Can someone help me walk through a scenario from my TAMU team? For instance, the Pitt game on 5/10:

Mason - Starter 91%
Hays - Starter 68%
Carr - Starter 66%
Lyons - Starter 32%
Sullivan - Starter 30%
Duke - Non-Starter 12%

In this case, I had 5 WRs credited with starts, all with different % of PT with the lowest being 30%. My Offensive formation is always trips, so 3 WRs at a time on the field. In this case, how were the starts determined? I had always believed it to be somewhere around 30% of PT and you get a start. Then I had a WR in a later game go 37% and not get the start....I'm perplexed and the ticket response I received didn't clarify much.

The only information out there is that its determined by the formation and the number of plays. So maybe there is a hard set number of plays a player has to be involved in to get the start and when that player was in for 37% of the time they still didn't hit that number.

Not sure honestly.

Anyone else have experience in this issue?

My answer doesnt work when you crunch the numbers.. theres some other variable that we are missing and I'm not sure anyone has pinpointed.

My suggestion would be to try and get them into the 40s. Anywhere below that is questionable but I cant remember ever seeing a player not get a start if he hit 40%.

From a support ticket I sent in....it does not clear things up..

12/26/2015 6:39 PM	lyonzfan37
I'm curious why TE Bobby Hollis would complain about not getting a start at 36% PT when in other games, he has been credited with a start with less playing time. Thanks in advance.
12/28/2015 10:39 AM	Customer Support
Hi Kevin, If they are not getting more playing time than the other players at the same position, then they will not get the start. They have to receive the top percentage of playing time at their position to earn a start, or second most if you would have two starters at that position. For example, if you need an OL to start, they need to receive anywhere between the most, or 5th most to earn a start, since you will always have 5 OL that start. Hope this helps. Thank you.
12/28/2015 11:44 AM	lyonzfan37
Your response does not correlate to the outcomes I see. TE James Jones 12/28 @UA 61% 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 4 44 11.0 0 25 5 0 34-0 H 12/27 CPSU Game Starter 60% 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 7 85 12.1 0 33 8 0 10-41 W 12/26 F Game Starter 64% 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 9 111 12.3 0 51 12 0 10-45 W 12/25 FAU Game Starter 64% 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 6 94 15.7 0 65 10 0 3-55 W 12/24 @EKU Game Starter 70% 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 11 138 12.5 1 90 14 0 41-0 W 12/23 @JU Game Starter 65% 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 8 146 18.3 1 88 12 0 27-6 W TE Bobby Hollis 12/28 @UA 39% 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 2 48 24.0 0 39 2 0 34-0 H 12/27 CPSU Game Starter 40% 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 3 33 11.0 0 19 4 0 10-41 W 12/26 F 36% 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 2 11 5.5 0 6 3 0 10-45 W 12/25 FAU Game Starter 36% 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 4 26 6.5 0 5 5 0 3-55 W 12/24 @EKU Game Starter 30% 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 2 10 5.0 0 2 5 0 41-0 W 12/23 @JU Game Starter 35% 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 3 38 12.7 0 27 5 0 27-6 W In every game, James Jones playing time exceeded Bobby Hollis' yet Hollis was credited with starts in 4 of the 5 games. James Jones earned a start in each game.
12/28/2015 2:37 PM	Customer Support
Kevin, Starters are based on your most used formation within the game, and then the players with the highest playing percentage for that game. We will give you an example: If you use Notre Dame Box more than any other formation throughout the game (whether its 25% or 100%) NDB will be deemed your "Starting Formation". From there, the Sim will fill in the NDB Depth Chart with the players with the most playing time. So you will have 5 OL, 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 TE and 1 WR. In this scenario, if you expected more than 1 WR to start, because you also used Shotgun or Trips, there would be an issue, because since you used NDB the MOST, that is your starting formation and only one WR will earn a start. UNLESS the top WR, in terms of playing percentage, was tied with the 2nd WR. In this case, both WR would earn the start. Hope this helps clear things up. Thanks.

You almost always have to upgrade the ticket to get accurate answers to these types of questions. Level 1 is not equipped to answer, imo.

In most of my games I somehow start 6 WRs.. even though I will run a lot of shotgun that would only account for 4 of them.. I can maybe say 5 on some games where someone had the exact same percentage as another but never did 3 of them have the exact same percentage.

Customer Support fails at clearing it up for me.

First level answer I got: Hi JT,

This is how starters are determined on Offense:

The Offensive formation that is used the most during the game is used as the "Starting Formation". Players are then added to the starting formation based on Playing Time for that game. If you use Pro-Set the most for the game, you will have 5 OL, 1 QB, 1 TE, 2 RB and 2 WR that will all earn starts. If there are 3 WR that all have the exact playing percentage, they will each earn a start, so it's possible to have more than just 11 starters in a game on Offense.

Defense works the same with the Defensive formation used the most.

Hope this helps. Thank you.

i have since responded and the ticket is now with second level. The answer doesn't make sense. I'm beginning to wonder if they even know how starts are determined.

Yeah, answer is totally incorrect. I have 5 OL starters, and 7 that have gotten 100% GS, with an 8th OL at 6 out of 7 GS at 32% PP.

They may need above a certain PP (30%?) in the first half to get the start or something.

My ticket is now three escalations in and still no definitive answer.