So I spent the last 8 seasons building a nice run at Duquesne and I've now taken over my first power conference team with Virginia Tech. Is there any power conference specific advice that I need to make this a success? I'm assuming the approach may need to be a little bit different than in the most SIM Ivy League. Anything and everything is appreciated!

the main thing is your schedule will be different. the talent level you face in conf play will be drastically higher. this will make it much harder to secure NT and PIT bids with teams that aren't really NT/PIT quality.

in general in the weak confs you should be scheduling some tougher games in non conf to compensate (even though you still usually want winnable games). the reverse is true here. go for wins, especially road wins, especially in the time before you are one of the top few teams in the conf. you don't want to schedule the worst teams, definitely not that, but you do want to schedule the best teams (by record mostly) that you can beat a large majority of the time (80% or up for most of them). you'll take home losses in conf play, unless you are one of the top few teams, and that will hurt your RPI - but road wins will help offset.

its also very easy to pull something like a 6-10 with a low end NT team in a tough BCS conference. if you don't have 7+ wins in non conf, you'll find it hard to qualify for the NT. or the PIT without 5+ wins in non conf. its sort of a major mistake, IMO, to miss the NT or PIT due to not qualifying on record, so i would try to avoid that.

but overall, just be patient. its much quicker to get your legs under you in the ivy league against sims, its not abnormal to spend 6-8 seasons in the BCS and still be scraping just 4-6 wins each season. try to learn from the beat downs and embrace incremental improvements over time. good luck!

Posted by gillispie on 10/26/2021 3:50:00 PM (view original):
the main thing is your schedule will be different. the talent level you face in conf play will be drastically higher. this will make it much harder to secure NT and PIT bids with teams that aren't really NT/PIT quality.

in general in the weak confs you should be scheduling some tougher games in non conf to compensate (even though you still usually want winnable games). the reverse is true here. go for wins, especially road wins, especially in the time before you are one of the top few teams in the conf. you don't want to schedule the worst teams, definitely not that, but you do want to schedule the best teams (by record mostly) that you can beat a large majority of the time (80% or up for most of them). you'll take home losses in conf play, unless you are one of the top few teams, and that will hurt your RPI - but road wins will help offset.

its also very easy to pull something like a 6-10 with a low end NT team in a tough BCS conference. if you don't have 7+ wins in non conf, you'll find it hard to qualify for the NT. or the PIT without 5+ wins in non conf. its sort of a major mistake, IMO, to miss the NT or PIT due to not qualifying on record, so i would try to avoid that.

but overall, just be patient. its much quicker to get your legs under you in the ivy league against sims, its not abnormal to spend 6-8 seasons in the BCS and still be scraping just 4-6 wins each season. try to learn from the beat downs and embrace incremental improvements over time. good luck!

All great advice. Incremental improvements is key here.

You want to locate the biggest baddie on the block, you walk right up to them, and you take their lunch. Punch them in the mouth. Let everyone know you’re not messing around, you’re not here to play, you’re going to take what’s yours, and what’s theirs, too. Then no one messes with you.

Wait that’s prison advice, nevermind. Listen to gil, probably.

Posted by mullycj on 10/28/2021 10:02:00 PM (view original):
Stick some extra recruiting money into your prison wallet.

Second session resources from cut sim signed players = shiv

Not cutting sim-signed players in RS2 = dropping soap in the shower.