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I know I was probably the last person to get their 2005 dynasty underway ... but man, oh man, was it worth the wait. For the geeks, here's how my first season started ...

The Falcons went to Norman and the crowd was relentless - the Stadium Pulse feature is incredible. Omar was a nervous wreck and we couldn't call an audible all game long. On the upside, Keon picked off White's third pass and that seemed to deflate the Sooners, who led only 3-0 at the half. They marched down field early in the third and promptly missed a field goal. The Falcon offense finally got moving, but we pooched a FG, too. Late in the third, we stumbled down field and Cole hauled in a short pass to give BG a 7-3 lead. The Sooners missed another FG and we ran out the clock!

I left SEMizzou on the schedule, which game me a chance to test out the playbook. Nice. The NIU game was tough, too. But the Falcons are off to a 6-0 start and have worked their way up to #22 heading into the home stretch (the Eastern Michigan Emus are next!). But what's it gonna take to get the Falcons on TV????

Other notes - Cole kicks it. Period! The three-headed monster of Pope-Stover-Lane has been impressive. I run behind Scott M. all the time. He's a road grader. Burkes is a non-stop disruption on defense.

A few suspensions have made things interesting, and I have to keep reminding myself to give the subs playing time (don't want anyone bolting up north after the season!).

Say, did anyone else add our freshman? I added enough to fill the roster, though I redshirted all of them, a luxury I'm guessing Coach Brandon will not be able to afford!

Man, I love this game!

I was able to squeak by Oklahoma 27-24 in double overtime,and I replaced SEM state with Utah at home F*** Urban Meyer, I beat Utah by like 20 points. I ended up going undefeated blowing out NIU (hopefully they are as bad in real life as they are in this game) I beat Marshall 37-0, and beat UT 28-14 in the glass bowl. I then beat Marshall by about 10 in Hunnington for the MAC Championship. I was put in the Rose Bowl and beat Ohio State. Omar won quaterback of the year and was second in the Heisman voting but he then bolted for the NFL draft along with Pope. Also seven MAC teams made bowls including Buffalo who went 6-5.

I must need to work on my skills!

I eeked out a 17-14 thriller in DeKalb. Omar got unhinged early and the Falcons were down 14-3 at the half. The turning point came early in the third when Carswell absolutely decapitated a WR crossing the middle which led to an interception by Tim Arnold who was tackled inside the 5. Pope punched it in from there. A long drive in the fourth produced the go-ahead score and the defense needed a heart-thumping stand in the final moments to keep the Huskies out of field goal range.

Well I only played this season on Varsity mode, they are probaly better on All-Amer or Heisman level. Also had alot of academic infractions on my team early on but they went away as the season went on. Btw they have us starting the '05 season at Michigan, are we going to play in the big house in the near future in real life???

Oh, yeah. Difficulty level is everything!

I think our non-conf. sked next year includes a trip to Boise State and a "home" game against Wisconsin (at Cleveland Browns stadium) and a home game against Temple. Nationalchamps.net has Michigan on the schedule for 2005, but that's pretty much out of date.

I think the Wisconsin game is replacing the Michigan game. And now Boise St. is replacing Wyoming. Still I thought it was amazing that they actually had our OOC schedule correct for next season (@scUM, Temple, @Wyoming). None of the other NCAA games ever had that going for them.

I started my dynasty on All American mode 0-4. I then won 7 straight and made the independence bowl where I beat Kansas St. to finish 8-4. I pulled in the #33 ranked recruiting class headlined by a ***** DE, and a couple **** players as well. Our backup OL guys are TERRIBLE though. Omar started this season on the preseason heisman watch list, and Pope is a 91 now. They are doing well, but it is tough behind a line of bad players, they gave our current backups no credit, so now that they're starters they are still not good. On the plus side UT had a terrible season and dropped to a ** prestige school (they, along with Marshall, start as the only *** MAC schools), and I gained a star to get to ***. Losing Keon Newson is killing my DBs as well, as the backup DBs are about as bad as the backup OL is. My DL, however, is absolutely terrorizing. The true frosh I got moved Parks to backup duty, which should say something!

Next year I'm looking for a big recruiting class. I need OL, WR, RB, DB, and LB. Pretty much everything! LOL

I must say the recruiting on this game is a million times better than year's past. There are only like 10-20 ***** guys this year, which is more inline with real life. Last year there were like 80 ***** guys which meant that you had killer team in just 2 years. It might take awhile to build a truly dominant program in this game...I like that

All in all it's a fantastic game!

hammb wrote:I must say the recruiting on this game is a million times better than year's past. There are only like 10-20 ***** guys this year, which is more inline with real life. Last year there were like 80 ***** guys which meant that you had killer team in just 2 years. It might take awhile to build a truly dominant program in this game...I like that

So what words are being edited out??? Just curious...

Grant:

I think he's talking about the "stars" assigned to each player to describe their talent. BG starts as a two-star program. All HS recruits are given stars. Blue-chippers are usually 5-star.

I really can't wait to finish my first season and start recruiting. I think I put one or two of our real OL recruits into the game, so maybe I'll be able to build a stronger OL than Hamm!

Man, I love this game!!! Can't wait to take on the Emus!

As I posted earlier, I have been forbidden by the wife from purchasing 2005 for my son, I , uh, I mean he is stuck playing 2004 yet. Anyway, I just finished a 12 year contract where I won 10 National Championships, including an 84 game winning streak at one time. So after year 12 (I won another National Championship btw), My contract was not renewed for not meeting the schools goals. BG wins 10 out of 12 championsips and that is not good enough? Guess once you get good, it is like all other BCS programs, win or your out!

We were playing 2003 until two weeks ago! And the newest Madden we have features Duante Culpepper on the cover.

Oooh, forgot to mention that I love the fact that players vary from week to week. Suisham was off his game against Ohio and could barely keep the kickoffs in bounds! I love severe directional kicking on kickoffs, so this really affected my strategy.

I need to play this game more. *cough* maybe I feel a *cough* sick day coming on *cough*

hammb wrote:
I must say the recruiting on this game is a million times better than year's past. There are only like 10-20 ***** guys this year, which is more inline with real life. Last year there were like 80 ***** guys which meant that you had killer team in just 2 years. It might take awhile to build a truly dominant program in this game...I like that

I like that the **** and ***** recruits can't come in and dominate in their freshman year, either. In last year's game, I had a quarterback to tight end combo that had 4,000 yards passing and 1,200 yards receiving in their freshman year. This year, my freshman tight end (a ****) drops everything and gets rattled when a defensive end looks at him and growls.

I'm up to 5-1 in season #2 and #23 in the country. I went 8-5 in year one with 2 losses vs. NIU and a couple heartbreakers. I have benched PJ and BJ in favor of Raishaun Stover. Can't wait for year #3 with Omar and Raishaun back for a National Title run.

Just to make it a little worse for me, last week I got a gift card to Best Buy for my birthday. First thing my wife says "NO VIDEO OR COMPUTER GAMES!"

Warthog wrote:Just to make it a little worse for me, last week I got a gift card to Best Buy for my birthday. First thing my wife says "NO VIDEO OR COMPUTER GAMES!"

Then you showed her who's boss and bought the game anyway right!?!

Warthog:

Come out east and Noah (and I) will let you play to your heart's content!

I opened the season throwing for exactly 600 yards on Oklahoma. Omar ran for over 100 as did Pope. I was playing 5 minute quarters on All-American the whole season but was amazed by BG's talent in the game. Magner had over 2000 yards receiving and 32 TDs. Sharon was almost equal. Pope ran for 1114 and led HBs in TDs with 27. Burkes ended the year with 27 sacks and 114 tackles. I found doing Nickel Defense with the inside blitz works great for getting to the QB. Omar ended up with 5024 yards passing and 1012 rushing. 85 total Tds!! Half way through the season Omar started getting Heisman hype and was the #1 probable. He lost it to West Virgina's HB who only rushed for 1427 yards and 25 Tds. I went undefeated and won the National Championship. The great part was that I was rated 3rd in the BCS but still got to play OSU for the championship. 1st place and 3rd place teams playing for the championship...never seen that before I am still a little bitter about Omar not receiving the Heisman but I am sure he will get it this year!

I love the new feature of being able to talk your players back into returning. It may have been in 2004 but I went from 2003 to 2005 so I am not too sure on that. Anyways, I love the game and the create-a-sign I can't get enough of. I have Tuck Foledo signs all over