Niagara Rhinos: An Alternate Universe NCAA 14 Dynasty

[Nunyerbiz]

Re: Niagara Rhinos: An Alternate Universe NCAA 14 Dynasty

[Nunyerbiz]

Re: Niagara Rhinos: An Alternate Universe NCAA 14 Dynasty

Nunyer's Notes

Another game that was a friggin blast to play. While I never really felt like I had a legit shot to win the thing, it really did have that vibe of a Power 5 team not taking a mid-major opponent seriously. Their pass rush was better than I was expecting, but both of the interceptions were totally on me via bad reads. One was a killer at the end of first half... I could have made it 20-14 going into the half... but at the goal line I saw the safety breaking and I tried to hold up on hitting the circle button... but instead just lightly tapped the circle button enough to float a lollipop right to the defense.

My only disappointment was three perfectly timed user pick attempts that all bounced off the hands of my defensive backs. The CPU QB took chances down field and I really should have had at least one more interception than I did. Overall I was happy with the defensive play. I was spending a lot of time in dime and quarter sets after HB1 went down with injury and HB2 wasn't terribly effective.

Looking forward to Syracuse, they have the 84-68 edge in team OVR... but if I play mistake free, then the Rhinos have a shot. Palinski is roughly 10 points better in THP and THA over last season's version of Bogan... and that makes a big difference on fitting throws into tight windows. Finally feeling confident with the Run and Shoot.

[Deuce2223]

Re: Niagara Rhinos: An Alternate Universe NCAA 14 Dynasty

Got to love Lavette "The Jet" Gibbs... That dude has jets for feet, however it looks like Barnes is your redzone guy..

[Nunyerbiz]

Re: Niagara Rhinos: An Alternate Universe NCAA 14 Dynasty

Got to love Lavette "The Jet" Gibbs... That dude has jets for feet, however it looks like Barnes is your redzone guy..

Lavette "The Jet" Gibbs... you'd think that I would have thought of that when I renamed "Bob Jones" or whatever his lame CPU name was... But nope, I just borrowed a cool sounding first name from a guy I went to high school with... But from this day forward he will be known as Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez

via GIPHY

err... I mean... Lavette "The Jet" Gibbs.

As far as Barnes, he had the dropsies in the practice sessions when I was tweaking the playbook and in the first game he was mostly blocking... But I do love finding my TEs on play action. So hopefully he plays a nice role going forward.

I'm thinking of making little highlight videos once every three games this year, if I get around to that, the 2nd touchdown from Barnes is probably the single most impressive play I've had in this dynasty from an individual effort perspective. Worked his way through six defenders I think, with four of them clearly making contact... I thought for sure he'd be down at the 3 or 4 yard line but managed to lunge for the end zone. One of those cool plays where the animations string together to make something pretty neat.

After the Syracuse game, I'll be posting the first recruiting update of the season. The interest in the Rhinos was a little lackluster... but I think there are some solid leads on the board.

[djp73]

Re: Niagara Rhinos: An Alternate Universe NCAA 14 Dynasty

glad you did better against Oklahoma State than we did against USC!

[Nunyerbiz]

Re: Niagara Rhinos: An Alternate Universe NCAA 14 Dynasty



I'm about to play the game now, hopefully can have the postgame story up tonight as well. After that, I'll be catching up on the top 25 and have a recruiting update.

[Deuce2223]

Re: Niagara Rhinos: An Alternate Universe NCAA 14 Dynasty

really like the addition of the opponent preview.

[R1zzo23]

Re: Niagara Rhinos: An Alternate Universe NCAA 14 Dynasty

really like the addition of the opponent preview.

I share these sentiments. Great to get a quick overview of your opponent.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Nunyerbiz]

Re: Niagara Rhinos: An Alternate Universe NCAA 14 Dynasty

Welp, the PS3 locked up after the game while I was getting my screenshots in the replay system.

It was one of those games were neither defense did anything at all... and I lost 52-42... Would have been nice for some of the stats, as I threw for roughly 400 yards, but oh well. I'll try to play it again tomorrow night.

[Nunyerbiz]

Re: Niagara Rhinos: An Alternate Universe NCAA 14 Dynasty

[Nunyerbiz]

Re: Niagara Rhinos: An Alternate Universe NCAA 14 Dynasty

Nunyer's Notes

Very weird game. Syracuse started out on fire with the ball.. I think they needed four plays to score their first touchdown. Then I hit a long pass. Thought it was going to be another shootout. Then in the 2nd quarter... the CPU QB just got dumb. There is no other way to put it. I got five of the six sacks in that 2nd quarter. Three of them were by my DT. When a 3-4 DT with a 72 OVR is sacking a mobile QB... something is wrong... he was in pocket statue mode... taking "coverage sacks" from my secondary that can't cover anybody. Around the start of the 4th quarter, he must have took his brain medicine, because then they were moving the ball again.

On defense, they were insanely strong in pass coverage. Routes that had been open in the previous two weeks were gone... tons and tons of swatted passes. Two of the picks were just bad reads, but two of them were plays that I wasn't expecting from cornerbacks that were essentially MAC level in their ratings. I was terrified of passing by halftime and just decided to grind on the ground. Holly was truly effective for the first time in his career, so that helped.

The final play was pretty crazy. I have never seen a fumble out of the end zone before and was actually kind of shocked that they called it correctly as a touchback. I was expecting some wacko EA nonsense where I'd have the ball but with a 4th and 60 from the opposite twenty yard line or something. In the grand scheme of things, the 52-42 loss was a more enjoyable playing experience, just because the CPU didn't go brain dead for half the game... but I'll take a win.

[djp73]

Re: Niagara Rhinos: An Alternate Universe NCAA 14 Dynasty

A win is a win, looks like both of your lines did their jobs, 6 sacks for and none against! That's key.

[OBinKC]

Re: Niagara Rhinos: An Alternate Universe NCAA 14 Dynasty

Nunyer's Notes

Very weird game. Syracuse started out on fire with the ball.. I think they needed four plays to score their first touchdown. Then I hit a long pass. Thought it was going to be another shootout. Then in the 2nd quarter... the CPU QB just got dumb. There is no other way to put it. I got five of the six sacks in that 2nd quarter. Three of them were by my DT. When a 3-4 DT with a 72 OVR is sacking a mobile QB... something is wrong... he was in pocket statue mode... taking "coverage sacks" from my secondary that can't cover anybody. Around the start of the 4th quarter, he must have took his brain medicine, because then they were moving the ball again.

On defense, they were insanely strong in pass coverage. Routes that had been open in the previous two weeks were gone... tons and tons of swatted passes. Two of the picks were just bad reads, but two of them were plays that I wasn't expecting from cornerbacks that were essentially MAC level in their ratings. I was terrified of passing by halftime and just decided to grind on the ground. Holly was truly effective for the first time in his career, so that helped.

The final play was pretty crazy. I have never seen a fumble out of the end zone before and was actually kind of shocked that they called it correctly as a touchback. I was expecting some wacko EA nonsense where I'd have the ball but with a 4th and 60 from the opposite twenty yard line or something. In the grand scheme of things, the 52-42 loss was a more enjoyable playing experience, just because the CPU didn't go brain dead for half the game... but I'll take a win.

Yeah, one of the most frustrating things in this game is when you have to cancel out a good game and replay it. That just happened to me with Idaho. Lots of awesome and real stuff happened (lost my starting halfback for multiple weeks, QB went out with a concussion, Wazzu was destroying me with the Air Raid) but I had to quit the game because of a slight emergency. I’m sure the next time I play it won’t be as eventful.

Anyway, a win is a win. I can definitely see a bowl game for you this season. Coach Nonek sure can turn a program around!

[Nunyerbiz]

Re: Niagara Rhinos: An Alternate Universe NCAA 14 Dynasty

Now that I think back to the game and look at the PS3 again... I think maybe there is a possible explanation for the QB going full dumbo mouth breather mode in the second quarter... I knocked out their WR1 for the game with a concussion. (I need to proofread my stuff better, I listed their WR1 as 87 OVR in the graphic area of the preview post, but listed him as an 81 OVR in the "Key players" section, he was actually an 87 OVR). Anyways, I'm thinking maybe that was the turning point, losing WR1 flipped some switch in the AI gumbo that caused the QB to go into statue mode. Maybe trailing in the 4th quarter caused the switch to flip back and the QB went 'normal' ... That's pure conjecture, but I like contemplating the AI and it's weird and unpredictable behaviors.

I'll take the sacks for the stat book, that's for sure. I figured I traded a 380 yard, 4TD passing game with a 6 sack, 2 INT game on defense... so it kind of balances out.

I also mentioned an injury to my starting DE at the very end of the article, that was my predetermined guaranteed injury for a defensive starter. He rolled a 3 week long injury taking place in the 2nd quarter of week 3. Well, two of those weeks are open dates, so I think I'm going to extend that a week so he misses the MAC opener as well.

I have the day off work today, so will be making a few more posts... the top 25 / look at the NCAA after week 3 and the first scouting update from Moonboots.

[Nunyerbiz]

Re: Niagara Rhinos: An Alternate Universe NCAA 14 Dynasty

NCAA Football Rankings - AP Top 25 - Updated: Sep 16, 2014
RK	LW	TEAM (VOTES)	W	L	POINTS
1	1	Alabama (39)	3	0	1503
2	2	Oklahoma State (21)	3	0	1438
3	3	Oklahoma (1)	2	0	1393
4	4	Oregon	1	0	1338
5	5	Baylor	3	0	1268
6	6	USC	3	0	1268
7	7	Texas A&M	2	0	1130
8	8	Texas	3	0	1090
9	9	Louisville	2	0	1016
10	11	Virginia Tech	1	0	989
11	10	Wisconsin	2	0	960
12	12	Nebraska	2	0	868
13	14	Miami	2	0	749
14	15	South Carolina	3	0	714
15	17	Cincinnati	2	0	603
16	20	Georgia Tech	1	0	467
17	13	Ohio State	0	2	444
18	16	Michigan State	1	1	426
19	22	Notre Dame	1	0	395
20	--	LSU	2	0	342
21	24	Washington	1	1	264
22	25	Michigan	2	0	264
23	19	Georgia	1	2	216
24	18	Missouri	1	1	210
25	--	North Carolina	2	0	133

Others Receiving Votes
Florida (124), UCF (123), Kansas State (68), Ole Miss (58), BYU (29), San Diego State (1)

Dropping Out
Boise State (#21), Ole Miss (#23)


Three Week Recap

Somehow Ohio State remains in the Top 25 despite starting the season with two home losses. In their opener, Cincinnati catapulted into the Top 25 with a shocking 31-17 upset. Then in week 3, the 13th ranked Hoakies of Virginia Tech beat them 45-35. They have what should be an easy win in week 4, hosting Boston College, but many around college football are wondering what the Buckeyes have to do to be removed from the top 25.

#4 Oregon barely holds on against #16 Michigan State. A 33-yard field goal with 15 seconds left on the clock allows the Ducks to escape with a 38-35 home win against Sparty.

#1 Alabama gets their first true test of the season in week 4, hosting #5 Baylor in the final non-conference game.