[OBinKC]

The best way I’ve “neutralized” this game:

1. Play with Default Sliders and Fatigue OFF. I promise you the pros will outweigh the cons, especially combined with my other restrictions.

2. Lower your Injury ratings for all players. Tuscaloosa likes to lower them all to 0, which I’m still scared to do, but I lower the QB to 65, OL to 0, rest of offense to 60, DL to 5, and the rest of defense to 30. This will stress needing depth and also give you even better rotation than having Fatigue ON.

3. Do not use the Coaching Skills Tree. This turns a mid-70s team into a juggernaut way too easily.

4. Do not use custom playbooks. To take it a step further, ban the read option. Finding the right playbook for you becomes an even bigger challenge. I go even further and implement offensive plans that I’m particularly bad at (Flexbone, wishbone, etc.)

5. Recruit only one star above your school’s prestige level. It will take longer to build the program.

6. Don’t mess with the sliders. After years of playing this game trying every set imaginable, I’ve realized that sliders are just another thing we learn to beat, and they take away the ratings of the players anyway. The CPU will play tough enough with Fatigue OFF that nothing should need nerfed or handicapped.

With these rules, I’ve gotten the game to the point where I can’t beat a team that has the ratings needles shaking in their favor, and I get challenges with all other teams no matter their rating. So it’s going to be hit or miss on my success until I’m rated in the high 80s. To be honest, we’ve all gotten so good at this game that it’s inevitable that the team build takes about 3 or 4 years before you’re unstoppable no matter what. In which case, you can always switch to NCAA 12 and get smoked by their defense, lol!!