A living proposal
needs a public memory.

A usable campus hosting responsibility record

What changed

• Added a downloadable host worksheet with named leads and backups, school/broadcaster responsibilities, training, funding, recheck deadlines and failure triggers.
• Separated statistics input, calling and participation coverage; included press-box, photography, social, visitor and student-access responsibilities.
• Ran two explicitly hypothetical tabletop cases and exposed their unresolved staffing, access and fallback gaps.

Still open

• No campus is certified. Local commitments, priced contingencies, provider standards, authority agreements and a timed independently reviewed rehearsal remain required. Playoff rules and the calendar are unchanged.

FBS coverage and the NRR win-evidence explanation

What changed

• Clarified FBS-only coverage in the rankings header, résumé cards, team search and download labels.
• Corrected an outdated flat-minimum description: the existing v0.57 evidence tail varies with Game Grade and equals 0.05 units at grade 20.
• Added a downloadable worked tail illustration and a small archived-win example, keeping calculation examples separate from ranking validation.

Still open

• Editorial clarification only: the formula, weights, scores and playoff rules are unchanged. Held-out validation and broader division coverage remain separate work.

Weak wins keep their differences in NRR v0.57

What changed

• Replaced the flat 0.05-unit minimum with a small grade-sensitive positive evidence tail and smoothed opponent credit below its former hard-zero threshold. Both rules apply to every win without a team or conference exception.
• Show four decimals for small win-evidence values so close results remain distinguishable; the narrow-win debit still tests raw opponent evidence before the positive tail.
• Rebuilt all 2024–25 checkpoints and 2026 previews, then rebased all fourteen Performance Lab Beta comparisons and versioned the v0.57 downloads.

Still open

• These are same-sample calibration changes, not held-out proof. The lower-tail shape and its effect on soft-schedule résumés should be tested across future checkpoints.
• The Beta performance component remains experimental and has not been promoted into published NRR.

NRR v0.56 and rebuilt Performance Lab comparisons

What changed

• Shifted five published points from Schedule-Adjusted Record to Quality-Win Depth: the NRR balance is now 35 / 25 / 15 / 15 / 7.5 / 2.5.
• Gave every actual win at least 0.05 Quality-Win Depth evidence units, while preserving the separate narrow-win debit based on pre-floor evidence. The floor is universal, not a conference or team exception.
• Rebuilt all 2024–25 weekly archives and 2026 previews, then rebased all fourteen Beta checkpoints on the new official NRR files with fresh source receipts and provisional scenario checks.
• Versioned the downloadable audit as v0.56 and made the prior 30/30 balance available as a private what-if comparison.

Still open

• The historical shifts are descriptive same-sample checks, not a claim of predictive accuracy. Future weeks and held-out seasons should test whether the small floor and 35/25 balance improve calibration without overrewarding soft schedules.
• The Performance Lab remains experimental; its performance component has not been promoted into published NRR.

A final economics readability pass

What changed

• Shortened school-case headings and distinguished verified annual rows, reported event cash and hypothetical comparisons.
• Moved Ohio State's receipt breakdown behind its own disclosure while preserving the headline figures and reconciliation gap.
• Consolidated duplicate missing-evidence lists and linked the overview directly to real school cases; displayed hosting amounts from the shared record.

Still open

• Presentation only: no evidence status, financial finding, chapter, sporting rule or NRR calculation changed. Primary settlements and a matched venue verdict remain outstanding.

Ohio State hosting: follow the reported money trail

What changed

• Expanded the attributed Tennessee hosting report into gross receipts, support, remittances and operating payments.
• Exposed the unreconciled difference in rounded receipt figures rather than inventing an adjustment.
• Added primary university context, bounded proposal implications and a warning against generalizing from one host; exported the record in v1.19.

Still open

• The event settlement, complete cost allocation, cash dates and matched destination return remain unverified. No requests were sent, fees paid, rules changed or venue advantage established.

A short economics overview before the research

What changed

• Replaced the opening explanation with a concise bottom line, known facts, unresolved funding and conditions that could change the proposal.
• Added expandable answers on neutral sites, expansion, travel and access, earned byes and shortfalls, linked to their evidence tests.
• Linked the supporting area of the playoff guide to these short reading paths without extending its quick overview.

Still open

• No new financial finding, secured funding, venue verdict or sporting-rule change is claimed. The worked comparison remains hypothetical.

A worked venue comparison with a reversible result

What changed

• Added a same-school, same-round hypothetical cash comparison, a retained-receipts break-even point and a joint downside test.
• Linked the illustration to actual school filings and the editable worksheet, with a labeled downloadable record.

Still open

• Every example amount is hypothetical. A verified matched campus-versus-bowl settlement remains unavailable; no venue winner, revenue forecast, financial approval or sporting-rule change is claimed.

Economics becomes a central chapter argument

What changed

• Reworked Chapter 17 around retained cash, comparable venue tests, the complete tournament budget, earned byes and responsibility for shortfalls.
• Linked the detailed budgets, access costs, media tests and decision record beneath the chapter summary and full text.
• Regenerated the complete Word proposal from the same canonical chapter record; the book remains seventeen chapters.

Still open

• This is an editorial integration, not a new financial finding, sharing formula or launch approval. Matched venue returns, secured media receipts and committed backstops remain unresolved. Sporting rules and the quick playoff overview are unchanged.

Trace actual payments without authorizing fees

What changed

• Added a closed payment-tracing guide: find the transaction, match its event, reconcile costs and keep conclusions narrow.
• Published a downloadable request draft limited to existing agreements, vouchers and service reconciliations, with no private requester details and an explicit zero-fee stop condition.
• Exported the search attempt and draft-only status in economics record v1.18 with thirteen source checks; guidance checks do not establish payments.

Still open

• The interactive payment dashboard did not load reliably. No transaction amount, submitted request, fee waiver, actual payment or venue advantage is verified. No paid work, outreach or sporting-rule change occurred.

Public hosting support gets a separate ledger

What changed

• Added a primary county hosting policy with separate quarterfinal and championship amounts, distinguishing cash from in-kind services and authorizations from payments.
• Connected public support to the combined-budget test without treating regional impact as public profit.
• Exported the bounded case in economics record v1.17 with eleven source checks.

Still open

• Actual disbursements, all public costs, the Ohio State event settlement and a matched venue verdict remain unresolved. No paid requests, outreach or sporting-rule changes occurred.

Follow hosting and conference sharing to the school

What changed

• Added official ACC and Georgia Tech distribution examples, separating announced incentives from unverified allocation rates and finalized receipts.
• Added a clearly attributed Ohio State hosting report without treating secondary coverage as a verified event settlement or prefilled worksheet input.
• Exported evidence provenance and missing amounts in economics record v1.16 with ten dated source checks.

Still open

• Executed sharing terms, an underlying hosting settlement and the matched neutral-site return remain unresolved. No sporting rules, paid services or outreach changed.

Hosting receipts need their own terms

What changed

• Separated published conference expense support from an unverified campus hosting fee and school retained cash.
• Added a dated historical operator commission-sharing example, its assurance limits and missing current settlement terms.
• Exported hosting evidence and unresolved fields in economics record v1.15 with a seventh dated source check.

Still open

• Current campus ticket terms and a matched venue return remain unresolved. No paid requests, outreach, sporting-rule changes or financial approval occurred.

School receipts reconciled before comparing venues

What changed

• Added the separately reported football category 13A distributions to Ohio State and Penn State's annual cases, with direct links to the sport-level rows.
• Replaced the four-row display with an expanded annual subtotal and an explicit correction: the earlier subtotal omitted conference postseason distributions and was not a postseason loss.
• Recorded two additional dated primary-filing checks and exported the correction and unknown event returns in economics record v1.14.

Still open

• A matched campus-versus-destination cash verdict still needs event settlements, allocation terms and payment dates. No profit, paid record request, outreach or policy change is claimed.

Feedback becomes a source-checked evidence backlog

What changed

• Turned anonymous feedback themes into six bounded tests with missing records and explicit reasons to reconsider recommendations.
• Checked four primary releases or payment pages and recorded their scope, limits and reopening triggers in the source ledger and economics download v1.13.
• Made the unresolved bowl-versus-campus financial comparison prominent without equating local impact, exposure or conference payments with school profit.

Still open

• No matched venue cash verdict, independent validation, outreach, policy revision or funded financial adoption is claimed. The one-minute guide and sporting rules are unchanged.

Community cards move closer to the conversation

What changed

• Removed the creator-prompt introduction and rule badges so voting cards sit directly below search.
• Removed bottom-pushed poll spacing, shortened discussion introductions and tightened the priority section while retaining readable typography.

Still open

• Votes, totals, account requirements and discussion ordering are unchanged.

Open financial decisions and source upkeep ledger

What changed

• Added six linked financial questions with stable IDs, missing-record requirements, acceptance tests and hold/reopening conditions.
• Added a source-by-source upkeep ledger and included it in economics record v1.12, keeping publication dates separate from verification dates.

Still open

• Owners, new source-check dates and financial decisions remain unassigned or unrecorded. No automatic monitoring, independent approval or changed sporting rules are claimed.

Calendar windows become clickable from beginning to end

What changed

• Added Starts, Continues and Ends labels to month-grid windows, including correct continuation labels across month boundaries. Continuation arrows now open the same event detail as start and end buttons.
• Restored the official Top 25 to five columns on wide screens while retaining readable layouts on smaller screens.
• Enlarged Community voting options, results, account guidance, search controls and discussion metadata while preserving the voting-card design.

Still open

• No votes, rankings, calendar dates or account permissions were changed.

Readable polls and a roomier calendar

What changed

• Enlarged official-poll team names, records, movement and source links; replaced fixed columns with a grid that fits the available width.
• Widened calendar month cards and enlarged dates, event headings, controls and supporting text. Narrow screens retain event markers with readable details below.
• Improved the shared team-mark notice typography and responsive layout.

Still open

• Ranking calculations, calendar dates and sporting rules are unchanged. This batch improves presentation, not the financial evidence.

The quick playoff guide stays quick

What changed

• Shortened the one-minute summary and put the 18-team chronological timeline immediately after it.
• Moved expansion tradeoffs, economics and the worked reseeding example below the practical questions, closed until opened.

Still open

• Sporting rules and the full proposal are unchanged. Financial adoption remains unresolved.

Financial decisions and evidence upkeep

What changed

• Added a five-step evidence-to-decision process, three policy options, review triggers and the fields for a public decision log.
• Updated the economics download to v1.11 with the same process and explicit unresolved status.

Still open

• No financial adoption decision or automated source monitoring is claimed. Batches 11 and 12 remain in progress pending actual reviews, decisions and evidence updates.
• Prices, authorized terms and binding funding are unresolved; sporting rules and the complete Word proposal are unchanged.

Independent financial review packet prepared

What changed

• Added six review paths, missing-record requirements, correction logs and explicit adoption holds using the existing economics layout.
• Updated the downloadable economics record to v1.10 with the same review requirements.

Still open

• Batch 11 remains in progress: no outside review, endorsement or contact is recorded. Priced inputs and binding funding remain unresolved.
• Sporting rules and the complete Word proposal are unchanged. Decision and evidence upkeep are next.

Economics integrated into the complete proposal

What changed

• Added chapter-specific financial requirements to seven chapters, shared by the website and regenerated Word proposal.
• Connected chapter reading paths and the calendar to the relevant budget, media, bowl, access and downside reviews.
• Updated the economics record to v1.9 with the chapter integration map.

Still open

• Pricing, settlements, reserves and binding funding remain unresolved; no financial feasibility or new benefit is certified.
• Independent review and missing-record collection are next. Sporting rules remain unchanged.

Combined downside and cash-timing review

What changed

• Added five linked downside risks, three illustrative cash schedules, reserve access requirements and a shortfall response framework.
• Separated permanent deficits from peak cash needs and kept required athlete services protected in the tests.
• Updated the economics record to v1.8; incomplete, invalid or out-of-order cash inputs produce no result.

Still open

• Batch 9 remains in progress: actual exposure, accessible reserves and binding backstops are unresolved. Illustrative coverage does not pass the financial launch gate.
• Proposal integration is next; sporting rules remain unchanged.

The whole ecosystem gets a budget structure

What changed

• Reconciled the proposed CFP and National Tournament into 32 games: 24 campus, six bowls and two neutral finals; left voluntary-bowl inventory explicitly undefined.
• Added nine blank budget lines spanning external receipts, event and athlete costs, oversight, transition, reserves and internal distributions, with consolidation examples and period boundaries.
• Updated the economics download to v1.7 with completeness and duplicate-transaction checks, preserving unknown totals.

Still open

• Batch 8 remains in progress: quotes, commitments, all transaction ledgers and the accounting perimeter are needed for a dollar budget. No commercial feasibility or funded benefit is certified.
• Combined downside and reserve tests are next; sporting rules and chapter downloads remain unchanged.

Costs, rewards and cash timing separated

What changed

• Added five distinct payment categories and settlement requirements, with bye, hosting, advancement and protected National Tournament incentive tests.
• Published four explicitly illustrative funding cases, including negative funding, late cash and unknown obligations; kept reserve additions separate from operating expense and transfers separate from external revenue.
• Updated the economics record to v1.6 and linked the adoption chapter to the distribution review.

Still open

• Batch 7 remains in progress: sharing percentages, eligible-cost caps, reserve requirements, contracts and binding shortfall funding are unagreed. Illustrative units are not a revenue forecast or payout entitlement.
• The complete ecosystem budget is next. Sporting rules and existing chapter downloads are unchanged.

Access has a cost and a payment deadline

What changed

• Added expandable athlete, student, family and visiting-fan access plans with evidence needs, responsibility and cash-timing tests.
• Mapped the three complete CFP title paths and bracket-wide team appearances; added seven blank cost-line templates to the v1.5 economics download.
• Separated current conference expense support and historical family assistance from unagreed proposed benefits, with readiness gates and privacy limits.

Still open

• Batch 6 remains in progress: provider quotes, service standards, benefit eligibility and committed funding are not established. No dollar estimate or new entitlement is adopted.
• Distributions and incentive testing are next; playoff rules and the illustrative calendar are unchanged.

A commercial test for the bowl round

What changed

• Added expandable bowl review covering tickets and travel, sponsorship and hospitality, operator costs, host cities and traditions.
• Separated sourced Orange Bowl and Tournament of Roses impact estimates from operator profit, school receipts and spendable rights revenue.
• Added contract-transition paths and launch gates, linked the review from the bowl chapter and playoff guide, and updated the downloadable research record to v1.4.

Still open

• Bowl event settlements, contract review, agreed replacements and a priced, committed transition budget remain unresolved; Batch 5 is in progress.
• No playoff rules, secured dates, contract commitments or financial forecasts changed. Athlete and student access costing is the next batch.

Media value and calendar tradeoffs

What changed

• Added a round-by-round broadcast-window review using the existing proposed timeline, official 2026–27 CFP dates and NFL conflict references.
• Added sourced 2025–26 audience examples, rights ownership limits, displaced-event accounting and an explicit incremental funding test.
• Linked the media review from the economics and short playoff guides and updated the downloadable research record to v1.3.

Still open

• School event settlements and media valuation remain in progress. No negotiated fee, secured kickoff, contract amendment or venue-driven ratings uplift is assumed.
• The proposal's playoff rules and illustrative calendar are unchanged.

Documented school financial benchmarks

What changed

• Added Ohio State and Penn State FY2025 NCAA postseason receipts, participation costs, coaching bonuses and hosting expenses, checked against the original report tables.
• Kept annual figures separate from individual game returns, with expandable source links, bounded arithmetic and a missing-record checklist.
• Updated the downloadable economics research record to v1.2 with both school cases and their source limits.

Still open

• Batch 3 remains in progress: event settlements, conference allocations and lower-resource or visiting-only cases are needed before comparing game-level net returns.
• No playoff policy, revenue forecast or cash worksheet default was changed.

Playoff games and money flows mapped

What changed

• Added a sourced eleven-game current CFP comparison against the proposed seventeen-game bracket, with every proposed round and its cost questions.
• Mapped seven revenue, expense, access and risk streams with payer, recipient, contract and cash-timing evidence requirements.
• Added explicit consolidation and reimbursement examples to prevent double-counting; separated local spending from school and format cash.
• Updated the downloadable economics research record to v1.1 and linked the inventory from the short playoff guide.

Still open

• No revenue forecast, negotiated allocation or school-specific financial finding is implied. Other bowls and the National Tournament need separate ledgers.
• School cases, media valuation and a complete ecosystem budget remain the next research stages; playoff rules and substantive chapter text are unchanged.

Economics becomes a visible proposal research track

What changed

• Added an economics page covering school returns, bowls, media, student access and funding in a disappointing year.
• Published a dated source and claims record distinguishing three checked primary sources from unresolved financial questions, with a downloadable copy and the twelve research batches.
• Connected the economic case to the short playoff guide, Evidence and the playoff, bowl, National Tournament and adoption chapter reading paths.
• Completed the three-case cash worksheet, including retained event receipts, cost responsibility notes and a local export; connected it to the historical comparison.

Still open

• The worksheet calculates reader assumptions. School cases, media valuations, contracts, complete budgets, cash timing, downside funding and specialist review remain outstanding.
• This release adds research and explanations; substantive chapter policies and their existing downloadable text are unchanged.

School cash scenarios and a clearer feedback record

What changed

• Added a campus-versus-destination school cash calculator with separate low, central and high cases, explicit missing inputs, source and responsibility notes, and a local download of assumptions and results.
• Linked current CFP distribution rules and distinguished conference receipts from the school’s retained share; no automatic school payout or proposed-format revenue was assumed.
• Made the two-season findings visible together: five of twelve additions had no selection-day Top 25 victory, with access by conference and game-burden limits beside the sporting question.
• Connected six anonymous feedback themes to the changed guide, historical records, calendar screens, bowl case and finance worksheet, including the evidence still needed for each.
• Kept the new calculations and source notes expandable, with readable controls and a responsive phone layout.

Still open

• The worksheet computes user-entered scenarios; school-specific financial estimates, contracts and independent verification remain outstanding.
• Long-layoff effects, funded student services, qualification-floor wording and the five unfamiliar-reader check remain unresolved. No policy choice or private reviewer endorsement is published.

Two historical playoff fields, calendars, and bowl tradeoffs

What changed

• Published a versioned 2024–2025 committee-order counterfactual, with six additions per season, selection-date records, ranked victories, loss context, actual postseason destinations and downloadable inputs.
• Calculated championship-protected entry bands without changing underlying ranks; made the 2025 Virginia berth interpretation and its USC alternative explicit.
• Compared all 36 entrants’ actual last-game and first-postseason dates with two proposed calendar placements per season, including possible total games and between-round intervals.
• Added registrar-sourced Texas, Oregon and Ohio State academic-calendar screens, a current-versus-proposed venue map, and a bounded Alamo Bowl participant-displacement case.
• Connected the studies to existing hosting safeguards and a net school-cash worksheet; kept detailed records behind readable expandable sections.

Still open

• This is a historical scenario comparison, not an adopted selection system, a certified calendar, or proof of sporting, medical or economic benefit.
• Resolve the qualification-floor wording before using these protection assumptions in a production selector. Older simulator replays remain simplified illustrations, not this historical reconstruction.
• Priced financial scenarios, travel and practice measurements, funded campus service commitments, and independent review remain outstanding. The unfamiliar-reader check remains zero of five.

A one-minute playoff explanation and tests that could change it

What changed

• Made the short playoff route visible from the homepage while retaining the full proposal and existing AI-assistance disclosure.
• Replaced unconditional final-rank bands in the homepage and playoff guide with the fixed team counts, making championship-path protection explicit.
• Added a versioned, synthetic worked example with a protected lower-ranked champion, a pre-title double-bye claim, and both reseeds. An upset winner keeps its final underlying rank.
• Addressed comprehension, expansion, long-layoff, and bowl-displacement concerns with plain explanations and visible tradeoffs, without attributing private feedback or implying endorsement.
• Published bounded historical-field and rest-comparison plans, linked existing hosting safeguards and audits, and provided a blank five-reader comprehension worksheet.

Still open

• The historical fields, rest scenarios, net school-finance comparisons, campus academic-calendar cases, and Alamo Bowl impact study are not completed in this release.
• The unfamiliar-reader check has not run. Automated mechanics and browser checks do not establish that five real readers understand the proposal.
• This is an explanation and test-design release, not a change to the eighteen-team policy or evidence of economic, medical, legal, or stakeholder approval.

One account menu, fitting bracket cards, and inspectable game efficiency

What changed

• Consolidated the header account controls into one avatar disclosure with My profile, Account settings, and Sign out, including keyboard and outside-click dismissal.
• Made finalized bracket cards respond to available width while preserving the four actions in a two-by-two block, without overlapping neighboring cards.
• Unified win and loss game-performance explanations, identifying whose performance is graded and showing the offense, defense, opponent adjustment, season-baseline blend, and national scaling formula.
• Disclosed excluded special teams, the inability to distinguish execution from opponent mistakes, the in-sample season baseline, and the difference between a game’s 15% Game Grade share and the separate 15% season component.
• Ran a read-only smoothing sensitivity audit across the twelve 2024–2025 checkpoints; no published formula, component weight, or ranking was changed.

Still open

• The 75-play season-baseline blend can soften a poor outing by an otherwise strong team. Less smoothing, leave-one-game-out baselines, special-teams coverage, and overlapping performance credit require broader validation before a new weight is selected.
• The game-performance audit reconstructs rounded public evidence, not the full underlying play dataset; it is a sensitivity check, not an independently validated replacement model.

Readable game-performance and loss calculations

What changed

• Reorganized each expanded win calculation into three plain-language steps: opponent strength, game-specific performance, and the resulting Quality-Win Depth evidence.
• Defined the game-performance score directly in the card: meaningful-play offense EPA minus defense EPA allowed, opponent-baseline adjustment, play-count reliability shrinkage, then national checkpoint standardization. A score near 50 is identified as the national middle and higher is better.
• Separated the game-specific score visually and verbally from the full-season 15% Opponent-Adjusted Performance component so readers can see which number rewards a strong showing in one game.
• Simplified Loss Integrity rows to one Loss cost, moved raw severity into the expanded detail, and renamed the final allocation to make clear that it reconciles the same loss to the complete team score rather than applying a second penalty.
• Added an optional loss-performance explanation that shows how well the team played in that loss while explicitly keeping the diagnostic outside the Loss Integrity calculation.

Still open

• EPA/play is a play-efficiency measure rather than a film grade; injuries, weather, personnel, and tactical context are represented only insofar as they affect completed plays.
• The game-performance score is stabilized toward the season baseline because one game contains a limited sample; the published 75-play reliability prior remains subject to held-out validation.

Game-specific opponent-adjusted performance inside Quality-Win Depth

What changed

• Published NRR v0.55 without changing the public 30 / 30 / 15 / 15 / 7.5 / 2.5 component weights.
• Replaced the repeated team-season performance number inside every win card with a true game-level opponent-adjusted play-efficiency grade. The calculation uses meaningful-play EPA, the opponent’s national baseline, and a play-count reliability shrink toward the team’s season baseline.
• Quality-Win Depth now uses that game-specific grade for the 15% performance share of each win’s Game Grade. The separate 15% Opponent-Adjusted Performance component still measures the full season, preventing the same team-wide number from being presented as if it described every game.
• Expanded win cards publish offense EPA/play, EPA/play allowed, raw net EPA, the opponent adjustment, sample reliability, and the standardized game grade. Loss cards show the same game-performance context without adding it to Loss Integrity.
• Regenerated every 2024–2025 CFP checkpoint and opponent-revaluation checkpoint from play-by-play data, preserving the existing 80/20 evolving-versus-game-time opponent-quality method.

Still open

• Game-level performance is descriptive completed-game evidence, not a predictive rating and not a substitute for opponent quality.
• The 75-play reliability prior is formula-wide and should be revalidated on held-out seasons rather than tuned to a named game or team.

Record-first Schedule-Adjusted Record and corrected public weights

What changed

• Published NRR v0.54 with the requested 30% Quality-Win Depth, 30% Schedule-Adjusted Record, 15% Loss Integrity, 15% Opponent-Adjusted Performance, 7.5% Win Control, and 2.5% Conference Champion weights.
• Recentered Schedule-Adjusted Record on the result actually achieved: 65% actual record, 17.5% benchmark overperformance, and 17.5% schedule challenge. Conference-title losses count as full results in this component; their separate low-risk treatment remains in Loss Integrity and the record foundation.
• Validated the correction nationally across all twelve 2024–2025 checkpoints. At 2025 Selection Sunday, Vanderbilt’s 10–2 Schedule-Adjusted Record now narrowly clears Alabama’s 10–3 result while Alabama retains substantial credit in Quality-Win Depth for the stronger win portfolio.
• Corrected both résumé component displays to follow published weight order instead of sorting by whichever component happened to have the largest rating. Tied 30% and 15% measures retain the published formula order.
• Renamed the compact Performance label to Adjusted Performance and added the team-wide Opponent-Adjusted Performance value, national play estimate, schedule caliber, and credibility deduction to every expanded win calculation.

Still open

• The 2024–2025 seasons remain development data rather than a frozen holdout; the live 2026 weekly run and a truly unseen season remain required.
• The 65 / 17.5 / 17.5 Schedule-Adjusted Record blend is a transparent calibration choice, not a Vanderbilt, Alabama, conference, or named-team rule.

Elite undefeated records use the full Schedule-Adjusted Record scale

What changed

• Published NRR v0.53 with one universal smooth upper-tail calibration after the unchanged 45% actual record / 27.5% benchmark overperformance / 27.5% schedule challenge base. The curve is centered at 80, uses a three-point scale and a 0.6 rate, so it is nearly dormant for ordinary records but lets truly exceptional records approach 100.
• Indiana’s 13–0 Selection Sunday Schedule-Adjusted Record moves from 91.3 to 98.1 after wins over two Top-5 opponents, including the conference championship. One-loss Ohio State and Georgia remain distinctly lower at approximately 89.4 and 89.6 under the same rule.
• Confirmed that every completed game through the selected checkpoint—including conference championships—already enters the record, benchmark expectation, and schedule challenge. The issue was upper-end scale compression, not a missing title game.
• Sorted every displayed résumé component from its highest rating to its lowest rating, with canonical formula and weight controls still shown in published weight order.

Still open

• The 2024–2025 seasons remain development data rather than a frozen holdout; the nearly unchanged historical comparison measures show stability, not proof that the calibration is permanently optimal.
• Conference-title losses still receive the published half-loss protection. That is a separate policy choice from this scale calibration and remains disclosed in the formula.

Strong supporting wins stop disappearing behind the poll line

What changed

• Published NRR v0.52 with a less poll-dependent Opponent Value: 45% official standing, 30% schedule-connected performance, 15% schedule-adjusted record, and 10% schedule caliber. Official standing remains the largest single input, while completed evidence can now separate a credible unranked opponent from an ordinary one.
• Reduced Quality-Win Depth from 30% to 27.5% and raised Opponent-Adjusted Performance from 12.5% to 15%, preserving a 100-point formula while limiting the ability of a few marquee wins to dominate the complete résumé.
• Changed the comparable Game Grade to 85% opponent-and-venue value and 15% sustained game performance, narrowed game control to a 0.925–1.075 evidence multiplier, and softened the elite-evidence curve from an 18-point to a 22-point scale.
• Made a ranked opponent’s published pregame standing the floor for the frozen 20% game-time snapshot, while leaving unranked opponents without a poll floor. This preserves the legitimate difficulty of an early ranked matchup without preventing the other 80% from repricing it.
• Added Georgia’s 2025 road wins at Tennessee and Auburn as a regression pair. Tennessee now receives more QWD evidence, and the Tennessee contribution is no longer more than three times smaller than Georgia’s home Ole Miss or Texas wins.

Still open

• The revision is a national formula change, not a Georgia, Tennessee, Auburn, SEC, or named-team adjustment; every archived win and loss was regenerated through the same code path.
• The official poll remains part of Opponent Value, and the 2024–2025 seasons remain development data rather than a frozen holdout. The live 2026 weekly run and an unseen season are still required before treating these calibration choices as settled.

Opponent quality now ages without forgetting game day

What changed

• Published NRR v0.51 with one symmetric opponent-quality rule for Quality-Win Depth and Loss Integrity: 80% follows the opponent’s current demonstrated quality and 20% preserves the frozen pregame value.
• Rebuilt every 2024–2025 public checkpoint from schedules and play-by-play so each game discloses current Opponent Value, game-time Opponent Value, and the exact blended value used in scoring.
• Tested 3,235 win and loss trajectories across weekly checkpoints and selected sixteen worked examples spanning wins and losses that aged better or worse.
• Added a downloadable revaluation audit and exposed the 80/20 arithmetic inside every win and loss evidence card.

Still open

• The 2024–2025 seasons were used to develop and test this rule; a frozen unseen season and the live 2026 weekly run remain the required holdout checks.
• The pregame anchor uses the latest AP checkpoint before kickoff; an unranked opponent before the first in-season checkpoint receives the model’s conservative floor until more evidence exists.

Account creation returns to the conversation

What changed

• Changed Google and email account creation from an interrupting profile detour to a direct return to the exact Community discussion, reply target, poll explanation, or page where sign-in began.
• Added a compact first-time note above the preserved comment form: a new member can write immediately or choose optional profile details without losing the destination.
• Kept profile setup available as a deliberate next step and preserved its return address, so saving a fandom or private phone number brings the member back to the same comment box.

Still open

• Team / fandom and phone remain optional; the former is public when supplied and the latter remains private.
• Google and Clerk control their own brief loading screens, while Better College Football preserves the destination before and after them.

Finalized brackets become easy to share

What changed

• Rebuilt each profile bracket’s actions as one compact two-by-two block: Open bracket, Share, public/private visibility, and Remove.
• Added one reusable Share menu to both the profile shelf and finalized bracket page, with copy link, X, email, and the existing share graphic.
• Kept private brackets honest: Share explains that the bracket must be public and offers the explicit visibility step instead of exposing a link other readers cannot open.
• Clarified the optional Team / fandom profile field and where it appears; Creator and Verified remain separate badges, and readers without a fandom get no empty label.
• Added a post-sign-up profile step that asks every new member for a public name, perspective, optional fandom, and optional private phone before returning them to the page where they started.

Still open

• Existing members who never supplied a fandom continue to show no fandom label until they add one under Edit profile & privacy.
• Social platforms control the final appearance of a shared link after receiving the bracket’s existing title, summary, and share-card metadata.

Submitted brackets become final records

What changed

• Replaced profile bracket editing with a clean build → finalize lifecycle: the Bracket Lab keeps an on-device draft while work is in progress, then clears that draft and opens the locked submission after finalization.
• Changed every profile-shelf bracket action to Open bracket and routed it to a full read-only bracket board containing the submitted field, every matchup, every winner, conference-champion markers, and the final champion.
• Removed Last edited language and content-update requests from bracket records. The server now rejects attempts to change a finalized payload, title, format, champion, or runner-up while retaining separate owner controls for public/private visibility and deletion.
• Replaced the oversized saved-bracket presentation with a compact submitted-bracket header, mobile round controls, and the complete bracket immediately below it; old simulator links now resolve to the locked bracket page.

Still open

• Finalization is intentionally irreversible; a different field or set of picks requires a new bracket.
• Changing public/private visibility does not change the submitted bracket and therefore does not create an edited timestamp in the interface.

Conference champions appear only after conference championships

What changed

• Corrected the historical NRR checkpoint generator so an ordinary late-season conference game can never be mistaken for a conference championship.
• Removed premature champion credit, title-game labels, and protected-title-loss treatment from every pre-Selection Sunday checkpoint in the 2024 and 2025 public archives.
• Rebuilt all twelve weekly checkpoints from the underlying public schedules and play-by-play, then versioned the archive request so returning readers receive the corrected data immediately.
• Added permanent archive and CSV audit gates that fail if any future pre-selection checkpoint awards conference-champion credit or contains title-game evidence.

Still open

• The conference-champion component remains binary and activates only after a completed, explicitly labeled conference championship game is inside that checkpoint's data cutoff.
• Selection Sunday title-game loss protection remains an explicit policy choice in NRR v0.50 and continues to be shown in each affected team's evidence.

Phone bracket dragging stops fighting the browser

What changed

• Disabled text selection, image dragging, and the iOS long-press callout on editable team rows, so a press-and-drag gesture moves the team instead of highlighting its name.
• Added edge-aware vertical scrolling during a seed drag, making swaps possible when the destination row begins beyond the visible phone screen.
• Strengthened destination feedback without adding a separate drag button; CC and the three-dot team menu remain independent touch controls.
• Based portrait and landscape round widths on the dynamic viewport, reducing partial crops when mobile browser chrome or orientation changes.

Still open

• Custom bracket rows deliberately reserve the full card surface for drag gestures; horizontal bracket navigation remains available from the round tabs, arrows, and open board space.
• Phone browser chrome and operating-system safe areas still vary, so final acceptance should include the user’s actual device in both orientations.

Saved brackets become durable drafts and the 12-team editor knows its own rules

What changed

• Kept an owned saved bracket attached to its original profile record while its title, field, champion designations, visibility, and picks change; Save now updates that record instead of silently creating a duplicate.
• Added separate Created and Last edited timestamps with date, time, and time zone to each saved-bracket shelf item, and relabeled Open bracket as the more accurate Edit bracket action.
• Replaced the fragile native browser drag path with one full-row pointer interaction for mouse, touch, and pen, while keeping the CC and three-dot controls independent from reseeding.
• Made seeds 1–4 automatic conference champions in custom 12-team brackets and reserved the manual CC choice for the fifth distinct conference champion, with matching progress and validation language.
• Removed Reset favorites from the current baseline, renamed the custom reset to Clear picks, and retained the existing weighted simulation for both 12- and 18-team fields.

Still open

• Older duplicate brackets are preserved rather than deleted automatically; each remains removable from the profile shelf.
• If a custom top-four seed is an independent or duplicates another top-four conference, the editor correctly withholds automatic conference-champion credit and requires enough distinct manual designations to reach five.

The fifth champion earns its seed

What changed

• Changed current-field simulations to begin with the complete published ranking and receiving-votes pool instead of discarding every contender outside the Top 25 before the draw.
• Replaced the discrete breakout shortcut with continuous rank-based uncertainty: published position remains the center of the distribution, lower-ranked contenders remain more volatile, and no team or conference receives a forced seed, floor, ceiling, or special multiplier.
• Kept conference-champion status limited to access protection. A fifth champion near No. 25 will still commonly enter at No. 18, but an exceptional simulated ranking can place that champion anywhere in the field.
• Upgraded the public lock-versus-reseed mechanics audit to V2.1 and rotated champion fixtures whose combined coverage spans every seed from No. 1 through No. 18 instead of always assigning the fifth test champion to No. 18.

Still open

• The ranking redraw is an illustrative scenario generator, not a calibrated forecast of future poll movement or any conference's expected seed.
• Once selected, all five champions retain only the entry protection described by the proposal; later reseeds continue to use ordinary simulated résumé order.

Removing a bracket team becomes an unmistakable decision

What changed

• Changed the team menu’s removal row into an explicit Remove [team] from field action instead of a quiet utility line.
• Added a second confirmation state that asks Remove [team]? and presents large Yes, remove and No, keep buttons, with extra touch height on phones.
• Made Escape cancel the removal question first rather than closing the entire team menu, preserving the reader’s place while preventing an accidental empty seed.

Still open

• Removing a team deliberately leaves that seed open; the same three-dot menu can immediately fill it with a different eligible team.

The team card becomes the drag control and saved brackets open as themselves

What changed

• Removed the dedicated up/down drag button from custom bracket rows. A reader can now press and drag the team card itself with mouse, touch, or pen, while the destination seed receives a clear gold highlight.
• Kept advancing a winner, marking a conference champion, and changing a team as separate actions: an actual drag cannot also trigger the team’s winner button, and CC plus the three-dot menu are the only visible row controls.
• Shortened Southern California to USC inside compact bracket matchups and slightly enlarged the CC control so longer team names retain more usable space.
• Changed private profile-bracket hydration to use the same authenticated request bridge as the rest of the account tools, then restored the saved title, field, champion designations, and every compatible pick into the editable board.
• Added the saved bracket title beside Integrated Playoff in the board masthead, and turned the reply count into a third clickable comment control that opens the reply composer.
• Indented published responses as a visibly connected branch beneath the root argument while retaining the single readable reply level on phones.

Still open

• Dragging swaps the two seed positions and retains only later-round picks that are still compatible with the new matchups.
• Replies remain one visible branch rather than an unlimited nesting tree; replying to a particular response still identifies that response in the composer.

A profile with visible controls and a bracket that edits without surprises

What changed

• Promoted Edit profile & privacy, Switch / new, and Sign out into visible first-party profile controls instead of leaving account actions buried below the activity rail.
• Replaced the oversized Most engaged panel with a compact conversation list and rebuilt each saved-bracket card as a short horizontal shelf with larger Open, visibility, sharing, and removal controls.
• Changed Open bracket on the private shelf to load that exact saved field and every saved pick directly into the full interactive Bracket Lab; the public share URL remains the presentation-ready view.
• Separated custom-bracket actions completely: tapping a team advances it, while an explicit CC control alone marks or removes conference-champion status, so a fast or double tap cannot silently change both decisions.
• Removed Pick winner helper copy from matchup rows and added seed swapping by dragging the dedicated handle with mouse or touch, with Arrow Up and Arrow Down as an accessible keyboard alternative. Compatible later-round picks remain in place after a swap whenever the matchup still supports them.

Still open

• Switch / new signs out first and opens the ordinary account-entry screen, where a reader may choose another account or create one.
• Dragging is available only from the dedicated up/down handle; the adjacent team menu remains the reliable fallback for replacing or removing a team.
• A public /bracket link continues to open the branded sharing view. Its Open interactive bracket action and the private profile shelf both enter the editable board.

The live poll holds still while every choice remains editable

What changed

• Increased the current AP board’s team-name type and separated the In and Out labels from their teams, using more of each ranking tile without crowding movement or record data.
• Kept the four creator questions in their authored 01–04 order instead of re-sorting the cards whenever vote or discussion totals change.
• Replaced automatic, permanently locked poll clicks with a deliberate draft-and-save interaction: a signed-in member may clear the highlighted choice, choose another, and save it back to the same one-vote account record.
• Removed the redundant Your choice badge and locked-vote confirmation strip; the checked, highlighted row now communicates the saved selection by itself.
• Reduced community reactions to the thumb icon and count while retaining descriptive labels for screen readers and tooltips.

Still open

• Public poll totals update only when Save vote succeeds; selecting a different row is a private draft and does not affect the count.
• Each account still has exactly one stored choice per question. Changing a vote replaces that row rather than adding a second vote.

The signed-in state follows the member and every live field protects five champions

What changed

• Made the signed-in avatar a direct link to My Community Profile on phones and desktops instead of opening a separate provider menu.
• Passed the server-verified community session into creator polls and made a visibly signed-in browser require an authenticated poll response, closing the gap where Clerk showed an avatar while the poll quietly loaded as anonymous.
• Restored each account’s saved poll choice as a checked, highlighted Your choice row and kept every completed question locked against repeat voting.
• Expanded the live Bracket Lab selection pool beyond the displayed Top 25 to the AP Others Receiving Votes list, so the proposed field can insert the highest-ranked eligible non-Power Four conference-champion candidate when none appears in the Top 25.
• Applied the same extended selection pool to both the proposed 18-team field and the current 12-team comparison; Boise State is the current fifth projected champion candidate.

Still open

• Early-season conference champions are projections rather than official results; the berth follows the highest-ranked eligible candidate and can change as rankings and conference standings develop.
• Public poll totals still include historical votes, while the saved-choice highlight is private to the signed-in account.

The phone bracket turns cleanly and every poll vote belongs to one account

What changed

• Moved the six-destination phone rail from the bottom to a narrow right-side strip in landscape orientation, reclaiming vertical room while preserving the same direct destinations and visible active state.
• Reframed landscape bracket rounds as two compact columns instead of one nearly full-width crop, and taught the round navigator to keep its active tab centered whether a reader swipes, taps a round, or presses an arrow repeatedly.
• Raised the mobile type and touch height for See starting questions, About the Creator, and Community profile so the opening actions read as deliberate destinations rather than fine print.
• Changed creator-question voting from a browser-or-account system to signed-in accounts only. The server now rejects anonymous votes, restores an account’s saved choice on return, and never reopens a question when its earlier choice is archived.
• Added a visible locked-vote confirmation to every completed poll card and revised the public privacy explanation to match the account-only rule.
• Reworded the playoff-site poll around three clear positions: maximize campus games, keep bowls throughout the playoff, or use campus games followed by holiday bowls.

Still open

• Historical anonymous poll votes remain included in public totals, but no new signed-out vote can be cast.
• The right-side landscape rail applies only to short, coarse-pointer devices; desktop and portrait navigation remain unchanged.
• Browser chrome and operating-system safe areas still determine the exact usable height on individual phones.

The phone playbook holds its place and every primary destination is direct

What changed

• Removed the deliberate page-turn pause between The Game, The Market, and The Government on phones, so the first tap changes sections immediately while desktop retains the tactile transition.
• Locked the phone playbook to one consistent header and page height across all three sections. The bottom arrows no longer jump vertically when a shorter section appears, and repeated taps cannot accidentally land on the plain 17-call index below.
• Reduced the mobile navigation rail to six direct destinations—Home, Proposal, Bracket, Rankings, Calendar, and Community—and removed the More tray entirely.
• Added Evidence & open questions as a full Proposal action, made the homepage Evidence record route explicit and visually prominent, and placed About the Creator beside See starting questions in the Community opening.
• Expanded the playoff-size poll to 6, 12, 16, 18, and 24 teams, and replaced the vague proposed-blend venue option with Campus in term, bowls over break beside clearer campus-heavy and bowl-heavy alternatives.
• Reframed the proposal’s rankings chapter around NRR’s central purpose: reward accomplishment against the schedule actually played, give schedule difficulty a visible role, reduce unsupported subjectivity, and disclose any committee departure.

Still open

• The stable phone page deliberately leaves paper below shorter Market and Government call lists so the navigation controls stay in one predictable position.
• Votes attached to retired poll choices remain preserved in storage but do not appear in current totals; a reader whose former choice was retired may select one of the newly published choices.
• The desktop playbook, ranking formula, bracket mechanics, and account rules are unchanged.

Calendar joins the phone rail and the playoff opening finds its rhythm

What changed

• Expanded the phone rail to seven compact destinations by adding Calendar alongside Home, Proposal, Bracket, Rankings, Community, and More; slightly larger icons and labels preserve legibility without returning to an oversized bar.
• Removed the duplicate top More/Close control. The wordmark and account remain in the scrolling header, while the stronger three-dot tab opens a focused two-choice tray for Evidence and About the Creator.
• Joined Open live bracket and Whole rhythm into one compact playoff action control, shortened the mobile hero, centered every 18-to-one count, and replaced floating text arrows with consistent drawn connectors.
• Rewrote CFP Bowl Weekend around its calendar purpose: holiday break leaves campuses quiet, so six rotating destination bowls carry the round while campus games stay where students are present.
• Made the playbook’s phone arrows advance one visible chapter page at a time—1–4, 5–8, 9–11, and onward—while retaining direct touch swiping, including a boundary swipe into the next proposal section.
• Canonicalized the Sites preview and www addresses onto bettercollegefootball.com so the public site no longer splits account cookies across multiple origins; the live Clerk client already refreshes an active session on page focus.

Still open

• Seven labeled destinations are deliberately dense on the narrowest supported phones; the rail keeps full tap height while using the width of each label efficiently.
• Clerk’s maximum session lifetime remains a provider setting, and browser privacy controls or cleared cookies can still require sign-in again; no safe web account should promise a permanent session.
• Desktop navigation, bracket mechanics, rankings, and the postseason date ranges are unchanged.

Six small phone tabs and Rankings controls that stay out of the scores

What changed

• Compressed the persistent phone rail from 62 to 44 pixels above the device safe area, reduced its icons and labels, and softened its shadow so more of every page belongs to the content.
• Kept Home, Proposal, Bracket, Rankings, and Community in the rail, then made More the sixth tab. More opens a three-item tray for Calendar, Evidence, and About the Creator; the top More control opens the same tray instead of introducing a second navigation pattern.
• Rebuilt the four-part Rankings page index as a complete two-by-two set of slim buttons on phones, so all four destinations are visible without a sideways swipe.
• Stopped the season, release, and poll switchboard from floating over team rows while a phone reader scrolls, and tightened the space between the Rankings index and the NRR masthead.

Still open

• The browser’s own address and navigation bars sit outside the website and can still consume substantial vertical space; the 44-pixel site rail is now near the practical minimum for persistent labeled navigation.
• Desktop navigation, the complete Rankings control set, poll data, scores, and ranking calculations are unchanged.

The phone rail belongs to the viewport, and the header gets out of the way

What changed

• Moved the five-tab mobile rail outside the sticky header so Home, Proposal, Bracket, Rankings, and Community remain attached to the actual phone viewport while readers scroll.
• Changed the phone’s top logo, account, and More row from frozen to ordinary page content; it now scrolls away while the bottom rail carries primary navigation.
• Kept visible line icons, text labels, current-page highlighting, large touch targets, and iPhone safe-area clearance.
• Tightened the portrait bracket’s team rows, bowl labels, and vertical rhythm so the six-game bowl round fits much more naturally in one phone view without shrinking the desktop board.

Still open

• The bottom rail appears at the phone breakpoint; desktop and wider tablet navigation retain the complete top header.

The phone site gets an app-style one-thumb navigation rail

What changed

• Added a persistent five-tab phone rail for Home, Proposal, Bracket, Rankings, and Community—the destinations readers and distribution posts need most often.
• Used compact line icons, visible text labels, route-aware active states, safe-area spacing, and large tap targets so navigation stays legible above the iPhone home indicator without covering page actions.
• Changed the top mobile menu to More and reserved it for Calendar, Evidence, About the Creator, and other lower-frequency routes instead of repeating the five primary destinations.
• Kept the desktop header, complete footer directory, account controls, deep links, and every existing route unchanged.

Still open

• The bottom rail is a progressive phone enhancement rather than an installed native app shell; browser controls and device text-size settings still affect the final visible viewport.
• Five destinations are the practical maximum at this width. Account remains in the top header, while secondary reading and policy routes remain available through More and the footer.

A private creator workbench separates experimentation from publication

What changed

• Added an owner-only workbench directly to My profile, with durable private drafts for a 2026 NRR shadow run, rankings reactions, game reviews, weekend previews, proposal scenarios, and general working copy.
• Kept the public NRR unchanged and labeled the 2024–2025 archive honestly as same-sample descriptive comparison rather than held-out validation; the shadow workspace carries a four-gate prospective validation contract before any candidate can be treated as evidence.
• Added a weekly distribution rhythm built around Sunday rankings, early-week game and résumé review, Thursday stakes, a Friday weekend card, and flexible proposal scenarios—without requiring a premature public NRR release.
• Added durable account-lifecycle and operations checklists, plus an automated built-worker audit for anonymous access boundaries, owner-only controls, safe return paths, and existing edit/delete routes.
• Made private drafts editable and permanently deletable, and established an explicit legal-clearance gate before monetization, sponsorship, merchandise, licensing, investment, formal adoption, or a materially larger promotional campaign.

Still open

• The 2024–2025 archive is not a held-out test. A formula candidate must be frozen before an unseen season is imported, and the resulting agreement, error, bias, sensitivity, and gaming report must be published whether it helps or hurts the model.
• Provider email verification, recovery delivery, cross-device share visibility, data-removal handling, backup restoration, MFA/recovery-code review, and legal clearance still require real owner or professional action; the private checklists now make those boundaries visible instead of implying they are complete.

Bracket Lab remembers the work and teaches the format once

What changed

• Added quiet on-device autosaving after every field or pick change, so an unfinished reader bracket can be resumed without stopping to press a separate save button.
• Moved Finish & share after the bracket in both the visual and document order, removed the redundant Save on device action, and added a restrained gold completion state once every required choice is made.
• Replaced the oversized six-example reseeding lesson with one optional five-step path: Selection Sunday, the campus opener, the six-bowl weekend, the New Year campus rounds, and the Saturday championship.
• Kept the complete rules one click away while cutting repeated redraw language and preserving account-free copy and print/PDF exports.

Still open

• Automatic drafts live only in the current browser and can disappear if its site storage is cleared; signed-in profile saves remain the durable cross-device option.
• The five-step guide is intentionally an orientation layer. Exact bowl rotation, protected-champion, matchup, and historical replay mechanics remain in the complete format and the editable bracket itself.

The phone bracket becomes a guided path with a real finish

What changed

• Rebuilt the phone round rail as an active navigator with previous and next controls, a visible round count, automatic highlighting while swiping, and gold completion marks for rounds whose winners are set.
• Turned the final-round control into a direct handoff to Finish & share, and moved that studio after the bracket on desktop as well so saving follows the act of making picks.
• Changed progress from a misleading field-only count to the actual task in front of the reader: fill the field, mark required champions, then complete every game through the title.
• Separated portable exports from public profile sharing. A complete bracket can now copy every pick or open a clean bracket-only print/PDF view without an account; short public links retain their existing signed-in privacy controls.
• Added visible keyboard focus and touch-sized controls so the same navigator works with swipe, pointer, or keyboard input.

Still open

• The print/PDF option uses the browser’s native print sheet; exact pagination and color output can vary by browser and printer settings.
• Public branded share pages still require a signed-in profile because visibility, ownership, editing, and deletion need a durable account boundary.

The build controls become one console and the AP poll shows its week

What changed

• Joined the Bracket Lab title, format choices, field choices, current-field status, seed key, and simulation controls into one continuous build console above the bracket instead of three nearby panels.
• Added automatic week-over-week movement to every current AP or CFP team: green upward moves, red downward moves, an explicit NEW mark, and a quiet dash when the position is unchanged.
• Added a compact In and Out strip beneath the Top 25 using the source feed’s published dropped-out list, including the departing team’s prior position.
• Carried prior-rank and dropped-out data through both the server ranking route and the live browser fallback so the comparison updates with each release instead of being hard-coded for Week 2.
• Restored white NRR lettering inside the red Evidence-page reproducibility badge and vertically centered the proposal download with the three evidence jump links.

Still open

• Poll movement depends on the upstream source publishing its previous-rank and dropped-out fields; the current AP feed supplies both, while the preserved preseason fallback intentionally shows no invented movement.
• The site’s public rights, terms, privacy, credits, designated-agent, moderation, and private legal-review records are substantial, but editorial display of 138 school marks and any future commercial or sponsored use remain the highest-priority questions for qualified counsel.

Fresh records and one compact Bracket Lab band

What changed

• Corrected the live AP handoff so the newly published poll’s current records take precedence over the preseason fallback; Week 2 teams now carry their 1–0 records alongside the updated order.
• Scoped the old blue disclosure typography to the homepage FAQ where it belongs, preventing it from leaking into the Bracket Lab’s Open examples control and other unrelated summaries.
• Merged postseason format and field selection into one bordered Bracket Lab control band, with short Format and Field rails beside a smaller but still recognizable Build the field title.
• Cut both selector rows to compact control height on desktop and phone while keeping all three formats and all three field snapshots visible together.

Still open

• The public ranking endpoint still preserves the published preseason snapshot when its upstream source is unreachable; a browser that can reach the live ESPN feed now keeps both its order and its records instead of mixing the two states.

Bracket Lab starts with choices, not cards

What changed

• Compressed the three postseason formats into one slim selector rail with only the distinction and format name each choice needs: proposed 18-team CFP, current 12-team CFP, and the non-Power Four 16-team National Tournament.
• Compressed the three field snapshots into a second slim rail and removed their repeated source subtitles; publication source and date now appear once beneath the selected field.
• Shortened the build-and-share introduction, removed the repeated source check timestamp, and tightened the current-field note while preserving every bracket mechanic, field, simulation control, and source link below.
• Applied the same hierarchy on phones, where the introductory sentence now steps aside so both complete selector rows stay visible without horizontal scrolling.

Still open

• The detailed round structures still live in the bracket toolbar and bracket itself, where readers need them; the first screen is now reserved for choosing what to build.

The interface stops explaining itself twice

What changed

• Removed the oversized How to read the table disclosure from the Rankings Lab so the Top 25 moves directly from its compact title and playoff legend into the actual column labels and teams.
• Deleted the one-off blue utility typography behind that disclosure instead of restyling another exception; the detailed formula, methodology, comparison, and playoff-path explanations remain in their existing dedicated views.
• Removed the Proposal film strip’s offset shadow so it no longer collides visually with the action row, and restored Playoff breakdown to the same type size and height as the complete-proposal and download buttons.

Still open

• The table still exposes its primary labels directly—rank, team, record, Index, movement, comparison order, gap, SAR, OAP, and Q1—without placing another instruction bar between the reader and the data.

Bracket Lab fits the phone instead of making the phone chase it

What changed

• Rebuilt the three postseason-format choices as one complete phone grid so the proposed 18-team CFP, current 12-team CFP, and National Tournament are visible together without a sideways scroll.
• Did the same for the three field snapshots: 2026 current, the potential 2025 replay, and the potential 2024 replay now fit in one compact row while retaining full labels and active-state contrast.
• Recomposed the optional seeding-examples prompt as a short, ordinary brand control beneath a full-width question instead of a large blue utility label colliding with the headline.
• Removed the three desktop-only methodology cards from the phone path so readers reach the interactive bracket and optional examples sooner.

Still open

• Desktop format cards, field descriptions, methodology notes, bracket mechanics, historical replay data, and simulation behavior are unchanged.
• The phone grids prioritize the complete set of choices over secondary subtitles; source provenance remains immediately below the field row.

The phone Rankings Lab gets to the teams faster

What changed

• Turned the four-section Rankings index into one compact horizontal rail on phones instead of a two-row block before the rankings.
• Shortened the mobile NRR masthead, removed its repeated positioning sentence, and eliminated the duplicate checkpoint-status row from the sticky controls while preserving season, week, previous and next release, and all four ranking views.
• Tightened the team résumé sheet around the team identity, search, Index, record, opponent-adjusted score, and Q1 wins so opening a team no longer begins with an oversized card header.
• Changed the backtest summary and disagreement review into horizontal phone rails, preserving every comparison without stacking ten secondary cards down the page.

Still open

• Desktop presentation and all underlying ranking, record, playoff-path, comparison, and evidence data are unchanged.
• The compact phone controls remain sticky so a reader can change release or poll view while moving through the Top 25.

The rankings controls get out of the rankings’ way

What changed

• Replaced the browser’s oversized native team suggestion panel with a compact Better College Football result list inside the résumé card, including each team’s mark, record, and current NRR position.
• Restored the NRR selector’s established red badge with white lettering when the view is active instead of reversing the badge to white and red.
• Shortened the Top 25 masthead and moved its optional explanation into a slim How to read the table strip below the banner. The explanation now expands in place instead of opening a large panel over the rankings.

Still open

• The custom search returns the six closest name matches at the selected historical checkpoint; choosing one opens that team’s complete résumé card.
• The reading guide remains optional so the table, playoff path, and team résumés stay visually primary.

Rare win debits become visible and every résumé becomes searchable

What changed

• Changed an affected supporting-win row from the misleading Evidence 0.00 label to its actual negative Quality-Win Depth effect, while keeping ordinary zero-evidence wins neutral.
• Raised the maximum exception-only debit from one to 1.5 QWD points without changing its strict three-part gate: zero evidence, a margin of three points or fewer, and a Game Grade below 10.
• Added a compact search to the Saturday résumé card so a reader can open any FBS team at the selected weekly checkpoint instead of finding it indirectly through the Top 25 table.

Still open

• The debit remains a provisional, conference-neutral exception for extreme escapes. The same narrow eligibility rule should be frozen and evaluated prospectively during the live 2026 weekly run.
• The victory remains fully positive in the record and Schedule-Adjusted Record; only its Quality-Win Depth effect can become slightly negative.

Weak wins stop at zero; only extreme escapes cross it

What changed

• Narrowed the Quality-Win Depth debit from every sub-20 Game Grade to one three-part exception: the win must earn zero positive evidence, finish within three points, and carry a Game Grade below 10.
• Cut the maximum debit from two QWD component points to one. A routine win over a weak opponent—including a comfortable result that earns no win-depth evidence—now simply stops at zero.
• Removed the Texas Tech worked-example banner and the separate red debit section from every résumé card. Any rare debit now appears quietly inside the affected game under Other win-depth support.

Still open

• The exception remains a provisional, universal guardrail rather than a team-specific judgment. It should be frozen and evaluated prospectively during the live 2026 weekly run before any further calibration.
• The victory still counts fully in the record and Schedule-Adjusted Record; only Quality-Win Depth can receive the tiny exception debit.

The official social links join the Saturday principle

What changed

• Moved the official Better College Football X and Instagram links onto the same compact row as the Saturday principle, directly beneath the homepage action divider.
• Tightened the main blue banner above and below its content so adding the distribution channels does not make the homepage opening taller.

Still open

• The global footer retains the same official-account links so readers can follow the proposal from deeper pages without returning home.

A cleaner phone proposal, current records, and official social channels

What changed

• Removed the desktop film-room photograph strip from the phone Proposal opening so the title and three reading choices fit into a cleaner first screen; the full visual remains on wider screens.
• Restyled the Open all 17 control in the site’s ordinary interface type instead of the tiny field-label treatment.
• Replaced the text arrow used by primary links with a drawn interface arrow so iPhone browsers no longer substitute a colored emoji button.
• Separated poll order from team record freshness: the current AP or CFP order stays tied to its official release while each listed team’s win–loss record refreshes from the live team record every ten minutes.
• Added the official Better College Football X and Instagram accounts as compact icon-only links inside the homepage proposal banner and in the global footer, separate from Alec’s personal profiles and from share-this-page actions.

Still open

• A team record can update before a new poll release; that does not move the team’s displayed poll position until the AP or CFP publishes a new order.
• The ranking and record displays depend on third-party public data feeds. The published AP snapshot remains available if either live path is temporarily unavailable.

The weakest wins finally reach zero

What changed

• Published NRR v0.50 with a true zero endpoint for Quality-Win Depth evidence, removing the mathematical artifact that made the weakest wins repeatedly display about 0.03 evidence units.
• Added a smooth, deliberately small low-value win debit only when Game Grade falls below 20; a win still counts fully in the record and Schedule-Adjusted Record, and one game can remove at most two QWD component points.
• Put the debit where readers can see it inside Quality Wins, including a direct 2024 worked-example route to Texas Tech’s 52–51 escape over Abilene Christian and a complete game-to-QWD-to-Index calculation.
• Regenerated all twelve 2024–2025 checkpoints, the downloadable audit CSV, and the public audit summary under the new version.

Still open

• The 2024–2025 comparison is still same-sample descriptive testing, not a held-out validation season. The low-value threshold and two-point maximum should remain frozen through the first live 2026 NRR run before being reconsidered.
• The live AP source still publishes its preseason release as of the September 8 morning check. The browser path is ready for the first in-season poll, but the site cannot display a release the source has not published.

The seed paths and live poll tell the current story

What changed

• Corrected the homepage playoff rail to show the actual entry bands: Nos. 1–2 receive double byes, Nos. 3–10 receive single byes with five selected conference champions protected, Nos. 11–14 host, and Nos. 15–18 open on the road.
• Repaired the current-poll path so the browser can read the live ESPN ranking feed when the Cloudflare runtime cannot, while preserving the published snapshot as a visible fallback.
• Added each team’s current record beside its name and made the AP heading follow the actual release instead of remaining labeled Preseason after the next poll publishes.
• Clarified the existing Win Control behavior: because every victory enters the season average, a low-control win can already lower that component and slightly lower NRR without ever being treated as a loss.

Still open

• The ESPN endpoint currently publishes the preseason AP poll; the next official release is scheduled for Tuesday, September 8. The live path still needs to be observed against that first in-season update.
• A separate bad-win penalty is not part of NRR v0.49. Historical weekly title-game identification must be audited before any new debit is backtested or proposed for v0.50.

The playoff becomes a three-act Saturday program

What changed

• Reinvented the Playoff Breakdown as a compact game-program experience instead of another stack of schedule cards: one immediate 18-to-one scoreboard, three named acts, and a short visual finish.
• Made Selection Sunday the opening decision point, with 18 selections, ten byes, and the protected bye for five selected conference champions visible at a glance.
• Turned the Campus Opening Round and CFP Bowl Weekend into the page’s central split-screen feature, preserving the exact four campus pairings while giving the six-bowl stage a large, rights-cleared game photograph and one concise matchup rule.
• Compressed Christmas, the campus quarterfinals, campus semifinals, and the Saturday-night championship into one January ribbon so the page spends its space on what is distinctive.

Still open

• The annual date windows remain planning ranges rather than an approved schedule. Bowl rotations, game assignments, campus operations, broadcast windows, and the Saturday championship target require negotiation.

One itinerary replaces three competing explainers

What changed

• Replaced the playoff page’s separate venue map, field-count diagram, and eight-card calendar with one continuous postseason itinerary where every date, location, and field change travels together.
• Shifted the opening emphasis from redraw mechanics to what an 18-team field creates: four campus openers, six bowl games, six January campus games, and one Saturday championship.
• Condensed Rivalry Week and Conference Championships plus Selection Sunday into one opening stop, and combined the January quarterfinals and semifinals into one return-to-campus stop.
• Kept the exact opening matchups, six rotating bowls, protected-champion exception, double byes, holiday pause, and matchup logic visible without turning redraws or bracket locking into the page’s main story.

Still open

• The date windows remain planning ranges rather than an approved schedule. Bowl rotations, game assignments, campus operations, broadcast windows, and the Saturday championship target require negotiation.

The calendar chooses the playoff stage

What changed

• Rebuilt the playoff breakdown around one immediate venue story: campus while school is active, six bowls during holiday travel, a dark Christmas week, campus again after New Year, and one neutral-site Saturday title game.
• Made the complete matchup rule unavoidable in both the opening and the field-count spine: redraw after the four campus openers, redraw after the six bowls, then lock after the quarterfinal pairings.
• Added an atmospheric, credited stadium backdrop and a large 18-to-1 visual path without lengthening the page beyond a two-to-three-minute read.
• Kept only the opening round and Bowl Weekend expanded, while condensing the surrounding calendar stages and preserving the exact home matchups, bowl rotation, double byes, campus hosting, holiday pause, and Saturday-title priority.

Still open

• The annual date windows remain planning ranges rather than an approved schedule. Bowl rotations, game assignments, campus operations, broadcast windows, and the Saturday championship target require negotiation.

The calendar breathes by round

What changed

• Changed the postseason calendar from one universal desktop card height to matched heights within each two-card row: simple stages now stay compact together while the Campus Opening Round and CFP Bowl Weekend retain the room their mechanics require.
• Reframed entry as two double byes, eight single-bye slots, and eight campus entrants so the overview no longer implies that rankings Nos. 3–10 are always the exact single-bye group.
• Clarified the champion-protection exception, the opening-round handoff, both high-versus-low redraws, the six preseason bowl assignments, and the point at which the bracket locks.

Still open

• The annual date windows remain planning ranges rather than an approved schedule. Bowl rotations, game assignments, campus operations, broadcast windows, and the Saturday championship target require negotiation.

The format reads before the fine print

What changed

• Added one compact format-at-a-glance rail above the postseason calendar: three seed paths, four campus openers in Round 1, six rotating bowls in Round 2, and one final redraw before the bracket locks.
• Made every desktop calendar card the same height through the grid itself and enlarged the date window in each card header so the schedule scans as one system rather than a stack of unrelated boxes.
• Added the three entry bands to Selection Sunday and clarified that all six second-round games occur at the bowls, bowl assignments rotate, teams do not select their games, and No. 3 receives the lowest surviving seed after the first redraw.

Still open

• The annual date windows remain planning ranges rather than an approved schedule. Bowl rotations, game assignments, campus operations, broadcast windows, and the Saturday championship target require negotiation.

The playoff calendar teaches the bracket

What changed

• Shortened the playoff opening again while making the top reward unmistakable: Nos. 1 and 2 receive double byes, retain campus home field, and wait until eight teams remain.
• Added the four exact campus opening-round pairings—11–18, 12–17, 13–16, and 14–15—inside the calendar card so readers can see who hosts without leaving the page.
• Expanded the two redraw moments where explanation matters: published seeds never change, No. 3 draws the lowest survivor at Bowl Weekend, Nos. 1 and 2 enter at the final redraw, and the semifinal path then locks.
• Kept the six named bowls, Christmas pause, annual date windows, and Saturday-title target inside one compact schedule board instead of restoring separate explanation sections.

Still open

• The annual date windows remain planning ranges rather than an approved schedule. Bowl assignments, campus operations, broadcast windows, and the Saturday championship target require negotiation.

The rounds become the playoff rhythm

What changed

• Recast the playoff calendar as a compact two-column event board led by the names readers actually need: Rivalry Week, Conference Championships and Selection Sunday, the campus rounds, Bowl Weekend, Christmas Break, and the National Championship.
• Removed the invented editorial headlines and the duplicate field-count rail, shortened every explanation, and retained the essential dates, transitions, bowls, two redraws, bracket lock, holiday pause, and Saturday-title target inside the cards themselves.
• Tightened the Proposal opening, shortened its gray introduction, and moved all three reading actions into one full-width row beneath the title-and-film pairing.

Still open

• The annual date windows remain planning ranges rather than an approved schedule. The Saturday championship is a negotiated target.

The entire playoff story becomes one postseason rhythm

What changed

• Removed every lower explainer section from the playoff-breakdown page and folded the useful mechanics into one continuous calendar.
• Rebuilt the rhythm as an eight-stop Saturday route from Rivalry Week and conference-title weekend through campus openers, all six premier bowls, the Christmas pause, January campus rounds, and the national championship.
• Replaced one-year dates with transparent typical annual windows so the sequence can survive calendar movement from season to season.
• Made the field contraction visible in the same experience—18 to 14 to eight to four to two to one—and made the Saturday-night championship priority the finish instead of a footnote.

Still open

• The annual windows are planning ranges, not approved dates. The Saturday primetime championship remains a negotiated target requiring CFP, NFL, NFLPA, media, venue, and athlete-welfare agreement.

One clean playoff rhythm from 18 to one

What changed

• Tightened the homepage’s three playoff-entry controls around their labels and arrows, keeping the NRR mark attached to Rankings instead of floating inside an oversized box.
• Reduced the playoff breakdown’s opening banner while preserving its strong split-screen design and immediate bracket route.
• Merged the separate field-count explainer into the worked postseason calendar: 18 selected, 14 after the campus openers, eight after Bowl Weekend, four after the quarterfinals, two after the semifinals, and one champion.
• Rebuilt every stage as a legible card with a real date, round name, field count, short explanation, and visible directional handoff.

Still open

• The 2027–28 dates remain illustrative rather than approved; annual broadcast windows, bowl assignments, campus operations, recovery standards, and the parallel-tournament calendar require negotiation and launch testing.

A dedicated playoff breakdown and three clear ways in

What changed

• Moved the expanded playoff explanation out of the Proposal-page reading flow and into a dedicated concise visual page.
• Turned the homepage opening into three peer choices in the requested order: Playoff breakdown, 18-team bracket and format, and NRR rankings.
• Added the playoff breakdown beside the complete-proposal and download actions at the top of Proposal.
• Rebuilt the explanation with the illustrative 2027–28 dates, three entry rewards, a field-count walkthrough that distinguishes teams remaining from teams playing, and the exact two-redraw-then-lock rule.

Still open

• The worked dates are illustrative, not approved. Annual broadcast windows, bowl assignments, campus operations, recovery standards, and the parallel-tournament calendar require negotiation and launch testing.

The 18-team playoff, explained by the calendar

What changed

• Added a prominent two-minute playoff breakdown directly to the main Proposal page, opening in place so readers keep their position and the full chapter remains undisturbed.
• Built the explanation around the season rhythm—from Rivalry Week and conference titles through campus games, bowls, the Christmas pause, January campus rounds, and the neutral-site championship—instead of repeating the bracket.
• Made the top-two reward visible, clarified the three entry groups and two redraws, and showed why conference-champion protection grants access and a bye without disguising the underlying seed.
• Placed the separate 16-team National Tournament beside the CFP calendar and kept direct routes to the interactive bracket and full playoff chapter.

Still open

• Calendar labels are intentionally relative. Exact dates, broadcast windows, bowl assignments, campus operations, recovery standards, and the parallel-tournament schedule require annual negotiation and launch testing.

Context-aware NRR identity and leaner first reads

What changed

• Made the NRR mark adapt to its surface: white with red lettering inside the active Rankings Lab control, larger in the homepage call to action, and compact in navigation.
• Corrected the rankings jump-nav selector that was stretching the NRR mark into an unreadable red block.
• Trimmed repetitive homepage and rankings copy while preserving technical detail inside reader-controlled disclosures.

Still open

Sharper controls and a fuller operating record

What changed

• Made the optional seeding lesson read as a real expandable control beneath Bracket Lab, with a larger cream-and-gold Open examples action instead of a tiny utility label.
• Rebuilt the Proposal playbook’s plain-reading control as a compact field-manual button and restyled the homepage’s complete-proposal and evidence choices as numbered record cards.
• Standardized the red NRR identifier in navigation and other compact display contexts while leaving continuous prose unbroken and readable.
• Audited the canonical 17-chapter source shared by the online proposal and Word generator, then expanded the actual operating gaps: redraw procedure, schedule administration, the national calendar, delivery of athlete rights, compensation transaction records, governance powers, and the seven launch gates.
• Added chapter fact tables plus a supporting-record section to the downloadable proposal so the portable document carries the live public paths, completed analyses, evidence limits, and companion files alongside the full policy text.

Still open

• The proposal is a complete working design, not a claim that every legal, labor, athlete-welfare, financial, operational, media, or governance question has been resolved.
• Compact NRR badges are reserved for identity and navigation moments; ordinary sentences, data labels, file names, and accessibility text retain the written acronym.

Firsthand fan memories join the Saturday stories

What changed

• Added a signed-in memory form to every Saturday field note, using the contributor’s existing public name and fandom instead of collecting a second identity.
• Keeps every memory private until Alec reviews it, with owner controls to publish, decline, remove, or feature a particularly strong firsthand note at the top of its story.
• Published memories remain attached to the relevant story; contributors can see their own pending and published memories in My profile.
• Added dedicated rate limits, duplicate protection, contact-detail screening, explicit editorial consent, and a private audit record without opening another unmoderated comment feed.
• Reduced the homepage playoff entry to two complete choices—the 18-team bracket and format, or seeding and NRR rankings—and removed the redundant separate playoff-plan link.

Still open

• The first release accepts text only. Reader photographs are not accepted until a separate rights, consent, storage, removal, and editorial-review workflow exists.
• A published memory is a contributor’s firsthand account, not independently verified reporting or an endorsement by the school, conference, broadcaster, or project.

The 2025 replay explains the semifinal lock

What changed

• Added a sixth reseeding example using the 2025 results-informed replay to distinguish the final redraw from the locked semifinal paths.
• Shows the second-reseed quarterfinals—Indiana–Miami, Texas Tech–Oregon, Ohio State–Alabama, and Georgia–Ole Miss—then carries the winners into Indiana–Oregon and Ohio State–Ole Miss without a third redraw.
• Updated the 2024 and 2025 replay actions so loading an example returns the reader directly to the bracket instead of leaving the newly loaded field off-screen.

Still open

• Results-informed winners are a transparent counterfactual convention for the expanded bracket; the example does not claim those unplayed matchups occurred.

The reseeding lesson becomes one optional question

What changed

• Collapsed the entire seeding and reseeding guide into one compact prompt beneath the bracket: Curious how seeding and reseeding work?
• Kept the two-redraw timeline and five visual examples behind that prompt so readers can expand the mechanics only when they need help.
• Shortened the open state with a one-line rule summary while preserving the hypothetical and historical replay distinctions.

Still open

• The guide teaches the proposal’s mechanics; historical replay buttons remain demonstrations rather than claims about unplayed outcomes.

The reseeding lesson moves beneath the bracket

What changed

• Moved the reseeding guide below the interactive bracket and returned the homepage bracket link to the bracket itself.
• Compressed the guide into a two-redraw timeline and five expandable examples, with hypothetical cases explicitly separated from the 2024 and 2025 potential replays.
• Added a visual No. 16 and No. 17 survival chain: No. 3 draws No. 17, No. 4 draws No. 16, the second redraw pairs Nos. 1–2 with those survivors, and the semifinal paths then lock.

Still open

• The hypothetical chains teach mechanics rather than predicting a result; the linked replay buttons remain the auditable historical-season demonstrations.

One playoff doorway and a visual reseeding lesson

What changed

• Consolidated the homepage around two equal primary actions: the 18-team bracket and NRR rankings, with the complete proposal and evidence reserved for the lower orientation strip.
• Added four expandable bracket examples showing field insertion, champion protection, the 2024 Clemson pairing, a No. 18 upset across both redraws, and the 2025 Duke–James Madison cases.
• Reframed the College GameDay field note around fans, previews, interviews, guest picks, and the communal reaction to the selections; removed the generic quote and the isolated gallery image.

Still open

• The Boise State No. 25 example is a mechanics illustration, not a claim about a particular published season. Historical replay examples retain the official selection order shown by the linked sources.

The playoff becomes the front door

What changed

• Kept the homepage’s established Keep the traditions identity while making the proposed 18-team CFP the opening context and the full five-round bracket the primary action.
• Added a direct bracket anchor so homepage readers land on the complete visual field instead of having to find it below the setup controls.
• Moved the College GameDay homepage crop upward so the three hosts remain in frame, and capped every Saturday-story hero on wide screens so the photograph—not an empty navy panel—sets the section height.
• Reduced the creator’s LinkedIn and Instagram links to accessible icon-only controls and left the future Better College Football account destinations unclaimed until their real URLs exist.
• Added a quiet non-affiliation note to the College GameDay source record while retaining the attributed CC BY desk and crowd photographs.

Still open

• The three newly supplied College GameDay photographs were not republished because no public reuse license was verified; visual access to a photograph does not transfer its copyright.
• Visible program and sponsor marks remain part of the documented editorial scene, not a claim of endorsement. Independent legal review remains appropriate before monetization or commercial reuse.

College GameDay moves to the desk

What changed

• Promoted a rights-cleared College GameDay desk photograph to the homepage card and story hero so the show, its people, and the familiar set read immediately.
• Retained the licensed Nebraska crowd photograph as the story’s secondary scene and kept separate attribution for both images in the closed photo-credit record.

Still open

• The two user-supplied screenshots were not republished: a screenshot does not transfer the broadcast image’s copyright, and the ESPN Images photograph does not state a public reuse license.

Saturday stories become short field notes

What changed

• Cut every Saturday story to one strong scene, three quick observations, and only a genuinely useful sourced quotation; removed the repeated proposal argument and the forced Army–Navy superlative.
• Moved history links and every photo license into one closed Sources & photo credits drawer so the fun of the place leads without hiding the record.
• Replaced the unclear College GameDay photograph with a rights-cleared crowd-and-set scene, added a second licensed desk photograph inside the story, and rebalanced the homepage grid so no empty cell remains.
• Condensed the Proposal landing introduction, repaired the headline-and-deck collision, and kept its complete online and downloadable actions together.

Still open

• The user-supplied ESPN image informed the desired composition but was not republished because a public reuse license could not be verified.
• These field notes remain selective introductions, not definitive histories or visitor guides; current operating details belong to the linked official sources.

Saturday traditions become stories

What changed

• Redesigned the homepage first-visit strip as one cohesive entry point: the proposal’s purpose remains plain while two matched choices now direct readers to the complete proposal or Bracket Lab.
• Turned all five large traditions photographs into full-card, keyboard-accessible story links while preserving the restrained hover zoom and adding a visible reading cue on touch screens.
• Published five concise Saturday stories on Washington sailgating, Checker Neyland, Army–Navy, South Carolina’s 2001 entrance, and College GameDay, each with an official source record, photo license, and a clear distinction between sourced history and editorial interpretation.
• Replaced the generic line-of-scrimmage card with a large College GameDay crowd image and a story about the traveling campus ritual, including the Ol’ Crimson campaign and the program’s road-show history.
• Added an honest invitation for students, players, staff, families, and visiting fans to submit firsthand memories; no testimony is presented until its contributor approves it and its context is reviewed.

Still open

• These are short field notes, not definitive histories, visitor guides, or endorsements by the institutions, conferences, service academies, ESPN, or College GameDay.
• Operating details, event locations, and access procedures can change. Readers should use the linked official sources for current information.
• The College GameDay image includes incidental signs and marks under the source photograph’s published Creative Commons record; photo and trademark rights remain documented rather than implied as site affiliation.

A cleaner complete proposal, wherever readers enter

What changed

• Rebuilt the downloadable Word proposal as a restrained 53-page policy document with a direct cover, a stronger executive synthesis, definitions, contents, and the complete current 17-chapter record.
• Removed the repeated short-brief layer and decorative callout boxes from the document while preserving every chapter’s recommendation, operating rules, mechanics, decisions, safeguards, unresolved validation, and exact online paths.
• Simplified the Proposal landing headline to The full proposal, aligned the read and download actions on one row, and kept the Playbook framed as a concise chapter introduction rather than a competing document.
• Added a prominent Download proposal action beside the Evidence page’s primary navigation so the complete portable record is available from the proof record as well as Proposal.
• Rendered and inspected every document page after generation and added regression coverage for both public download entry points.

Still open

• The document is a complete working proposal, not legal approval, institutional adoption, a collectively bargained agreement, or proof that every launch gate has passed.
• Independent legal, athlete, labor, welfare, financial, operational, media, and governance review can still require amendments or stop adoption; those limits remain explicit in the document itself.

Evidence, edited into a proof record

What changed

• Rebuilt Evidence around three completed public analyses—the NRR reconstruction, paired lock-versus-reseed bracket audit, and conference-neutral market cross-check—each with a plain statement of what it supports, what it does not prove, and the underlying download.
• Replaced the twelve-card workstream wall with four concise unresolved-validation records covering competition, player and market rules, governance and economics, and the seven-gate adoption standard.
• Moved the official source library and five current working files into closed, accessible drawers so the evidence itself leads while the complete record remains available on demand.
• Gave every two-minute proposal brief an exact handoff to its chapter in the continuous written proposal and a chapter-specific link to hard evidence or the relevant unresolved-validation status.
• Turned both complete-proposal choices on the main Proposal page into clear buttons and removed the redundant Browse the two-minute briefs action above the playbook.

Still open

• Three completed internal analyses do not validate the proposal as a whole. Historical competitive calibration and independent athlete, legal, labor, financial, operational, media, medical, academic, and governance review remain unresolved.
• The downloadable Word document is the complete portable record; exact chapter handoffs use the continuous online proposal because ordinary document downloads cannot reliably open at the same internal heading in every reader.

One current proposal in every reading format

What changed

• Audited all 17 chapters against the current public playbook and working models, including the exact six NRR weights, the conference-title reward and bounded loss treatment, two playoff reseeds, and the National Tournament’s three campus rounds followed by a rotating neutral-site final.
• Replaced the obsolete competition-only proposal download with a current complete Word document generated from the same chapter record used by the continuous online proposal.
• Made the three reading paths explicit throughout Proposal: a substantive two-minute brief, the exact chapter in the complete online proposal, and the current downloadable document.
• Added a chapter-specific Evidence and validation path to every brief so readers land at the relevant audit, launch gate, or workstream instead of at a generic page top.
• Tightened the brief reader’s desktop proportions and mobile continuation actions without adding another explanatory layer.

Still open

• The two-minute briefs are editorial distillations, not substitutes for the rules, safeguards, decisions, and unresolved proof in the complete proposal.
• Evidence remains a working validation record; its broader information architecture and formatting will receive a separate focused cleanup.

The proposal now has a clear short path and a complete path

What changed

• Recomposed every two-minute chapter as an editorial brief instead of a large policy grid: a compact recommendation, the case for change, a numbered three-part plan, the tradeoff, and one practical example.
• Added a prominent Read the complete proposal action to the Proposal landing page and reframed the Playbook as the optional short-reading path.
• Published one continuous 17-chapter proposal with an executive summary, contents, direct chapter anchors, current recommendations, rule language, mechanics, safeguards, decisions, and validation questions.
• Changed every short brief’s primary depth action to open the corresponding chapter inside the continuous proposal, while keeping technical chapter notes available locally as an optional secondary layer.
• Defined four levels of certainty—proposal decision, operating specification, reserved question, and adoption gate—so the proposal can be specific without pretending unresolved legal, athlete, medical, financial, or operational questions are settled.

Still open

• The website remains the current complete record. The August competition-only DOCX stays clearly labeled as a legacy draft rather than being presented as the 17-chapter proposal.
• Independent review and reader testing may still change individual mechanisms; the continuous proposal records those open validation needs instead of filling them with false precision.

Every proposal chapter now starts with the short answer

What changed

• Rebuilt all 17 proposal chapters around a distinct two-minute brief: the decision, the problem it addresses, three operating mechanics, the reason for the design, its honest tradeoff, and one concrete example.
• Moved the prior rulebook, long-form explanation, policy decisions, safeguards, unresolved proof, model demonstrations, and source record behind one optional complete-chapter control instead of making every reader pass through the entire technical record.
• Reframed the playbook cover, chapter calls, and plain index around the two-minute reading promise, and added a compact chapter switcher for phones.
• Shortened chapter heroes and made the current full-policy reference visible on the complete-chapter control, while preserving the website as the current proposal record and the downloadable August competition document as a legacy draft.
• Reconciled the National Tournament chapter with its already-published site decision: three higher-seed campus rounds followed by a rotating, preselected neutral-site championship.

Still open

• The two-minute target is an editorial promise, not a literal stopwatch guarantee; first-time-reader testing should determine which briefs still need another cut.
• The current complete proposal is the versioned website. A synchronized, current 17-chapter downloadable document remains future publishing work; the existing August DOCX is explicitly a legacy competition-only draft.

Reseeding shown and conference titles aligned

What changed

• Rebuilt the bracket audit as 150,000 paired scenarios—300,000 total bracket outcomes—so every proposed reseeded path is compared with the same field, upset setting, and game rolls in a Selection-Day-locked bracket.
• Added a direct lock-versus-reseed illustration to the 18-team CFP chapter, followed by measured Round-of-12 path, quarterfinal path, champion, and No. 1 matchup effects.
• Rewrote the conference-championship chapter around the rankings model actually in use: record and opponent evidence from the game, a binary 2.5% champion component, and bounded but real downside for a title-game loss.
• Separated the scoring rule applied to every league champion from the CFP access rule for the five selected champions, and added a concrete win-versus-loss example with no conference, team, or brand multiplier.

Still open

• The paired audit isolates bracket-path effects; it is not a forecast and does not make the locked format a second proposal.
• The next competitive test is to freeze calibrated game probabilities, rerun historical fields, and publish access, rematch, hosting, rest, travel, and maximum-game distributions.

The phone screen, stripped back

What changed

• Reduced the current published Top 25 to one heading, the complete team list, and a source link at the bottom; removed the duplicate reference, status, and handoff cards.
• Changed the homepage proposal-sharing row to five compact brand icons with accessible labels and tooltips instead of repeating each service name beside its mark.
• Removed the separate historical replay summary deck from Bracket Lab and made the two real choices explicit: edit the potential 18-team replay or open the actual CFP bracket, where scores, paths, venue, champion, and official source already live.
• Restored each projected playoff-path and conference-champion mark inside the phone Rankings table, together with a compact scrollable legend.
• Removed the inherited 650-pixel phone flex allocation that separated Bracket Lab controls from the format key, eliminating the large empty panel.

Still open

• The restored Rankings marks are intentionally compact so the team name and core comparison columns remain readable at narrow widths.
• Historical result explanation now lives in the actual bracket and existing proposal mechanics rather than a second mobile summary; further copy should be added only if readers cannot tell the two bracket choices apart.

Market context without market scoring

What changed

• Published a reproducible historical-line audit across all twelve 2024–2025 NRR checkpoints: 1,602 available FBS closing lines, one national spread-network fit, one neutral-site-aware home-field term, and no conference or team variable.
• Compared the independent market scale with NRR Opponent Value, loss-opponent context, and full-slate schedule strength. The mean rank correlations are 0.92, 0.92, and 0.94 respectively, strong enough to validate the broad shape while still surfacing meaningful disagreements for review.
• Preserved the sharp official Top-25 qualification boundary. Withdrew the prior candidate to simply remove the unranked cap; no betting line changes a published score, rank, quality-win designation, loss cost, or schedule value.
• Added the complete machine-readable report, methods, sources, coverage, checkpoint results, selection-day examples, and largest standardized disagreements to Evidence.

Still open

• Closing lines estimate expected future strength rather than completed accomplishment and may embed injuries, availability, provider methods, public bias, or information that NRR deliberately excludes.
• A later model proposal would require frozen held-out testing plus source-loss, provider-change, availability, bias, and stability checks. Until then, market evidence remains an outside diagnostic only.

A true home-and-away box score

What changed

• Reordered every Rankings game box score to the standard away-team-first, home-team-second layout instead of putting the résumé owner first.
• Retained the source-designated home team for neutral-site games instead of guessing from which résumé opened the score.
• Recorded the ranked-versus-unranked Opponent Value cliff as a formal model limitation and defined the next conference-blind validation candidate: remove the capped unranked standing baseline while keeping performance, schedule-adjusted record, and schedule evidence.

Still open

• The Opponent Value candidate is not yet part of the published NRR formula. It must pass the complete twelve-checkpoint backtest and preserve guardrails for genuinely weak opponents before a versioned model change.
• Betting-market lines may be useful as an external calibration set, but they should not become a direct résumé input because they embed availability, market, and predictive information beyond completed accomplishment.

A clearer field builder

What changed

• Removed the visually unclear Auburn streamer photograph from the homepage traditions gallery and rebalanced the five remaining, nonrepeated photographs into a complete desktop grid.
• Replaced the transparent native custom-field selectors with one branded, searchable team menu that shows each school logo, current published rank or unranked status, seed destination, and whether the team is already in the field.
• Kept every custom bracket duplicate-free, added a direct Remove team action inside the same menu, and preserved compatible winner selections when a field entry changes.
• Condensed the Bracket Lab toolbar, kept every format key on one line, removed the empty label blocks beside its buttons, and turned the team menu into a full-width phone sheet with comfortable touch targets.

Still open

• The team menu uses the published poll available to Bracket Lab as context; its left-side bracket number remains the proposed playoff seed, not the poll rank.
• Exact mobile density should continue to be checked on real devices with large accessibility text, especially while the searchable team sheet and on-screen keyboard are both open.

One front door and a cleaner bracket builder

What changed

• Retired the oversized standalone Start Here experience and preserved every old /start link by redirecting it to a compact explanation on the homepage.
• Added the plain-language answer directly to the homepage: Better College Football is an independent, fan-built reform proposal; Saturday is the point; and readers can move immediately into the proposal or Bracket Lab.
• Removed avoidable repetition from the site’s editorial photography so an individual photograph is assigned to one public placement, while retaining its published source and license record.
• Removed Bracket Lab’s separate instruction banner and placed its only essential interaction guidance inside the existing navy bracket masthead.
• Added an explicit Remove [team] option to every occupied custom-field selector so a mistaken entry can be cleared without resetting the bracket.

Still open

• The homepage explanation is deliberately compact; first-time reader behavior should determine whether its wording needs refinement, not whether another large orientation page should return.
• A changed team or champion designation still removes downstream picks only when those picks can no longer exist in the revised bracket path.

A shorter welcome and an editorial proposal

What changed

• Reduced Start Here to the three questions a first-time reader actually needs answered: what Better College Football is, why it exists, and whether to read the proposal, build a bracket, or inspect the evidence.
• Removed the repeated idea grid, separate photo story, and oversized feedback block from Start Here, retaining one compact private-feedback invitation and the project’s clear nonofficial boundary.
• Replaced the quiet stadium frontispiece with a fully credited public-domain Navy action photograph and gave all 17 Game, Market, and Government chapter heroes their own rights-checked team, tradition, or rivalry photograph without repeating a featured school.
• Kept direct photographer, license, and source links beside every newly placed photograph instead of treating visual inspiration as permission to reproduce commercial editorial images.

Still open

• The shorter first-visit path should be tested with readers who have not previously seen the project; their ability to explain the proposal and choose a next step should decide whether Start Here remains a separate route.
• The Sports Illustrated gallery informed the emphasis on action, scale, and emotion, but its credited editorial photographs were not republished because public-site reuse rights were not established.

A warmer welcome and a proportional legal plan

What changed

• Rebuilt Start Here as a welcoming photo-led front door with one clear promise, three optional entrances, a human game-day story, and the proposal's four essential ideas in plain English.
• Reframed the private legal work around four concrete engagement triggers so preparing a careful record does not imply an immediate or standing attorney expense.
• Prepared a polished seven-page counsel review brief with the live product map, five scoped questions, evidence checklist, requested written deliverables, official starting sources, and a maintain-now-without-a-lawyer plan.
• Reordered the private launch center around real-reader journey testing, cross-device account and sharing checks, reliability follow-through, and model comprehension before another major feature.

Still open

• The counsel brief is an intake document, not legal advice or a clearance opinion; it becomes useful when revenue, scale, a dispute, or a formal partnership justifies a scoped review.
• The new first-visit path should be observed with real first-time readers. Their hesitation and completion patterns, not another design pass in isolation, should decide the next navigation change.

A direct first visit, open writing, production signals, and auditable models

What changed

• Added a five-minute Start Here route and a compact homepage entry rail so a first-time visitor can understand the proposal, test the bracket, or inspect the evidence without learning the full site architecture first.
• Removed the invitation requirement from Community. Signed-in members may write under the existing two-per-24-hour limit, 15-minute pause, duplicate protection, automated safety screening, private reports, and author edit/delete controls.
• Added privacy-safe production reliability reporting for coarse script, promise, and resource failures, with strict field allowlists, hashed temporary sessions, per-session caps, 30-day deletion, and a private owner dashboard.
• Published a deterministic 150,000-run Bracket Lab audit across all three simulation settings. It verifies the entry bands, five champion protections, both reseeds, locked semifinal paths, and a nonzero championship path for every seed while explicitly declining to call the results predictive.
• Created a private counsel-ready rights review packet with five specific trademark, licensing, copyright, community-hosting, and photography decisions; evidence lists; written pass conditions; and authoritative source links.
• Separated the already-live editorial site from large paid, sponsored, merchandise, or commercial promotion, which remains held until the applicable counsel decisions are closed.

Still open

• The rights packet is a decision scope, not a clearance opinion. Qualified U.S. counsel still must assess the Better College Football name, school marks, NCAA/CFP/bowl references, §512 operations, and image rights in the actual product context.
• The bracket audit proves that the implemented mechanics execute and expose long-shot paths. Calibration against held-out game results, team strength, injuries, travel, and historical access outcomes remains required before any result can be presented as a forecast.
• Client fault reports are intentionally sparse. Zero detected events does not prove that authentication, saving, sharing, moderation, or every device workflow succeeded; release checks still need representative signed-out, member, owner, and database passes.

A steadier bracket builder and private Community invitations

What changed

• Removed the separate conference-champion form from custom CFP brackets. One click advances a team; a quick second selection at its first appearance toggles the same compact CC mark used in Rankings, and saving or simulating still requires five champions from five conferences.
• Stopped ordinary field edits from erasing the whole bracket. A replacement now clears only picks that can no longer exist while retaining every downstream winner that remains valid in the revised path.
• Expanded automated CFP runs beyond one fixed field: established contenders remain more likely, a wider bubble can rotate in, and lower seeds receive a rare but genuine Cinderella path without becoming the normal result.
• Made the first Community writing cohort invitation-only through creator-generated one-time links that expire after 30 days and never appear on the public Community page.
• Added author controls to edit or delete threads and replies, published created-and-edited dates, removed deleted records from feeds and profiles, and retained only a neutral tombstone when surviving replies depend on a deleted thread.
• Restored the shared display-font tokens that control the compact Better College Football wordmark, conference-champion marks, profile controls, and other small interface labels.

Still open

• The simulation is a format-testing model, not a forecast. Field movement, upset frequencies, and Cinderella rates should be calibrated against more seasons before any probability is presented as predictive.
• The private beta deliberately uses copyable one-time links rather than public applications, follows, or direct messaging. Expand discovery and posting volume only after the invited cohort produces a manageable moderation record.

Phone readers and a safer searchable Community

What changed

• Changed the phone Proposal reader from two vertically stacked sheets to one horizontally swipeable page at a time, while retaining the field-manual footer arrows, page numbers, direct chapter links, and ordinary plain-text index.
• Changed every phone Bracket Lab board into a round-by-round snap-scrolling reader, enlarged its team rows, added a clear Swipe rounds cue, and reduced the completed-bracket action tray to the native share, profile save, and device-save essentials.
• Added restrained Community search for public thread text and member-selected public identity fields. Email, phone, account identifiers, anonymous authorship, and profile-hidden activity are neither selected nor exposed by the search surface.
• Replaced the blunt one-post-per-day limit with up to two threads or replies per rolling 24 hours, separated by a 15-minute pause, while blocking exact reposts, link floods, repeated-word and repeated-character spam, all-caps spam, exposed personal data, credentials, and threats.
• Removed superseded phone CSS while adding the new layouts, keeping the production JavaScript and stylesheet bundles inside their published gzip budgets.

Still open

• Public member search is deliberately a discovery tool, not a follower, messaging, or recommendation system; broader social features should wait for demonstrated demand and a larger moderation operation.
• Automated screening reduces routine abuse but cannot determine context perfectly. Reports and Creator review remain necessary, and the production Community should be tested with a small invited cohort before its posting limits are loosened further.

Personal bracket shelves and designed sharing

What changed

• Rebuilt My profile as a compact member workspace: private account information and settings now live in one narrow left rail, while engaged conversations, saved brackets, and full activity occupy the primary reading area without an oversized banner or unfinished gray field.
• Added authenticated cloud saving for completed CFP and National Tournament brackets, including a personal bracket shelf, reusable share IDs, ownership-checked removal, and duplicate-save protection.
• Replaced raw bracket-data links for signed-in members with designed public Better College Football share pages and bracket-specific social preview cards that name the member, format, champion, and runner-up without exposing private account information.
• Enlarged the team marks in projected and historical champion panels, lowered the champion lockup, moved the CFP trophy into a supporting position, and removed the Higher-seed baseline label.
• Moved the separate National Tournament final from automatic campus hosting to a rotating neutral site selected two years ahead, with affordability, indoor or weather-resilient operations, and separation from the CFP title market stated as selection standards.

Still open

• A production account and second device should still complete one final save, message-share, social-preview, and delete pass after deployment.
• The rotating National Tournament site is a proposal standard rather than an awarded venue; procurement, cost, calendar, and host-community terms require negotiation before a city is named.

Reliable member actions and proof before power

What changed

• Added a short-lived, signed server assertion to authenticated profile, verification, visibility, and discussion writes so an account already recognized by the page no longer falls through to a false Sign-in required response when the platform and API expose session identity differently.
• Made My profile decisively activity-first: engagement totals, the member’s most engaged threads, and complete thread and reply history now precede one collapsed Account settings panel containing public identity, private contact fields, and verification.
• Replaced long legacy bracket payloads with compact versioned base64url share links that always copy a complete canonical BetterCollegeFootball.com simulator URL, while retaining read compatibility for previously issued links.
• Added first-appearance CC markers to the official 2024–25 and 2025–26 CFP replays, enlarged the historical champion mark, moved the trophy beside it, and published the exact Atlanta and Miami Gardens championship stadiums plus the announced 2027 Las Vegas site used by the proposal lab.
• Set the separate National Tournament championship at the certified higher seed’s campus, with a predesignated regional fallback only when objective championship standards fail.
• Published a four-track independent legal-validation brief with written deliverables, reviewer-independence rules, official legal sources, and explicit stop conditions; the site does not present the brief as completed legal review.
• Removed two obsolete CSS trophy implementations and added a production gzip budget for total client JavaScript, total CSS, and the largest individual assets so future growth fails the test suite instead of accumulating invisibly.

Still open

• Independent outside counsel and athlete-side experts still must be commissioned; the validation brief is a work plan, not legal advice, legal approval, or institutional endorsement.
• The friend-reported sign-in and share-link failures now have regression coverage and need one final real-account, cross-device confirmation after deployment.
• The development dependency directory is intentionally excluded from deployment; the production budget measures only browser-delivered JavaScript and CSS.

Direct playbook handoffs and an activity-first account

What changed

• Made every Game, Market, and Government invitation open the requested Saturday Playbook spread directly instead of resetting readers to The Game; book tabs and page turns now preserve the active section in the URL.
• Reworked the open volume’s heading, folio, film-room mark, and plain-reading index so the title and governing principle read as one header and the index uses the same field-manual language and controls as the book.
• Moved a signed-in reader’s threads, replies, votes, and published contributions to the top of My profile, with account settings retained below that activity dashboard.
• Fixed the completed-account return path so an already authenticated visitor sent through a sign-in or sign-up URL is returned to the intended page instead of remaining in an empty account state.
• Answered the proposal’s final internally decidable evidence-access question with participation-based record-retention, audit, and cooperation duties while expressly declining to invent subpoena power.

Still open

• The Government section still requires independent legal validation of which national powers need legislation, bargaining, or institutional accession and what legal foundation can make player-school agreements enforceable.
• The production account policy continues to require at least 15 characters and screens compromised passwords. Provider-gated composition rules are not represented as enforced unless they are enabled in the production identity service.

Conference champions at first appearance

What changed

• Simplified every Bracket Lab conference-champion marker to one neutral CC badge; the bracket no longer distinguishes the non-Power Four champion with a separate label.
• Limited each CC badge to the champion’s first appearance in the field: the Round of 12 for a single-bye champion and the quarterfinals for a double-bye champion. The marker no longer repeats after that team advances.
• Pulled the Evidence dossier back into the site’s established visual grammar by removing purple, green, and brown stage treatments and using only the wordmark’s navy, blue, gold, and red accents over warm paper.
• Added the four-color identity rule to the major Evidence sections and standardized workstream headers, proof bands, file jackets, and source cards around the same square editorial grid used throughout the rest of the site.

Still open

• CC identifies a protected conference champion at its point of entry only; the marker does not alter the underlying résumé number shown beside the team.
• The distinct non-Power Four access requirement remains part of the selection rules and explanatory copy, but the visible team badge now treats every conference champion alike.

The evidence dossier

What changed

• Rebuilt Evidence as a filled editorial dossier rather than a sparse spreadsheet: the supporting-record directory now uses three strong color fields, larger labels, and more readable descriptions.
• Redesigned all twelve validation workstreams with filled stage headers, tinted title fields, larger Built copy, and dark Next proof bands so the distinction between a proposal decision and outside validation is immediate.
• Recomposed the working-file archive as one full-width primary record followed by an exact three-by-three file library, eliminating the unfinished gray remainder area and increasing every title, description, and download action.
• Restyled the official-source library, validation key, metrics, and responsive states around the same navy, maroon, blue, gold, paper, and ink system, including complete tablet rows and single-column phone cards.

Still open

• The visual hierarchy is designed to accommodate later evidence updates without changing the distinction among built policy, working models, negotiation, expert review, authority design, commercial proof, and public review.
• The Evidence page reports the maturity of the project’s own work; it does not imply institutional endorsement, legal validation, negotiated agreement, or launch readiness.

A clearer champion path and tighter supporting record

What changed

• Added visible CC and NP4 CC markers beside every protected conference champion throughout the proposed Bracket Lab, including later rounds, so the source of each protected entry path remains legible after the bracket reseeds.
• Replaced the Proposal film room’s right photograph with the creator-supplied historic sideline image and recorded its unresolved source status in the public image ledger instead of claiming a license that is not yet documented.
• Compressed the Proposal supporting record into a tighter grouped file index with shorter rows, quieter descriptions, and more restrained spacing while preserving all six evidence, implementation, rankings, calendar, governance, and working-file links.
• Refined the new markers and supporting index for full-screen, split-window, and phone layouts without changing the five-champion bye rule or ordinary résumé reseeding.

Still open

• The creator-supplied sideline photograph remains provenance-pending until an original source and reuse status are documented.
• CC identifies one of the five protected conference champions; NP4 CC identifies the required non-Power Four champion. The badge describes entry protection and does not replace the team’s underlying résumé rank.

Champion byes without false seeds

What changed

• Separated CFP entry protection from underlying résumé order throughout Bracket Lab. The five selected conference champions—including the required non-Power Four champion—now receive at least a single bye even when one ranks below the ordinary bye line.
• Made champion protection expire before the Round of 12. Every remaining team is then reordered by the published underlying résumé, so a résumé No. 24 fifth champion becomes the lowest Round-of-12 team and draws the highest remaining team.
• Applied the same entry-band logic to the live field, 2024 and 2025 replays, custom brackets, automated simulations, the Rankings playoff-path badges, the Proposal chapter, the operating calendar, and the homepage benefit summary.
• Added a direct No. 24 fifth-champion regression test and expanded the Bracket Lab explanation so the protected bye and ordinary reseeding are visible rather than implied.
• Recast the Government pillar’s enforcement slogan as Constrain power. Protect fair competition. to keep the principle institution-neutral and centered on fair process rather than any current program.

Still open

• Before actual conference champions are known, the live and custom labs project the highest-ranked team available from each conference; historical replays use the recorded champions listed for that season.
• The fixed eight-team single-bye capacity means champion protection can move an otherwise top-ten team into the opening round; the proposal continues to identify that displacement rate as a required historical test.

One playbook, one opening

What changed

• Changed the Proposal opening to One playbook. Three parts. and The complete proposal · Volume 1, then moved the three-photograph Saturday film-room program into the former introductory copy position so the page opens with the project’s visual purpose instead of another explanation.
• Replaced the formal team portrait in the film strip with a rights-recorded goal-line action photograph, giving the three frames a clearer stadium, crowd, and competition sequence.
• Removed the now-duplicated full-width navy photo interlude and rebuilt Additional proposal material as a compact three-column supporting-record index modeled on the complete 17-call reading list.
• Fixed the global open-disclosure rotation leaking into the Proposal index, so Open index and Close index remain horizontal and legible.
• Refined the new opening program and supporting index for tablet, split-window, and phone layouts.

Still open

• The three-photograph program uses existing rights-recorded site imagery; its right photograph can be replaced directly if a preferred user-supplied image is provided.
• The supporting record remains secondary to the complete 17-call playbook and links to evidence, models, plans, governance detail, and working files without repeating their content.

A paper playbook and a stronger evidence record

What changed

• Removed the maroon and navy header/footer panels from the open Saturday Playbook. Each spread now sits inside one brown volume with a restrained paper heading and a continuous paper folio containing the large corner arrows, Saturday Playbook imprint, and page numbers.
• Replaced Call sheet A and Call sheet B with six football-style content packages—Base, Postseason, Personnel, Commitment, Authority, and Enforcement—without reintroducing decorative route diagrams.
• Restored the earlier three-photograph black-and-white program treatment beneath the book and replaced the oversized supporting-work disclosures with six compact links to Evidence, implementation, rankings, coordination, governance, and working files.
• Moved the complete supporting archive to Evidence, expanded it to nine downloadable working records, and rebuilt the twelve validation cards around two explicit fields: what has been built and what proof comes next.
• Published 30 direct proposal answers across all 17 chapters. Answered questions now appear as Decisions already made; only empirical, legal, medical, commercial, authority, and negotiated questions remain under outside proof.
• Refined the book, photo program, support links, decision ledger, evidence navigation, validation cards, and downloads for phone and split-window layouts.

Still open

• The 30 published answers are proposal decisions, not claims of institutional approval, lawful authority, negotiated agreement, commercial feasibility, or medical validation.
• The Evidence page remains the authoritative home for launch gates, outside review, primary sources, legacy files, and downloadable working models.

The playbook opens itself

What changed

• Made the brown Saturday Playbook open automatically after its cover reaches the reader’s viewport, while preserving a direct tap-to-open path and reduced-motion behavior.
• Replaced the wide Previous pages and Turn the page buttons with two large, accessible corner arrows that keep the book footer clean at desktop, split-window, and phone widths.
• Carried the playbook identity through the open volume with Game plan bands, Call sheet page labels, Saturday Playbook folios, and Open call actions without bringing back decorative route diagrams.
• Rebuilt the optional plain-reading control with explicit Open index and Close index states, removing the overlapping Hide Show label and the diagonal red text visible in narrow app windows.
• Restored a compact full-screen control on phones and refined the stacked-page reader, sticky corner controls, toolbar actions, and index layout for iOS-sized screens.

Still open

• Automatic opening occurs only once per page visit; a reader who closes the volume can keep the cover closed or reopen it manually.
• The open-book animation is decorative and is removed when the operating system requests reduced motion; every chapter remains available as an ordinary link.

One book, six flippable pages

What changed

• Consolidated the three separate playbook shells into one physical brown volume that opens from a cover and turns through three two-page spreads: Opening Script / Finish the Season, Player Protections / Reliable Commitments, and Who Decides / How Power Is Checked.
• Removed every route diagram and decorative route key from the proposal reader, giving the chapter names, short summaries, and direct Read chapter actions more room.
• Added keyboard-accessible page tabs, previous and next page controls, a page-turn animation with reduced-motion support, and a full-screen focus reader; phones enter the focused reader automatically and stack each spread into readable pages.
• Added a collapsed plain-reading index containing all 17 calls for visitors who do not want the book interface.
• Removed the oversized governance hero and collapsed governance detail, pressure tests, implementation tools, rankings, coordination, and backup downloads into four clean optional sections below the book.

Still open

• The book reader is an editorial interface; every policy call remains available through a conventional link in the collapsed plain index.
• Focused mobile reading stacks the two pages in each spread vertically so text remains legible rather than shrinking a desktop book onto a phone.

The three-part Saturday playbook

What changed

• Rebuilt the Proposal opening around the tactile Saturday playbook identity: warm paper, a coach’s note, a leather cover, ruled sheets, binder rings, chapter tabs, and football route diagrams replace the flat policy-board presentation.
• Organized all 17 calls into three complete open-book chapters—The Game, The Market, and The Government—without moving governance back into a separate primary tab or hiding any proposal chapter.
• Added a compact three-part chapter index, distinct Game / Market / Government color systems, visible call counts, page numbers, and direct full-call links so a long proposal remains easy to scan.
• Turned each chapter handoff into a page-turn affordance with a curled right-sheet corner and Turn to… controls, while preserving a conventional one-column reading order on phones and reduced-width screens.

Still open

• The page-turn treatment is a progressive visual affordance; every proposal call remains available as an ordinary link and does not depend on animation or scripting.
• The complete governance overview remains directly below the three playbooks so the visual metaphor never replaces the detailed authority, rights, integrity, process, and legal-boundary material.

One proposal, three connected systems

What changed

• Restored the proposal’s editorial system-board presentation: a large cream competition board, a darker player-market companion column, and a full-width government board now organize all 17 chapters in one playbook.
• Moved the complete governance overview—authority boundaries, reciprocal rights and duties, competitive integrity, independent adjudication, appeals, annual rule stability, and legal status—onto the main Proposal page.
• Removed Governance from the primary navigation and sitemap, redirected the former standalone route to the governance section inside Proposal, and updated internal links throughout the homepage, footer, implementation map, and media resources.
• Added three-pillar jump navigation and responsive one- and two-column layouts while preserving every policy chapter and the Game / Market / Government architecture.

Still open

• The governance expansion remains a policy proposal rather than existing law, collective bargaining, or institutional approval.
• The website is the current integrated record; the August 2026 competition DOCX remains a legacy backup that predates the complete player-market and government material.

The game, the market, and the government

What changed

• Expanded the competition-focused proposal into a 17-chapter college-football operating model organized as The Game, The Market, and The Government.
• Added national player rights and reciprocal responsibilities, one-to-four-year two-sided player-school agreements, contract-based movement, one primary postseason market, a limited spring correction lane, open NIL pricing with conduct rules, and a predictable five-to-play-four eligibility proposal.
• Added a dedicated governance map separating NCAA, conference, CFP, school, and athlete authority while expressly limiting central control of the athlete marketplace.
• Created a College Football Integrity Division concept, Category I competitive violations, actor-specific responsibility, systemic institutional liability, published penalty bands, independent adjudication, written decisions, appeals, case clocks, and an annual competitive-rule lock.
• Rebuilt implementation around four controlled phases and seven launch gates, expanded the evidence dashboard to twelve workstreams, added four current NCAA governance and athlete-rights sources, and labeled the August 2026 competition DOCX as a legacy draft rather than the current complete proposal.
• Updated the homepage, header, footer, executive summary, media resources, calendar, sitemap, proposal reader, community rooms, responsive layout, and cross-links to make the three-system architecture visible throughout the public site.

Still open

• The policy model is a proposal, not existing law, a collectively bargained agreement, or approval by the NCAA, CFP, conferences, schools, athletes, NFL, NFLPA, courts, legislatures, regulators, or media partners.
• Player agreements, market restrictions, disclosures, eligibility authority, agent regulation, investigation powers, tribunal funding, and sanctions require independent legal, labor, antitrust, employment, privacy, financial, athlete-welfare, and operational review.
• The website is the current 17-chapter record. Supporting downloads have not yet been rewritten to include the complete player-market and governance expansion.

Explicit sign-in and account-creation paths

What changed

• Replaced the opaque combined account flow after a new Google user still received Clerk's External Account was not found sign-in error.
• Kept one restrained Sign in button in the site header, but restored the conventional New here? Create an account action inside Clerk's dialog.
• Routed that action to Clerk's actual sign-up flow, where Google and email create a new account; the sign-up dialog links existing members back to Sign in.
• Preserved same-origin return destinations for both flows so a completed sign-in or sign-up returns to My profile instead of losing the visitor's place.
• Added the Better College Football wordmark to Clerk's application branding so verification-code emails now carry the project identity without changing the security copy or one-time-code variables.
• Confirmed that production passwords already require at least 15 characters and reject compromised passwords, which is stronger than the requested 12-character baseline.

Still open

• A successful production Google sign-up still requires a genuinely new Google identity and cannot be completed by an automated test without creating an account.
• Clerk controls provider availability and may still present bot protection when it identifies unusual traffic.
• Clerk gates production SMS verification and composition-rule requirements such as mandatory numbers and symbols behind its paid plan; the optional profile phone remains private but unverified until a paid verification provider is approved.

Clearer combined account entry

What changed

• Renamed Clerk's combined account dialog to Sign in or create an account and explains that a new email creates an account after verification, while keeping one restrained Sign in entry in the site header.
• Kept Google and email code as two valid ways to enter the same account. An address first registered through Google can still receive a six-digit passwordless sign-in code without creating a duplicate account.
• Preserved Clerk's privacy-protecting combined flow: a genuinely new email verifies ownership before account creation, then returns to My profile through the same dialog.

Still open

• A complete first-time non-Google registration still requires access to a controlled mailbox and should not be fabricated or completed by an automated test.
• Clerk can intentionally verify an address before revealing whether it is new, which prevents the sign-in screen from becoming an account-enumeration tool.

Published ranking verification and resilient poll handoff

What changed

• Verified the public 2024 NRR snapshot after the Schedule-Adjusted Record revision: Army now displays 73.6 before table rounding, while its separate recalibrated Loss Integrity score is 65.27.
• Kept the distinction visible in the published résumé: the modest Schedule-Adjusted Record increase and the extreme-blowout Loss Integrity decrease partially offset, so Army’s overall Index moves less than either component alone.
• Changed the current-poll proxy to return the documented AP snapshot when its upstream feed is unavailable instead of surfacing a 503, while preserving an explicit Published snapshot label so cached data is never misrepresented as live.
• Rechecked the signed-in Community path in production: the account navigation shows My profile without a second account button, the saved Alec Levine profile loads, contribution history includes the published thread, and the thread form reuses the saved name, team, and perspective.

Still open

• The external ranking feed can still be unavailable to the hosting worker even when it responds elsewhere; the published snapshot keeps Bracket Lab and Rankings usable until the next successful check.
• A complete first-time Google account creation was confirmed on a separate account; provider-managed human verification may still appear for traffic Clerk considers automated.

One account entry and safer Google handoff

What changed

• Reduced every signed-out account surface to one Sign in button; account creation now lives inside Clerk’s sign-in dialog instead of appearing as a competing site-level action.
• Switched Clerk to its combined sign-in-or-up route so a Google identity can be recognized as an existing account or transferred into account creation from the same flow.
• Redirected legacy /sign-up and account=sign-up entries into the combined sign-in flow, preserving return destinations without keeping a second public entry point.

Still open

• Clerk’s smart bot protection can still present a Cloudflare human-verification checkbox when it suspects automated traffic; the prebuilt dialog remains responsible for that security challenge.
• Google OAuth production credentials, domain configuration, and bot-protection settings remain controlled in the Clerk and Google account dashboards rather than by public site code.

Slight record re-centering and extreme-loss context

What changed

• Moved five internal percentage points in Schedule-Adjusted Record toward the result itself: achieved record now supplies 45%, while benchmark over-performance and schedule challenge each supply 27.5%.
• Kept the prior 40% / 30% / 30% opponent-context graph frozen for Opponent Value, preventing this modest published-component revision from recursively changing the value of every win and loss.
• Added one smooth, opponent-independent extreme-blowout tail to Loss Integrity. It uses the worst final, start-of-fourth-quarter, six-minute, or two-minute deficit with a 29-point midpoint, three-point scale, and 1.6 severity-point rate; there is no hard cutoff.
• Used James Madison, Tulane, Florida, and Army as audit examples rather than inputs: a one-loss record receives slightly more recognition, a five-loss record cannot lean quite as heavily on schedule, and a late 42-point deficit remains meaningfully damaging even against an elite opponent.
• Applied both changes universally with no school, conference, brand, playoff-position, or manual-placement rule, and made archived recalibration idempotent so regeneration cannot apply the record shift twice.

Still open

• The 45 / 27.5 / 27.5 shares and the blowout-tail midpoint remain transparent calibration choices that should be tested against additional held-out seasons.
• The smooth tail deliberately distinguishes an extreme noncompetitive loss from an ordinary elite-opponent loss while preserving the existing low-risk conference-title curve.

Monotonic comparable loss costs

What changed

• Corrected the standalone comparable-game display after Alabama’s 2024 losses exposed an inversion: the 21-point Oklahoma loss had greater direct severity but showed a smaller cost than the five-point Vanderbilt loss.
• Kept the 20% Q4 / 35% six-minute / 45% two-minute checkpoint blend. Those checkpoints correctly graded Oklahoma’s wire-to-wire fourth-quarter deficit as worse; they were not the source of the error.
• Changed comparable game cost to pass each game’s direct severity through the common 65-point decay and two-point lower-tail calibration, then apply the public 17.5% weight. The mapping is now strictly monotonic: greater direct severity always means greater comparable cost.
• Reserved additional-loss frequency and weakest-loss credibility for the full-résumé Loss Integrity component. They are no longer reapplied to a one-game display after weak-opponent context has already entered direct severity.
• Preserved the exact nonlinear team component and additive résumé allocations used to reconcile each published Index; this release corrects cross-team game comparison rather than adding a named-team override.

Still open

• The direct severity equation—including opponent value, margin, late-game state, venue, repeat policy, weak-opponent term, and title-game curve—remains a transparent calibration choice requiring additional held-out seasons.
• Comparable game cost should be used across teams; résumé allocation should be used only to reconcile losses inside one team’s nonlinear component.

Thread voting and late-game loss context

What changed

• Recast community reactions as compact thumbs-up and thumbs-down controls on both opening threads and individual replies, with real reply totals as the third engagement signal and no invented view count.
• Kept Popular thread sorting transparent: net thumbs first, then thumbs-up, published replies, and recency; replies remain one visual nesting level on phones but can be answered individually.
• Added a short-lived, submission-bound server assertion so a page that is visibly signed in can save its vote even when a hosted browser omits Clerk headers from a client API request.
• Raised the two-minute checkpoint share inside loss game-state context to 45%, retained 35% at six minutes and 20% entering the fourth quarter, and scaled the home/neutral charge smoothly by opponent quality.
• Retained only 60% of the ordinary repeat-opponent charge in a conference-title rematch, keeping the second result visible without allowing an earned extra game to erase the championship-loss protection.
• Shortened the About hero by removing the duplicate stadium strip and moving the current LinkedIn and Instagram marks beside the lower contact actions.

Still open

• The 20 / 35 / 45 checkpoint split, opponent-scaled venue curve, 60% title-rematch repeat charge, and existing low-risk title curve remain published calibration choices requiring additional held-out seasons.
• Conversation replies remain one visual nesting level to prevent deep phone indentation; a response-specific composer and anchor preserve who is being answered.

Account-safe reactions and repaired activity history

What changed

• Added one-account, one-reaction Like and Dislike controls to every public thread; pressing a selected reaction again removes it and choosing the other switches it.
• Changed Popular sorting to use net reactions first, then likes, published replies, and recency, while displaying the real aggregate totals that determine the order.
• Reconnected contributions to My profile by the authenticated email as well as the current provider key, repairing history created before the Sites and Clerk identity handoff without exposing or broadening access beyond the same verified account.
• Separated Sign in and Create account throughout the site so first-time Google users enter Clerk’s account-creation flow instead of receiving the misleading External Account not found sign-in error.
• Clarified the intentional three-priority Community Pulse cap and made its profile action and private-phone explanation explicit.

Still open

• A first-time account must choose Create account; Sign in is reserved for an email, username, or Google identity that has already been registered.
• Version 11.10 extends the original thread-only reaction launch to individual replies and replaces the text controls with compact thumbs.

Direct thread handoff and reply-first conversations

What changed

• Redirected every successful thread or reply directly to its published conversation instead of clearing a required form and leaving the browser on a misleading validation state.
• Rebuilt discussion cards around the author: name first, a compact verified check beside reviewed identities, Creator context beneath the name, initials in place of collecting another photo, and reply counts moved into the action row.
• Added an explicit Reply button to every thread and every published response; response-specific replies carry the selected author and comment into the composer while remaining inside the parent conversation.
• Exempted the Creator account from the reader 24-hour contribution interval while retaining the same automatic safety screen and public accountability.
• Made Clerk's sign-in-to-sign-up transfer explicit at every account entry point so a first-time Google user can create an account instead of receiving the provider's misleading External Account not found error.
• Replaced the improvised LinkedIn and Instagram treatments with current recognizable brand marks and added matching icons to the homepage share and social links.

Still open

• Member photo uploads remain intentionally deferred because they add image storage, moderation, impersonation, and removal obligations; initials provide identity without collecting another public asset.
• Replies remain one visible conversation level so phone readers can follow the debate without deeply nested branches; a response-specific composer identifies the comment being answered.

Stable signed-in identity and corrected poll totals

What changed

• Used the trusted identity already forwarded by Sites when Clerk's server verifier rejects an API request that the page correctly recognizes as signed in.
• Kept the configured Clerk owner ID canonical for the matching owner email, preserving Creator authorization and existing profile records.
• Attached Community poll reads and writes to the same authenticated request path, so changing browser IDs cannot add another vote for a signed-in account.
• Collapsed the creator's duplicate historical browser votes to one real vote per question; the conference-access total falls from three to one and playoff-size from two to one.

Still open

• Anonymous visitors remain limited per browser rather than globally per person because no durable identity exists until they sign in.
• The earlier 11.6 client-token retry was insufficient by itself; live request evidence showed both the cookie request and token retry reaching the API and being rejected before this server-side fallback was added.

Reliable signed-in publishing handoff

What changed

• Corrected the case where Community could visibly recognize a signed-in Clerk profile while a write endpoint rejected the same browser session as anonymous.
• Kept the normal same-origin cookie request first, then retry only an authentication failure with Clerk's short-lived session token.
• Bound that recovery step to 2.5 seconds inside the existing 12-second request timeout, so a provider delay cannot recreate a permanent Saving or Publishing state.
• Applied the same authenticated handoff to thread publishing, profile saves, public-profile visibility, verification requests, embedded proposal identity, and Creator safety controls.

Still open

• A signed-in live-browser publish should be exercised after deployment; no sample or invented public thread is added merely to make a room appear active.
• If a browser blocks both the Clerk cookie and session-token recovery, the interface still fails closed with a sign-in error rather than accepting an unattributed post.

Automatic community publishing and poll discussion hubs

What changed

• Changed signed-in threads and replies to publish immediately after the existing automated safety screen instead of entering a routine owner-approval queue.
• Kept one-contribution-per-day enforcement, private account traceability, Anonymous fan posting, private reports, repeat-abuser blocking, and Creator hide controls as the safety backstop.
• Attached vote explanations to their exact creator poll and selected choice, and gave every major poll a dedicated discussion link showing only threads and replies about that question.
• Converted the private owner workspace from an approval queue into a report-and-safety inbox, while preserving manual identity verification and private contact handling.
• Compressed the Community opening, poll cards, thread rooms, contribution form, navigation, and ranking controls for portrait-phone use; selected ranking résumés continue to open as a focused mobile sheet.

Still open

• Automated filters can miss context, so the public report route and timely owner response remain important if participation grows.
• The one-post-per-day limit intentionally favors deliberation over volume and may be revisited only after observing real participation and abuse patterns.
• A future high-volume release should add measured edge rate limiting or managed challenges without weakening access for ordinary readers.

Launch-security and private decision audit

What changed

• Made the configured Clerk user ID authoritative for Creator and owner access; the email address is now only a fallback when no owner ID exists and can no longer broaden access around a configured ID.
• Added private no-store and no-index response controls to authenticated pages and APIs, plus cross-origin resource and cross-domain policy headers on every response.
• Added a content-free owner audit trail for moderation, private-inbox, and verification decisions, visible only in Operations & rights.
• Capped anonymous measurement events per browser per day, normalized contact addresses for consistent abuse limits, and added timeouts plus safe failure states so contact or analytics outages cannot leave the interface stuck.
• Clarified the privacy disclosure: account and infrastructure providers process the minimum data needed to host, protect, and authenticate the service, while Better College Football does not sell data or build advertising profiles.

Still open

• Provider-account MFA and recovery-code storage require Alec's private reauthentication and must be completed in the Clerk, Google, domain, and hosting account dashboards.
• Cloudflare D1 point-in-time recovery is automatic for the provider's supported retention window; a longer-lived encrypted export and restoration drill remain an owner operating task.
• If public participation materially grows or abuse appears, add an edge rate-limit or managed challenge to write endpoints after measuring normal traffic so legitimate readers are not blocked.

Phone-first rankings, persistent identity, and one-vote enforcement

What changed

• Rebuilt the phone ranking table around the six facts readers need at a glance—rank, team, record, Index, movement, and comparison rank—and moved the selected team’s full résumé into a focused mobile sheet instead of placing it beneath the entire Top 25.
• Tightened the desktop ranking split so the core columns and résumé proof share the screen more efficiently, while compressing the NRR/CFP switchboard in both phone orientations.
• Kept account access visible beside the mobile menu, enlarged the homepage Bracket Lab and NRR entry points, and simplified the signed-in vote-explanation flow so the writing form appears before the room feed.
• Locked each Community poll to one recorded choice per signed-in account or browser, restored that choice on return, and blocked overlapping vote requests.
• Rebuilt the creator passport as a compact swipeable rail on phones and replaced plain social text with small LinkedIn and Instagram identity cards.

Still open

• Browser-based voting is a participation signal rather than a scientific poll; a determined unauthenticated reader can clear or change local browser identity, while signed-in accounts are protected by a database-level one-vote rule.
• The existing centered Better College Football shared-link artwork remains in place; the rejected corner-logo variant was not published.
• Real-device testing should continue across additional small Android screens and mobile accessibility text sizes.

Correct CFP trophy, ranked formula cards, and published pressure tests

What changed

• Restored the College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy image to the CFP champion panels and removed the invented trophy concept from the proposed 16-team National Tournament, which has no established trophy.
• Ordered the six NRR measure cards from most influential to least influential and replaced the oversized formula archive slab with a compact status rail centered on the formula-first, explain-the-departure principle.
• Contained the selected résumé card and its compact evidence rows so proof labels no longer extend beyond the right edge.
• Added a visible Known Tradeoffs section to the Proposal overview and expanded the calendar text to acknowledge that a protected double-bye conference finalist could wait roughly three or four weeks before its next game.
• Published Alec Levine’s LinkedIn and Instagram links as small secondary links on the creator profile.

Still open

• The maximum acceptable competitive layoff remains unresolved; historical outcome testing, recovery evidence, and schedule alternatives should be evaluated without turning an earned bye into a penalty.
• The CFP trophy image is used to identify the actual championship award; the CFP mark, trophy design, and image rights belong to their respective owners and no endorsement is implied.
• The six-bowl policy remains a pre-season six-year slot rotation: matchups are seeded first, the site-and-window map is locked before Week 0, and no post-selection swaps are allowed.

NRR v0.49 comparable losses, title reward, and quantified judgment

What changed

• Published a standalone loss-game cost that is comparable across teams instead of presenting a team-relative allocation as a universal game grade. In the 2024 replay, Ohio State’s one-point road loss at Oregon grades better than Florida’s road loss at Tennessee, while Iowa State’s conference-title loss lands in the same low-risk neighborhood without being erased.
• Replaced the blanket title-loss severity rate with one smooth low-risk curve that still distinguishes a close title loss from a blowout and retains repeat-opponent damage.
• Set the public weights to 30% Quality-Win Depth, 30% Schedule-Adjusted Record, 17.5% Loss Integrity, 12.5% Opponent-Adjusted Performance, 7.5% Win Control, and 2.5% Conference Champion.
• Made Conference Champion strictly binary: 100 for a champion and 0 for every non-champion, with no runner-up partial value.
• Reframed NRR as a quantified, published baseline for committee judgment rather than an attempt to remove subjectivity, and replaced the homepage line-of-scrimmage tile with the creator-supplied reference photograph.

Still open

• The new weights, title-loss curve, and binary champion measure remain transparent policy choices requiring additional held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• The creator-supplied line-of-scrimmage image has no embedded source or license metadata; its rights status remains unresolved and is disclosed in Image Credits.
• A committee can consider context outside NRR, but the proposal requires material departures from the published baseline to be explained.

Active DMCA designation and text-only bowl rotation

What changed

• Verified the active U.S. Copyright Office designated-agent record and published the exact registered agent name, service-provider identity, mailing address, phone, email, effective date, alternate names, and official directory link.
• Removed every Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Peach, and Fiesta bowl graphic, remote logo request, monogram fallback, and bowl-mark credit; Bracket Lab now uses compact text-and-location venue lines only.
• Locked the proposal’s bowl assignment policy: seed all six matchups first, rotate each venue forward one numbered slot annually through a public six-year matrix, keep the broadcast window with the slot, and prohibit post-selection swaps.
• Required a competitive site-package review after the inaugural six-year cycle instead of permanent bowl priority.
• Completed Search Console sitemap submission and indexing review for the home, Proposal, Rankings, Bracket Lab, and Community routes.

Still open

• Cloudflare and Clerk two-step verification are currently inactive; Google requires a private reauthentication step before its two-step status can be changed.
• The 138 school marks remain the principal unresolved trademark-use risk.
• DMCA registration supports a safe-harbor process only if notices, repeat infringement, and other statutory requirements are handled consistently; it does not itself guarantee eligibility.

Custom-domain security, search readiness, and licensed photography

What changed

• Enabled DNSSEC for bettercollegefootball.com, added one-year HSTS enforcement, and corrected the public security.txt record to the custom domain and active security mailbox.
• Added search-engine WebSite structured data, author and publisher metadata, topic keywords, and a current sitemap while retaining the existing large social-search preview image.
• Made the one-vote-per-question poll rule explicit and upgraded the choice cards with selected-state markers, live counts, and percentages.
• Replaced the two published photographs that lacked verifiable reuse records with a CC BY 4.0 BYU stadium photograph and the existing CC BY-SA 2.5 Rice–Texas line-of-scrimmage photograph.
• Tightened the minimum age for community accounts, voting, and posting to 13 and published the active durable DMCA email without claiming that the federal agent filing is complete.

Still open

• Alec must complete and pay for the Copyright Office designated-agent filing in his own legal identity, then the public rights page must be updated with the exact registered agent name, address, phone, email, and registration date.
• School and bowl marks remain small documentary identifiers, not licensed project branding; final trademark and copyright risk assessment still requires qualified counsel.
• Google Search Console property verification and sitemap submission require Alec's Google account, but the site is now technically ready for indexing.

Direct vote explanations and calmer bracket controls

What changed

• Connected each optional poll explanation to the exact creator question and saved choice, so a campus-game vote no longer opens beneath the generic 18-team-field prompt.
• Condensed Community room headers and signed-in contribution forms. Existing profile fields now travel privately with the submission while the writer sees only the headline, explanation, public-identity controls, consent, and review button.
• Removed the ranking-source fallback diagnostic and manual Check now control from Bracket Lab. A failed refresh now preserves the audited published field without exposing implementation language to readers.
• Moved the current-field context above the seed-benefit controls, rebuilt every bowl footer as a 23-pixel navy ribbon with a restrained right-edge mark, and separated the third-party-rights notice from the footer navigation.

Still open

• Official bowl and school marks remain documentary identifiers subject to the rights register and final launch review.
• The website remains the primary proposal; the small Proposal-page backup handoff and the fuller Evidence archive should be synchronized when a material revision ships.

Inline community actions and rebuilt bowl ribbons

What changed

• Changed Community quick polls so a choice saves directly on the poll card. Opening the related discussion is now a clearly optional way to explain a vote, not part of the voting action.
• Removed the separate fan-profile gate from signed-in thread and reply forms. Existing profiles can be recovered by private account ID or matching sign-in email, and a first contribution can establish the minimum private profile record without interrupting the writer.
• Limited ranking-source diagnostics to the signed-in Creator. Public Bracket Lab and Rankings views now describe the preserved field as the published snapshot instead of presenting a technical fallback warning.
• Rebuilt bowl-site footers as integrated navy-and-cream venue ribbons with a stable two-letter bowl mark and a contained official logo when the asset loads. The design no longer depends on fragile per-logo cropping transforms.
• Redrew the browser-tab football as a clearer horizontal ball with a visible seam and four laces.

Still open

• The deployed ranking proxy can still preserve the published field when its upstream source is unavailable; Creator diagnostics identify that condition without disrupting the public bracket.
• Official bowl and school marks remain documentary identifiers subject to the rights register and final launch review.

Verified members, a football tab mark, and one bracket view

What changed

• Added a private verification-request path for coaches, athletes, athletic staff, researchers, established media, and other members with a public role. Only the owner can review the supplied evidence and award or reject a Verified badge.
• Published Verified badges beside approved identities while keeping verification evidence, account identifiers, email addresses, and phone numbers private. Anonymous posts never reveal verification or Creator status.
• Replaced the former 18 browser-tab icon with a compact original football mark in the Better College Football color system.
• Removed the Fit bracket and Full size switch from Bracket Lab. The responsive fitted board is now the sole view, with scrolling retained only when a smaller screen needs it.

Still open

• Verification confirms only a manually reviewed identity or role; it is not an endorsement, expertise guarantee, or institutional affiliation.

Reliable profile saving, creator tools, and member privacy

What changed

• Removed the redundant Clerk client-token wait from same-origin profile, contribution, moderation, and inbox requests. The authenticated session cookie now travels directly with each request, avoiding token promises that could leave controls stuck on Saving.
• Captured form data before asynchronous work and added twelve-second request timeouts, clear failure feedback, safe non-JSON handling, and guaranteed timer cleanup.
• Removed the full-width navy profile and contribution-summary banners. Sign-in identity, sign-out, contribution counts, activity access, and the Community return now sit in a compact block beside the editable fan profile.
• Recognized the configured owner account as the verified Creator, added Creator badges to its public threads and replies, and placed owner-only Hide controls on published discussions. Hiding retains a private moderation record rather than permanently destroying it.
• Added public member pages reached from non-anonymous bylines, per-contribution public-profile visibility controls, and an Anonymous fan posting option that keeps the account connection private for moderation while removing public identity and profile links.

Still open

• Profile fields remain private except for the explicitly listed public identity fields. Visitors should report any future save failure with the browser and approximate time so the corresponding server request can be traced.

One Community sign-in surface and aligned live sessions

What changed

• Removed the standalone sign-in and sign-up screens from the visitor flow. Legacy account URLs now return immediately to Community and open the account dialog there.
• Corrected the server’s Clerk configuration so the hosted live publishable key is paired with the hosted live secret key instead of an embedded development key. Browser and server now evaluate the same session.
• Changed Google OAuth handling from a forced popup to Clerk’s automatic flow selection, which chooses the more reliable provider handoff for the visitor’s browser and domain.
• Changed protected profile redirects to reopen the Community dialog with a safe same-site return destination, eliminating the sign-in-complete/loading loop.

Still open

• Google’s account-selection and consent screens remain provider-controlled. A visitor still must complete those private steps directly with Google.

Compact sign-in and restored bot protection

What changed

• Changed the normal Community account entry to an in-page sign-in and sign-up dialog, so readers do not leave the discussion area to authenticate.
• Reduced the direct sign-in and sign-up routes to compact fallback screens used only for copied links, account recovery, and identity-provider returns.
• Expanded the production security policy with Clerk’s required Cloudflare challenge, protection, image, connection, frame, and worker sources so CAPTCHA-based bot protection can load without disabling it.
• Preserved safe same-site return destinations from Clerk’s Google and account-transfer parameters after successful authentication.

Still open

• Google still controls its own account-selection and consent window. Browsers or privacy extensions that block Google, Clerk, or Cloudflare challenge services can still prevent that provider-controlled step.

Reliable Google sign-in and genuinely anonymous measurement

What changed

• Added an explicit signed-in return step so completed Google, email, and username sign-ins leave the account screen and continue to the requested Community destination.
• Kept Google OAuth in a separate popup and pinned Clerk’s sign-in and sign-up transfers to the site’s own account routes, reducing third-party transition screens in the main tab.
• Stopped the analytics prompt from rendering before its saved preference is loaded, eliminating the navigation flash.
• Removed sign-in account identifiers and URL query strings from analytics and voluntary-interest records; the consent notice now lists the exact first-party fields and retention period.

Still open

• Google still displays its own consent screen, and Clerk securely completes the OAuth exchange; those provider-controlled screens cannot be replaced by site styling.

Community-contained accounts and restored photo selections

What changed

• Limited sign-in and profile access to the Community section while keeping every public proposal and research route account-free.
• Restored the creator-selected BYU stadium panorama and wide line-of-scrimmage photograph to the homepage.
• Tightened the About-page college football passport with complete dividers, a one-line Tiger Stadium label, and a centered Rose Bowl trip block.

Still open

• The restored BYU and line-of-scrimmage reference files do not contain embedded source or license metadata; that limitation is disclosed in Image Credits and should be resolved before commercial reuse.

Community-contained profiles and clearer cutline cards

What changed

• Moved profile access into a compact Community account utility, keeping the public proposal free of account gates.
• Rebuilt the teams-outside-the-cutline rows as fully clickable résumé selectors with NRR rank, record, and Index aligned on the right; removed the unexplained score-gap pills and Show card labels.
• Connected Clerk-managed email-or-username accounts so passwords, verification, sessions, and recovery are not stored in a home-grown database; Google is an optional convenience rather than a requirement.
• Connected bettercollegefootball.com and durable inbound contact aliases.

Still open

• Complete final production sign-in and recovery tests after the identity-provider keys are promoted.
• The .org defensive registration remains optional.

Community account clarity and synchronized proposal backups

What changed

• Removed the complete-proposal download from the global header. The website is now stated as the primary version; synchronized backup documents remain only at the bottom of Proposal and in Evidence.
• Verified the complete My profile sign-in, load, save, consent, and persisted-default flow in production. Profiles remain optional unless a reader wants to post; the proposal, rankings, evidence, and approved discussions remain public without an account.
• Renamed the private account destination My community profile, strengthened its return path to Community, and added a direct profile entry inside the Community hero.
• Updated the downloadable proposal’s NRR section to v0.48, its current 30 / 30 / 20 / 15 / 5 public balance, and the twelve time-locked 2024–25 weekly checkpoints.
• Tightened the Rankings switchboard, exposed the full conference-championship label, and moved the disagreement review immediately after the team and résumé workspace.

Still open

• A custom domain and provider-backed email aliases still require owner purchase and account setup.
• The public website controls if a later revision and a downloaded backup ever diverge; future material releases should update both in the same change.
• Institutional and bowl marks remain in the launch rights register pending final legal and licensing decisions.

Launch operations, rights register, and incident readiness

What changed

• Added a private Operations & rights control room with live queue counts, a DMCA-readiness matrix, a rights-risk register, durable-address plan, incident-response runbook, and a concrete owner-only pre-launch list.
• Published a standard security.txt contact record and added a daily owner queue-review routine without allowing automation to approve, decline, remove, or publish reader content.
• Expanded pre-storage community screening to reject exposed credentials, government identifiers, payment-card details, and direct threats of violence while retaining private human review for every publish decision.
• Added direct source links for every actively credited non-personal photograph that was missing one and re-ran the photo-reuse ledger audit.
• Removed the owner’s personal home address from public footers, contact, rights, and unsubscribe pages while the registered-agent and sender-address decisions remain open.
• Recorded the 138 cached school marks and six bowl marks as the principal unresolved launch-rights risk instead of treating an image-source URL or no-endorsement disclaimer as permission.

Still open

• Alec must purchase the domain, choose public contact details, create any provider accounts, accept their terms, and complete any Copyright Office filing in his own legal identity.
• Email aliases, outbound update delivery, Turnstile, and broader identity providers cannot be connected until a domain and the relevant account credentials exist.
• A qualified U.S. attorney—not the website or an automated scan—must give the final answer on §512 eligibility, project-name clearance, and whether the planned institutional and bowl mark uses are defensible.

Layered community safety and long-run operations

What changed

• Added server-side pre-storage screening for common profanity, slurs, public email addresses, phone numbers, street addresses, repeated-character spam, and excessive links. Automated screening assists rather than replaces human review.
• Added a bot-trap field to community submissions while retaining accountable sign-in, one-contribution-per-day limits, and private moderation before publication.
• Added a private safety-report link to every published thread and reply, plus a dedicated community-safety contact category and prefilled report subject.
• Published clearer community-safety disclosures, emergency guidance, and prohibited-content terms without claiming that automated filters are complete or infallible.
• Added counter-notice instructions, a repeat-infringer policy, a configurable account-blocking control, and a private notice-record practice without claiming safe-harbor eligibility.
• Expanded the private launch center with daily, monthly, quarterly, incident-response, and annual operating checks for moderation, backups, deletion requests, access, dependencies, rights, and vendor changes.

Still open

• The owner must consistently monitor and act on the private moderation and reporting queues; code cannot supply judgment or emergency response.
• A designated DMCA-agent registration, legal review, domain purchase, independent trademark clearance, and permission decisions remain owner or counsel actions.
• If participation grows materially, the project should reassess manual moderation capacity and whether a specialist abuse-detection service is warranted.

Launch rights, profile, and accessibility controls

What changed

• Added a public copyright, trademark, photography, and DMCA-status page with a complete notice checklist, rights-reporting channel, and the project mailing address.
• Added a visible My profile link in the global header and restored phone as an optional private profile field. Existing values are retained; saving the field blank removes a value. Phone is never required to sign in or post.
• Added a public one-step update-list unsubscribe page before any email provider is connected, plus the sender mailing address in the contact area and global footer.
• Added a public accessibility statement and a dedicated accessibility-report category; completed a targeted keyboard, focus, semantic, mobile-menu, and screen-reader-oriented review.
• Added compact third-party-mark notices to the logo-heavy Rankings and Bracket Lab tools and linked them to the full rights record.

Still open

• At this release, the hosting platform still supplied identity; version 10.0 superseded that flow with Clerk-managed accounts.
• The public DMCA reporting channel is not a U.S. Copyright Office designated-agent registration. Registration remains an owner filing and must publish the registered agent’s complete contact information.
• A preliminary exact-phrase search is not a full federal, state, and common-law trademark clearance or legal opinion.

Pre-launch privacy, security, and rights review

What changed

• Added public Terms & Rights, copyright-reporting, privacy-removal, and accessibility contact paths; linked the terms from the footer and sitemap.
• Stopped requesting or returning phone numbers in new community profiles. ChatGPT sign-in email and the private account identifier now provide the accountability layer with less collected data.
• Added same-origin JSON request checks, payload limits, a fixed canonical origin, and baseline browser security headers including content-type protection, frame blocking, referrer limits, and a Content Security Policy.
• Replaced three photographs without verified source metadata and the official championship trophy image with licensed archive photographs and an original CSS trophy illustration.
• Updated React, the server-component runtime, vinext, Vite, Cloudflare tooling, and Wrangler; the deployed dependency audit reports no production vulnerabilities.
• Rebuilt the ranking switchboard status and published-weight banner for readable checkpoint context and five percentage-led model blocks.

Still open

• Team and bowl marks remain documentary identifiers and still require a final rights-and-permissions review before a custom-domain launch.
• Any legacy phone values already stored in the database were not deleted; deletion requires an explicit owner-authorized data cleanup.
• Before sending update-list email, the project still needs a compliant unsubscribe flow and valid postal address.

NRR v0.48 loss hierarchy and shared playoff field

What changed

• Kept the public 30% Quality-Win Depth, 30% Schedule-Adjusted Record, 15% Opponent-Adjusted Performance, 20% Loss Integrity, and 5% Win Control balance unchanged.
• Recalibrated direct loss severity around official-checkpoint-majority Opponent Value. Margin damage now fades continuously as opponent quality rises, while a smooth uncapped softplus term gives weak-opponent losses the additional damage they warrant. No hard damage cap, opponent tier, school rule, or conference rule enters the calculation.
• Added regression comparisons for the reported 2024 cases. BYU’s home loss to 5–7 Kansas now carries more than 1.75 times the direct severity and final Index allocation of Tennessee’s road loss to elite Georgia; Arizona State’s sustained road loss at Cincinnati remains materially worse than Tennessee’s late road loss at Arkansas.
• Added a verified 2024 Selection Sunday replay to Bracket Lab, including all five conference champions and a results-informed starting path that remains fully editable.
• Created one shared 18-team field rule for Bracket Lab and Rankings. The weekly ranking table now marks double byes, bowl-stage byes, campus hosts, road entrants, projected conference champions, and the required non-Power Four champion.

Still open

• The opponent-conditioned margin rate, smooth weak-opponent scale, and other Loss Integrity curves remain transparent calibration choices requiring held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• Weekly conference-champion markers are projections until a champion is known; Selection Sunday uses recorded championship results.
• The compact playoff markers are a same-day field translation of NRR, not an additional input into NRR or a post-formula ranking adjustment.

NRR v0.47 additive loss attribution

What changed

• Kept every v0.46 ranking, component score, public weight, lower-tail calibration, schedule rule, and title-game policy unchanged.
• Removed the leave-one-loss-out display calculation. That counterfactual could make a worse game show a smaller marginal Index number because the remaining loss inherited shared frequency and weakest-loss penalties.
• The full-résumé Loss Integrity result is still calculated once with the same nonlinear formula. Its exact deficit from 100 is now allocated additively across losses in proportion to each game’s direct severity, which already includes opponent value, margin, Q4 / 6:00 / 2:00 state, venue, repeat-opponent damage, and conference-title protection.
• Each expanded loss card now publishes the game’s share of the team’s total loss cost, its Loss Integrity allocation, and its exact published-Index allocation after the record foundation. Those allocations add back to the team’s complete Loss Integrity penalty.
• Added a cross-team regression using the reported 2024 comparison: Arizona State’s road loss at Cincinnati must show a larger game severity and Index allocation than Tennessee’s late road loss at Arkansas.

Still open

• The additive figures explain how the scored Loss Integrity component affects the published Index; they do not claim that removing a game would leave every other nonlinear résumé input unchanged.
• The allocation uses the same direct severity equation for every loss and contains no school, conference, poll-position override, or manual reorder.
• The loss formula still requires additional held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run; this release corrects attribution, not the calibrated ranking order.

NRR v0.46 readable lower-tail calibration

What changed

• Kept the public 30% Quality-Win Depth, 30% Schedule-Adjusted Record, 15% Opponent-Adjusted Performance, 20% Loss Integrity, and 5% Win Control balance unchanged.
• Replaced the saturating weakest-loss reduction with a continuous 1.2-rate exponential decay applied to the same 0.45-power opponent-value shortfall. A smooth two-point lower-tail calibration then preserves useful separation among damaged Loss Integrity résumés without imposing a minimum score.
• Applied a smaller 1.5-point endpoint-anchored lower-tail calibration to Quality-Win Depth, so thin but real opponent evidence remains distinguishable longer. Zero evidence remains exactly zero and 100 remains exactly 100.
• Regenerated and audited all twelve 2024–25 checkpoints. At 2025 Selection Sunday, Louisville’s Loss Integrity moves from 2.61 to about 9.1 and Illinois moves from 2.27 to about 9.3, while truly empty Quality-Win Depth still reaches zero.
• Preserved the calibrated loss comparisons and title-game policy: Ohio State’s 2024 home Michigan loss remains about 1.61 times as damaging as Texas’s ordinary home Georgia loss, while the Oregon road loss and Georgia title-game loss remain in the same low-risk severity tier.

Still open

• The two lower-tail lift values and the 1.2 exponential rate are transparent calibration choices requiring additional held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• The transformation is monotonic and has no hard floor, cap, team rule, conference rule, or manual placement; it changes spacing, not the meaning of zero or 100.
• Lower-tail readability does not turn a weak win or a loss into positive quality credit. Résumés can still approach zero as evidence deteriorates.

NRR v0.45 bad-loss separation and explicit title-game context

What changed

• Kept the public 30% Quality-Win Depth, 30% Schedule-Adjusted Record, 15% Opponent-Adjusted Performance, 20% Loss Integrity, and 5% Win Control balance unchanged.
• Changed the continuous weakest-loss credibility exponent from 1.25 to 0.45. The universal curve now lets one truly damaging loss dominate the loss profile more clearly without adding a team, conference, opponent-tier, or manual-placement rule.
• Changed every conference-title loss to one-third ordinary game severity while retaining half ordinary record and loss-frequency treatment. Repeat-opponent damage remains, so a rematch is not erased.
• Regenerated all twelve 2024–25 checkpoints. At 2024 Selection Sunday, Ohio State’s home Michigan loss produces a 10.99-point final Index hit versus 6.81 for Texas’s ordinary home loss to Georgia—a 1.61-to-1 relationship. Ohio State’s one-point road loss at Oregon and Texas’s title-game rematch sit in the same low-risk severity tier at 10.16 and 10.19.
• Added explicit Conference championship labels to compact résumé rows, expanded win and loss proof, opponent résumé overlays, and archived game views. Ordinary neutral-site games remain labeled Neutral.

Still open

• The 0.45 weakest-loss exponent and one-third title-game severity rate are transparent calibration choices requiring additional held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• A title-game loss still lowers the résumé and remains fully visible; the policy reduces disproportionate risk rather than converting the result into a reward.
• The adjustment is universal: no Ohio State, Texas, Michigan, Georgia, school, conference, or manual placement rule enters the calculation.

NRR v0.44 loss-integrity and title-game consistency

What changed

• Kept the public 30% Quality-Win Depth, 30% Schedule-Adjusted Record, 15% Opponent-Adjusted Performance, 20% Loss Integrity, and 5% Win Control balance unchanged, along with the v0.43 Schedule-Adjusted Record calibration.
• Changed the continuous weakest-loss credibility exponent from 2 to 1.25. A damaging loss now registers sooner below Opponent Value 60, but there is still no hard opponent tier, cliff, conference rule, or quality-loss credit.
• Applied half ordinary record, loss-frequency, and game-severity treatment to every conference-title loss. A title-game rematch still retains the repeat-opponent damage and eight-point Schedule-Adjusted Record deduction.
• Regenerated all twelve 2024–25 checkpoints. At 2024 Selection Sunday, Texas posts 51.3 Loss Integrity and Ohio State 40.1. Ohio State’s home loss to Michigan becomes its dominant final Index hit at 7.88 points versus 2.65 for the Oregon loss; Texas’s title-game rematch hit is 2.36 versus 6.44 for the ordinary Georgia loss.

Still open

• The 1.25 weakest-loss exponent and half ordinary title-game treatment remain public calibration choices requiring additional held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• The adjustment is universal: no Ohio State, Texas, Michigan, Georgia, school, conference, or manual placement rule enters the calculation.
• A title-game loss is still visible and still lowers the résumé; repeat-opponent penalties remain so rematches are not erased.

NRR v0.43 equal-record schedule separation

What changed

• Kept the public 30% Quality-Win Depth, 30% Schedule-Adjusted Record, 15% Opponent-Adjusted Performance, 20% Loss Integrity, and 5% Win Control balance unchanged.
• Rebalanced Schedule-Adjusted Record internally from 50% achieved record / 30% fixed-benchmark performance / 20% schedule challenge to 40 / 30 / 30. Actual record remains the largest single input, while schedule context receives enough authority to distinguish similar records earned against materially different slates.
• Added one continuous 12-point logistic contrast curve after the existing 30% full-slate / 70% challenge-weighted schedule blend. The curve creates stronger separation around the national middle without a Top-25 tier, counted-game cap, conference rule, or hard evidence ceiling.
• Regenerated all twelve 2024–25 checkpoints. At 2024 Selection Sunday, Ohio State’s Schedule-Adjusted Record rises to 77.5 while SMU falls to 69.7—a 7.8-point separation instead of 3.1. Indiana remains No. 9, Arizona State remains No. 11, and SMU moves from No. 7 to No. 10 through the formula alone.

Still open

• The 40 / 30 / 30 internal balance and 12-point contrast scale remain public calibration choices requiring additional held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• The revision is intended to improve equal-record schedule separation universally, not force Ohio State, SMU, or any conference to a selected position.
• No post-formula review or manual score adjustment is permitted; the unrounded Index still determines every published position.

NRR v0.42 schedule-adjusted-record calibration

What changed

• Kept the public 30% Quality-Win Depth, 30% Schedule-Adjusted Record, 15% Opponent-Adjusted Performance, 20% Loss Integrity, and 5% Win Control balance unchanged.
• Rebalanced Schedule-Adjusted Record internally from 65% achieved record / 20% fixed-benchmark performance / 15% schedule caliber to 50 / 30 / 20. Actual record remains the single largest input, while performance against the same fixed benchmark and the challenge of the slate receive enough authority to distinguish superficially similar records.
• Rebuilt schedule challenge without a school or conference rule. Ranked-opponent strength blends 90% selected official checkpoint standing with 10% national play-level strength; unranked opponents retain play-level strength. Schedule caliber blends 30% of the complete slate with 70% of one smooth challenge-weighted average.
• Counted every opponent and retained continuous values: no Top-25-only rule, hard schedule tier, counted-game cap, conference criterion, named-team adjustment, or manual reorder enters the result.
• Regenerated all twelve 2024–25 weekly checkpoints and the public audit from one formula path. At 2024 Selection Sunday, Ohio State posts a 74.5 Schedule-Adjusted Record versus 71.4 for SMU, 71.4 for BYU, and 70.5 for Arizona State; Texas posts 68.5.

Still open

• The 50 / 30 / 20 internal blend, 90 / 10 ranked-opponent input, and 30 / 70 full-slate/challenge blend remain public calibration choices requiring additional held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• The calibration is intended to improve general schedule and benchmark behavior, not force a named team or conference to a selected rank.
• No post-formula review or manual score adjustment is permitted; the unrounded Index still determines every published position.

NRR v0.41 résumé-priority calibration

What changed

• Shifted five public weight points from Opponent-Adjusted Performance to Quality-Win Depth. The published balance is now 30% Quality-Win Depth, 30% Schedule-Adjusted Record, 20% Loss Integrity, 15% Opponent-Adjusted Performance, and 5% Win Control.
• Kept every underlying win, record, performance, loss, record-foundation, and head-to-head equation unchanged so the release isolates one visible question: how the public priorities should balance earned victories against descriptive play-level performance.
• Regenerated all twelve 2024–25 checkpoints from the same formula path. The experiment moves 2024 Alabama from No. 14 to No. 13, Indiana from No. 8 to No. 10, Arizona State from No. 10 to No. 8, and BYU from No. 11 to No. 9; at the 2025 checkpoint, North Texas moves from No. 24 to No. 22. Those tradeoffs are disclosed rather than manually corrected.
• Reordered the public résumé component bars by published weight—Quality-Win Depth, Schedule-Adjusted Record, Loss Integrity, Opponent-Adjusted Performance, and Win Control—and kept the Outside Top 25 badge on one line in compact evidence rows.

Still open

• The 30 / 30 / 15 / 20 / 5 balance remains a public calibration choice requiring held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• The Indiana and Arizona State movement shows that greater Quality-Win Depth emphasis is a real tradeoff, not a cost-free correction.
• No named-team adjustment, conference criterion, post-formula reorder, or manual score change enters v0.41.

NRR v0.40 record and schedule-validation revision

What changed

• Shifted the public balance from 30% Quality-Win Depth and 25% Schedule-Adjusted Record to 25% and 30%. Opponent-adjusted performance, Loss Integrity, and Win Control remain 20%, 20%, and 5%. The change gives the complete record more authority and limits the ability of one elite win to carry an otherwise weaker résumé.
• Kept full-slate opponent caliber as the performance-credibility baseline and added one continuous validation gate using the two strongest national schedule connections. The same formula runs for every team; no school, conference, Group-of-Five flag, poll label, or manual placement enters it.
• Changed the universal record-foundation schedule deduction to grow with loss rate to the 1.5 power. A one-loss soft-schedule résumé keeps materially more record credit than a two- or three-loss résumé against the same slate.
• Regenerated all twelve checkpoints. At 2024 Selection Sunday, Indiana moves from No. 15 to No. 8, Arizona State from No. 7 to No. 10, and BYU from No. 8 to No. 11. At the 2025 checkpoint, James Madison is No. 17, North Texas No. 24, and three-loss South Florida is outside the Top 25 at No. 27.
• Simplified compact win evidence by removing percentile clutter, preserving directly comparable evidence units, allowing full opponent names to wrap, and removing the unscored championship-policy bar from the public résumé card.

Still open

• The validation gate, record-foundation exponent, and 25 / 30 / 20 / 20 / 5 weights remain public calibration choices requiring held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• The revision is designed to improve general record and schedule behavior, not to force any named team to a selected rank.
• The official CFP checkpoint remains the majority input to Opponent Value, and every rank is still ordered by the unrounded formula Index.

NRR v0.39 soft-schedule credibility revision

What changed

• Kept the published 30 / 25 / 20 / 20 / 5 weights and the 65 / 20 / 15 schedule-adjusted-record blend; this release changes how isolated soft-schedule performance and record credibility are calibrated, not the public priorities.
• Replaced the symmetric 75 / 25 scored-performance blend with a one-directional soft-schedule credibility curve. The national play-level ridge remains the baseline; one continuous deduction grows below national schedule caliber 50 and fades toward zero as the slate strengthens. Strong schedules receive no positive bonus.
• Applied the same shortfall lightly to Win Control and to the record foundation. The record deduction grows continuously with loss frequency, preserving more credit for a one-loss soft-schedule résumé than for a two- or three-loss résumé against the same slate.
• Regenerated all twelve checkpoints. At 2025 Selection Sunday, James Madison moves from No. 16 to No. 18, North Texas from No. 19 to No. 25, and three-loss South Florida from No. 23 to No. 26. Oklahoma remains above Alabama, while the leading contenders retain their order.
• Kept the model conference-neutral and formula-driven: no conference name, Group-of-Five flag, school, brand, poll label, hard schedule tier, or manual rank adjustment enters the correction.

Still open

• The four-point softplus scale, 4.5-point performance factor, 40-point Win Control decay, 1.15 record curve, and loss-rate schedule deduction are public calibration choices requiring held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• A weak schedule does not erase an excellent record; it reduces confidence progressively when that résumé also accumulates losses.
• The next validation step should test the same equation against additional seasons without altering it to fit individual teams.

NRR v0.38 schedule-connectivity revision

What changed

• Added a checkpoint-wide percentile beside every comparable win-evidence value, so each result now carries a cross-FBS checkpoint comparison without replacing the evidence units used by the formula.
• Rebuilt compact loss rows around two explicitly different numbers: individual game severity before résumé curves and the final marginal Index hit after loss frequency, weakest-loss credibility, record foundation, and title-game policy.
• Changed schedule-adjusted record from 70% achieved record / 20% fixed-benchmark performance / 10% slate caliber to 65 / 20 / 15. Record remains the clear majority while a soft slate receives modestly more universal opponent context.
• Changed scored opponent-adjusted performance to 75% national ridge performance plus 25% schedule-connected performance. The connection is continuous, uses the same full-slate-caliber rule for every team, and never reads a school, conference, brand, poll, or Group-of-Five label.
• Regenerated all twelve checkpoints. James Madison remains No. 16 in 2025; North Texas moves from No. 18 to No. 19; Arizona moves to No. 18. Across the audited 2024 Selection Sunday field, every affected Top-25 team moves no more than two places.

Still open

• Evidence percentiles are descriptive checkpoint context; evidence units remain the actual formula input.
• A weak schedule should not erase an excellent record, and an excellent record should not conceal a weak opponent portfolio. Additional held-out seasons are still needed to test that balance.
• The 65 / 20 / 15 schedule-adjusted-record blend and 75 / 25 scored-performance blend are public calibration choices that require the live 2026 weekly run.

NRR cross-résumé win comparison

What changed

• Replaced the misleading compact QWD allocation with two genuinely cross-résumé measures: formula-derived Opponent Value and comparable evidence units.
• Rebuilt expanded win cards around Opponent Value, Game Grade, and evidence units; the proportional Quality-Win Depth and Index allocations now sit inside the calculation disclosure and are explicitly labeled within-team figures.
• Clarified that a team’s bounded QWD score is calculated from its complete win portfolio, so an individual win’s proportional allocation cannot be compared with an allocation on a different résumé.
• Added a universal regression audit confirming that Indiana’s 2025 road win at Oregon and neutral-site win over Ohio State each produce at least 15% more evidence than Texas Tech’s wins over BYU and Utah.
• Kept NRR v0.37, all five component weights, every checkpoint ranking, and every conference-neutral rule unchanged; this release corrects a public comparison error rather than forcing the model toward named teams.

Still open

• Evidence units are formula inputs rather than standalone rating points; the complete résumé still determines the bounded Quality-Win Depth component.
• The v0.37 evidence calibration remains subject to held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• Opponent Value, Game Grade, and evidence units should remain visible together so no single contextual number is mistaken for the complete résumé score.

NRR v0.37 continuous elite-win recalibration

What changed

• Kept the published 30 / 25 / 20 / 20 / 5 weights and changed only the elite end of Quality-Win Depth evidence.
• Replaced the unrestricted exponential acceleration above the national midpoint with a continuous, unbounded diminishing-return transform. Every stronger opponent still produces more evidence; there is no hard cap, tier cutoff, or flat maximum.
• Preserved the existing supporting-win curve below the national midpoint, so the correction does not manufacture extra evidence for weak wins or use a school, conference, or brand label.
• Regenerated all twelve 2024–25 checkpoints, the downloadable weekly archive, and the machine audit from the same formula implementation.
• Reduced the ability of one elite result to overwhelm an otherwise ordinary résumé while retaining elite wins as the strongest individual evidence.

Still open

• The 0.35 elite-evidence diminishing rate remains a public calibration choice requiring held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• Quality-Win Depth remains nonlinear and the published component remains smoothly bounded, even though individual opponent evidence has no hard ceiling.
• Additional backtesting should evaluate whether the same calibration remains stable when the official Top 25 has a different distribution of elite and fringe teams.

NRR win-evidence hierarchy

What changed

• Kept the published 30 / 25 / 20 / 20 / 5 formula after testing a 10% Win Control alternative; the larger share frequently elevated dominant teams with weak opponent portfolios rather than correcting them.
• Renamed the public Win Value label Game Grade to make clear that it is a comparable 0–100 result grade, not the win’s direct rating contribution.
• Added each win’s actual Quality-Win Depth contribution to the collapsed résumé row, so elite wins no longer appear only modestly better because their nonlinear evidence conversion was hidden.
• Redesigned expanded win cards around two primary actions—open the opponent résumé or the box score—plus one compact impact strip. Opponent mix, checkpoint math, and the complete explanation now sit behind a Show calculation disclosure.
• Kept every NRR formula, checkpoint score, ranking, and conference-neutral rule unchanged; this release improves the explanation and hierarchy of the existing calculation.

Still open

• Win Control remains a deliberately small 5% separator because it adds sustained-game information but can inflate teams that dominate weak opponents if given too much weight.
• The live 2026 weekly run remains the best next test of whether the five-measure balance generalizes without manual team or conference adjustments.

Saturday mosaic and sitewide editorial polish

What changed

• Rebuilt twelve of the thirty opening photographs around genuinely different visual ideas: an 1882 team portrait, field storming, rain celebration, snowy tailgate, midnight ritual, campus hill, mountain venue, sunset, fireworks, close game action, and a campus locomotive.
• Retained the collage rules of thirty distinct schools, thirty distinct photographs, real documentary sources, no Michigan imagery, and a public source-and-license record for every tile.
• Changed the opening collage from an arbitrary tile grid into a deliberate editorial mosaic with selected focal photographs, brighter image treatment, and less visual competition behind the proposal headline.
• Condensed the four playoff reward tiers into a two-by-two scoreboard so the opening feels more photographic and less like one oversized blue panel.
• Rebuilt the global footer into clear Explore, Participate, and Project Record directories; strengthened active navigation, keyboard focus, shared card interaction, and responsive spacing across the site.

Still open

• The opening collage remains an editorial cross-section rather than a complete catalog of college-football culture.
• Future imagery should replace—not merely add to—the mosaic and must introduce a new school plus a genuinely different visual idea.
• Independent legal review of reuse terms, trademarks, and depicted people remains appropriate before commercial launch or monetization.

NRR résumé-card impact transparency

What changed

• Audited the 2024 Notre Dame loss to Northern Illinois against Georgia’s road loss at Ole Miss. The formula already treats the weak-opponent home upset as substantially worse in the final rating: approximately 11.33 published Index points versus 5.46, without a manual team or conference adjustment.
• Replaced the misleading compact loss-row severity number with the loss’s marginal hit to the final published Index, where a larger negative number is worse.
• Added a three-stage loss proof separating pre-curve game severity, Loss Integrity component impact, and final Index impact. The former 32.2 and 35.1 figures remain available only as game-severity inputs rather than being presented as the cross-résumé comparison.
• Renamed the compact win headline Win Value, defined it as a 0–100 grade where higher is better, and added a three-stage path from Win Value through Quality-Win Depth points to final Index points.
• Kept version 0.36’s formula, weights, rankings, checkpoint data, and conference-neutral rules unchanged; this release corrects explanation and hierarchy rather than recalibrating results.

Still open

• Marginal effects remain nonlinear and therefore do not sum exactly across a full résumé.
• Pre-curve severity remains useful for explaining one game, but final marginal Index effect is the proper comparison across different résumés.
• The 2026 live weekly run and additional held-out seasons remain necessary calibration evidence.

Homepage collage editorial rebuild

What changed

• Replaced ten weak or poorly cropped homepage tiles with real college-football photographs centered on packed stadiums, game action, team entrances, and student energy.
• Removed the culturally sensitive horse-rider image, the isolated rider portrait, the firearm-bearing mascot portrait, the empty locker room, the awkward handler-and-dog frame, and several static mascot or object shots.
• Added distinct scenes from Notre Dame, Georgia, Utah, Virginia, Wyoming, Alabama, Florida, Tulane, California, and Appalachian State without repeating a school or photograph in the thirty-tile collage.
• Rechecked every replacement source and license, updated the public credits automatically, and resized the new assets for practical web delivery while preserving clean responsive crops.

Still open

• The collage remains an editorial cross-section rather than a complete representation of every FBS institution.
• Future replacements should meet the same standards: clearly football-specific, visually energetic, crop-safe, properly licensed, and free of gratuitous weapons or culturally sensitive mascot imagery.
• Independent legal review of image reuse terms and depicted marks remains appropriate before monetization.

NRR v0.36 loss-accounting and championship consistency

What changed

• Kept the published 30 / 25 / 20 / 20 / 5 headline weights while moving schedule-adjusted record internally to 70% achieved record, 20% benchmark overperformance, and 10% slate caliber.
• Raised the multiplicative additional-loss frequency rate from 20% to 25%, making a third loss materially more damaging without awarding positive credit for a so-called quality loss.
• Applied qualifying conference-title protection consistently: a first title-game loss to that opponent now counts as half game damage and half a loss in the frequency and record calculations. The loss remains visible and still lowers the résumé.
• Narrowed peer head-to-head from a 2.75-point bonus across a 2.5-point band to a 0.35-point tiebreak inside a one-point band. A win over one nearby peer can no longer lift that team above unrelated teams with stronger records.
• Regenerated all twelve checkpoints. At 2024 Selection Sunday, 11–2 Penn State rises from No. 10 to No. 6 and ranks above 9–3 Ole Miss at No. 11; Notre Dame remains No. 4. The audit again reports no school, conference, or manual placement rule.

Still open

• Loss-frequency strength and half-loss title-game protection remain policy choices requiring additional held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• Penn State’s rise reflects record and loss-accounting corrections, not positive credit for losing to highly ranked teams.
• The narrow head-to-head tiebreak remains formula-defined but intentionally cannot dominate the full résumé.

NRR v0.35 record-majority calibration and résumé fit

What changed

• Shifted the published balance to 30% quality-win depth, 25% schedule-adjusted record, 20% opponent-adjusted performance, 20% loss integrity, and 5% win control. The change transfers five points from win depth to the record-based component without removing elite-win evidence.
• Strengthened the universal record foundation to a 40% floor plus 60% actual winning percentage. Actual record is now the majority input to résumé credibility, with the existing half-loss protection preserved for a first conference-title defeat.
• Regenerated all twelve 2024–25 checkpoints. At 2024 Selection Sunday, 11–1 Notre Dame rises from No. 6 to No. 4; at the 2025 checkpoint, 10–2 Oklahoma and 10–2 Notre Dame both clear 10–3 Alabama, while 5–7 Florida State falls to No. 42.
• Expanded the opponent-résumé overlay for laptop widths, gave its Index a dedicated wider column, and removed numeric clipping from the score and component panels.
• Rebuilt the public CSV and machine audit from the same formula. Every rank remains ordered by the unrounded Index with no school, conference, or manual placement rule.

Still open

• The 30 / 25 / 20 / 20 / 5 weights and 40 / 60 foundation remain calibration choices requiring additional held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• The proposal protects a first conference-title loss by half inside the formula; that policy remains separate from any team-specific judgment.
• Résumé overlays prioritize readable comparison evidence rather than complete advanced-stat or drive-level reports.

NRR v0.34 record foundation and résumé interaction pass

What changed

• Added one universal record foundation after the five weighted measures: 60% floor plus 40% actual winning percentage. Strong opponent evidence remains valuable, but it can no longer erase the season’s actual result.
• Applied the foundation inside the formula and before publication—not as a manual reorder. The same conference-neutral equation runs for every team and week, with the existing half-loss treatment preserved for a first conference-title defeat.
• Regenerated all twelve 2024–25 checkpoints. At 2025 Selection Sunday, 5–7 Florida State moves from No. 22 to No. 33, while 10–2 Oklahoma moves above 10–3 Alabama on the formula Index.
• Added record-foundation and pre-foundation weighted-measure columns to the public CSV and expanded the automated reconstruction audit.
• Made opponent names inside win and loss cards directly interactive: click to expand the game proof and double-click the name to open the opponent résumé. Refined the résumé and box-score overlays for laptop viewing and replaced misleading tiny loss headlines with each loss’s total damage.

Still open

• The 60 / 40 record-foundation balance is a public calibration choice requiring additional held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• The résumé model still evaluates accomplishment rather than future team strength and remains an aid—not a replacement claim for the CFP committee.
• Game overlays currently publish line scores and late-game checkpoints, not full drives, individual statistics, injury context, or video.

NRR v0.33 official-checkpoint opponent value and game archive

What changed

• Rebuilt Opponent Value around the official weekly CFP checkpoint: 60% official standing, 20% schedule-connected performance, 10% schedule caliber, and 10% schedule-adjusted record. An unranked opponent receives a formula-derived standing baseline capped below the official No. 25 floor.
• Removed the frozen provisional NRR Index from final Opponent Value, reducing circularity between one team’s NRR score and another team’s Quality-Win Depth while retaining the separate frozen band used only by the narrow peer head-to-head rule.
• Added large horizontal opponent-résumé overlays to every win and loss card. Readers can inspect the opponent’s Index, record, official rank, five scored measures, best wins, and losses without replacing the résumé already open.
• Added archived game views with final score, venue, date, quarter-by-quarter scoring, overtime periods when present, late-game checkpoints, and direct links to either team’s résumé.
• Regenerated and audited all twelve 2024–25 checkpoints. At 2025 Selection Sunday, Indiana records 93.1 Quality-Win Depth and 91.8 schedule-adjusted record; Ole Miss ranks No. 6 with a 76.3 QWD, while Notre Dame ranks No. 12 with 54.0.

Still open

• The 60 / 20 / 10 / 10 Opponent Value blend and curved official-standing scale remain public calibration choices requiring additional held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• Official CFP standing is intentionally the majority Opponent Value input in the CFP-window model; preseason research previews still require a separately labeled source policy.
• The quarter-by-quarter archive summarizes scoring flow but does not yet include drives, individual statistics, injuries, or video.

NRR v0.32 nonlinear elite-win evidence

What changed

• Removed the 55 / 25 / 10 / 7 / 3 portfolio shares. Every distinct defeated opponent now receives the same evidence equation, so a fourth equivalent quality win is worth the same evidence as the first rather than being discounted by order.
• Added an exponential opponent-evidence curve after the comparable Game Value calculation. The opponent establishes the curved base; sustained game control is limited to a 0.85–1.15 multiplier. One truly elite win can therefore outweigh two fringe Top-25 wins without letting margin manufacture opponent quality.
• Added evidence from every distinct win before converting the additive total to a bounded 0–100 Quality-Win Depth score through one smooth saturation curve. Lesser wins remain visible but contribute very little; there is no five-win cutoff.
• Added cumulative Top 5, Top 10, Top 15, Top 20, and Top 25 win counts to every weekly résumé card. Expanded win proof now publishes Game Value, evidence units, share of accumulated evidence, component points, raw-composite points, and final Index points.
• Regenerated the twelve 2024–25 checkpoints. At 2025 Selection Sunday, undefeated Indiana records 91.8 schedule-adjusted record and 89.0 Quality-Win Depth; BYU records 69.9 and 55.2. Ole Miss ranks No. 6 with 67.5 QWD, above Notre Dame at No. 12 with 47.0.

Still open

• The 18-point evidence scale, six-unit depth decay, 0.85–1.15 performance band, 40 / 25 / 25 / 10 Opponent Value blend, and peer head-to-head band remain public calibration choices requiring held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• Official Top 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 counts are public checkpoint context; continuous formula-derived Opponent Value—not a conference or school label—creates scoring evidence.
• The provisional opponent graph remains frozen after one pass to prevent circular résumé inflation.

NRR v0.31 defining wins, record anchor, and peer result

What changed

• Rebuilt schedule-adjusted record around 65% achieved record, 25% wins above one fixed national benchmark expectation, and 10% full-slate caliber. The 2025 undefeated Selection Sunday résumé now scores above 90 in SAR instead of being compressed near 80.
• Reweighted the five-win portfolio to 55 / 25 / 10 / 7 / 3. The two defining wins now supply 80% of Quality-Win Depth, while the public Game Value remains directly comparable when two teams defeat the same opponent at the same venue.
• Rebuilt Opponent Value as 40% frozen provisional NRR Index, 25% schedule-connected performance, 25% schedule caliber, and 10% schedule-adjusted record. The connection correction moves two points per schedule-caliber point around 50, reducing soft closed-slate inflation without a school or conference label.
• Added a capped, formula-defined peer head-to-head credit: a direct winner receives 2.75 raw-composite points only when the teams have the same record and sit within 2.5 frozen provisional résumé points. The credit appears in the résumé proof and changes the Index itself; it is not a manual reorder.
• Changed the weakest-loss credibility rule from a broad linear penalty to a curved factor below Opponent Value 60. Borderline national losses remain negative without being treated like truly catastrophic losses, which still receive the steepest penalty.

Still open

• The 55 / 25 / 10 / 7 / 3 portfolio, 40 / 25 / 25 / 10 Opponent Value blend, two-for-one schedule connection, 2.5-point peer band, and 2.75-point credit remain public calibration choices requiring held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• NRR v0.31 is a résumé model, not a predictive power rating and not a proposed replacement for the CFP committee.
• The provisional opponent graph remains frozen after one pass to prevent circular résumé inflation.

NRR v0.30 comparable quality-win values

What changed

• Removed portfolio-position distortion from individual wins. The five best distinct wins now receive equal 20% shares, so defeating the same opponent at the same venue no longer changes from a first-slot contribution to a fourth-slot contribution.
• Rebuilt final Opponent Value as 60% frozen provisional NRR Index, 25% actual record, and 15% opponent-adjusted performance. The separate schedule term was removed because schedule context already enters through the frozen provisional Index.
• Defined every comparable game value as 75% opponent-and-venue value plus 25% sustained game performance. Final margin and Q4, 6:00, and 2:00 checkpoints may separate a dominant result from a narrow escape without allowing portfolio order to manufacture the difference.
• Changed the résumé-card headline from position-weighted QWD points to the directly comparable Game Value, while retaining the exact 20% component contribution inside the expanded proof.
• Regenerated all twelve 2024–25 checkpoints. At 2025 Selection Sunday, the Southern California and Oklahoma home wins over Michigan now carry Game Values of 72.0 and 68.7 and QWD contributions of 14.41 and 13.74, rather than 34.05 and 6.04.

Still open

• The 60 / 25 / 15 Opponent Value mix and 75 / 25 game-value mix remain calibration choices requiring additional held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• Equal shares favor full five-win depth over a position-weighted portfolio; the effect on teams with one elite win and thinner supporting résumés remains an explicit validation question.
• The provisional Index remains frozen after one pass to prevent circular résumé inflation.

NRR v0.29 elite-win and road-context correction

What changed

• Rebuilt Quality-Win Depth so the best defeated opponent supplies 50% of the five-win portfolio, followed by 22%, 14%, 9%, and 5%. This prevents several ordinary wins from automatically outweighing one elite result while preserving meaningful depth.
• Added a frozen first-pass NRR Index to Opponent Value. The final blend is 50% opponent-adjusted performance, 15% full-schedule caliber, and 35% provisional NRR; the one-way sequence captures the opponent’s complete résumé without circular score inflation.
• Raised maximum road context to six points and neutral context to three, then scaled both continuously by opponent quality. An elite road win receives the full adjustment, while a soft road win cannot manufacture equivalent résumé value.
• Reduced the separate quality-win control bonus from eight to four game-value points because Win Control already carries margin evidence. Loss Integrity remains on the independent first-pass opponent graph and is unchanged by this Quality-Win Depth revision.
• Regenerated all twelve 2024–25 checkpoints with no team, school, conference, poll, or post-formula exception. At 2025 Selection Sunday, Ole Miss is No. 7 and Notre Dame No. 8; Ole Miss now leads Quality-Win Depth 70.5–67.5, with the Oklahoma road win contributing 44.58 points versus 37.92 from Notre Dame’s Southern California home win.

Still open

• The 50 / 22 / 14 / 9 / 5 portfolio and 50 / 15 / 35 Opponent Value blend remain calibration choices requiring held-out seasons and the live 2026 weekly run.
• The provisional Index is intentionally frozen after one pass; repeated iteration would create circular résumé inflation.
• Official CFP tiers remain comparison labels, while NRR scoring remains conference-neutral and formula-derived.

NRR v0.28 opponent-value recalibration

What changed

• Rebuilt Opponent Value as 70% opponent-adjusted performance, 20% full-schedule caliber, and 10% schedule-adjusted record. The formula now distinguishes how good an opponent played, how demanding its entire slate was, and what record it achieved.
• Reduced the record-driven inflation that could make a soft-schedule opponent appear far more valuable than a difficult-schedule opponent with additional losses. No conference, school, brand, poll, or recruiting label enters the correction.
• Recalculated every 2024 and 2025 weekly checkpoint. In the 2025 South Florida résumé, the road win at Florida now ranks ahead of the home win over Boise State and immediately behind the road win at North Texas, matching the evidence hierarchy without a team-specific override.
• Published the v0.28 weekly CSV, audit summary, formula explanation, proposal language, and résumé cards from the same regenerated archive.

Still open

• The 70 / 20 / 10 Opponent Value balance remains a public calibration choice and should be tested against the live 2026 season and additional held-out years.
• A difficult schedule can identify a resilient opponent, but it cannot turn a loss-heavy team into a Top-25 win by itself; performance and record still supply 80% of Opponent Value.
• Quality-win tiers remain time-locked national comparisons, not conference or brand judgments.

Cleanup batch three and year-round coordination

What changed

• Moved the College Football–NFL Coordination Compact’s page-specific presentation rules out of the oversized global stylesheet and into a route-owned stylesheet, reducing unrelated global code without changing the site, URL, or visual system.
• Added a six-milestone May-to-May operating cycle covering the shared calendar lock, one preseason athlete-status guide, finalist protections, the January championship handoff, evaluation and return procedures, and a public annual audit.
• Replaced the implementation framework’s generic negotiation window with the same concrete annual operating cycle and pilot scorecard used by the compact.
• Retained all twelve current weekly NRR snapshots, personal photographs, and live editorial images. This cleanup does not change the NRR formula, historical ranking order, or public archive.

Still open

• The current image library remains the largest published payload. A future batch should create carefully reviewed responsive derivatives and modern-format versions without lowering source quality or deleting Alec’s originals.
• The two companion coordination documents remain current at the principle level; their next formal document release should incorporate the six-milestone operating calendar.
• Every milestone remains a negotiation proposal requiring agreement among the CFP, NCAA, NFL, NFLPA, conferences, athletes, bowls, venues, and media partners.

Cleanup batch two and same-site coordination

What changed

• Confirmed the College Football–NFL Coordination Compact as an integrated route inside the existing College Football Reform Project, with the same primary navigation, footer, proposal links, and public domain rather than a separate website.
• Added regression coverage for the coordination route, its two companion-document downloads, and its entry points from the homepage, proposal, implementation framework, and footer.
• Consolidated twenty-eight superseded NRR research downloads into one verified legacy archive while keeping the current v0.27 weekly audit and summary available as direct public files.
• Removed six verified orphaned, non-personal image assets that had no live page, component, metadata, or stylesheet caller. Personal photographs and every currently rendered editorial image were deliberately retained.

Still open

• The legacy archive preserves the research record, but older direct file URLs are no longer promoted as current public downloads.
• The local dependency directory remains intentionally untouched because deleting it would slow future development without reducing the published website package.
• Additional cleanup should continue in measured batches with build, ranking, image-reuse, route, and download regression checks after every material removal.

College Football–NFL Coordination Compact

What changed

• Added a formal coordination compact without creating a seventh reform card. The compact is integrated into the proposal’s calendar, player-transition, governance, and implementation chapters and published as a separate companion document.
• Established a negotiated target of Saturday primetime during NFL Wild Card Weekend for the college national championship, with the NFL retaining earlier Saturday inventory plus its Sunday and Monday windows. The site explicitly distinguishes this proposal from the current 2027 calendar.
• Created One Clean Doorway for professional transition: athletes may explore the draft and receive advice without losing eligibility, may return through a fixed withdrawal deadline, and cross an objective finality line only through a signed NFL player contract, NFL regular-season roster or practice compensation, or NFL regular-season participation.
• Defined a three-year renewable council compact covering calendar publication, player transition, consent-based health-data portability, verified testing, insurance, degree completion, workload protection, and public reporting.
• Left the National Résumé Rating formula, historical archive, and published weights unchanged.

Still open

• No CFP, NFL, NFLPA, media-rights, bowl, venue, or athlete-representation agreement currently guarantees the proposed Saturday window.
• The precise legal effect of draft entry, contracts, compensation, roster status, and return to college requires labor, eligibility, collective-bargaining, and antitrust review.
• Any NFL or NFLPA contribution to health, education, insurance, or longitudinal research must be negotiated and independently audited.

NRR v0.27 opponent tiers and game-level contribution proof

What changed

• Added the national Top-25 Opponent Value line at each weekly checkpoint as the public quality-win standard. Every qualifying win is now labeled Top 5, Top 10, Top 15, Top 20, or Top 25 from the same time-locked national order.
• Allowed a modest four-point road or two-point neutral adjustment to lift only a just-outside opponent across that public threshold. Ordinary sub-Top-25 wins appear only as separately labeled supporting depth, while a borderline No. 25 result receives only borderline credit.
• Expanded each Saturday résumé card with the opponent tier, qualification basis, depth slot and share, checkpoints, component contribution, raw NRR points, and final Index effect for every scored win.
• Applied the same opponent tiers to every loss and published each loss's marginal integrity and Index effect, while retaining the rule that a loss can never earn positive quality credit.
• Preserved the v0.26 continuous ranking calculation while regenerating and auditing the complete 2024–25 weekly archive under NRR v0.27 with no team, conference, poll, or post-formula adjustment.

Still open

• The weekly Top-25 threshold is a transparent communication choice and should be tested in the held-out 2026 season.
• Road and neutral qualification bonuses require sensitivity review so contextual credit does not create an overly broad quality-win pool.
• Opponent tiers explain résumé context; they do not claim that the NRR should replace the CFP committee.

NRR v0.26 published balance and record calibration

What changed

• Changed the published NRR balance to 35% quality-win depth, 20% schedule-adjusted record, 20% opponent-adjusted performance, 20% loss integrity, and 5% win control. The model now gives a damaged loss profile the same published weight as schedule-adjusted record and opponent-adjusted performance.
• Made achieved record the clearer center of schedule-adjusted record. The component now blends 60% reliability-adjusted record, 25% full-slate caliber, and 15% wins above benchmark expectation, while continuing to penalize repeated losses without using school or conference labels.
• Reframed the public model controls as a private what-if workspace. Readers may test a different weighting balance in their browser, restore the published default in one action, and cannot change the official NRR archive or proposal.
• Regenerated the complete 2024–25 weekly archive under NRR v0.26 and retained strict Index-order, component-range, and no-override auditing across every public checkpoint.

Still open

• The 35 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 5 balance remains a published proposal choice rather than a settled scientific constant and should be evaluated against the held-out 2026 season.
• The public what-if workspace changes component weights only; it does not rewrite component definitions, official comparisons, or historical evidence.
• The NRR remains an independent résumé aid, not a claim that it should replace the CFP committee.

Tradition collage and stadium-entry refinement

What changed

• Replaced remaining generic crowd, band, and historic filler with recognizable college-football traditions across thirty distinct school subjects. The atlas contains no repeated photograph, no repeated school, and no Michigan imagery.
• Expanded the final visual range with live mascots, signature entrances, stadium rituals, championship celebrations, game action, and town traditions while retaining one source-and-license record for every tile.
• Applied localized, soft blur directly over visible commercial marks in the real stadium panorama. The treatment adds no replacement label, invented stadium name, or promotional copy.
• Redesigned the pre-entry tunnel screen as a focused invitation with a restrained glass panel, concise interaction cues, and one primary Step onto the field action while preserving the user-controlled panorama after entry.

Still open

• The thirty-image atlas is an editorial cross-section rather than a complete representation of every FBS institution or tradition.
• Mobile crop behavior and the panorama blur mask should receive a final device-level editorial review before commercial launch.
• Independent legal review of image reuse terms and depicted trademarks remains appropriate before monetization.

Homepage tradition atlas and navigation consolidation

What changed

• Rebuilt the opening collage as a thirty-school atlas with thirty distinct source photographs, no repeated school subject, no Michigan imagery, and no generic crowd-wave tile.
• Expanded the visual range across mascots, entrances, tailgates, stadiums, student rituals, historic teams, game action, town traditions, and fan celebrations while limiting marching-band imagery to two photographs.
• Moved the long-form Analysis collection out of primary navigation and renamed it Essays in the footer. The Evidence ledger remains a primary destination because it uniquely documents readiness, safeguards, source quality, and unresolved validation work.
• Centralized collage subjects, crop positions, source links, creator credits, and licenses in one audited manifest, then added an automated uniqueness and category-diversity check.
• Updated the public image-credit ledger to document the collage rule and the complete thirty-image source set.

Still open

• The collage is an editorial cross-section rather than a complete representation of every FBS institution or tradition.
• Future photographs must add a new school subject and a genuinely new visual idea; additions should not weaken the current source and license standard.
• Independent legal review of reuse terms remains appropriate before any commercial launch or monetization.

NRR v0.25 formula lock and persistent archive

What changed

• Moved the season and release controls into a persistent switchboard that stays with the ranking table, team card, comparison views, and formula controls as the reader scrolls. Desktop and mobile readers can change year or week without returning to the top of the page.
• Removed the post-formula review and Index-materialization layer. One continuous raw composite now produces the published Index, rank, weekly movement, table order, team card, and downloadable archive; there are no school, conference, poll, or post-score overrides.
• Raised component precision and retained the unrounded raw composite in the audit export, eliminating artificial one-tenth score staircases while keeping the public Index readable and exactly reconstructable.
• Rebuilt schedule-adjusted record around 60% achieved record, 25% full-slate caliber, and 15% wins above a fixed benchmark expectation so weak schedules cannot manufacture elite record scores.
• Published the v0.25 weekly CSV and machine-readable audit. All 12 releases and 1,620 team-checkpoints pass with zero formula-order errors, zero invalid or saturated components, and zero post-formula adjustments.

Still open

• The public archive intentionally begins with the first CFP release and currently covers 2024 and 2025; earlier-season calculations would be research previews rather than official NRR releases.
• The v0.25 component calibrations remain provisional and require a held-out 2026 weekly audit before adoption.
• The NRR remains an independent résumé aid, not a claim that it should replace the CFP committee.

NRR v0.24 archive and integrity audit

What changed

• Rebuilt the Rankings page around the reader’s actual tasks: jump to the complete current Top 25, browse a combined year-and-release archive, inspect the model, or read the method record.
• Replaced the separate season and oversized week controls with one compact archive navigator for 2024 and 2025, all six public releases per season, previous/next movement, and a mobile release menu. Every current poll now shows all 25 teams without a hidden second page.
• Corrected Loss Integrity’s overlapping weak-loss deductions. Version 0.24 uses one bounded continuous weak-opponent adjustment, reciprocal aggregate-damage decay, a multiplicative additional-loss factor, and a bounded weakest-loss credibility factor; it preserves severe exceptional-loss consequences without forcing ordinary multi-loss résumés to zero.
• Added a permanent release audit covering 12 checkpoints and 1,620 team-checkpoints. It rejects non-finite or saturated scored components, invalid Loss Integrity values, nonsequential ranks, and any table that is not strictly ordered by Final NRR Index.
• Published the v0.24 weekly CSV and machine-readable audit summary while preserving the 40 / 20 / 20 / 15 / 5 proposal weights and every conference-neutral input rule.

Still open

• The public archive intentionally begins with the first CFP release and currently covers 2024 and 2025; earlier-season calculations would be research previews rather than official NRR releases.
• The revised loss curve needs additional held-out seasons and week-to-week stability testing before its calibration should be considered settled.
• The NRR remains an independent résumé aid, not a claim that it should replace the CFP committee.

NRR v0.23 weekly checkpoint archive

What changed

• Preserved the published 40 / 20 / 20 / 15 / 5 formula, every scored component, and every universal review rule from v0.22.
• Rebuilt the model at twelve time-locked checkpoints: all five Tuesday CFP releases plus Selection Sunday in both 2024 and 2025. Each run uses only games completed through the preceding Saturday, preventing future results from leaking into an earlier week.
• Established a public release policy: NRR begins with the season’s first official CFP ranking and updates with each committee release. Any earlier-season calculation is labeled a research preview rather than an official NRR release.
• Added season and week controls, same-date CFP comparisons, movement since the prior NRR, and a six-checkpoint path for every selected team.
• Published a downloadable weekly audit file and added validation that rejects non-finite component values. The audit also corrected missing late-game checkpoint fields and a floating-probability boundary without changing the formula.

Still open

• The archive currently covers two complete seasons; additional held-out seasons are needed before any calibration rule should be treated as settled.
• Earlier-season research previews, lineup-aware tests, and formal week-to-week stability thresholds remain open.
• The NRR remains an independent résumé aid, not a claim that it should replace the CFP committee.

NRR v0.22 record-burden correction

What changed

• Kept the published 40 / 20 / 20 / 15 / 5 component weights and every scored formula unchanged.
• Added a conference-neutral record-burden review: when a team with one additional loss is within five raw-composite points, it must retain materially stronger opponent evidence to remain ahead of the better record. The evidence index uses 60% quality-win depth and 40% opponent-adjusted performance; a 14-point advantage is required to defeat the record burden.
• Required the existing opponent-credibility gate before the catastrophic-loss review can promote a team. A soft résumé can no longer gain places merely because nearby teams carry damaged Loss Integrity.
• Published the v0.22 five-season audit. In 2025 Arizona and Michigan move ahead of four-loss Louisville and Arizona State; North Texas falls outside the Top 25; Navy moves to No. 25. The first sixteen positions remain unchanged.
• Applied no school, conference, poll, brand, recruiting, or roster adjustment.

Still open

• The five-point neighborhood, 60 / 40 opponent-evidence blend, and 14-point materiality threshold are public calibration choices requiring weekly and held-out validation.
• Record burden is intentionally narrow: it compares teams separated by exactly one loss and does not establish a rigid loss-count sorting rule.
• The NRR remains an independent résumé aid, not a claim that it should replace the CFP committee.

NRR v0.21 catastrophic-loss correction

What changed

• Kept the published 40 / 20 / 20 / 15 / 5 component weights, every quality-win, schedule-adjusted-record, opponent-adjusted-performance, and win-control formula, and the v0.20 Final Index reconciliation unchanged.
• Added a universal continuous catastrophic-loss deduction below Opponent Value 50. Each value point below 50 removes six additional loss-integrity points after the ordinary damage curve, while Loss Integrity remains bounded from zero to 100.
• Required at least 25 Loss Integrity points before a team can receive the record-review benefit. Below 15, a nearby team may pass only with at least ten more integrity points, no more than one additional loss, and no more than a six-point raw-score gap.
• Published the v0.21 five-season audit. In 2024 Notre Dame’s home loss to Northern Illinois reduces its Loss Integrity from 42.3 to 9.8 and moves it from No. 2 to No. 4; Oregon remains No. 1, Georgia No. 2, and Ohio State No. 3.
• Applied no school, conference, poll, brand, recruiting, or roster adjustment.

Still open

• Opponent Value 50, the six-for-one deduction, and the 25 / 15 review gates are public calibration choices requiring weekly and held-out validation.
• The loss review deliberately distinguishes a truly weak opponent from an ordinary bad loss, but it does not attempt to measure injuries, officiating, or lineup strength.
• The NRR remains an independent résumé aid, not a claim that it should replace the CFP committee.

NRR v0.20 index integrity correction

What changed

• Corrected the public Index contradiction identified in the 2025 Ole Miss case: a reviewed team can no longer appear above another team while displaying a lower final Index.
• Preserved every v0.19 component formula, the published 40 / 20 / 20 / 15 / 5 weights, and the universal record, command, and head-to-head review rules.
• Separated the pre-review Base Index from the Final NRR Index. Every review effect is now a disclosed adjustment rather than a hidden ordering rule.
• Defined the review adjustment as the minimum one-tenth of an Index point required to express the reviewed order. The public table now sorts strictly from highest to lowest Final NRR Index.
• Expanded the v0.20 five-season CSV with Base Index and review-adjustment fields so every final score can be independently reconstructed.

Still open

• The one-tenth-point reconciliation is an ordering calibration, not a new football-performance component; its long-term use requires weekly and held-out validation.
• Review thresholds remain provisional and are applied without conference, school, poll, brand, recruiting, or roster criteria.
• The NRR remains an independent résumé aid, not a claim that it should replace the CFP committee.

NRR v0.19 record-and-command review

What changed

• Kept all five v0.18 component formulas and the published 40 / 20 / 20 / 15 / 5 weights unchanged.
• Added a universal record-integrity review after the raw composite. A team with credible opponent evidence—OAP of at least 70 or quality-win depth of at least 50—can move through a nearby cluster when it owns a materially better record; a one-loss advantage is limited to a six-point raw-score neighborhood.
• Added a same-record Command Index for teams within four raw points. A team moves ahead only with a six-point command advantage measured by 75% opponent-adjusted performance and 25% win control.
• Kept head-to-head as the last local review and added no conference, school, poll, brand, recruiting, or roster adjustment.
• Published the v0.19 five-season audit. In 2024 Indiana moves from No. 17 to No. 7 and Tennessee from No. 12 to No. 8; in 2025 one-loss Ole Miss moves to No. 7 while three-loss Alabama moves to No. 12.

Still open

• The six-point record neighborhood, four-point same-record neighborhood, and six-point Command Index threshold require weekly and held-out validation.
• The opponent-credibility gate is designed to avoid automatic soft-schedule promotion; its 70 OAP and 50 quality-depth thresholds remain public calibration choices.
• The NRR remains an independent résumé aid, not a claim that it should replace the CFP committee.

NRR v0.18 command-and-scale calibration

What changed

• Preserved the published 40 / 20 / 20 / 15 / 5 weights, the 35 / 25 / 20 / 12 / 8 quality-win depth shares, and the v0.17 schedule-adjusted-record, opponent-adjusted-performance, and loss-integrity formulas.
• Added winning-side Q4, 6:00, and 2:00 checkpoints. Final margin supplies 70% of win control and the three checkpoints supply 30%; only a qualifying quality win can receive the separate control bonus, which is capped at five component points and never penalizes a close win.
• Introduced a public NRR Index of 20 + 0.85 × raw composite, capped at 100. The transformation is monotonic and therefore cannot change any ranking, comparison, or head-to-head policy result; undefeated 2025 Indiana now publishes at 91.6.
• Published a new five-season v0.18 audit and retained the older v0.17 download. In the 2025 checkpoint, 20 of the official Top 25 remain in the field, 18 are within three positions, and the average rank gap is 3.3.
• Documented the 2024 Alabama–Penn State–Tennessee ordering as an open calibration case rather than forcing a conference, brand, or multi-position head-to-head correction.

Still open

• The 2024 model places Alabama No. 6, Penn State No. 7, and Tennessee No. 12. Alabama’s five-win portfolio currently outweighs its near-zero loss-integrity score; that balance requires weekly and out-of-sample review.
• The checkpoint bonus is intentionally small, but its five-point cap and late-game weights remain provisional until a broader play-level validation is complete.
• The NRR remains an independent résumé aid, not a claim that it should replace the CFP committee.

National Résumé Rating v0.17 quality-depth correction

What changed

• Kept the published 40 / 20 / 20 / 15 / 5 component weights and every non-quality-win formula unchanged.
• Rebalanced the five distinct win-depth shares from 50 / 20 / 15 / 10 / 5 to 35 / 25 / 20 / 12 / 8. The best win remains the largest result, but the rest of the résumé now supplies 65% of quality-win depth.
• Applied the rule universally without a conference, school, brand, or poll adjustment. BYU’s 2024 road win over SMU still leads its evidence, but connected Big 12 depth can no longer ride behind that result as heavily.
• Published the v0.17 five-season audit. In 2024, BYU moves from No. 6 to No. 9, Arizona State remains directly ahead after winning the head-to-head meeting, and Boise State moves from No. 11 to No. 13.
• The five-season comparison improves in four checkpoints on at least one of Top-25 overlap, average rank gap, or correlation; the 2024 correlation rises from 0.82 to 0.84 while the average rank gap improves from 6.1 to 6.0.

Still open

• BYU remains eight positions above the official 2024 CFP order, so its SMU result, loss profile, and schedule network remain a disclosed calibration case rather than a solved conclusion.
• James Madison is No. 26 in the 2025 final-selection audit. The model neither grants automatic Group of Five access nor imposes a Group of Five penalty; weekly and out-of-sample validation remain required.
• The NRR remains an independent résumé aid, not a claim that it should replace the CFP committee.

National Résumé Rating v0.16 marquee-win correction

What changed

• Kept the published 40 / 20 / 20 / 15 / 5 component weights unchanged while recalibrating the evidence inside quality-win depth and loss integrity.
• Replaced the linear quality transformation with a normalized S-curve above the universal 35-point floor. The curve is centered at Opponent Value 55 so elite wins are no longer compressed toward ordinary qualifying wins.
• Changed the five distinct win-depth shares to 50 / 20 / 15 / 10 / 5. The best win now supplies half of the component while four additional wins continue to test depth.
• Separated loss severity from loss frequency. The reciprocal severity score remains nonnegative, and each loss after the first removes ten integrity points.
• Restricted head-to-head to one local neighboring-team comparison within eight composite points and one loss. The policy can settle a close pair but cannot pull a team across an unrelated cluster.
• Published the v0.16 five-season audit. Ole Miss rises to No. 8 in 2025 with a 60.3 quality-win-depth score, while 2024 Boise State falls to No. 11 rather than benefiting from soft closed-schedule wins.

Still open

• The S-curve midpoint, depth shares, and additional-loss deduction are public calibration choices that require weekly snapshots, additional seasons, and held-out validation.
• The NRR remains an independent résumé aid, not a claim that it should replace the CFP committee.

National Résumé Rating v0.15 soft-schedule correction

What changed

• Kept the published default at 40% distinct quality-win depth, 20% schedule-adjusted record, 20% opponent-adjusted performance, 15% loss integrity, and 5% win control.
• Rebuilt schedule-adjusted record around 55% wins above fixed benchmark expectation, 25% average opponent caliber, and 20% record rarity. A fixed 12-point-per-win scale replaces the variance divisor that could exaggerate predictable soft schedules.
• Changed Opponent Value to 80% opponent-adjusted performance and 20% corrected schedule-adjusted record, then added a universal 35-point floor before defeated opponents create quality-win credit. No school or conference label enters either rule.
• Simplified the public model to the five scored measures plus championship policy; schedule and away diagnostics remain in the downloadable audit but no longer clutter the formula controls.
• Published the v0.15 five-season audit. Boise State settles near No. 9 and Tennessee rises to No. 7 in the 2024 checkpoint, while the 2025 top six remain unchanged.

Still open

• The 35-point quality threshold, 12-point expectation scale, and 55 / 25 / 20 record blend are public calibration choices that require weekly snapshots, additional seasons, and held-out validation.
• The NRR remains an independent résumé aid, not a claim that it should replace the CFP committee.

National Résumé Rating v0.14 weighting and loss-integrity calibration

What changed

• Restored the published default to 40% distinct quality-win depth, 20% strength of record, 20% opponent-adjusted performance, 15% loss integrity, and 5% win control; schedule strength and away performance remain supporting diagnostics.
• Replaced the negative-floor loss score with a nonnegative reciprocal decay: 100 ÷ (1 + aggregate loss damage ÷ 50). This preserves opponent, margin, venue, late-game, weak-opponent, and repeat-loss evidence without collapsing ordinary multi-loss résumés to -15.
• Kept the SOR correction isolated: 70% wins above benchmark expectation, 30% record rarity, plus SOR-only repeat and extra-loss deductions; no conference-specific adjustment was added.
• Published the v0.14 five-season CSV and aligned the Ranking Lab, Formula Explorer, proposal copy, and home-page weights to the same default.

Still open

• The 50-point aggregate damage decay is a public calibration choice that needs weekly snapshots, more seasons, and held-out validation.
• The NRR remains an independent résumé aid, not a claim that it should replace the CFP committee.

National Résumé Rating v0.13 strength-of-record correction

What changed

• Kept every published weight and every component other than strength of record unchanged: 25% opponent-adjusted performance, 25% strength of record, 20% distinct quality-win depth, 25% loss integrity, and 5% win control.
• Rebuilt strength of record around wins above a fixed benchmark’s expected record (70%) plus record rarity (30%). A team cannot create an elite SOR merely by piling up wins over opponents the benchmark was already expected to beat.
• Restored loss integrity, opponent value, quality wins, win control, and all other non-SOR calculations to the v0.12 behavior. The repeat-opponent and extra-loss deductions stay inside SOR; loss integrity does not receive a new penalty.
• The 2024 audit now places Oregon No. 1, Boise State No. 2, Penn State No. 3, and Notre Dame No. 4; Indiana and Tennessee remain above Clemson. The 2025 audit keeps BYU above Utah through the bounded head-to-head rule.
• Published the v0.13 five-season CSV and kept the interactive Ranking Lab, Formula Explorer, proposal text, and backtest on the same conference-neutral logic.

Still open

• The weak-schedule calibration is a public hypothesis that needs weekly snapshots, more seasons, and held-out validation before adoption.
• The benchmark rating and uncertainty scale remain fixed across teams and conferences, but their sensitivity should be reported annually.
• The NRR remains an independent résumé aid, not a claim that it should replace the CFP committee.

National Résumé Rating v0.12 résumé-first reset

What changed

• Rebuilt the public default around five scored measures: 25% opponent-adjusted performance, 25% strength of record, 20% distinct quality-win depth, 25% loss integrity, and 5% win control.
• Moved loss integrity into the score with one universal opponent-relative rule: continuous margin, late-game checkpoints, venue, repeat-loss context, and a bounded weak-opponent modifier below Opponent Value 75. No quality-loss bonus and no conference-specific adjustment are used.
• Added a bounded head-to-head tiebreak. A direct winner can move above a close résumé only when the teams are within four ranking slots, within eight composite points, and within one loss; the rule never acts as a league or brand proxy.
• The 2024 audit now places Oregon No. 1, Boise State No. 2, Penn State No. 3, and Notre Dame No. 4; Indiana and Tennessee remain above Clemson. The 2025 audit places BYU above Utah after accounting for their direct result.
• Published the v0.12 five-season CSV and kept the interactive Ranking Lab on the same tiebreak and score logic.

Still open

• The 50-point weak-opponent ceiling is a universal calibration choice, not a punishment for any conference. It requires weekly sensitivity tests, additional seasons, and held-out validation.
• A five-season final-selection audit is directional evidence, not proof that NRR should replace the CFP committee. The largest gaps remain public for review.
• Head-to-head is deliberately bounded: a direct result can settle a close pair, but cannot erase a materially stronger overall résumé.

National Résumé Rating v0.11 structural recalibration

What changed

• Replaced the conference-anchor correction with a conference-blind national play-level model. A weighted ridge fit solves every offense and defense simultaneously from meaningful scrimmage-play EPA; conference names, committee rankings, brands, and recruiting never enter.
• Published explicit blowout restraints: every first-half scrimmage play remains, third-quarter plays remain while the score is within 28, and fourth-quarter or overtime plays remain while it is within 21. Kneel-downs and nullified plays are excluded. Every historical extract is also locked to its selection-day cutoff so future bowl or playoff plays cannot leak into the audit.
• Rebalanced the public formula to 45% opponent-adjusted performance, 30% strength of record, 20% five-win quality depth, and 5% win control. Strength of record now blends 60% actual win percentage with 40% fixed-benchmark schedule rarity and removes eight points for an additional loss to the same opponent.
• Removed loss impact from the scored formula while preserving the full diagnostic. Outcomes, opponent value, margin, and game state already enter strength of record and opponent-adjusted performance; a third scored charge was distorting the result.
• In the 2024 audit, Texas is No. 6 and SMU No. 7; Tennessee No. 8, Ole Miss No. 12, and Alabama No. 14 all clear BYU at No. 17. In 2025, Alabama is No. 9, Ole Miss No. 13, and BYU No. 14. No conference-specific rule or adjustment produced those changes.

Still open

• Version 0.11 deliberately accepts lower agreement with the committee. The model is an independent résumé aid, not a committee-copying exercise.
• The ridge regularization level, eight-point repeat-opponent deduction, and published score-state filters require sensitivity tests at weekly checkpoints, seasons outside 2021–2025, and true held-out samples.
• Play-level data still cannot identify every substitution or prove precisely when each game became noncompetitive. A lineup-aware garbage-time audit remains open.

National Résumé Rating v0.10 loss calibration

What changed

• Added public play-by-play game state at three checkpoints for every audited loss: score entering the fourth quarter, score with six minutes remaining, and score with two minutes remaining. The same 30 / 35 / 35 checkpoint blend applies to every team.
• Recalibrated loss damage by opponent value without awarding quality-loss credit. Every loss retains a positive base; weak opponents add up to 25 damage points, and a bounded negative tail prevents a severe bad-loss profile from disappearing at zero.
• The 2025 audit now grades Oregon’s loss impact at 74.3 and Texas Tech’s at 72.8. Oregon remained within one score of undefeated No. 1 Indiana through six minutes; Texas Tech was closer late but lost to a materially weaker Arizona State team.
• Tulane moves from NRR No. 20 to No. 23 after its 48–26 loss at UTSA is fully priced: down 19 entering Q4, 15 at 6:00, and 15 at 2:00. The 2025 audit retains 24 of the CFP Top 25, with 20 teams within three positions and a 2.4-position average gap.
• Removed every Texas Tech-specific logo override. Rankings and Bracket Lab now use the shared clean Double T-only asset with no caption embedded beneath it.

Still open

• Three score checkpoints improve context but do not prove when starters left, which players were on the field, or every possession became noncompetitive.
• The five-season audit is calibration evidence, not proof that v0.10 is final. Weekly snapshots, additional seasons, and out-of-sample bias checks remain required.
• The opponent-calibrated base, 30 / 35 / 35 checkpoint blend, 25-point weak-loss cap, and −15 loss-impact floor require sensitivity testing before adoption.

National Résumé Rating v0.9 and Saturday selection-room redesign

What changed

• Replaced the 35-point margin ceiling with a continuous exponential curve. Every additional point still changes the result, but its marginal value steadily shrinks, reducing incentives to chase late scores.
• Added public quarter-by-quarter linescores to all five audited seasons. Loss-margin damage is reduced when a team led, was tied, or remained within one score entering the fourth; the base loss, venue, weak-opponent, repeat-loss, and title-game rules remain intact.
• Recalibrated the five-season audit and published a v0.9 CSV. At the 2025 checkpoint, Oregon remains NRR No. 6 versus CFP No. 5, while its loss-impact score rises from 70.0 to 73.5 because it trailed Indiana by seven entering the fourth. The Top-25 overlap remains 24 of 25, 21 teams land within three positions, and the average gap is 2.2.
• Rebuilt the Rankings page as a restrained Saturday selection room using three real, credited tradition photographs, a game-program visual language, a film-room discrepancy review, and a laminated résumé card.
• Removed the Texas Tech-only row treatment that enlarged the Double T and forced its name below the mark. Texas Tech now uses the same aligned logo-and-name row as every other team.

Still open

• Quarter scores establish fourth-quarter context but do not reveal substitutions or exact garbage-time possessions. Play-level win probability and non-garbage-time control remain the next validation layer.
• The five-season audit remains calibration evidence, not proof that v0.9 is final. Weekly snapshots and seasons outside 2021–2025 are still required.
• Team Strength remains a separate results-based support model and requires predictive validation before broader use.

National Résumé Rating v0.8 and New Year’s Six emphasis

What changed

• Shifted the published NRR default from 40 / 40 / 10 / 10 to 35% quality wins, 40% strength of record, 15% loss impact, and 10% win control so the complete record remains primary and an additional loss is harder to offset with a strong win collection.
• Limited conference-title rating protection to a first loss to that opponent. A repeated loss to the same opponent receives full ordinary loss damage, the five-point repeat deduction, and no SOR protection; playoff-path protection remains separate and intact.
• Regenerated the five-season audit and v0.8 CSV. At the 2025 checkpoint, Ole Miss is No. 7, Notre Dame No. 8, and BYU No. 9; 24 of 25 committee teams appear in the NRR Top 25, 21 land within three positions, and the average gap is 2.2.
• Replaced the institution-specific home hero collage with a neutral, CSS-built night-stadium field and retained the headline “Keep the traditions. Fix the incentives.”
• Elevated the New Year’s Six into a named core reform and moved its complete six-bowl playoff stage directly beneath the home-page overview.

Still open

• The five-season audit is a calibration check, not proof that v0.8 is final; weekly snapshots and additional out-of-sample seasons remain required.
• BYU’s No. 9 versus CFP No. 12 is now within the proposal’s explanation band, but its opponent values and the cross-conference Team Strength anchor remain subjects for continued review.
• The proposed New Year’s Six working set is not an announced CFP contract, official future site assignment, or guarantee of participation.

National Résumé Rating v0.7

What changed

• Added an opponent-adjusted cross-conference anchor to 20% of Team Strength Rating so a closed conference schedule cannot validate itself entirely through internal results. Every conference uses the same evidence rule; no league receives a preset bonus or penalty.
• Raised the quality-win road bonus from six to eight points while retaining three points for a neutral-site win and the best-three-distinct-opponents rule.
• Added bad-loss damage when the defeated opponent’s Opponent Value falls below 75, capped that addition at 15, and added five points when a team loses to the same opponent again. Strong opponents still create no quality-loss reward.
• Gave a required conference-title loss half effect in SOR and half ordinary loss-severity damage while keeping the loss visible in the record and preserving any repeat-loss addition.
• Regenerated the five-season audit and v0.7 CSV. At the 2025 checkpoint, NRR now places Indiana No. 1, Ohio State No. 2, and Texas Tech No. 3; 23 of 25 committee teams appear in the NRR Top 25, 22 land within three positions, and the average gap is 2.1.

Still open

• BYU remains NRR No. 7 versus CFP No. 12. The repeat-loss rule lowers its loss-impact score, but its SOR and distinct wins remain strong enough to keep this a disclosed audit case.
• Win control already measures whether victories were close or convincing. It favors Texas Tech over Ohio State in the 2025 checkpoint, so adding a second consistency measure would duplicate evidence rather than explain the ordering.
• The 20% cross-conference anchor, Opponent Value 75 bad-loss threshold, eight-point road bonus, and half title-loss SOR treatment require weekly, out-of-sample, and sensitivity testing before adoption.

National Résumé Rating v0.6

What changed

• Rebuilt quality wins around an Opponent Value that blends 70% Team Strength Rating with 30% opponent record accomplishment, while retaining the road and neutral bonuses.
• Limited the quality-win average to three distinct defeated opponents so a rematch cannot occupy two of the three evidence slots.
• Replaced the field-relative SOR percentile with a fixed probability scale: 100 times the square root of one minus the probability that the benchmark team would match the record.
• Set quality wins and SOR to 40% each and reduced loss impact and win control to 10% each. A title-game loss receives half normal loss-severity damage while remaining fully present in the actual record and SOR.
• Regenerated the five-season audit and v0.6 CSV. At the 2025 checkpoint, 20 of 25 committee teams land within three positions and the average gap falls to 2.3; Indiana leads Texas Tech 91.7–87.8, while BYU remains a disclosed five-position audit case.

Still open

• BYU’s NRR No. 7 versus CFP No. 12 requires a direct audit of the separate Team Strength Rating and schedule network; no conference-specific correction has been applied.
• Conference-level error, opponent-value stability, weekly snapshots, and seasons outside 2021–2025 remain required tests before adoption.
• The 70/30 opponent-value blend, square-root SOR calibration, and half title-loss severity are public starting hypotheses rather than permanent constants.

National Résumé Rating v0.5

What changed

• Replaced the hard 21-point margin cap with a diminishing curve: full separation value through seven, reduced value through 21, sharply reduced value from 22 through 35, and no additional value beyond 35.
• Moved venue value inside quality wins: a road victory adds six points and a neutral-site victory three before the best three wins are averaged. The separate away-performance line remains visible but unscored, preventing a second reward for the same result.
• Raised win control from 10% to 15% and removed the separate 5% road-and-neutral score. The published formula is now 40% strength of record, 30% venue-adjusted quality wins, 15% loss impact, and 15% win control.
• Clarified conference-championship handling: NRR publishes regular-season and final snapshots, the title game updates final NRR, and the participant’s pregame playoff-path tier—not the evidence—remains protected.
• Regenerated the five-season audit and v0.5 CSV. The 2025 checkpoint matches 22 of 25 CFP teams, places 16 within three positions, and moves BYU to NRR No. 12, equal to its CFP position.

Still open

• Diminishing margin bands reduce but cannot entirely eliminate strategic incentives around late scoring; future play-by-play data should test non-garbage-time control measures.
• The venue bonuses and 35-point ceiling require sensitivity testing at weekly checkpoints and on seasons outside the current 2021–2025 sample.
• The regular-season versus final NRR comparison should be added as a first-class historical view once every title-game checkpoint is separately reconstructed.

National Résumé Rating v0.4

What changed

• Moved strength of record to the largest single share at 40%, while keeping quality wins as the direct evidence of whom a team actually defeated.
• Replaced the quality-loss reward with loss impact: every loss subtracts a base, margin, and venue penalty, and no opponent-strength rating can add points for losing.
• Added a modest win-control measure that captures capped winning margin without importing opponent quality a second time.
• Set the published default to 40% strength of record, 30% quality wins, 15% loss impact, 10% win control, and 5% road & neutral record; schedule strength and conference title remain supporting diagnostics.
• Regenerated the five-season audit and published the v0.4 CSV. The 2025 checkpoint now matches 23 of 25 CFP teams, with 18 within three positions and a 3.0-position average gap; BYU moves to NRR No. 13 versus CFP No. 12.

Still open

• A five-season checkpoint is a useful audit, not proof of validity. Weekly AP and CFP snapshots, out-of-sample seasons, bias checks, and gaming tests remain required.
• Loss impact deliberately explains severity rather than opponent quality. A future review can test whether its base and margin penalties are calibrated without reintroducing quality-loss credit.
• The Team Strength Rating remains a separate results-based support model and should receive its own predictive validation before it is used for anything beyond context.

National Résumé Rating v0.3

What changed

• Removed strength of schedule from the scored formula and retained it as a visible supporting diagnostic, eliminating a direct second reward for opponent difficulty already captured by strength of record.
• Removed the separate conference-title bonus because the championship result already affects record, quality wins, loss profile, and game control; title status remains visible and available for access or tiebreak rules outside NRR.
• Rebuilt strength of record around a fixed top-25 benchmark, replaced general opponent quality with the top three opponents actually defeated, and added an explicit loss profile with margin, location, multiple-loss, and repeat-opponent penalties.
• Used BYU’s 2025 résumé as a documented failure case: the revision moves BYU from NRR No. 5 to No. 9, compared with CFP No. 12, while improving the 2025 average committee gap from 3.44 to 2.40 positions.
• Added an audit queue for the largest NRR–CFP discrepancies, an exact team-level weighted-points calculation, the logo-only Texas Tech mark, and a downloadable v0.3 five-season backtest.

Still open

• Version 0.3 improves average five-season rank gap, within-three agreement, and correlation but slightly reduces average Top-25 overlap; the model is intended to measure résumé accomplishment rather than copy the committee.
• James Madison’s 2025 NRR No. 18 versus CFP No. 24 remains a prominent review case and requires opponent-level diagnosis before another formula revision.
• Weekly checkpoints, out-of-sample seasons, lower-division opponent data, and formal stability and bias audits remain necessary before adoption.

NRR formula audit and explainer

What changed

• Revised the proposed National Résumé Rating default from 30 / 25 / 15 / 10 / 10 / 5 / 5 to 25 / 30 / 15 / 10 / 10 / 5 / 5, giving wins, losses, and strength of record the largest share while reducing overlapping opponent-quality credit.
• Tested more record-heavy alternatives across the 2021–2025 final-selection checkpoints; the narrower five-point revision slightly improved Top-25 overlap, within-three-position agreement, average rank gap, and rank correlation, while the tested 40% results version performed worse.
• Added a selectable seven-component formula explorer that publishes the question, exact working calculation, data inputs, and guardrail behind every percentage—including the complete road-and-neutral method.
• Compressed the Rankings introduction and formula hierarchy so the live status, proposed model, current published poll, and historical laboratory are easier to distinguish.
• Moved the supplied Texas Tech Double T into the shared team identity directory so Rankings, Bracket Lab, and every other team display use the same correct mark.

Still open

• The sensitivity review is a model guardrail, not an attempt to reproduce committee judgment exactly; weekly checkpoints and out-of-sample validation remain necessary.
• Several components still share the underlying Team Strength Rating. Version 0.3 should test orthogonalized inputs and a fuller lower-division schedule model before any adoption claim.
• Defined context remains neutral for every team until a specific, objective rule and review process are published.

NRR-first rankings refinement

What changed

• Rebuilt Rankings around three clear layers: the current published Top 25, Alec Levine’s proposed National Résumé Rating formula, and the historical testing lab.
• Made the proposal’s 30 / 25 / 15 / 10 / 10 / 5 / 5 default the visual center of the page and moved temporary reader weight changes behind an optional Adjust the model control.
• Condensed the current poll display to a ten-team overview with the rest of the Top 25 available on demand, while retaining the automatic handoff to the official CFP order when current-season committee rankings begin.
• Removed the oversized poll-policy grid and compressed method, limitations, and sources into reader-controlled disclosures.
• Bundled all 138 team marks locally and made both Rankings and Bracket Lab prefer the local directory so external image failures no longer leave empty team tiles.

Still open

• The live 2026 NRR remains intentionally empty until completed games create résumé evidence.
• Institutional marks are used for editorial identification and remain the property of their respective owners; a commercial launch should confirm production licensing requirements.
• Weekly historical checkpoints and an expanded predictive Team Strength model remain future validation work.

Rankings and National Résumé Rating release

What changed

• Renamed the primary bracket destination Bracket Lab and promoted Rankings—with a visible NRR marker—to the main navigation.
• Added a complete Rankings page architecture that distinguishes the AP Top 25, official CFP ranking, National Résumé Rating, and Team Strength Rating instead of treating them as interchangeable orders.
• Published the verified August 17, 2026 AP Top 25 on the Rankings page and made AP the only pre-CFP display source; the Coaches Poll is excluded throughout the live bracket, calendar, and ranking feed.
• Made the proposal’s 30 / 25 / 15 / 10 / 10 / 5 / 5 NRR weights visible on the home page and preserved the interactive seven-factor model and 2021–2025 selection-week backtests.
• Separated the two proposed ratings from their supporting measures: strength of schedule, strength of record, venue-adjusted quality results, road performance, capped game control, best wins, losses, and conference results.

Still open

• The live 2026 NRR remains intentionally empty until completed games create résumé evidence; AP is a display source and contributes zero percent to the formula.
• Version 0.1 has five final-selection checkpoints; weekly AP and CFP backtests, bias testing, sensitivity analysis, and a fuller predictive Team Strength model remain required.

Complete bracket identity and venue release

What changed

• Installed a built-in 138-program FBS identity directory so every available custom-bracket team has its identifying mark, abbreviation, primary color, and readable selected state even when the live directory is unavailable.
• Removed the separate advance-arrow control from editable seeds: choosing a team or clicking its name now selects that team directly, matching the interaction used throughout later rounds.
• Rebuilt the simulation strip as two compact Field and Simulation tool groups with smaller actions and a clearer reading order.
• Added city-and-state labels to every campus-hosted game and official bowl identity art to the six proposed Round-of-12 destinations.
• Created an original football-and-columns trophy concept for the separate National Tournament rather than imitating or recoloring the CFP championship trophy.

Still open

• Institutional and bowl marks are used only for editorial identification and remain the property of their respective owners; a commercial launch should replace public identification feeds with licensed production assets where required.
• Campus locations identify each program’s primary 2026 home city; temporary, alternate, or neutral-site games can require a season-specific venue override.

Saved and shareable custom brackets

What changed

• Added a compact progress meter to custom CFP and National Tournament brackets without adding another panel to the default viewing experience.
• Added on-device saving and a Resume Saved action so a reader can return to the most recent custom field and its completed picks in the same browser.
• Added shareable bracket links that preserve the selected tournament, complete field, and winner selections directly in the URL.
• Validated shared and saved fields before loading them, including team count, duplicate-team prevention, and the National Tournament’s Power Four exclusion.

Still open

• Device saves remain in that browser only; cross-device accounts and cloud bracket libraries would require authenticated server storage.
• Share links intentionally contain the bracket data rather than a tracking identifier, so they can be long but do not require a public bracket database.

Inline bracket builder and National Tournament lab

What changed

• Replaced the separate seed editor with a blank bracket that is completed in place: team dropdowns now appear inside each seed’s first matchup, duplicate entrants are blocked, and downstream games accept only teams that actually advanced.
• Added a prominent Create Your Own Bracket action and condensed the favorites-versus-upsets setting into one simulation-style menu.
• Added a separate 16-team National Tournament simulator with current and 2025 counterfactual examples, two rounds of reseeding, campus hosting through the semifinals, and a distinct title presentation.
• Enforced the proposal’s National Tournament eligibility boundary in the custom selector by excluding every Power Four member while leaving independents eligible by affiliation.
• Added a cached live FBS team directory so selected programs throughout both custom brackets can display their current identifying mark, abbreviation, and color.

Still open

• The National Tournament examples are mechanics demonstrations, not official historical selections or predictions; an adopted field would require final résumé data, champion access, win thresholds, and CFP exclusions.
• Institutional marks are loaded from a public identification feed and remain the property of their respective owners; a licensed production data provider would be preferable for a fully commercial launch.

Bowl weekend and build-your-own bracket

What changed

• Rewrote the creator page around Alec Levine’s Columbus roots, Worthington upbringing, and Ohio State education; removed the field-notes framing, reduced the photo essay, and compressed the stadium list into one quiet line.
• Made the six-game late-December bowl round a major home-page feature and explained why a destination stage fits the winter-break point in the calendar.
• Added a visible My Bracket mode with seed-by-seed selectors for the complete 2026 FBS directory, current Top 25 priority ordering, automatic duplicate-team swapping, and instant bracket recalculation.
• Expanded the live ranking payload from the playoff Top 18 to the full Top 25 for selector ordering while preserving the CFP → AP → Coaches source priority and 30-minute checks.
• Compressed the global footer and added consolidated AI-assistance, independence, marks, simulation, and affiliation disclosures.

Still open

• The six-bowl set is an illustrative proposed working rotation, not an announcement of future CFP contracts or guaranteed sites.
• The custom selector includes active and transitioning 2026 FBS programs; future membership changes will require a directory update.

Neutral home field and community forum

What changed

• Replaced the LSU-led first screen with a four-school documentary collage so the national landing experience no longer appears to promote one program.
• Rebuilt the Community home around real popular and newest thread feeds, published reply counts, proposal rooms, transparent sorting, and an explicit no-fake-engagement rule.
• Embedded the relevant public thread preview and thread-creation area inside every detailed proposal chapter while retaining the complete community room for longer discussion.
• Added required private email and phone fields to fan profiles, explicit contact-data consent, server-side profile completion checks, and public/private identity explanations throughout the posting flow.
• Renamed the primary About destination to About the Creator and evolved the header identity into a broader College Football Reform Project wordmark.

Still open

• Public posts and replies remain pre-moderated and limited to one contribution per account every 24 hours; this is a deliberate community-safety constraint rather than an instant-message system.
• Phone numbers are private profile fields, not SMS-verified identities, and no marketing-text program is enabled.

Locked bracket path and global cleanup

What changed

• Reordered the quarterfinal column by locked semifinal path so adjacent games feed the same semifinal without misleading connector crossings; the underlying second-reseed matchups did not change.
• Replaced the boxed FBS badge with a restrained editorial wordmark and carried it through the header, bracket, and footer.
• Removed the repeated five-photo rail from every page and limited the global footer to contact, press, standards, version-history, and image-credit links; primary destinations now live in the main navigation.
• Blurred both visible Spectrum naming-rights labels in the real UCF panorama, replaced them with neutral UCF identification, and documented the modification in the image ledger.

Still open

• The panoramic proposal remains a single user-controlled stadium node rather than a multi-node physical route.
• The project identity can be renamed later if a custom public domain becomes the permanent brand.

Look-around stadium proposal

What changed

• Removed the long scroll sequence and its repeated zooms of the same field photograph.
• Installed a real, rights-checked panoramic college-football stadium that readers can drag, swipe, zoom, and explore directly.
• Anchored all ten proposal positions inside the stadium view, added camera movement to each selected position, and paired the environment with an always-available position dock and conventional full index.
• Added a focused stadium entry point to the home page, local viewer files for faster and more private loading, a still-image fallback, keyboard-accessible markers, and complete source attribution.

Still open

• This release provides a genuine look-around panoramic environment, but it is one stadium node rather than a multi-location Street View system.
• A future multi-node tour would require several compatible, rights-cleared 360-degree captures whose physical viewpoints form a coherent route.

Photographic stadium walkthrough

What changed

• Removed the fabricated field plane, generated yard lines, floating waypoints, and center-field seal from the proposal experience.
• Rebuilt the proposal as an eleven-stop photographic walk from the tunnel entrance, down the ramp, through the stadium opening, and across a real field.
• Added step-by-step crossfades, scroll-linked camera movement, previous and next controls, a clickable stadium route map, visible location labels, and direct links into every proposal chapter.
• Kept all primary imagery real and rights-checked while preserving the conventional full proposal index and reduced-motion route.

Still open

• The current walkthrough uses cinematic transitions between real still photographs; a true user-controlled 360-degree tour would require a properly licensed panoramic capture or an external mapping provider and API access.
• The route map is a navigation aid, not an architectural map of the photographed stadiums.

First-person field walk

What changed

• Replaced the separate proposal banner and diagram-like field with one continuous first-person sequence that begins inside a real stadium tunnel, walks toward daylight, and crosses onto the field.
• Added scroll-linked head-height camera movement, restrained pointer parallax, a lens frame, and augmented-reality-style proposal waypoints that appear in the reader’s path.
• Preserved a direct read-without-motion route, the compact proposal index, a reduced-motion presentation, focused mobile controls, and full photo-credit access.
• Installed the supplied Texas Tech Double T artwork in the interactive bracket and protected it from being overwritten by the live ranking feed.
• Added a live second-reseed explanation showing why the highest remaining seed receives the lowest remaining seed and when the bracket locks.

Still open

• The first-person sequence is an editorial simulation built with real stadium photography and browser motion—not a 360-degree recording or institutional virtual-reality product.
• Further device testing can refine the exact camera pacing without changing the proposal’s conventional reading path.

The downfield journey

What changed

• Replaced the static proposal field with a scroll-driven stadium journey: the camera remains at field level while yard lines and proposal positions advance toward the reader.
• Added a live game-plan display that changes across all ten proposal sections, with direct links into each complete policy chapter.
• Added an interactive ten-stop progress rail, field-position markers, a moving center route, downfield progress, and a restrained scroll cue.
• Kept the compact proposal play sheet below the experience and added a reduced-motion mode so the concept remains accessible rather than becoming a navigation barrier.
• Reworked the interaction for smaller screens with focused cards, simplified depth, and touch-sized section controls.

Still open

• This is a deliberately ambitious editorial interaction; future passes can refine pacing and depth after testing across additional real-world devices.
• The real stadium image remains documentary background material and does not imply institutional endorsement.

Enter the stadium

What changed

• Rebuilt the proposal index as a field-level stadium experience that moves from a tunnel entrance into a selectable ten-part game plan on the grass.
• Preserved a compact conventional proposal index beneath the field so the visual concept never makes the policy harder to navigate.
• Replaced the football-and-18 icon with a restrained FBS Reform typographic mark shared by the header, footer, and bracket.
• Rebuilt the projected champion presentation as a light championship stage with a substantially larger official CFP trophy image and clearer winning-team identity.
• Added a direct traditions handoff and documented the new real, rights-checked visual sources.

Still open

• The stadium field is an editorial navigation concept, not an affiliation with or endorsement by the pictured institution.
• The projected champion remains the output of the selected simulation settings and is never presented as a prediction or official result.

Complete operating calendar

What changed

• Rebuilt the calendar around a clear handoff: the current 2026–27 system finishes unchanged, and the proposed operating calendar activates January 26, 2027, immediately after the current CFP championship.
• Made the proposed system the default view while preserving a verified current-system reference and a continuous 25-month comparison bridge.
• Replaced the broad design-and-backtesting runway with dated football, ranking, media, academic, recovery, coaching, recruiting, transfer, roster-certification, selection, and postseason windows.
• Added month navigation, visible-month context, phase labels, event counts, a monthly agenda, richer event explanations, operating rules, locations, source links, and a grouped detailed timeline.
• Extended the model through the next 2028 kickoff so the reform reads as a repeatable annual rhythm rather than a one-season diagram.

Still open

• All reform dates remain an illustrative policy model until leagues, institutions, athletes, broadcasters, bowls, and governing bodies adopt a final calendar.
• Local academic calendars would control the precise campus exam protections inside the proposed national quiet bands.

Stadium identity and complete bracket sites

What changed

• Removed the oversized bracket-lab banner so the simulator opens directly on its live field, source status, controls, and playoff board; compressed other informational page introductions into shorter, photo-backed headers.
• Replaced the generic 18 tile with an original football-and-laces project mark and added a rotating strip of credited, real college-football places and traditions across the public site.
• Corrected selected-team contrast throughout the bracket, including Notre Dame, and replaced the generic cup illustration with a credited photograph of the College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy.
• Added a venue line to every matchup: campus hosts in the campus rounds, Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Peach, and Fiesta bowls in the six-game Round of 12, and a preselected neutral site for the national championship.
• Carried the six-bowl working set into the proposal detail and calendar so the rules, simulator, and season model use the same language.

Still open

• The six bowl identities and geographic assignments are an illustrative working rotation for this proposal, not an announcement of official CFP contracts or future sites.
• Exact dates, host stadiums, and bowl pairings would be finalized through media, venue, athlete-welfare, and governance review.

Editorial reset

What changed

• Rebuilt the home page around one clear reading path and removed repeated proposal summaries, duplicate download sections, the author biography block, and attributed slogan quotations.
• Reduced the home-page tradition gallery from fifteen images to six stronger, higher-resolution photographs with a more deliberate editorial layout.
• Rebuilt the About page around the graduation portrait and five selected personal photographs, removing the oversized photo wall, stadium-card repetition, and attributed quote.
• Simplified primary navigation, renamed the essay area Analysis, removed unnecessary author references from proposal, simulator, calendar, community, moderation, analytics, and contact interfaces, and refreshed shared cards, heroes, spacing, buttons, and responsive layouts.

Still open

• The Media page intentionally retains formal author attribution because that page exists for press use.
• Additional personal photographs should be added only when they contribute a genuinely new chapter rather than repeat an existing game-day scene.

Author story release

What changed

• Rebuilt the About page as a complete first-person author profile rooted in Alec Levine’s Worthington upbringing and four years at Ohio State.
• Published ten personal photographs selected and supplied by Alec, including Ohio Stadium, Beaver Stadium, the Rose Bowl, the 2024–25 playoff run, the senior-year national championship, and his 2025 graduation.
• Added a personal timeline, five-stadium passport, photographic essay, and three editorial beliefs connecting Alec’s lived experience to the policy proposal.
• Expanded the authorship, independence, image-permission, and AI-assistance disclosures.

Still open

• Captions can be refined with exact dates, opponent context, and the names of pictured friends if Alec chooses to publish them.
• High-school and early Worthington photographs could add a future chapter about Alec’s life before Ohio State.

Verified bracket center release

What changed

• Replaced illustrative poll orders with the verified August 4, 2026 AFCA Coaches Poll and published the source, release date, and last-checked date beside the bracket.
• Added an explicit ranking-source ladder that prioritizes CFP, then AP, then Coaches, while showing which source is active and which have not yet been released.
• Added the official December 7, 2025 final CFP Top 18 as a historical archive that can be loaded into the proposed format.
• Added an optional full-tournament 2025 illustration with every generated outcome visibly labeled hypothetical rather than historical.
• Replaced the month strip with a physically scrollable, 25-month calendar grid, direct kickoff and postseason jumps, detailed event selection, and a timeline/calendar toggle.
• Corrected the Christmas recovery window so it ends before the January 1–2 CFP quarterfinals.

Still open

• The ranking snapshots are manually verified; automatic updating requires a dependable licensed or official data feed.
• The 18-team projection uses ranking order as seed order and does not yet adjudicate all automatic-access, champion-protection, and eligibility rules.
• Exact 2027 dates remain a planning model requiring governance, academic-calendar, media, and athlete-welfare review.

Current snapshot and calendar release

What changed

• Added a poll snapshot selector to the bracket lab with illustrative Coaches Poll, AP-style, and résumé-order starting fields.
• Added a full proposed 2027 season calendar from the August 2026 design runway through the opening of the 2028 season.
• Added calendar filters for football season, postseason, roster season, and design/testing work, with visible labels separating planning assumptions from official schedules.
• Added the calendar to primary navigation and the public tools area so readers can move between the current bracket view and the full-year operating model.

Still open

• The poll selector is prepared for a live source connection but currently uses clearly labeled illustrative snapshots.
• Exact 2027 dates require future media, academic-calendar, recovery, and governance decisions.

Guided proposal release

What changed

• Turned the ten-part proposal index into a set of clickable, full-length reading pages.
• Added policy summaries, key rules, operating explanations, safeguards, unresolved testing questions, written-source references, and topic-specific discussion links for every part.
• Added persistent section navigation and previous/next controls so readers can move through the complete framework without returning to the index.

Still open

• Reader questions and evidence should continue to refine each section.
• Historical simulations and independent legal, financial, and athlete-welfare review remain required before adoption.

Saturday Atlas release

What changed

• Expanded the home page into a documentary Saturday Atlas spanning 17 distinct college-football places and traditions without repeating a university in the gallery.
• Added real, rights-checked photography from Ole Miss, Texas, Wisconsin, USC, LSU, Notre Dame, Clemson, Washington, Colorado, Tennessee, Penn State, and Appalachian State.
• Reserved Ohio State imagery for Alec’s future personal story instead of using it as generic home-page decoration.
• Added native lazy loading to the large photo gallery and expanded the public source-and-license ledger with links to original files.
• Checked a large set of .com and .org brand options against authoritative registry data and recorded the strongest choices in the private launch center.

Still open

• Alec’s personal photo gallery awaits selected images and captions.
• A custom domain remains available only until another buyer registers it; Alec must choose and purchase the final name through a registrar.

Real traditions release

What changed

• Removed all AI-generated imagery from the public site and social preview.
• Rebuilt the home page around real, rights-checked photographs of college football, campuses, crowds, bands, tailgating, mascots, and rivalry ceremonies.
• Added an editorial traditions gallery and warmer language centered on the feeling of returning to campus.
• Expanded the image ledger with detailed creator, institution, and reuse information.

Still open

• Alec’s personal photo gallery awaits selected images and captions.
• Additional traditions can be added when strong, reusable photography is verified.

College football identity release

What changed

• Rebuilt the public visual system around stadium, marching-band, mascot-culture, and game-day imagery. AI-generated editorial scenes used in that release were removed in version 1.5.
• Added persistent fan profiles with chosen public name, favorite team, and community perspective.
• Changed contribution limits to one opening perspective or response per signed-in account every 24 hours.
• Clarified that phone numbers are not collected without a real phone-based service.
• Prepared the author page to incorporate Alec’s high-school, Columbus, campus, and game-day photographs.

Still open

• Alec’s personal photo gallery awaits selected images and captions.
• A custom domain still requires a final name choice and registration.

Community and accountability release

What changed

• Created nine moderated discussion rooms with opening perspectives and threaded reader responses.
• Added private contribution histories for signed-in readers and a private owner launch center.
• Added explicit, consent-based first-party audience measurement and private aggregate analytics.
• Added voluntary community priority signals and public, non-scientific aggregate counts.
• Published a finite analytics-retention policy and clearer launch limitations.

Still open

• Audience history begins with this release; earlier traffic cannot be reconstructed.
• Update requests are stored, but email campaigns require an external delivery service.
• Personal photo essay and custom domain still require Alec’s choices.

Evidence and participation release

What changed

• Added evidence and validation dashboard with official source library.
• Added interactive 18-team bracket simulator and print-ready executive summary.
• Added Alec’s View essay section, contact workflow, and private inbox.
• Added version history, correction channel, and expanded public navigation.
• Fixed duplicated page titles and removed unstable client-side link prefetching.

Still open

• Personal photo essay awaits images selected by Alec.
• Custom domain awaits a domain choice and ownership access.

Public platform release

What changed

• Expanded the original landing page into proposal, author, reader-perspective, and standards pages.
• Added moderated reader submissions with sign-in, privacy notice, rate limits, and owner approval.
• Published the site publicly while keeping moderation private.

Still open

• First reader contributions not yet approved or published.

Initial proposal package

What changed

• Published the integrated policy proposal, validation brief, media framework, NIL framework, communication kit, and editable workbook.
• Established Alec Levine authorship and full AI-assistance disclosure.
• Defined the non-Power Four-only National Tournament and no-transfer rule for eliminated CFP teams.

Still open

• Historical data and confidential commercial inputs remain incomplete.