Programming the option

[kirkdawg]

One of the big things that EA talked about this year was the 120 ways to play. Though I'm having a lot of fun with NCAA11, I'm disappointed in the implementation of this, especially with option teams. There are several significant problems with the option teams.

1. Too much passing. In GT's season opener against a 1AA school, their leading receiver was a TE with 6 catches for 79 yards. In reality, last year, GT only had 1 receiver with more than 8 catches for the entire season!

2. Who gets the carries? Just as there are too many passes, there are also too many gives to the slotbacks. Again, using GT as an example, their top HB led the nation in rushing in my dynasty this year and in NCAA10. If you look at the actual stats for the real life slotbacks for GT, none of them got more than 65 carries on the season. Instead, the FB of B-back is the primary ball carrier. Jonathan Dwyer ran for 1438 yards on 235 carries last year in reality.

3. Depth charts don't match up. Going back to the first point, the leading receiver was a TE. GT's offense does not use a TE. The player I moved into that slot should actually be the 4th or 5th slotback. Since the HB serves as the slotback, there are only 4 slots on the depth chart for 2 positions. This means that a lot of players who see significant playing time have to be placed on the depth charts at the wrong position to avoid them asking for a transfer at year end. This is also a problem when one uses a 3-4 defense and only has 4 slots for the MLB. Depth charts should be flexible enough to allow for 3 deep at each position. If a team runs a 4-3, it could have 4 MLB slots on the chart.

4. Recruiting logic. Many people have complained about option teams recruiting slow QBs, but there is another problem that is being overlooked. As I said earlier, the FB is the primary ball carrier in many triple option offenses. However, it is very unusual to find a FB recruit who could ever be an acceptable option for 200+ carries per season. This is why the CPU should have more flexibility in changing positions of recruits. Sure, you can get a good ATH to play RB, but the recruiting logic dictates that such a player would be switched to HB instead of FB because FBs are expected to be blockers not primary ball carriers.

[Slaticus]

I run the option quite a bit and I agree with the fullback thing. I got a 5'11' 235 ath with B+ speed and acceleration, good carrying but not so great Run Blocking. Still I wanted him to play fullback for me but his overall was the lowest that the game allows. I had to move him to MLB just to get some production.


The ath logic is deeply flawed. If all the recruit is good at is linebacker...why put him at ATH?

[jbrew2411]

This is why we need depth charts that match up to offensive styles. The logic is off due to the way the positions are labeled. EA labels them this way for the casual gamers. If EA called them what they really are in real life then that would confuse the casual gamer that has no clue what that means.
The recruiting logic for option teams is way off as well. Recruiting pocket passers to run option does not work. They need to tune it so that the style of play effects what recruits want to go to those schools.
If we could get a feature where we could edit other teams in dynasty mode then that would help. Not sure why EA can't add this. Also not sure why we have to wait to change a players position 1 time a year. Everything about a player should be where it could be edited.

[AbsoluteFury]

Remember, EA does not play the games as we do. They use us as beta's and they just run simulation plays and scenarios.

This has been proven consistently year after year that they do not bother with full testing of their games which is why they have to patch obvious things every release.

No one in EA actually plays a dynasty which is why they don't understand how worthless they made the athletes and how they don't understand why it's unacceptable for 5th year seniors to only have 55 awareness and other well documented progression problems. If they actually played the dynasties they would notice how slow and sluggish their game screens are. I could go on and on but it is really just beating a dead horse.

I am happy with many of the changes they made and the gameplay has been fun with the first couple years players. Unfortunately, it seems like there is always an obvious blunder that they fail at.

[youALREADYknow]

Quote: Originally Posted by kirkdawg

One of the big things that EA talked about this year was the 120 ways to play. Though I'm having a lot of fun with NCAA11, I'm disappointed in the implementation of this, especially with option teams. There are several significant problems with the option teams. 1. Too much passing. In GT's season opener against a 1AA school, their leading receiver was a TE with 6 catches for 79 yards. In reality, last year, GT only had 1 receiver with more than 8 catches for the entire season! 2. Who gets the carries? Just as there are too many passes, there are also too many gives to the slotbacks. Again, using GT as an example, their top HB led the nation in rushing in my dynasty this year and in NCAA10. If you look at the actual stats for the real life slotbacks for GT, none of them got more than 65 carries on the season. Instead, the FB of B-back is the primary ball carrier. Jonathan Dwyer ran for 1438 yards on 235 carries last year in reality. 3. Depth charts don't match up. Going back to the first point, the leading receiver was a TE. GT's offense does not use a TE. The player I moved into that slot should actually be the 4th or 5th slotback. Since the HB serves as the slotback, there are only 4 slots on the depth chart for 2 positions. This means that a lot of players who see significant playing time have to be placed on the depth charts at the wrong position to avoid them asking for a transfer at year end. This is also a problem when one uses a 3-4 defense and only has 4 slots for the MLB. Depth charts should be flexible enough to allow for 3 deep at each position. If a team runs a 4-3, it could have 4 MLB slots on the chart. 4. Recruiting logic. Many people have complained about option teams recruiting slow QBs, but there is another problem that is being overlooked. As I said earlier, the FB is the primary ball carrier in many triple option offenses. However, it is very unusual to find a FB recruit who could ever be an acceptable option for 200+ carries per season. This is why the CPU should have more flexibility in changing positions of recruits. Sure, you can get a good ATH to play RB, but the recruiting logic dictates that such a player would be switched to HB instead of FB because FBs are expected to be blockers not primary ball carriers.

All 4 of the above points were harped on by many when NCAA 09 came out. It's now NCAA 11 and none have been addressed.

[gator3guy]

How about getting rid of that ugly pitch when the qb comes in contact with the defender. That just hurts to watch sometimes.

[Slaticus]

Maybe it would help if they had more than 10 months to do the game. Just a thought. I could care less about graphical upgrades if they would fix the big game changing issues.