NCAA 08 The Test of Khan
A lof of thoughts bubblin in my noggin about this today, but I’ll try and be brief. I did some tinkering this morning — because our new dog is an early riser and he and Ashley invaded the bedroom at 7AM today.
I played the KSU game and tried a different slider theory and it backfired and the KSU QB tossed 6 picks. Ha. So it was back to Heisman level with the old theory (High CPU catch, accuracy, low human AWR and INT and high Knockdown).
It was a weird game against Penn State this morning. Totally exciting — 32-28 OSU win. The game saw PSU make a goal line stand when I had 3rd and goal from the inch line (two failed QB sneaks…wow). I followed that up by tackling the HB in the end zone for a safety. Late in the game I scored a TD to take the 32-28 lead but the PSU QB got red hot, marched them right down the field and I finally started to tighten up when they had first and goal at the 5. On 4th and goal PSU tried an out pattern and the WR caught the ball at the 1 foot line…and stepped out of bounds. Game over. Pretty exciting stuff for 9 AM on a Sunday.
OK, the test stuff:
Blog reader Loren Halek posted a theory about playing with great teams — that possibly being the reason for the turnovers. I had tried to play with lesser teams in ex. mode but I think he may be onto something. I want to start a test dynasty, playing with a team like say…SMU.
Here’s the PSU QB line: (again, this is on heisman)
20/32 347 yards 1 TD 2 INT
75 of those yards was thanks to a missed tackle by my SS (ok..it was me on a really bad big hit attempt)
BOTH INTs were made by my All World CB (Jenkins). Jenkins should have left for the pros after last season; he’s a *99* OVR player with a 97 AWR. Throw it near #2, and it’s gonna get picked. He’s the Florida State version of Deion, only he likes to tackle. On several plays in the game, passes hit my other players right in the hands and they failed to make the pick, this is why I want to try playing a Dynasty game with a lesser team. Jenkins has like 6 picks on the year and we have played 4 games. I’m all for making the great players great, but …damn. EA just went overboard a bit.
I think this also goes back to the ease of which you can keep players in the program. Jenkins, according to his ratings, was a surefire top 3 pick. A house rule may be in order. The OSU defense is just…loaded.
I noticed other things during the game — the PSU QB had a streak where he couldn’t hit the broad side of Licking County. Balls over everyone’s head, balls in the dirt, etc. I wonder what impact playing at Ohio Stadium has on this stuff? Granted, he still went 20/32 for 347, but he made his share of bad passes, too, and that’s on Heisman with CPU Accuracy at 80.
Finally, I think part of the INT problem is that the AI does a terrible job when throwing to out/fade/corner patterns. That’s where a lot of my picks happen; both of Jenkins’ picks were on corner routes where the ball wasn’t thrown high enough. I can still live with 2 picks from a guy rated 99 OVR but I’m still seeking that game where the AI fails to throw an interception. (SMU! SMU!)
Part of this is simply the way in which EA designd the game. I should add — I throw at least 1 pick a game too. Players who look open are suddenly not when I throw it. PSU also has their 99 OVR corner and I learned on the 4th play of the game…best not throw over there.
Boeckman’s line: 20/27 191 2 TD 2 INT
NCAA 08 is, without a doubt, the most demanding game I have ever played when it comes to finding open receivers. This is both a blessing and a curse, and no one can say that the DB AI is shit in this game. If a guy ain’t open..and I mean open…don’t throw to him. I am being forced to break a 10 year habit. It’s not easy.
Oh, speaking of house rules…the new recruiting model is wearing on me. Good idea in theory, a MAJOR time sink in practice. So, I’m going to start acting like the head coach and not the head coach and every position coach and the recruiting coordinator. I have set the CPU Phone Calls to ON, but I’m working the recruiting board and I’m the guy who offers the schollies. I’m also making 5 personal calls per week, no more.
This will save me a ton of time and hopefully make recruiting at least a little bit more difficult. As is, it’s laughably easy.
Today is my 12:00 hoop game at the gym and I doubt I’ll be able to play anymore until tonight. I’m going to start the SMU test just to see if their vaunted secondary can look like the 1980 Raiders.
July 29th, 2007 at 11:48 am
I had my first game where I never intercepted the ball and it was on Varsity! I was Okl State at Texas A&M. McGee was 28/37/294/2/0. Varsity! WTF? It was a great 2OT game…I threw 2 picks that were totally my fault. I had most of my defense sliders at zero (except tackle and break block at 30) and CPU catching and QB accuracy at 100. I was having good luck this morning on Varsity and I noticed that the more I increased the pass blocking the worse the QB got. It was almost as if too much time was *hurting*. I really lowered my offensive sliders and CPU tackling so varsity wasn’t too easy on offense. We’ll see…it was just one game.
July 29th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
I don’t know about the great teams theory… I’m having the same INT problem using Akron. I’m playing on AA defaults, for now. Since you haven’t found the ‘perfect sliders’ for us all yet, I guess I’ll have to tinker with them myself for the time being.
Kevin
July 29th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
In my last 3 games I have intercepted the CPU 0, 1, and 1 times! The last two games were on All-American as Penn State vs. Ohio State and Army vs. Air Force. I have awareness, knockdowns, interceptions at zero; WR catching at 100, QB accuracy now at 75, and CPU pass blocking at 25 (and only sack them 2-4 times per game). All three games were absolutely fantastic with very realistic stats.