toning down option team success

[jello1717]

@martywebb

I've been asked what I do to try to curtail the overpowered success of option teams in the sim engine. As I'm sure we all know, Navy, Army, and Georgia Tech usually become some of the winningest teams in the country due to the sim engine's overpowering of their playbook settings.

Here's what I do to tone them down somewhat.
1. I change out their PBs and give their HCs (and of course their OCs and DCs for when they become HCs at new schools) non-Army/GT/Navy PBs. I usually use Air Force (which doesn't seem OPed IMO), spread option, and run balanced PBs.

2. I change their pass/run ratios. I think this is likely more important than changing their PBs. I believe they start @ 25/75 and I change them to 30/70 and 35/65.

Those are the only 2 changes that I make (I know some people edit the recruiting ratings of the schools, but I don't bother with that.

Here are the records for GT, Army, and Navy halfway through 2023.
GT1.jpg
army.jpg
navy.jpg

As you can see, these teams have pretty realistic records (and certainly MUCH better than they usually have by default in NCAA '14.

GT is the strongest (as they should be) but they've only won 9+ games in 3 of 9 seasons, have 0 ACC championships (which for me means 0 spots in my 8 team playoff) and have won 3 bowl games.

Army had a HUGE 2015, but they've had more losing seasons that they've had winning seasons.

Navy started off slowly with 3 straight losing seasons, then had a great 5 year stretch before coming back down to earth in 2022.

Compared to how these teams usually perform in the sim engine, I'm very happy with the results. With that said.........

There are 2 teams that grabbed option coaches (both using AF's PB) that have been too successful. They're Syracuse and LA Tech:

syracuse.jpg
LA Tech.jpg

Since Troy Calhoun has gotten to New York, the Cuse's worst season was 8-5 and he's won at least 9 games every other season. They also won 3 straight ACC championships and were probably in the CCG a few other years.
Needless to say, I'm THRILLED with their 4-3 start this season.

The problem with LA Tech is compounded by the fact that they're in a weak conference, but their last 5 years have been ridiculous with 9-4 being their worst season. I'm obviously thrilled with their 5-3 start this year as well.

For me, the biggest issue with LA Tech is that I have an 8 team playoff with 5 automatic bids going to power 5 champs, 2 at larges for the 2 highest ranked non-champs and 1 at large for the highest ranked mid major. That mid major bid has gone to LA Tech twice and a few other times it's gone to other option coaches. Overall though, I'm happy with the toned down success of the option coaches by simply changing their run/pass ratios and PBs.

[Zooparker]

Awesome results and I can attest that these edits are needed for realism and such. My question is that I know you edit all playbook's into catagories and have a base custom playbook you use to limit screens and cheap plays. I was just wondering if you could elaborate an what plays you edit in the books and how many usable plays you leave in each playbook? Love the work you are doing and have done.

Thanks,

TWP

[martywebb]

Thank you so much Jello!

[SilverBullet19]

I have Army, Navy, Air Force, and Georgia Tech all in the top 20. Honestly, I love seeing the academies do so well, but I hate playing them. I don't really have a hard time stopping the option run, so its not a big challenge.

FWIW, in my dynasty, Air Force no longer runs the standard triple option. They run a spread playbook, with a few read options. I faced them twice my final year in the MWC (once in season, once for the conference championship). Their biggest issue was a QB with happy feet. This year, they reached #6 before losing a game.

[R1zzo23]

This is great stuff and looks very realistic outside of the success Syracuse is having. I think I'll make sure to make these changes in my dynasty.


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[jello1717]

Quote: Originally Posted by Zooparker

Awesome results and I can attest that these edits are needed for realism and such. My question is that I know you edit all playbook's into catagories and have a base custom playbook you use to limit screens and cheap plays. I was just wondering if you could elaborate an what plays you edit in the books and how many usable plays you leave in each playbook? Love the work you are doing and have done. Thanks, TWP

I don't use CPBs for CPU teams. If you're referring to the ones that I listed, "run balanced" and "spread option" are generic default PBs.

[nicholaseck]

Quick question about the playoff you do. How do you do it? With the engine stuck with the BCS, I would like to mimic a playoff system.


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[itsbigmike]

I turned all option coaches back to a 70/30 run/pass philosophy before the start of my dynasty and left them all on their original playbooks. I've got Navy and Army in the American conference (each conference has a CCG) and haven't had too many problems with Navy or Air Force being too overpowered. Army is 52-22 under Monken with records of 6-6, 11-3, 8-5, 7-5, 12-2 and 8-1 in the current season (2018). That's been the only one so far to really be "too good" though it doesn't bother me much.

Navy in my dynasty: 9-5, 6-6, 3-9, 7-5, 507, 7-2 (current season)

Air Force in my dynasty: 7-6, 9-4, 7-6, 7-6, 10-3, 7-2 (current season)

The main one for me that became really good was Bob Davie taking over MTSU after Stockstill left for a bigger job and he used a really good roster to have some great years. 8-5, 12-2, 8-5, 6-6, 5-4 (current season). That 28-12 start was great for him and now he's just 11-10 since then. Overall, I like my balance, and since it's young in my dynasty still, no other team has poached an option-based coach and really taken off yet.

In one of my older dynasties Troy Calhoun left Air Force for Michigan and he was something like 125-25; absurd run he had there at Ann Arbor. That's what made me want to change the coaches down a bit in philosophy when I started this dynasty.