NCAA Season in the Books - Test #3 to Follow
Well, year 1 of the OSU Dynasty is over and we ended it by thrashing Tennessee in the Fiesta. (See below)
With a year of recruiting and the off season under my belt, I have a few thoughts.
The “Promise” feature is a good idea in theory but it doesn’t make a lot of sense, at least early on. I never touched it and OSU landed the #2 class in the nation. I can make a promise to a recruit that we’ll beat our rivals and promise him we’ll win the Big10? Uh, ok. A recruit cares if as a Freshman we win the conference?
Recruiting with OSU was *way* too easy. Crazy easy. So easy I feel it’s just a time sink. Of the schollies I offered, only 1 spurned me for Michigan. EVERY other player — if I wanted him — I got him. It was, to be blunt, kinda boring after a while. Manually recruiting takes a long, long time this year. More time than it used to, for certain. It also didn’t seem to matter where a kid was from. I grabbed them out of Mizzou, Cali, Texas, even a 5-star kid from North Dakota. (!?) House rules can always fix this, but EA had refined its recruiting model and by changing some of the mechanics they have messed up stuff that wasn’t broken.
The All-American team was announced and OSU pretty much made up the defensive team. How silly is it? My nickel back was named an All-American. W.T.F. His stats weren’t even all that wonderful, sans the 4 picks and the 2 sacks. OSU had an All-American LT, RE, OLB, MLB, CB (TWO OF THEM), FS AND SS. Yes, for those scoring at home, the entire back seven at OSU –except for the LOLB, made an All-American team. The INTs played a role, obviously.
Again, EA also screws up the ‘keeping kids in the program’ feature. It’s still too easy. After my entire defense wins awards..NO ONE leaves early for the pros. None. Zippo. Oh, they wanted to, sure, but a 25 minute chat with Coach Tress and they’re 100% Buckeye baby. Come on, EA. What the hell. Make it at least a challenge to keep these kids–or even better just say, “Here’s who is leaving, friggin’ deal with it.” As is, I’ll never lose a Jr to the pros.
The funny thing…all this negativity will in fact wash away if I can ever fix this INT problem. Anyone that tells you it isn’t a problem is either drunk or lying…or doesn’t mind it (which is fair).
July 27th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
This is just a theory I have. I haven’t tested it yet on the game nor have I checked out places like OS to see if my theory is valid or if people have tried it.
You play with a 6 star team and one that is a perennial top 10 team. Ohio State also had the most interceptions of any team last year in the real world (18).
Maybe trying a 4 star team (or a defense that is rated B- or below) and seeing if the interceptions are as prevalent would be a good course of action.
It doesn’t surprise me that Ohio State didn’t have problems recruiting. As I said above, they are a perennial top 10 team and get prospects that marginal teams in the Big 10 wouldn’t have a chance at.
Now this is just a theory, but maybe one that can be easily tested.
July 27th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
Well, I see what you are saying — but a few points:
I’m also playing ex. games with lesser teams and still seeing the picks, but yes, OSU has a good secondary but it’s simply overkill. I finished the year with 36 INTs. That’s a wee bit obscene.
Second, it’s a game. Nothing about it should be boring and easy, including recruiting with OSU. Anyone who follows college recruiting knows that you don’t get all your targets unless you’re Mack Brown. OSU loses kids they want *all* the time.
When they battle for these 4 and 5 star kids it should be just that — a battle. Hell I have guys who have OSU as #2 on their list when I’ve barely spoken to them. Just because you play with a top tier program shouldn’t mean you should be able to take who you want in your pipeline. It just doesn’t work that way. It DIDN’T work that way in previous versions of this game, either.
July 27th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
Ah well, it was just a theory.