NCAA Football 11 Catch-All

I think you hit it on the head, Jayhawker. The leaping linebackers were a major pet peeve last year, but that was because they would leap and grab interceptions constantly. So not only was it unrealistic, but it lead to far too many picks. Now they've toned that down and balanced it out a bit. They still can get up and tip a pass, not as much as in the past, and they don't come down with the ball (that I've seen). I'm in the same boat, though. I liked NCAA 10 and I feel like 11 is the most fun I've had with a football game that wasn't Tecmo Super Bowl. So I'm excited. It's nice not to be looking to dust off APF2k8 or NFL2k5.

This game also provides a game of football with what my wife loves about college football -- more mistakes by the athletes. More fumbles and interceptions than in the pro game. To her, this makes college football more interesting than the pros. Well, it certainly is in this game, if my first few games are any indication.

firesloth wrote:

This game also provides a game of football with what my wife loves about college football -- more mistakes by the athletes. More fumbles and interceptions than in the pro game. To her, this makes college football more interesting than the pros. Well, it certainly is in this game, if my first few games are any indication.

I wonder if this is what turns off some of the more devoted fans of the NFL games, whether be Madden or 2K, because it does have a different feel. Then it becomes more of a personal taste on how you want your football game to play. I don't think either is right or wrong, and there is a lot to love about guiding an NFL offense. But the NCAA game definitely does not feel like you are leading an NFL offense, at all.

In particular, the QB's feel so different. In some ways it's like APFB 2K8 where you have to find a QB that feels right to you. I don't think it is that specific, but there is a different feel to the game. I'll have to play some games with better QB's to see how that feels. I don't think Kale Pick from Kansas is going to light anyone up this season.

BTW, Frankie pointed me in the direction of some rosters last night, so I was playing with accurate rosters. I think they are the Fairdale Kings rosters, but are not done yet. I think I read he has about 10 more teams to do. Apparently these will be possible for use in OD play, as well.

Wat I'm looking forward to over the next couple of weeks is to really earn the pre-snap adjustments, including keying on plays while on defense. It was pretty nice to not only key the right play and make a stop or INT, but to get a little reward in the way of strategy points. I like the system hey have in place, but need to get used to using it, and avoid misusing it.

Let me know if you can view this.

This is my Online Dynasty hub for a OD I am in with Frankimumbles and RuthlessMuffin. They wanted to do a small OD so that we cold move through the season quicker. It was pretty fun last night as the three of us joined logged into the OD and were able to chat as we played out games and went through the motions of recruiting. So while I was making phone calls to my recruits, I got updates on how Ruthless and Frankie were doing in their first games of the season.

Then I seamlessly cranked up my first game before finishing recruiting. Whipped up on an FCS team, and went back to finish recruiting. Frankie then moved it forward, and I was able to do a second week of recruiting and play my second week game, which did not go well for me at all.

Frankie is A&M, so we will play later. He then scheduled Muffin's Miami Hurricanes to play me in week 3. Then entire thing seems to work pretty darn well. I went online and edited the stories for my games. I will have to remember to save some video clips next time, as all I had was photos the game created. But you can also have highlights as part of your story.

The interface is an improvement over Madden 10, but is similar.

Jayhawker wrote:

Let me know if you can view this.

Yes.

I can view that. Nice.

See if you can view mai highlight.

http://www.easports.com/media/play/video/22451708

FYI for those that don't have it yet. Gamestop seemed to be doing some lucrative trade-in deal in conjunction with buying NCAA 11. I traded in Madden 10, Tiger Woods 10, and Forza 3. I ended up paying ~$30.

Everytime I load a game up I get an error.

"Data failed to download, this game will not count towards your school."

Anyone know what that means? Is there an online function that I'm not utilizing?

HansomB1derful wrote:

Everytime I load a game up I get an error.

"Data failed to download, this game will not count towards your school."

Anyone know what that means? Is there an online function that I'm not utilizing?

I played my first Dynasty game last night, got the same error. Not sure at this point.

Jayhawker wrote:

When I finally figured out how to pull of the Read Options, the game began to feel much more like what I see on Saturdays. It was a bonus that I read the D, gave the ball to the HB instead of letting the QB keep it, found a hole a scored a nice 12 yard TD, and getting an achievement for pulling it off

Have only played two games so far, but I still haven't figure that out. Just how do you execute that?

ubrakto wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

When I finally figured out how to pull of the Read Options, the game began to feel much more like what I see on Saturdays. It was a bonus that I read the D, gave the ball to the HB instead of letting the QB keep it, found a hole a scored a nice 12 yard TD, and getting an achievement for pulling it off

Have only played two games so far, but I still haven't figure that out. Just how do you execute that?

I think if you hold down A after the snap, it hands off to the FB on the triple option. I could be wrong.

Kush15 wrote:
ubrakto wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

When I finally figured out how to pull of the Read Options, the game began to feel much more like what I see on Saturdays. It was a bonus that I read the D, gave the ball to the HB instead of letting the QB keep it, found a hole a scored a nice 12 yard TD, and getting an achievement for pulling it off

Have only played two games so far, but I still haven't figure that out. Just how do you execute that?

I think if you hold down A after the snap, it hands off to the FB on the triple option. I could be wrong.

Yes, you hit A as the QB stuffs the back into the gut if the HB (or the FB in the triple option). What i don't d o real well is read the defense well enough to know when I should or should not hand it off. When it works, it great. When I am wrong, it is a 3-4 yard loss.

HansomB1derful wrote:

Everytime I load a game up I get an error.

"Data failed to download, this game will not count towards your school."

Anyone know what that means? Is there an online function that I'm not utilizing?

I think everyone is getting that error. I'm pretty sure that is just related to a new feature where if you play well, the school you have listed as your favorite gets credit. They are going to track which school has the best fans. It tracks skills, for when you make good plays, strategy for things like guessing the right play and then capitalizing on it, and sportsmanship for punting on fourth down (it will also deduct points for onside kicks at dumb times).

It was working the first day, but since then, gamers have been getting errors. It's supposed to help encourage players not to be cheesing jerks. I'm not counting on it making much of a difference, but it might be interesting to look at down the road. It might be more interesting if it was something you could view on your friends list.

Trying to use the online recruiting tool and it is slow, but it is a nice distraction at work.

edit: And it is buggy. Just lost my last 20 minutes of recruiting time.

maxox wrote:

Trying to use the online recruiting tool and it is slow, but it is a nice distraction at work.

I'm really kind of liking it, too. Using it via the web rather the console actually makes it more fun. There is just something about trying to do research and evaluate lots of information that feels completely off when sitting on the couch. Put me at my desk on the computer, and it reminds of the old FBPro 98 days when I spent more hours preparing to play than actually playing the games. And loving every minute of it.

One of the things I did not like about previous NCAA sportsgames was that recruiting was a chore that I did not enjoy, at all. College Hoops 2K8 had a pretty nice system, and I tried to get pretty deep into its recruiting. But it just failed to keep me interested. But having it online gives it that fantasy football feel, as the information is just much easier to get to, and then follow.

BTW, is there a way to set your team as ready to advance from the web, or do I have to go back to the console to do that? I'd like to finish up my recruiting for the week and just hit ready, so the commish can roll the league, even if I do not get back to the 360.

Don't mean to derail the thread but I can't resist posting this: Tim Tebow Has A Special NCAA '11 Game Cover In Alabama

I don't follow college football, but I have to tip my hat to the Gamestop employees for that one. Deviously hilarious.

That cover is funny. And this is coming from a guy who would have liked to see his team draft Tebow.

Man, virtual 20 year olds can be real d*cks!

I'm playing a dynasty as Notre Dame. At the end of the first season, both of my starting CBs and my best DE, all juniors, defected to the NFL. There was no one to step up at CB. Then, my stud of a punter transfered to Alabama. I also lost my starting center to transfer, but that's because I got a higher ranked transfer from Wisconsin. Worst of all? The punter's loss occurred after essentially all of the punters were scooped up by other schools. Bastards.

Also, I recruited a lot of "athletes" because they showed up when I did searches for TEs and FBs. You must have to redshift them for a year before they are able to play like that, because they all have overall skills of 40 at those positions. All of them are in the 60s for the QB position, so I now have about 10 QBs. Any ideas on how to deal with this?

This is actually my second time playing through ND's first season. Last time I lost my star WR, but was able to keep the CBs, which I much prefer. Last time through I had about the 75th ranked recruiting class. This time it's number 2 behind Alabama. I nabbed both the topped ranked HB and DE in the class. I don't know if it helps when you play well during the season. I finished 10-2, beating USC as the capstone of the season.

I'm having an interesting time trying to recruit for Kansas. They are outranked by so many teams that I rarely get to use the Compare option when making phone calls. It's pretty clear that I have to take baby steps in order to get a decent program that kids will flock to. But I haven't finished a season, as I've been concentrating on the OD with three other guys.

Five weeks in, and the Jayhawks are 2-3. I whipped up in my FCS team in week one, but got rolled by #14 Georgia Tech38-7 (I needed a KO return to score my only points). Frankie then set me to play Ruthless, who has #11 Miami, and then replaced another game with #9 TCU. his reasoning is that bigger schools on your schedule improve the way recruits view you.

I actually kept pace with Ruthless, losing 14-7 when when I moved the ball into the redzone, only to throw a pick in the endzone with one minute left. I then went to TCU and lost 21-10 (should have been 14-10 if they just sat on the ball like they should have!).

If I could have swapped Georgia Tech out for Miami, and kept my other two unranked games, I would roll into big 12 play with a better record than 1-3. As it was, I headed to Waco to take on Baylor, who was now ranked #18. But I guess I finally learned something, as I held on for a 21-14 win that was tight the whole way. So now I have a ranked win on the road.

I have video up now from those last two games. You can save up to five highlights a game. But for some reason, the underscored prevents me from linking to each game individually.

What I don't know is how this will affect my recruiting. Am I hurt more than I am helped when I lose three games to ranked teams to start off the season? If I played a couple of unranked teams, and won, would that have been better in the long term? I'm not sure yet.

But again, it is becoming highly addictive.

If it's like last year winning trumps schedule. That's why I liked the idea of everyone picking unranked to low-ranked teams in a league scenario. You take one of those teams and you will likely have a better record which bumps up the star ranking of your program. That's the way it worked last year. Strength of schedule helps, but it mirrors real college football fairly closely. Recruits want to go to bowl games, play for a winning program, play for a program with stability, etc. Winning covers all of the above. Then eventually you start scheduling tougher teams. That's the way I did it when I did my Oregon State seasons in NCAA 09 and NCAA 10. Both times I got to the national title game by year 3 and had a Heisman Trophy winner by year 3 or 4.

Yeah; I had to cut Nate Montana to keep a few of them. Felt so dirty doing so.

firesloth wrote:

Also, I recruited a lot of "athletes" because they showed up when I did searches for TEs and FBs. You must have to redshift them for a year before they are able to play like that, because they all have overall skills of 40 at those positions. All of them are in the 60s for the QB position, so I now have about 10 QBs. Any ideas on how to deal with this?

In previous games I only went after recruits designated with the ATH after my needs were filled. It was never really setup in a way where yu could put them at any position and they would excel. You really needed to put them at one of their higher ranked positions for you to see any production out of them. I got to a point where I could predict their position with decent accuracy just by using their height and weight as indicators. A guy who is 6'4" 235lbs. is probably not going to be a great DB and a guy who's 6'0" and 183lbs. will probably make a better WR than an MLB.

If I were you, I'd move them to their higher rated positions the next chance I got whether they're needed there or not. I always like to have a few extra schlubs here and there, even if they never get above a 60-ish rating, just so I clearly know who to cut if I need to get down to the roster max.

Just noticed something really nifty about the downloadable rosters available through pastapadre: if one of your players has a really common last name, the announcers will actually use when they call the play!

ND's running back is Armando Allen, and they let me know that Allen had 3 yards on the carry!

firesloth wrote:

Just noticed something really nifty about the downloadable rosters available through pastapadre: if one of your players has a really common last name, the announcers will actually use when they call the play!

ND's running back is Armando Allen, and they let me know that Allen had 3 yards on the carry!

There was a fantastic article about that on Kotaku a while back. Guy who helped code that into NCAA/Madden or something, and getting the announcers to record so many names how it used to be a pain. But they were trying to get as many names, and team mascot names as possible in there, even for created teams and stuff. Even like high school team names, so you could be from that school in your background. Dude working on the game sounded really excited about it, even said something about e-mailing him if names were missing.

EDIT: Here's a follow-up article to the one I mentioned (link to the old January article at the start), where Nessler recorded 2200 names this year, in addition to the 2400 last year... so 4600 names in-game.

According to article comments, Wyld Stallions is in the game. Must. Create. Team.

College Hoops 2K8 had the same feature. I don't know how many names they did, but every name of a player that played for an NCAA team made it in. I think it was even more critical in a basketball game.

I'm surprised they can get away with it for player names. Especially since they're currently being sued for having players that are too much like the real folks, but without forking over any money to compensate said folks for their likenesses. This would seem to open them up to a bit more to that criticism, and hence to more legal danger.

firesloth wrote:

I'm surprised they can get away with it for player names. Especially since they're currently being sued for having players that are too much like the real folks, but without forking over any money to compensate said folks for their likenesses. This would seem to open them up to a bit more to that criticism, and hence to more legal danger.

I agree. For as much as people tried to claim that the kid suing EA was just doing it for the money, I think he has a point. There is no doubt that EA, and 2K when it was still in the game, purposefully arrange their rosters so that it is easy to name the players, and include all of the names of players expected to be in the game. I'm glad they do, but there is no doubt that they are profiting from the likenesses of NCAA players. Making sure a guy like Fairdale Kings can easily distribute named rosters is just icing on the cake.

Is it Fairdale King or Fairdale Kings? I typed them into the roster share feature last night but it said there wasn't an EA Locker for that name. Any suggestions?

Has anyone gotten any rosters that look pretty good?

It should be Fairdale Kings. There is a subforum on OS dedicated to rosters that will provide all kinds of alternatives.

I like Fairdale's, although I found some little issues with the Kansas rosters. But over all, they are probably more accurate than the average set of rosters we get in most pro games in any sport. I like that he does not edit any ratings. Supposedly he will go back and edit skin tones and such later.

And can I just say, best football game ever.

Had a blast of a game with firesloth last night. His Fighting Irish made a huge comeback, and then beat me in OT. So I'm 0-2 in online play, by have loved every minute of the games. They are so well done.

Damn, I saved a few of the pics and videos from that game, but I forgot to upload them to the web. I'll do that tonight.

Regarding the rosters: search for the Xbox live gamertag: pastapadre.

That's the host account for the Fairdale Kings rosters. They're pretty good so far.

I'm with Jayhawker -- so far this game really rocks. We'll have to see how it holds up in online play. Our game was really good, aside from some issues with the kicking, but they were pretty minor. (They kept me from trying a 54 yard FG, which I can make a majority of the time offline. Love my kicker!!) The running feels pretty good. The passing feels good. Players have heft and momentum to them. They no longer take turns while leaning in unrealistic ways over an exaggerated center of gravity (where the CoG stays in the same place while both the feet and head slide...the old NCAA games just seemed to video-gamey to appeal to me). The strategies are there. There are some good pre-snap adjustments to be made (although I miss the ability to match up an individual LB or CB against a specific player pre-snap, as in most of the NFL games, but I can understand there is supposed to be a difference in the players' sophistication in college versus the NFL). The environments and games are exciting. Overtime is nerve-racking, as it should be!

I have to say, having played a lot of NFL games, scouting and running a draft in those systems never felt like fun. It felt like a lot of work. However, the recruiting 'mini game' in the dynasty mode of NCAA has really hooked me. I do wish the web interface more closely mirrored the console interface, or vice-versa. IN particular, your progress toward a recruit is shown in percentages on the web, while on the console, you can see how far behind the leader you are in points. The points display lets you know whether you have a chance or not, as we are given feedback on how many points we've swayed a recruit one way or another based on our pitches. That's missing, as far as I can tell, from the web interface.

I'll have to try it again. Maybe I misspelled something. I used to do my own rosters, just naming, so I'll take moderate accuracy at this point over losing days of my life to the tedium that is XBOX data entry.

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I'll second the assertion about this games quality. Aside from the occassional lag issues when the ball is snapped, the on field gameplay is wonderful. It took a few games before I got used to the locomotion system but now that I have I love it. Now, I don't just slam onto the speed burst as soon as I get the ball, I patiently wait for blockers. No longer do I absent-mindedly hammer the juke stick left or right when tacklers approach. And if I do fall back into that habit, I'm not rewarded by bounding 15 feet to one side. The jukes are much more subtle.

To me, the system feels more fluid, more realistic. In seasons past I would feel disappointed with a 7 or 8 yard run, now, it feels like an accomplishment.

Also, never give up on a play. Never assume that you're/they're down. I have had two KO returns (one for me, one against me) where I assumed the runner was going down, only to see him burst through the crowd on the other side and take it to the house.

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I ran into a bit of a bug last night where it wouldn't let me hand off on the read and triple options. It was pretty annoying and lead to a few lost yards. Has anyone else seen this?