Hardest Small School Dynasties

[Noble Evildoer]

Quote: Originally Posted by Timeetyo

Since it is almost that time of the year - how do you guys think the three new schools will stack up in terms of starting talent and recruiting challenge?

Of the three being added (Georgia State, Old Dominion, and South Alabama) GSU will probably be the biggest challenge to start with. Their program began in 2010 and last season they went 1-10 with an FCS schedule. Their recruiting pipelines will probably be good though. Plus, they play in the Georgia Dome which would be cool to fill up.

Old Dominion is an FCS move up but they're a very good FCS school. One problem Id expect for them is a lack of stadium similar to Texas State in last season's game.

South Alabama moved up just last season but were much better than I think most people expected them to be. Also, EA has pledged to include their stadium (40,000 seat Ladd-Peebles), and entrance and everything into the game which will be nice.

[tommycoa]

UAB and Memphis have terrible football programs. Memphis has some tradition. Not much. UAB doesn't have much tradition at all. Outside of Roddy White and Joe Webb. And they are both in Conference USA. I've always been fond of that smaller conference.

[T-Moar]

Quote: Originally Posted by stormchaserck19

Thanks for all the feedback! So... I think I have narrowed my choices to either New Mexico St. or UAB (I HATE the Tide and would love to create an in-state rivalry between the two)... Between these two, give me some feedback on which one you think is best for the harder 1* to 6*

NMSU is definitely harder. They're in my conference in my OD, and I just whipped them 104-20 on Heisman with an average offense and no sliders. Plus, UAB has some good talent in their home state. The same thing cannot be said of New Mexico.

Just for the record, if you were to create a Teambuilder team with the Cupcake template, it would have a better roster than NMSU by year 3.

[Ice_Cold345]

Quote: Originally Posted by T-Moar

NMSU is definitely harder. They're in my conference in my OD, and I just whipped them 104-20 on Heisman with an average offense and no sliders. Plus, UAB has some good talent in their home state. The same thing cannot be said of New Mexico. Just for the record, if you were to create a Teambuilder team with the Cupcake template, it would have a better roster than NMSU by year 3.

Yeah, they are pretty bad but my biggest problem with low tier teams is almost all of them have one of the "Big 4" of recruiting as a pipeline, which really makes getting better guys easier. Hell, I believe NMSU has Cali, Florida, and Texas, which makes recruiting almost a joke in getting some of the better talent. All I want is a team to have like a couple pipeline states (like New Mexico State have New Mexico, Arizona, Utah) because having one of the big 4, like I said, turns recruiting really easy, which makes me force myself to add restrictions to recruiting.

As a side note, has anyone ever gotten a Bust 2*/3* recruit? Seriously, I've ran into a TON of Gems or guys that are +0 ~ +3 so many with the lower tier guys, but I rarely see a bust. When scouting the big time guys, a lot of them are "busts"(well not for NMSU) and rarely will I see a Gem.

[jedibob5]

Yeah, well to be a "bust" implies high expectations, which lower-ranked recruits don't really have. It's also kind of hard for a recruit to be a "gem" if everyone already knows he's really good in the first place. It makes sense, really.

[stormisbruin]

"The team has more 0- or 1-win seasons in the last 40 years (eight) than winning seasons (three)."

NMSU is very bad. Hal Mumme couldn't turn them into a winner. Whether that translates to the game, I dunno. I do remember at one point they were ranked in 2030 or so in my dynasty.

[Ice_Cold345]

Quote: Originally Posted by jedibob5

Yeah, well to be a "bust" implies high expectations, which lower-ranked recruits don't really have. It's also kind of hard for a recruit to be a "gem" if everyone already knows he's really good in the first place. It makes sense, really.

Yeah, but it would be nice that even lower tier guys can still be busts or so. I don't expect gems to come out of the higher tier guys that much, but I've rarely seen guys that were in the low 70s be "gems." I want to see more busts in 1*-2* area because they have a certain scouting about them but it could be underwhelming seeing it live or what not.