I'd be fine with any setup. We could create the old SWC, Big 8, etc., or we could modernize it. I'm fine with it either way.
Slider-wise, I have gone back to JKits sliders with QB accuracy at 10 for humans since I suck at passing, but again, I'm pretty flexible. One thing that I think would help keep the CPU competitive would be to cap the skill tree for user coaches at 0. This would make recruiting much more realistic (busts and gems) as there would be no scouting (technically you could still scout 10% for 50 points), and hopefully keep user teams from hoarding all the talent.
I suck at recruiting and typically let the computer do it for me beyond identifying the targets.
I've got the JKits sliders with QB accuracy at 10, and I also turned up pass protection and RB skill a little bit. It's impossible to run PA with the pass protection settings he has. I'll look up what I've got it at...you still get sacked some, but it's possible to run longer pass plays. And I've made the RBs a little more dynamic.
Conference-wise, I'm thinking we go with a kind of late 90s alignment that's fairly stable until the 2005 ACC expansion. But I want to get the # of independents down a little, so I'd propose expanding the non-BCS conferences to 12...
AAC/Big East - 8, ACC - 9, Big 12 - 12, B1G - 11, SEC -12 (all as they were historically by 1996)
CUSA - Army, Cincinnati, Louisville, East Carolina, Memphis, UAB, Southern Miss, Tulane, Houston, + UCF, USF, & Tulsa to get 12
MAC - go ahead and get to 12 with Marshall, NIU, and Buffalo
MWC - the 8 founders + TCU, SMU, Rice, and UTEP
SBC - there should be 3 teams left in the WAC after subtracting the MWC 8 + the 4 Texas schools + Tulsa. I think the WAC at that point would be Hawaii, Fresno, and San Jose St. Add Boise, Idaho, New Mexico St, Utah St, Ark State, Nevada, North Texas, Louisiana Tech, and SW Louisiana you're at 12.