The League

The league will consist of 24 teams and be split into three 8-team conferences. Each athletic director will choose a mythical or existing school name and mascot for his or her team.

The Draft

The draft will be held on the message board and the draft order will be determined by reverse of the final BCS standings the year before, with the exception of the champion will pick #24, the runner-up #23, regardless of final BCS score (23/24 change begins with 2020 draft). Expansion teams will be randomly chosen to pick before existing teams. A team replacing an existing franchise inherits that team's BCS draft order.

There will be an 8-hour time limit for each pick (clock runs 8:00 am - 11:59:59 pm ET, 7 days a week). If an athletic director misses his/her time window, the draft will proceed with that AD being skipped. This AD will be able to make up the pick as soon as he/she returns, regardless of which pick is then on the clock. If the make-up pick is not in by the next time this AD is on the clock, they will have just four hours to make their pick. If the second pick is missed, the time limit for the next pick is two hours. If three consecutive picks are missed without notice, the AD shall be removed from the league. Common courtesy dictates that if you will be gone for any portion of the draft, a list of desired players should be given to the Commissioner, so that the draft is not held up by your absence.

The draft will be 16 rounds and the order will be the same each round (1-24, 1-24, etc.). Picks and players may be traded during the draft, but once the draft is complete, there is no trading - trading of future draft picks is never allowed.

You must have 16 players on your roster at all times throughout the season. No uneven trades are allowed, specifically trades that would give one team an extra draft pick that they would just throw away.

Draft Eligibility

Players from teams in the following conferences are eligible: Atlantic Coast Conference, American Athletic Conference, Big Ten, Big XII, Pac 12, SEC, and indepenents Army and Notre Dame. We will add more conferences/teams if the need arises.

The Season

The regular season will be ten weeks. Each week, every team will play one opponent in a head-to-head format. Weeks begin on Wednesday and end on Tuesday.

Weeks 1-3: Non-conference games. NC games are scheduled by the athletic directors.
Week 1 will be open for your "one season only" opponent.
Weeks 2-3 will be open for your "home and home" opponents.
  * Note: Week 3 may be used to schedule an on-going non-conference rivalry game if both ADs so choose. This is a game that will take place the same week every year. Teams may only have one such rivalry. It's a chance for friends that are in different conferences to play more often. Teams will alternate home and away each year.

Before the season, each athletic director will schedule their games for weeks 1-3.

Scheduling Rules:

1. You may not play the same opponent more than once in a regular season.
2. You may not play a "one season only" opponent in consecutive seasons. You and the opponent must agree who will be the home team each season.
3. You may not schedule the same team consecutively for a "home and home" series. You and your opponent must agree who will be the home team for each game (exception: non-conference rivalry).
4. There is no limit on the number of home games you may play in a season, but all attempts should be made to schedule evenly (5 home, 5 away).
5. If your schedule is not complete by the deadline, the Commissioner will then finish your schedule for you.
6. The Commissioner reserves the right to rearrange schedules if necessary.

Weeks 4-10: Conference schedule determined by the Commissioner's Office.

Week 11: The three conference champions will get an automatic bid to the MCAA Playoffs. The Top three non-champions as determined by the BCS formula will also receive bids. Teams will be seeded 1-6, based on BCS Standings, meaning conference champions are not guaranteed byes. Seeds 1-2 will receive byes, while #3 will play #6 and #4 will play #5.

Additionally, non-Playoff Bound teams, if their records are at least .500, will have the opportunity to meet in bowl games. Invitations will be sent by the MCAA Commissioner, with every attempt to avoid repeat matchups.

Week 12: MCAA Semi Finals: the #1 seed will play the highest remaining seed and the #2 seed will play the lowest remaining seed.

Week 13: MCAA National Championship: the winners from Week 12 face off for the MCAA Championship.

A team failing to turn in a lineup on three separate weeks runs the risk of losing its bowl eligibility. The MCAA is for fun, but we also want it to be competitive. If an AD fails to turn in a lineup three times during the season, the Commissioner can, at his discretion, declare the team "bowl ineligible".

  * Note: In years where the schedule allows, there will be 11 regular season games. Week 4 will become another non-conference "one season only" opponent. Conference play will start Week 5.

Conference Standings Tiebreakers

1. Conference Record (same conference only)
2. Head-to-Head Record
3. Overall Win/Loss Record
4. Total points scored
5. Head-to-Head points scored
6. Coin Flip

When three or more teams are tied, the above criteria are applied to all teams. When one team is declared the "winner", the process starts over from step one for all remaining teams.

BCS

The BCS is the MCAA`s method of ranking the teams in the league in order to determine which teams deserve the opportunity to play for the MCAA National Championship. The BCS poll is updated weekly throughout the regular season. After Week 10, the three conference champions (regardless of rank) and the three highest ranked non-champions will meet in the MCAA Playoffs (assuming they are "bowl eligible"). Additional teams with a .500 record will be given the opportunity to compete in other BCS Bowl games.

The BCS is calculated by ranking the teams by wins (teams tied are both/all given the lowest number. Ex: Two 10-0 teams are both given a ranking of 1). The teams will then be ranked first by wins and then power ranking (hypothetical record against every team every week), by power ranking alone, by strength of schedule, by wins and then points per game and by points per game alone. (Again, tied teams will both/all be given the lowest number.) These rankings are then plugged into the following formula:

BCS Formula = (((Wins + Wins^PR + PR + Wins^PPG + PPG)/5) + Losses + SOS) - Quality Win Points + Lineup Penalty Points.

Strength of Schedule points are added in the following way: The team with the hardest strength of schedule will receive a 1. Second-hardest a 2, etc. That number is then divided by 25 to determine the number of points added to a team's score. So, the team with the toughest schedule will have .04 (1/25) added. A team with the 10th-hardest schedule would receive .4 point. Ties will both receive the lowest possible points and the next level will be awarded the amount of points had there not been a tie. SOS records will not include your own games (when you beat a team, your SOS does not have a loss added, and when you lose, your SOS does not have a win added).

Teams are then ranked 1-24 based on the final total. Quality win points are then subtracted from a team's BCS score. Bonuses are awarded as follows:

• Beating a team ranked #1 in the current poll earns a bonus of -1.0 point.
• Beating a team ranked #2 in the current poll earns a bonus of -0.8 point.
• Beating a team ranked #3 in the current poll earns a bonus of -0.6 point.
• Beating a team ranked #4 in the current poll earns a bonus of -0.4 point.
• Beating a team ranked #5 in the current poll earns a bonus of -0.2 point.

Quality win points are not subtracted until AFTER Week 7 games have been played.

If a team defeats a top-5 BCS team twice in one season, the victorious team shall receive quality win points only once.

Example - Team A defeats Team B in Week 1. Team B is ranked #2 in the Week 7 BCS. Team A would earn -0.8 points in the Week 7 BCS. If Team B is ranked #1 in the Week 8 BCS, Team A's bonus would be -1.0 in the Week 8 BCS. Should Team B fall out of the rankings at any time, Team A would lose their bonus. The team's rank at the time that you beat them is not what matters. It is their rank in the current BCS poll (before deductions are factored in). Because deductions are the last calculation in the BCS, they may change the rankings.

Lineup Penalty Points are added:

• First incomplete lineup: no penalty
• Second incomplete lineup: penalty of +.50 points
• Third incomplete lineup: penalty of +1.0 points
• Fourth incomplete lineup: penalty of +1.5 points and possible expulsion from the league

If two teams have equal BCS scores in the Final BCS poll, the tiebreaker for Bowl seeding is as follows:

BCS Tiebreakers

1. Head-to-Head Record
2. Overall Win/Loss Record
3. Conference Record (same conference only)
4. Total points scored
5. Head-to-Head points scored
6. Coin Flip

When three or more teams are tied, the above criteria are applied to all teams. When one team is declared the "winner", the process starts over from step one for all remaining teams.

Starting Lineups

Athletic Directors will submit a lineup consisting of: 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR/TE, 1 PK. A player's position is determined on draft day. If there is a question as to which position a player plays, his listed position on the roster page at his school's official website will be used. If this still doesn't clear up the situation, research will be conducted to determine which position best suits the player (ie, what other leagues might be doing, which position he played the most plays at the previous year, etc).

An AD that does not turn in a complete lineup will have points added to his/her BCS score. There are enough free agent opportunities and large enough rosters that there should be no excuse for not fielding a complete lineup each week. ADs must have non-bye week players in each position, or will be penalized:

• First incomplete lineup: Warning, no penalty
• Second incomplete lineup: BCS penalty of +.50 points
• Third incomplete lineup: BCS penalty of +1.0 points
• Fourth incomplete lineup: BCS penalty of +1.5 points and possible expulsion from the league, based on a vote of the other league ADs. Only a majority of the votes cast is needed.

There will be, of course, valid excuses; however, "I forgot" or "I ran out of time" will not be valid.

Lineup Deadline

Lineups are due on your team site at mcaafootball.com by game time of the player you wish to play. Once a player's game has started, you will not be allowed to make changes to that player. Please note that times on the website are EASTERN TIME. If you fail to turn in a lineup, your previous week's lineup will be used, without regard to injuries or bye weeks.

Red-Shirt Players

Each team will be allowed 2 Red-Shirt players. The players will not count towards the 16-player roster limit. A player can NOT be designated as a Red-Shirt until AFTER the draft. If an athletic director wishes to remove the Red-Shirt tag from a player, they may activate him and drop another player to remain at the 16-player limit. Once an AD burns a Red-Shirt, they are not allowed a replacement red-shirt for the remainder of the year.

Scoring System

 Game Tie-breakers

1. Team with highest scoring starter wins
2. Team with second highest scoring starter wins
3. Home Team wins (or higher ranked BCS team when Bowl Game)

Scoring Games

We will use ESPN.com for the official scoring statistics. Scores will be posted by Monday morning, and ADs have until Tuesdays at 11:59 pm ET to protest a score. NOTE: Errors in data entry can be corrected by the Official Scorekeepers at any time. ADs may only dispute the official website's listing of statistics. If an AD believes there is an error, they should provide links to other sites showing the problem.

Free Agency

We will have three free agent periods each week. Teams may pick up three players per week, but only one in the first or second period.

The first free agent period will be waiver-wire, with reverse order of the BCS standings determining who gets first pick. Only one pick-up per team is allowed.

The second free agent period will be waiver-wire, with reverse order of the BCS standings determining who gets first pick. Only one pick-up per team is allowed.

The third free agent period will be first-come, first-served on the message board, and teams may select up to 3 free agents if they have had zero successful requests in the first two periods. Two free agents if they have had only one prior successful request, and one free agent if they have already had two successful requests that week.

A player whose game has already been played in a given week is not eligible to be picked up by any team until the following week's FA period. Ex: UConn vs Rutgers on a Thursday night. Once the game has started, UConn and Rutgers players are ineligible for free agency.

A player dropped in any period of a given week is not eligible to be picked up by any team until the following week's FA period.

Once the post-season starts, any player that is a senior and is dropped by a team, cannot be picked up by any other team - including the team that dropped him - unless the player is a place kicker. This rule was requested to prevent a senior stud player being dropped from a non-post season team only to be picked up for one game by a post season team that didn't own him all season. For example, a non-postseason team is shedding seniors to grab FA underclassmen. This rule will only apply to non-kickers in their final season of eligibility. All other players will continue to be eligible under normal rules. Seniors dropped during the final regular season free agency period and later will not be available to any team for just the bowls/playoffs.

Player Retention

In order to establish some "program continuity", athletic directors will keep players from year-to-year, with the exception of:

1. players who graduate
2. players who leave early for the NFL
3. players who leave an MCAA-member school for a non-MCAA member school

Prior to the draft, teams with more than 10 players on their roster have the option to drop players for any reason and bring their roster size down to 10. Teams that already have 10 or fewer players will not be allowed to make additional drops.

Off-Season Schedule

Heisman Trophy

At the conclusion of the season, the Commissioner's Office will email the Heisman Trophy Ballots to each AD. The season's top five scorers (more if there is a tie) will be on the ballot. Athletic Directors will rank them from 1 to 5 (or more). Players receive 5 points for a first place vote, 4 points for a second place vote, etc. Votes beyond 5th place receive zero points. The player accumulating the most points will be declared the winner. In the event of a tie, the player who scored the most fantasy points will be declared the winner. If it is still a tie, the player whose team finished higher in the post-bowl BCS standings will be declared the winner.

All-American Teams

Following the Heisman Trophy announcement, the Commissioner's Office will release the All-American teams.