We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

[thesportsguru11]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

Really nice recruiting class man.

Thanks, Mill! I appreciate you dropping in; it's nice to see you around here again.

I'm very pleased to have picked up our top three targets in Byrom, Speier and Brown. Add in Shaffer, and we've cemented our foundation on offense for years to come. Or at least, that's the hope anyway.

The dynasty has become famous for our epic recruiting busts, so I'd hate to have another round of that with such a promising class.

Good to see us get a 5* QB can you tell me what his OVR is?

I'll know for sure when I do the CAC preview post later on, but I believe it was 81. My apologies, I don't have that stat offhand. Nevertheless, I think he has a solid shot to be the starter this year for you guys as their starter last year graduated.

Pretty solid looking class. Although Buckingham seems a bit small to be playing nose tackle. Might have to shift him to defensive end, or put him on a diet and move him to linebacker

I actually didn't realize that.. thanks for catching it! 6'0 275 definitely doesn't fit into the 3-4 nose tackle mold. Yet somehow, he's better than Tellers. ...

When I get to see his stats again I'll take a closer look at what exactly we can do with him. There's a lot of depth at the end spots with Gardner and Mandrell returning, top backup Brett Lowery back again, in addition to Brennick Samples and your boy Kiel Hughes coming off redshirts this fall. However, we lost a lot of linebackers so if he gets in shape like you said, he could carve out a home in the inside in a few years.

I guess we'll wait and see!

I'm more surprised that a top 10 prospect in the entire nation committed to Miami (OH)! That's big news for the RedHawks. Oh yeah, and then there's your class.

Man oh man.. maybe you should've gone to Miami. I love how you're dissing your own favorite team at this point

The RedHawks boasted a Heisman finalist at tailback last year in Jesse Scales and have another very good back in Drew Britt. I'd bet Miami's coach (I think it's Ted Roof) will probably slide Berry in there and continue their recent run of stellar tailbacks.

[itsbigmike]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

I like to think Coach Harrison slid into Kalamazoo and helped get that 4-star recruit to sign on the dotted line. Good start for him.

[Thugger Jackson]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

went through the first page with the recaps to get caught up but I'll need to do it proper one of these days and read through the 33 pages. Good luck with Stephen Belichick and that recruiting class is fuego.

[thesportsguru11]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

I like to think Coach Harrison slid into Kalamazoo and helped get that 4-star recruit to sign on the dotted line. Good start for him.

The 4-star is actually a wideout, so that will absolutely change things for you guys. Not sure if he committed before NSD or not but that's our story and we're stickin' to it!! You've actually got a pretty solid group of guys to work with at WMU, so I think you're in pretty good shape. A promising start indeed!

went through the first page with the recaps to get caught up but I'll need to do it proper one of these days and read through the 33 pages. Good luck with Stephen Belichick and that recruiting class is fuego.

Thanks for dropping in! I wish I weren't as lazy as I am and I'd update the table of contents.. but alas. I did a lot of work on the front page several weeks back but that's all..

I have to give serious props for anyone who tries to read this monster all at once.. I know a couple followers have done that. We've had some legendary thread commentary over the years and frankly I think that's what makes the dynasty special. Yeah, there's some football here and there but often it's the side stories that always seem to hit a nerve with someone. We're having fun! The comments during the Darrell Reid recruiting saga from about four/five seasons back is my personal favorite , but I promise you won't regret reading all of it.

Now that it's official with Belichick actually in the game...

I'm excited to get started with his era and this recruiting class is going to help a lot. We've had higher ranked and deeper classes before, but this one is so top heavy it's hard to not get excited. Four major offensive weapons (two of whom will contribute immediately) plus a Day 1 starter at guard.. sounds cool to me!

Love your avatar, BTW

[HuntertheGamer]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

66 pages, this seems like it's quite popular! But I can see why, just from the past few updates you've posted. I'll definitely sit down and read the entire thread this weekend since I have no plans and then I'll be following for good!

I like the choice of coach, very interesting indeed!

[thesportsguru11]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

UConn, Penn State to play Week 1 showdown in Philly

Continuing a trend of tough out-of-conference scheduling, UConn has reached an agreement with Penn State to take their previously scheduled out of conference matchup for Week 1 of the 2021 season to a neutral site.

The Huskies and Nittany Lions will meet for the first time ever at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, on September 4 to headline a strong slate of exciting Week 1 games. The time is currently to be decided, but will likely be played in primetime.

While it will be the first game of the year for UConn, it will not be as such for Penn State. The Nittany Lions have a "Week 0 game" at home against Syracuse.

The neutral site game will mark the kickoff of the third season of UConn's Big 10 Tour, which began in 2019. UConn will play at Michigan State for their second Big 10 non-conference matchup this season, and conclude the series in 2022 with games against Iowa and Wisconsin.

Full Slate of Non-Conference Action:

Week 0:


Cowboys Kickoff: Auburn v. Texas (Arlington, TX)
Texas Kickoff: UCLA v. Texas A&M (Houston, TX)
Florida Kickoff: Michigan v. Miami-FL (Jacksonville, FL)


Week 1:

Military Opening Weekend: Oklahoma v. Army West Point (Meadowlands, NJ)
Chick-Fil-A Kickoff: Alabama v. Georgia Tech (Atlanta, GA)
Indianapolis Kickoff: Louisville v. Notre Dame (Indianapolis, IN)
West Coast Kickoff: Ohio State v. Oregon (Santa Clara, CA)
Soldier Field Start-Up Weekend: TCU v. Missouri (Chicago, IL)
East Coast Kickoff: UConn v. Penn State (Philadelphia, PA)

-------------


UConn adds home and home with UMass in '21, '23

After conquering Boston College twice, UConn will set to do the same against their other New England rival.

UConn has announced a home and home series with the UMass Minutemen; the 2021 game will be played in Hartford, while UConn will return to Foxborough in 2023 to face the Minutemen in neutral site action.

The two teams last played in 2016, a 28-10 UConn victory in Amherst.

For reference, here's a look at UConn's (tentative) future out of conference schedule.

2021:
@ Penn State (Philly)
@ Michigan State
vs. UMass

2022:
@ Iowa
@ Wisconsin
vs. ?

2023:
@ UMass (Foxborough, MA)
?
?

------------------

For Your Reference: A List of QB Grad Transfers for 2021

We all know about the grad transfer of Tanner Dean-Lowry (TDL) from UConn to USC, but who else is leaving with him? Due to some technical difficulties, I decided to scale back my grad transfer efforts this season.. besides, outside of these QB's there wasn't anyone really good enough to be hot commodities on the transfer market. In any case, here's the list for our reference!

The Notables: Steven Balchiar started for the Buckeyes when we traveled to the 'Shoe in 2019 and pulled off the most epic comeback ever. He got hurt and backup QB Eric Tantgen led OSU to a National Title. So that ended well...

Austin Douglas led Nebraska for most of last year and through to the Playoff while starter Isaac Zazzarion was hurt.

Douglas, Balchiar and Cameron Ryan are all possible opponents for UConn next year, as all three of their schools (NC State, Notre Dame, and Wake Forest) are in the ACC.

Player (rating)	Position	Old Team	New Team
Tanner Dean-Lowry (94 OVR)	QB
Steven Balchiar (91 OVR)	QB
Austin Douglas (89 OVR)	QB
Corey Blount (88 OVR)	QB
Cameron Ryan (88 OVR)	QB
Brad Fowlkes (86 OVR)	QB
Jamar Goddard (86 OVR)	QB

---------------------

What's to Come plus a Question for Followers

We're winding down the offseason.. as a matter of fact I'm actually at Week "0" right now. I'll get caught up here shortly and with any luck I'll have the first games up over my Fall Break next weekend.

My to-do list looks as such:

CAC 2021 Preview
Spring Ball Newsflash
FBS Head Coaches
News articles to settle any remaining housekeeping/Dan Orlovsky's hiring?
2021 UConn Schedule/Roster/Team Preview
Preseason Around the NCAA
---
Week 0 recap
UConn opening weekend v. Penn State


CAC updates will take a while, but I want to go back to putting together in-depth previews for everyone like I used to do. It's more fun for everyone! (I think)

My question/plea for you all as I'm taking care of things: Who would you like to see UConn play in future seasons? I still have a couple requests from two years ago that I'm still going to need to work in (Maryland, Alabama, for example), but at some point I'm going to need some ideas. This is where I open the floor to you. Nothing is too crazy, I promise. Thank you all!

And also.. if you have any ingenious suggestions for cool jersey numbers for our super hyped freshmen WR Chamarkelle Byrom and QB Jordan Brown.. please let me know.

---------------------

66 pages, this seems like it's quite popular! But I can see why, just from the past few updates you've posted. I'll definitely sit down and read the entire thread this weekend since I have no plans and then I'll be following for good!

I like the choice of coach, very interesting indeed!

Hi Hunter! Welcome to the site and thank you for dropping in! It's always so enjoyable to see new followers pop in and say hello.

I'm not sure I'll ever quite understand why this is as popular as it is, but as I said up the page, I have mad respect for you trying to sit down and read this all at once. It gets better when you get further along.. as I figured out.. you know, how to actually write a write-up and that one sentence paragraphs are absolutely nightmarish for people to read.. I laugh at my younger self.

In any case, I hope you enjoy seven fictitious seasons of UConn football, and hoperfully you'll enjoy season 8 as well!

[whughes]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

I think it would be cool to schedule some games against some CAC's that have reached the head coach level at a power 5 program (I think there's 3-4 of them now?) of course that's assuming they'll still be the coach there in 2-5 seasons when you actually play that school.

[RoundingThird]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

I think it would be cool to schedule some games against some CAC's that have reached the head coach level at a power 5 program (I think there's 3-4 of them now?) of course that's assuming they'll still be the coach there in 2-5 seasons when you actually play that school.

Agreed. You know I'll get the crowd rocking if you come out to Vegas!

[TheOtherPotterGuy]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

Ah.. going to give Orlovsky a job eh? Woo! Great recruiting class! I get the hype around Brown and Byrom, they have the potential to bring a Natty back to UConn but honestly, with the way your recruiting classes have turned out, I am expecting someone like 6'5 QB Carlson to come in and blow everyone away at some point. Lol!

[Knickerbocker91]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

Apologies if this has been asked before but are you using the editor to make grad transfers a thing? Looking forward to the upcoming season, like seeing you implement a lot more neutral site games (would have loved to have had more neutral site stadiums). I would think the freshman WR would ask for a single digit number or a number to match who he models his game after (like 80 for Jerry Rice or 84 for Randy Moss).

[thesportsguru11]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

I think it would be cool to schedule some games against some CAC's that have reached the head coach level at a power 5 program (I think there's 3-4 of them now?) of course that's assuming they'll still be the coach there in 2-5 seasons when you actually play that school.

Agreed. You know I'll get the crowd rocking if you come out to Vegas!

We've got five CAC head coaches now and I'm hoping for a bunch more after this coming season -- I'll gladly go out and play some of them. Hawai'i and UNLV in particular could be fun mid-major teams to play, and Washington State could be fun too now that they've gotten good. We played them in Willingham's first year and they sucked hahah.. I've also been thinking about playing Coach Miller and Vandy at Nissan Stadium (LP Field, whatever it's called) at some point in the future.

Holding off on Coach Shea's mighty USC Trojans in hopes we draw them in the playoff

Ah.. going to give Orlovsky a job eh? Woo! Great recruiting class! I get the hype around Brown and Byrom, they have the potential to bring a Natty back to UConn but honestly, with the way your recruiting classes have turned out, I am expecting someone like 6'5 QB Carlson to come in and blow everyone away at some point. Lol!

I think I'm going to add Orlovsky as QB coach and if the game cooperates I can "promote" him to offensive coordinator when Bill Cubit retires in a couple years.. I really liked that idea you posed so we'll roll with it!

I truly think that Byrom, Speier and Brown are good enough to set us into true dynasty status. They finally give us the ability to build the multi-dimensional offense we've been lacking all the way through this dynasty.. for so long it's been three yards and a cloud of dust because we haven't had a truly good quarterback (maybe until we see I-Jax this year).

However, you are absolutely right. I mentioned recently replying to someone else that we've become famous for epic busts. Sam Rourke has been our only other five star recruit through seven seasons and he had a spectacular fall from grace after two good seasons. We all of course know about D-Ham and TDL kinda-but really not panning out, but a couple others like Ja'Montres Jones, Carlton Parker (others, I'm sure) were four-star prospects who simply have not lived up to hype.

Admitting faith in Carlson is certainly not a bad idea.. when we recruited D-Ham and I-Jax in the same class five seasons ago.. no one would have thought that Jackson would turn out better than Hamilton, yours truly included. Well.. look what happened! (In D-Ham's defense he did turn out OK playing at Old Dominion and now he's set to be drafted, but .. at UConn .. nah.)

Apologies if this has been asked before but are you using the editor to make grad transfers a thing? Looking forward to the upcoming season, like seeing you implement a lot more neutral site games (would have loved to have had more neutral site stadiums). I would think the freshman WR would ask for a single digit number or a number to match who he models his game after (like 80 for Jerry Rice or 84 for Randy Moss).

Last season I used Skulletor's editor which has some tabs and a procedure to do grad transfers. For some reason it's not working right now (my file is kind of messed up at this point), so I took a different approach and did some work in the game to create the illusion of a grad transfer. My procedure went as such:

1.) Lower the player on the old team to 40 ovr.
2.) Find a backup/low rated redshirt senior on the new team who would be buried on the depth chart and re-create the player on the new team.
3.) Go into the editor and make any other additional changes in the player info tab (I had to change some class years, jersey numbers, etc.)

Works for me so I'll take it! I haven't checked to see if the depth charts reset or not so that might be one last thing I need to do but we'll see what happens.

Neutral sites are something I want to do a lot more of.. I too wish that some more NFL stadiums/other sites were available instead of having to pretend that two teams are playing at Levi's Stadium But so it goes.

Thanks everyone!

[nofx94]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

You have done an amazing job combining this with CFM and especially the editor to do some cool stuff. The neutral site games in particular. Lemme know when the CAC form goes around again.

I think you should add some high-level mid majors to your OOC, if that exists in your dynasty at this point (I.e. they haven't all cratered/been put in nicer conferences). Could do a 2-for-1 where they play in your stadium twice and you play in there's once. And I think you should play some games with power conference teams from the south or the west. Home-and-homes instead of neutral sites. I'm thinking Bama/LSU/Auburn in the South. Maybe Florida. Whoever's solid as hell in the SEC. And one of the powerful PAC 12 schools.

Also, how the hell did USC end up with the #42 class? I'm reading on my phone so the numbers are jumbled. Did I get that wrong?

[itsbigmike]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

Byrom should be No. 8. Don't recall seeing anyone give number suggestions for them, but I tend to go No. 5 or No. 8 for a really nice skill position kid I have high hopes for.

[thesportsguru11]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

Colts take Ohio State offensive dynamo King 1st overall in ‘21 Draft

After a miraculous and highly improbable season, Ohio State tight end/running back Charles King’s incredible nine month rise culminated in New York City with a handshake from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. King was the first overall selection in the 2021 NFL Player Selection Meeting, being drafted by the Indianapolis Colts, who are one year removed from a Super Bowl loss.

King became an enigma in the college football world midway through the season. After injuries to both of Ohio State’s top running backs, the tight end King slid into the backfield in their place. King proceeded to run for 1300 yards and added 60 catches for 800 more yards receiving. King received the Mackey Award as the nation’s top tight end, and was named a unanimous first-team All-American, shooting to the top of draft boards in a weak draft class.

Tight ends were taken at an alarming and historic rate in the first round, as seven came off the board in the first 32 selections, including each of the top three picks. Oregon State’s Billy Oliver went to the Cowboys at #2, while Altarrius Pope went #3 to the Saints.

In addition to the tight ends, several teams went looking for franchise quarterbacks despite the perceived weak draft class. Seven QB’s came off the board in Round 1, led by BYU’s Patrick Coddleman at 4 to the Chargers. The most notable QB selection came via the Cleveland Browns, who appear to be abandoning the Johnny Manziel project after the QB led them to an AFC Title in his rookie year of 2014. They took Lance Ward of Notre Dame at 13th overall.

Bob Diaco and his new team, the London Black Knights, were once again aggressive in the draft as they seek their first Lombardi Trophy. The Knights traded with the Lions to have two selections in round one, taking tight end Alex Oliver out of Alabama at 15 and Michigan’s star cornerback Quinton Baker at 26. The Knights added All-American guards Kai Ocalalaku in Round 2 and Sam Barron in round 4, while adding an intriguing QB prospect with Florida’s Kessler Paul at 90th overall (round 3).

Pick	Team	Player	Position/School
1	Indianapolis	Charles King	RB-TE/Ohio State
2	Dallas	Billy Oliver	TE/Oregon State
3	New Orleans	Altarrius Pope	TE/UCLA
4	San Diego	Patrick Coddelman	QB/BYU
5	Arizona	Erik Harvey	QB/Memphis
6	Minnesota (from Chicago)	Grant Vaughn	CB/Missouri
7	Atlanta (from Minnesota)	Aaron Zozarniack	QB/Missouri
8	New York (N)	Bryan Slaughter	LB/Florida
9	Denver (from St. Louis)	Jason Culp	LB/Tennessee
10	New York (A)	Marcello Stevenson	TE/Alabama
11	Buffalo	Perceus Duncan	LB/Florida
12	Seattle (from Pittsburgh)	C.J. Brewer	LB/Ole Miss
13	Cleveland	Lance Ward	QB/Notre Dame
14	New England (from Denver)	Terrence Thomas	CB/Oklahoma
15	London (from Detroit)	Alex Oliver	TE/Alabama
16	Oakland	Lionel Henry	S/Notre Dame
17	New England	Clarence Turner	TE/Michigan State
18	Chicago (from Carolina)	Chris Richardson	TE/Alabama
19	Minnesota (from Atlanta)	Aaron Smith	DE/Minnesota
20	Houston	Kevin Mack	OT/BYU
21	Kansas City	Kentrell Garrison	WR/Texas A&M
22	Denver (from Tampa Bay)	Vincent Harrell	OT/North Carolina
23	Tennessee	Andrew Daniels	WR/Penn State
24	Washington	Courtney Sullivan	RB/Oklahoma
25	Seattle	Jason Lucas	QB/Ball State
26	London	Quinton Baker	CB/Michigan
27	San Francisco	Michael Thompson	WR/Notre Dame
28	Baltimore	Ashton Overstreet	QB/Oklahoma
29	New York (A) (from Philadelphia)	Dan Palanzanos	QB/Clemson
30	Cincinnati	She'Treese Robinson	G/Georgia
31	Green Bay	Keylon Barnes	S/Illinois
32	Miami	Tim DePaxson	LB/Florida State

UConn Draft Picks

UConn saw a record four players get drafted. All-Big 12 wideout Rashad Harris was the first Husky selected, going in the second round to the Oakland Raiders. Free safety Ross Sinclair went in Round 3 to the New York Giants, while Ole Miss grad transfer and All-American center Ryan Smelley went in the fifth round to the Chargers. Marcus Bradford was picked in the sixth round by the Redskins.

Super utility man Jeff McNeal and linebacker Sammie Leonard went undrafted but are fielding offers to attend training camps, as is early declaree Royce Archie. Notably not selected were former five-star defensive end recruit Sam Rourke and cornerback Jake Crowder, who left the team amidst controversy in November after fallouts and multiple run-ins with Coach Diaco.

Pick	Player	Position
R2. 16 OAK	Rashad Harris	WR/UConn
R3. 8 NYG	Ross Sinclair	S/UConn
R5. 4 SD	Ryan Smelley	C/UConn
R6. 24 WAS	Marcus Bradford	LB/UConn

CAC Draft Picks

14 players directly affected by CAC alumni were drafted: Coach Shea led the way with three of his USC Trojans selected. Of the coordinators, Coach Coley of Rutgers and Coach Nama of Cincinnati led the way with two of their offensive players apiece being selected. OC Matt King of Memphis coached the fifth overall pick, Erik Harvey, the quarterback selected by the Cardinals. Ball State OC Jerome Baumann was responsible for the other CAC first round pick, QB Jason Lucas.

Pick	Player	School
R1. 5 ARI	Erik Harvey	QB/Memphis (OC King)
R1. 25 SEA	Jason Lucas	QB/Ball State (OC Baumann)
R2. 11 BUF	Grant Daniels	CB/Purdue (DC Smith)
R2. 13 ATL	Eric Jamison	LB/USC (HC Shea)
R2. 15 NO	Rian Scott	QB/Rutgers (OC Coley)
R3. 11 BUF	James Colvin	OT/USC (HC Shea)
R3. 14 DEN	Quinton Royal	OG/Southern Miss (OC Davis)
R4. 12 PIT	Jasper Haley	RB/Bowling Green (OC Malloy)
R4. 27 SF	David Holmes	OT/Memphis (OC King)
R4. 28 BAL	Will Curry	QB/Cincinnati (OC Nama)
R4. 29 PHI	Douglas Howard	RB/UNLV (HC Freday)
R5. 6 DET	Jay Weaver	CB/USC (HC Shea)
R6. 26 LON	Sean McLaurin	TE/Rutgers (OC Coley)
R7. 7 MIN	Damion Butler	WR/Cincinnati (OC Nama)

Other Notable Draft Picks

Some other notable selections include former UConn washout David Hamilton. The quarterback was picked in the second round by the Carolina Panthers after being named an honorable mention All-American in his first and only season at Old Dominion. Heisman trophy winner Andy Merriman, the unheralded tailback out of Nebraska, went undrafted due to concerns about his height and his being a “product of the system”.

Round 2, Pick 18, CAR: David Hamilton (QB, Old Dominion)
Round 2, Pick 23, TEN: Bryce Yeracheck (DE, Nebraska)
Round 2, Pick 24, PHI: Alden Rosario (LB, Oklahoma)
Round 2, Pick 31, TB: James Null (QB, Texas)
Round 3, Pick 12, PIT: Casey Swanson (RB, Oregon)
Round 3, Pick 17, NE: Eric Bonds (RB, Alabama)
Round 4, Pick 8, NYG: Freddie Livingston (WR, Texas)
Round 4, Pick 16, CHI: Kenny Greenwood (QB, Oklahoma State)
Round 4, Pick 20, HOU: Ty Byrd (S, West Virginia)
Round 6, Pick 9, STL: Tim Reid (DT, Auburn)
Round 6, Pick 18, CAR: Tannis Sierra (RB, Arkansas)

------------------------------------------------

You have done an amazing job combining this with CFM and especially the editor to do some cool stuff. The neutral site games in particular. Lemme know when the CAC form goes around again.

I think you should add some high-level mid majors to your OOC, if that exists in your dynasty at this point (I.e. they haven't all cratered/been put in nicer conferences). Could do a 2-for-1 where they play in your stadium twice and you play in there's once. And I think you should play some games with power conference teams from the south or the west. Home-and-homes instead of neutral sites. I'm thinking Bama/LSU/Auburn in the South. Maybe Florida. Whoever's solid as hell in the SEC. And one of the powerful PAC 12 schools.

Also, how the hell did USC end up with the #42 class? I'm reading on my phone so the numbers are jumbled. Did I get that wrong?

Muchos gracias! The Madden aspect to this is something I only recently started thinking about ... I wish I had saved the actual draft classes from two years ago when I went through the early seasons, but it doesn't make too much of a difference. Most of the important guys from early seasons made it onto the Madden 'chise, so we're all good!

You'll know when CAC time rolls around.. I like to devote a full post for the sign-up each season. I'm looking forward to seeing you join the side story if you so choose!

Good ideas on the OOC.. the mid-majors have kinda been cratered at this point with Arky State up in the Big 12 now and Marshall fading back to a good but not dominant team in the AAC. After a nice run in the early seasons, the SEC has considerably fallen off. Florida has been the best team in the conference to this point (two Heisman winners and three national title game appearances in the first five seasons), but slumped to a ~8-5 record last year after their QB got hurt. Alabama has been really bad since Nick Saban retired a few seasons back, as has South Carolina after a pair of CFP appearances themselves. Certainly could be some interesting matchups though.. none of these teams' rosters are particularly bad by any means.

USC has had some difficulty recruiting in recent years -- bad news for Coach Shea - but I think I know why that is. For reasons I do not recall, I set the Coach Progression speed to slowest when I started the dynasty wayyyyy back when, which was the wrong decision looking back. I had no intentions of ever creating coaches, which brought my attention to this, but slowest progression absolutely destroys any reasonable rate of progression. Especially with this roster, the gaps between established coaches levels and young coaches levels are .. very drastic, to say the least.

Coach Shea has been in existence for six years, has won a Natty and nearly a second, and is still only a level 10 coach (I think).. well behind the rest of the Pac-12 coaches. As such, his recruiting efforts are massively impacted; of course USC would be a Top 10-15 recruiting school every year otherwise. Sadly, I can't adjust the coach ratings through the editor (trust me, I really tried), so I'm hoping that doesn't impact CAC stuff too much moving forward.

Byrom should be No. 8. Don't recall seeing anyone give number suggestions for them, but I tend to go No. 5 or No. 8 for a really nice skill position kid I have high hopes for.

Interesting call.. thank you for dropping that suggestion! 8 was taken by one of our redshirted guys last year, but that could be easily changed because he hasn't played yet and the number isn't "associated" with him like Josh Marriner's #26 or Shav Wade's number 3.

#5 is now vacated with kicker Mike Miller graduated. I've been thinking about #1 as well, but I do kinda like the idea of #5.

[young22]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

Love what you doing with integrating Madden, adds so much. Wish I still had M25.

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