{
 "version":1,
 "specifiedOn":"2026-10-15",
 "question":"How do matching pre-title and final NRR v0.57 orders change protected eighteen-team membership, benefits, paths and actual bowl-participant availability versus the committee reconstruction?",
 "design":"Retrospective descriptive audit. Preliminary source/rank inspection preceded this protocol; no preregistration, untouched holdout or evidence of optimality is claimed.",
 "seasons":[2024,2025],
 "variants":["committee protected baseline","NRR paired orders with committee-selected champions fixed","NRR paired orders with champions reselected by final NRR and at least one non-Power Four champion"],
 "protection":"retained-benefit-v1",
 "capacities":{"double":2,"single":8,"opening":8,"hosts":4},
 "championSelection":"Five highest in declared final order; if all five are Power Four, replace the lowest selected champion with the highest non-Power Four champion. Reject missing or duplicate championship identities.",
 "rankMethod":"Use the canonical public rankTeams comparator on frozen component snapshots and verify it reproduces every archive order. No full refit, weight tuning or mixed committee-floor/NRR-final experiment.",
 "calendar":"Use the existing two historical illustrative date scenarios. Days are elapsed calendar days, not full rest days. Required wins to title are3/4/5 for double/single/opening entry. Maximum season games uses selection-date games plus that path.",
 "bowlOutcome":"Use actual destinations only to count available-team departures versus the actual twelve, after field selection. No postseason result enters ranking or selection; no cancellation, cash or causal-demand estimate.",
 "stopConditions":["source hash mismatch or mismatched ranking family/version","missing title participant or champion identity","conflicting berth/bye capacity claims","protected home opener incompatible with established final-order hosts; report rather than invent resolution"],
 "acceptance":["Reproduce both committee baselines exactly","Separate champion variants even if outcomes match","18 distinct teams;2/8/8 entry bands;4 hosts;five champion berths and minimum bye;all declared floors retained","Report membership and benefits separately; keep the earlier final-only study intact","Publish failures and source limitations; preserve all frozen research inputs"]
}