Greg Jennings (left), Louis Delmas (center) and Tony Scheffler (right) were future
NFL players who were in B-Dawg’s NCAA ’06 Western Michigan dynasty.
UNFINISHED BIDNEZZ
Eight years after bailing,
B-Dawg returns to WMU
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — It should have been one of the most fun Mid-American Conference dynasties ever.
Back in NCAA 2006, B-Dawg rolled with the Western Michigan Broncos in his MaddenMania dynasty. This was no ordinary MAC team. The Broncos’ NCAA 2006 roster included three quality future NFL players in wide receiver Greg Jennings, tight end Tony Scheffler, defensive end and safety Louis Delmas.
There was only one problem with this dynasty: The game itself was a piece of crap!
There are some gamers who called NCAA 2006 the best version of the game ever, but they were obviously smoking crack. The game was a complete abomination, so much so that B-Dawg just abandoned the dynasty in the third season and played Madden 2006 the rest of that season’s gaming cycle.
“I’m an NCAA man first, a Madden man second,” B-Dawg said. “It took a lot for me to put down NCAA in favor of Madden.”
The last straw for B-Dawg game in a 2007 game against Bowling Green. Leading by 21 points in the final minute, Bowling Green heaved a long touchdown pass on third-and-long rather than milk the clock. That play demonstrated two things: The horrible unrealistic playcalling by the CPU in NCAA 2006 (little has changed, come to think of it), plus the ease with which the CPU could complete the deep ball (B-Dawg half-expected it and defended accordingly).
Eight years later, B-Dawg is returning to Kalamazoo to take care of some unfinished bidnezz.
“I always felt like I left the fine folks of Kalamazoo down by abruptly leaving eight years ago,” B-Dawg said. “Now that I have a second chance, I’m going to make the most of it. I just hope NCAA ’14 doesn’t blow! I will have Madden this year as a Plan B.”
Western’s NCAA ’14 roster doesn’t appear to have any future NFL stars, but you never know who is underrated in the video game. The top-rated players are three who are at 80 OVR.
Besides the desire to make up for his abrupt departure eight years ago, B-Dawg chose Western because it is only 72 OVR with a one-star rating, meaning he should have a long rebuilding job on his hands.
Other options were to roll with a weak team in a power conference (Vanderbilt, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota were options), but B-Dawg wasn’t feeling any of them. He desperately wants to use Boy-Z State in a dynasty, but those Broncos are simply too good.
“I love all of the small milestones along the way,” B-Dawg said. “The first win over a ranked opponent. The first time you crack the top 25. The first four-star and five-star recruits. You get all of that way too soon using a team like Boy-Z State, which is already in the preseason top 25.”
B-Dawg also wasn’t feeling teams like Air Force, UL-Monroe, UTEP or Wyoming, crappy teams that he considered that are in weaker conferences.
“It’s too easy to win in a weak conference right away,” B-Dawg said. “I run that risk with Western Michigan, but I think I’ll enjoy using a Michigan school since I live here.”
B-Dawg’s new home in NCAA ’14 is Waldo Stadium.
PLATFORM: PlayStation 3 ROSTERS: The first set of community rosters from Operation Sports. I replaced a senior wide receiver who hasn’t done much with red-shirt freshman wide receiver Michael Henry, who I watched play in high school. MODE: All-American mode 4 lyfe, baby!!! Past attempts at Heisman mode were just an exercise in frustration. I kinda suck. SLIDERS: BYU’s at Operation Sports, with some minor tweaks. These will always be a work in progress. I started playing dynasty games without playing a full game to test anything. LAST YEAR: 4-8 (2-6 MAC) PRESTIGE: 1 star TEAM GRADES: C- OVR, C offense, C- defense, C special teams; 72 OVR, 74 offense, 73 defense PRESEASON RANKING: No. 85 RECRUITING RULES: I can’t over-recruit. Once I fill my 70-player roster, I can’t continue to recruit, even if I have unfilled needs. I will just have to take a walk-on and cut another recruit. If I over-recruit by mistake (such as needing two players and having three commit), I have to cut from the last group to commit. CUTS: No cuts from existing roster, unless I find out after starting this dynasty that a player is no longer with Western. REDSHIRTS: Only true freshmen can be red-shirted. Every effort will be made to prevent "accidental red-shirts" of non-freshmen because they didn't get a stat. TRANSFERS: If a player wants to transfer, I won't stop him from leaving. We don't want anyone who doesn't want to be here. PLAYERS LEAVING EARLY: If a player is 95 OVR or higher, I can't try to talk him into staying. If he's 90-94 OVR, I get one week to persuade him to stay. Anyone under 90 OVR, I can do whatever is necessary to keep the player - short of doing a "quit dynasty, don't save." (Note: If I have a special player going for all-time dynasty records, I will put on a full-court press to keep him.) GAME PLAY: I use “Ask Coach” to keep me from relying on money plays. I pick one of the three plays. Exceptions are for hurry-up situations late in a half, when a game is hopelessly out of reach and I want to call plays that won’t add to the frustration level and when I just need to run the ball to milk the clock. I cannot run the clock below 10 seconds until the final two minutes. I also plan to change playbooks every few seasons to keep from getting too comfortable with the offense. PLAYBOOK: Multiple offense, multiple defense until I make my own custom playbook.GAME SETTINGS
Mode: All-American offense and defense
Injuries: On
Fatigue: On
Quarter length: 9 minutes
Play clock: On
Coaching tips: Off
Game speed: Normal
Player minimum speed threshold: 28
Home field effects: On
Ice the kicker: On
Penalties: Offsides 80, false start 80, holding 70, facemask 50, offensive and defensive P.I. 0, KR/PR interference 100, clipping 50, intentional grounding 60, roughing the passer 52, roughing the kicker 0. (The zeroes are presumably for penalties that don’t exist anyway, so why bother?)
SLIDERS (BYU’s over at Operation Sports, with tweaks)
(User/CPU)
QB accuracy: 5, 10
Pass blocking: 60, 65
WR catching: 40, 45
RB ability: 45, 65
Run blocking: 25, 45
Pass coverage: 70, 70
Interceptions: 30, 30
Rush defense: 40, 75
Tackling: 35, 35
FG power: 55, 50
FG accuracy: 50, 40
Punt power: 50, 50
Punt accuracy: 50, 50
Kickoff power: 40, 45
TEAM INFO
OVR: 72
Offense: 74
Defense: 73
Prestige: 1 star
Projected rankings: 106th 2014, 98th 2015, 98th 2016
Coach: B-Dawg
Contract: Five years
Security: Safe
Prestige: C (Don’t they know who I am?!?)
Target wins per year: 7
Program tradition: D+
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