I think it says something about the quality of a feature such as “Ask Corso” when the people that use the feature are typically people who are trying to make the game harder for themselves. The play selection is generally considered so rotten that its most effective use is to water down play calling tendencies to be less effective. Of course, the counterpoint to that argument is that people should know their playbooks well enough to use all the plays, including the ones that Corso might call when the player wouldn’t. That is usually where I come out on that one; but that truly is an argument for another day.

It’s high time we hand Corso his walking papers, at least when it comes to the play calling aspect. Since the feature was only marginally useful in the first place, it’s time to replace the feature with something relatively similar that can use the same basic programming, but at the same add a new level of depth. It’s time to add offensive and defensive coordinators.

While reading Lindy’s college preseason magazine today (their best work yet, and easily the best college football magazine I’ve read this year), I stumbled across an article about Charlie Weis of Notre Dame, and how he has “given up” play calling duties this year. Of course, the article quickly mentioned that in the case of recent second-and-one situations, Weis gave the offensive coordinator a list of three plays he could call during a spring scrimmage. For the sake of clarification and hopefully half-decent journalism, I’ll mention that it wasn’t clear if those three plays were the only plays the coordinator could call. It might have just been suggestions. Either way, the obvious idea popped into my head.

"I dare say that among the hardcore NCAA gamers, this feature won’t see the light of day in NCAA Football 09."

What if we replaced “Ask Corso” with an offensive or defensive coordinator that calls plays from a list that you, the head coach, have selected for different situations? That would be bitchin', wouldn’t it? This would be incredibly easy to implement. Just like with the customizable head coach in dynasty mode, you should get to name the coordinators and select their faces from a group of coach faces, then go through various situations like third-and-long, and first-and-10, and select plays that the offensive coordinator can choose from in any circumstance. In addition to special situations, there should be main groups with names like featured plays, favorite runs, favorite pass plays, or something along those lines that the coordinator could call in normal circumstances.

Taking it a little further, the user could add play calling tendencies to the coordinator so that he would choose the more daring plays you’ve selected for him based on his preferences. If you don’t like the play suggestion in a certain case, the other choices that you have selected for that exact situation will be available next to the chosen play. It would be a great way to help gamers customize their playbook without the use of audibles, which can sometimes be a chore to memorize.

Corso, we need you to focus on the broadcast booth.

If this were added to the game, there would also need to be an option in the menu somewhere to make this method of play calling the default method -- so the gamer wouldn’t even have to click the “Ask OC” button to get the suggested play.

The biggest reason why Corso needs to go is the advent of online dynasty. More players will be participating online, where they won’t be looking to make the game harder for themselves. They’ll be looking to win. Therefore, they’ll have little use for the Schooner. They’ll be going to the lab early and often, looking for every edge to make sure that they win each non-user game and compete as well as possible against other users. I dare say that among the hardcore NCAA gamers, this feature won’t see the light of day in NCAA Football 09.

Just in case you would miss Lee’s play calling, look at the bright side: Maybe this would allow the Sunshine Schooner to get into the studio and lay down a few more lines of dialogue for NCAA Football 2010.