joshuahuskers' East Carolina Pirates Athletics

[joshuahuskers]

Okay - this is the same concept I had with my Long Beach State dynasty about this time last year. I switched from that back to Wisconsin State, but my enthusiasm for Wisconsin State waned when I found out you can't mod NCAA 14 for the CFP. I switched the Nebraska, but lost interest 1.5 seasons in - so I'm trying the "full athletic program" dynasty again.

Unlike with Long Beach State, I wanted to pick a team already existing on NCAA 14, so I could mod for the playoff. A few thoughts I went through when I selected ECU:

• No Power Five conference schools. Even if they suck at all three sports, I want to go with a small or mid-major school, and potentially move them to a power conference later on. This will be primarily driven by if I have football success, as it is in the real world. Potential landing spots for ECU are the ACC or SEC (likely the SEC, as ECU would expand their geographic footprint), or I guess the Big 12 as they do whatever the hell they want and it'd give WVU a better travel partner.
• No schools from CA/FL/TX. I added this stipulation because it's too easy to recruit in-state talent to those schools. This eliminated a few I was thinking of, including UCF and San Diego State.
• No major history in any of Football/Basketball/Baseball. ECU has been okay in football, but nothing to write home about. Only two NCAA tourneys in hoops (none since 1993). Baseball is somewhat of an exception here - they've been very good as of late - 25 regional appearances and 3 supers, but they've never been to the CWS, so that makes it acceptable to me.
• Prefer a team that already exists in MVP 07. This eliminated several schools. Not a deal-breaker, but the create a school on MVP isn't great. Bonus if their stadium is in MVP 07 (ECU's is).
• That's it. Others considered: Tulane, Hawaii, Middle Tennesee

The game summaries for this will likely just be a picture of the box score off my TV screen taken with my phone, so don't expect anything fancy. I'm not going to keep as detailed of stats/season summaries for this as I have dynasties in the past. Hopefully this sticks for a while, but my Long Beach State one made it like five games.

All coaches are made up - and will be starting in year one of their fictional universes.

Settings
Football - NCAA 14
Sliders: OS Community

Coach Settings: Will start coaches at level 20, but will only spend 5 skill points at the start. Starting at Level 20 will allow me to bring in a "higher" level coach should I become a strong program and my current one "leaves" - I'll be able to create a new coach and start at level 20.

Recruiting restrictions:
National Recruits: Can Recruit at program prestige minus one (so a 3* program can recruit any 2* nationally).
Conference Footprint: Can recruit at program prestige (so a 3* program can recruit any three star within the conference footprint. Starting off in the AAC, this will include: PA, FL, OH, CT, MD, OK, TX, LA.
Bordering States: Can recruit at program prestige plus one (so a 3* program can recruit a 4* in any bordering state). For ECU this is VA, TN, SC.
Home State: Can Recruit at prestige plus two (so a 3* program can recruit a 5* in the home state). For ECU, this is obviously NC.

I think these are some challenging restrictions, although the conference footprint is favorable for us with TX, FL, OH and LA. Note that this means there's not a free reign on any recruit unless I'm a 6* program.

Basketball - College Hoops 2k7. I don't have 2k8, so 2k7 will have to do. I really suck at this game, so I think I roll on default varsity or whatever the second level is (at least to start out). No recruiting restrictions right away, because like I said, I suck. I will try to customize the conferences so we get as close to the AAC as possible in whatever conference ECU starts in for this game.

Baseball - MVP 07 NCAA Baseball. I think I played on All-American with sliders favoring hitting. I'll check what I had on my last dynasty and use those. I'll probably suck at first. No recruiting restrictions here either (beyond what the game already builds in if you're a lower level program).


History
Football - Current Head Coach Jason Nava, 1st Season, 0-0



Basketball - Current Head Coach Marvin Melton, 1st Season, 0-0



Baseball - Current Head Coach Dustin Harley, 1st Season, 0-0

 

[joshuahuskers]

Year 1 Football Schedule

9/7 FCS East, W 35-20
9/14 @ North Carolina, L 3-31
9/21 UMass, W 27-20
9/26 Memphis, W 28-16
10/5 @ SMU, L 15-34
10/12 Tulane, W 35-20
10/26 @ #3 Houston, L 0-33
11/2 Temple, L 12-30
11/9 @ Cincinnati, W 34-31 (OT)
11/16 USF, W 14-13
11/23 @ UCF
11/30 @ UConn

 

[joshuahuskers]

Football: Year 1 Preseason AAC projections

 

[joshuahuskers]

September 7, Year 1
Football: East Carolina vs. FCS East, W 35-20

 

[joshuahuskers]

September 14, Year 1

Football: East Carolina (1-0) @ North Carolina (0-1), Loss 3-31

This went about as expected. As you can see below, the offense was a huge pile of flaming garbage. Neither QB could hit the broad side of a barn. I think once a QB starts off cold, it's very hard to recover. The defense actually held up very well for a half. We were only down 7-3 at halftime, and their only points were a pick-six. The good news is that North Carolina is the best team we will play all year, with the possible exception of Houston.

 

[joshuahuskers]

Selected receiving stats through two games. Guess who I hate the most.

 

[joshuahuskers]

September 21, Year 1

Football: UMass (0-2) @ East Carolina (1-1), Win 27-20

This was a great game. The type of game I love. I was stressed out throughout the entire game, and felt like the game could go either way until I got a first down late in the 4th that let me run out the clock. That's the way it should be when two teams are within 2 points overall of each other - and the slightly higher rated home team squeaked out the win. We got down 10-0 (Thanks largely in part to the 76 yard touchdown bomb over my secondary you can see in the scoring summary below - Isabella had 4 catches for 149 and that score - drove me nuts). We rallied for 17 straight to go up 17-10 at the half. Coming out of half we started to drive, and I thought a touchdown would break their morale and we'd cruise after going up two scores. WRONG - Fumble on a screen pass, UMass ball and three plays later it's tied at 17.

After we punted, they got the ball back, and drove down the field. Luckily we held them to a field goal, but they still took a 20-17 lead. Luckily for us, the defense stopped them cold the rest of the game, and the offense put up a couple more scores to seal the 27-20 win. Great feeling, great win!

 

[joshuahuskers]

September 26, Year 1

Football: Memphis 1-1 (0-0) @ East Carolina 2-1 (0-0), Win 28-16

Finally a game where our Pirates never trailed! Although we were never behind, this game was in doubt well into the fourth quarter. The teams kind of traded punches on defense in the first half, and we were fortunate enough to go into the locker room up 14-10. As the second half started, I felt like we kept getting close to blowing the game open, but could never deliver that knock out shot. We kept getting across mid filed, but drives would stall out. Admittedly, one of them was stupid on my part. On 4th & 3 from the Memphis 20, I decided to go for it up 14-10, and we were stopped a yard short.

I thought for certain the momentum of the game was going to swing on that play, and we'd go on to lose, but the defense held firm, and finally the break through came early in the 4th with a 38 touchdown run by James Summers, the backup QBs second of the game. And thank God for Summers, because our offense couldn't do anything. The senior who is used situationally and as our 4th wide receiver ran for 136 yards and two scores on six carries, and completed a pass and caught a ball to boot. His heroic play was needed as Memphis did a great job bottling up Anthony Scott, our star RB who managed just 61 yards on 26 carries. Second choice RB Darius Scott was much more efficient, going for 58 yards on just 11 carries.

At any rate, we put the game out of reach with a solid drive to go up 28-10 late in the 4th, and then Memphis scored a touchdown in garbage time to make it 28-16.

Memphis' RB Doroland Dorceus just killed us. He went for 185 yards on 22 carries - but he had something like 140 on 6 carries in the first half.

Great to start off conference play 1-0, and a really good 3-1 start to the season with another winnable game at SMU up next. The schedule does get much tougher after that, though.

 

[joshuahuskers]

We are still a few weeks away from hoops...but here is a teaser. The schedule. Season scrimmage is October 22.

I'm sure I'm going to suck at this game. We are the shittiest team in the "AAC" (C-USA in the game since the AAC doesn't exist in there), except for Navy, who is not in the AAC in real life, but I added since there are 12 spots in C-USA. I'm a little worried that I'm going to get fired, and if I do I think I will have to start over as it doesn't look like you can just create a new Corch like you can in NCAA football. The good news is you can export a team, so maybe I can do that and not have to build a new team from scratch to re import to a legacy if I get fired.

Oh, and I ponied up the $20 for CH2K8, so I won't be playing on 2K7.

 

[joshuahuskers]

October 5, Year 1

Fooball: East Carolina 3-1 (1-0) @ SMU 1-2 (0-0), Loss 15-34

I don't have much to say about this one - I thought we got dominated in every facet. When I checked the final stats, I was shocked that they were as even as they were. We got down 20-0, and then were down 34-7 before scoring a TD on the last play of the game (and went for two just for the heck of it). Just couldn't get anything going. I suppose the biggest difference was the two turnovers - a pick six, and another interception that they returned inside the 10 that set up a TD.

I felt like this was the one "fence" game that we needed to get bowl eligible - obviously it didn't happen. I think we can beat Tulane (next week) and UCF (in November), but I don't see another win out there. It'll have to be an upset.

 

[joshuahuskers]

October 12, Year 1

Football: Tulane 1-4 (0-2) @ East Carolina 3-2 (1-1), Win 35-20

This game was relatively even on the stat sheet, and the Green Wave had a nice little triple option attack going for them. We were able to slow them in the 2nd half, though. I never felt the game was really in doubt after I re-took the lead 21-14, but Tulane was very pesky and wouldn't go away. The game was finally sealed when we stopped them on a 4th down in the red zone late in the 4th quarter. The inability to get the tailback running game going yet again is becoming increasingly frustrating.

The bye week in football next week means that the next ECU sporting event is the basketball pre-season scrimmage!!

 

[joshuahuskers]

October 22, Year 1

Basketball: Season Kick-Off Scrimmage, Purple 45 White 26

I played as the losing squad here. It was close at halftime, but as you can see I got blown out in the second half, mainly because I decided to jack up threes nearly every possession, making exactly zero (0 for 18 from three point). I don't think I have the shooting mechanics down in this game, I may have to play some "play now" games before I start the actual season.

 

[joshuahuskers]

Year 1 Basketball Schedule


11/8 NJIT, W 71-50
11/13 Maryland-Eastern Shore, W 75-54
11/17 Liberty, W 72-66
11/24 @ Xavier
11/28 Winthrop
12/2 Furman
12/5 @ Clemson
12/8 @ NC State
12/12 @ Northern Colorado
12/16 Norfolk State
12/22 UNC Wilmington
1/2 Coastal Carolina
1/9 @ Memphis
1/16 Cincinnati
1/19 UCF
1/23 @ South Florida
1/26 Tulane
2/2 @ Temple
2/6 UConn
2/9 @ Cincinnati
2/13 Tulsa
2/16 Temple
2/20 @ UCF
2/23 @ Navy
2/27 SMU
3/1 Houston
3/5 @ UConn
3/8 @ Tulane

 

[joshuahuskers]

Football recruiting update...we finally have a commit!

 

[joshuahuskers]

Football: Year 1 mid-season update: around the NCAA and AAC

 

[joshuahuskers]

October 26, Year 1

Football: East Carolina 4-2 (2-1) @ #3 Houston 6-0 (3-0), Loss 0-33

Ann ass kicking. Tennessee and Texas both lost, so Houston will likely be #1.

 

[joshuahuskers]

More CROOT news. Landed a punter.

 

[joshuahuskers]

November 2, Year 1

Football: Temple 5-2 (3-1) @ ECU 4-3 (2-2), Loss 12-30

No stats from this one. I will just say this. With the sliders I'm using, I feel like if my QB completes the first two passes, he's robo QB and goes 28/30 for the game. If not, he can't throw it in the ocean and goes 5/30 with 3 of the completions on screen passes.

 

[fignuts]

Have a copy of 2k8 for ps3 if you'd like.

 

[joshuahuskers]

I'm on 360, but I actually got 2k8 for $15! Thanks though!

 

[fignuts]

Yvw! Should have looked at screencaps and make the connection ur on the 360. Grats on the pickup!

 

[joshuahuskers]

November 8, Year 1

Basketball: NJIT 0-0 @ East Carolina 0-0, Win 71-50

Okay so apparently "walk on" (the easiest skill level) is what I need for this game. I'm not too proud to admit this was the third playing of this game...basically 1) NJIT I think is the worst team in the game and 2) I'm not losing the first game of the season to the worst team in the game.

Okay so I'm a 72 overall (shitty), but NJIT is a 64 overall (really shitty). First play through - skill level set to starter (2nd easiest): down by 8 at half, somehow rally to take a 2 point lead in the 2nd half. Proceed to go down by like 15 with under 4 minutes to play. I'm out.

Replay: set on starter. Down by 11 with about 5 minutes to go in the first half. Switch to walk on. Cut it to 6 at the half. Manage to get down by 15 in the 2nd half (still on walk on). Come back, take a 2 point lead with about 5 minutes left. Blow it and lose by 4. Since switching to walk on in the first half, we went like +7. Seems about right.

Third play through. Walk on from the start. Game never in doubt and win by 21.

Not sure what to do going forward. I basically know nothing of basketball strategy in real life. I don't run any of the plays in the game, I just pass the ball and run around until someone has an open shot. Maybe that's my problem. On defense I play man to man or 2-3 zone and just control the PG. seems like the CPU will either miss 10 in a row or make 10 in a row and there's no in between.

Here's the box score of the final version of this game:

 

[joshuahuskers]

November 9, Year 1

Football: East Carolina 4-4 (2-3) @ Cincinnati 5-4 (3-3), Win 34-31 (OT)

Man what a game! We won one we shouldn't have on paper, even though we dominated the stat sheet. We threw two interceptions on our first two drives that we crossed mid field, one was a 94 yard pick-six.

After going down 14-0, our slow but steady offense tied the game at 14 late in the 3rd, only to quickly give it back up. After tying the game and losing the lead again, we sent it to overtime on the last play of regulation after a flubbed audible led to poor clock management, setting up a 2nd & goal from the 1 with 0:01 left when we really should have had a full set of downs. We chose to do what we know - run it up the middle - and it worked.

Overtime. After allowing the bearcats to drive inside the five in about two plays, it looked like Cincinnati had scored on 2nd & goal, but the booth overturned the call. On 3rd down from the one, they chose to pass, and their receive dropped a touchdown. Field goal. All we needed was a touchdown to win. We drove inside the 10, but when a 2nd down zone read went bad, we were looking at 3rd and goal from the 9. Philip Nelson threw it up for Zay Jones, who made a great catch to end the game.

I feel pretty good about our bowl eligibility after this one. Both UCF and UConn are winnable, and even USF isn't out of the question.

 

[joshuahuskers]

November 10, Year 1

Football: MOAT CROOT

 

[joshuahuskers]

November 13, Year 1

Basketball: Maryland Eastern Shore 0-1 @ East Carolina 1-0, Win 75-54

Maryland Eastern Shore is worse (59 OVR) than NJIT (64).

Next game is against Liberty, they are a 70 vs my 72 and have much better team unity. I'm still on walk on, but with that being an even matchup it should be a good barometer of where my skill level is.

 

[joshuahuskers]

November 16, Year 1

Football: South Florida 3-6 (2-4) @ East Carolina 5-4 (3-3), Win 14-13

Bowl Eligible! Which is way more than I thought I'd be saying a couple weeks ago! A game that saw a scoreless second half felt like the game hinged on every snap, and every stop was so crucial in the second half.

I made a bad decision to go for it on 4th & 2 well within field goal range on the first drive of the 2nd half, but totally redeemed myself by going for it on 4th & 4 in the final minutes and scoring to seal the game.

 

[joshuahuskers]

November 17, Year 1

Basketball: Liberty 1-4 @ East Carolina 2-0, Win 72-66

So Liberty was actually a 68 OVR not a 70. This result seems reasonable, although I did go on a big run to start the second half, got up by about 15 and Liberty just clawed their way back in it. They did cut it to 4 late in the game. The fouling logic seemed poor too, which also hurt them.

Next game is against Xavier on the road, who is much better than we are, so we will see how that goes.