Fantasy Conference: Alpha Test

[Cane from the Bend]

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Okay, so I've had this idea for about 2 years, though haven't taken much time to flesh out the details (until now).

Originally, I wanted to introduce this concept to this board 3 months ago (stuff sorta got in the way). However, I feel there is yet time enough to approach this before the looming season arrives.

I'd like to guinea pig the members of our favorite site, and attempt to start a league (here).

The system would be basic, simple to understand.

The idea is, instead of picking players to fill out your own team, you would pick teams to fill out a conference, then points would be allocated based upon win totals of said teams you have chosen for your conference.

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the "Rules":

(a.) keeping it simple, I'd like to start the first competition with each person choosing 10 teams.

(b.) no team may be chosen more than once [if someone has the team already, sorry for your luck].

(c.) a maximum of 3 team choices for each conference [literally no more than 3 SEC - Big 1G - Big XII - Pac 12 - ACC - ect ... teams maybe placed into your conference].

(d.) likewise, no more than 2 teams from the same division may be chosen for your conference [you could potentially have Alabama - LSU - florida in you conference, but not Alabama - LSU - Texas A&M].

(e.) no teams outside of the FBS [sorry, it will difficult enough to keep track of everything as is].

(f.) teams selections will be picked in rounds; after the first person has chosen a respective team, the next participant will have 18 hours to make a selection - should that player not chose a team within that 18 hour time frame, said person will be bumped until the end of the current round [this will occur every missed selection - and may result in said bumped participant in having 2 or more picks on the next selection period]

(g.) your conference will receive one point per team victory [+1].

(h.) your conference will receive a minus half point per team loss [-.5] .

(i.) your conference will receive a plus half point per team victory versus an opponent ranked there within the top 15 [+.5] which becomes effective after the 5th week [by then a solid top 15 should be valid] - the top 15 ratings will be based upon the host site's Congrove Computer Rankings.

(j.) your conference will receive a minus one point for a team's loss versus an FCS opponent [-1] --- [if it happens, then this reduction is deserved].

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That's it - any takers?

To make things fair, I will choose a number between 1 & 30 ... each of you should pick a number in an attempt to guess what I have chosen.

The person who gets closest to that number will get to chose the first team for his/her conference. The person who was second closest to the number will chose second, and so forth.

I will by default choose last, to keep things as fair as possible.

Lemme know what you think (and if you're in).

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[donovan]

Explain simple to me again....if it means we need to just pick the teams at the seasons beginning and do not need to do anything during the year...sure I am in. If it is more than that...then..probably not. I pick 17..always and only deal in prime numbers.

[Cane from the Bend]

Yep, simple as picking ten teams each ... I'll keep track of the rest.

I'm hoping to get at least 5 people from this site involved (that could include me for 5 total), but more would be a nice test run.

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I have Donovan logged as picking the number 17.

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[Dossenator]

I will play.

[Cane from the Bend]

Cool!

That's 3 of us.

Doss, pick a number between 1 & 30 ... excluding 17 (donovan took that number).

I'll set up a thread to pick teams when we get a couple of more players.

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[Spence]

I'll play. If I can get simple.

[Eric]

I'm willing to do it.

Just one question though, how do we get to pick the teams? I imagine if I picked first, I would take teams like Oregon, Alabama, Texas A&M, Boise State, etc. The pool of (preseason) top 10 teams would dwindle quickly. I guess most fantasy teams deal with this via a "salary cap" or by "snaking" draft rounds (first pick gets the last pick to the second round, last pick gets the first pick in the second round, etc.), but the latter would likely be too hard to implement here.

What if we allotted the players 100 points to use and use the end-of-2012 Congrove Rankings (http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/curr ... kings.html) to set some markers? If we did that, this is probably what I'd suggest:

Ranks 1-10 = 20
Ranks 11-20 = 15
Ranks 21-50 = 10
Ranks 51-80 = 5
Ranks 81-126 = 1

This could be an example squad:

Notre Dame, 80 (points remaining)
Georgia, 60
South Carolina, 45
LSU, 30
Texas, 20
SMU, 15
Nevada, 10
Michigan State, 5
Air Force, 4
Auburn, 3

At the risk of making things more complicated, I think this would make it more equitable for the guys who have to pick later. What the Congrove Rankings have going for it here is that I notice it does put a heavy emphasis on W/L record, so it could more or less be a good guide to use for this season.

[Eric]

Oh, and I'll take 11 for my number

[Cane from the Bend]

Well, this is an Alpha Test: so as not to confuse anyone the first time around, I'm just going to limit the number of teams from a single conference someone can take, at 3 . . . as well as the number of teams from a conference division, at 2.

I fully expect the current top ten to be scarfed up rather quickly.
Though, at 10 teams per your conference, that will dry up fast enough.
Of course, we will pick in rounds. As soon as enough people choose a number.

(hint , hint)

This will get a few thinking about those potential dark horse teams from the lower conferences.

You know? The teams who you didn't pay attention to in the preseason, because there simply wasn't any hype following behind. next thing you know, we're talking about a BCS buster. (how does No Illinois look as far as their regular season?)

If all enjoy the game well enough, I was devising a point system for the next season, very similar to the one you had proposed. (that would be the Beta Test)

As far as which poll to use . . . I had considered the Congrove poll first. Though wasn't sure if others wanted to use this site's poll, or go with the current affiliated polls.

If the site goers here would prefer (or be okay with it), I'd gladly use the Congrove Poll as the buffer between weeks, until the official BCS rankings are released. (I'm fairly certain the Congrove Poll is quite accurate)

Lemme know if this is what you guys want, and I'll amend rule (h.) above to reflect the change.

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If we get enough people involved this season, then we could potentially keep our conferences, and change out/trade teams based upon their ranking point values.

A team that ends the season with 10 wins would have a point value of (x)
Whereas, a team with only 5 wins would have a point value of (y)

You would be able to change out a team that nobody has in their conference, or trade a team with someone else, so long as your conference points would balance out.

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However, none of that will be factored until after the first season of the game.

And, seeing as this is yet an Alpha Test, we could hold another set of rounds next season, in the event, others who didn't take part this year, will still be able to join with a fresh start.

I've thought this idea an interesting twist to the fantasy sports concept. (choosing team performances, and not individuals --- there's too much individuality in sports these days anyhow)

Since no one else out there has done it yet, I thought there was no better place to start the game than here.

The site goers here are fairly honest about what they observe in the world of College Football. And most, instead of being fan boy homers, are quick to point out the flaws in their favorite team. (to the point where we are the most critical against our teams)

Sure, we get caught in the exaggerated talking points the heads spew forth, from time to time.
And yes, we sometimes pick our weekly predictions based on what we want to happen, opposed to rationale.

But, the majority of us know that we are doing it. And we are generally respectful towards each other, even when we disagree.

I don't think there is a better platform than this board to introduce this 'league' (for lack of a better term).

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[Cane from the Bend]

There are currently five to play (including myself).

Donovan has picked the number, 17.
Eric has picked the number, 11.

Anyone else, pick a number from 1 to 30, excluding the numbers 11 & 17.

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[Spence]

10

[donovan]

10

10? you choose 10?, what kind of a lame number is that. Talk about Mr. Vanilla. Which brings us to the next subject...the Big Ten. Any chance the Graduate school of Mathmatics at OSU would allow a Doctoral dissertation on counting from 1 to 12?

[Spence]

1 to 12 yes. They don't use the number 13 though. Which is another dissertation in and of itself.

[donovan]

FYI, the teams that play 13 games this year are USC and Colorado State. I hope I'm not ruining somebody's strategy by saying that!

Pretty sure you are not....strategy assumes there is rhyme and reason...

[Cane from the Bend]

1 to 12 yes. They don't use the number 13 though. Which is another dissertation in and of itself.

Or 14 . . .

Maybe they can figure it out at either the University in New Brunswick, or College Park.

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