The Ladder 2018 - Bowl Season - Deadline is 11/29 (Sat) at 11 p.m. EST

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Now 15 sacks may be a bit much...but it is nice to see the results. Not sure how much of that was the cupcake we played

[CU Tiger]

I know...

[Julio Riddols]

We managed 7 sacks in our game. I still think we should go a few weeks before we decide to tweak anything.

[Kodos]

This is where my "too easy" fears come in. Buffalo (C+) slaughters Penn State (B-) 56-24. FAU (B-) slaughters UL Monroe (C) 56-14 while racking up 15 sacks in the game.

AA is too easy. Heisman offense, AA defense?

[gstelmack]

Not having played my game yet, I am also of the opinion that we should try it for a few weeks to try and identify what is actually broken for everyone, then tweak that. At first blush CPU pass blocking may need to go up a bit, but let's see more.

I'd rather have games be too easy for those few weeks than too hard, cartman's already been screwed a bit on this.

[Julio Riddols]

Gotta get that sample size up.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Not having played my game yet, I am also of the opinion that we should try it for a few weeks to try and identify what is actually broken for everyone, then tweak that. At first blush CPU pass blocking may need to go up a bit, but let's see more.

I'd rather have games be too easy for those few weeks than too hard, cartman's already been screwed a bit on this.

Agreed.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Not having played my game yet, I am also of the opinion that we should try it for a few weeks to try and identify what is actually broken for everyone, then tweak that. At first blush CPU pass blocking may need to go up a bit, but let's see more.

I'd rather have games be too easy for those few weeks than too hard, cartman's already been screwed a bit on this.

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Agreed.

Add me to the list as well.

Plus I still say there is some underhood adjustment to sliders I cant put my finger on. Ive tested it and its there but Im not sure I can explain it.

You make a change and you see something the first game, the 2nd game plays totally different than the 1st and around 3 or 4 slider sets tend to "level out" and from 4 -100 they seem to play consistent.

Some of that may be me adapting to the play calls not sure.

Also 15 sacks was probably a "slight" exaggeration. And did play a team that passed everydown and had 50s rated OTs against my 80s DEs. Still my DEs had 5 and 3 sacks...a backup got a sack and one other DT got a sack...plus a couple user sacks on CB/SS blitzes.

[chesapeake]

Duke is done recruiting. It is a lot easier to do recruiting online in 14. No more dropped calls.

[Eaglesfan27]

Did my recruiting online - love the new ease of online recruiting!

[gstelmack]

I will get my game in soon - work is very busy during the week, so I'm pretty much only able to play on the weekends right now.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

I will get my game in soon - work is very busy during the week, so I'm pretty much only able to play on the weekends right now.

That's kinda where I am right now too.

[gstelmack]

#9 Alabama goes down 42-25. Now, Alabama was a better team, and I'll offer my suggestions on how sliders may have impacted this game, but I'll also point out that Alabama lost 38-24 in week 1 at home to Texas, another team they are better than, so Alabama may not be quite as good as their roster indicates.

I did not think I'd be able to run the ball well, and I couldn't. My starting HB averaged less than 2 yards per carry. So I went with the short-passing game instead, and it worked well. I had to read the defense quickly and get the ball away fast - we took a couple of sacks, and I threw a few just before getting hit, but the short game kept the defense at bay. Halfback screens worked very well in the first half, not so well late as they started keeping a man on the halfback. This allowed us to move the ball, and we scored 3 first half TDs.

They had their running game working and a decent passing game, but we kept them to a 3-and-out on their first possession and forced a FG just before halftime and went into the half with a 21-17 lead.

In the second half, we started to wear them down. Our short passing game was as good as a running game, and by maintaining possession we tired the defense and kept the offense from getting in a rhythm. We scored the only TD of the 3rd quarter, and then the first one of the 4th for a 35-17 lead.

We then threw a horrible pick (all my fault, what I considered my first bad decision of the day and I paid) which set them up for a short TD and a 2-point conversion to get within 35-25. We got a strip-sack returned for a TD for the final margin.

This game felt like a good battle between 2 good teams. I had a gameplan that worked at home against a team that may not be as good as its roster suggests. Not sure how this would have gone on the road. I do feel like I had a bit too much pass rush - I have a good defensive line, but they have a good offensive line, and we were still getting quick pressure on Alabama's QB. He was good at getting the ball away, and we didn't rack up a ton of sacks (the late strip-sack notwithstanding), but we were clearly hurrying him too often. A minor bump in CPU pass blocking is likely in order as we keep an eye on these things.

Run blocking felt right for both sides, maybe a bit strong for the CPU. He opened huge holes, but not every play, we had some good stops. I rarely had holes, got some yards to the outside but not often. That felt right when looking at the lines. My pass blocking felt good - I avoided sacks by getting the ball away quickly.

I never broke a tackle, he broke a couple, might want to drop tackling a notch for both CPU and human, but only a notch, it feels on the edge right now and shouldn't be taken too far.

I'll see if these observations hold up as I play teams of different talent levels. Take away the strip-sack, and this didn't feel like a ridiculous upset game to take at home, I definitely had to work for it with my playcalling, but with a bit more pass protection for Alabama, the gameplay would have felt pretty darn good.

[Kodos]

We had our most dominating half of football that I can recall, at least against a ranked team. Michigan could not get anything done on offense, and we were moving the ball well. We went into the half up 30-0, and had allowed just one or two first downs. In the second half, the Wolverines started to move the ball better, and got a couple of scores. We won 30-13.

[Kodos]

Welcome to Week 3. Everyone is at home this week.

#1 Ohio State (1-0) @ Buffalo (1-0)
#6 Louisville (1-0) @ Indiana (1-0)
#11 LSU (1-1) @ UTSA (1-0)
#23 Florida (0-2) @ South Florida (2-0)
Colorado (2-0) @ #24 USC (1-0)
Maryland (0-2) @ Duke (1-0)
FIU (1-0) @ Florida Atlantic (1-0)
SMU (0-2) @ Rice (0-1)

[Julio Riddols]

Gonna spank me some LSYOU

[MacroGuru]

#1 team coming to Buffalo. Let's see if I can pull off this epic upset. I will get my game in tomorrow night.

[gstelmack]

Defending national champion, 2-0 including a win over #9, and I'm unranked.

Of course, this iteration doesn't know about that defending national champion thing.

[chesapeake]

Can anyone give me the basics of how recruiting "locks" work and the strategy behind timing campus visits?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by chesapeake

Can anyone give me the basics of how recruiting "locks" work and the strategy behind timing campus visits?

Once schools fall below a certain threshold, they get locked out of a recruits interest. Basically, the recruit announces they will only consider two, three, or rarely a few more teams. If you have a special recruiting skill, you can break the lock but that is limited to a very few uses per year...

Campus visits give you more points towards the end of the year... But a bye is worth less than a game... Abd there are complimentary visits (a WR, RB, and QB for example) which give bonuses and competitive visits (two qbs on the same visit) which produce penalties. My goal is to maximize complimentary visits as late in the year as possible on a week where we have a game. However, other schools could beat you to the punch and lock up the later visits...

[CU Tiger]

Regarding visits, this is the catch 22.
Schedule too late and another team gets in front of you, has a great visit and locks you out.

Schedule too early and the later visits get more points and overcome your lead.

Also the points it reports do not always correspond to the interest change.

If you are locked out prior to the visit you will not get points for the visit.
Also lock breaking vaults you straight into second place. If the numbers are right, there is actually a time to allow yourself to be locked out (by slightly decreasing your weekly points) because the lock pick bump is worth more than you could otherwise get.

[Julio Riddols]

We took down LSU fairly easily, 27-17. The score is not indicative of how much we controlled the game, We were up 21-7 at one point in the first half when their DB forced my WR to fumble inside their 30. They then scored lightning quick on a pass play where my CB just simply did not cover his receiver. He literally just let the guy run by him, and the safety who should have been there to help was nowhere to be found. Other than that, we controlled just about everything, ran well (25-98 and a score for my top RB), threw well (21-33-269-1TD-2INT with 5 dropped passes), played strong D. (They had less than 280 total yards until their final desperation drive where we played a little sloppy in our prevent and gave up about 70 easy yards before shutting them back down).

As for the second week on these sliders, it felt like a challenge. I think my team is a lot better than the game rates it to be. We have a lot of speed and versatility defensively and it allows us to play a ton of different packages and looks without sacrificing much. We are able to be pretty aggressive with exotic blitzes. With that and my improving stick skills in mind, I am pretty happy with the sliders so far. Haven't enjoyed playing a football game by EA this much since madden 09 for the original XBox. (Still the best football game EA has made by a fairly wide margin)

[MacroGuru]

And #1 Ohio State goes down! We win 37-34! It was a back and forth game and we were actually down by 14 at one point in time.

Our Sophmore RB was the workhorse and we gave them a steady dose of him and my QB Rowland.

The defense was bent a lot, but didn't break at the end. We forced them to settle for a couple of field goals from within our 5 yard a few times.

We nailed the last second FG for the win.

As for the sliders, it was definitely a tough game they did run all over us when they wanted. Penalties or the lack thereof was noticed. He tackled a few of my guys by the face mask, no penalty and then he had an intentional grounding no penalty. But I am fine with it.

[CU Tiger]

A good win over Rival FIU.

It was a good close game until a late 2nd qtr score put us up by 17.

Even in the 3rdQ it was a 10pt game...but the more the CPU tried to come back the more I turned up the blitz.

Good game for my RBs...

[Eaglesfan27]

I am off Thursday and will get my game in then.

[Kodos]

I probably can't play until the weekend.

[Eaglesfan27]

Colorado had much less talent than us and it showed. We dominated them in every phase and had over 500 yards of offense to less than 100 for them when our starters left with a 52-0 lead. We won the game 59-7 as our backups let in a late TD.

Thurman had a very impressive 18 of 23 passing game for over 300 yards despite sitting a good chunk of the 2nd half. All 5 of his incompletions were due to drops (which were all realistic drops.) He had 3 passing TD's and 1 rushing TD as well.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Colorado had much less talent than us and it showed. We dominated them in every phase and had over 500 yards of offense to less than 100 for them when our starters left with a 52-0 lead. We won the game 59-7 as our backups let in a late TD.

Thurman had a very impressive 18 of 23 passing game for over 300 yards despite sitting a good chunk of the 2nd half. All 5 of his incompletions were due to drops (which were all realistic drops.) He had 3 passing TD's and 1 rushing TD as well.

I'd like to get others opinions on this.
AFAIC, I am ok with these types of games. I think they are realistic and we see them every week in College Football..is that the consensus or do we want every game to be a nail biter even when the human team seriously over matches the CPU?

[gstelmack]

If the other team is weaker, I want to beat them up. I'm fine with a game like that, as long as there is a talent disparity between the teams.

That said, I also want to make sure we can lose to CPU teams with more talent, and we have to work for the upsets and beating teams at similar talent levels.

I'm still happy I was not able to run the ball against Alabama, for example, and I was fine with my passing game, but I felt like I got too much pass rush pressure given the talent levels, but I want to see more examples before deciding that's really true and I wasn't misreading talent.

[Eaglesfan27]

I was fine with the game. I think accuracy is a bit high, but it's not a big deal for me. I'm good with just rolling with these sliders or making minor adjustments if there is a consensus after more data is collected.

[Julio Riddols]

Yeah, QB accuracy is about the only thing I see as being off by much. It's hard to get real results in a game where it is near impossible to get realistic penalties called, so I think we have a decent balance going here. The CPU is challenging enough right now, maybe we make small tweaks if everyone just starts romping every week no matter who we play.

Another thing to consider is that this iteration is much less generous with regards to speed. You can't load your team with a bunch of 95+ speed guys with high agility and acceleration anymore, and I think the CPU teams probably suffer a bit due to that. In a few seasons maybe it will play a lot better.

[Kodos]

We dominated #6 Louisville with relative ease. They couldn't run, and only had success passing after the game was decided.

[gstelmack]

Very very tight game against Florida. Defenses dominated the first half, neither team was able to run much. The running game opened a bit in the second half (their QB scrambling, my HBs finding holes finally), we kept having to kick long FGs, held them in the red zone. Was 9-6, then we got a TD, they got a TD, 16-13 in the 4th. We drove but they held us to another long FG, 19-13 with 3:30 left. I'm waiting for the winning TD drive, but early on they fumbled after a reception for the only turnover of the game, and we ran the clock out.

Very different feel from the Alabama game, which I like. Florida and I were dead even on talent, and it showed. Most pass rush came on blitzes (NCAA O linemen still don't know how to pick up a fifth rusher, they only catch the blitzing LB if it's a 3 man D-Line), when it was straight up any sacks I got were coverage sacks. Both teams had trouble opening running holes until late, but they started opening then, which feels right.

There were broken tackles for the CPU, still not many for me. I still hate the "scrambling QB loves to break tackles" feature they have.

Not ready to suggest any slider tweaks given the differences in my 2 games (plus Alabama lost again, they are 0-3 so not as good as their ratings).

[Kodos]

Welcome to Week 4! I'm leaving myself some wiggle room on the deadline for the holiday weekend, because our schedule is packed.


=============== #19 USC Trojans (2-0) ===============
Last week, USC won 59-7 against Colorado (2-1).
This week, the Trojans are idle.


=============== #22 South Florida Bulls (3-0) ===============
Last week, South Florida won 19-13 against Florida (0-3).
This week, the Bulls travel to Athens to face the #21 Georgia Bulldogs (1-2).


=============== #23 Indiana Hoosiers (2-0) ===============
Last week, Indiana won 42-20 against Louisville (1-1).
This week, the Hoosiers will host Purdue (1-1).


=============== UTSA Roadrunners (2-0) ===============
Last week, UTSA won 27-17 against LSU (1-2).
This week, the Roadrunners will host Florida (0-3).


=============== Duke Blue Devils (2-0) ===============
Last week, Duke won 38-22 against Maryland (0-3).
This week, the Blue Devils will host #16 Clemson (0-1).


=============== Buffalo Bulls (2-0) ===============
Last week, Buffalo won 37-34 against Ohio State (1-1).
This week, the Bulls travel to Provo to face the BYU Cougars (1-0).


=============== Florida Atlantic Owls (2-0) ===============
Last week, Florida Atlantic won 59-28 against FIU (1-1).
This week, the Owls will host North Dakota (0-2).


=============== Rice Owls (1-1) ===============
Last week, Rice won 45-16 against SMU (0-3).
This week, the Owls travel to Tuscaloosa to face the Alabama Crimson Tide (0-3).

[Julio Riddols]

42-13 over Florida. Their offense was a pain in the ass in the first half, but they couldn't manage to punch it in. Eventually, we built a huge lead by simply scoring almost every time we had the ball, then they had to throw and we were able to put a lid on them for most of the second half. Our best rushing output of the season, we tried a new setup with formation subs and gave 4 of our backs a chance to split the load. It seemed to pay off pretty well and we ran for 308 yards as a team. Our pass game was mostly out of sync, but it didn't matter a lot. I think my main starter Brian Lewis is simply prone to interceptions though, there haven't been many throws where he had a chance to throw a pick, but the defensive success rate on balls they have a shot at with him is huge. He has thrown 9 picks on the year in 68 attempts. Kinda gross.

[MacroGuru]

I will get my game in today, but wow, we beat Penn State and turn around and beat the #1 team in the country and we still don't end up ranked? I would think we were at least deserving of a 25 spot.

[CU Tiger]

I had an over matched opponent and I used the game to stat pad and build coaching experience points.

Next.

[MacroGuru]

Tied the NCAA Sack record with my DE.

Barely beat BYU @ their place, we are 3-0 though.

When the computer wanted it to be close it turned into ping pong for us trying to tackle their RB (I want to call him Jamal Williams but it was something like Porter Justice or vice versa)

[cartman]

The move to '14 has completely nerfed my team. We just got destroyed by an 0-3 Alabama team 62-10.

[Kodos]

[chesapeake]

Very, very frustrated.

I played a close to perfect game at home and was mostly uncompetitive. 11 sacks, hurried on every play and -1 yards rushing. I got sacked 3 times on slant routes and just about every time I called play action. And despite calling run defenses all game, I gave up somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 yards on the ground. Extremely frustrating considering that (again, on paper) I have one of the highest rated sides in the game.

[Kodos]

It's weird that people are having such varying results. My games against two top-25 opponents have been cakewalks. Hard to explain what is going on. It looks like the sacks (-77 yards) zeroed out your 21 runs by RBs for 76 yards.

On the other hand, I have struggled with my FAU team in the Pyramid, which is using the same sliders.

[Julio Riddols]

I've felt like both of my teams have played about how I expect them to, My Wyoming team actually has decent talent for this season and our only loss was before the slider change, and mostly due to a total inability to call any effective defenses. In this, I have felt like this team has played exactly how I expected them to after the transition. My pass game has been a bit out of sync, but my run game is deep and my O-line is solid. I think most of the issue with my passing game is that I try to make big plays with the UTSA team more than I do with the Wyoming team.

[CU Tiger]

I almost hesitate to post this but for the better of the league I will.
I can not fully explain the under the hood mechanics, but if anyone finds themselves in a situation like chesapeake described above. Where ever pass play is blown up...

Check two things.
First go into the sub screen and see if any of your Oline show as "cold"
If not, nxt check nd see if a reserve is listed as "hot streak"
Finally absent these 2, sub your QB, especially if you have a guy on the bench with a significantly higher OVR.

2 series or so should be enough then go back how you please with you roster.

Again I dont know whats triggering it, but my 13 year old showed me that trick and its worked flawlessly 4 or times.

[chesapeake]

I'll try this. At this point, I'll try anything.

[Kodos]

We clobbered Purdue 50-3 to keep the Old Oaken Bucket where it belongs.

[gstelmack]

What I am enjoying most is that every week is different for me. This week, in a road game, our running game earned most of the offense. We won the battle in the trenches on both sides of the ball - both sacks I gave up were on screens where the QB couldn't throw it fast enough to beat the guys the O-line let through. But we pummeled them on the ground, got key passes when we needed them, and my defense frustrated them all game.

Georgia's offensive success came with spreading the field 5-wide, but they didn't do nearly enough of it (in typical CPU fashion) and we beat them up in every other formation they tried.

13-10 win on the road for USF.

[Kodos]

We're on to Week 5.

#6 Nebraska at Duke
#14 USC at Alabama
Texas State at UTSA
Iowa at Buffalo

[Eaglesfan27]

Looking forward to Alabama, even though I had no idea they would be unranked when we played them.

[Kodos]

I don't think they had any idea either.