C-Bailey24

Nah man its no excuse for this stuff. What formation i run out of should not have that severe of an impact when the talent gap is that wide. Teams know what formations and what plays the teams they're facing are going to run but you still have to have the physical ability to stop it. My offense is doesn't include those option-like formations so i don't run them (they're marked red). My RB's are not fast so it doesn't make sense to run a lot of outside plays but the few i run also are stuffed. Excuses have always been made for this aspect of the game and what "may" be happening under the hood of the game engine but it's funny how none of this applies to the CPU. If they have the talent advantage on me they can pretty much run at will. It's just skewed. I've owned this game too long and experienced it too much to believe otherwise.

I've read this thread several times over and running the ball is just ridiculous. The game engine just seems to totally disregard match-ups when it comes my team. I'm trying to play out one of my games right now and my starting LG is rated 85 in Run Block, 68 Strength, 82 Aggr. My LT is 77 RB, 69 STR. The opposing team DT is 64 POA and 24 STR. Let me repeat that. 24 Strength. The DE thats lined up against my LT is 46 POA and 48 STR. A CLEAR match-up advantage in my favor and yet i'm getting no yardage. I'm getting insane results like the SS is closing up the hole as fast as it opened or whatever the play by play is. Here's the thing... the SS is not blitzing. Their in a zone coverage yet their ridiculously weak D-linemen are somehow holding the point of attack long enough for the SS who is not blitzing to close the hole before my RB can get through it. And this is on quick straight ahead plays like "Power" or "Straight - LG". I've restarted this game like 4 times because i can't make it through three offensive drives without getting frustrated when i look at my run totals and i'm averaging like 1 yard a carry. I shouldn't have to "loosen up the D" or trick the CPU by running in pass situations. Not in this match-up. I have a clear talent advantage that's producing ridiculous results. This is what steered me away from calling plays back in the early years of this game because the fun is just sucked out of it with crap like this. I'm convinced that there's a difficulty programmed against the human in this aspect of the game unless you have 5 All-American type linemen like the ones posted earlier in this thread. I should be able to play to the strength of my team in the right match-up and not be forced to throw the ball 50+ times against a weak D-line to move the ball and score points. That defeats the purpose of recruiting, gameplanning, match-up's, etc.

Great thread. What suggestions/exceptions should be made when recruiting/setting depth chart if your coaching a school in the 30-50 prestige range?