regardless, this is not a plan that would ever actually be implemented... the great unwashed would cry foul quicker than a replacement ref watching lebron go one on one against a rookie.

folks like kel say they want strategy, but really what they want is a pinball machine with alot of bells and whistles.

'gimme big numbers, baby!'


KEL: " did you fellers see my hi score on the superduperspandookularwoahwoahwoahuncletupelo pinball game? 972,463,000,000,000 YEAH! thats 972 trillion and some change . heck, you can keep the change, just bring me another bud!!!"

OBSERVER: "umm, kel... int that the machine that has a bumper that doesnt allow the ball to go out of play?"

KEL:" well, yeah, but who cares! im still a badasssss!!!! st. lewey rocks baybeee!!! bartender... bring me a bud! hey, what comes after 999trillion? i am so awesome!"

I've seen better impressions of me.

Player development is something I think HD can make fairly realistic. I don't think having players actually get worse in any area in college is realistic. A player should have enough time to work on every aspect of their game if they want.

Interesting concept Oldave. I like the idea.

i like it much less given a day to think about it, one of the most enjoyable parts of this game is improving guys, although the net affect of not losing points might be the same, why not just fix the darned thing and give coaches more flexibility to improve, rather than simply take away ability to similateously improve everything?

I was getting ready to quote OR too! haha. In all seriousness tho its an intersesting idea oldave and does solve the player differentiation problem but I don't want to see my players drop, I like watching them develop over the course of their careers. Plus this would require a new EE engine I am sure as no player would ever reach the criteria now needed to jump (I assume players dropping wouldn't reach them?)

If I understand Oldave right, your players don't have to drop. You can control what to practice, how many minutes to use in each category, and what skills you are willing to sacrifice by not practicing at all. Reduce the minutes and now I have to decide to put 20 or 12 minutes into one category, where as before the 20 minutes would be no big deal because I have so many more minutes to allocate. Most my juniors and seniors already have extra minutes that end up going to skills not important to the position they play or study hall because they are maxed out in skills important to their position. If I have less minutes to give them their first two years, they don't max out so early.

You are right aporter but it means very little gain also. I believe davey here is on the drastic side of "let 'em drop!", a direct quote I do believe.

This could be a very simple way to fix all players in the 90's at DI instead of reprogramming all the recruits. I really like the idea.

Apologies in advance if this has already been mentioned, I haven't gone back and re-read the whole thread.

Another effect Oldave's suggestion could have is involving IQ's. With the way players max out fairly quickly now, I'm sure I'm not the only coach who puts a ton of minutes into team practice. In fact, I know I'm not, because I see too many teams with good IQ's in two or more D's.

With reduced minutes, it would force a coach to make another choice. Do I want a team full of maxed out athletes who can't spell "cat", or do I want a team of Einstein's that might be a little less skilled physically?

I think most of us would agree that a player with a fairly decent Work Ethic will almost always end up in the A/A+ range in IQ's by the time he's a senior. With reduced minutes, maybe said player only ends up in the B/B+ range. It's another small way to differentiate teams, which I think we'd ALL agree isn't a bad thing. Just a thought. Flame away......

I still do practice plans like in the old days, but now I can effectively run a combo-defense. I'm surprise everyone in HD isn't running a combo defense at this point. If you decreased points, I'd still do the same thing, but drop one half of my combo. So I hate the idea. :)