I just finished my first year with Ohio State and beat Florida in the Orange Bowl. Had 4 All-Americans all on the OL (and Nugent won the kicker of the year award), really tough to get All-Americans playing 5 minute quarters unless you run or pass all the time. I rotated HBs and QBs most of the year (Ross is rated higher than Hall but Hall has more speed and really played great vs Michigan and Florida, Zwick started most of the games at QB but Smith played in most games and played 2 complete games when Zwick was hurt). My offensive was sufficient, but the D kicked butt. Recruiting was ok but I couldn't get a great K, P or C recruit ( I need the Kicker and Punter the next year and the C to be ready to play the next year). I ended up with 20 recruits with 6-7 blue-chippers (down side was 3 all played MLB which is not bad because you can usually move them to OLB or DE and have them be studs) and the top class overall. The next year will be a Challenge I lost 4 OL (3 all-americans included) to graduation (Mangold my C left early as did Sims my OT) have have real average Kickers and punters. I moved D'Andrea a MLB to RE where he went from an 85 9or so at MLB) to 93 at RE. I also had to move one of my top recruits (an OT) to C, to get someone ready for next year. Also really changed my offense to be more balanced. I have a young RB (Haw) so i don't think I can run the ball 70% of the time. But the game is addicting.
Don't worry. If I can build the 0-12 SMU Mustangs into a preseason #1 team, then imagine the kind of damage that you can do with OSU. But, it helps to be in a hotbed of recruiting like Texas. Speaking of recruiting, looks like Texas and OSU both lost out on blue chip QB Mark Sanchez to USC.
I wish that you could form online "leagues" with this game.. Like where you joined a conference and each person in the league had to be one of the teams in that conference, and each year you had to go through real games against one another online and then also compete to get recruits each offseason. That would rock so hard.
I thought about buying a used one but knowing my luck it wouldn't last very long. I just feel safer buying the new one. The tax on it is ridiculous, $150 bucks at Best Buy, with tax $164.
Yeah we thought we had a good chance with him. We recruited 2 other top prospects from Sanchez's team (an OL and DL who both verballed). however I don't think OSU has much of a chance of blue chip QBs unless they are Ohio kids. For all the great players OSU has produced we've never really produced a NFL stud at QB. We've had a lot of NFL backups like Hoying, Tomczak, Tupa, etc. Guess we're pretty fortunate to have Zwick who is a good prospect who was born and raised in Ohio and wanted to play for the Bucks. You coming down to Ohio St next year when Texas comes to the Shoe?
Wait, wait wait.... 1 minute quarters and JV mode???!? That's almost like not even playing the game...
That does bring up a great question, though- what levels do you guys play on? I play 5 minute quarters on All-American. Haven't tried Heisman yet this year, but in years past, it was a b**** to play on. All-American seems about right, and you can maneuver the sliders a bit if you need some minor adjustments.
I'm new to all this so I'm still learning my way around the game, but I'm playing with all the default difficulty settings and sliders... How much of an advantage do changing those sliders give? Is that not like cheating? Though I must I wish my freakign recievers would stop dropping passes...
That's exactly why I mess with sliders, DanzelKun. I have heard so much about dropped passes, that when I started my dynasty, I bumped up the sliders on WR catching or whatever just a bit. I don't play with all that stuff all the way up or anything like that, because I don't want the computer or myself catching every single pass or anything, either! I just want the game to seem competitive and realistic, rather than frustrating and cheap. Another thing I mess with are the sliders for penalties. If they call too many of one penalty, or not enough of the others, I mess with those a bit as well. Like sometimes, they'll go NUTS with clipping, which you don't see called a whole lot in games. Therefore, I knock that down a bit,
Just read a long post from Lindner on his forum. He said he shipped out memory cards on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. So, some of us may not get our cards back until early next week.
Too bad about Sanchez, as Texas hasn't been able to recruit a QB in the last two classes. I was actually surprised he didn't commit to the Bucks given that they offered two of his HS teammates as an enticement to sign. Is Zwick part of the current ('05) class? We signed a local kid, Colt McCoy, #16 QB in the nation. But all of our recruiting efforts are now on Ryan Perriloux, the #1 dual threat QB in the nation, out of Louisiana. Supposedly we are slightly in the lead over LSU, but I don't think that Saban lets this kid get away. As far as OSU QBs, they've had a decent chance in the NFL. Craig Krenzel was drafted in the late rounds last year too. And yes, I will be at the horseshoe in 2005. I've never been to a Big 10 football game, so that should be an awesome experience. I have roadies planned for Arkansas and Colorado this fall.
Baqui, If you need any advice on stuff to do or where to stay in Boulder, let me know man. Also, don't let the myth of the "evil CU fans" scare you away. The students always get blamed, but the opposing fans are on the opposite side of the stadium from us, so if it's anyone, watch out for middle aged Barnett supporters.
I don't know if this has been addressed or not (I'm sorry if it has), But will there be a version for PC? The last time I'm aware of is NCAA 99, and I'd rather get it without having to buy a game system to play it.
Sure, I've heard some stories about battery throwing CU students. But ask aggy fan and they'll tell you that Texas fans beat up the elderly and throw beer on little kids. I'm actually more worried about the Arkansas fans, since they have a genuine hatred for Texas for some reason. CU's stadium is supposed to have a really neat setting, so I'm definitely looking forward to that. I also hope to score an invite to a recruiting party that weekend.
In 2001 at the UH/UT game I saw a large group of UT students heckle and throw beer at an elderly couple wearing red blazers, members of the "H" Association. I didn't see them beating up little kids, however.. that may have came later.
Make sure you get ahold of me before the game next year. We do a tailgate party for every game (and supposedly one of the guys bought an old school bus this year too) so we'll have to get together talk some college football and have a good time. I am really psyched about the game, especially since OSU goes to Texas in 2006. Great to see big-time schools play early in they year out of conference games. I know when we played Notre Dame in teh Mid 90's a couple times that the atmosphere was like Michigan week, except it's nice out!
I can assure you that there was no battery throwing last year (don't know about previous years because, well, I wasn't here). It's interesting all the rumors about us throwing stuff. The only thing I can guarantee that we try to throw is marshmallows. And that's at each other. At halftime, a huge war will break out in the student section with marshmallows flying EVERYWHERE. Unfortunately, last year they started frisking people. Then, they gave us bags of doritos. Yeah, smart idea there. Let's take away the soft fluffy objects that they throw and give them hard pointy objects. GENIUS! Folsum Field is gorgeous. Especially if it's a night game (with it being a big name opponent, it is a possibility). The sun setting behind the mountains in the background of the stadium, just incredible. Oh, and if you score an invite to a recruiting party, remember me.
OK, am I missing something? When you play an exhibition game, can you not change the weather, time of day, or stadium? Wonder why they took that option out. That really sucks. What's up with all the dropped balls by the receivers? Has anyone found a realistic AI for the wr's catching ability? I sent my card to Lindner a week ago Thursday. I see from a post earlier in this thread he started sending them out this week. Still haven't got mine. I'm watching the mailbox today. That's my only memory card!
