[d.courtney]

Keep alliances, although what I believe FIRST needs to do is acknowledge individual achievement with the ranking. Putting the focus on individual achievement will cause teams to focus more on offense rather then defense, as they can't afford not to be playing the game. I have to say two robots having a pushing match can only be fun for so long to watch, and doesn't generate near the excitement that two robots attempting to score in the same place or as spoilers being placed does. Yes you need to reward teams for winning a match, but weighting that aspect 50-50 to say your robots individual results, ends in a much more deserving rank, as teams who don't have their alliance pull through for them can still have a fighting chance in the ranks based on their efforts, or in another case, that team that luck helped them in playing with top teams every round who would have been carried to the top 8 position, now would be ranked slightly lower.