Ok I'm at the point where I need to figure out if I'm just really bad at the game or if the game is set up in mind-numbingly stupid ways that make it difficult to enjoy. I am driving with a minute left in a 4 point game, my playbook is set to heavy pass (the highest setting we can use in Div III which is only 80% pass because I guess Div III coaches are too stupid to figure out when to pass or run) and conserve clock and this is the outcome I get:

1:01	45	2nd & 2	OFF: Trips DEF: 4-3 Andrew Petty rushes left end for 3 yards (Walter Hamilton).	24	28
0:56			Williams calls a timeout - 2 remaining.	24	28
0:56	42	1st & 10	OFF: Trips DEF: 4-3 Marc Williamson scrambles for 9 yards (Fred Hicks).	24	28
0:52			Williams calls a timeout - 1 remaining.	24	28
0:52	33	2nd & 1	OFF: Trips DEF: 4-3 Justin Lindsey scrambles for 1 yard (Walter Hamilton).	24	28
0:45	32	1st & 10	OFF: Trips DEF: 4-3 Justin Lindsey spikes the ball.	24	28
0:44	32	2nd & 10	OFF: Pro-Set DEF: 4-3 Marc Williamson completes a pass right to Hector Gleason for 17 yards (Leonard Farmer).	24	28
0:26	15	1st & 10	OFF: Trips DEF: 4-3 Andrew Petty rushes left end for 7 yards (Gerald Griffin).	24	28
0:09	8	2nd & 3	OFF: Pro-Set DEF: 4-3 Justin Lindsey's pass middle is incomplete to Andrew Petty (John Buchanan).	24	28
0:01	8	3rd & 3	OFF: Trips DEF: 4-3 Jeffrey Parrish rushes right end for 2 yards (Daniel Boyd).	24	28

Ok, so the first run at 1:01 and timeout is whatever, not a play I'd prefer to call but not devastating. Then there's a couple scrambles and the coach decides to spike the ball rather than use the last timeout. Still very much in the realm of reasonable. But then it goes off the deep end by running 2 of the next 4 plays (with 30 seconds left) and not using my final timeout, letting the game end instead. Is there something I need to change in my settings that I'm totally missing or do you just need to live with this kind of stuff if you keep playing this game? I know end of clock management has always been subpar but I guess I figured it would know enough to figure out this type of obvious situation and at the least call a timeout.

Move up to D2…LOL.

Posted by bhouska on 2/3/2025 9:21:00 PM (view original):
Move up to D2…LOL.

Best overall solution.

Not sure why it didn't use the timeout, that is worth questioning the powers that be. You are also figuring out why most coaches do not want to stay in D3 because of the limitations.

Posted by zerfo on 2/4/2025 9:17:00 PM (view original):
Not sure why it didn't use the timeout, that is worth questioning the powers that be. You are also figuring out why most coaches do not want to stay in D3 because of the limitations.

That's fair. Over the last decade I've been at all levels of the game, and ultimately I decided I don't enjoy the game enough to maintain multiple teams so I decided to just play my alma mater, which is DIII. It was something that no other game I've seen has, the ability to go down to DIII and play the schools we played when I went to college. It is pretty much the only competitive advantage the game has over other products like the new NCAA football game. So it is disappointing that it is intentionally designed to be less fun than the rest of the game. I appreciate everyone who took time to comment though, I think what I've taken away from this is that the only thing I could do differently is to move divisions, which I have no desire to do.