The Ladder - Transitioning to NCAA 2014

[CU Tiger]

Remember you dont have (selectable) recruiting pitches in 14 though coach prestige still plays behind the scenes. But the level directly effects game play and recruiting.

[gstelmack]

I haven't played 14 at all, so I have no idea how recruiting works. I would hope that we don't have to start over at ground 0 with our coaches, though, I've put 7 seasons into building a program, I don't really want to start again with a beginning coach if possible.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

I haven't played 14 at all, so I have no idea how recruiting works. I would hope that we don't have to start over at ground 0 with our coaches, though, I've put 7 seasons into building a program, I don't really want to start again with a beginning coach if possible.

You can keep records and such.
But in '14 there is this coach skill set mode that effects game play and recruiting.

(Game play such things as no controller vibration, no ice the kicker, players get a perfomance bonus int he 4th quarter, players get a performance bonus on the first play after a timeout, etc.)

Recruiting in 14 is done on a points system. You no longer select pitches the players just each have 3 of the old pitches as important to them and you get bonus points based on your skills there. Then you assign points to each recruit each week. In the beginning you get 5000 points to use per week and each player can only get 500 points max. As you level up your coach you can get up to 7,000 points per week and each prospect can get up to 700 points each.

The CPU coaches do level up. So if we start at 0 and all the CPU coaches have leveled up we will be swinging and missing on recruits because we can only offer 500 points and the CPU can offer 700 etc.

Coaches progress base on a points system. You get points for every TD every 100 yards rushing game every win over ranked every school record etc.

That created a little bit of an advatange in the Pyramid because someone had a new school and they literally set every school record the first week and had a level 8 coach while everyone else had level 1 coaches etc.

Not a huge deal or impossible to overcome but just something I wanted us all thinking talking about prior to conversion


(BTW sorry for spelling and grammar here typing on a phone with a cracked screen sucks.

[Julio Riddols]

Me being UTSA would probably result in a similar boost, because my guys are setting school records every week. We'll have to figure out a way to avoid that I think. I don't want a huge advantage right off the bat.

[gstelmack]

For 2011, I have it at:

USF: 1 rivalry win, 1 top-25 win (over Duke, USF was unranked at the time)
Indiana: 1 rivalry win
Duke: 1 rivalry loss, 1 top-25 loss (to USC in Sugar Bowl)
USC: 1 top-25 win (over Duke in Sugar Bowl)
Rice: 1 top-25 win (over USC, Rice was unranked at the time)
Buffalo: 1 top-25 loss

[gstelmack]

For 2012, I have it at:

USF: 1 rivalry win, 1 top-25 win
Duke: 1 rivalry win, 1 top-25 win, 2 top-25 losses (one to USC)
Rice: 1 rivalry loss, 2 top-25 losses (USF, Kansas)
Indiana: 1 rivalry loss
USC: 3 top-25 wins

I think I have the top-25 records pretty good, but I may be missing rivalry games. USC in particular didn't seem to play UCLA much early on.

[Julio Riddols]

I have to say I feel like NCAA 14 plays the best out of the box of any EA football game since Madden 07 for the original XBox. It has been a pleasure getting into it so far. I think I really dig the new recruiting too, it feels like players are much more in tune with reality. The run game feels organic, backs break off long runs realistically. The tackle breaking and stumbling and falling forward/backward feel so much less scripted and unrealistic as well. Blocking is improved.. There is a lot to like so far. It also doesn't seem incredibly easy to throw a deep TD pass when you get momentum going against the CPU. That is awesome.

We'll see what happens as I move beyond the honeymoon period and into the "knowing what to expect" phase.

[chesapeake]

I had the exact opposite reaction. My line cannot seem to block a 4 man rush from an FCS school and I still have the problem of blockers running right past LBs needing blocking. Very frustrating. Recruiting seems more realistic -- which isn't a ton of fun for a new coach just getting started. My first recruiting class will be a lot of dreck.

[Julio Riddols]

Originally Posted by chesapeake

I had the exact opposite reaction. My line cannot seem to block a 4 man rush from an FCS school and I still have the problem of blockers running right past LBs needing blocking. Very frustrating. Recruiting seems more realistic -- which isn't a ton of fun for a new coach just getting started. My first recruiting class will be a lot of dreck.

My problem isn't so much the blocking, but the RB's taking paths that are way too indirect. I often see a player simply refuse to cut a ball up field, but instead try to follow his blocker, then as he runs off that block, the pursuit has caught him. If the back had cut the ball up field on many of these plays, we're looking at needing to adjust defensive awareness because backs would average 7-8 yards a carry regularly.

I haven't tried playing a game yet, but I have coached a full season as OC and all of my top 3 backs in Indiana finished at 4.4 per carry or better. I managed to find updated rosters that have been updated to this season, so Nate Sudfeld took us to a 9-4 record and a gator bowl win over South Carolina. We did suffer a terrible loss to 1-10 Purdue in our last game of the season which cost us a B1G title game appearance.

My first recruiting class was only 11 players deep though, I have a lot to learn from that standpoint. The players I did get felt like the kind of players Indiana gets though, a few 3 star guys, 1 4 star, and a bunch of Juco 2 stars who look to play a significant role in the coming season. Sudfeld returned for his senior year, so I am expecting big things from the squad this year.

[CU Tiger]

WHen you control RBs cut without holding down turbo, they maker dynamic cuts through holes this year.

Yes 7 ypc averages are very doable

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

For 2011, I have it at:

USF: 1 rivalry win, 1 top-25 win (over Duke, USF was unranked at the time)
Indiana: 1 rivalry win
Duke: 1 rivalry loss, 1 top-25 loss (to USC in Sugar Bowl)
USC: 1 top-25 win (over Duke in Sugar Bowl)
Rice: 1 top-25 win (over USC, Rice was unranked at the time)
Buffalo: 1 top-25 loss

Originally Posted by gstelmack

For 2012, I have it at:

USF: 1 rivalry win, 1 top-25 win
Duke: 1 rivalry win, 1 top-25 win, 2 top-25 losses (one to USC)
Rice: 1 rivalry loss, 2 top-25 losses (USF, Kansas)
Indiana: 1 rivalry loss
USC: 3 top-25 wins

I think I have the top-25 records pretty good, but I may be missing rivalry games. USC in particular didn't seem to play UCLA much early on.

Do you have these tabulated somewhere? If you have them, I will add them to the team records table I am making right now as part of the teambuilder roster spreadsheet.

[gstelmack]

I have a spreadsheet, I need to find time to finish this weekend. I'll update the spreadsheet you sent me when I do.