do an off the record, build from the ground up type thing when the community rosters finish up around late summer/early fall. I've got my old Massachusetts State squad ready to go!