Updated on 10/1/13

Game:    The UPCFL will utilize the latest College Strat-O-Matic Computer Football game. 

Requirements:   SOM College Football latest computer version, the current season authorization, an email account and an AOL Instant Messenger account (www.aim.com ). The league will cost no money.

League Structure:  The University Power Conference Football League is a group effort to replay a full NCAA 12 game schedule.  All games will be played with the current version of Strat-O-Matic College Computer Football. Each block I will post the backup of the league file and that block's pre files for the current block to download. All games must be played using the pre files. Games are not to be played as local games. ALL games are to be played live using the SOM Netplay feature vs. another human coach. No games are to be played vs. the CM. Also, you must finish the game in it's entirety. If you are losing big, do not quit the game and just tell the other coach to finish up. You have made a commitment to the league through good games and bad. Honor that commitment.

League Format:  The UPCFL consists of 24 NCAA teams divided into 2 conferences (Championship and Resistance) with the Championship Conference having 2 divisions of 6 teams and the Resistance Conference having 12 teams with no divisions. Each Championship Division team will play the other 5 members of it's respective division and 3 other games vs teams from the other Championship Division. The first 4 weeks of the season will be Championship Conference teams vs. Resistance Conferenece teams. No games between Resistance Conference Teams and Championship Division Teams will count as part of the Conference Win-Loss Record for the 2013 UPCFL Season. Standings will be posted in the main thread on the Strat Fan Forum on a regular basis. Conference win-loss and overall win-loss will be tracked separately. Point differential will be used if necessary to be one of the tiebreakers to help determine, conference champion and the seeding for the playoffs. The winner of each Championship Division will be granted a Bye for the first week of the playoffs. The next three teams with the best overall record will also be eligible for the playoffs. Starting this season there is also the potential for a 6th seed in the playoffs for one Resistance Conference team if certain criteria are met. A Resistance Conference team will be eligible for the 6th seed of the playoffs if and only if, 3 or more Resistance Conference teams play 10 or more games and one of the teams with 10 or more games played is over .500 win/loss.

PLAYOFFS: Five teams will make the Playoffs. The two conference champions from each championship divison will be awarded a Bye for Round 1 and be seeded 1 and 2. The next 3 teams (wildcard teams) will be seeded #3 through #5. If no Resistance team qualifies for the 6 Seed in the playoffs (see above paragraph for qualification) then Seed #5 will play seed #4 and the winner of that game will play the #1 seed in the Semi-Finals. The #3 seeded team will also receive a BYE in the first round and will play the #2 seed in the Semi-Finals. . The winners of the 2 semi-final games will play for the National Championship. If a Resistance team does qualify for the 6th seed then only the two Championship Division winners will receive a bye and the #6 seed will play the #3 seed and the #5 seed will play the #4 seed in the first round of the playoffs, with the winner of those 2 games advancing to play the #1 and #2 seed in the semi-finals.

Division Champions will be determined by the best conference win-loss record for the Championship Conference within their division. Overall record will be the first criteria for the Resistance Conference champion.

Tiebreakers are to be used if necessary to determine the Championship Conference division champions and the 3 wild card teams and to determine seeding of all teams accordingly. The Complete Tie-Breaker Details for seeding the playoffs can be found here: CLICK HERE

Point Differential -- This will be shown in the updated standings. Point differential will maximum/minimum out at +30/-30 points per game. In the event a team beats their opponent by more than 30 points then the difference shall be accumulated as +30 for the winning team and -30 for the losing team. This limitation has been made part of the rules to encourage sportsmanship in blowout games.

WEEKLY GAME PLAY

After you play the game you are required to post a short re-cap in the Strat Fan Forum. It doesn't have to be an awesome write up but just a short description of the key plays in the game will suffice. You can post your recaps here: 2013 StratFanForum UPCFL Thread

After you play the game, email me the .post and html file and post a recap of what happened in your game. 

Official league email is: docjambostrat@cableone.net Send all game results (post files) to this email address.

League Pace:  We will try our best to stick to a reasonably strict schedule. But I realize that real-life can intervene from time to time. Beginning with the 2010 season we will be using block scheduling for the early part of the season. This will allow you to schedule games within the block. The timelines will be posted as we journey through the regular season schedule in the League Schedule of Events link located on the league website.

Team Assignments : Returning members were given the option to retain one of their teams and to participate in a lottery and draft teams from the eligible/available teams for the current season. If a returning member from the previous season does not keep any teams, then that member will get two lottery numbers in the drawing (in 2013 UPCFL we used the Ohio Pick 4 Lottery). New Members and returning members that kept a team will get one number for the drawing. Once the winning number is determined, then any member (new or returning) that does not have a Championship team will draft first with the order having been determined by the Ohio lottery draw. A team master list will be available that will list the teams eligible to be drafted and with a team type designation. Team drafting wil continue until all 12 Championship team spots and all 12 Resistance Division team spots are filled.

League Sportsmanship: The UPCFL has been setup to provide us a platform to play the college game online in a league environment.  This league will not be tolerant of any head coach that cannot respect their peers nor the rules of this league.  All conflicts will be decided by the commisioner (me). In Strat, things usually even out so please be patient and not be arrogant or be a whiner. Please try to keep complaining comments to yourself. Scream and yell all you want on your side of the computer, but keep it civil and respectful in the chat box.

Mentor System: There are a few new coaches in the league. I am counting on the seasoned vets in the league to mentor them. If you see them doing something strange or not understanding a certain rule, help them out and explain things to them. Some will need help with strategy, while others will need help figuring out the .pre files and how to load them and how to send back the .post files. Some might need help with port forwarding. The more we do to help them out, the stronger the league will be in the long run. We all had to start somewhere and the best way to learn is to ask a lot of questions.

League options to be verified prior to launching the game. If the options don't match what I have listed here it might mean you are connected via a local game and not with the .pre files:

Use Variable FG Rule - YES

QB End Run Limits - YES
Injuries - No injuries
Rules through the years - Use Home team rules

HOUSE RULES - DEFENSE Formation Restrictions

New as of 2010 - Squib Kick (Limit of 3 Per Game for each team)

3-3-5; 3-2-6; 4-2-5 and 4-1-6 defensive formations are only allowed;

on any 3rd or 4th down (vs any offensive formation)
in the last 5 minutes of each half (vs any offensive formation)
vs any 3 or 4 WR set (regardless of down)

1st and 15 or more (vs any offensive formation)
2nd and 10 or more (vs any offensive formation)

There are no limits on blitzing. Formations are only restricted by the House Rules listed above.

Do your best to win your games and have fun.