NCAA 2007 football blues - ennepetal's Blog

ennepetal's Blog

NCAA 2007 football blues

Posted on April 5, 2009 at 10:21 PM.

(0)

I broke in the new machine by spending most of the day trying to get my datel transfer cable and xplorer to work so I could have names on the back of the jerseys.

It was quite the task, but ultimately, I succeeded.

Then, I did some research on sliders as I never really dig the games right out of the box. I came up with Playmakers' AA sliders from that season. I usually play on Varsity due to my general lack of skill, but since those seemed to be pretty good, I figured I was playing an older game and it wouldn't hurt for me to try to elevate my play.

Turns out I have a long way to go.

My new method for playing sports games in dynasty/career-style modes is to play a different subset of games each season. That way, I get a balance of administrative work with the game play, while still getting through seasons with the limited time I have to actually play. For college games, I've settled on the following:

Season 1: Play only home conference games
Season 2: Play only away conference games
Season 3: Play only home non-conference games
Season 4: Play only away non-conference games

Of course, I do play all post-season games as well. Also, if I change teams/jobs, I start over at with the home conference games.

I may need to rework this a bit. I remember getting to my third season with a school at which I'd had little/no success (on CH2k6 when I had to fire up the original Xbox in the absence of the stolen 360) and ended up getting fired after playing just one game, as the school had a very thin home non-conference slate.

Anyhow, I decided to play as my alma mater: Central Michigan.

The first game of the season was a home game against Boston College. That game, in real life, has a special place for me. The Chippewas did lose that game, but the game was on my birthday and I attended the game with the woman who later became my wife. Additionally, we can look back on that game and see that we got to see "Matty Ice" in person during his collegiate career, as well as the debut of Dan LeFevour, who has been the largest contributor to the back-to-back MAC titles and carries the hopes of Chippewa nation that his senior year will be something special (and that he stays healthy).

Yeah, I had to play this one.

What I had forgotten in the years since I played this game regularly was the momentum thing and how much I assume it impacts the game. That is, it definitely seems like once the momentum is fully on the side of the opponent, turnovers come quicker and tackling gets a LOT harder.

In real life, the Chips fell behind early, but made a comeback to get within a score and had the ball late in the fouth. We ended up losing by a touchdown.

With me controlling the game, it was a fifty-something to zero beatdown. The lone highlight of the game were the three blocked extra points. That was too squirrelly. I eventually just put the controller down at XPAs not wanting to skew that stat like that. Seemed cheap, but I don't know how to fix it with the sliders.

I played a few more games. One I won by a TD agains a conference bottom feeder. The other two were whipping somewhat like the BC game, except I actually scored some. Again, it seemed like things were good until the momentum meter swung in the visitors' favor, then all hell broke loose.

Although, what you're likely thinking is likely the real cause. I'm just not very good at these games.

I still love 'em.

One more game to finish the season. Already got a pair of 4-star commits. Central is on the rise!