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Prospects On Center Stage NBA Preview 2008/09: Final Call
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NCAA Football 2008: The Dynasty By Ron Jumper What makes playing NCAA Football 2008 better than any other game? Dynasty Mode. This isn't even open for debate. Nothing keeps you up until 3 AM like a good dynasty with your favorite team. It is amazing how you can sit down and start playing, then before you know it 3 hours have gone by. (It is also at this point that your parents/girlfriend/wife start to get angry and threatening you with your livelihood if you don't get off the couch. However, that is neither here nor there.)  If you love playing your Dynasty, but have trouble with knowing who to schedule, how to recruit, and what adjustments to make your depth chart, playbook, or coaching strategy, then this is exactly what you need. We'll keep it in the same format as previous NCAA 08 entries, in that we'll take three schools from different conferences and different parts of the country in order to give you a clear idea how to go through the dynasty process with any team. With our No-Huddle 101 article, we used Hawaii, Arkansas, and Michigan to break down an effective no-huddle offense. For the Dynasty Mode, we are going to use Boston College, Oregon, and Southern Miss. Boston College is in the ACC and gets the bulk of its recruits out of the Northeast. Oregon is in the Pac-10 and gets most of its recruits out of the Northwest. Southern Miss is in Conference USA and gets most of its recruits throughout the Southeast. None of the three schools are considered heavyweights and take a little bit of work to build a dynasty with (honestly, what fun is it to start a dynasty with USC?). We'll give you year-by-year scheduling, recruiting, and game-play tactics. In-Season Tasks Scheduling: Oregon: All Pac-10 teams have an interesting difference in their schedule, they only play 3 non-conference games because they play 9 conference games. With this being the situation, it is a little harder to schedule. The Ducks have a solid recruiting base in Oregon, but if you want to bring them to the next level you have to get into California (one of the recruiting hotbeds, along with Texas, Florida, and Ohio). We suggest keeping Fresno State and #2 Michigan on the schedule, and adding #23 Boise State to the schedule in place of Houston. It is always good to schedule the top WAC schools in your non-conference, as they too are trying to get into Cali for those recruits. Southern Miss: With the Golden Eagles, you have to compete with Ole Miss and Mississippi State to get in-state recruits. Scheduling the Rebels and Bulldogs is a must every year, though sometimes you may only be able to get one on the schedule. That is the goal in year one, short and sweet. Keep #15 Tennessee and Arkansas State on the schedule, but pick up Ole Miss and Mississippi State if you can work it out. Adding #10 Arkansas or Alabama would also be solid additions to the schedule since they are neighboring states. Boston College: The Eagles have an interesting situation. They are in the ACC, but aren't really close geographically to any of the other schools in the conference nor do they have a big recruiting base in Massachusetts. Since Florida State and Miami are in the conference, you'll be able to get into Florida if you work at it. Adding someone like South Florida would be perfect for that. You can recruit the Northeast and Midwest as well, as they are actually closer geographically than any schools in the conference. Add a school like Rutgers, Penn State, Pittsburgh, or Syracuse to the non-conference schedule. We say keep UMass and Notre Dame, but add South Florida and Syracuse to the mix. You may wonder "Why Syracuse?", but it is important to play BCS-conference schools in neighboring states that you can defeat without much struggle. Syracuse is in New York and New York is one of your pipelines for recruits. Pre-Season Recruiting: Oregon: The state of Oregon generally only has 3 propects to go after in the pre-season. Select all of them regardless of position. That leaves 12 scholarships left to go into California. Now, it would be silly to just go after the top 12 players in California regardless of position. Look at your Team Overview, you need 1 QB, 2 WRs, and 1 G. Offer the top 2 QBs that fit your style best, whether it is scrambling or pocket passing. Offer the best 4 WRs in Cali, as this position is pivotal to running their spread offense. Offer the best 2 Gs as well. It is easier to get high rated recruits to come to a non-powerhouse if they feel they will play early. That puts us down to 4 scholarship offers left, use them how you please within the state of California. Southern Miss: Surprisingly, Mississippi is a pretty deep state for football prospects. There are usually around 12 prospects, if you're the Golden Eagles you offer all 12. You don't want the best players to leave the state or sign with your rivals. With your remaining 3, address your needs for a FB and DT by searching for the best available prospects at those positions that also live in a bordering state (as stated before, the idea of early playing time improves your odds of landing an out-of-state prospect dramatically). As you build up a program like Southern Miss, you will be able to expand your recruiting trails but it is most important to get into the mix with in-state recruiting early on, especially since both Ole Miss and Mississippi State aren't as competitive as they've been in the past. Boston College: In a small state like Massachusetts, there is maybe 1 good player to go after. Offer that 1 player, regardless of position (never let talent leave your state if you can help it). With the remaining 14, go to pipeline states like Pennsylvania and New York, as well as dip into Florida. A gameplan would be to go after positions that address a need in Florida and take the B.P.A.'s (Best Player Available) in both Pennsylvania and New York. Your needs are HB, FB, C, MLB, and CB. In-Season Recruiting There are just a few simple guidelines to follow during the season: -Divide the recruiting hours up evenly to all 15 recruits. -When a recruit cuts you from his list, divide out the left over hours to the remaining recruits evenly. -If it is obvious a recruit just isn't interested in you, feel free to take his hours away and give them to other more interested recruits (remember, you won't sign but maybe 4 or 5 recruits on even a good year). Coach Strategy: *This is only useful if you simulate games Oregon: Since the Ducks are a spread offense, passing 60% and running 40% allows you to make your offense most effective. Since your an aggressive offense, turning up the aggressiveness makes you more explosive and dangerous. On defense, you play in the Pac-10 so stopping the pass is a priority so 55% pass and 45% run should work well. You don't have the defensive personel you need yet, so taking a more conservative approach should work the best. Southern Miss: Passing has never been a strength of Southern Miss and, since you have RB #25, running will be your best option. Going 60% run and 40% pass should be most effective. Make sure your offense is a little more conservative, as turnovers make it hard to win with Southern Miss. On defense, stopping the run is a priority go 55% run and 45% pass. With a tough, talented defense like the Golden Eagles, feel free to be more aggressive. Boston College: Everything BC does is about balance on offense, so go 50% run and 50% pass. Also, stay well between conservative and aggressive. On defense, stopping the run is first priority so go 60% run and 40% pass. Without the same speed as other teams in the ACC, it would be wise to go more conservative. Off-season Tasks School Budgets Traditionally, unless your team has some disciplinary issues, I would set Recruiting at 35%, Training at 35%, and Discipline at 30%. Players Leaving As a general rule of thumb, I use 12 points to try to talk players from leaving early for the draft. It gets a large portion of the players back and doesn't burn up too much of your recruiting budget. Recruiting Oregon: With the Ducks, you have it pretty easy recruiting because of the TV exposure from playing USC, Cal, and UCLA, as well as the easy access to California for players because you borden the Sunshine State. Your only worries on a yearly basis are what needs you have and how many players you need to sign. For this class, QBs and WRs are the most critical positions. With 22 seniors on next year's roster, getting a high number class is important for this year so you aren't leaning on too many freshman the year after. Signing a big class, even if it means adding more 2 or 3 star recruits than you'd like to, is important because it gives players a chance to redshirt and improve their rating in spring training. Expect a Top 20 Class. Southern Miss: Since the Golden Eagles lack the budget of other schools, staying within Mississippi and bordering states is the key because it requires fewer recruiting hours from your budget. That allows you to go all out for 20 to 25 players instead of being spread too thin. Mississippi is a solid recruiting base to start from, then check Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Alabama.You've got 19 seniors on the upcoming roster so getting a big class is important. Sign a full class if you can, unless you have to sign 1-star recruits (I typically don't sign 1-star recruits at all, as walk-ons are rated very similarly overall).Your needs are HB, FB, C, MLB, CB, and K. Expect a Top 50 Class. Boston College: This is the kind of year you love in Recruiting because you only have 13 seniors on the roster. This allows you to take more chances and go after bigger name players. Generally, that would mean only sign 3-star recruits or better unless it gets down to the wire and you haven't filled your needs yet. Offer the few in-state prospects (mostly to keep the door open in case a monster blue chip recruit comes through one of these years that you don't want to miss) then proceed to Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and on down to Florida. You can afford to take chances and go after big time prospects so feel free to be a little pickier this recruiting cycle. Expect a Top 30 Class. Position Changes Don't be afraid to push the envelope and move people where you need them. If you signed extra running backs and wide receivers, move them to linebacker, cornerback, or safety before their freshman season. Don't pay attention to their new rating, as it will change dramatically once they go through camp next season. For example, if Oregon signed several wideouts in their incoming class and you know they all won't get to play move them somewhere that they possibly will play. If one of the wideouts is only 5'10" 170 then you might move him to corner. If one is 6'2" 210, then outside linebacker or safety might be an option depending on need. *Obviously, it would be silly to move a player you have promised certain things to. It will almost certainly result in the player transferring. Spring Game If your bored and want to play it, go for it. However, it doesn't really accomplish much for you so it probabl isn't worth the time. Cut Players Generally, I like to cut upperclassmen that have freshman and sophomores ahead of them on the depth chart because they will never play. You always want to give the younger players a chance to develop. Depth Chart The smartest thing to do is make sure there are no silly glitches where a high rated player isn't starting. Sometimes a team has 2 good LEs and a mediocre RE, make sure that the two LEs start instead of the mediocre RE. If you have a young player who is rated closely to a veteran, give the young player the nod because it helps improve the team for the future. Year 2 And Beyond Instead of repeating myself for the most part in year 2 and beyond, I'm going to give you the guidelines for how to gradually build your program into a powerhouse. Tricks Of The Trade: "Scheduling Mirage": There are going to be down years for any football program. It is inevitable for the most part. So when that happens you have to be prepared to move forward, regardless. Let's take a school like Southern Miss, instead of playing Tennessee you play Vanderbilt. It will still get a regional broadcast and probably be a win over an SEC school, something that is important for a non-BCS conference school. If your Boston College, instead of taking on South Florida you take on Central Florida. South Florida is the better team, but beating the Golden Knights instead won't make a drastic difference to recruits or keep the game from being regionally broadcasted. "Budget Recruiting": The wonderful thing about In-Season Recruiting is that it doesn't factor in any hours budget or any real limitations. This is your best chance to go all over the country and get the best players anywhere because it doesn't cost you anymore than going after in-state guys. However, you still have to get some of the in-state guys as well, though. "Stat Stuffing": Be sure to use your best weapon all over the place and get him as many touchdowns as possible, as Heisman winners help drastically in recruiting. If it is a QB, try to pile up touchdowns even in the redzone with RB swing passes and QB sneaks. If it is a running back, make sure he is your punt returner, kick returner, and always line him up wide by changing your packages. If it is a wide receiver, adjust the package so he is the your top option on every pass play. Some plays you run typically go to one option more than the other so move your stud WR to that spot to get him huge receiving numbers. "Rating Inflation": Special teams is the way to buff up your team rating overall, thus helping your placement in the pre-season polls and so forth. While some don't value kickers and punters, they can make your ratings look drastically better. As far as using your top skill position players as Returners and top lineman as a Lane Starter, after you place them in the depth chart prior to the season you can change it back after the Polls come out (this is for those that fear they could injure their studs by having them on special teams).  July 31, 2007 |
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Be Careful What You Wish For
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Jumpology: My Bracket Jumpology: Scouting The Heavyweights Jumpology: Reviewing The Bracket
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