Why Realistic Fatigue Makes 85 Man Rosters Even More Important

[hurricanefootball4]

The addition of fatigue to the gameplay of NCAA Football 14 will make team depth more important than ever. No longer will you be able to run no huddle offense and mash on the sprint with the same players all game long.

This will add an element of strategy to the game that has been largely absent in previous version. It will matter how many formation packages your starting running back is in, how many snaps he gets, and whether or not you want to have him run back kicks on special teams.

This also amplifies the importance of team depth, which naturally ties into the total number of players the game will allow you to roster.

In real life NCAA Football teams are allowed to have 105 man rosters, 85 of which can be on scholarship. Currently, NCAA Football the game allows you to roster only 70 players (a full 35 less than in real life). While I understand not accounting for the 20 available spots for walk-ons, having the full 85 man scholarship number has become a necessity for realism which will only be amplified by the addition of realistic fatigue.

Currently, a lot of players that would be redshirted in real life you have to cut in NCAA Football the game due to the roster limitations. A big part of coaching is looking 2-3 years down the road and that freshman that you had to cut might not have made a difference now, but would have made a difference in the future. Coaching college football is as much about roster management and development as it is about X's and O's.

I hold out hope that 85 man rosters has made it into NCAA Football 14, but if not I want to continue to stress why this is important for a realistic football game. This is also an issue that impacts all teams in the game, and not something that only impacts one team (uniform, stadium, entrance, etc).

What do you think about the importance of 85 man rosters and why? Will realistic fatigue change how you manage your roster?

[Ice_Cold345]

I hope it does, because I love that it makes having a deep team actually a good thing, because teams will often be called "deep" and usually are good (granted that's normally in basketball but it can apply to football.) It makes you want to spread the ball around when passing (which I already do, I rarely have 8+ reception guys) and running becomes more strategic in having a two or three back system. It also lends a hand to more of a chance to see a "Smash and Dash" attack that hopefully the Force Impact helps with along with the fatigue.

[TajDeni]

honest question.

since starters barely come out the game now; why couldnt this be accomplished with the current 70 man roster.

i know 85 is accurate to real life, however dont you find that folks are already over-recruiting?

in ncaa12, after i won a national championship, my backups backups were in the high 70's to 80's and they were most likely freshman.

so if the games goes to 85-man roster; do you have any addition suggestions to offset over-recruiting? or having 3+ layers of 80-rated players?

[Bamanutt]

Quote: Originally Posted by TajDeni

honest question. since starters barely come out the game now; why couldnt this be accomplished with the current 70 man roster. i know 85 is accurate to real life, however dont you find that folks are already over-recruiting? in ncaa12, after i won a national championship, my backups backups were in the high 70's to 80's and they were most likely freshman. so if the games goes to 85-man roster; do you have any addition suggestions to offset over-recruiting? or having 3+ layers of 80-rated players?

Good question IMO, but the simple & hard answer is making attributes matter, & reducing the overall number of elite level prospects. Year to year progression has to work effectively. I mean it's rare that a 4-5* recruit will come in & start & have a major impact over a senior 3 year starter even if that starter was a 3* when recruited. He has 3 years with the playbook(unless coaches changed or playbook changed) plus 3 years of college weight & nutrition programs that will most likely in all but the rarest of cases put that lower rated player ahead of the stud recruit. Details like these need to be fixed &BALANCED so that we can fully appreciate the 85 man roster.

FYI, I'd so love it if a walk on made it & had an impact at say BAMA,LSU,USC, or any other major program & the game not only was aware but the announcers & newspaper reports gushed over it. When these types of details are in our games, we will be alot closer to having the NCAA football game I think we want. Jmo

[Bamanutt]

Quote: Originally Posted by TajDeni

honest question. since starters barely come out the game now; why couldnt this be accomplished with the current 70 man roster. i know 85 is accurate to real life, however dont you find that folks are already over-recruiting? in ncaa12, after i won a national championship, my backups backups were in the high 70's to 80's and they were most likely freshman. so if the games goes to 85-man roster; do you have any addition suggestions to offset over-recruiting? or having 3+ layers of 80-rated players?

Also fatigue has to be game wide, not just skill players that we mash "turbo" on.
Rarely do o-linemen or d-linemen play every single snap & never do the back ups play exactly like the starters. Drop off is a must between 1 st & 2nd stringers. ( it adds to the strategy of the game--coaching)

[WFColonel56]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bamanutt

Also fatigue has to be game wide, not just skill players that we mash "turbo" on. Rarely do o-linemen or d-linemen play every single snap & never do the back ups play exactly like the starters. Drop off is a must between 1 st & 2nd stringers. ( it adds to the strategy of the game--coaching)

This is false (well partially). OL usually plays every snap unless its a blowout.

[BA2929]

Quote: Originally Posted by WFColonel56

This is false (well partially). OL usually plays every snap unless its a blowout.

Yes, I've rarely seen a relatively close game where they take out anyone on the offensive line.

[hurricanefootball4]

You bring up a couple of good points so I want to make sure that I address them

Quote: Originally Posted by TajDeni

i know 85 is accurate to real life, however dont you find that folks are already over-recruiting?

I'm assuming that you're talking about over recruiting in game in NCAA Football. Only allowing us to roster 70 players actually encourages people to over recruit because you can't redshirt someone and let them take the time to develop. Because of the roster limitation you end up cutting someone you would otherwise keep. It's common for people to recruit 3 people of the same position knowing they will only keep 1 or 2 of them and just cutting the others.

Quote: Originally Posted by TajDeni

in ncaa12, after i won a national championship, my backups backups were in the high 70's to 80's and they were most likely freshman.

A key point to note here is that this is far less noticeable issue with a team that already has a high talent level and has the prestige to continue to bring in game-ready recruits. For instance, I've never really had an issue when playing as Miami because I can always recruit 70-80 overall game-ready players. The issues are when you have a 1-3 star program and really have to rely on redshirting and development over 3 years. In real life teams like Boise State stay competitive by recruiting 2 and 3 star guys, redshirting them, and then they see the field when they are a redshirt junior or senior. They know they can't compete with Alabama for the game-ready freshman, so they don't try to. It's difficult to do this in the game because of the roster limitation.

Quote: Originally Posted by TajDeni

so if the games goes to 85-man roster; do you have any addition suggestions to offset over-recruiting? or having 3+ layers of 80-rated players?

It would be relatively easy to implement some ways to stop over recruiting, here is how I personally would do it:

• In place of the "25" limit the number would show your number out of 85, so if you had 15 outgoing guys your number would be 70/85. If you had 25 outgoing seniors it would show 60/85.
• Some years your recruting classes would be bigger, some years they would be smaller - just like in real life
• You would be allowed to sign over 85, but your coach prestige/trust/promise factor would take a hit every time you cut someone.

Early entries and transfers would take place at the same time they do currently in NCAA Football and you would know then if you could add more guys to your class or not.