GIG'EM! A Texas A&M TCY Dynasty

[Tasan]

Here we go, a Texas A&M dynasty. I'm eagerly awaiting FOF2k4, and I figured I'd run a TCY sim to get some drafts. Then, I thought why not a dynasty, so here goes. This is my second attempt at a dynasty, as my previous BBMogul one just kinda faded and died. Hopefully this one will go on for a while, and get me some draft classes in the process.

Anyway, on to the dynasty. I'm not particularly a picky player. I tend to play on "comfortable" levels, so this time I'm going on the middle setting. I randomized everything, throwing me a little curve. I'm letting my assistants control the time for each player, as that's the most annoying feature of this game IMO. Anyway, on to the team and week one.

The Team:

The College Years
Texas A&M Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Elig Current Estimate Future Estimate
Irish, Tracy 18 QB Sr 73 73
Hayes, Vincent 19 QB Sr 71 71
Shepherd, Nathan 11 QB Jr 34 87
Carlisle, Nicky 10 QB* So* 24 63
Donaldson, Joe 24 RB Jr 55 55
Adams, Robbie 33 RB Sr 49 58
Stevens, Clarence 20 RB Sr 46 67
McCray, Justin 22 RB So 41 48
Tanner, Randall 26 RB* Fr 29 64
Hall, Grant 39 RB* Fr 24 62
Tyree, Scottie 23 FB Sr 62 100
Babcock, T.J. 34 FB So 34 80
Schneiter, Marc 43 FB* So* 25 36
Lake, Howie 28 FB* Fr 20 47
Warren, Ernest 86 TE Fr 33 100
Poore, Sammy 98 TE So* 26 64
Fulcher, Barry 83 TE* So 34 57
Gaston, Mitch 89 TE* So 32 36
Baxter, Al 92 TE* Fr 22 74
Tuaolo, Neil 6 WR Sr 79 86
Hampton, Terrance 87 WR Jr 69 78
Sellers, Antonio 4 WR Sr* 53 92
Hinds, Timothy 3 WR Sr 50 50
Vaughan, Eddie 85 WR Jr* 43 52
Nordstrom, Darren 80 WR* So 32 59
Weaver, Gary 84 WR* So* 24 61
Money, Shane 54 C Sr* 60 60
Chung, Lester 59 C Sr 51 68
DeMeester, Kris 50 C Sr* 44 79
Porter, Fernando 60 G Sr* 74 84
Bruce, Rodney 77 G Sr 60 60
Hopkins, Ronald 66 G Sr* 39 63
Green, Courtney 72 G So* 29 78
Gamble, Billy 61 G* Sr* 37 62
Shaw, Percy 63 T Sr* 62 73
Sheen, Wade 71 T Jr* 43 72
Ross, Arnie 69 T Jr* 25 76
Borders, Joey 64 T* Sr* 28 72
Crane, Morris 67 T* Fr 22 43
Lake, Joey 14 P Fr 42 80
Moulton, Harry 16 P Fr 29 84
Feagles, Rob 7 P* Fr 26 72
Moffett, Benjamin 13 K Sr* 76 76
Alston, Charles 2 K Sr 65 72
Becht, Leo 5 K* So 25 59
Harmon, Bob 74 DE Jr 51 85
Knight, Lamont 93 DE So 41 54
Ackerman, Fernando 90 DE So* 16 62
Mora, Ralph 70 DE* Fr 28 48
Brennan, Carlos 97 DE* Fr 26 78
Mackey, Mitch 76 DE* Fr 15 70
Hough, Willie 75 DT Sr 61 80
Riordan, A.J. 78 DT Sr* 45 45
Beamon, Fernando 94 DT Jr* 41 67
Boone, Calvin 79 DT* So* 8 68
Diehl, Greg 42 ILB Sr 83 100
Fletcher, Vincent 95 ILB Sr 69 69
Mathis, Al 40 ILB Sr* 59 80
Bronson, Jeff 46 ILB* Jr* 23 80
Fannin, Donnie 48 OLB Sr 52 65
Williamson, Bo 58 OLB So 48 64
Kleaver, Ross 99 OLB Sr* 37 50
Johnstone, Oscar 91 OLB Fr 36 65
Malewitz, Leslie 52 OLB* Fr 14 58
Sinclair, Anthony 51 OLB* Fr 11 86
Joyner, Butch 30 CB Sr 83 83
Harrison, Henry 27 CB Sr 66 66
Peterson, Roosevelt 29 CB Sr* 64 64
Givens, Robbie 41 CB Sr 58 58
Lluellyn, Nick 32 CB* Jr 23 36
Bruno, Tony 36 CB* Fr 20 35
Lake, Leonard 25 S Sr* 55 64
Winslett, Oliver 47 S Sr 54 83
Bliss, Bill 31 S So 51 96
James, Mack 21 S Jr 47 47
Danskin, Patrick 37 S Sr 39 66

* in eligibility - Player has been red-shirted. * in position - Player is
walk-on. ** before name - Player is in danger of becoming academically ineligible.


It looks like I've inherited a fairly talented, but veteran team. I'm going to have to recruit real good this year to replace a lot of my talent. I'm going to redshirt a couple of upperclassmen too, due to some depth I have, and need I'll have down the road. I'm pretty sure this will be a passing team, at least right now. I have a good stable of WRs and some very talented QBs.

Well thats it for my first post. More to come tonight probably. Gig'em Ags!

[MrBug708]

Run and Shoot is very dangerous as is Trips

[Tasan]

Redshirts

Here are the guys I went through and redshirted or unshirted, and the reasons. Otherwise, everyone keeps their original designation as above. + means I added redshirt, - means I removed redshirt.

I'd really like to redshirt QB Vince Hayes too, but I'm short a QB. I guess he and Irish will split time their Senior years. Its a shame I can't get that extra year out of one of them, as they are both pure seniors. But without one of them, I'd be force to have a weak Soph as backup. Those are the breaks.

+QB Shepherd - Jr. -- He's got amazing potential, and an extra year will help me out.

+RB Tanner - Fr. -- Potential starter or backup, too good to waste a year on the bench.

+FB Babcock - So. -- Future starter, we'll take the year.

+TE Warren - Fr. -- Going to be an absolute stud at TE.

-TE Fulcher - So. -- Possibly the best "current" talent at TE I have, but thats not saying a lot. His upside is nowhere near Warren's, so he plays now.

+WR Hampton - Ju. -- Good talent, I want his extra year and others can start right now.

+P Lake - Fr. -- Good guy for a long time, but Moulton will be too. Tough call.

+K Becht - So. -- Two good upperclassmen, and this guy will start when they are gone.

-DE Harmon - Ju. -- Removed because I need him starting.

+DE Brennan - Fr. -- No idea why this guy wasn't redshirted and the Junior was. This guy will be good.

+ILB Diehl - Sr. -- He'll start next year when Fletcher is gone.

+CB Harrison - Sr. -- I need someone for next year, and I have the backups right now.

+S Bliss - So. -- Super talent that will start next year, but right now I've got starters.

Whew, that was a lot. Okay, next post should be an overview of what I need. I forgot how time intensive it is to start a season up.

[Tasan]

Originally posted by MrBug708
Run and Shoot is very dangerous as is Trips

Thanks for the info. I was thinking R&S, as a way to test some of my ideas for my CFL team in fof2k4. I just wish the gameplan interfaces were similar in the two games.

[Tasan]

Well, in roster order, here are my needs as I see them.

QB
WR
WR
C
C
G
G
OT
OT
DT
ILB
ILB
OLB
CB
CB
S

Its going to be tough to get 2 of some of these positions. Anyone else see a hole I missed?

[Tasan]

This Aggie team won't resemble anything from the past. On offense, we are going with a pass heavy trips formation. On defense, we are going 4-3. Our QBs will split time, as will our running backs and tight ends. I think this season will be promissing, but who really knows til the first snap.

Now to target some high schoolers.

RB Paulson, TX, 87-- -- He likes our academics. I requested he visit after going and seeing him.

WR Dole, VA, 98 -- He likes our academics. I haven't gone to see him yet, and haven't invited him to campus.

WR Ferguson, OK, 89- -- Likes our academics, but doesn't like our offensive coordinator. We asked him to visit.

WR Malone, CA, 92+ -- Likes our classes, but hates our off coordinator. We flew out to California to see him and a couple of other prospects, and we invited him to come out for a visit.

C Heupel, CA, 93- -- Going with the trend, he likes our academics, but hates his coordinator. He's strong in his classes, and we give him an invite.

WR Malone, CA, 92+ -- He complained about the offensive coordinator, but whats new. He likes our academic reputataion though, and he's good in the books as well. We invite him.

G Carlisle, CA, 92- -- He's par for the course with his likes/dislikes. Also good in the books. We invite him as well.

G Folse, TX, 84 -- We didn't go see him yet, but he's real excited about how close we are to his home. He's just okay with the books, but we invite him anyway, we had a real good feeling about him.

CB Grande, CA, 88 -- Our last Caliguy this week, he likes our academics as well. He has good grades, so, even without seeing him yet as we were out of visits, we invite him out.

CB Quinlan, IL, 85 -- Just a phone call to this guy, no visit or invite yet. He likes our academics yet again, but hates our def coordinator. Go figure. We'll check him out more next week.


So there is our first stab at recruiting this season. If just 1/4 of these guys sign on, I'll be happy. There is obviously more work to do though, as I still haven't even talked to several of my need positions. Anyway, off to the first game!

[Tasan]

Well the pollsters are nice to us to start the season. We start out ranked #17 in the nation. Our first game pits us against #47 Arkansas State, and we are the big tv game of the week(TV1). Must be a slow week. We're only 6 point favorites, so the betters seem to think the pollsters are wrong. We'll see.

Here's a quick look at the top 25



The College Years
Computer Ratings

School Record Conf Sole Angl Dorf Yard Hemn Ave Rank
Western Michigan 0-0 MAM 1 1 1 1 1 1.00 1
Colorado State 0-0 MWE 2 2 2 2 2 2.00 4
Toledo 0-0 MAM 3 3 3 3 3 3.00 2
Eastern Michigan 0-0 MAM 4 4 4 4 4 4.00 9
Air Force 0-0 MWE 5 5 5 5 5 5.00 3
Southern California 0-0 P10 6 6 6 6 6 6.00 6
Washington State 0-0 P10 7 7 7 7 7 7.00 5
Georgia Tech 0-0 ACC 8 8 8 8 8 8.00 7
Tulane 0-0 CUS 9 9 9 9 9 9.00 13
Virginia 0-0 ACC 10 10 10 10 10 10.00 8
Baylor 0-0 B12 11 11 11 11 11 11.00 11
Oklahoma State 0-0 B12 12 12 12 12 12 12.00 17
Kentucky 0-0 SEC 13 13 13 13 13 13.00 16
Utah 0-0 MWE 14 14 14 14 14 14.00 10
Memphis 0-0 CUS 15 15 15 15 15 15.00 19
Ball State 0-0 MAM 16 16 16 16 16 16.00 12
**Texas A&M 0-0 B12 17 17 17 17 17 17.00 14
Washington 0-0 P10 18 18 18 18 18 18.00 18
Nevada-Las Vegas 0-0 MWE 19 19 19 19 19 19.00 21
New Mexico 0-0 MWE 20 20 20 20 20 20.00 27
Central Michigan 0-0 MAM 21 21 21 21 21 21.00 20
Texas 0-0 B12 22 22 22 22 22 22.00 15
Virginia Tech 0-0 BGE 23 23 23 23 23 23.00 25
Stanford 0-0 P10 24 24 24 24 24 24.00 30
Michigan 0-0 B10 25 25 25 25 25 25.00 26


Can you tell I randomized reputations?? :D

SO anyway, the first game.

According to the rankings, this should have been a blowout, but the line was closer to the truth. We pulled out a 37-34 win by holding ASU to a mere 8 yards rushing, but almost lost it by allowing 299 yards through the air at 9 yards per attempt. OUr offense was strong on both the run and pass, racking up 91 yards on the ground and 419 in the air for a total of 510 yards. We even held the ball for over 39 minutes. A kickoff return by ASU and some interceptions off us are what really kept them in the game, but we hung on for the last 5 minutes for the W. Looking at the individual stats, Hayes seems to have played the entire game, even though they are set to swap out. oh well. He had a real strong day, except for the ints. WR Tuaolo was the player of the game with 169 yards receiving on 9 catches and a TD. A strong showing by our D line too, totalling 3.5 sacks.

Quite possibly the worst news out of the game is that starting MLB Fletcher is out for 9 weeks with a busted knee. It appears that WR Tuaolo had a good game even though bruising his sternum, and he's probable 4 weeks. WR Vaughan is questionable for 3 weeks with an injured rib cage. Fletcher is the only one that concerns me. I redshirted my other top notch senior ILB to gain an extra year with him, but now I might have to bring him on to play. ILB Mathis will start next week, and I'll judge from there I guess. All totalled, not a bad start to the season.

[Tasan]

I start out the next week by doing some lineup changes. Mathis comes in to start in the middle for me, and Bronson will back him up. I'll evaluate his play this week, and decide next week if I need to un-redshirt my stud ILB.

At WR, I keep Tuaolo where he is, but shuffle Vaughan out of the lineup, and bump everyone up one slot, putting WR Weaver into the 5th slot. Otherwise, I keep things the way they are.

Back to the recruiting trail. I didn't spend too wisely this week, so we didn't get to see as many guys as we had hoped to. Still, I think we found some candidates. I'm really interested, too, to find out if I'm aiming too high right now, or if, at this difficulty level, I'm targetting the right guys. Time will tell.

The new guys:

OT Elias, IL, 87+ -- His grades aren't the best, and he didn't like our offensive coordinator, but with that rating we invite him.

OT Garner, MD, 96+ -- He liked our academics, which is funny because of his poor grades. He didn't like our coordinator. He rates real well though, and we invite him.

OT Lang, PA, 100- -- A stud, he was excited when we called. His grades are lacking, and he didn't like how far we are from his home and once again, our offensive coordinator. We invite him though, because he's a stud.

ILB Flynn, TX, 97-- -- In the middle of the pack grade wise, Flynn still liked our tough academic program. He didn't like our defensive coordinator though, and that with the double - on his scout almost didn't get him invited. Almost.

ILB Franklin, TX, 77- -- He liked our academics, and his grades were good enough to qualify him for honors classes as a freshman at A&M. He didn't rate well though, but I got one of those feelings about him, so I went ahead and used our last invite on him after inviting some other guys I looked at last week.

I called some guys back from last week, and made some scholarship offers to the ones I liked the best. S Almeida, WRs DOle and Ferguson, OTs Garner and Lang, RB Paulson, ILB Flynn, G Folse, and CB Grande all good scholarship offers for next season. Now if half of those guys sign with me, I'll dance down Wellborn Avenue.

[Tasan]

We drop one spot in the polls to #18, I guess the computer doesn't like 3 point wins vs. a low ranked team. Anyway, we head into a fairly large matchup with #14 Utah(1-0), on TV3. We are 4 point favorites.

And we flop. We come out strong in the first half, shutting them out and putting up 20 points. However, the second half we totally collapse, only getting a FG while allowing 30 points, with a final score Utah 30, A&M 23. We allowed 124 yards on the ground, and 306 in the air. Our passing was okay at 321, but we ran for a mere 18 yards, helped out by a big sack performance by Utah. We come out of the game with no new injuries though, so that is a small victory. I think some changes are in store for the secondary and middle linebacker.

[Tasan]

Well, I've decided to just play this one out. Its taking too long to do this way, and I really don't think I have much of a readership anyway. If someone wants to prove me wrong, go ahead. Thanks to anyone that did read, just post some! :D

Anyway, I might post yearly updates or something, but I'm done with this. I need to find a story or something next time I try this...