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

[djp73]

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

what schools are currently ahead of you in the polls and what do their schedules look like?

[Knickerbocker91]

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

I've fallen behind on reading this but I managed to catch up today. Some solid wins, Iowa has had - especially with the Michigan State game. It is a little of a buzzkill to hear the CPU mismanaged the clock on their final drive because it happens so often I almost expect it. Still the back and forth contest was excellent leading up to it. And I love that you ran it up on Nebraska, I don't blame it. Always depends on field position for me, plus you still have to impress someone to jump into the Top 2.

Making solid work on the recruiting trail as well. Lloyd looks like he'll join the list of solid running backs you've had to work with so far. Good luck Championship Week!

[Hellisan]

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

Holy CATFISH as Steve Raible said... I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder!
I think I'm going to skip out of town on my wife for awhile... LOL I kid, I kid.... THank you guys for checking in.

Posted my dynasty Hellisan. Hope you don't mind kinda stole your USA Today banner a bit

Dude I'm pumped! I'll be following! (Of course I don't mind!)

Solid win for Iowa over my Huskers - in typical Bo Pelini fashion he decided not to show up in the big game! Gotta say I love the reasoning for the interception...'wrong button' been there!

Really looking forward to the league championship game this week - you squeaked by the Buckeyes earlier in the season, however, it's never easy to beat a football team two times in one year, so I am really intrigued by this match-up. Personally I hope you drop 49 on them and send them with their tails between their legs to the locker room.

LOL on Bo Pelini. I think if you just keep your wits about you when coaching then you can either be great and remembered, or bad and forgotten. But being bad and remembered... That's something worse. That's Bo Pelini. Always goes down smooth.

I'm intrigued by the matchup too. Quite a bit of history that I plan to brush up on and include in the game preview... Poor Deegeezy, everybody steals from him! (and other great dynasty writers).... Hell, it's rare for me to have much of a history, this is all new territory for me probably... Can't even remember how long my old dynasties used to go.

Great win over Nebraska and some of those shots of Eddie Allen are stunning!

Thanks bigmike. I really appreciate you looking in on me from time to time and i love that you enjoy the photos, you usually mention them and it warms my heart that someone's checking them out! Eddie is an oddly photogenic talent, I take many pictures of him every game. And it's usually hard to figure out which ones to include! The one from the Iowa State report this season was my favorite I think.

OSU seems to have been your Boise St. bug-a-boo from Idaho. Hopefully you can down them and sneak into the Natty.

I would say we've been each other's bugaboo, I remember Coach Clark taking them out in stunning fashion when he was with Idaho...Then they took us out of the Natty last year. For a coach with a pretty realistic record of 76-29, that was a huge win for Idaho. I mean, when Chris Petersen won his 76th game, and I know he inherited a solid squad... He had five losses! For comparison, Urban Meyer, in my game, is 205-42 career, 43-18 against the Top 25... That's just his pure skill as a coach because he coached some bad programs early on. That last win against MSU (when they were ranked!) evened Coach Clark's record against Top 25 teams at 14-14 all time. I got off on a real tangent here, sorry... I would say that our biggest bugaboo was Fresno, we simply could not stop their passing attack and it was so annoying. However, if OSU beats us this week, they're jumping straight to #1 bugaboo status :-)

Trying to run up the score to impress the voters enough to put you at #2?

LOL you figured me out!

what schools are currently ahead of you in the polls and what do their schedules look like?

I've been awful about reporting around the NCAA this year but do plan to do an update next... So I'll hopefully put that up tonight! Thanks djp I hope you're well bro.

I've fallen behind on reading this but I managed to catch up today. Some solid wins, Iowa has had - especially with the Michigan State game. It is a little of a buzzkill to hear the CPU mismanaged the clock on their final drive because it happens so often I almost expect it. Still the back and forth contest was excellent leading up to it. And I love that you ran it up on Nebraska, I don't blame it. Always depends on field position for me, plus you still have to impress someone to jump into the Top 2.

Making solid work on the recruiting trail as well. Lloyd looks like he'll join the list of solid running backs you've had to work with so far. Good luck Championship Week!

Knickerbocker, good to see you man and thank you for checkin in on me, I mean ahem Coach Clark. It was a bummer to see that happen, but it hasn't been a real mainstay of my dynasty so I've been lucky. I suppose this happens sometime in real life, but who knows if it was any worse... Yeah against Nebraska we were down near the goal, before it became simply V formation territory (IIRC) we had a long run to get us down near the goal.

We've had a really solid recruiting class, nothing SPECIAL, but I think there will be some good players from this group, and a super dominant center. I love having a dominant center. Screen passes and draws, oh my. The cool thing is we just signed a couple more so we can really pour resources into 1 or 2 guys we want in the offseason, if so desired.

Thanks to everybody for checking in and making an old man feel young again

[Hellisan]

Around the NCAA: Week 14/15 Update

[Tearz49ers]

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

Not a single undefeated team in the Top 25, something I find unusual to see in NCAA video games, but fun to see.. do you run playoffs? Or just straight BCS system

[djp73]

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

Idaho ranked!!

[Hellisan]

2020: Big Ten Championship Game Preview



It's 2020, and sports commentary is at once more nuanced and ridiculously stupid than ever. People in our great state and the surrounding region are debating the merits of quondam coach J.D. Clark and weigh in with points good and bad.

The bad: "He sucks."

The best negative point about Coach Clark is he's actually having quite a bit of trouble winning big games. He's just 14-14 in games against Top 25 teams and will need to beat uber-talented Ohio State this weekend in order to get above that .500 mark. When I broke the news Clark would be moving on from Idaho, I made the point that he had not won a Mountain West conference championship with the Vandals and that it was as good a reason as any that he shouldn't have moved on. Imagine Urban Meyer moving on from Utah without winning a conference title (he won it both seasons he coached in Salt Lake City, going a combined 22-2). It's unfair to hold anyone up to the standard of Urban Meyer, but that's who Coach Clark will be facing as he tries to win his first conference championship in four tries. Yet Clark has gotten the better of Meyer in three of their four matchups. He's doing something right. But can he do it in a conference championship game?

Let's go through some history. In 2015, a 10-4 Idaho team faced off against BYU for the Mountain West title.. They would lose, 21-41, in a game where seemingly everything went right for the Cougars, and all-time leading Idaho passer Eric Lawson threw two interceptions in a characteristically bad performance in a big game. BYU went on to win the national championship.

In 2017, the loss was closer, but just as painful. Boise State beat Idaho 28-24 for the Mountain West title, with Lawson once again - you guessed it - throwing two interceptions as he was held to just 205 yards passing. Clark blamed the poor performance partly on the numerous drops the receivers had in the game.

Just last year, the Hawkeyes were unbeaten entering the Big Ten title game. Ohio State, who they had beaten 55-35 in the regular season, stunned the Hawkeyes by shutting down Eddie Allen.

I tend to think it's more fortune and chance that Clark hasn't won the big games than that he can't, but I know for a fact he's capable of beating Urban Meyer. He beat him 38-31 in 2017, a game where Ohio State were massive favorites. Then he beat them again last year during the regular season - before the title game loss - and again this year.

I also know that every successive loss in the big games will increase the noise made by those saying he can't do it.

All the Chips are on the Table

Urban Meyer doesn't just have great schemes, he knows how to recruit great players. The skill position players the Buckeyes will throw out there include Dwayne Jordan and a running back behind him that's just as good. Arguably, the wide receivers, including Ray Robinson, are even better. This is a team with very few weaknesses, but one is at quarterback. They haven't done a great job recruiting someone to replace Justin McCarthy, who carried Ohio State to the title last year.

Walker will play

Healthy or not, Kory Walker will play today in the Big Ten Championship. Officially listed as questionable, Walker was able to practice this week and will step back into the fold. If healthy, he will significantly strengthen the secondary of the Hawkeyes as they face their toughest test of the season, an angry Ohio State Buckeyes team.

Time to lace 'em up....

[Hellisan]

2020: Big Ten Championship - #7 Ohio State vs. #2 Iowa

[djp73]

Re: 2020: Big Ten Championship - #7 Ohio State vs. #2 Iowa

outstanding season, one more win!!

any thoughts on Clark's future if you win the NC?

[Bigsheen]

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

What a win to get into the Natty. That picture of Allen diving, along with the “One Giant Leap” headline is what makes you one of the best. So simple, yet executed so well.

Best of luck against Georgia!

[jpfine]

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

Yes!!! Great win!!! Can't wait for the Hawkeyes to face off in the National Championship!

[SilverBullet19]

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

Awesome win! It seems Iowa tried to coast through the second half, but it all worked out in the end. Allen may not have been a dominant passer, but his ability to run was insane. On to the natty!

[Hellisan]

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

Not a single undefeated team in the Top 25, something I find unusual to see in NCAA video games, but fun to see.. do you run playoffs? Or just straight BCS system

I'm glad we ended up with a marquee game still for the BCS... Hate when it's a pair of 2-loss teams, or like an awesome team against some scrubs. lol

I do not run playoffs. First of all it would take a lot of work to figure it out. I'd be much more likely to do it with a new file, remember, this thing has been going on for like 5 years and I don't want to chance anything.

That's beside the fact that I believe a 4-team is only a minor improvement from the BCS and an 8-team would be flat-out disastrous for college football. Because let's face it, they're not going to subtract games from the regular season, ever. This sport is becoming less and less fun and amateurish, IMO.

Idaho ranked!!

Yep, they had to win 8 in a row to do it, but ole Bobby P got her done. Must have a new mistress keeping him feeling young.

outstanding season, one more win!!

any thoughts on Clark's future if you win the NC?

No plans to go anywhere. Iowa's my fahreva school. We need to figure out how to beat a Georgia team that is just as good as OSU, but has a star QB that just won the Heisman. Has the ratings to boot, a 99 and maybe the best 99 I've seen all around. Edit: I wanted to mention that I will still keep looking at offers and thinking about them. Maybe something will really float my boat at some point, but it's a strong draw to stay with your current team and continue building them up. Doing most of this with another man's recruits and want to see how our own guys fit and hopefully make this squad even better.

What a win to get into the Natty. That picture of Allen diving, along with the “One Giant Leap” headline is what makes you one of the best. So simple, yet executed so well.

Best of luck against Georgia!

Thank you Bigsheen that's very kind of you to say, sir. We'll carry the luck foward and hopefully beat those Bulldogs.

Yes!!! Great win!!! Can't wait for the Hawkeyes to face off in the National Championship!

Thanks jp I appreciate it youngster!

Awesome win! It seems Iowa tried to coast through the second half, but it all worked out in the end. Allen may not have been a dominant passer, but his ability to run was insane. On to the natty!

That might be what it seems like, but it wasn't the case, I don't believe in just milking the clock with 8-minute settings. They just really shut us down. Stupid Meyer with his "starting the fire" routine or wahtever... I have all mine turned off but these CPU coaches with a lot of perks make big big trouble for me.

[Hellisan]

Around the Nation 2020: Championship Week Overview






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As with the last couple of years, some of the defensive awards were changed to reflect the players who played best, rather than the CPU simply over-calculating the value of non-assisted vs. assisted tackles for the User, who gets almost no assisted tackles and a ton of solos, thereby handing the user half of the defensive awards.

The spreadsheet used to do this has been revised from the last time and is attached. If anybody uses it and revises the weights given for any of the positions, I'd love to know about it and would probably change mine to match yours if you think they're better.
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[djp73]

Re: Around the Nation 2020: Championship Week Overview

congrats on the season, the coach of the year award, the player awards and the all americans/all conferences

georgia looks tough, best of luck