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NFL Mock Draft 2009 Draft of 2009 Lacks Star Power NFL Draft 2009: Getting Started Super Bowl Well Worth Tuning In For
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Prospects On Center Stage NBA Preview 2008/09: Final Call
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Take Anyone On In NCAA Football 2007 By Ron Jumper Is there really anything you would rather be doing on weekday afternoon than relaxing and playing NCAA Football 2007? Can you really top the joy of juking your buddy senseless on your way to the endzone, ending his seemingly never-ending smack talk? Or maybe you are just playing by yourself, and you win a BCS National Championship on Heisman Level. Nope, nobody saw you do it and, nope, no one really wanted to hear about it when you told your friends anyway. However, as long as you knew what you had accomplished was all that mattered. But before you can beat your buddy senseless or win a national title, you have to pick your team. Don’t act like you don’t know EXACTLY what I’m talking about. Honestly say that you, or at least one of your friends, didn’t claim old-school Kansas State with QB #3 and RB #43 back in the day. Or maybe you were a big 2006 Ohio State fan, who could blame you having QB #10 scrambling around with two impact wide receivers to throw the deep ball to, they were almost impossible to stop. So who should you take this season when your buddy starts trash talking you and saying he is the best? Before you pick, there are some ground rules. The 3 essentials: Have a QB with at least 80 speed: The fast quarterback opens things up for options, bootlegs, roll-outs, and scrambling. The simplest strategy for passing, in my eyes, is to roll out to the long side of the field and make the defense choose to cover you or drop in coverage. The way defenses might stop this strategy is zone blitzing from the outside and jamming the corners so the timing from the receivers is thrown off. Then draws, slants, and screens become your best weapon. When he has to respect all the dinks and dunks you throw at him, he has no choice but pull back some of the pressure and that allows you to have him at your mercy to call anything you please. On another note, with quick package substitutions as easy to use as they are, change things up when you think it will catch your opponent off-guard. If the backup QB can scramble, sub him in on 2nd and 6 for a speed option. If you have one dominant WR, move him all over the field from both sides and even the slot positions. Changing packages makes the defense unsure of where to blitz from and, usually, resorts to less blitzing. Have an impact RB: The impact RB makes the game plan so much simpler for you. If you are playing a heavy blitzing player, using runs to the weakside can catch the defense completely off balance. On occasion, run out of the goalline formation on 1st down. If he happens to be blitzing out of nickel or dime, after the run keep no huddling and running the play over until he is forced to burn a timeout so he can get the right players on the field. A typical game is 5 minute quarters, if you get up by 14 with an impact RB there is no way you can’t keep the chains moving and burn some clock. Keeping things simple and giving your impact RB around 20 carries is a must. It neutralizes the blitz and allows for play-action passes. The play-action out of the I Form-Normal is my recommendation when the opportunity presents itself. Having insanely athletic LBs: With fast linebackers, you have so much less to worry about on defense. If you accidentally called a 4-3 but your opponent is in Shotgun-Spread, the linebackers are fast enough to cover the slot receivers. If the team you are playing is running the ball well, don’t be nervous about playing the 4-4 because a 4-4 Cover 3 with fast linebackers playing underneath is very capable of defending the pass and stopping the run. You don’t have to put yourself in vulnerable positions by blitzing cornerbacks, the linebackers will supply more than enough pressure. Mixing up different zones and using your corners to jam the receivers at the line of scrimmage allows your linebackers to be all over the field all the time. After testing out some teams from this season, I would have to say Florida State, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Florida, and Cal are all teams I would take on anybody with. You are probably surprised to see Florida State at the top of the list, but this team has the most speed I have ever seen on any of the NCAA Football games in its existence. MLB #7 can disrupt an entire offense by himself, using him almost doesn’t seem fair sometimes. Oklahoma has a great defense and RB #28 is a one man wrecking crew. RB #28 can run over, under, or around anyone, not to mention catch the ball on swing passes. Ohio State has QB #10 and WR #7, the best QB and WR combo on the game. The defense lacks the superstars, but be sure to blitz SS #3 as often as you can due to his 96 speed rating. Florida has great all-around talent, especially with QB #12 leading the offense. On defense, LE #20 is a freak of nature due to his size(6’2” 270) and his speed(82 speed rating). Cal has the 3rd best running back on the game with RB #10.On Cal’s defense, MLB #34 is 6’2” 243 and has an 86 speed rating, not to mention LOLB #15 has an 85 speed rating. The next most important decision is deciding who to start a dynasty with. Do I take the easy route? Do I take an average BCS conference school and make them good? Do I take a small conference team and make them good? The choice is up to you, but here are some thoughts that might help you decide. The Heavyweight Dynasty: These are the easiest teams to start a dynasty with. 1. Florida State- Has so much young talent and also happens to be in the large talent pool of Florida. With only 6 seniors on the roster, not to mention Miami and Virginia Tech not being their usual dominant selves, the Seminoles look like an easy team to build a dynasty with. 2. Oklahoma- Even if RB #28 goes to the draft after his junior season, RB #29 is rated an 85 as a true freshman. They only have 8 seniors on the entire roster. 3. USC- Plenty of youth and depth to go around but, most importantly, it only takes one of their routine recruiting classes to have all new weapons to use. 4. Ohio State- Other than QB and DT, this team is still in great shape after the first season. The wide receivers will be the best in the nation by far, with or without WR #7 returning for his senior season. 5. Texas- With the Longhorns it is real simple, as long as they can recruit Texas the way they do there is no way they will ever drop out of the top 10 in your dynasty. Your recruiting strategy is just to sign the top 25 players in Texas year after year. They are fifth despite 7 of their top 10 players being seniors and the remaining 3 being juniors, that is how powerful being able to recruit Texas is. The Good-To-Great Dynasty: These are the teams that compete but just can’t quite get over the edge. 1. UCLA- The Bruins keep their entire starting backfield, offensive line, and secondary after the first year of the dynasty. If you can beat USC in year 2, the PAC-10 is yours for the taking. 2. South Carolina- The Gamecocks keep their entire starting backfield and front 7 after the first year of the dynasty. Have an easy non-conference schedule in year 2 and you are looking at an easy 9 or 10 win season. 3. Boston College- With plenty of talent to start with, they only lose 9 seniors after the first season. They keep their QB, RB, and entire front 7. My recommendation would be to schedule non-conference games against teams like Syracuse and Pittsburgh to broaden your recruiting resources from New York to Florida. 4. Arkansas- With such young and talented skill position players returning, all you have to do is add a few more pieces in the next two recruiting classes. My thought would be to try to sign quality over quantity. For example, try to sign more 4 or 5 star recruits even if you only end up signing 11 or 12 players in the first couple of classes. You can always sign a full class of 25 2 and 3 star recruits when you need to. 5. Texas A&M- Once again, if you have a substantial amount of talent and you are in Texas you can rise to the top very quickly. Have a weak non-conference schedule in year 1 so you can have a 9 or 10 win season, with Texas being your only real recruiting pipeline you don’t have to schedule heavyweight after heavyweight. The rest will take care of itself. The Rags-To-Riches Dynasty: These are the lower tier teams that have a shot at rising up. 1. Kentucky- The Wildcats return 9 of their top 10 rated players after the first season. With Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt not having much talent to speak of, this actually is feasible. The biggest thing for Kentucky is wins, not exposure. Making a bowl game is huge for Kentucky so schedule at least 3 cupcakes on the schedule in the first 3 years. 2. USF- Being in the Big East and being located in Florida gives you a wide recruiting base. The fact that they return 18 starters after the first year of the dynasty, including QB #4 with his 82 rating and 85 speed, leaves plenty of reason for optimism. 3.Bowling Green- With the roster having 38 underclassmen and only 24 upperclassmen, the future appears bright. The team will return its entire backfield and secondary after the first season. Try to broaden your recruiting base by scheduling Kentucky, Syracuse, and Indiana. 4. Arkansas State- Coming off a conference title, this team has the highest overall rating it ever will. The fact that you will have impact safeties( FS#21 and SS #16) for the first two seasons is very comforting. Schedule teams like Baylor, Memphis, and Vanderbilt to start with. QB #7 is only a freshman but is rated a 70 with 76 speed so plan on him taking over your offense for the next few years. It might not even be a bad idea to switch to a spread offense. 5. UL Monroe- With no senior starters on offense or the entire defensive line, youth is plentiful. If you can land any talent in your first recruiting class, you are sure to have a much better season 2. Schedule teams like Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, and Rice in the first few seasons. August 5, 2006 |
| NCAA Football | |
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Be Careful What You Wish For
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| NCAA Basketball | |
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Jumpology: My Bracket Jumpology: Scouting The Heavyweights Jumpology: Reviewing The Bracket
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