Posted by reinsel on 10/13/2011 10:24:00 AM (view original):
Conference Prestige is still stupid. That is my thesis statement and I stand by it. Even with the dumb baselines, getting held down or propped up by your conference mates makes no sense. It leads to superconferences and ghost towns. Take it away and you end up with conferences with 8-10 humans and maybe a sim or two and that is ok.
Much better than 5 full conferences, ~5 half full and 15 empty ones like in Allen.
I don't think conference prestige is the real root cause of any of the problems in the game. And to me, conference prestige does make sense. Recruits by and large want the most exposure possible: More games on TV, more games with and against better competition, more games in front of bigger crowds, more media attention, etc. All of that comes to a much greater degree when you play in a top conference that's in the spotlight all season long. So yes, playing in a better conference does help lure recruits. There's a reason why Butler couldn't land any 4 or 5 star recruits, despite coming off back-to-back title game appearances, while in-state rival Indiana could, despite being a non-factor in recent years.