A: You will automatically play games against each team in your conference. In addition, you can schedule up to 8 games with teams not in your conference in baskeball, different values in other sports. You do this with the SCHEDULE command. You don't need to provide an actual game day; the scheduler will do it automatically. Non-conference games are played before the conference schedule begins in basketball; usually this is true in football as well. Always keep in mind that scheduled games are requests rather than promises and that the other coach must also send in a request for a game against you.

A: Yes, you have to ask permission. In order for a game to be scheduled, both participating teams must request it.

A: Yes to both.

A: The coaches' poll ballot consists of all teams that could legitimately be ranked in the top 15 (football/basketball) or 10 (hockey/baseball). Several of the computer rankings and the writers' poll are consulted in determining this list; if a team is in (or close to) the top 10/15 in any of the rankings it will probably be on the ballot.

A: It is actually only one and the same restriction. All teams are listed that you can vote for without having your ballot ignored.

A: NCAA eligibility only concerns itself with how many seasons a player has played the sport, not how many seasons he has been in college. So any academic sophomore who walks on will be counted as a redshirt freshman for game purposes.

A: No.

A: A junior or senior would not gain the extra year. Nor would somebody who had already redshirted, or a sophomore on a team under sanctions. Any other player would be treated as if he had redshirted the whole season.

A: A player can transfer for two reasons. First, he thinks he ought to be starting, but isn't being played much (or at all). This can be avoided by playing him at least 5 minutes per game on average for the season. A true freshman on scholarship will never leave for this reason. The second reason is that a non-scholarship player who logged significant minutes (at least 15-20) last season demands a scholarship at the start of the season. If you don't award him one, he will leave.

A: Sanctions for cheating in recruiting are decided when recruiting is over, right before training camps. A team under sanctions will be ineligible for postseason play and get decreased recruiting points the following season. The team's status will be restored after the following recruiting season (unless, of course, they cheat and are caught again).

A: There are five considerations for the determination of recruiting points: last season's final ranking, the program strength from past season rankings, the coach's coach and GM rankings, the conference, and whether the team is run by a human or a computer coach. Compared with other human coaches in your conference, the relative recruiting point totals should be fairly intuitive, however when comparing against computer-run teams or teams in other conferences, a fair comparison is not always possible.

A: A player with a higher number is given a higher priority - you will only attempt to sign a player if his priority is the highest or one below the highest of all remaining players in that group.

A: Yes, you must invite a player first. The "not considering your school" error message means that you neglected this. A player can only be recruited after he is invited.

A: There is no set formula for making up an X point difference; it depends on the average number of recruiting points per player left in the entire league. If you spend this amount, and a team with a 2 or 3 point advantage spends nothing, you should be about even. But there are diminishing returns. If this team with the 2-3 point advantage spends the average amount to get this player, you would have to spend a very large amount to get him.

A: If you send a press release with sufficient content, you will be given extra prestige, which increases the number of recruiting points you get. You can receive one reward per week.