RFL II - preliminary discussions (NCAA 2011 Xbox 360)

[Kodos]

So at this point, it looks like we have this setup.

- All humans in re-aligned MAC and C-USA conferences.
- Humans get to set their recruiting priorities, then we sim ahead 5 years. Does anyone know for sure that I can change prestige levels manually?

I'll try to patch up conferences that we stole teams from as best I can.

How set are people on the changing prestige levels and simming ahead? I'm okay either way.

[Bigsmooth]

Wouldn't it be more fun to actually use the schools that are in the Conference? Like all of us choose a team in Conference USA. Nobody in to that?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Bigsmooth

Wouldn't it be more fun to actually use the schools that are in the Conference? Like all of us choose a team in Conference USA. Nobody in to that?

I'd be fine with that as well. I like the idea of running with USC, even a modified USC, but I'm open to playing a C-USA or MAC team as well.

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I'd be fine with that as well. I like the idea of running with USC, even a modified USC, but I'm open to playing a C-USA or MAC team as well.

I like that idea as well, actually I like it better than being a BCS schools playing in non-BCS conferences.

[BigDPW]

I am okay with just taking a team from CUSA or MAC. If we did CUSA I would want ECU otherwise I would just take whoever.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Balldog

I like that idea as well, actually I like it better than being a BCS schools playing in non-BCS conferences.

Would the Big 12 and ACC (or SEC) work better?

[Kodos]

I'm thinking of dropping the sim forward 5 years idea, since most people have chosen top 40 programs. Nobody (but stupid old me) has chosen a bottom-feeder.

[Bigsmooth]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I'm thinking of dropping the sim forward 5 years idea, since most people have chosen top 40 programs. Nobody (but stupid old me) has chosen a bottom-feeder.

I'm cool with that. Jake Locker please.

[Kodos]

I'm vaguely pondering going with a different team so I have an easier time competing at recruiting. In the RFL, by the time I finally got us up in prestige to where we could compete with the big boys, the dynasty was over.

[Grammaticus]

If you guys are looking for a 12th, I'd be interested in getting in on this league.

[Kodos]

Welcome aboard, Gramm. You have your pick of the leftover Big Ten teams. See post 16 of the "Two Conferences" thread for the teams that are available.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I'm thinking of dropping the sim forward 5 years idea, since most people have chosen top 40 programs. Nobody (but stupid old me) has chosen a bottom-feeder.

I don't remember if they had this feature in Teambuilder last year, but you have the option this year to select existing helmets, jerseys, pants, etc. when creating a team. So it is easy to replicate your school exactly (including the stadium and field as well) but change prestige levels. I propose that we either lower the elite schools stars or raise the lesser teams stars so that the playing field is a little more even to begin with. My stupid Hoosiers are rated as 2 stars, and the roster is pretty pathetic (kinda like real life). That's a lot to overcome in 5 or 6 seasons. I'm willing to take my lumps on the field, but having some hope of improving by recruiting would be nice. Basically, we could pretend that IU, Washington, Michigan State, and Texas Tech have hired big-name coaches and raised their star levels to 4 or something.

Here are the star ratings of teams in the RFL right now - teams in parentheses have been mentioned as likely choices for guys who have not selected teams yet:

6-star schools: Florida, USC, Texas, Ohio State, Penn State (Notre Dame, Michigan)
5-star schools: (Nebraska)
4-star schools: Missouri
3-star schools: Washington, Texas Tech, Michigan State
2-star schools: Indiana

[Balldog]

I'm ok with that or at least squeezing the range. ie - move everyone a step closer to 4* so you would have this:


5-star schools: Florida, USC, Texas, Ohio State, Penn State (Notre Dame, Michigan)
4-star schools: (Nebraska), Missouri,Washington, Texas Tech, Michigan State
3-star schools: Indiana

The advantage would be you still have some resemblence of real life, but it still sucks for IU.

[Balldog]

Also, are we planning to start right away?

I wouldn't mind waiting a few weeks to get some solid rosters, the default rosters are pretty whack. For example, Ohio State rJr. DE Solomon Thomas is listed as a Fr. and rated 89 overall...there are several instances like this.

[Kodos]

We'll probably take some time for rosters. Unless people want to do the sim ahead 5 years option to make the rosters obsolete. I'll do a poll - I don't care too much either way.

[Kodos]

Here's what we have so far for teams/conferences:

Eaglesfan27  USC             Big 12
Mike1409     Florida         Big 12
cartman      Texas           Big 12
kcchief19    Missouri        Big 12
DeToxRox     Texas Tech      Big 12
Bigsmooth    Washington      Big 12
SirFozzie    Ohio State      Big Ten
cmp          Penn State      Big Ten
Balldog      Michigan State  Big Ten
Kodos        Indiana         Big Ten
BigDPW       Michigan        Big Ten
Grammaticus  Wisconsin       Big Ten

[BigDPW]

Mark me down for Michigan for now.

[Grammaticus]

I'll roll with Wisconsin.

[Kodos]

As you wish.

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by Grammaticus

I'll roll with Wisconsin.

Enjoy that offensive line, good god....all 5 starters are above 90 OVR! That's the kind of o-line I dream about some day.

[Grammaticus]

Cool, are any of them non-seniors?

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by Grammaticus

Cool, are any of them non-seniors?

#68 LT, Sr. - 96 ovr
#74 LG, Sr. - 92 ovr
#66 C, So. - 93 ovr
#70 RG, Jr. - 94 ovr
#67 RT, Jr. - 94 ovr

[Kodos]

Here's how the Big 12 and Big Ten stack up:

Owner        Team              *'s Conf     OVR  OFF  DEF
Eaglesfan27  USC               6*  Big 12N  92   94   91
Mike1409     Florida           6*  Big 12N  92   92   92
cartman      Texas             6*  Big 12S  93   94   92
CPU          Oklahoma          6*  Big 12S  94   96   92
CPU          Florida State     5*  Big 12N  89   93   85
kcchief19    Missouri          4*  Big 12S  85   90   83
CPU          Texas A&M         4*  Big 12S  89   93   85
CPU          UCLA              4*  Big 12N  80   85   80
CPU          Kansas            3*  Big 12S  82   82   83
DeToxRox     Texas Tech        3*  Big 12S  87   93   83
Bigsmooth    Washington        3*  Big 12N  89   93   88
CPU          Washington State  2*  Big 12N  79   83   77

Owner        Team              *'s Conf     OVR  OFF  DEF
SirFozzie    Ohio State        6*  Big Ten  96   97   95
cmp          Penn State        6*  Big Ten  92   94   91
BigDPW       Michigan          6*  Big Ten  87   89   86
CPU          Notre Dame        6*  Big Ten  86   90   85
CPU          Nebraska          5*  Big Ten  90   92   90
Grammaticus  Wisconsin         4*  Big Ten  92   96   89
CPU          Iowa              4*  Big Ten  89   92   89
Balldog      Michigan State    3*  Big Ten  86   89   85
CPU          Purdue            3*  Big Ten  83   86   83
CPU          Minnesota         3*  Big Ten  85   87   85 
Kodos        Indiana           2*  Big Ten  80   87   77

[Eaglesfan27]

After messing around with the game last night, I am more excited about this OD.

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

After messing around with the game last night, I am more excited about this OD.

Same here!

Are we allowed to change playbooks? The only reason I ask is Michigan State's playbook has no jet sweep plays, they run this play a few times a game to get the ball to Keyshawn Martin. Otherwise he is pretty much useless as a receiver only.

[CleBrownsfan]

Are you guys capped at 12? If so, could I be put on a waiting list to get in?

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Balldog

Same here!

Are we allowed to change playbooks? The only reason I ask is Michigan State's playbook has no jet sweep plays, they run this play a few times a game to get the ball to Keyshawn Martin. Otherwise he is pretty much useless as a receiver only.

Yes, you can use any playbook you like.

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

Are you guys capped at 12? If so, could I be put on a waiting list to get in?

The game caps it at 12, but we can put you on the waiting list.

[CleBrownsfan]

Originally Posted by Kodos

The game caps it at 12, but we can put you on the waiting list.

Great - thanks... that will give me some time to get some gameplay in before I play with the big boys

[Bigsmooth]

Not saying we should mess with a bunch of ratings (I'm sure all of us can gripe about something), but there is no way Locker is only a 72 in speed:

hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9a_MHlO3xo

He does have 95 ACC. Kind of funny considering both of his backups have speed ratings in the 80's. Nick Montana, for example. Hmmm.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Bigsmooth

Not saying we should mess with a bunch of ratings (I'm sure all of us can gripe about something), but there is no way Locker is only a 72 in speed:

hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9a_MHlO3xo

He does have 95 ACC. Kind of funny considering both of his backups have speed ratings in the 80's. Nick Montana, for example. Hmmm.

Yeah, the speed ratings of a bunch of guys are jacked up. It seems like they mixed up speed and acceleration ratings for some guys. Or maybe they reversed them on some guys on purpose as acceleration seems more important in some ways.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Balldog

Also, are we planning to start right away?

I wouldn't mind waiting a few weeks to get some solid rosters, the default rosters are pretty whack. For example, Ohio State rJr. DE Solomon Thomas is listed as a Fr. and rated 89 overall...there are several instances like this.

I will be out of town in a couple days until July 28. Why don't we target sometime that week for the start of our OD?

[Grammaticus]

Are we still looking to get the party started later this week or this coming weekend?

[Kodos]

I dunno. Does anyone have a handle on how serious the recruiting problem is? I haven't paid close attention in the last week, as I've been on vacation.

[Mike1409]

it appears pretty bad. No kickers that can make 40 yd FG and USC w/no QB over71 ovr and only 5 OL... I think we need to wait a week or so and see if there is any response from EA.

[Kodos]

Yeah, that doesn't sound good. One thing that might mitigate the problem a bit in OD's is that humans will be running many of the flagship teams, so they will recruit well, but not recruit 7 QBs and nonsense like that.

[Kodos]

BigDPW has dropped out due to time constraints, so CleBrownsfan has been offered a spot in the Big Ten.

[CleBrownsfan]

Not sure if I should be excited to get an OD with you guys or not but I'll give it a shot

I'm taking The Fighting Irish - not my 1st choice but I'm not a hater.

Hopefully EA comes up with a patch to fix the dynasty issues but I'm not holding my breathe.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

Not sure if I should be excited to get an OD with you guys or not but I'll give it a shot

Welcome aboard!

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

I'm taking The Fighting Irish - not my 1st choice but I'm not a hater.

You've sold your soul to Satan!

[Balldog]

Looking forward to this! Are we using sliders? I'm struggling to find a realistic yet challenging slider set, I'm not very good as EF27 can attest but I have yet to lose to the CPU (maybe 10 games) with Matt's Heisman Sliders and SN's All American Sliders. I'm trying out Playmakers Varsity sliders, they seem the best so far but I've only played 1 game.

[Kodos]

I usually defer to EF27 on sliders. Haven't messed with them at all myself.

[Grammaticus]

What slider set does EF recommend at this point? I have played about 12 games on stock sliders. I played with Ole Miss and lost one game to Bama. So obviously the stock sliders are not the way to go.

[Balldog]

Played 2 more games last night with Playmakers Varsity sliders and lost 31-24 with Arizona State @ Washington. It wasn't even that close but they turned it over twice late setting up 2 TDs for me. They had 498 yards of offense, first time CPU has had over 320 against me. Locker lit me up for 327.

Second game was USF (me) @ Pitt in a pouring rain and windy conditions. I won 17-14 on a last second field goal. Dion Lewis was a beast, running for 176 yards but they couldn't pass worth a crap - due to the conditions?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Grammaticus

What slider set does EF recommend at this point? I have played about 12 games on stock sliders. I played with Ole Miss and lost one game to Bama. So obviously the stock sliders are not the way to go.

I'm still messing around with a slight modification of Playmakers and a slight modification of Pared's. Can't decide which I like more.. I think they both do things well. I'll break down my thoughts about each this weekend.

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I'm still messing around with a slight modification of Playmakers and a slight modification of Pared's. Can't decide which I like more.. I think they both do things well. I'll break down my thoughts about each this weekend.

Where are Pared's?

[Grammaticus]

Sounds good, I will try those out too and see how they work out for me.

[Kodos]

If we can settle on sliders, I think I'm in favor of starting things up in the very near future. Seems like any progression / player generation fixes would likely be implemented by the time we hit the offseason.

[Kodos]

Also, is there a preferred roster set out there? One that has made fixes for players who have switched positions / left teams? I know of a couple errors on Indiana in the default roster, but I wouldn't feel right making any changes myself.

[Grammaticus]

After going through recruiting for a season, I think it will be very difficult to bring in quality class for the first few seasons if you start with a prestige 2 school. You may want to seriously consider making a team builder version of Indiana with a higher prestige level on par with the other human teams. Even a prestige of 3 will give you a chance at a few solid 4 star prospects.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Balldog

Where are Pared's?

On OS in the slider section.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Also, is there a preferred roster set out there? One that has made fixes for players who have switched positions / left teams? I know of a couple errors on Indiana in the default roster, but I wouldn't feel right making any changes myself.

The OS community rosters aren't perfect, but they are decent and have some of the players who have moved on corrected.