NCAA '14 Fans

[slick1ru2]

Year 2 in the dynasty and late in the season Memphis and Tulane both 1 win teams and both beaten by the FCS teams they played. One of the two beat Duke. Just goes to show even a crappy AAC team can beat a crappy AAC team, lol, at least in theory.

 

 

This new recuiting system is something else, don't think I will ever get all 25 scholarships taken. Another interesting thing I've read is they have added is decommits. They must follow USF over in Orlando where the game is created.

[NewBullBacker]

Year 2 in the dynasty and late in the season Memphis and Tulane both 1 win teams and both beaten by the FCS teams they played. One of the two beat Duke. Just goes to show even a crappy AAC team can beat a crappy AAC team, lol, at least in theory.

 

 

This new recuiting system is something else, don't think I will ever get all 25 scholarships taken. Another interesting thing I've read is they have added is decommits. They must follow USF over in Orlando where the game is created.

 

For me it's my first year in the dynasty and it looks like i'll get the 25 taken, I think it just depends on who you target.  Got lucky and the #2 quarterback was in Florida and his #1 priority was proximity to home, got him over Bama.

[Who'sYourData?]

Year 2 in the dynasty and late in the season Memphis and Tulane both 1 win teams and both beaten by the FCS teams they played. One of the two beat Duke. Just goes to show even a crappy AAC team can beat a crappy AAC team, lol, at least in theory.

 

 

This new recuiting system is something else, don't think I will ever get all 25 scholarships taken. Another interesting thing I've read is they have added is decommits. They must follow USF over in Orlando where the game is created.

 

I'm figuring out this system, but it's defintely different.  It is definitely impacted to a large degree by coach prestige.  Getting 25 isn't terribly difficult.  Getting 25 quality players early in a USF dynasty is tricky.

 

I've seen no evidence of decommits.  I have seen only one school "locked" and then another school breaks in, but that isn't really a decommit.

The short version of my still developing recruiting strategy:

 

Coaching Tree - Most important is to get three points on scouting as quickly as possible.  Generally in year one I then go after second half recruiting so that I can up my weekly points from 5000 to 6500.  Depending on coaching progression, you may have to reset the skill tree after the first year and move those extra points to the first half of the season, then add new tree points to the second half before you get there. 

 

1.  In the preseason, find the players with high USF interest and load up 15 or 20 of them, especially in areas of need.  You need a core group of players that you won't have to spend heavy points on.  Look closely at bonus on these guys and take ones that you have high grades on.  Also, look for linemen and LBs and such with a high bench press (600+).  These guys are often hidden gems.

 

2.  Find other highly ranked players in your pipeline or nearby states.  Particularly those with slightly lower "locked in" percentage. 

3. Scout the top 20 players.  Dump those that don't scout well.

4.  Each Week

     a.  Look through each players you put points on last week on the Top Schools page.  See if you are gaining or losing ground.  With a school like USF, I keep as many points as possible on the players I want badly until I have a huge lead  (at least 2000 points).  I want players to commit as early as possible and to get a big lead before Alabama or Georgia decide to start fully recruiting a player.  They can catch up in a hurry.  If some school has gotten an interest and it appears they will blow by me I will either drop them from my board or at least drop points to zero.  I'm not going to win against Alabama if they are focused.  Every once in a while the big school will lose interest, so sometimes I keep the guy on my board just in case.

     b.  Scout 5-10 more players until they are all scouted.  Dump players with bad ratings.  I use drop back passers, so I always immediately dump anyone with out 78+/78+ on THP/THA.  If I have good QBs and can afford to be picky, I'll only keep guys in the high 80s.  I like power backs so I look for those.  Some people prefer speed backs.  Whatever your preference, look for players that fit what you want to do.  Dump players that you don't want.

     c.  Find some more players to put on the board and scout.  These can be two and three star guys that look interesting.  From about weeks 3-7 keep looking for 4 star players that have a low locked in percentage.  You can do this on the search screen.  ATH's in particular often get overlooked by the big schools for a while.  If you have points to play with, scout them.  Or just keep them on your board to scout next week.  It helps if your bonus ratings are good, but this isn't a requirement.

     d. After scouting points each week and offering scholarships (offer as soon as you know you are interested), that leaves 4500-6000 points.  Generally I'll find 7 or 8 players that I really want and put 500 points on them.  Then I might spread out 100-300 points on another half dozen guys that are my backup plan or guys that I want but won't be devasted to lose.  As I drop players in step a, I find other players to put points on.   Often these are guys I just picked up and scouted in step c.  If you find a dazzling player from Idaho, put 500 points on him and let it roll. 

     e.  Offer scholly's early for the stud players.  There seems to be bonus points for a scholly offer, but no one has figured out exactly what it is. 

     f.  Despite what the game says, offer visits early.  Weeks 5-8 are good.  You want games against conference foes and rivals to get the bonus points.  Try to line up complimentary visits.  Work hard to achieve visit goals, but don't forget to win the game.   Late visits only work if you have a nice lead on the player.  Even then, I'd rather have an early visit and convince him to sign earlier to free up points to use on other players.

    g.  Always use all your points.  If your class is filling up nicely, use points on stud long shots.  You can't use them later, so use them when you can.

    h.  Don't worry about stars as much as overall after they are scouted.  You can even find two star guys once in a while that are better than four star guys.  Keep looking for them, they will help your team just like in real life.

 

Ok, maybe that wasn't the short version.  But I signed 20 quality players each of the first two years.  Not a ton of four stars, but some four stars and several top two and three star players. 

[slick1ru2]

Yeah, every single point I've earned on the coaching tree has gone to recruiting. My issues is I go after too many, don't have enough points even with the 6500 and end up losing out the ones I had because the points are going to the ones I don't have locked in at 1. But I am doing better, got a good kicker and punter in year 2. Not going to get a good tackle year two, getting some highly rated athletes and got an OK center. Year 1 I got two crappy FBs, the best was only rated 69. What screwed me up was offseason at the end of year one. I had all these points and spread them around thinking it would go week by week for 5 weeks, not all 1 week. I had players that wanted to visit, and couldn't find a way to get them to visit. If I knew it was all one week, I would have put all the points on the couple great players and given the crappy ones no points.

[Who'sYourData?]

Yeah, every single point I've earned on the coaching tree has gone to recruiting. My issues is I go after too many, don't have enough points even with the 6500 and end up losing out the ones I had because the points are going to the ones I don't have locked in at 1. But I am doing better, got a good kicker and punter in year 2. Not going to get a good tackle year two, getting some highly rated athletes and got an OK center. Year 1 I got two crappy FBs, the best was only rated 69. What screwed me up was offseason at the end of year one. I had all these points and spread them around thinking it would go week by week for 5 weeks, not all 1 week. I had players that wanted to visit, and couldn't find a way to get them to visit. If I knew it was all one week, I would have put all the points on the couple great players and given the crappy ones no points.

 

Yeah, the offseason really sucks.  Someone figured out that the CPU uses one of two methods to apply offseason points.  They either put all points on one player, or 3,000-4,000 on a few players.  So now I look at my lead and add enough points to leave me 4,000 ahead.  If I have a 2,000 point lead, I give 2,200 points.  If the CPU puts 10,000 I'm going to lose anyway. 

[slick1ru2]

I did get two excellent transfers. One is an 85 MLB, Reuben Foster from Alabama and Freshman All American Leon McQuay from USC. Of course they are on the bench year 2.

[Bull]

^whoa wasn't that the kid from armwood that comitted to USC in Feb?

[slick1ru2]

^whoa wasn't that the kid from armwood that comitted to USC in Feb?

Yep.

 

The new dialog in the game is EXCELLENT! I am playing in year 2 the UCF game and have so far limited them to FGs in the first half. Kirk Herbstreit says the OC for UCF is in the next booth and he just took off his headset and is heading down to the field to impress upon the players the importance of finishing drives.

Last game I played, they were saying, "USF had an outstanding QB for years and now they have another in Bench and were showing his stats".

 

Pretty awesome!

[slick1ru2]

My USF year 2 All Americans, preseason

 

Gudmundsson

Robbins

Lynch

Kloss

Price

[slick1ru2]

2014 Heisman winner is Jameill Showers who is Manziel's back up and transferred to UTEP. Wow!