|
Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Jul 31, 2009 16:38:23 GMT
Yes it's Helmetball and yes it's not in the Helmetball forum, because no one reads anything in there. If you have any issues i suggest you take it up with the board admin, who's never here, or the forum mod, who's going to be producing the other half of this thread. Good luck. The GameI still don't know if we're doing two threads or one, but the premise is that I'll be playing through seasons of Front Office Football, The College Years and then passing on my exported draft files to Moo, who'll be importing them into Front Office Football 2007. There are some issues with this - I understand that it generally raises the quality of all players available, which doesn't mean much for front line quality - if everyone gets better, relatively you're the same - but it does make it easier to maintain depth and not suffer from injuries so much. Also, unless I can fix it with an editor, I heard that all Tight Ends graduate with a 0 rating for "Big Play Receiving." So Moo won't be running a Belichick offence. My TeamThe team I'll be using is one blamed for credited with the birth of American college football as they beat Princeton in 1869. Yes, it's the Rutger's Scarlet Knights - interestingly it's a team from New Jersey who make no mention of New Jersey in their title, which will be a theme here. After the benefit of being one of the first on the scene wore off, the Knights slipped into mediocrity and haven't been a force in the sport for many years - partially because they're a state funder university and New Jersey repeatedly cut their funding. NFL and Rutgers Alumni include such luminaries as former Lions Quarterback Mike McMahon, former Jets and Dolphins Quarterback Ray Lucas and super famous Linebacker Gary Brackett. Asia Carrera went to Rutgers. Don't Google her while you're at work though. Fast ForwardTo make the draft exports work at all I had to sim ahead a few seasons to get into the same year as Moo - 2008. The Scarlet Knights set a fantastic example while we were simming with the following finishing records : 2004 : 2-9 (0-6) 2005 : 2-9 (0-6) 2006 : 3-8 (1-5) 2007 : 5-6 (3-3) Getting through simming the first two years of 4-18 with an 0-12 conference record without getting fired took some doing. I'll be starting with 2008 shortly.
|
|
|
Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Jul 31, 2009 16:38:40 GMT
---Overall records here.---
|
|
|
Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Jul 31, 2009 16:40:25 GMT
---Recruiting---
|
|
|
Post by coffers on Jul 31, 2009 17:10:28 GMT
Now this could be interesting.
|
|
|
Post by Moo on Jul 31, 2009 19:13:19 GMT
Oh I doubt that.
|
|
|
Post by Sonic on Aug 1, 2009 5:54:34 GMT
Asia Carrera went to Rutgers. Don't Google her while you're at work though. I'd imagine school reunions might be a tad bit interesting if she was in your year...imagine the conversations...brr.
|
|
|
Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Aug 1, 2009 15:43:33 GMT
THE MONEYFor the third year in a row in 2007 Rutgers ranked a fantastic 1/100 in tickets sold and financial income, despite having a million-dollar tv deal each year. Average attendance in 07 was 8,700 in a 42,000 capacity stadium. Market research companies told us that while alumni loyalty to the school was good, local loyalty was terrible and combined with the bad financial situation in the state that meant no one was coming to the games. As a result I slashed prices as low as I thought sensible - sending student prices down to $2, the Alumni section down to $8 and the Premium Sideline down to just $10, which is probably cheaper than going to the cinema. If I can fill out the stands, even if I lose money doing so, then i can spike fan loyalty. THE STAFFIt's safe to say that there aren't many NFL teams sniffing around the Rutgers University campus in search of new head coaches, which is good, because you really don't want to be sniffing anything in New Jersey - the place smells like garbage, wet socks and dead rats. The lot that were there when I took over were terrible - especially Offensive Co-ordinator Burt Baerg who was shown the door before I even found a replacement because he only lived up to half of his title and it wasn't the "co-ordinator" part. New guy Jay Harding isn't great and has a personality abrasive enough to strike matches on, but he's listed as "Terrific" for developing running backs, receivers and linemen, so hopefully he'll help us get our talent going the right way, even if he then horrendously misuses it during games. New Defensive Cordinator Edwin Olds is the same but different, in that he's a great playcaller, but awful at developing talent other than on the defensive line. The good news is that he still has a terrible personality. The one guy I really wanted to replace was the New England scout, as he's the one who'll be getting most work attempting to bring in local recruits, but there's no one who's interested in coming to Jersey. I know, I was surprised too. As a result we'll be leaning more heavily on Mid-Atlantic scout JT James, who's terrific at finding Linebackers and Secondary players. THE ROSTERFour words can be used to describe the roster management that has been going on while I've been simming ahead to catch up with Moo; "Asleep at the wheel." The coaches accidentally recruited a good Quarterback, but the first thing I see in 2008 is a slew of emails, two telling me of players that are transferring due to a lack of playing time and a whopping six informing me that players are suspended for failing a class last year, which is inexcusable with the tutoring options available. This from allegedly a good school too. The current stars of the team are : QB - Joseph Shafer - Senior (Red Shirt)A 6'3" 240lb behemoth of a Quarterback with an enormous right arm, which hasn't come from watching too many Baywatch marathons, as he has a girlfriend. Dumb as rocks and about as popular as herpes, scored a D in his major; Trigonometry, in his first year, when he was a red shirt, then a D in his second season, when he was a backup, then an A in his third season when he was the starting QB. Nothing suspicious there. WR - Jeremy Conway - Senior (Red Shirt)6'3" 211 wideout who was born in the desert in Arizona and then moved to Jersey. I presume he punched a gypsy in a past life. Despite the questionable sense behind moving from Zona to Newark he's definitely the brains of the operation as he maintains an A average in Genetics, Electrical Engineering, Journalism and English. He's brainy enough to know that his best hope for a post college career is not the NFL - as a result he absolutely will not go over the middle for the ball. LB - Lance Lanier - Senior (Red Shirt)A straight A student majoring in kinesiology, which is the science of snapping Quarterbacks in half. At least it should be, but the school has been using him at inside backer, which is absolutely criminal, considering his pass rush ability. He'll be played weak side for the whole time I'm in charge. The real weaknesses of the team is on both lines, as we're very weak at Guard and at everywhere on the defensive line. Depth pretty much everywhere is bad too. I have work to do.
|
|
|
Post by Moo on Aug 2, 2009 20:54:27 GMT
Then you best get a move on because my team need some serious help. Actually that's a tad unfair, we have some decent starters in our team, but backup is non-existent. The so called skill positions of QB and RB are ropey to say the least, and we have a kicker and punter who would do a better job than our current DEs. Mind you, it's going to be difficult to bring quality players into the club, mainly because the surrounding area stinks and probably because the team have no money at all. Well, I can only assume that is the case because we don't own a stadium . We haven't owned one for a while, just flitting between one barren field to another, hoping to get cheap rent like the scumbags we are. Yes, we are the New York Pikeys and this is our leader...
|
|
|
Post by elth on Aug 3, 2009 14:51:34 GMT
I think I've heard of that guy. Didn't he play in Minnesota or something?
|
|
|
Post by hornet on Aug 4, 2009 10:33:45 GMT
If it's possible to get relegated from the NFL, then Moo's the man to make it happen.
|
|
|
Post by Moo on Aug 4, 2009 11:00:57 GMT
Well, as I'm on the medium level, I can actually get sacked. My GM's name? Tony Eason.
He's used to it.
|
|
|
Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Aug 4, 2009 21:28:41 GMT
I forgot how long it takes to tell everyone how much time they should spend in the classroom feigning interest, in the weight room injecting steroids and in the broom closet banging their girlfriends. Finally got it all done and ready to move on and then the school wingnuts didn't schedule me a game for the first three weeks of the season. :humb:
|
|
|
Post by Moo on Aug 5, 2009 7:07:56 GMT
Well played, sir!
|
|
|
Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Aug 6, 2009 13:56:38 GMT
So, these are the players graduating at the end of this season who'll need to be replaced. The good news is that there's only two starters on the list. The bad news is that I'm going to lose someone called "Billy Joe Bliss" before I even knew him. So while I'm looking for the new Brett Favre for Moo, I need to find a new, err, Quentin Silberman and Harvey Newsome for myself.
|
|
|
Post by Moo on Aug 6, 2009 14:18:20 GMT
I'm in the poker playoff tonight, so probably won't get a chance to update, but I probably won't need a NT or CB next season. I'll check, but from memory, I think I'm OK. Backups, maybe....
|
|
|
Post by Moo on Aug 11, 2009 21:05:25 GMT
So at the end of the season, we managed to finish nowhere near the Patriots, who are brilliant, as we all know. And a team summary... There seemed to be times where we were playing outstandingly well, but then other times where we were just atrocious. King Pikey did OK, but hopefully I will be able to trade him off somewhere and get someone else in. The stumbling block is that he's still got two years left on his huge contract. The temptation is to try and restructure his contract, but he may well retire anyway, so rock/hard place. No real surprise in that my OTs and my DEs are poor really and I could really do with those to help witht the running game. Jones did ok by getting to 1000 yds, but I'd like to see more of the run game. I know that I need to look at the strategic side of this at some point, but I'm trying to get a couple of seasons under my belt to see if I can get some decent players to play with first. There's still a decent core under contract, so hopefully a decent draft and Free Agency will help these cunts out.
|
|
|
Post by Moo on Aug 11, 2009 21:19:04 GMT
Right on cue, Favre retires, as does FB Tony Richardson, so I need to have a look through the staff hiring bit, then I thin kI'm ready for Free Agency and a draft.
|
|
|
Post by Moo on Aug 11, 2009 21:58:41 GMT
Right, so here is a list of what I see as critical positions for a mixture of FA and draft.
QB FB LT RT K LDE RDE RCB
Steven Jackson is on FA and I'll try to nab him, but my cap room isn't great, so I might be best using that for David Garrad at QB and hoping to nab someone to take over in three years as the two backups I have, Brett Ratliff and Eric "Minge" are shite. I can pick up one of about 5 FA Kickers, so that's OK. There are some good DEs available but they are usually also available on draft day. Tackle is a worry though.
Any notes from Stu would be appreciated here. Also, I need a file. :thumb:
|
|
|
Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Sept 6, 2009 14:23:32 GMT
Suffice to say the first season in charge of Rutgers for real didn't start off much better than the seasons where I'd left it to the AI. My gameplan revolved around a crunching running game with deep passes thrown in now and then to hopefully catch people off guard, but early in the season that turned into deep passing, with deep passing thrown in for no variety whatsoever, thanks to a defence that was absolutely in love with giving up the big play. The first game of the season was a gem in particular - one of the few that could have been a possible win for us and it was binned after an excellent opening drive when the defence gave up two long touchdown passes either side of a punt return. When superstar WR Jeremy Conway went down in week two with a back sprain, things didn't look to get any better. Then this happened : BRIG 4 Benefield pass was intercepted by RUTG 48 Tate at the RUTG17. The interception was returned 83 yards for a touchdown!This turned out to be the decisive moment in our third game matchup with #20 BYU. We weren't given a chance against these big boys, but for once our defence came up with a big play and Tate's touchdown was enough for a 24-21 win even though BYU churned out more then 500 yards of offence. ScoutingAfter our first three games our schedule gave us a week off, so i headed out to look and see if I could find the next Brett Favre for Moo's Pikeys. At the top of the tree was North Texas' Junior Jay Katzman with a whopping 202.5 rating thanks to 13 touchdowns and zero interceptions. The bad news is that as a Junior he's not guaranteed to head for the draft and then there's the whole repetitive concussion syndrome he was suffering from after taking a couple of killer hits in his last game. Still, he'll only miss 74 weeks... Moving on to people who might show up in the draft and can remember their own names, we have Texas A&M's Randall Burks. Burks is less Favre and more Pennington as he has a bit of a pop gun arm, but hits his targets in stride and doesn't turn the ball over much - two picks in five games. Almost a mirror image of Burks is Indiana's Scott Lemon - Mr Citrus has a better arm but an unbetter brain. Lemon also thinks he's the second coming of Ron Mexico as he runs all the time, but he's crap at it, averaging 1.5 yards a pop. Bowling Green's Bryan Reid rounds out the top three and is the most Favre-esque. He's running a 189 rating this season, but his 31 career touchdowns is matched by 30 career interceptions, showing a love of just throwing the ball up for grabs. Current Standings
|
|
|
Post by Sonic on Sept 6, 2009 15:12:44 GMT
Bored?
It does look like you've got a challenge on your hands.
|
|
|
Post by Moo on Sept 7, 2009 9:01:18 GMT
I don't particularly want a Favre-type player, I want a good one. :checkit: Nice to see yo umaking some progress with this though, Stu. Are you regretting starting off this thread yet?
|
|
|
Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Sept 7, 2009 12:38:53 GMT
I wasn't. But halfway through the fourth game I started to. :moop:
|
|
|
Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Sept 7, 2009 14:05:28 GMT
One of the reasons I settled on Rutgers was because they're a crap team in a tough conference, which will make it hard to achieve anything, (the other being that they're also from New Jersey, just like the New "York" Jets), but what we have coming up looks very painful indeed. After welcoming in unranked Connecticut we then get the following run : at #38 Oklahoma at #14 Pittsburgh #45 Temple #22 West Virginia at #7 Boston Thankfully we get a week off between Temple and West Virginia to rest our cheeks from the sawdust humpings. Still, we could probably cause a couple of problems for these teams, provided nothing bad happens... 2-06-RUTG50 (10:25) Penalty: RUTG - Illegal Motion. RUTG 5 Shafer was injured on the play. This appears to be a serious injuryThat would be starting Quarterback Joe Shafer who tears his hamstring on a play that didn't even get going. Still, he's only out for just the 29 weeks. Thankfully at that point we're already ahead of Connecticut 38-10 and backup Randy Jennings completes the drive, throwing his first career pass, which turns out to be his first career touchdown pass, to Tight End Jamie Lucas, who's making his first career catch. So that's nice. With these injuries I was proud of the effort the team put in against Oklahoma, closing the score to just 24-21 behind with six minutes to play, when Jennings threw a 37 yard strike to Byron Dotson for Jennings' third touchdown of the day and the fourth of his career, before we finally lost 27-21. Oklahoma's ranking went down after beating us, which says something both about us and how much Oklahoma were expected to beat us by. The week after that we were crushed 56-27 by Dan Marino's Alma Mata, Pittsburgh, which was roughly what I expected. The broken leg to our starting runningback, not so much. I'm looking forward to getting a week off so I can go scouting and ruins Moo's team instead of my own.
|
|
|
Post by Moo on Sept 7, 2009 14:51:38 GMT
Oh, you don't need to do that, I'm sure I can manage on my own.
|
|
|
Post by coffers on Sept 7, 2009 15:04:31 GMT
:checkit: on both counts.
|
|