What can Madden 22's focus on franchise mean for EA College Football?

[canes21]

This week was franchise week for Madden. We just got a deep dive today after seeing a trailer, multiple videos, and podcats earlier in the week showing off all of the new additions. Most additions sound awesome and are a great foundation for EA to build on and turn the mode into something special.

EA has to finally continue building on something. Their tendency to add something and forget about it before scrapping it 3 years later needs to end now. They have so many great additions this year that if expanded over a couple of years could really be revolutionary stuff for the mode if implemented well.

What I want to talk about is what these new additions could mean for the college football series. What additions would really translate well into the series now? What additions could hint towards what we may see in the series? What additions could be expanded on even more in the college game?

Since I am the OP I'll obviously start. I have a tendency to type 500 words when 25 would have sufficed. This long intro already shows I like to type too much. With that said, I'll try to stay as brief as I personally can.

My favorite parts of football are the X's and O's, the grind, and the different ways coaches and teams approach the game. Madden is finally starting to dive into those areas this year. That gives me hope that the college football series will have a similar approach.

The first thing I like seeing is the new coaching staffs in Madden. We had these in NCAA 14 and they were done okay. It seems Madden is expanding on these more than what NCAA 14 had with much larger coaching trees. I do believe we will see these staffs appear in the college game (CFB from now on) like in the past and much more expanded on like Madden is doing.

This will give teams more personality in dynasty mode. I do hope they expand on it and have coaches have preferences. Some coaches really prefer playing upperclassmen over the young bucks unless the young kid is truly a star. Other coaches don't care and play whoever looks to be the best. I hope this can be represented in the CFB game as that will really bring the mode to life and keep it dynamic.

I also like that in Madden you can hire and hire your staff. This was a glaring missing feature in the carousel in 14. I expect the carousel to return in the CFB game and I don't see how we don't have the ability to hire and fire our coordinators this time around which will be a big improvement over the old carousel. All EA needs to do with that is add staff budgets so we can make attempts at keeping our assistant coaches who have become hot commodities. Do I spend extra bucks to keep my elite OC around at the expense of being weaker somewhere else on staff or having a lower budget somewhere else? Those are fun decisions to keep a mode fresh.

The next thing I want to tackle is the grind of football. It's no secret that football is tough on the body. This was never represented well in any EA football game. This year in Madden there is season long fatigue that represents that grind. This has got to make it over to the CFB game. It just has to EA.

Thursday night games, bye weeks, etc. These are all things that have big impacts on the college game. Going on the road on short rest is tough and many great teams lose in these situations because of how tough it is. EA never represented this. Every game your team was full energy and no game was made more difficult than the other. This system can change that drastically. EA even added in Madden where your team recovers less during road trips to represent the travel aspect. This gives teams a passive home advantage that is real, but never represented in video games. Get this into the CFB and now.

Players now need to be rested, you can't run a player into the ground with nearly no consequences now. This will be huge in the CFB game where you can't just run your RB1 40 times a game anymore. He'll be dead by week 3 with the new system which is a huge positive for the dynasty mode as it rewards depth, something that hardly mattered before. It rewards strategy which is always a plus. It gives the mode life which is always a huge plus.

The last part I want to touch on is the X's and O's and game planning. Madden is finally doing weekly prep in a good way. You scout the opponent and yourself and make a gameplan based on that. You choose how hard to your players with various risks and rewards tied to each level. It can be argued that game planning and practicing is even more important at the college game than the pro game and this system has got to make it to the CFB game as well.

Got a huge game against a top 10 rival coming up? Better gameplan the best you can. Do you want to practice hard to really hone in that gameplan or do you want to go light and really make sure your team is rested and healthy for the big game Saturday night? These are big decisions that are fun to make, a big part of the real game, but have never been represented before.

Is it week 5, you don't have a bye week for 2 more weeks, and you have a big game coming up after this next game? Do you try and take it easy in practice and make it a point to rotate players this next game so they are fresh for the big game?

Do you have a big game and then a bye week so you go hard in practice risking some fatigue and injury chances, but knowing you will be well prepared for the big game and will get a bye week for extra rest afterwards?

Do you scout Alabama and see they have no weakness so you have to figure out if you want to try and simply do what you do best and see if it works? Or do you gameplan around trying something different to throw them off and hope the element of surprise in that first half before halftime adjustments are made is enough to give you a chance late in the game?

Maybe your identity is a running team, but you set up an intermediate passing attack gameplan and Bama doesn't prepare for it. You jump out and score 21 in the 1st half and are down 21-24 at the half. You're in it and have a chance to pull off the upset.

What do you do at halftime? Keep the same gameplan knowing they may be adjusting as well? Do you change your focus to run in the 2nd half and slow the game down while trying to really wear their defense down because they haven't had a bye week yet and its week 6?

These are decisions that would be awesome to finally make. What if you do decide to run it, but Bama is prepared and you lose 48-28? What if you stick with passing it and they adjust and you lose 48-21? How awesome does it sound to be able to gameplan now, know the CPU is doing the same, and knowing you can either stick to your guns and be who you are or actually do things to catch the CPU off guard? How awesome is it to know they also have the ability at halftime to analyze the game and make adjustments just like you?

These features just have to come to the CFB game. If they do and they work then this game has potential already to be the best college football game of all time. These new franchise additions to Madden really do point towards Dynasty mode being full of depth and dynamic gameplay if they make it over to the CFB game from Madden.

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[jkits]

My guy Canes with an awesome post!..I'm on the same wave bro. All the individual strategies across the college football landscape will be great. The "game within the game" has always been paramount for a team's success, especially football.

The chess game of managing coach skills & weekly practice/game planing strategy, and player development, health & composure should show the difference between elite and cupcake.

I will add that an addition of being able to upgrade program facilities, and maybe a physician and a strength & conditioning coach would be great for hedging longterm wear & tear.

If all the above mentioned is included it will be a beauty to behold!

[canes21]

Yes sir. Add in facilities and budgets with all of that and dynasty mode could be phenomenal. An Alabama could go on and practice hard, have the staff and facilities to minimize wear and go into a big matchup and lay it all out on the line. They'd be able to recover and be in a good spot the next week relatively speaking.

Another team may not have the medical staff or facilities and that game may have am effect on them the next 3 weeks still. They may have injuries linger, guys remain fatigued and worn out, etc.

A real war of attrition would be present which is a huge part of the sport in real life and the big boys are better equipped to fight it because they have the depth, staff, and facilities to do so. Smaller guys don't always have all 3 of those things. Even plenty of big boy schools only have 2 of the 3 most often. Only the elite handful of teams each year have all 3.

I'd love to see that represented in the game finally. Man, imaging the impacts staffs could have on all of this is making my brain go crazy.

A program like Bama could really have more impactful gameplans, more productive practices, etc. They're basically the rich and they only get richer each year. I'd love to see that represented in the game. Real dynasties could be created when a program has the facilities, the staff, and the roster to do real damage. Then all it takes is to lose a coach here, a coach there, and have some small holes appear in the roster and the dynasty is over.

If you want even more difficulty and realism added to the mode. Imagine being Auburn at the end of the year for example. Your team is fatigued, they're hurt, contributors are missing, and you got Bama. You have some players that can match up, but not your entire team. Meanwhile Bama has the depth, the coaching staff, the facilities that have them not as worn down, they're healthier, and they're ready to go.

Not only are you already outmatched from a ratings standpoint, but your depth can't rival theirs and your team has less energy than their team before the first snap.

How hard would it be to stay in that game? How good would the elite teams finally feel to play against? You're splitting carries and rotating WRs like crazy because your team is tired. Bama has their workhorse back just taking carry after carry wearing down your already depleted defense down.

You keep it a 10 point game going into the 4th, but your team is drained all the while Bama starts rotating in guys that are still 85+ overall and have full energy. Your team can't compete and your 10 point deficit is a 24 point loss because your team just ran out of gas.

It sounds amazing and EA has given themselves the tools now to give us that experience.

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[NBA2kMyGM]

I hope the franchise takes more of a "repeat the NCAA 14 model" than "port the Madden model."

NCAA has just always been a superior game.

[canes21]

Quote: Originally Posted by NBA2kMyGM

I hope the franchise takes more of a "repeat the NCAA 14 model" than "port the Madden model." NCAA has just always been a superior game.

I've seen similar remarks around this forum and reddit and I don't understand where it is coming from. NCAA 14 had a very shallow dynasty mode, one that this site blasted the EA dev team for not improving much up til 14.

We had to beg for neutral site games and finally got them. We had to beg for a coaching carousel and got a barebones one that doesn't work the best.

There were no medical redshirts. There was no type of practice mechanic be it mini games or drills that one could play. The discipline side of the game was removed. Recruiting was streamlined and simplified way too much from 13 and prior.

You literally played your games week to week, did the streamlined recruiting, and that was literally all you did each week. There was nothing else the game had.

I get that the nature of the quick roster turnover made for the mode to have a natural advantage of Madden that kept it fun and interesting. The atmosphere in each game was fun as was the traditions and locations you saw, but the actual dynasty mode feature set was severely lacking and Madden has had more depth in its franchise mode for some years now than what NCAA 14 ever had.

[illwill10]

Quote: Originally Posted by canes21

I've seen similar remarks around this forum and reddit and I don't understand where it is coming from. NCAA 14 had a very shallow dynasty mode, one that this site blasted the EA dev team for not improving much up til 14. We had to beg for neutral site games and finally got them. We had to beg for a coaching carousel and got a barebones one that doesn't work the best. There were no medical redshirts. There was no type of practice mechanic be it mini games or drills that one could play. The discipline side of the game was removed. Recruiting was streamlined and simplified way too much from 13 and prior. You literally played your games week to week, did the streamlined recruiting, and that was literally all you did each week. There was nothing else the game had. I get that the nature of the quick roster turnover made for the mode to have a natural advantage of Madden that kept it fun and interesting. The atmosphere in each game was fun as was the traditions and locations you saw, but the actual dynasty mode feature set was severely lacking and Madden has had more depth in its franchise mode for some years now than what NCAA 14 ever had.

Agreed.

I didn't like the streamlined approach of NCAA 14. I didn't realize that I never played NCAA 14 before I bought it last year. I think that was a year, I didn't play games. So I still had NCAA 13 on my brain when I played. I didn't like the over simplified Recruiting. I liked the phone calls, setting times for phone calls, working pitches. It was way too simple in NCAA 14. It would be nice to have custom Recruiting classes. I'm sure there will be diehards who would make full classes. There were way too many similar players. Progression only at end of season, and when you got to a certain point, everyone would go +5. Then every Powerhouse would be full of 90+ OVR players throughout roster with 90+ speed. It's one thing when a team switches and schemes, but they have to adjust to how they called plays. So many times, I would face a no huddle spread option team with a QB with a 50-65 speed. And for reason, that slow QB would gash up my defense because defense would always collapse on RBs.


They need to go back to the traditional in depth dynasty. If you want it simple enough for beginners, then that's why you have toggle options or have it set to auto. With how everything will turn out with NIL, I'm sure by time the game comes up, the game will have real player info. I just hope the NIL laws allow Group Licensing, so it'll be an easier process. But, I don't want them to go in depth with actually scanning players. That would take way too resources. Just do what they did before, which got them in trouble in the first place lol. Which is, have real player bio and find a close enough looking avatar.