Operation Sports Forums - JoshC1977's Relegation System for NCAA 14

This relegation system is based on Mr. Nation’s relegation system for NCAA 13.

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...ion-final.html

I have made adjustments to this setup to account for the loss of the WAC and to accommodate the addition of the new teams. Long story short, I am setting up three Tier 3 leagues (the old WAC and Independent tier 3 leagues are being combined)

I have also shuffled some teams between tiers based on likely ratings for this year and flip-flopped the BIG12 and MWC. In Mr. Nation’s setup, the BIG12 was a Tier 2 league but they would get matched up in bowls against Tier 1 teams in games like the Cotton Bowl. This drove me crazy, so I am changing it here.

League Tier setup
Geographically set up

Tier 1(15) BIG12 PAC12 BIG10 SEC
Tier 2(9) CUSA MWC AAC ACC
Tier 3(6-8) Indep MAC SUN

Each tier has a competitive Conference Prestige within its competitors and is separated from each tier. This makes recruiting much more exciting as the 4 separate groupings are fighting for better recruiting pitches, and tier movement is a big difference in prestige.

Conference settings-
Night games in November-YES(real men play football in the cold)
Weekday games-Set all to no(personal preference, I like all the action on Saturdays)
Start conference games-Week 1 all conferences
No rivals set due to 15 teams(don’t worry, most rivalries will be played because the geographical setup)

Championship games(personal preference)
BIG12-Denver, CO
BIG10-Pennsylvania, PA
SEC-Charlotte, NC
PAC12-San Fran, CA

Bowl Games
BIG12 Champ-ANY
PAC12 Champ-ANY
BIG10 Champ-ANY
SEC Champ-ANY
AAC and ACC-Orange Bowl
CUSA and MWC-Fiesta Bowl

It is important to have the Tier 2 champs get the bowls so no at large teams get a bid(keeps Tier 2 highly ranked teams from getting into a major bowl).
Its weird, but if any Tier 2 teams are ranked, it is not the conference champion. I will explain how to handle these teams later, but it matches them up in a bowl against a team more fit to their abilities, and if they lose, they get punished for it not being a top 10 team.

Scheduling-
*VERY IMPORTANT, make sure you redo schedule before start of first season to NOT INCLUDE known games Not sure if this option will be there in this year’s game or not.

Tier 1- The 15 team(usually rated 99-high 80’s) conference leads to 10 in conference games. This means the top teams only play the top teams. Only 2 OOC games leads to less Tier 2 matchups where they can boost their Top 25 ranking. In fact, if you have the risk of being demoted, you should have to show your skills against mainly your competition.

Tier 2- 9 teams(higher 80’s to high 70’s) leads to 8 conference games against the same caliber teams. The rest of the scheduling is filled with mainly other Tier 2 or Tier 3 teams.

Tier 3- 6 to 8 teams in each conference. Leads to enough conference games to get a good base of who is the better team. Mainly they end up being filler teams in higher ranking Tier 2 schedules. The independent tier 3 is larger as it combines the old PAC12 and BIG12 Tier 3 teams)

Each Tier 1 conference has two division. Which each team in the entire group being affiliated with a certain division. This keeps the regions intact without too much power going to one side(although the extra 8th team can be moved from one side to another on a given season). This also keeps most rivalry games together because there is no way to guarantee those with scheduling.

BIG12-Tier 1
Mountain Division
Kansas St
Utah
Iowa St
Utah St
BYU
Nebraska
Iowa
Minnesota

Plains Division
Arkansas
LSU
Oklahoma
Ok St
No. Illinois
Missouri
Northwestern

CUSA-Tier 2
Purdue
Nevada
Colorado St
Indiana
Illinois
UNLV
Wyoming
Tulsa
UL Lafayette

Independent - Tier 3 (Be sure to incorporate teams from the PAC12 tier 3)
Air Force
Kansas
Arkansas St
UL Monroe
Tulane
Colorado
Louisiana Tech

PAC12-Tier 1
Coastal/Pacific Division
USC
UCLA
Fresno St
Oregon
Oregon St
Washington
Stanford
Boise St

TexMex Division
Texas Tech
Arizona
Arizona St
Baylor
TCU
Texas A&M
Texas

MWC-Tier 2
UTEP
North Texas
Washington St
Houston
Cal
San Jose St
Rice
SMU
San Diego St

INDEP-Tier 3 (Be sure to incorporate the Tier 3 teams from the Big 12 Tier 3)
UTSA
Idaho
Texas State
New Mexico St
Hawaii
New Mexico

BIG10-Tier 1
Rural Division
Norte Dame
Ohio St
Cincinnati
Michigan St
Wisconsin
Penn State
Michigan

Metro/Urban Division
Virginia
Boston College
West Virginia
Maryland
Syracuse
Pittsburgh
Rutgers
Virginia Tech

AAC-Tier 2
Toledo
Buffalo
Bowling Green
UConn
Ohio
Navy
Marshall
Ball State
Kent St

MAC-Tier 3
UMASS
Eastern Michigan
Akron
Central Michigan
Army
Miami(ohio)
Western Michigan
Temple
Old Dominion

SEC-Tier 1
Bluegrass Division
Georgia
Vanderbilt
Clemson
N Carolina
S Carolina
Louisville
Georgia Tech
Tennessee

Swamp Division
Florida
Ole Miss
Alabama
Miami
Florida St
UCF
Auburn

ACC-Tier 2
NC State
Miss St
USF
Western Kentucky
ECU
Kentucky
Troy
Wake Forest
Duke

Sun Belt-Tier 3
UAB
Mid Tenn St
FIU
Memphis
Florida Atlantic
Southern Miss
Georgia State
South Alabama

How Relegation works-
Tier 3 champ replaces last place Tier 2 team, easy enough, never difficult. In the Independent Tier 3, pick the two top teams corresponding to the PAC12 and BIG12, respectively. The bottom team in the MWC and CUSA will move down to the independent league.

Tier 1 and Tier 2 options are a bit trickier

We will use the BIG12 as an example…

Scenario 1-The norm
BIG12 standings
7.Iowa State 7.Tulsa
8.Colorado St(worst)

CUSA Standings
1.Illinois(conference champ)
2.Kansas

This is the basic swap. First rule, swap the worst team from Tier 1 with the conference champ of Tier 2. CSU would move down and Illinois would be moved up. Illinois would be moved into Tulsa division due to affiliation. This is how the 8th place team transfers divisional power. If Kansas would have placed 1st, then they would just swap with CSU. Its really easy when the 8th place team is the worst team in the conference.

Scenario 2-Grateful 8
BIG12 standings
7.Iowa State 7.Tulsa(worst)
8.Colorado St

CUSA Standings
1.Illinois(conference champ)
2.Kansas

Tulsa sucked. The balance of power stays in the Mountain division. 8th seed doesn’t always move down.

Scenario 3- Lucky 7’s
BIG12 standings
7.Iowa State 7.Tulsa(worst)
8.Colorado St

CUSA Standings
1.Kansas(conference champ)
2.Illinois

Tulsa clearly was the worst. Unfortunately for Colorado State, there is a requirement of 7 teams in each division. In this situation Tulsa lucks out and Kansas swaps with Colorado St. If the worst record is in the weak division, but the Tier 2 champ is from the strong division, you must take the worst record in the strong division.

Scenario 4- Ranked team
BIG12 standings
7.Iowa State 7.Tulsa
8.Colorado St(worst)

CUSA Standings
1.Kansas(conference champ)
2.Illinois(finishes ranked in TOP25 after bowls)

This is where things start getting fun. You’re never safe in the 7th or 8th seed in Tier 1. Gotta play every game like it’s your last. You follow all the scenarios 1-3 for the normal conference champ swap. So Kansas and Colorado St. swap. However to make sure that the Tier 1 recruiting prestige stays the best possible, and not allow any tier 2 teams to start the season ranked too high, any ranked team below the conference champ of Tier 2 is moved up as well.(it’s kind of funny, but the conference champ of Tier 2 is usually not ranked, while the team below it can be) Illinois then swaps with the 7 seed in the division it is affiliated with…Tulsa.

Scenario 5- Ranked team, Lucky 7’s
BIG12 standings
7.Iowa State 7.Tulsa(worst)
8.Colorado St

CUSA Standings
1.Kansas(conference champ)
2.Colorado(finishes ranked in TOP25 after bowls)

Using the “laws” of the scenarios above, Tulsa lucks out and the two Mountain division teams are swapped with the conference champ. If the top two were from the weak Plains division, then Tulsa and Colorado St would be swapped. Thus changing the balance of power to the Plains!

Scenario 7- Multiple Ranked teams
BIG12 standings
7.Iowa State 7.Tulsa
8.Colorado St(worst)

CUSA Standings
1.Kansas(conference champ)
2.Illinois(finishes ranked in TOP25 after bowls)
3.Iowa St/LA Tech(finishes ranked in TOP25 after bowls)

Following all the rules we’ve learned, All three of the teams get switched out. It doesn’t matter if the 3rd team in Tier 2 is from either conference, as it would just go in its affiliated conference as the 8th seed. This situation only happens every once in a while.

Scenario 8- Multiple Ranked teams, Lucky 7
BIG12 standings
7.Iowa State 7.Tulsa(worst)
8.Colorado St

CUSA Standings
1.Kansas(conference champ)
2.Utah St(finishes ranked in TOP25 after bowls)
3.Illinois (finishes ranked in TOP25 after bowls)

3 teams affiliated with the same division may not move up. I will usually take whatever team won the regular season matchup, but you could go by ranking in top 25. This situation only happened once during my years. I wouldn’t count on it being a regular thing. The team that stays in Tier 2 does have the higher ranking to start the next season, but usually the 2 teams that are demoted are good enough to guarantee a loss or two for the Tier 2 leftover, so they shouldn’t go too high the next season.

Summary for relegation-The main goal is to remove the worst team, but due to balancing the power it is not always an option. You must also make sure to keep the divisions balanced. If you set up your own custom conferences, you could avoid the balance of power situation that comes up and always take out the worst 1-3 teams in the Tier-1, but I like to keep rivalries intact as much as possible. Moving the TOP 25 ranked teams after bowls is A MUST due to the fact it keeps the separation of tiers for recruiting prestige and ensures all teams left in Tier 2 do not start ranked high enough to make a national championship run. Sometimes a Tier 3 team will end up ranked at the end of the year, but moving up to Tier 2 usually means they are brought back down to Earth with the rise in competition. A scenario that hasn’t ended up happening, but I had a plan for was if a Tier 3 team ended up ranked behind its conference champ. I would just reward them and move them up while moving 2nd worst tier 2 team down. Sometimes a tier 2 team will end up ranked in the top ten when it’s all said and done. This is fine because they don’t play in major bowls, and the National Championship. It just means they raise the ranking of themselves and for their group’s scheduling on their move up to Tier 1. This is how the Best Teams in the conferences always end up playing for National Championships.

Main Points of System-
1.EVERY GAME counts. With the teams rated 7th and 8th , you never know if the games you play or the games tier 2 plays will lead you to moving down.
2. EVERY BOWL counts. Winning your bowl could lead to your Tier 2 team getting ranked and moving up a level.
3. Recruiting becomes more in depth. If you move up or down a level, it will surely affect your team in the coming years. A team that is promoted/demoted usually ends up in the Tier for at least 2 or 3 seasons. Also it makes you think about PROMISES more. If you move up can you still promise that game in the players home state? What happens if you guarantee a conference championship next season to a recruit, but you didn’t think you’d be moving up…Now it seems a lot harder to fulfill in Tier 1 when you made the promise in Tier 2. All the teams recruiting in your home states are in your grouping. It’s a year long fight with all the tiers in your Group.
4. The Tiers stay separated, and no Tier 2 teams play for a title.
5. A million different side stories can pop up in the final weeks of the regular/bowl season. Will your team make the push to stay in Tier 1? Will that Tier 3 team upset the ranked tier 2 team in the bowl game to keep you alive in Tier 1? I could go on forever!
6. You’re never safe! If you’re a 7th or 8th seed, you never know what will happen. Also, if you lose that bowl game and you’re ranked between 20-25, you might miss out on moving up to Tier 1!
7. Tier 1 teams pretty much clog the TOP 25. Some Tier 2’s will make the top 10 or 15 , but most will be at the end of the Top 25. Rarely a Tier 3 will make it to the Top 20-25
8. The conference championship games for Tier 1 usually involve the top 4-6 (out of 8 teams) teams in Top 25, ensuring the victors play in the National Championship.

Extras-
I may have forgotten some relegation scenarios. If something pops up, let me know and I’ll let you know how I would handle it.
If you set up your own conferences YOU MUST try to not let any Tier 2 outliers (highly ranked) teams in the first season. The first season is usually when a Tier 2 team will make a big push into the top 10/Title game. After that, everything works itself out.