rabidsnowman

Central Michigan playing chess while the rest of us are playing checkers.

SEC Western Division: Alabama (10-1, 7-0) Eastern Division: Kentucky (11-0, 8-0) The loser of this game is still almost certainly a playoff team. Only a couple scenarios I can see where Bama loses this and falls far enough to miss the playoff, and UK is in no matter what, just like Florida State and Tulsa. So the SEC is virtually guaranteed 2 playoff teams apart from nearly all the top teams losing their conference championship games..

In hindsight with some things I've noticed, I think those who jumped straight into 5* battles are in a better spot than those like me who chose to build a bunch of 3 and 4 star recruits up slowly. I have a strategy of course, but if I had to do it over again, I'd definitely drop 20/week on 2 players, slow burn a few affinity players, and when those affinities triggered and signed, find some other unclaimed talent. There's an insane amount of unclaimed talent out there even now.

Excuse me what the fuck?

Where do you expect to be ranked? One quarter of the voters are ranking Tulsa ahead of UK.

People sleeping on our defense. Cooper McGough has put up 200+ yards rushing on every team except one. We let him have a hair over 50. EDIT: Georgia Tech replicated this feat this week.

Potential trap game Friday night for Florida State, but those Saturday Evening matchups....just insane. Tulsa at Appalachian State and then Wisconsin at Purdue. Going to be some damage in the top 10 for sure.

Thank you, whoever finally decided we should get a first place vote! I'll shut up about it now.

I think it makes more sense for the vote for Kent State than a pollster having UK at #19.

As we are very early in this sim, and we do not yet know how much information we will have in years 2-4, I am trying to keep all options available to me defensively. This means recruiting both for 3-4 and the 4-3. Certain positions are, of course, interchangeable, and talent often will win out over fit. For the most part, I try to look at "recruitable" positions as advantageous....for example, Ball Hawk CBs are going to be a premium, due to versatility and general desirability, and therefore harder to recruit than Zone CBs, for example. If I could find a way to work it out, I'd combine all of the less desirable archetypes into a defense that could be more easily recruited than the traditional 3-4 or 4-3. That said, the defensive overviews I've thought about: I have considered running a 3-4 with TWO run stopping ILBs on the interior, to really hammer home the run defense. I have considered running a 4-3 with dual coverage OLBs, pass rush DEs, pass rush DTs, and the best ILB money can buy. I have considered running a 3-4 built entirely around speed. I have considered running a 4-3 built entirely around coverage, with run stopping D-linemen, coverage LBs across the board, and a run stuffing safety. I have considered a 4-3 built entirely around stopping the run, with run stopping D-linemen, run stopping OLBs, and a run stopping ILB....trusting the entire pass defense to the secondary. Currently I am waiting and hoping we get more detailed information about player attributes, which will enable a much more customized 3-4 defense. I'm recruiting multiple DT and ILB just to be safe. Emphasis is front 7. We have to stop the run. Answered above. I look at my overall talent, and figure out which scheme I feel fits best, then plug the best players in. I plan 2-3 years ahead in recruiting and longer than that in scheme, but again, I don't know the info we'll have yet to make those plans around. Absolutely deliberate thought behind recruiting players to fit scheme, once I have decided on it.

Yup. Gotta play defense too.

It is my intention to build a run-first power offense, with the best O-line in the NCAA, and a rushing FB/power RB to chew up yards consistently, while having a QB capable of delivering the rock to my track star WR corps on deep passes every once in a while to capitalize on the defense selling out to stop my run. Ideally, I want to be nearly undefendable, and on the off chance you can sell out on the run and stop us, we beat you over the top 2-3 times a game and our defense keeps us competitive in those situations. My team was generated as a speed-heavy group on both sides of the ball. So the transition won't be immediate, but it'll be likely year 3-4 of the sim. Still not sure if I want to go 3-4 or 4-3 defensively, so for now I'm just grabbing talent and I'll wait and see how the meta shakes out, as to whether it's easier to recruit pass rushing DE and coverage OLB or run stopping DE and pass rushing OLB. Or better yet, if we get to see attributes of recruits on any level, which would make building a 3-4 much easier.

Don't worry, we won't forget about you Week 12.

Not complaining, but started the season ranked in the top 3, we've had how many different #1's so far? Haven't lost a game, but we haven't gotten a single first place vote yet. IDK. Voters see what they see, I guess. Bulletin board material.

South Carolina Gamecocks? More like the South Carolina Nogamecocks.

Vanderbilt? More like Vanderbroke.

Distinct lack of Kentucky on your chart.

At the risk of tooting my own horn, I think this metric fails to account for pass catching RBs, which drops us down noticeably considering I believe we have the best in the country.

I definitely like Rutgers' chances in that contest.

Did Alabama play even a single scrimmage?

Alabama probably should have more names on here. They have so much talent...

Too early to make a prediction like that, TBH. Also, other than Alabama, there's not a dramatic difference in talent for a lot of these teams. UK is very beatable, moreso than, say, TAMU. But UK is more explosive, so I guess the best way of explaining it is we have the best shot of anybody at beating Alabama, but half the teams in the SEC can beat us on a given Saturday. If I had to make a prediction right now it'd be UK and Alabama, but Tennessee and Georgia are both very real threats to play in that game. No matter what, though, everything goes through Alabama. They have two rosters worth of talent.

Virginia, hell of a way to open the season for both of us. See you in Lexington.