The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

[Hellisan]

Week 12 Coach Clark Interview





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Wow the pace of this thing has really picked up...I love it.

First of all, love the writing style. Not only do the game reports look like newspaper articles, they also read like newspaper articles. Those lead-in paragraphs sound very professionally written.

That Illinois loss had to be quite frustrating. 10-7 in a game in which your QB turned it over three times. Such a masterful defensive performance squandered and on top of that, ol' Coach Clark has to go home that night seemingly every week, flip on SportsCenter, and watch his old QB Eric Lawson go absolutely nuts.

Love the suspension decisions by the program. This certainly throws a monkey-wrench into things. That's a lot of young building blocks walking out of the door. Damn kids!

Really surprised you needed such a dramatic comeback to defeat Purdue; I thought going in, after the tough loss, that you guys would dominate, but all those injuries and suspensions have really taken its toll. Nevertheless, congrats on becoming bowl eligible.

Looking good, old timer!

Hey Geezy, thank you very much. Greatly appreciated, you checking in. Thanks for the kind words on the intros. I really enjoy the process of writing the story, even if it takes a bit longer than I'd like. I enjoy reading them later. The Illinois game was frustrating as well as beautiful. It's a treat to play a game like that once in awhile, and definitely very tense. It was insane to see how well the team played on D in that game at least for the first 80% of the game. One play really sticks out, and that was FS Robert Gandy. He's playing Cover 2 shell and they throw a seam route. Perfect read and the perfect spot to go against a guy who's supposed to be covering deep. I hadn't messed with the coverage settings but he comes flying up and just breaks the play down perfectly when we really needed it, and it was amazing. I hadn't seen that play too many times. Idaho won't have Lawson for long, so they better enjoy it while they can. I know I'm enjoying it lol.

Definitely losing lots of talent. The last 4 games are significant even with some of the seniors. Glad to get some of those guys back next week against Michigan State. I kind of thought that too about Purdue, but as I was looking at the schedule they had really played teams tough all year. That got into my head that it was going to be a tough game. I'm glad it did, because sometimes those "surprise, we're here to stay" games can get under your skin if you're not ready for them. Thanks again. Happy to see what kind of team a mid level team from a good conference can get hooked up with. Holiday Bowl if we're lucky, but I think we're looking at something a tier lower.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: Around the NCAA: Week 12

I'm holding myself to reading through some of these really nice dynasties that've been going on...just caught up on yours and I have to say I'm impressed. You've managed to constantly reinvent your presentation (especially since season 4) but maintain the wit, ambience, and bounteous flow of information all the while.

My favorite line in the whole dynasty is in regards to Sarah Pellier that reads something like: "University of Idaho student and Bully Filoteo fan Sarah Pellier will do some advertising and modeling work for the U.S. Dry Pea & Lentil Council, based in Moscow."

LOL

Deliciously random and delightful prose. What ever happened to old Sarah anyway? I've always heard those Iowa chicks are on another level...

I think you've probably also set the bar with coming up with names for your RBs. Bully Filoteo. Buck Archie. Albert Hidalgo. Horozewski Switalski.

Did I read it right that the Subway guy and convicted pedophile Jared Fogle was an All-American return man for Boise State? Just a coincidence of names? Did he already serve his 13 years and come out jacked af and with eligibility left to burn? Or was that a veiled take down of a player on a team Idaho struggled with? lol

One benefit of taking in these creative dynasties is that there's a lot of introspection and idea generation that takes place. For example, I think we've both run into the "am I getting too good too fast?" gnashing of teeth and clenching of fists at our respective schools (I won multiple titles with my old Wyoming dynasty). I am really convinced that strict house rules in terms of gameplay, sliders, recruiting, and training are needed to keep a lower program from exponential growth. One of the ideas I had was to cut all of the yearly training gains in half--it would be labor intensive for sure and there is still the problem of regression...namely that it doesn't exist. Or I could nerf each position group by a stock amount in certain attributes. In theory, I like your method of progression using random numbers etc, but it seems like a lot of added labor!

The other thing that I really like about this dynasty (aside from the writing, the information, the depth, and the pretty pictures...and, well, just that lol) is the career synopses you'd give for your beloved players like Michael Lagrone and Dan "The Man" Wilcox and Bully Filoteo. I can definitely see myself instituting something like that because, as many of us can attest, it's tough not to get attached to those little pieces of computer code and their accomplishments. I will be looking for who becomes one of your favorites out of this crop of Iowa players--who's the next Bully? The next Dan Wilcox? For me, it was guys like Lucas Wacha and the first major recruit I pulled (a 4* battering ram of a HB from Alaska named Brad Herron).

Nice job, sir and I like how you've been reinventing things to keep it interesting as you wean off Idaho and Iowa becomes your new main squeeze.

[gsutiger]

Re: The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

Coach Clark is not playing around on the recruiting trail putting together a nice class with those signed so far. Defense should be solid with the kids you have signed so far

[itsbigmike]

Re: The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

Jay Cook is quite the find, always wonderful to see that scouting grade go up and up. Here's hoping he gets a good work ethic roll!

[Hellisan]

2018: Week 12 Preview



Kirk Herbstreit has picked the Iowa Hawkeyes to head into Spartan Stadium and
beat the #20 Michigan State Spartans. It's an interesting selection that is sure to
turn some heads. These are two teams that go about things in a totally different
way, as the Hawkeyes are a 50% split run/pass team whereas MSU is a run heavy
team ranked #23 in the country in rushing yards. MSU has a QB that is being under-
utilized, but they could always turn him loose at any time. The personnel they can
put on the field is very solid.

Of particular concern is their personnel when in coverage sets. Backup strong safety
Mark Arnold is the nickle corner. He's adept in coverage, can jam receivers, play
through blocks, and tackle like a safety. He's not a particularly big hitter, but he's
far more versatile than a typical nickle corner, and definitely not a weak spot the
Hawks can just target. The dime corner is a WR (former ATH) with good coverage
skills who is 6'4" with good hands and tackles better than the starters.

When making the Hawkeyes his pick, Herbstreit noted the injuries faced by the
Spartans. DT Justin Wilson (89 OVR) was considered a likely scratch early in the
week and he is #1 on the dpeth charte. He is listed as probable now, although not
listed above.

The Spartans have two key players injured for the rest of the season. Jr WR George
Scott (89 OVR) has the game breaking speed that could give the Hawkeyes big
problems. The Spartans have nobody else in his category. Their starters with Scott
on the shelf are more similar to the Iowa receivers, who get open and make the
catch, but who are not quite as polished. Scott will miss the game with a torn
achilles tendon.

Junior Marcus Harvey (89 OVR) has an upper arm fracture and is also out for the
rest of the season.


Current Injury Report - Iowa
Position - Player - Injury - Length - Return Week
QB - Darrell White - Knee - Season - Season
OLB - Josh Rooney - Hamstring - Season - Season
HB - Ahmad Horne - Strained Back - 8 Weeks - Effectively Season

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm holding myself to reading through some of these really nice dynasties that've been going on...just caught up on yours and I have to say I'm impressed. You've managed to constantly reinvent your presentation (especially since season 4) but maintain the wit, ambience, and bounteous flow of information all the while.

My favorite line in the whole dynasty is in regards to Sarah Pellier that reads something like: "University of Idaho student and Bully Filoteo fan Sarah Pellier will do some advertising and modeling work for the U.S. Dry Pea & Lentil Council, based in Moscow."

LOL

Deliciously random and delightful prose. What ever happened to old Sarah anyway? I've always heard those Iowa chicks are on another level...

I think you've probably also set the bar with coming up with names for your RBs. Bully Filoteo. Buck Archie. Albert Hidalgo. Horozewski Switalski.

Did I read it right that the Subway guy and convicted pedophile Jared Fogle was an All-American return man for Boise State? Just a coincidence of names? Did he already serve his 13 years and come out jacked af and with eligibility left to burn? Or was that a veiled take down of a player on a team Idaho struggled with? lol

One benefit of taking in these creative dynasties is that there's a lot of introspection and idea generation that takes place. For example, I think we've both run into the "am I getting too good too fast?" gnashing of teeth and clenching of fists at our respective schools (I won multiple titles with my old Wyoming dynasty). I am really convinced that strict house rules in terms of gameplay, sliders, recruiting, and training are needed to keep a lower program from exponential growth. One of the ideas I had was to cut all of the yearly training gains in half--it would be labor intensive for sure and there is still the problem of regression...namely that it doesn't exist. Or I could nerf each position group by a stock amount in certain attributes. In theory, I like your method of progression using random numbers etc, but it seems like a lot of added labor!

The other thing that I really like about this dynasty (aside from the writing, the information, the depth, and the pretty pictures...and, well, just that lol) is the career synopses you'd give for your beloved players like Michael Lagrone and Dan "The Man" Wilcox and Bully Filoteo. I can definitely see myself instituting something like that because, as many of us can attest, it's tough not to get attached to those little pieces of computer code and their accomplishments. I will be looking for who becomes one of your favorites out of this crop of Iowa players--who's the next Bully? The next Dan Wilcox? For me, it was guys like Lucas Wacha and the first major recruit I pulled (a 4* battering ram of a HB from Alaska named Brad Herron).

Nice job, sir and I like how you've been reinventing things to keep it interesting as you wean off Idaho and Iowa becomes your new main squeeze.

On the first line, well I can't think of a much nicer thing to say on this topic than that - thank you. I love that you found the line funny about Sarah. whose wherabouts I've no idea, but of course when you're free-flowing coming up with dumb things to throw in these you know most people aren't gonna even see it so might as well make it funny to yourself. Glad you get my humour.

On those RB names, Archie is a game created name. I probably replace about 20% of the names total on my teams, same with incoming recruits. When they're just too blah, I'll take names from the actual high school, usually a first and last, but sometimes just one or the other. That's how Bully and Switalski were determined. Albert Hidalgo is a combination of my brother in law's first name and his best friend's last name. I should mention Nigel Atkinson is a game created name, and I think it's great. I've seen quite a few good ones as I figured that once the real guys all went away it would be a bunch of John Smiths but it hasn't been.

You're right about the issue of becoming too good too fast and how much of a condieration it is for this type of dynasty. I will take this spot to say something that has been on my mind a lot lately and that is the idea of, who is the coach this is about? Is it an average coach? A good coach in a horrible situation? A legend? Idaho is a truly horrible situation but so is the University of San Diego, where Harbaugh got his start. They play in a league with no scholarships. And he absolutely DOMINATED that conference with non scholarship players who were in place when he arrived. The numbers put up by Josh Johnson when he played for Harbaugh still make me giggle. And I've always been massivlely offended the Chargers were never chasing, given that they had the opportunity to see this first hand (as I do) and weren't suitably impressed even after he turned Stanford around to say this is a guy we absolutely have to land no matter what. Anyway, I'm totally rambling, but I do think that college football is the ultimate coaches sport. I think a truly great coach will win anywhere. How big, now that is the question and where the teeth gnashing comes in, but I knew or at least hoped Idaho would never get to an unrealistic level (well not too much more unrealistic at least). Thankfully the game always had its limits for me with my slider setups an I didn't have to throw anything. Just bouncing my perspective on some of these great points you bring up here. Here's a snippet of an article that kind of puts his accomplishments with the Toreros in perspective:

USD seemed like a strange choice. The Toreros play football (but no other sport) in the Pioneer League, which is an odd-duck conference. It's a Division I-AA football league, consisting of eight teams scattered in California, Iowa, Indiana, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Florida. Not one of its schools award football scholarships.

Under Harbaugh, San Diego won the Pioneer Football League Championship twice, and was NCAA Division I-AA Mid-Major National Football Champion. In other words, USD is number one when measured against other non-football scholarship schools.

Not bad, but not the best of it either. USD has been ranked as high as 15th in the Division I-AA CSN Coaches Poll. That's a big deal. Harbaugh went up against every scholarship-bloated I-AA college in the land. Big schools. Big stadiums.

Here are the latest CSN Coaches Poll rankings: Number 1 is University of North Dakota (Great West Conference, undergraduate enrollment is 12,026, in-state tuition $4360). Number 2 is University of Montana (Big Sky Conference, undergraduate enrollment 11,280, in-state tuition $4712). Number 21 is Georgia Southern University (Southern Conference, undergraduate enrollment 12,648, in-state tuition $1842). All these schools award scholarships even WKU, his dad's college, had 63 football scholarships at its disposal.

University of San Diego's undergraduate enrollment is 4,793, zero football scholarships, in-state tuition of $30,704.

Player progression has been something that definitely saved this for me in terms of losing interest. It takes time but not an insanely long amoung of time. Like, not much longer than playing a game and writing a story. Really.... I get really good at doing it quickly. But I do it in small doses so I'm productive when working on it. The most annoying thing in the NCAA series to me is how they never even tried to implement anything remotely realistic in regards to improvement. That is stunning to me. I absolutely hate when I recruit two similarly rated guys and they are similarly rated their entire careers. I mean it could happen now, but likely they will have divergent paths. And I think that makes my dynasty worthwhile (for me).

Doing the synopses on the players is another time sink and totally worth it to me. I haven't actually determined whether I'm doing it with Iowa yet... I'm pretty sure I will. Anyway, can't wait to check up on your Cowboys here pretty soon and see how it's going. Thanks for taking the time to reply, appreciate your keen insight.

Coach Clark is not playing around on the recruiting trail putting together a nice class with those signed so far. Defense should be solid with the kids you have signed so far

I like the way it looks so far too. We missed out on a lot of the top guys on my board, however we adjusted and a few of the guys on the board were no contests and it's coming together nicely.

Jay Cook is quite the find, always wonderful to see that scouting grade go up and up. Here's hoping he gets a good work ethic roll!

Man, I really hope he has a healthy career and like you said on the ETH roll... Lol. In my NCAA "career" I've had very few true stud safeties, and even when I did, they didn't really produce at a big time level so it would be fun to see that change. Thanks man. Especially glad he's from Illinois where the Illini just ignored him.

As always, to anyone who takes the time to read it is tremendously appreciated, whether you comment or not.

[Knickerbocker91]

Re: 2018: Week 12 Preview

Surprising that Michigan State is so run heavy with the QB and WRs they have on their roster. Going to need a full effort from your defense, hopefully they'll continue to live up to their stats.

[Iron Dragon]

Re: 2018: Week 12 Preview

On paper it looks like Michigan State is better, and besides a blowout to Ohio State they've played everyone close, will be interesting to see how this one goes.

[Bigsheen]

Re: The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

This looks like a classic Big 10 matchup. I like Iowa based on your matchup on the ground cuz their run defense is definitely suspect. I see Atkinson having a huge day and taking over the game.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

I'm liking the composite speed and strength ratings by position grouping given in the preview (one of the advantages of typing stuff into Excel anyway--you can parse the resulting data in lots of ways). It gives a nice snapshot of where the team's advantages lie without comparing 5-10 players. Seems like your O line has a chance to muscle up on a pretty good MSU defensive front with slightly undersized DE's.

[Tearz49ers]

Re: The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

Do you have a certain formula of working out suspensions and injuries, I would love to add some of this to my Kentucky dynasty to add some realism into it

[Hellisan]

2018 Week 12: Michigan State





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Surprising that Michigan State is so run heavy with the QB and WRs they have on their roster. Going to need a full effort from your defense, hopefully they'll continue to live up to their stats.

As is often the case, their playbook doesn't match their simulation style and they passed all over us as you can see above. Although it could be argued it was somewhat necessary. And they did run the ball just fine against us.

On paper it looks like Michigan State is better, and besides a blowout to Ohio State they've played everyone close, will be interesting to see how this one goes.

Didn't end up going well. It was a really fun game. I simulated the extra point because they at least have a chance of going wrong that way (I have a horrible kicker) and indeed, it went south from there.

This looks like a classic Big 10 matchup. I like Iowa based on your matchup on the ground cuz their run defense is definitely suspect. I see Atkinson having a huge day and taking over the game.

They had allowed a lot of rushing yards in the sims, but my version of NCAA seems to have superpowered CPU sim rushing games. Everybody gives up a lot of rushing yards. In actuality they played some really stout D against us.

I'm liking the composite speed and strength ratings by position grouping given in the preview (one of the advantages of typing stuff into Excel anyway--you can parse the resulting data in lots of ways). It gives a nice snapshot of where the team's advantages lie without comparing 5-10 players. Seems like your O line has a chance to muscle up on a pretty good MSU defensive front with slightly undersized DE's.

I was always pretty poor about putting game previews together, and for non interesting matchups I still might not. However, I've found a way that is pretty quick that I like the looks of, so it's making it easier. I agree, it's easy and useful so why not as far as parsing data. Thanks for checking in bro. I should mention I sometimes got you and RoundingThird mixed up. You both have some of the greatest screen names on the board, baseball related, but not tying you to a specific team, so sometimes it's easy to mix you up, but yeah. lol

Do you have a certain formula of working out suspensions and injuries, I would love to add some of this to my Kentucky dynasty to add some realism into it

It's not really a formula, it's a series of random number rolls basically using random.org. I have the app on my phone too, to split these up a bit. First, there is the number of injuries per year. You can figure out a range you think is reasonable, I think mine's from 7 to 12. This is besides actual injuries, and I also do "visual injuries" when I see them that go through the same following process which I won't delve too deeply into.

On my roster spreadsheet I have a separate page where I do this, and essentially for each injury I randomly roll the week it happens, then the severity. I think I have a 1-10 severity, the low ones are anything from a game to 4 games, etc... The highest ones are lengthy to season. I make some of it up as I go along. It's just about stressing the roster from a depth perspective and not about holding myself to any standard. It gets annoying adjusting the depth chart based on all these random rolls but I think it's worth it. It has made it more challenging to me at times. My process of selecting the player that is hurt is that I roll a random number from 1-70 (assuming full roster) and organize the team by the number on my spreadsheet. You can also go to team edit view and simply sort them by last name then go to whatever the number of the player is that you rolled. However, then I bounce another random number off his injury rating. If the number is lower than his INJ rating, he is not the injured player. I then randomly go up or down on the roster and start bouncing the number until the player that gets hurt is determined (higher random number than his INJ rating). Like most of what I do it's totally time consuming but has been found to be worth it to add some depth. It's easy to come up with a system that works for you and makese sense, but that gives you a general idea. Definitely no magical formulas involved.

Thanks guys!

[Knickerbocker91]

Re: 2018 Week 12: Michigan State

Do you watch play/sim the extra point? I don't think I've ever missed an extra point, even with extremely bad kickers (I would love to see them get blocked but alas). That's a hell of a way to lose, and the end of the season doesn't get any easier.

[Hellisan]

Around the NCAA: Week 13



Big Ten has 9 - no, 8 Teams in Top 25 but they keep losing
The Big Ten certainly can't claim it isn't getting respect this season. After Iowa fell
out of the Top 25 they still have 8 teams in the poll. That leads the nation. They
have the only two teams with 3 losses in the Top 10. It looks like the pollsters are
going to go with this idea that the conference is tough all the way down to the end.
But is it really a tough conference? Only time will tell. Ohio State looms as the only
chance the league has to get a BCS berth at this point - most likely. They'll need to
get past Michigan, which travels to Iowa City this week to face the Hawkeyes. OSU
meanwhile will play Rutgers after getting past Indiana 35-23.
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Bitter First Loss | Florida Atlantic hands the #3 Temple Owls their first setback of 2018
Talk about a team that was miscast as a contender.

Battle in the Swamp! | The Trojans barely overcome the tough Swamp Crowd, 28-27.

Go Pokes! | Leierer and OSU knock off Big 12 opponent Texas, 34-29.

Key Big Ten Conference Game | The Big Ten Spotlight is on the MSU/PSU game this weekend.

Not Enough! | Wolverines lose despite best efforts of 114,781 fans in the Big House.











Juco transfer Frankie Vang represents the 9th verbal commitment for Coach Clark
and the Hawkeyes. Vang has a solid arm but lacks athleticism. Neverthless, he may
compete for a role right away if he can consistently hook up on the short to
intermediate routes that make up the majority of Coach Clark's offense, and yet hit
the deep ball occasionally.

The team will have their largest number of visits this week. Asked why he scheduled
so many visits against a tough opponent like Michigan, Clark said late season Big Ten
games are a big draw for recruits.

"We have nothing to hide. It's big-time football. If we lose the game, they can see
they would really be able to help us, and put their stamp on this program and this
team. It's a win win."





Hidalgo carries the mail against thorn in side Fresno


Mata'ala Maulalo celebrates a big run by the Vandals

Fresno State presented challenges (to put it lightly) to Coach Clark when he was at
Idaho and is now doing the same to Bobby Petrino. The Bulldog defense held Eric
Lawson to his lowest output of the season from multiple perspectives and Hidalgo
stepped in and led the team to a close win with a great performance that moved him
up a spot in the ESPN Heisman watch. Youmani Jones scored from 60 yards out in a
moment of glory for the Idaho passing attack.



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Do you watch play/sim the extra point? I don't think I've ever missed an extra point, even with extremely bad kickers (I would love to see them get blocked but alas). That's a hell of a way to lose, and the

end of the season doesn't get any easier.

Yes, I usually sim it. Sometimes I forget, and just kick the majority. Didn't work out for us this time.

[Iron Dragon]

Re: Around the NCAA: Week 13

Ah, the slippery slope of simming kicks. Actually see missed XPs that way but it sucks that that 1-point cost you at a shot at OT it looks like.

[Hellisan]

2018: Week 13 Preview - Michigan Wolverines - Senior Night



Michigan is a strong team with a nice roster but have lost their last two games, both
to ranked Big Ten teams. The Hawkeyes have a chance to really add insult to injury
by beating them at home on Senior Night.

Michigan has one defined weakness, but let's start with their strength: Freaks. They
have super freaks at HB, DE, DT, LB, and SS.

HB Brian Harris is an absolute load with speed, strength, and moves for days. All UM
has to do is give this guy the ball and they will be difficult to stop. However, they
have an offensive line that is questionable. If the Hawkeye offensive line can make
these guys look truly bad in this game, then Iowa has a chance. If not, they will
probably suffer another loss and drop to two games below .500 in the Big Ten.

SS Stephen Franklin is an absolute monster that Masin Barnes will be tasked with
avoiding. It will be interesting to see how the Wolverines will use him, as he is best
suited as more of a rangy coverage type, but does play the strong position which is
more likely to be down in the box.

Hawkeye Seniors - (Still on the Team)
WR Chad Crum, LT John Pino, OLB Michael Tyson, WR Pedro Patrick, T Darius Woods, DT Jason Ballinger, WR Greg Brown, G Ethan Kowalski, G William Gore, OLB Josh Rooney (injured), WR Kevin Witherspoon, MLB Jonathan Johnson, C Aaron Stewart


Current Injury Report - Iowa
Position - Player - Injury - Length - Return Week
QB - Darrell White - Knee - Season - Season
OLB - Josh Rooney - Hamstring - Season - Season
HB - Ahmad Horne - Strained Back - 8 Weeks - Effectively Season

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Ah, the slippery slope of simming kicks. Actually see missed XPs that way but it sucks that that 1-point cost you at a shot at OT it looks like.

That's an interesting choice of words. I would say for me it is rock solid footing inasmuch as this game will allow for realism. I hated losing the game but enjoy the realism of something bad happening. There are two ways I give the possibility of missing an extra point. One is I will randomly roll a number from 1-99 and if it's over 95, I just miss it on purpose. The other way is to super sim. Despite doing these two things with regularity, I've missed a total of two on the season. Which is probably slightly low given the horrible kicker I have. Horrible kickers - and factoring misses for realism based on their ratings - is something I really enjoy and am challenged by. Game momentum shifts (my opinion) when you miss a kick and you have to build it back up again. For regular FG, I roll and bounce it off their actual accuracy number. Anything under 20-25 yards I just make normally, but if it's 30-43 yards or so (this guy's absolute max range) I randomly select a number from 1-99 and if it's above 58 (his accuracy rating) it's a miss.

This reads like a lecture, and you didn't ask for one, but just wanted to throw my 2 cents in. :-)