Easy Running Game or Just an Abberation

[deadlyCane]

Ok, hear me out on this. I know a lot of people are raving about the running game in '08 360 version. A couple nights ago I played a half game on 10-minute quarters as Miami at West Verginia on AA with default sliders. I noticed that my 89 rating Javarris James (Impact Player) did fairly well running the ball out of the Ace Big formation. He sometimes did ok running out of the I-formation, I-Strong and I-weak when I mixed it up but mostly had a sub par game overall. I don't remember his stats but he averaged about 3.5 yards per carry, which is less than I had averaged over the past couple of games. Also, my two QBs Wright and Freeman each threw 3 picks in the one half I played. I think my prior max INTs were 3 and I usually get around 1 or 2 a game.

Fast forward to last night when I played the same game again. This time I decided to go run heavy and ran 90% of my plays from Ace-Big. James had had his best game with me at the helm rushing 42 times for 178 yards (4.2 average). My backup cooper had an average about 4.5 yards per carry. The running game was mostly money for me this game. It almost seemed like the CPU did not make any adjustments. Have you guys seen this in your games or was this one game an abberation. I haven't been able to play since. it would be a shame if that simple strategy of just running out of the ACE-BIG worked all the time.

[ufox1810]

I have to say if you're going for realism is really isn't that much of a shock to have those RB's do what you did. 4.2 and 4.5 yards a carry in college football aren't that great. That's probably about average. And when you give the ball to them 90% of the game with 42 carries for your starter, of course he will get high yardage numbers.

I think you after games in which you had 3.5 and 4.2/4.5 yards a carry then you are right on what it should be with backs like James and Cooper. It's when you start having them average 6.0+ every game that you might want to make some adjustments...

...but even then it's not completely unrealistic in college football. Remember Larry Johnson averaged 8 yards a carry his senior year at Penn State in real life.

Now the CPU not making adjustments could be an issue. But college teams put up 250-300 yard rushing games from time to time (heck some of those Nebraska/Navy/Air Force teams even averaged that many over a season).

[yvesdereuter]

I echo what the previous poster said. What Ive noticed is that when I get a good run I might do a different run out of the same formation but before long, the 8 yard runs start turning into 3 yard runs. It seems like they focus on the run in general. So then, of course, I have to start mixing in passes. I could be wrong but thats my take so far. BTW, Ive been playing on AA too.

[deadlyCane]

Quote: Originally Posted by ufox1810

I have to say if you're going for realism is really isn't that much of a shock to have those RB's do what you did. 4.2 and 4.5 yards a carry in college football aren't that great. That's probably about average. And when you give the ball to them 90% of the game with 42 carries for your starter, of course he will get high yardage numbers. I think you after games in which you had 3.5 and 4.2/4.5 yards a carry then you are right on what it should be with backs like James and Cooper. It's when you start having them average 6.0+ every game that you might want to make some adjustments... ...but even then it's not completely unrealistic in college football. Remember Larry Johnson averaged 8 yards a carry his senior year at Penn State in real life. Now the CPU not making adjustments could be an issue. But college teams put up 250-300 yard rushing games from time to time (heck some of those Nebraska/Navy/Air Force teams even averaged that many over a season).

You make good points. My concern though was that I was doing it out of hte same formation using the same play over and over again. I would have hoped the cpu would've made some kind of effective adjustment. I can understand if my opponent was Temple but I figured West Virginia's defense, although not the best, could've have stopped the same play they kept seeing all day long. So yes, 4.2 to 4.5 YPC seems real but remember it's using the same formation and same play over and over. I expect something more like 3 YPC doing this. I'm going to try running the exact same offense against USC, LSU and MICH and see what I get.

[JoeMimic]

42 rushes with one player in a game not named Mike Hart seems excessive LOL