important College Football Rules Megathread

[Rocketcan]

This thread is designed to be a living document for all of the SimCFB rules, instructions, and FAQs. If you have any questions, since this thread is locked, please see the "#simcfb-help" channel in the discord. If you are not in the discord, here is an invite: SimFBA Discord Server

 

TL;DR Links:

• Depth Chart Template
  
• Depth Chart Submission Form
  
• Gameplan Template
  
• Gameplan Submission Form
  
• Gameplan Guide
  

Table of Contents:

1. Setting Up Your Depth Chart
   
2. Submitting Your Depth Chart
   
3. Setting Up Your Gameplan
   
4. Submitting Your Gameplan
   

Edited June 4, 2021 by Rocketcan

[Rocketcan]

QUICK START GUIDE

 

There are a couple things you need to do in order to participate in the sim. I am assuming you already have a team and can see your roster. If you do not have those things, please post in the #simcfb-help channel on the discord server (invite link in the first post). The steps to participate are:

1. Set and submit your depth chart.

   
   

2. Set and submit your gameplan.

   
   

3. Get your recruiting sheet

   
   

DEPTH CHART

 

NOTE: It is recommended that you set everything up initially on a regular computer. After you have everything ready to go, it is ok to make tweaks on a mobile device.

 

SETTING UP YOUR DEPTH CHART

 

Follow these steps to set up your depth chart for the first time:

1. Go to THIS Google Sheet link.
   
2. DO NOT EDIT ANYTHING
   
3. Click on File > Make A Copy
   
4. 
   
5. In the "Copy document" window, name the file "Depth Chart" and place in anywhere you'd like in your Google Drive. Be sure to leave "Share it with the same people" and "Copy comments" unchecked.
   
6. 
   
7. Click the green "OK" button.
   
8. Move to the copy that you just made.
   
9. In the "Team:" and "Coach:" Fields, be sure to fill in your team abbreviation and your SimFBA username respectively. (If you don't know what your team abbreviation is, check out this link: Team Abbreviations
   
10. 
    
11. Notice how the name of the file is just "Depth Chart". Ensure yours is also named like this.
    
12. At the bottom of the window there should be a tab named "TEAM". Change the name of that tab to your team abbreviation.
    
13. 
    
14. Now you can start filling in your depth chart. Find your team in the following forum: CFB Teams (If your team is not here, please ping me in the #simcfb-help discord channel).
    
15. Fill in EVERY slot in the depth chart. None of the entries may be blank. Fill in the Position, First Name and Last Name. Do not enter the ID Number, the sim will do that.
    
16. IMPORTANT: Make sure that each field you enter is EXACTLY the same as it appears on your roster. Any spaces, misspellings, incorrect punctuation will cause the depth chart reader to break.
    
17. For example:
    
18. 
    
19. 
    

 

Notes about Depth Charts:

• DO NOT place the same player in multiple starting positions on the same side of the ball.
  
• YOU MAY place a player as a starter on different sides of the ball (i.e. a two-way player).
  
• YOU MAY place a player out of position (CB at WR, RB at WR, LB at FB, etc.).
  

Edited June 9, 2021 by Rocketcan

[Rocketcan]

SUBMITTING YOUR DEPTH CHART

1. Begin with your completed depth chart open.
   
2. Click on the green "Share" button in upper right-hand corner of the window.
   
3. 
   
4. In the "Share with people and groups" window that pops up, click on the "Change to anyone with the link" button.
   
5. 
   
6. Click the drop down arrow to the right of the World icon. There should be two options: "Restricted" and "Anyone with the link". Select anyone with the link.
   
7. 
   
8. Once you have selected that, select the drop down box on the right-hand side of the window. There are three options: "Viewer", "Commenter", and "Editor". Select Viewer.
   
9. 
   
10. Once all of these steps are complete, click on the "Copy Link" button.
    
11. 
    
12. If everything worked, you should get a "Link copied" message at the bottom of the window.
    
13. Now that you have the link, you are ready to submit your depth chart. Go to the link here: Depth Chart Submission Form
    
14. Once there, fill in your team name and abbreviation into the first two fields. Then paste the link that you just copied into the third field.
    
15. 
    
16. Once you have confirmed all of those fields are correct, click on the purple "Submit" button.
    
17. You're all done!
    

Notes about Submitting your Depth Chart:

• You only ever need to submit your depth chart once. An script will pull your depth chart automatically before games are run, so any changes you make in your depth chart file by the deadline will be reflected. Do NOT submit more than once. If you do, contact me immediately.
  
• Double, Triple, and Quadruple check the following:
  
  • All positions are filled in correctly.
    
    • Watch out for things like players playing out of position (Just because you put him at WR doesn't mean his position according to the sim isn't CB).
      
    • Check the spelling of names. "Deshawn" is NOT the same thing as "DeShawn".
      
    • Check punctuation. "Ho-chi" and "Ho'chi" are NOT the same.
      
    • Check for spaces. "Davis " and "Davis" are NOT the same.
      

    [*]The link you are inputting to the form has proper permissions.

    • Anyone with link
      
    • Viewer
      

Edited June 4, 2021 by Rocketcan

[Rocketcan]

GAMEPLAN

 

NOTE: It is recommended that you set everything up initially on a regular computer. After you have everything ready to go, it is ok to make tweaks on a mobile device.

 

SETTING UP YOUR GAMEPLAN

 

Follow these steps to set up your gameplan for the first time:

1. Go to THIS Google Sheet link.
   
2. DO NOT EDIT ANYTHING
   
3. Click on File > Make A Copy
   
4. 
   
5. In the "Copy document" window, name the file "Gameplan" and place in anywhere you'd like in your Google Drive. Be sure to leave "Share it with the same people" and "Copy comments" unchecked.
   
6. 
   
7. Click the green "OK" button.
   
8. Move to the copy that you just made.
   
9. Notice how the name of the file is just "Gameplan". Ensure yours is also named like this.
   
10. At the bottom of the window there should be a tab named "TEAM". Change the name of that tab to your team abbreviation.
    
11. 
    
12. Also, note that there is the tab with the link to the Gameplan Guide. That can help you make gameplanning decisions.
    
13. Now you are ready to set up your gameplan. It is recommended that you read the Gameplan Guide mentioned above. Here is a direct link: CFB Gameplan Guide
    

Things to note on filling out your gameplan:

• Never leave a field blank. If you want a value to be nothing/zero, please input a zero.
  
• There is built in error detection in the google sheet. If it presents an error, your gameplan is likely not valid. Please make sure all errors are gone before you submit your gameplan.
  
• Always be sure to make a copy of the main template. When you do this, make sure to do the following:
  
  • Rename the file to just "Gameplan"
    
  • Rename the tab with the gamplan in it to your team abbreviation. i.e. "BAMA".
    

[Rocketcan]

SUBMITTING YOUR GAMEPLAN

1. Begin with your completed gameplan open.
   
2. Click on the green "Share" button in upper right-hand corner of the window.
   
3. 
   
4. In the "Share with people and groups" window that pops up, click on the "Change to anyone with the link" button.
   
5. 
   
6. Click the drop down arrow to the right of the World icon. There should be two options: "Restricted" and "Anyone with the link". Select anyone with the link.
   
7. 
   
8. Once you have selected that, select the drop down box on the right-hand side of the window. There are three options: "Viewer", "Commenter", and "Editor". Select Viewer.
   
9. 
   
10. Once all of these steps are complete, click on the "Copy Link" button.
    
11. 
    
12. If everything worked, you should get a "Link copied" message at the bottom of the window.
    
13. Now that you have the link, you are ready to submit your gameplan. Go to the link here: Gameplan Submission Form
    
14. Once there, fill in your team name and abbreviation into the first two fields. Then paste the link that you just copied into the third field.
    
15. 
    
16. Once you have confirmed all of those fields are correct, click on the purple "Submit" button.
    
17. You're all done!
    

Notes about Submitting your Gameplan:

• You only ever need to submit your gameplan once. A script will pull your depth chart automatically before games are run, so any changes you make in your depth chart file by the deadline will be reflected. Do NOT submit more than once. If you do, contact me immediately.
  
• Double, Triple, and Quadruple check the following:
  
  • The link you are inputting to the form has proper permissions.
    
    • Anyone with link
      
    • Viewer
      

    [*]There are no errors showing on the Gameplan Sheet (i.e. "Incorrect Play Weight").

    [*]All fields have an entry, even if it is just "0".

Edited June 13, 2021 by Rocketcan

[Rocketcan]

GETTING YOUR RECRUITING SHEET

 

Under construction. Not necessary to run scrimmages.

[subsequent]

CHANGING YOUR SCHEME (2021 SEASON)

 

We know that since this is the first season of a completely new sim, people want to try new things out and see what works. I highly encourage that. As this is our first season, we don't have a proper way to adjust performance based on constant scheme changes (if a team went through four different schemes in four different weeks, you would expect that team to have some growing pains).

 

To that end, we still want to facilitate experimentation, so we are allowing scheme changes as long as you let your opponent know by Monday 11:59PM ET.

 

Please utilize the following thread:

 

https://www.simfba.com/index.php?threads/2021-scheme-changes-thread.2703/

 

Failure to properly notify your opponent will result in your next week's recruiting points being cut from 50 to 25. If you suspect another user has changed schemes without notifying you, please let us know and we will investigate.

 

Additionally, I would like to apologize for any failures in communicating small rule changes and announcements. We will continue to make sure everything is properly documented in one easy-to-find place.