Alabama 37 - Ball State 6

Here are some thoughts and some numbers from the opener.

As I have continued to play and get familiar with the game again (I shelved NCAA 08 pretty quick last year) I am starting to beat the AI consistently on AA lvl. I do not want to radically alter AA sliders because some sliders do not do what they should -- specifically QB Accuracy. I am not lowering my Acc to 30 which will prevent my QB from throwing it over 40 yards in the air.

And since I usually play on Heisman anyway, that's where the Ball St Dynasty will be. Heisman with some slider tweaks.

37-6 was the result. Here's a quick stat line:

Ball State:

QB 26/41 223 0-2 This is Nate Davis, a future NFL draft pick and a damn good college QB. He's very good in this game, too.(87 OVR with a 92/93 Acc/Arm Str) The BState receivers? Well...5 drops. Ah well.

HB: 17 carries 61 yards

Bama:
QB: 19/31 184 2-0 -- A very efficient game. The deep passes: they tried two. Both around 25-30 yards in the air. One worked, one didn't. This was with play aggressive at (I think 85%)

I do not know if the playcalling at 85% did this, but I really hate how often the AI goes for it on 4th down. 2nd quarter and you are up 23-6 and you have it 4th and 4 on the opponent's 9 yard line. What do you do? Me? I'm kicking the FG. Saban flipped me off from the sideline and called a toss sweep.

HB: 21 carries 177 yards with a long of 50. Yikes. Now, the Ball State defense is BAD. The offense is actually quite good, but man -- nothing but 70s and a few 60s on defense.

I still think this works best by just controlling one defender and not switching like mad. The reason I say this is because the AI when running the ball just flat out panics when it gets near the sideline. I saw 3 Ghost Jukes in this game, and one was looked hilarious. If you never see these...your copy is just different than mine.

I expect to lose big to Bama, even though Ball State did take Nebraska to the mat last year (41-40). I was in the red zone three times and failed to score.

Another item of note: I fumbled the ball and now that I think about it the only time I have seen a fumble is on Heisman. I have yet to fumble on AA lvl.

You are also going to have to tweak (heavily IMO) the auto subs. On default players only get tired and need a break if you completely hammer them over and over again. If you want to be forced into using backup RBs and DTs, etc, this will need to be changed. Changed to what...I'm not sure just yet.

So, with that ass kicking out of the way let's see how the Cards bounce back against a lesser team. Take us to the MAC tirle Nate!