I have a question.

I see some teams putting up 70+ pts against nearly every team. When I look at them, they seem to be passing 90%+ of the time, and their passing depth appears to just be "M".

My question: what are these coaches doing? How is this so effective? I like to look at some of the dominant coaches and learn from them in this game, but I cannot figure out how these offenses are so good when game-planning against them should be easy.

Note: Ive played some of these teams, I've also just seen it as a 3rd party. Ive waited to ask this question a while as to not call anyone out. Please don't try to comb through my schedules to figure out whom Im talking about. Im just hoping to learn.

Greener , this is not real football. It is a sim run by an AI. And this sim favors passing over running.
Apologize if it seems I am talking down to you. Just trying to explain.

Posted by mojolad on 12/14/2023 10:08:00 AM (view original):
Greener , this is not real football. It is a sim run by an AI. And this sim favors passing over running.
Apologize if it seems I am talking down to you. Just trying to explain.

Yeah, I mean I am aware of this. The spirit of my question though is why some people with a predictable offense can go through defenses as if they're playing 100% run while other teams you cannot. If its just "the simulation" why wouldn't everyone go 100% pass and just throw for 600 yards? There is something unique that a select group of coaches are doing that I cannot figure out.

Formation IQ and player stats. SIM teams aren't really that good, so easily squished.

Thanks for asking this question! Following this post. Or if anyone wants to sitemail me some hints, that would work too :)

Since forever this game has not consistently rewarded coaches/teams who could accurately exploit the other team's weakness, offense or defense. Granted there are many settings in the formations to change a defensive gameplan setting of "Pass" to actually be a "Run" defense, or a run offense to be pass offense. Sims are clueless and predictable. That said, a constant medium pass offense or pass defense should be easily countered but is not always. Too many times a "Run" from the offense can result in a short or no gain by a defense playing "Pass - Medium". (just one example) You can win with any offense and any defense, but it is more about player attributes and FIQ vs game planning.

It is the way of the game. It could be much better and less "standardized" but now we will just have to live with most teams playing Pro/3-4. (Kudos to those who try other combos.)

I have used Nickel alone and 5-2 alone and were successful with both. Currently Im all in on 4-3 only cause its easier to recruit a balanced team rather than many db's or dl's. But I got a kick out of the 2 mentioned. Nickel I thought especially effective vs passing attacks.
Currently running 2 ND offenses, 1 Trips and 1 Pro Set. I like the variety .Each on its own team . Just 1 formation per team.

I've always believed there was a loophole. One of the game's insiders confirmed it when he left the game earlier in the year.

Ok. Im interested. What is the loophole ?

Conspiracies and loopholes aside, talent > gameplanning. If you have good enough players compared to the competition then the playcalling can be 100% predictable and still result in 70 point wins, especially vs. sims who are also predictable.

That predictable gameplanning only potentially becomes a issue vs. human-coached teams with comparable talent levels.

Loophole..... Jimmies and Joes > X's and O's

Posted by mojolad on 12/14/2023 10:23:00 PM (view original):
Ok. Im interested. What is the loophole ?

It was a recruiting loophole, not a game planning loophole. Majique and others confirmed that they could offer every recruit a sophomore start, then drop their team and get it back right away and never have to honor that promise. I don't think there are any game planning loopholes, although some guys claim to have figured out which DB's will cover which receivers under some circumstances, not exactly a loophole.

Thanks DeBeque. Didn't know what all the fuss was about.

1) the offensive settings can manipulate the defense into being out of "position". The method is not in line with what one would expect to see in an actual football game, hence it goes contrary to what a coach would be able to do in the real world. It's essentially mastering the ones and zeros of this digital game beyond what is logical for a football game. The result is consistent big chunk plays, regardless of quality of the offensive player with the ball. I don't know the specific details but again, I've seen the results.

So a jimmy and joes talent level doesn't matter in this scenario.

Never mind the 'magic moment' he talked about when recruiting where you didn't have to pay for your recruiting attempts.

I've played hundreds of online games. These type of things would cause an uproar on the forums to get to the bottom of. Here? Just a yawn. Nothing to see. No worries.

Unique among a gaming community.

Posted by realist9900 on 12/16/2023 3:05:00 PM (view original):

1) the offensive settings can manipulate the defense into being out of "position". The method is not in line with what one would expect to see in an actual football game, hence it goes contrary to what a coach would be able to do in the real world. It's essentially mastering the ones and zeros of this digital game beyond what is logical for a football game. The result is consistent big chunk plays, regardless of quality of the offensive player with the ball. I don't know the specific details but again, I've seen the results.

So a jimmy and joes talent level doesn't matter in this scenario.

Never mind the 'magic moment' he talked about when recruiting where you didn't have to pay for your recruiting attempts.

I've played hundreds of online games. These type of things would cause an uproar on the forums to get to the bottom of. Here? Just a yawn. Nothing to see. No worries.

Unique among a gaming community.

Missing a source and context, where did that information that you quoted come from?

FWIW GD is a small community and an even smaller amount of people read the forums - if it's a vague claim like the one above and there is no clear evidence, proof, or detail then the uproar you are searching for is going to be unlikely(not that I'm 100% ruling out some sort of issue, the game definitely isn't perfect).