Raising Prestige

[Braylin]

What has been the most you have raised your prestige and how long did it take? I am just curious if it is possible to take a school with around a 20 prestige or so and turn it into a powerhouse team.

[mkpeak]

Started at 30 and am at 41 after completing 5 seasons.

[Roll Tide]

Took a 40 and by the 12th season moved up to 65. It took winning the division 8 times, 10 bowl games and two NC's.

[flanman]

damn Thats some pretty good results with a 40 prestigue team. What team are you playing? If its that easy to take a low team and win National Championships than something must be screwed up a bit.

[Capital]

The real challenge is taking a low prestige team in a power conference, not taking a low prestige team in a weak conference. For example, take Vanderbilt (43 prestige) in the SEC and see if you can get those results. Making a bowl game isn't all that easy.

[mkpeak]

Indiana tough enuff...currently building Ball State Indiana for 10 Season: 8 Bowl Games (6-2 record) 4 Big Ten Championships 2 National Championships (seasons 8 & 10) (I'm at work and can't recall the beginning or ending prestige but I have the save game at home) Currently playing Ball State thru 5 Seasons: 5 Bowl Games (actually won the last bowl game) 3 MAC Championships Recruiting has been difficult but has gotten better each season as Prestige has risen (currently at 41). I am hoping my last 2 recruiting classes will be enough to enable me to compete against top teams a year or 2 from now. And "NO" I'm not an addict. I'm having my son sit in with me on the game (Like this a lot better than the mindless console game with my son...makes him think)...hopefully he can learn a little. -Kevin

[Tim Plum]

for the players that are winning so much a couple questions. 1. Are you using any mods? If so which ones. 2. Did you mod anything on your own? If so what? 3. Which parts of the game are you controlling and which parts is the computer handling for you? 4. Along the lines of #3 are you playing the games or simming? If simming how long? Do you pick and choose games to play? 5. What level recruits are you drawing to the program with so much winning?

[mkpeak]

1. Are you using any mods? If so which ones. [COLOR=Blue]Icy 1.5 with the logos etc[/COLOR] 2. Did you mod anything on your own? If so what? [COLOR=Blue]Nope[/COLOR] 3. Which parts of the game are you controlling and which parts is the computer handling for you? [COLOR=Blue]I handle everything but the Academics.[/COLOR] 4. Along the lines of #3 are you playing the games or simming? If simming how long? Do you pick and choose games to play? [COLOR=Blue]I Sim games for the most part. I play the games against the obviously better or higher prestige teams and always play the Conference Championship and/or Bowl Games.[/COLOR] 5. What level recruits are you drawing to the program with so much winning? [COLOR=Red]I would have to go back and check my notes on Indiana. I know it was tough early on but top 15 classes the last 3 seasons.[/COLOR] [COLOR=Blue]With respect to Ball State... the 1st 2 recruiting classes were brutal, high-lighted by 1 3-Star RB, a bunch of 2-Star guys and some 1-Star guys with select skills that would fit my scheme. Years 3 & 4 got a little better with 5 or 6 3-Star guys, a bunch of 2-Star guys and few 1-Star guys with slect skills that would fit my scheme. Year 5 (just finished the recruting last night) has me tickled to death. 18 recruits in total. 12 3-Star recruits, 4 2-Star recruits, and 2 1-Star recruits.[/COLOR] -Kevin

[Roll Tide]

for the players that are winning so much a couple questions. [COLOR=Navy]I took NIU from the MAC conference, changed the name to WIU. My results are over 12 seasons.[/COLOR] 1. Are you using any mods? If so which ones. Just the ICY mod 2. Did you mod anything on your own? If so what? [COLOR=Navy]Nothing was modified[/COLOR] 3. Which parts of the game are you controlling and which parts is the computer handling for you? [COLOR=Navy]For the first seven-eight seasons I controlled everything. I recruited 3 stars only, even if I didn't need them because I knew the game would fill in with walkons the positions I couldn't fill. i.e., if I needed a center and couldn't recruit one to save my life I knew the computer would give me one as a walkon. Recruiting was very tough the first 3 years as no 5* or 4*would look at me and the 3*'s where tough to get where I needed them. I would go hard after the Athletes who could adapt to several positions. I've changed QB(a)'s to RB's and WR(A)'s to RB's, dittoes to all the other positions. I would cut any 1* who was a fr/soph/jr (without falling short in the required position totals) and hope for better next year. One year I recruited 28 players! I would spend more money on coaches to get the best I could and take the hit on recruiting monies, as I knew unless I could get the program and players up in status, nobody outside of IL/IN/WI/OH would be interested in me. I had recruiting rankings of 80's-110, which ment that I wasn't recruiting as the computer would (recruit for every position opening) I would recruit only the best I could get and adapt them to fit my needs. Seasons 9-12 I had the computer recruit for me and I've had recruiting rankings of 15 to 30 during that time. [/COLOR] 4. Along the lines of #3 are you playing the games or simming? If simming how long? Do you pick and choose games to play? [COLOR=Navy]I simmed 95% of the games. I was more interested in recruiting the best and getting the best coaches for my players.[/COLOR] 5. What level recruits are you drawing to the program with so much winning? [COLOR=Navy]It wasn't until about year 8 when my prestige got to the low 50's that I was able to attract 5*'s (1-2/yr) and 4*'s (5-10/yr) to add to my 3*'s. By year 8 I had won the MAC 5 times and went bowling 6 times. I think because I'm in Illinois and the other two teams in my state are Northwestern & Illinois (which have realitively low to middling prestige) I am able to compete very well for Illinois recruits. I stayed with running the option and the 3-4. You don't need a great QB to run the option with it's shorter passes and the 3-4 you can run well with good LB's and secondary even if your DL sucks baddly. I had top 10 defenses 10 out of 12 years with 3-4. I ran WIU for 12 seasons, 10 bowls, 9 MAC championships and 2 National Championships. Now it's on to Tulsa, which after two seasons is going to be tougher as I have to compete for recruits with OU/OSU/TX/TXAM/NEB and it shows! I've got a ton of 1*'s on the team... time to start chopping!!!![/COLOR]

[Roll Tide]

One more thing.... Other than the regular MAC scheduling, I only scheduled creampuffs (teams with 100+ rankings in def/off) the first 6-7 years. Playing and losing against Ohio St, Michigan,Texas, Notre Dame or any other higher ranked team does nothing to raise prestige. Only winning records, highly ranked off/def #s, winning the conference and playing in the bowl games raises prestige is what I can take out of this game.

[flanman]

one more question for the guys that do so well with low teams Do you save game and replay your losses until you win sometimes?????? Sorry but had to ask. No offense intended. Im just amazed how well you guys do with poor teams. Ive been playing with a 40 prestigue team and Ive played 10 or so seasons and never came anywhere near a National Championship. (except for one time i constantly replayed the games i lost so I could see what the impact on prestigue would be)

[Capital]

Also, what injury level are you playing?

[Roll Tide]

[QUOTE=Capital]Also, what injury level are you playing?[/QUOTE] Average injury level... it's a killer at times, but it beats the old very high setting before 1.03. it does level the playing field with the higher rated teams.

[Capital]

I'm playing the High level because Average didn't seem to give that many injuries. Although, since depth with a lower prestige school is sometimes a problem, limiting injuries would help.

[mkpeak]

Injury setting at low and usually have 1 or 2 guys out with injuries and 6 or 7 guys listed as questionable. To me these are much more realistic and I'm seeing far fewer major upsets. Scheduling also factors into the injury list. I try not to create a long list of consecutive weeks with games. For example, it's gets frustrating when my conference schedule has me playing seven consecutive weeks...injury list tends to grow during this time. -Kevin

[mkpeak]

Except for one game it's one and done. If I Lose I Lose. The one time I took a second chance was due to an unrealist result. I had a problem with a team putting up close to 50 (I think the final was 48-42) points while only generating 180 some yards of total offense. I went through the summary and found both teams defenses scored more points in one game than most would score in an entire season. In this particular game there were 7 or 8 defensive touchdowns between both teams, mostly fumble returns. -Kevin

[Capital]

[QUOTE=mkpeak]Injury setting at low and usually have 1 or 2 guys out with injuries and 6 or 7 guys listed as questionable. To me these are much more realistic and I'm seeing far fewer major upsets. Scheduling also factors into the injury list. I try not to create a long list of consecutive weeks with games. For example, it's gets frustrating when my conference schedule has me playing seven consecutive weeks...injury list tends to grow during this time. -Kevin[/QUOTE] I think that the injury setting is the difference. The lower prestige teams just do not have the same kind of depth so when injuries pile up, it hits the lower prestige teams the most. I may try playing a league at average but I'll won't go down to low.