Take two cheap recruits at position, convert players, cut slot holders

We went 9-5, ranked #28, losing in the 1st round of the playoffs.

Recruiting class (7 FR; 2 4-stars) was ranked #17 by GUESS, full roster was ranked #18 (down from #9). Recruiting was very comfortable for me. Since I had already filled all positions, I could just grab all VH potential players I saw, regardlesse of position. ,-). Roster now has 10 RB (RS), 10 OL (RS), 9 DL, 10 LB (RS) , 9 DB, P plus WR and TE as result of my blunder last season..

What a terrible season! Finished ranked #29, lost the first 3 non-conference games to SIMAI coached teams (and don't ask me why, I really don't know) and the 2 games vs. human coached conference teams, going 8-5 in the regular season, then got slaughtered by the #2 ranked team. Am at a loss of words.

dont mess around. have 2 qbs for the wishbone at all times. redshirt them. dont upset the form iq gods, or they will take everything from you.

edit : just take high work ethic high gpa guys that nobody else wants and get them cheap.

Posted by papachooby on 7/25/2022 5:34:00 PM (view original):
dont mess around. have 2 qbs for the wishbone at all times. redshirt them. dont upset the form iq gods, or they will take everything from you.

edit : just take high work ethic high gpa guys that nobody else wants and get them cheap.

For what purpose? It all depends on what you want to do with said QB.

no way. if you have an out of position qb handing off, you will suffer the wrath of the form iq gods. go ahead and try it if you want to, but don't say i didn't warn you. the better your team is, the more heartbreaking the results will be when you don't win that chip you're after. the form iq gods don't play; nor should you.

Posted by papachooby on 7/30/2022 11:09:00 PM (view original):
no way. if you have an out of position qb handing off, you will suffer the wrath of the form iq gods. go ahead and try it if you want to, but don't say i didn't warn you. the better your team is, the more heartbreaking the results will be when you don't win that chip you're after. the form iq gods don't play; nor should you.

How can you tell this? I only have one team now, but when I had multiple teams, I would say that there is no appreciable difference between a wishbone without a real QB (just handing off) and any other team. I only run WB in Heisman (no QB/WR/TE on the roster) but in Wilkinson I ran conventional Pro Set.

I can tell because ive seen teams, myself and others, try those kinds of things and underperform when there isnt a huge talent gap. I.e. tough ooc game early on, division/conference rival, CC, playoffs. The games that matter you come up short more often than not. Furthermore, have a qb because you should never run 100% of the time. 3rd and more than 9, and 4th and more than 4 always throw. Very, very, rare that a run on 3rd and 10 is the right thing to do, and will never be the right thing to do on 4th and 5. Unless the goal is something other than winning.

I think we are deep enough into the experiment that we can definitively answer yes.

The whole point of the experiments Tilt and Harris are running is to try to win without passing the ball. All bone, all run, all the time; you know what's coming try to stop it. I doubt either of them think running the ball is the correct/highest % call in a lot of situations, but that's the point, run it anyway. In general, yes, even if you want to install a very run heavy offense you should still have a QB; however, in this very specific circumstance, having a QB on the roster is irrelevant since they do not effect run plays at all.

Posted by BenKallenbac on 8/1/2022 1:28:00 AM (view original):
The whole point of the experiments Tilt and Harris are running is to try to win without passing the ball. All bone, all run, all the time; you know what's coming try to stop it. I doubt either of them think running the ball is the correct/highest % call in a lot of situations, but that's the point, run it anyway. In general, yes, even if you want to install a very run heavy offense you should still have a QB; however, in this very specific circumstance, having a QB on the roster is irrelevant since they do not effect run plays at all.

BINGO! This discussion ties out directly to the EXPERIMENTS thread. There are some things that can be exploited when doing what we are doing, and there are some VERY SIGNIFICANT downsides. So, do you NEED a QB to run the bone? Well, that depends on what you want to do. One must decide if the advantages are worth the disadvantages.

I only run the Bone in Heisman, not in other worlds. I started running it my first season in Heisman (about 10 or 11 years ago under the OLD engine) on a bit of a lark. Had some unexpected success with it at D3, took it to D2, had MORE success, took it to D1AA with even MORE success.....But the lesson I learned was that Bone was most effective when you RUN THE BALL all the time. You get more opportunities to "break the big one".

Under the old engine, there were only a few of us running the Bone. Me, Katzphang, and maybe sjurat are the ones I remember. You would find some people running it PART TIME for short yardage. So, for me, it was fun to be different and to win some games that no one thought you could win. My formula was: 60 runs OR 300 yards....and I win the game. That was almost always true.

Then, we get the new engine...and they really dialed down the bone IMO. My championship caliber D1AA team went from something like 6 ypc one season to 3 ypc the next....it was horrible. Fortunately, I had top talent and then won back to back NCs. After moving up to D1A, I was burned out and said to hell with it and took a season or two off.

A few seasons later, I came back with a determination to figure out the Bone. Meanwhile, they had tweaked the Bone a bit (along with some other formations) and it was more competitive (still a little off IMO). With the new controls available, I could "run clock", 100% run, etc, etc.....and I figured I'd give this a try. I started this experiment in one of the other worlds to figure out the ins/outs of no QB/WR/TE. Learned a few things and freaked out a few people along the way! LOL

Last season in Heisman D2 I finished #3 at 16-1 which was my 4th season back in a total rebuild (picked up a SIM and also needed to implement my Bone approach). There are many teams running the Bone now....some are chucking the rock all over the place, some are mixed, some are running almost all the time.

I am intent on winning a NC with my approach, but I doubt it will happen. I'm not a good enough recruiter. But, I have enjoyed making a few coaches shake their heads in disgust as they see me ride into town on my "one trick pony", and leave with a win strapped to my saddle. Like you said.....they know what's coming. Try to stop it. 3rd and 23.......Yep, run up the middle.....might get -3 yds, or it might....just might....be a 72yd TD. Either way, I'm burning clock and you can't score if you don't have the ball.

Have Faith in the Bone.

Back in the day when I was trying the 'Bone only offense, I tried many different methods for short periods. Never went the no QB route because many times I had an all pass, or mixed run/pass along with an all run formation. What frustrated me was that I couldn't use a RB or a good rushing QB to run the ball from the QB position and not set all three RB or the remaining two RB set to block. Or even a blocking choice for WR. It always seemed that some players just stood around, not blocking and not carrying the ball.

Posted by katzphang88 on 8/3/2022 4:28:00 PM (view original):
Back in the day when I was trying the 'Bone only offense, I tried many different methods for short periods. Never went the no QB route because many times I had an all pass, or mixed run/pass along with an all run formation. What frustrated me was that I couldn't use a RB or a good rushing QB to run the ball from the QB position and not set all three RB or the remaining two RB set to block. Or even a blocking choice for WR. It always seemed that some players just stood around, not blocking and not carrying the ball.

I actually "stumbled" onto something this past season that was the result of a major gameplanning screwup on my part.. I'm going to expand my experiment a little bit and see what happens.

I was just putting my 2 cents in. Dont let it discourage you from experimenting, because thats really the only thing you should trust. People can say whatever, but who you gonna believe? Them or your lyin eyes. The best way to learn is to do.