The season is still young in Smith so there is no need to worry much about RPI but I'm still a bit perplexed. I have a team that ranks #50 in RPI and when comparing it to a team that is ranked #20 in RPI my team seems to have the advantage. Both are 6-2, their team has wins against 158, 261,137,78,188,132 - an average of 159 and losses against #5 and #8. Their SOS is 77, mine is 44. My team has wins against 179, 115, 84, 97, 9, 43 - an average of 88 and losses to #1 and 68. Further, they have played no top 25 teams and I have a record of 3-1. Not that top 25 means much but it should factor in.

However, the one glaring difference is that after the first 8 games, they have played 7 road games and I have only played 2.

This seems like it favors road games a little too heavily, IMO. If anything shouldn't this factor into SOS - meaning that their SOS should be better and mine should be worse?

i only schedule road games unless its a coach who I know or have an agreement with.

RPI is a pre-determined formula.

It's the same as real life. It factors in home/road games (some think a little too heavily and I tend to agree) and SoS.

SoS is not based on RPI, but on opponents' W/L and opponents' opponents' W/L.

So really all you're looking at is: (1) did you win; (2) where was the game played; (3) what was that team's record; and (4) what was that team's opponents' record.

RPI of teams played and top-25 is irrelevant.

In HD aren't road games weighted less heavily for RPI than in real life? I remember reading in HD road wins are worth 1.2 while in real life it's 1.4.

From the Player's Guide:
There is also the home/away aspect to consider. In HD, when factoring games into your RPI, home wins count as 0.6 wins, while home losses count as 1.4 losses. Road victories are counted as 1.4 wins, while road losses are counted as 0.6 losses. Neutral court games simply count as 1. This gives a benefit to DII and DIII teams that play on the road, as homecourt advantage is not as severe on these levels. Also, some coaches subscribe to the theory that you should attempt to schedule all your toughest games at home, while scheduling weaker teams on the road. The theory behind this is that you get a boost for road victories by beating weaker teams, then have a better shot of beating your tougher opponents.

Quote: Originally posted by kmasonbx on 2/17/2010In HD aren't road games weighted less heavily for RPI than in real life? I remember reading in HD road wins are worth 1.2 while in real life it's 1.4.

No, I believe its also 1.4 in HD.

yeah, they changed it like 2 years ago to 1.4 to make it equal to RL.

Difference is, in real life, you don't see teams scheduling 10 road games OOC.

unless they suck like some of the poor HBU's Alcorn State comes to mind.

That is Historically Black Universities if you didn't know.

Quote: Originally Posted By hitman1979 on 2/17/2010Difference is, in real life, you don't see teams scheduling 10 road games OOC

Absolutely true.

I would love to see HD allow new coaches the opportunity to have a chance to tweak their schedule for the upcoming season. If the previous regime schedules 10 home games or all Sims no matter what you really do (short of going undefeated) you can't get ahead and basically lose that first season if it wasn't done properly. Logistically this may be hard to do but then again maybe not.

Again, not that this is going to kill my season by any means but I guess in my mind home/away should be factored into SOS directly rather than a separate factor on its own.