Exactly how the hell do I turn a 1* school into a powerhouse?

[OGKing]

No matter how hard I try, I never suceed, matter of fact, ive never made a 1 / 2 star team into a powerhouse...its sad.

[LivingLegend]

Re: Exactly how the hell do I turn a 1* school into a powerhouse?

Beat a few ranked schools
Raise the schools/coach prestiege
Get a couple high ranked recruits (creating one from the city/state of said school makes it easier.)

[OGKing]

Re: Exactly how the hell do I turn a 1* school into a powerhouse?

Thanks..new mexico state pips are ca, texas, florida..no one wants to join the school though lol

[Bullet Sponge]

Re: Exactly how the hell do I turn a 1* school into a powerhouse?

It's important to have a decent season at a 1-star (like .500 at least) to get to 2 stars, then a winning season to get to 3. There is a world of difference recruiting with each star raise.

The tricky part is having that winning season with a 1-star. It sounds like you've got the sliders/difficult set to make it a decent challenge (good!). You have to shoot for that good season. You need to look at your personnel and run the offense/defense that suits them, not just what you want to run. You might have to cultivate a decent team by redshirting some juniors and seniors to hold them back until the freshman/sophomores develop and field a more complete team. And pray for transfers.

[goh]

Re: Exactly how the hell do I turn a 1* school into a powerhouse?

You need to look at your personnel and run the offense/defense that suits them, not just what you want to run

Especially with custom playbooks. There's some complete non-sense that can be turned to gold.

[GKEnialb]

Re: Exactly how the hell do I turn a 1* school into a powerhouse?

Schedule FCS or low-tier where possible to get some wins so your prestige will go up - don't worry about strength of schedule until you have a few stars under your belt. Stick to recruiting teams from your state or pipelines (unless somebody is actually interested in you) and don't spend much effort on the highly ranked players - a 1 or 2 star player is still probably better than what's on your team now.

[lbh24]

Re: Exactly how the hell do I turn a 1* school into a powerhouse?

Schedule FCS or low-tier where possible to get some wins so your prestige will go up - don't worry about strength of schedule until you have a few stars under your belt. Stick to recruiting teams from your state or pipelines (unless somebody is actually interested in you) and don't spend much effort on the highly ranked players - a 1 or 2 star player is still probably better than what's on your team now.

Co-sign on all of this.

Year 1: Schedule teams you will beat out of conference. Give yourself a good path to 6-7 wins and go to a bowl game. Recruit the heck out of 1-2* guys in-season, then use your extra off-season hours to find some 3* guys that no one has offered yet (and may never offer) and pursue them -- promise them insta-playing time and no redshirt. Basically, sign anyone who's willing. As GK said above, they're probably better than the talent you have now anyway. Don't worry about needs so much -- everything is a need.

Year 2: You might have to do the same thing schedule-wise, especially if your talent was senior-heavy. DON'T REDSHIRT unless you are stacked at that position. If you had a big recruiting class in Year 1, step it up a tad and go after only 2* and a couple 3* guys, but be careful. Only go after the 3* guys who show interest. Don't try to force it and end up with nothing.

Year 3 and beyond: This is where it gets tricky because not every one is at the same spot. I played two 1* dynasties on '12. In one (Eastern Michigan), the school's star was rising with every year (Year 1, 10-4 with MAC Champ appearance; Year 2, 8-5 with bowl win over Wake Forest). I received a huge talent upgrade with OSU running back Carlos Hyde transferring my way after Year 1, so I entered Y3 with a stud-caliber back and used a power run scheme the next two years to go 11-3 and 10-4 with multiple wins over BCS teams (including an OT win at Florida). But even with that said, the school's highest prestige was 4* and at no point was I ranked. I think the closest I got was going into week 13 one year, I had received a handful of votes in one of the polls.

In the other (as Washington State), the inherited talent and my recruits (even though I actually had some pretty high-ranking classes) never really clicked, and even in Year 3 my wheels were spinning as I was having to play JV High School teams OOC and cross my fingers that something would go my way in-conference in order to make a bowl game.

You just have to be patient. For all the things that are unrealistic in '12, this is not one of them. Bad teams (especially those that are not in BCS Conf's) take a while to get respect. If you have your difficulty/sliders set realistically, you're going to get blown out in years 1 and 2 by good teams, meaning it's going to take a while before you can really try to prove yourself

[TDenverFan]

Re: Exactly how the hell do I turn a 1* school into a powerhouse?

I know IRL if you have 2 FCS foes you need 7 wins to make a bowl. I don't know if this is in the game or not, but I'd try to avoid it.

A Good OOC Schedule year 1 would be:
Tulane
Western Kentucky
FCS
FAU

Also, it's easier to beome a powerhouse in a smaller, weaker conference. Playing as Wazzou, you would face USC and Oregon yearly, while as North Texas you're playing FAU and FIU yearly.

[Redacted01]

Re: Exactly how the hell do I turn a 1* school into a powerhouse?

It's not working because it seems like you are trying to do it all in one year. Think logically. Look at FIU or FAU. They were downright awful their first few years and now they go to bowls routinely; may not get to powerhouse status, but in the game it's easier to push through that 3/4-star barrier than in real life because of the BCS. Only schedule teams you can beat. And also, you sound like you are trying to recruit too high. Sure, CA, FL, and TX may be pipelines, but that doesn't mean you have an all-access pass to 5-star recruits from there. Recruit people that are actually interested. As you get better, those interested will be better. Maybe schedule a big game or two out of conference to gauge just how much you are improving, but don't go and play USC, Texas, Florida, and Michigan just because you think it will help you faster; it won't when you lose by 30 points.

[ucas005]

Re: Exactly how the hell do I turn a 1* school into a powerhouse?

Exactly how many times in real life has 1* turned into a powerhouse over night? It's extremely rare and very difficult. You can do it in the game, but it will take more than 2-3 seasons to achieve ... and it should.

[Bullet Sponge]

Re: Exactly how the hell do I turn a 1* school into a powerhouse?

Since he's playing in the WAC (as I do in my dynasty) scheduling nothing but crap OOC games to get wins is not realistic. Those teams typically play a couple road games against tough opponenets to raise money for the program, and in turn provide those elite teams with an OOC "cupcake". So by all means schedule an FCS team and maybe Western Kentucky etc but don't forget to toss in a road game or two against a BCS opponent.

As a rule of thumb I try to keep my schedule strength at least the same as my team's overall rating or a little higher. With a WAC schedule you're starting out at an F for SOS. You'll need a couple decent OOC opponents to bring it up to even New Mexico State's level.

[NothingTrivial]

Re: Exactly how the hell do I turn a 1* school into a powerhouse?

It takes lots of patience. Im in my 3rd season with a created 1* school, and im just now to the point of getting 2* and 3* recruits. Im guessing by year 5-6 ill be good to move from the MAC to C-USA.

[BrnwsBucksFanNC]

Re: Exactly how the hell do I turn a 1* school into a powerhouse?

I agree with all of this. I am just starting my 3rd year as OC at MTSU. We lost to GT in our 1st season (wasnt even close) but played a tight one with them last year, but lost that one as well. I ended up going 10-3 (lost the bowl game) in our first year and 11-2 last year, won a close bowl game against Marshall.

It takes time. Be careful with the scheduling. Dont try to recruit above your school. This is the last year of my OC contract there so I will see what happens.

This game really challenges recruiting because the overalls dont tell the whole story so research your recruits to make sure they fit your scheme.

Just be patient.

[redcometix]

Re: Exactly how the hell do I turn a 1* school into a powerhouse?

In my one OD, I took the HC job at Akron(1* school), and was given somewhat of a soft OOC schedule(Duke, Air Force and a couple of other mediocre at best schools), went 13-1, and got my prestige bumped up to 2*. And I actually have 3* recruits that are interested in going to my school. Also, my coach prestige went up to a C+. Whether or not I'll ever get it into a powerhouse is unknown, but I'm certainly going to make Akron a more prestigious program.

[TheDelta]

Re: Exactly how the hell do I turn a 1* school into a powerhouse?

I'm actually doing it right now. I'm in 2017 now and Akron has become a 5-star program.

The first year was tough, really almost nothing but crappy players, had to run a much more pass-heavy offense then I usually do but receivers and passing QBs where the only things you could actually work with.

I got lucky by finding a 4-star athlete that no one really cared about somewhere around midseason, got some lucky pitches with him and finally managed to sign him, got a 73 OVR freshman RB with great speed and acceleration right from the start which of course helped massively getting my running game going. The real lucky punch was in year 2 when I managed to sign an amazing 4 star scrambling QB and, even more amazing, a 5 star WR, I don't know how I managed to get those two to sign with lowly Akron but suffice to say they broke quite some passing/receiving records the next couple years.

It's important to not overpursue anyone in those first couple years. I often took a shot at players from my pipeline states that didn't have me ranked at all, sometimes you get lucky and jump from zero right up to 5th or 4th rank or something with one good week of recruiting. But as soon as you see another school superior to yours seriously taken an interest in the student, usually it's best to just drop them. You won't outrecruit 90% of the schools in the game and you don't have the time to waste.

What's important in those first years as well: Concentrate on offense. You won't stop a nosebleed with your D for quite some while, there's not that much you can do about it because there will be tons of weak spots on your roster, you can't recruit a great secondary overnight. But on offense, having 3 good players at QB, HB and WR can go a long way to making your program competitive if you know how to use them.

I've pretty much ignored strength of schedule for the first couple years, you don't want to go competing for a national title right away so getting those wins is more important. So schedule a FCS school every year and take some weak non-conference opponents. I'm playing the toughest Heisman sliders I could find and still managed to go 6-6 in my first year, 9-3 in my second one.

By now I'm a five-star program, have gone to Bowl games 4 years in a row and have won my conference 3 years in a row. What still kills me is television coverage, for some reason even after all those succesful years (I was ranked #4 at the end of last year after going undefeated for the season) I got literally ZERO televised games in all my time at Akron, I really got no idea whatsoever what to do about that.

So yes, it's definitely possible to do it, but it's tough.