Crazy Like A Fox: A Minnesota State Screaming Eagles Dynasty

[cdh72469]

With a new college football season upon us but no new game, I thought I would resurrect a dynasty idea from the old PS2 NCAA 06 days. I have always liked the TV show Coach (1989-97) so back then I created the Minnesota State Screaming Eagles and oddly put them in the Big East at the time. Anyway I’ve wanted to do this again ever since Teambuilder came to us, as limited as it is, at least I can customize it a bit more. Seeing as the TV show went off in 1997, my idea is to advance Head Coach Hayden Fox to the 21st century along with Luther as DC and “Dauber” as OC.

In this dynasty Coach Fox is akin to Mark Richt/Gary Pinkel in tenor, success, etc., just in the Big 10. My backstory is that Fox played tight end for Minnesota State and legendary coach Earl “Curley” O’Brien from 1975-78. He arrived in 2001 after stints at Chattanooga (FCS) (’87-‘91,) and Bowling Green (’92-’00). The 58 year old Fox followed two coaches who didn’t get the job done after the retirement of legendary coach Earl “Curley” O’Brien in 1988. He’s returned the Screaming Eagles to success, compiling a record of 130-54, 13 bowl games, two outright conference championships, 1 shared conference title, 1 Big Ten Championship Game appearance, averaged 9 wins a year with only 2 losing seasons, his first in 2001 and a 6-7 mark after losing a bowl game in 2011.

Minnesota State plays in a purely fictional college football world where they play in the Big Ten West and all conferences have at least 12 teams and a championship game, except for the 2 lone independents, Army and Navy.

The BCS is still in existence but no poll will be posted until the first Media and/or BCS poll. I also won’t post any award standings (Heisman) until the first poll.

Also I have replaced UMass, Idaho, NM State and UAB with Minnesota State, Georgia Southern, Appalachian State and North Dakota State team builder teams.

On a personal note I am an old man by gaming standards, with a family, job, house, etc. so I am playing this for fun not true to life and don’t have a lot of time to devote to a lot of detail or recruit so the AI will do most of the in-season recruiting. I have named the initial roster for characters and actors that appeared on the TV show, changing some female names and “censored” by EA names.

Hope it has some interest!

System: Xbox 360
Rosters are 2015
Quarters: 8 minutes
Difficulty: Offense: All American / Defense: Varsity (Adjusting as I play)

[cdh72469]

NCAA Football Conference Alignments for 2015
	NORTH: Boston College, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple SOUTH: Central Florida, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Louisville, Memphis, South Florida 2015 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
	ATLANTIC: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, Wake Forest COASTAL: Duke, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia 2015 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC
	EAST: Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue WEST: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Minnesota State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Wisconsin 2015 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
	NORTH: Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State SOUTH: Baylor, Houston, SMU, Texas, TCU, Texas Tech 2015 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX
	EAST: FAU, FIU, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Southern Miss, Western Kentucky WEST: Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Rice, Tulane, Tulsa, UTEP 2015 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium, Orlando, FL
	NORTH: Ball State, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Western Michigan SOUTH: Akron, Bowling Green, Kent State, Miami (OH), Ohio, Toledo 2015 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Ford Field, Detroit, MI
	MOUNTAIN: Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, New Mexico, Utah State, Wyoming WEST: Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV 2015 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Sports Authority Field at Mile High, Denver, CO
	NORTH: California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, Washington State SOUTH: Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, UCLA, USC, Utah 2015 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA
	EAST: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt WEST: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M 2015 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Georgia Dome, Atlanta, GA
	EAST: Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Old Dominion, South Alabama, Troy WEST: Arkansas State, UL-Lafayette, UL-Monroe, North Dakota State, Texas State, UTSA 2015 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Mercedes Superdome, New Orleans, LA
	Army, Navy

[cdh72469]

Hayden Fox enters his 15th season as head coach of the Screaming Eagles as the most tenured coach in the Big Ten. Expectations are high by MSU standards for 2015, coming off consecutive 10-plus win seasons. The so-called experts believe, in spite of a tough schedule, the Screaming Eagles can contend for the West Division title and a second trip to Indianapolis in four seasons.

Many believe Fox may have saved his job back 2012 with his surprise division championship and near upset of Notre Dame in the 2nd ever conference title game. The heartbreaking loss did not dampen the excitement over an 11 win campaign in 2012 that came on the heels of back-to-back seasons of 7-6 and 6-7, accompanied by lower tier bowl losses. Regardless, Coach Fox has had only 2 losing seasons at Minnesota State, 2011 and his first in 2001.

In spite of consistent success that includes three Big Ten titles (one shared,) 13 bowl games and a winning mark against in state rival Minnesota, there is still a faction of Screaming Eagle supporters who want more than what they have had with Coach Fox, specifically a national championship or at least an opportunity to play for one.

Both Chancellor Risendough and AD Howard Burleigh have been consistent and adamant in their support for Coach Fox, especially after difficult seasons in 2010 and 2011. Coach Fox has also been accused in some circles of being too loyal to long time assistants, especially defensive coordinator Luther van Dam, who has been with Fox since his time at Chattanooga in the late 1980s. There was even more grumbling after Fox turned over play-calling duties in 2009 to offensive line coach Mike Dybinski, nicknamed “Dauber” during his playing days as a tight end at MSU.

On paper, Dybinski has a lot to work with in 2015, with 5th-year senior quarterback Craig Nelson leading the way. After a fantastic sophomore season, Carter Fredrickson is expected to do even more from the running back position. Kenny Kimmins will provide quality depth behind Fredrickson. After all, Kimmins entered 2014 as the starter but an injury in the third game sidelined him for the remainder of the season. A good group of receivers are led by veterans Kelly Fox, Clarence Carey and Jerry van Dunne. The offensive line should be solid, anchored by senior center Barry Kemp. Offense looks to be the stronger side of the ball heading into the season.

That offense may be expected to shoulder the load early on as Coach van Dam has to replace 7 starters on defense but the group he has coming back is talented and many did see meaningful playing time last season but some growing pains are expected. It’s likely that van Dam will lean heavily on his 4 returning starters, MLB Pat Stone, linemen Fred Webb and Chris Armstrong and cornerback Kris Kamm to lead the young talent on this side of the ball.

It won’t be easy with a schedule that includes non-conference games with Colorado State, at Arizona State, Oklahoma and Northern Illinois. The conference schedule includes trips to Notre Dame, Iowa and rival Minnesota and home dates against Nebraska, Michigan State and Wisconsin. Expectations are high but the schedule may bite the Screaming Eagles somewhere along the way.

Minnesota State 2015 Football Schedule
DATE	OPPONENT		SITE
August 29		COLORADO STATE	ST. CLOUD
September 5		Arizona State	Tempe, AZ
September 12		OKLAHOMA	ST. CLOUD
September 19		NORTHERN ILLINOIS	ST. CLOUD
September 26		Notre Dame	South Bend, IN
October 3	OPEN
Octocber 10		NEBRASKA	ST. CLOUD
October 17		Iowa	Iowa City, IA
October 24		MICHIGAN STATE	ST. CLOUD
October 31	OPEN
November 7		NORTHWESTERN	ST. CLOUD
November 14		Minnesota	Minneapolis, MN
November 21		Illinois	Champaign, IL
November 28		WISCONSIN	ST. CLOUD
December 5		Big Ten Championship Game	Indianapolis, IN

Minnesota State Fall 2015 Depth Chart
OFFENSE (Pro Style)
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
WR	1 Clarence Carey | JR	4 Kenny Bryant | JR	3 Orlando Brown | SO	80 Prince Morris | SO
TE	85 Jerry van Dunne | SR	87 Earl Bullock | JR	86 George Engel | SO	45 Gary Hershberger | FR
LT	74 Bill Fraley | SR	70 Will Mackenzie | SO	76 Bill Fagerbakke | RFR
LG	79 Mike Lembeck | JR	78 Jeff Meyer | SO	68 Art Sanford | RFR
C	63 Barry Kemp | JR	61 Warren Bell | SO
RG	73 John Whitesell | JR	64 James Gardner | RFR
RT	69 Phil Rosenthal | JR	73 Blake Clark | JR	67 Gordon Hunt | RFR
WR	84 Kelly Fox | JR	83 June Watkins | JR	81 Jeff Doucette | RFR	82 Darren Roberts |RFR
QB	12 Craig Nelson | SR	10 Christopher Duncan | SO	14 Bo Whitley | RFR	16 Timothy David | FR
FB	35 Houston Bullock | JR	29 Jake Connelly | RFR
HB	25 Carter Fredrickson | JR	23 Kenny Kimmins | JR	28 Terry Howard | SO	22 Johnny Williams | FR
DEFENSE (4-3 Multiple)
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
LDE	97 Benjamin Grant | SR	92 Rockne Dawson | SO	98 Ross Taggart | FR
LDT	96 Travis McKenna | SR	94 Willie Sanderson | SO
RDT	75 Fred Webb | JR	99 Richard Martin | RFR	76 Eddie Garrett | FR
RDE	95 Chris Armstrong | SR	49 Keith Jackson | SO	90 Lance Davis | RFR
WLB	56 Tim Conway | JR	48 Gerald McRaney | SO	30 Jim Collins | RFR
MLB	55 Pat Stone | SR	40 Patrick Crawford | JR	54 James Staley | FR
SLB	58 Sheldon Fabares | JR	50 Patrick Brown | RFR
CB	15 Kris Kamm | JR	19 Darian Sherman | SO	2 Charles Stewart | RFR
SS	27 Keith Helmond | JR	26 Albert Michaels | SO	31 Eddie Hall | FR
FS	9 Tommy Poston | SR	18 Brian Felker | JR
CB	5 Noah Nelson | JR	24 James Pickens, Jr. | SO	21 Rob Schneider | FR
SPECIAL TEAMS
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
K	8 Stuart Rosebrock | JR	6 Riley Pringle | SO
P	6 Riley Pringle | SO	8 Stuart Rosebrock | JR
H	6 Riley Pringle | SO	10 Christopher Duncan | SO
PR	4 Kenny Bryant | JR	83 June Watkins | JR
KR	4 Kenny Bryant | JR	23 Kenny Kimmins | JR
LS	63 Barry Kemp | JR	78 Jeff Meyer | SO

[cdh72469]

It was a perfect late summer evening at O’Brien Stadium as Coach Hayden Fox opened his 15th campaign as head man of the Screaming Eagles. It was not an easy opener as new Colorado State head coach Mike Bobo had his team ready to fight for 60 minutes. In the end Carter Fredrickson proved too much for the Rams as he combined for 232 total yards and all 3 Screaming Eagles touchdowns.

While Fredrickson starred for Minnesota State, senior signal-caller Craig Nelson had a tough day, throwing 3 interceptions, two of which led to Colorado State touchdowns.

“I just have to not try and do too much and try and make a play where there ain’t one to be made,” Nelson said after the game.

“He’s gotta trust the play call and just take what the defense is givin’ us and not force things. I think he was just trying to do too much sometimes out there tonight,” Coach Fox commented.

Nelson’s first pick was doubly tough as the Rams’ Preston Hodges got his first of two to stop MSU’s opening drive at the CSU 8. The pick came only 2 plays after MSU converted a 4th & 1 from the Rams 44. Led by quarterback Nick Stevens, CSU promptly drove 92 yards in 14 plays to take a 7-0 lead on the first of Treyous Jarrells’ two touchdown runs.

The Screaming Eagles answered the score with a methodical 11 play, 71 yard scoring drive of their own to even the score just before the end of the first quarter. It was clear that Carter Fredrickson was going to be the workhorse today as he carried it on 8 of the 11 plays while Nelson rebounded to convert two 3rd and long plays to keep the drive alive.

The middle quarters settled into a defensive contest as both squads gained a first down or two but wound up punting. The only score was a second quarter Stuart Rosebrock field goal that gave MSU the lead. The Screaming Eagles defensive front play was a pleasant surprise, tallying 5 sacks and 12 tackles behind the line of scrimmage. End Benjamin Grant led the way with 3 sacks and 5 tackles for loss in the game.

“Well, we…we played really well along the front with our pass rush and run defense but we’ve gotta do much better on the backside, eh, backend in coverage but give number 7 [CSU QB Nick Stevens] and his receivers credit. They kinda lit us up a bit.” Coach van Dam commented.

The lack of action in the second and third quarter was more than made up for by a back-and-forth final quarter that saw four lead changes and 28 combined points. It all really started near the end of the third quarter with Preston Hodges second pick of Nelson to stop a MSU drive into Rams territory. Colorado State drove 71 yards in 16 plays to regain the lead early in the fourth.

MSU’s Kenny Bryant helped the Screaming Eagles answer, returning the ensuing kickoff 54 yards to set them up in great field position. Just 3 plays later Fredrickson broke a tackle and raced around the right side 34 yards to give the Screaming Eagles the lead back.

The see-saw final stanza continued as Stevens and his CSU costar, wide out Rashard Higgins connected from 44 yards out to give the lead back to the Rams midway through the quarter. Again Kenny Bryant setup MSU with great field position, returning the kickoff 64 yards to the Rams 39 yard line. The Screaming Eagles wasted the opportunity when Nelson attempted to hit tight end Jerry van Dunne over the middle while being pressured and instead threw it right to Kevin Davis for his third interception.

Now the Rams had the lead and ball late in the game with a chance to run out the clock. After one first down two sacks ended the possession and forced a punt with just under 2 minutes to play. That’s when Nelson put the poor play behind him and completed 4 of 5 attempts to lead the Screaming Eagles into scoring position. The big play was a 33 yard screen pass to Fredrickson that got MSU into the red zone. After a 3rd down completion to van Dunne got them to the 9, Carter Fredrickson broke through the line and into the end zone to give MSU the lead with 39 seconds to play.

Screaming Eagle safety Tommy Poston ended any hopes of any CSU heroics as he intercepted Stevens’ long pass intended for Higgins on their first play. Nelson took a knee and the Screaming Eagles took the victory.

Coach Hayden Fox
“We’re happy to be 1-0 but we’ve got a lot of work to do. The good things were the run defense, pass rush and running game and no penalties. Kenny [Bryant] really shined on kick returns. 1 for 8 on third downs and losing the turnover battle will get us beat if we don’t work to be better. We have to be better in the pass game or folks are just going to load the box and dare us to throw. Craig [Nelson] knows where he made mistakes tonight and we’re going to work together to get them corrected before going to Arizona State next week.”

Game Summary | August 29, 2015 | O'Brien Stadium | St. Cloud, Minnesota
	Colorado State Rams (0-1, 0-0 Mtn. West)	21	1 2 3 4 CSU 7 0 0 14 MSU 7 3 0 14	24		Minnesota State Screaming Eagles (1-0, 0-0 Big Ten)

BOX SCORE

RAMS TEAM STATS COMPARISON SCREAMING EAGLES 16 First Downs 18 340 Total Offense 305 23-(-5) Rushes-Net Yards 33-153 345 Passing Yards 152 9 Return Yards 219 349 Total Yards 524 5/11 3rd Down Efficiency 1/8 0/0 4th Down Efficiency 1/1 2-2-0 (100%) Red Zone Efficiency (POS-TD-FG) 3-2-1(100%) 1 Turnovers 3 6-45.0 Punts - Average 4-46.0 1-15 Penalties-Yards 0-0 14:15 Time of Possession 17:45

SCORING SUMMARY FIRST QUARTER SCORING CSU MSU (CSU) T. Jarrells, 3 yard run (B. Garcia kick) 7 0 (MSU) C. Fredrickson, 1 yard run (S. Rosebrock kick) 7 7 SECOND QUARTER SCORING CSU MSU (MSU) S. Rosebrock. 23 yard FG 7 10 THIRD QUARTER SCORING CSU MSU None 7 10 FOURTH QUARTER SCORING CSU MSU (CSU) T. Jarrells, 2 yard run (B. Garcia kick) 14 10 (MSU) C. Fredrickson, 34 yard run (S. Rosebrock kick) 14 17 (CSU) N. Stevens to R. Higgins, 44 yard pass (B. Garcia kick) 21 17 (MSU) C. Fredrickson, 9 yard run (S. Rosebrock kick) 21 24

PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Nick Stevens 22/34 345 1 1 RUSHING ATT YDS LG TD Treyous Jarrells 17 39 8 2 Nick Stevens 6 -44 0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS LG TD Rashard Higgins 6 170 57 1 Kivon Cartwright 5 55 18 0 Xavier Williams 3 50 31 0 DEFENSE TK/ATK TFL SACK INT Kevin Davis 9/0 0 0 1 Kevin Pierre-Louis 6/0 0 0 0 DeAndre Elliot 6/0 0 0 0 Cory James 3/0 2 0 0 PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Craig Nelson 18/28 152 0 3 RUSHING ATT YDS LG TD Carter Fredrickson 31 175 34 3 Craig Nelson 1 -13 00 0 RECEIVING REC YDS LG TD Carter Fredrickson 3 57 33 0 Orlando Brown 3 25 12 0 Kelly Fox 2 26 13 0 DEFENSE TK/ATK TFL SACK INT Benjamin Grant 7/0 5 3 0 Keith Helmond 6/1 1 0 0 Tommy Poston 4/1 0 0 1 Tim Conway 3/0 1 1 0

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Last edited by cdh72469; 09-29-2015 at 03:51 PM.

[cdh72469]

SCOREBOARD
August 29, 2015			FINAL	Champaign, IL
	Youngstown State Penguins	7	at	23	Illinois Fighting Illini
August 29, 2015			FINAL	BLOOMINGTON, IN
	Southern Illinois Salukis	21	at	29	Indiana Hoosiers
August 29, 2015			FINAL	IOWA CITY, IA
	Northern Illinois Huskies	24	at	31	Iowa Hawkeyes
August 29, 2015			FINAL	ANN ARBOR, MI
	Central Michigan Chippewas	14	at	34	Michigan Wolverines
August 29, 2015			FINAL	EAST LANSING, MI
	Western Michigan Broncos	10	at	38	Michigan State Spartans
August 29, 2015			FINAL	MINNEAPOLIS, MN
	UNLV Rebels	14	at	24	Minnesota Golden Gophers
August 29, 2015			FINAL	ST. CLOUD, MN
	Colorado State Rams	21	at	24	Minnesota State Screaming Eagles
August 29, 2015			FINAL	LINCOLN, NE
	Wyoming Cowboys	6	at	24	Nebraska Cornhuskers
August 29, 2015			FINAL	BOWLING GREEN, OH
	Northwestern Wildcats	23	at	21	Bowling Green Falcons
August 29, 2015			FINAL	COLUMBUS, OH
	Buffalo Bulls	12	at	21	Ohio State Buckeyes
August 29, 2015			FINAL	LOS ANGELES, CA
	Purdue Boilermakers	14	at	33	UCLA Bruins

PLAYERS of the WEEK
Offense		POS	Defense		POS
	Carter Fredrickson | JR	RB		Eric Kinney | SR	FS
	31 Carries, 175 Yards, 3 TD			2 Solo Tackles, 2 Assists
	3 Rec, 57 Yards			2 INT

STANDINGS
EAST DIVISION team OVR CONF PCT Indiana 1-0 0-0 1.000 Michigan 1-0 0-0 1.000 Michigan State 1-0 0-0 1.000 Ohio State 1-0 0-0 1.000 Notre Dame 0-0 0-0 .000 Penn State 0-0 0-0 .000 Purdue 0-1 0-0 .000		WEST DIVISION team OVR CONF PCT Illinois 1-0 0-0 1.000 Iowa 1-0 0-0 1.000 Minnesota 1-0 0-0 1.000 Minnesota State 1-0 0-0 1.000 Nebraska 1-0 0-0 1.000 Northwestern 1-0 0-0 1.000 Wisconsin 0-0 0-0 .000

[cdh72469]

NOTEABLE SCORES FROM WEEK ONE
THURSDAY, AUG. 27			FINAL	at COLUMBIA, SC
	North Carolina	24	at	19	South Carolina
Saturday, AUG. 29			FINAL	at Seattle, WA
	Boise State	3	at	27	Washington
Saturday, AUG. 29			FINAL	at Houston, TX
	Mississippi State	34	vs	22	Oklahoma State
Saturday, AUG. 29			FINAL	at Berkeley, CA
	Colorado	38	at	24	California
Saturday, AUG. 29			FINAL	at Raleigh, NC
	Louisiana Tech	42	at	3	N.C. State

Offense		POS	Defense		POS
	Jonathan Williams	RB		Elandon Roberts	LB
	25 Car, 190 Yds, 4 TD			6 Tkls, 6 TFL, 3 ATK
	2 Rec, 20 Yds			2 Sks, FF, Int

[thesportsguru11]

I saw your templates in the layout testing thread and I'm really excited you're going through with this. Work at your speed bud, life gets us all eventually!

Good luck.

[cdh72469]

I am going to do my best. I already have 2 more games in the can and hope to stay ahead and have reports ready when life and the real football season keeps me away from the Xbox for a while.