2024 College Rules Vote
1
2
3
4
5
6
Team
Owner
FA
WW
TD
PT
OT
DNP
BadgerTide
Scott's
A
B
A
B
A
B
Browns
Larry
B
B
B
B
A
B
Cossacks
Al/Eric
B
B
B
B
A
B
Predators
Merv
A
B
B
B
B
B
Shamrox
Jeff S
B
B
B
B
A
B
Slim & Bones
Steve
B
B
B
B
B
B
Spartans
Brian
B
B
A
B
A
B
Stallions
Mike M
A
B
B
B
B
B
Trash Talkers
John/Eric
B
B
B
B
A
B
Venom
Jeff M
A
B
B
B
B
B
Option A
4
0
2
0
6
0
Option B
6
10
8
10
4
10
Each off season I spend time going through past discussions of rules. I often
get feedback from owners during the season. I track all this feedback and
solicit suggestions to decide if a rule vote is necessary each year. My primary
focus is how we balance that competitiveness and the overall league experience.
This includes opportunities of the changing NCAA game, the Fantrax website
capabilities and my role as Commisioner.
Over the years, we have made significant changes and many minor tweaks to our
league in order to maintain the uniqueness of our fantasy league we have all
come to appreciate. Some changes work as intended, others not as much. I
encourage all owners to provide continued feedback on changes to help with my
annual review of the league rules process.
Our league is more competitive now than ever, and much of that is because of how engaged our owners are. Since the league is so tight, a few tweaks here and there can be good for the competitive balance. There is relatively little competitive advantage these days using Fantrax with all the fantasy info available owners have access to. Bottom line, you still have to make good draft picks, free agent claims and avoid injuries!
There are six proposed College rule changes we will vote on this year:
VOTE 1 (FA)
Free Agent Add/Drop Moves Week 1
Our current rule is we only allow IR moves during week 1. The first day to make
a free agent add/drop move is Tuesday of week 2. Often player news after our
draft reveals information about player roles and updated team depth charts. This
has created frustration for owners as often the prime early season free agents
are often gone by the time we get to the first day to make a free agent add/drop
move. Teams are "penalized" for not having an IR eligible player and being able
to claim a free agent after the draft and during week 1. Teams are allowed to
use a free agent claimed in a week 1 IR move in their week 1 weekend lineup,
another advantage providing frustration.
This rule has always been in place in our leagues. The reason behind it has been
that we wanted to wait until week 1 results are posted before determining
priority for claims. Trying to reward teams that have a bad week 1 (whether they
scored bad or just had an opponent score really well) while allowing IR moves
all week 1 seems a bit contradictory and outdated.
Considering how engaged our owners are, I see no reason to make teams wait a
full week to make a free agent add/drop move while other teams are making IL
moves all week. A change would give all teams that same chance to improve their
team in week 1, not just through IL moves.
The proposed change is as follows:
1) Teams that draft an IL eligible player
would be allowed to replace them the day after the draft.
2) Free agent
add/drop moves would be allowed starting the next day (two days after the draft)
3) Priority for all claims after the draft and during week 1 would be in order
of the player drafted. The higher drafted player would be the higher priority.
RULE VOTE 1
A) Keep the current rule, no free agent add/drop moves during week 1.
B)
Change rule to allow free agent add/drop moves during week 1.
VOTE 2
Waiver Wire (WW)
Our current rule is all players dropped in a transaction remain on waivers for 2
days before they can be claimed as a free agent. This rule has been in place for
a long time. The reason was so owners had time to see players dropped and decide
whether to make a claim. It came from a mindset of not every owner checks things
every day.
A couple years ago we added a rule that allows players dropped in IR moves to be
claimed the next day. This is done to prevent free agents not being available
when teams could use them. I am not sure differentiating a player dropped in an
IL move versus an add/drop move is necessary. Why not get all dropped players
available sooner?
As we have discussed multiple times over the years, the days of owners that only
check things a few times a week are long gone. Even if it is just checking
transaction emails or scores on your phone, owners are engaged on pretty much a
daily basis.
Managing your team during the year is crucial to success. Free agents are often
hard to come by as the season progresses. I think the quicker we can make free
agents available the better.
The proposed change is to change waivers to one day. Players dropped in any move
can be claimed as free agent the next day.
RULE VOTE 2
A) Keep the current rule, players remain on waivers for two day.
B) Change
rule, players remain on waivers for one day.
VOTE 3
Transaction Deadline (TD)
Our current rule is transactions are processed daily at 8pm mtn time. That was
moved forward from 9pm mtn several years ago. I now live in Houston on central
time now and still work early in the morning. I often struggle to process moves
at night and frequently do them in the morning before work in all leagues. Some
owners live on the West Coast and getting moves in by 7pm local time can be
challenging as well.
Some owners for a variety of reasons wait until right at the 8pm
deadline. Sometimes I get multiple emails right at 8pm, or even a little past
8pm, which makes it challenging for me to process before going to bed. I would
like to consider changing the transaction deadline time and move it overnight.
This would allow all owners to submit claims any time during the evening and I
would process in the morning, normally before 7am.
I am proposing the following change:
1) Change the transaction deadline to 3AM mtn time daily. The first day to make
transactions each week will be Monday at 3am instead of Monday 8pm.
2) If
there is a Thursday or Friday game(s) transactions for players involved only
will be processed at kickoff of their game. (same as it is now)
On Saturday when lineup changes are due, transactions would also still be
processed at the 10 am mtn lineup deadline. Players dropped earlier Saturday
morning would not be eligible to be claimed at the lineup deadline as it is too
short of a window.
RULE VOTE 3
A) Keep the current rule, transaction deadline at 8pm mtn daily.
B) Change
rule, transactions processed at 3am mtn daily.
Rule Vote 4
Playoff Transactions (PT)
For many years our league rule for transactions during the playoffs was no free
agent moves allowed and limited IR player transactions. If a team could submit a
lineup from existing players, no IR moves were permitted. If a QB or a franchise
RB and WR were injured, they could be replaced with a player from the same NCAA
team, same position only. Teams could not change their franchise player during
the playoffs unless the original franchise player was placed on the IR.
In 2021 due to Covid-19, we changed to our current injured player rule that
teams during the playoffs could replace any injured player with any player from
any NCAA team. This was done due to the ongoing uncertainty of player status
each week. Franchise players can be changed during the entire playoffs. Free
agent add/drop moves are still not permitted during the playoffs.
It has been suggested to revisit this rule now that the Covid era level of
uncertainty on player status is no longer relevant. The concept of the rule
before the 2021 change was teams should have to go with the team that got them
to the playoffs, not changing franchise players weekly or picking up who the hot
free agent of the playoff week is. Since no free agent add/drop moves are
allowed, the frustration is when a team adds a hot free agent in the playoffs,
whether due to recent performance, weekly match up or change in role. A healthy
team in the playoffs does not have the same opportunity to add a potentially
game changing player. The same applies to a team changing franchise players
based on the potential to add a desired free agent. Our rule for player IR
eligibility remains pretty liberal in college given the continued injury news
inconsistency. There is a strong likelihood teams may have the opportunity to
make a playoff IR move.
The current college fantasy landscape remains one with limited and often no
consistent injury news, In the last few years there have been multiple players
getting a dnp due to unknown injury news during the playoff weeks. Subs can come
into play during the playoffs, just as they do during the regular season on a
regular basis. Last year we eliminated the extra sub roster spot, teams only
have two potential subs each week. A team potentially not having any subs due to
being able to field a lineup with existing players is a concern as well. We just
chalked it up to bad luck if a playoff team went a player short because of a dnp
and no subs available. I am not sure that is the best way to approach the
possible scenario.
Based on all the scenarios of the old rules vs the current rules I am proposing
the following change:
1) No free agent add/drop moves will continue to not be allowed once lineups are
set for week one of the playoffs.
2) Franchise players can not be
changed once lineups are set for week one of the playoffs.
3) Any player that
is IR eligible after playoff rosters are locked week one can be replaced by a
player from the same NCAA team and same position only.
RULE VOTE 4
A) Keep current playoff transaction rules.
B) Change playoff
transaction rules on franchise players and IR player replacement.
Rule Vote 5
OT Scoring Adjustment
In 2013 we changed the scoring system to our current rule of adjusting TD and FG
scoring that occurs in OT. We made that change because games were going multiple
OT's (4, 5 or 6 some times!) and players were accumulating significant extra
stats. We still count all other OT stats including yardage, receptions, defense
stats, etc.
The NCAA has changed the OT rule multiple times since 2018 in an effort to
reduce additional OT play for safety reasons. Currently, a game can only go 2 OT
periods before it goes to 2pt conversions. The 2pt conv in the 3rd+ OT (this is
called OT Plus) does not even count as an official stat for a player.
The OT adjustment rule remains one of our most highly debated
rules, has been for years. Last year we voted to eliminate the OT scoring
adjustment rule, but it was a 5-5 tie and the OT adjustments remain in our
rules.
College fantasy is the only league in which we adjust OT stats. A game going to
OT is usually exciting and part of the game as it is in all sports. The NCAA has
greatly reduced the potential for a player to get significant extra stats. Last
year there were just 5 OT scoring adjustments all year.
Some owners feel that any OT scoring is an unfair advantage for a team to get
extra stats as everyone should have the same opportunity to score. By allowing
any stats including yardage, receptions, defense stats, etc to be counted is not
keeping the playing field the same for all teams. A college OT game has the
potential and has changed the result of a fantasy game win/loss based on the OT
stats.
The proposal is to eliminate all OT stats, not just adjusting TD's and FG's. This would require me to review any player involved in an
OT game. I would have to find a reliable play by play breakdown of any OT game
and then manually adjust all stats for any players involved. While there
were just 5 OT scoring adjustments last year, there were numerous OT games
during the season. Depending on how many weekly OT games, how many players are
involved, the number of OT plays in a game and the number of potential changes,
this could be a significant process to adjust player scores in a given week.
RULE VOTE 5
A) Keep the current OT scoring adjustments on TD's and FG's only.
B) Eliminate OT scoring completely. Anything that happens in OT would not count.
Rule Vote 6
Player DNP
Our current rule is a player that does not play at all gets a DNP and a sub is
used. It is noted that if a player plays even a single play they count as
played. Most potential dnp players it is easy to verify if they played at all.
Every year there have been several instances of a player dressed but unsure if
they played at all. I research all available info to determine if a dressed
player actually played or sat out the entire game. It is often time consuming
and not easy to verify this given the lack of college information. There was a
situation last year that I spent hours researching a player with no stats and no
specific news on whether they played or not? I was only able to verify they
actually played a snap because of a game photo showing them in the game.
I don't think this is what we intended with the "single play" notation on the
DNP rule. I should not have to go to extreme lengths to prove whether a player
played a snap. Penalizing a team with a zero score for a player who played a
single snap without touching the football just doesn't seem right.
I am proposing the following change:
1) A QB must have at least one pass or
rushing attempt for their game to count
2) A RB or WR/TE must have at least
one rushing attempt or pass target for their game to count
This would eliminate the tedious research sometimes involved with a player with
no stats. It would not penalize a player that plays without ever potentially
touching the football in a very limited role. Yes, the potential is there for a
player to play multiple plays (maybe even the whole game) and never get an
attempt or target for a variety of reasons. While possible, given most of the
active fantasy players are college teams RB1 or WR1/2 I don't think it's
significant enough to offset the main reason for the proposed change.
RULE VOTE 6
A) Keep the current player DNP rule.
B) Change the DNP rule to
require 1 pass/rushing attempt or pass target for a player to count as played.