Rules draft
How this works. You decide.
Nothing here is final. Mark each rule Keep or Change. If you'd change it, say how. Be the first to weigh in.
You vote tiers only
One tap per team: S, A, B, C or D. No ranking #11 against #12. Votes still count by 1Q, and a vote on your own team still counts half.
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The math orders teams inside each tier
Inside a tier, teams are sorted by how they actually play: margin against what their tier expected, and who they played. Wins count up to about three touchdowns, so running it up on a cupcake doesn't help.
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Voters vs. results, side by side
Every team shows two grades: where voters put it and where its results say it belongs. "Oklahoma: Voters S · Results B" means it's overrated, and the board says so.
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Voters lead early, results take over
After three games, results don't say much, so voter tiers carry most of the weight in September. Each week results earn more weight. By November the scoreboard mostly decides.
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The Top 25 still exists, but it's derived
The main view is the tier board. The numbered Top 25 comes out of the math and is only there so we can grade 1QA against the AP.
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Your tier calls count toward your 1Q
At season's end, and at checkpoints along the way, your tier votes are graded against where teams' results landed. Good tier calls raise your 1Q, alongside your Picks.
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Every move explains itself
When a team moves, the board says why, like "Beat a B team by 20 on the road: up 3 spots." No black box.
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Five tiers by yards to the end zone
Every team sits 0 to 99 yards from the end zone. End zone (0–5) is Tier S, red zone (6–20) A, driving (21–50) B, midfield (51–80) C, own side (81+) D.
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Two boards: Field and Brand
Field is who's good right now and drives the odds. Brand is history, TV and crowds and moves slowly. You vote on both separately.
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Everyone votes; the top 20% by 1Q count
Anyone can vote. The official board counts only the top 20% of voters by 1Q, never fewer than 5. Everyone else makes the Crowd board.
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Votes are weighted by 1Q
A voter with a 1Q of 150 moves the board one and a half times as much as a voter at 100.
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Your own team counts 50%
A vote on your favorite team counts at 50% weight. You still get a say. Homers can't carry a team alone.
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Every FBS team is on the board; G5 contenders get the spotlight
All FBS teams can be voted on and can make the Top 25. The G5 field shows the best 18 G5 teams; the rest live on the All G5 list. Unvoted G5 teams start deeper than P4 teams with the same record.
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Conference strength = top four, bottom four, everyone
Strength is 100 minus yards to the end zone. Each league gets Top (best 4), Depth (worst 4) and Overall (all teams), ranked by Overall. Top-heavy or deep is judged against the other leagues. Actual league-vs-league results sit next to it.
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Picks: Cover or Dog on every game
One weekly card. Cover: the favorite wins by more than the spread. Dog: the underdog covers, so it loses by less than the spread or wins. A right call is +1, a miss 0, and your one Lock doubles it. From Week 9 you also get 3 Upset picks a week: name a dog to win outright and it pays the spread ÷ 7 on top (a 7-point dog +1, a 14-point dog +2), nothing if it only covers. The Lock does not double an Upset. Before that: Weeks 1 to 7 paid a flat +2 on any outright dog win, and Week 8 paid spread ÷ 14 (up to +1) on a dog of 7 or more. A push on a whole-number spread goes to the Dog. Every graded pick counts toward your 1Q; your Lock counts twice. You need 5 picks to make the weekly standings.
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Saturday Five folds into Picks after Week 5
Saturday Five ran Weeks 1–5. Every Five pick still counts in your 1Q and lives in the archive. From Week 6, Picks is the one card, with the 1QA consensus weighted by 1Q.
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Conference Locks: one sure winner per league
Each week, in the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and Group of 5, name one team that wins, straight up. +1 right, −1 wrong. You can use a team only once all season. Each pick locks at its kickoff. For fun only: it doesn't move 1Q.
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The Picks card is the games of the week
Games are scored, not just sorted by spread: ranked matchups, 1QA Top 25 teams, national TV, rivalries, the group's own teams and Notre Dame count up; a wide line counts down. Twelve games, no more than three from one pair of leagues. Each card says why it made the list.
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Huddles ranked by average 1Q
Your friend group is a Huddle. Huddles are ranked by the average 1Q of their members. No-pick members count as 100.
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1Q grows with the picks you actually make
Everyone starts at 100. That is a 50% picker with 30 picks already on the book. Your real picks (Picks, plus Saturday Five from Weeks 1–5) replace them. Ten perfect picks do not outrank a full season at 80%. A Lock counts as 2 picks. A push does not count. Miss a week and those picks never land. Floor 50, ceiling 200. To be ranked on the Desk you need 10 graded picks, or 40% of the picks offered so far if that is more.
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The poll locks every Tuesday
Vote Sunday and Monday. The official Top 25 locks Tuesday like AP poll day. The live board keeps moving.
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Graded where 1QA and the AP disagree
The headline stat is 1QA's record in games where it picked a different winner than the AP. Head-to-head, calibration and against the spread are on the report card too.
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Report card goes public after three graded weeks
Grading starts the first week at least five counted voters vote. The public report card opens after three graded weeks, so one bad week isn't the story.
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