How to Spice Up Your Dynasty

[DucksForever]

NCAA Football 14 may be the last college football game of our generation. Let's make the most of it.

Maybe IMV Gaming will make a better college football game than EA could have dreamed of. Maybe the NCAA will allow student athletes to profit off of their own likeness and we can finally see some next generation NCAA football (and basketball). Or...maybe NCAA Football 14 is the last college football video game that we see this generation...

It might seem hyperbolic, but it is reasonable to assume that we'll be stuck with this iteration of EA's rendition of college football for a while. If that is the case, then I plan to find every way to enjoy the heck out of it. There is nothing like the sport of college football and the energy that it brings. If you're wondering how to spice up your dynasty mode and bring this 3-year old game to life, here are some suggestions:



Learn About Your School



Learn Your School's Traditions

Every school has traditions that they do either once a season, once a win, or once every game. One of the things that has really helped me enjoy dynasty mode even more is learning the history and traditions of my school. Some schools have pep rallies the night before the game, some schools have authentic pre-game entrances. A&M has their midnight yell, Baylor has the fans run onto the field. While all of these things can't be replicated in NCAA Football 14, I personally still find it enjoyable to know my school's traditions.

I even take it to the extreme as I'll often watch youtube videos of my team's pre-game traditions before the start of my games. I'll follow a victory by listening to my school's fight song. This level of dedication and immersion might not be perfect for everyone, but it has definitely made the game more entertaining and meaningful for myself.

Learn Your School's History and Alumni

Similarly, I find it very entertaining and insightful to learn about the school that I coach. I think that it's cool to see when certain schools were established, which conferences they played in, and what historical events shaped them into the school that they have become today. There are so many interesting and unique things about each school, and the more research you do, the more individualized each team and school becomes. The culture and history of Wisconsin is a lot different than the history and tradition of Alabama. Learning about what sets each of these schools apart (their education standards, their tuition, their locations, their responses to historical events such as the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, their culture, their diversity, their former presidents, their facilities) I think that the more one immerses themselves with this aspect, the deeper the dynasty becomes. You begin to build a sense of loyalty to your school, your players, and your town/city that you are coaching in. Additionally, some of the things that you will find are just plain cool and interesting. I know it's just a video game, but this is one technique to help bring it to life.

In the same manner, I find it very intriguing to look up famous alumni from my school. It's cool to see which famous people have graduated from your school, but I like to add them into my dynasty's storylines. For example, say I'm coaching at Tennessee. Sometime's, I'll make a storyline that, for a certain week, Payton Manning is coming to watch practice and all of the players are trying to impress him. USC, for example, has Will Ferrell run out on to the field with the team, Michigan is using Jordan as an honorary captain (I know that he didn't actually graduate from there, but the point still remains), and the list goes on and on. I think that it's cool to find some alumni who can be referred to throughout the course of your dynasty as major donors and supporters of your school.



Create a Backstory For Your Coach/Coordinator



I'm talking strictly a football backstory. Give your coach a history with past struggles, successes, and lessons. Maybe he was a big time quarterback in high school but suffered an injury which forced him to coach. Then, he coached quarterbacks in high school, but was soon promoted to offensive coordinator. His offensive prowess was so impressive that Rice took note and hired him as the offensive coordinator. And this is where you begin your career. It's just a way to give your coach a history and a story so as to further immerse yourself in the dynasty.



Game Prep



Gameplan/Authentic Practices

These two are crucial elements of creating a realistic, dynamic dynasty. Gameplanning for specific opponents and practicing help keep a dynasty fresh and entertaining. The game gets stale if you just play game after game without paying attention to who you're playing and what they're good at. To get the most out of the game, you need to prepare for each team differently and practice like an actual team would in between games to be prepared. The gameplanning aspect may take some time, but it should involve learning your opponent's offensive and defensive systems, scouting their personnel strengths and weaknesses, and then forming a gameplan to exploit those weaknesses while also containing their strengths.

Let's say you're Florida State and you're playing against Ole Miss. You see that they run a spread, no huddle offense and a 4-2-5 defense. You see that they have a senior quarterback who is the best in the conference and a deep stable of wide receivers. On defense, you see that they have a veteran defensive line and a good safety/linebacker hybrid. However, you notice that they're thin on the offensive line and they are weak in the secondary. Maybe you decide to hit them with quick passes and play action on offense in order to slow down the pass rush while also exploiting the secondary. On defense, maybe you send everyone back in coverage to contain their passing attack while trusting your front four to beat their shoddy offensive line. This is just a basic example as to how a gameplan could be formed in the game.

The next step is to practice, as a real team would, to prepare for your opponent. Practice involves positional drills, one-on-one's team drills, team scrimmages, 7-on-7's, and game prep. All of these are possible in NCAA Football 14 as well (with a little creativity). I always script my practices and note the results. Not only does this help you prepare for your opponent, but as a coach, it allows you to see who is playing well and who is not. I might start a guy who performs better in practice but has a bad overall over a guy with a good overall who struggles in practice. All in all, gameplanning and practice are what help make your dynasty feel like an actual college football season.

Learn About the X's and O's

I would never consider myself a football expert by any stretch of the imagination, but when I become a coach in a dynasty, I do my best to educate myself on my team's scheme and tendencies. There are countless websites which allow you to learn about specific schemes, offenses, defenses, and plays that your coach may be suited to install. I like to think of myself as a real coach that would actually modify and create a playbook based on the input and tutelage of outside resources such as other coaches and experts.


Create Your Own Ratings



Dynamic Injuries

Injuries aren't that well represented in the game. Luckily, EA gave us the ability to edit players in dynasty mode. Prior to every season, I'll give all players significant reductions to their "injury" rating. I do this because it allows my players to get injured at a more realistic rate and miss time just like players do in real life. However, if you're not one to mess with the rating, no need to worry because there are alternatives. Some people prefer to use a dice roll method to give random players injuries. Either way, adding injuries to your dynasty is very important if you want to maintain both realism and authenticity.

Academics

Academics are kind of important in school...so why don't we make them important in our dynasties as well? I like to give each of my players an "academic" rating randomly when they come in as freshmen. Throughout the system, I'll then use a random generator to determine a few players who have a low academic rating and they'll be disciplined for a lack of attention to their studies. There are many other ways to implement academics into the game, but this is just an example of how I do it. I think it definitely adds to the challenge of building a program when academics are a problem for certain players; especially if it happens to be your star quarterback.

Character/Suspensions

It's unfortunate, but suspensions happen every year with nearly every college football program. This feature used to be in previous college football games, but the NCAA decided against it as the series progressed. Nevertheless, I feel that adding "character" ratings to each player and occasionally suspending those with low ratings creates a realistic atmosphere. I'll randomly assign an offense to a random player with a low character rating, and if it's a minor offense, I might let it go, but if not, I will have no choice but to bring the hammer down. Too many offenses and I may be forced to kick that player off the team.



Recruiting



Verbal Commits

Verbal commits don't ever decommit in the game, but they do in my dynasties. Whenever I am leading a prospect by a substantial margin (but they have not "committed") I consider them a verbal commit. I no longer spend points on them and I treat them as if they were actually committed in the game. This allows for the possibility of another program to make a surge and possibly lead to a pseudo "decommit" which happens in real life very often.

Create Recruits

This is one of the coolest and most under-utilized features in the game in my opinion. The ability to create recruits allows you to put anybody that you've ever wanted to see play football in the game. You can put yourself, your friends, your family, the children of past legends, superstars, or entirely made up players with cool backstories. Definitely utilize this to personalize your dynasty.

Recruit Realistically

Many people on this site have extensive recruiting house rules which are very useful and appropriate. Personally, I don't have the diligence to keep up with strict recruiting rules, but I definitely make my best effort to recruit realistically. Smaller schools really only have the funds to recruit locally while bigger schools are able to recruit nationally. Still, Oregon only brings 1 to 2 kids from SEC country a year so I still try to largely keep regional ties. Additionally, over-signing is a huge way to get too good too fast in the game. I try to sign 2 more than the number of seniors that I have on my roster. I also don't scout until the prospect has committed so I don't know if I'm getting a bust or a gem. I don't like to recruit any player who has a star rating greater than my school's prestige.


Throughout the Year



Keep Track of the Rest of the Country

It's easy to get lost in your team's journey, but try to keep tabs on the rest of the country as well. I like to write down the top 25 or so recruits and track their progress throughout their careers. Additionally, I watch a ton of CPU vs CPU games between top rated teams in the game or Award finalists. Keeping yourself aware of what other teams are doing in your dynasty makes it feel like you've truly create your own college football universe.

Make Rivalry Games Matter

I like to make a special emphasis when it comes to rivalry games. First, I like to research the history of the rivalry, and then, I get myself amped up for the game. Rivalries are the super bowls of my dynasty. If all else fails, I want to go undefeated against my rivals. If I win big, I'm running up the score (against the CPU of course). If I lose, I'm taking note of it as bulletin board material for next year. Learn to hate your rivals and learn to love the feeling of beating them in front of their home crowd.

Record Your Progress

Keep track of your dynasty by doing write-ups or video logs. You can start a dynasty page here on OS, youtube, or on your own computer for yourself if that's what you prefer. Doing this allows you to go even further in-depth with the dynasty and create your own storylines. I also love to write down stats at the end of the season so you can have something to look back on when you're 30 seasons into your dynasty.

Conclusion

I hope that you all will use some of these ideas to make your dynasties deeper and more authentic as the years go by. Much of the credit for this article and for all of these ideas is due to the creative and innovative users here on OS. Please post your own ideas on how to make the most of NCAA Football 14 down below!

[Spartan Warrior]

Awesome suggestions. I have a couple different kinds dynasties I've done. Sometimes I try to do them 100%, using the real coaches, systems, ect. Sometimes I'll make myself the coach and run whatever I want to run. Sometimes I'll create a fictional coach with his own backstory. And I've even done a few where I time traveled a famous coach to the modern day (I think I've done Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, and Bill Walsh).

I love creating traditions. Like giving a special number to my best player. I always name captains.

I usually do the suspension calculator. And I lower my player's injury ratings to try to get more guys to get hurt.

I will usually randomly select one gem and one bust from my recruiting classes. Gem gets their ratings increased, bust gets them lowered. Same with my returning players, I'll select one or two to have their ratings go up extra or down from season to season. I'll usually select a couple players to transfer/quit the team/get kicked off. College football teams have lots of turnover from year to year and the game doesn't simulate it well.

[Deegeezy]

Excellent post. I made a similar thread a few months back:

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...e-organic.html

This game has so much to offer. I feel as though I need to do a better job of staying in-tuned to the rest of the country.

I am in season 13, and doing a lot of the things you offer here.

It is in my list on the thread linked above, but I'd also like to add that equipment/number editing and putting your personal touch on each and every one of your players as well as some of the CPU's adds something to the dynasty.

[fballturkey]

One little thing I like to do is if I have a real stand out player I'll give them their own look. If it's a WR maybe he wears sleeves when the rest of the team doesn't. If it's a RB then maybe it's just putting a ton of gear and on him to make him look bulky and intimidating.

[thekodinator]

I'm about to start my own dynasty and have been looking for ideas for a set of fun house rules.

I'm thinking about making rivalry games matter more by putting a scholarship on the line. For every rivalry game that I lose, I lose one scholarship offer that I can extend that season (or the next depending on when the game occurs during the year).

[Spartan Warrior]

I like to find two-way players whenever possible. Most common is a DB that also plays some WR, but sometimes you'll have a lineman who can play both ways. Or using a backup QB at WR or RB in some packages.

I always use lots of formation subs. I try to play almost everyone on the roster. It's just more satisfying to have different people out there. I wish we had gotten fatigue and auto-subs that really worked, but it never happened.

I always mess around with my recruits. Give them weird names, try to add some Samoan/Polynesian players, changing up their equipment. Sometimes I'll come up with backstories for them, like a guy with an African-sounding name being a refugee or a guy being a former Marine who's now playing football. I've made players siblings or the children of former players from the school.

One other thing I do is sort of approach the Dynasty like I'm writing a book about the team. Single out who the key characters are and what their storylines are. A QB with NFL prospects, a player who had a rough childhood, an assistant who's in line for a head coaching job, a player coming back from a major injury.

[catcher_0_3]

Before every game I play in my Hawaii dynasty I do the Haka dance.

[Deegeezy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Spartan Warrior

I like to find two-way players whenever possible. Most common is a DB that also plays some WR, but sometimes you'll have a lineman who can play both ways. Or using a backup QB at WR or RB in some packages. I always use lots of formation subs. I try to play almost everyone on the roster. It's just more satisfying to have different people out there. I wish we had gotten fatigue and auto-subs that really worked, but it never happened. I always mess around with my recruits. Give them weird names, try to add some Samoan/Polynesian players, changing up their equipment. Sometimes I'll come up with backstories for them, like a guy with an African-sounding name being a refugee or a guy being a former Marine who's now playing football. I've made players siblings or the children of former players from the school. One other thing I do is sort of approach the Dynasty like I'm writing a book about the team. Single out who the key characters are and what their storylines are. A QB with NFL prospects, a player who had a rough childhood, an assistant who's in line for a head coaching job, a player coming back from a major injury.

Yeah I do the same with the formation subs. I like to get all my young guys on the field on special teams. I use a good 40 of my allotted subs on kickoff team, punt team, kick return and punt return.

I go hard after 2-star guys with good speed for these roles specifically.