----------------------------------------------------------------------- NCAA Football 06 FAQ Author: MetsRule Contact: MetsRule5@gmail.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - Table of Contents - I. Introduction II. Basic Controls A. Offensive Controls B. Defense Controls C. Kicking Controls III. Race for the Heisman Mode IV. Dynasty Mode V. Online Play VI. Mini Games VII. Team Outlooks A. ACC B. Big 12 C. Big East D. Big Ten E. Conference USA F. Independents G. MAC H. Mountain West I. Pac-10 J. SEC K. Sun Belt L. WAC VIII. Copyright Information ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I. - Introduction Hello, and welcome to my guide for NCAA Football 06. This guide is designed to help people that are struggling in NCAA Football 06, so if you've came to the right place if you need help. To easily navigate this guide you can use CTRL + F to search a certain term. Here you'll find all of the strategies you need to conquer this game, so now it's time to get things started! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- II. - Basic Controls A. Offensive Controls -- While you're at the line of scrimmage -- Snap the ball - X Button Fake snap - O Button Send a man in motion - D Button (Up, down, left, right) Quiet the crowd - L2 Button -- Running the ball -- Stiff arm - L1 Button (left hand), R1 Button (right hand) Juke - Right analog stick Cover up the ball - Right analog stick up -- Passing the ball -- Pass to receiver - Square button, triangle button, circle button, L1 button, R1 button Bullet pass - Hold corresponding receiver button Lob pass - Tap corresponding receiver button Pump fake - R2 Button -- Running the QB option -- Pitching the ball - R2 button Fake the pitch - L2 button Hand off to fullback (only on triple option) - X button QB Dive - Square button B. Defensive Controls -- Before the snap -- Change player - O button, X Button Pump up the crowd - L2 button You can only pump up the crowd when you're the home team. The effect of pumping up the crowd will vary on the amount of fans in your stadium and the success of your team. If you are playing NCAA Football 06 with a friend, it will make the opponent's controller vibrate. -- During a play -- Switch to closest player - O button Swat ball - L1 button Strip ball - R2 button Big hit - Right analog stick Strafe (defensive line) - R1 button Swim/spin (defensive line) - Move right analog stick left or right Bull rush - Move right analog stick down C. Kicking Controls -- Kick offs/punts/PATS -- Aim the kick - Left analog stick Start the kick meter - X Button Stop kick meter while upswing for power zone - X Button Stop kick meter while downswing for accuracy zone - X Button -- Kick return -- Fair catch - Triangle button Kneel in endzone - STAY in endzone ----------------------------------------------------------------------- III. Race for the Heisman Mode Race for the Heisman mode allows you to create a high school recruit and guide him throughout his college career. This mode is very fun for those that enjoy building up young players. When you first start out you will need to choose your position, which will then decide what drill you're in and the position your Heisman hopeful will play. You can choose to be a Pocket QB, Scrambling QB, Running Back, Wide Receiver, Defensive Lineman, Linebacker, or Defensive Back. Your player's attributes will be determined by this drill, so you may want to make sure you perfect this before you accept your player and move into the season. After you finish the drill, you will be offered a scholarship from three teams. Those three teams are the teams that you will most likely succeed with, but you can choose another team if you wish. You can choose another team by selecting the "walk on" option. Then you will be prompted with a list of all of the colleges in the game and you can choose from there. After you choose your college you will be brought to a screen where you can customize the looks of your player. You can choose his height, weight, jersey number and much more. The equipment will not affect your stats, but many people believe that if you make a Running Back extremely small he will be a speed back. You will then be shown your player's attributes and overall. Your overall will be determined depending on your performance during training camp. Your player's overall rating will likely range from the low sixties to the mid- eighties. Next you will be brought to your dorm room. The dorm room is the place where you will be able to access everything in Race for the Heisman mode. Your dorm room will change as your player gets better, though. One of the most important things you will use in your dorm room is your computer. You can access stats around the league for every team. Another thing you can look at is the most recent polls and the standings for every conference. As the season progresses you will see a new section added here that will give you the latest predictions on the bowl games. If your player is doing good enough, you may see him featured on the Heisman watch list. The Heisman watch list lists the top five candidates for the Heisman award. In your dorm room you will be able to access your team's playbook. You will be able to get accustomed to using your player. This is basically a practice mode, but it has no effect on your players' ratings. You can also view letters from fans in Race for the Heisman mode. Each week you will get a new letter, which is usually from a student attending the same college as you. If your player performs well during the season and your team is winning you will be praised. If your team is doing badly and your team is struggling you will receive mail from angry fans. To view your player's stats on the season and his attributes you can go into your player's closet. You can take a look at his stats for the current season or even his entire college career. While in the closet you can also see a history of the awards that your player has won. Do you enjoy looking at college football magazines? If so, you can take a look at your school's newsletter. Your school's newspaper will tell you what's going on with the team. There will be a new article for you school's newspaper every week. If you want to take a look back at dominating past, you can go to your team's trophy case. In the trophy case you will be able to see your own trophies, such as the coveted Heisman trophy. You will also be able to see National Championship trophies and other team awards. You will also notice a picture of a girl hanging up in your room. Your player will start out with very ugly girlfriends in the beginning, but he will move on to much better women as he gets better. From there on you will play your games as regular games, just as if it were dynasty mode. To play games in Race for the Heisman mode you will need to go to the schedule, which is located in your dorm room. The only difference is that your player will automatically be starting and you should adjust your offense or defense to accommodate him. In Race for the Heisman mode you will find yourself trying to pad your stats in order to secure your spot as the Heisman winner. When you win the Heisman your stats usually increase and you will likely be better when you're imported into Madden NFL 06. After your junior season in Race for the Heisman mode, you will be given the chance to leave college and enter the NFL draft. You will only be able to see your player drafted if you import him into Madden NFL 06's Superstar Mode. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- IV. - Dynasty Mode In Dynasty Mode you will take control of your favorite college football team and try to build a national powerhouse. You will do this by making the right moves while recruiting. When you first begin your Dynasty Mode season you will be given the option to edit your schedule. You will be able to change your opponents to make a tougher schedule for yourself, but you can't edit teams that are in your conference. This year NCAA Football 06 implemented a new feature that allows you to recruit high school players during the season. At the beginning of the season you will have a set amount of scholarships you are allowed to hand out. The amount of scholarships you hand out during the season will not affect the amount of scholarships you have during the off- season, so it's best to use all of your team's scholarships. During the first season you will have one hundred points to distribute to all of your players. While looking for players to recruit you should click the circle button and see what position your team will need help on next year because of players graduating and players entering the NFL draft. There will be a rating for every position based on the depth you will have and it will show you if you're going to be short players. You should always try to go after a player if it will fill a position need. You should also give more points to the players you really want on your team. As the season progresses, the players list of schools that they are considering will shrink. Once a player's list of schools he's considering hits three, you will be able to offer him a chance to come to your school. You should try to get the player to come to your school as soon as possible, though. Signing day will come sooner then you think. On the week that the player comes to your school you will need to offer an idea to pitch to him. You should base your pitch offer off of what he has said to you throughout the season. During Dynasty Mode you will try to climb your way up the polls. You can check your rank in the polls during the preseason by going to the Athlon Sports magazine. During the season you can go to the Sports Illustrated magazine to check your ranks in the polls. To play games for your dynasty, you need to go to the "play week" option. You will be able to play a single game, simulate the game, or you can even simulate the entire season. The stat book will allow you to look at stats for all of the teams around the league. You can look at career stats for all of the players in your dynasty. Another thing you can do is see your teams rankings compared to other college teams. If you want to change your team's game strategy, you should go to the "coach options" section. You can see how you've done as a coach for your team so far and how secure you are with a job position. You can even quit or retire from coaching here if you feel that your best days are behind you. If you want to take a look at your team's roster you can go to the "roster/playbook" section. You can take a look to see where your team is struggling and see what you need to improve. You can also make changes to your playbook. By going to the "My NCAA" page you can view your trophy room, greatest games played, record book, and a pennant collection. This basically shows the highlights from your user profile. During the season your players may get in trouble with the school. Every week you should check to see if any of your players have discipline infractions. There will be a recommended amount of time that you should suspend the player, but you should try making it a little shorter then what they recommend. The longer the suspension you give, the more you'll turn away players you're trying to recruit. If you don't discipline the players you may lose a few scholarships for a few seasons. During the off-season you will be faced with a lot of players leaving your school. You will be forwarded to a screen that shows you which players are leaving. You can try to convince players to stay in school, but most of the time you will be unsuccessful. I would only recommend trying to talk a player into staying with your school if he has a bar filled a little more than a quarter of the way full. After you finish trying to talk the players out of entering the draft, you will be asked if you want to export the draft class. This means that you will be able to use this draft class for Franchise Mode in Madden NFL 06. It will be harder to find recruits that are interested in coming to your school in the off-season because there are much more players to choose from. If you have one of the top programs, you will have a much easier time getting some of the better players. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- V. - Online Play To play NCAA Football 06 online you need to have an Ethernet cord and a network adapter (You don't need a network adapter if you have a slim PS2.) I'm not going to explain how to set it up to play online because this can easily be found on Sony's website. While playing online, you can use the "Play Now" option to find a quick game to play. This will find a random opponent for you to play against. If you want to check out your stats so far while playing NCAA Football 06 online, you can go to the "My Stats" section. This will give you your win-loss record and a great breakdown of team stats. If you want to find an opponent to play, your best bet is to go to the lobby. In the lobby you can find the perfect player to play by looking at opponent's profiles. Once you find a good opponent you can offer them a challenge. In the OT Drill, you will begin a game that starts out in overtime. It will be up to you to overcome the pressure and come away win a win. While playing online you can also start or join a tournament. A tournament can consist of four or eight players. The winner of the tournament usually unlocks an online trophy that will be added to their profile. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- VI. - Mini Games This year NCAA Football 06 has given us the option to play mini games. Some of this years mini games are the Option Attack, The Oklahoma, Pass Skeleton, and Rushing Attack. While playing Option Attack you will try to master the option play with the Quarterback. You can also play on the defensive side of the option. To perfect the option you need to get your timing down perfectly. The Oklahoma drill is a drill that is actually practiced by most college football teams around the nation. You will only be allowed to use a small portion of the field that is about the length of the lineman and score a touchdown. Your object is to rush the ball with only one blocker. You will need to score a touchdown. After you finish a run, you will be in the same exact position, except you will be on the defensive side of the ball now. This is a very hard drill that can't be perfected with any team. You will need a quick quarterback and a quick running back. I would recommend using the Texas Longhorns for this drill. The Pass Skeleton drill is all about passing the ball and learning to defend the pass. I would recommend using this drill if you are having trouble defending the deep pass, which is very hard to master in NCAA Football 06. The Rushing Attack drill is a drill where you willl have to try to rush the ball by juking your way to the endzone. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- VII. - Team Outlooks A. ACC Boston College Boston College isn't exactly a team that will blow you away, but they play consistently well almost every season. If you're looking for a team that can play well and doesn't have any superstar players. Thay have a very tough schedule since they play in the ACC, which is a strong conference. If you want to be successful with Boston College, you will need to make sure you keep their defense intact. Boston College's defense is the reason why they're always in games. Clemson Clemson is a team that has the talent to win games, but never seems to pull it together. Clemson will have to rely on their quarterback, Charlie Whitehurst, if they want to win games. He will be their key player and determine what type of season Clemson will have. Duke Duke is basically the laughing stock of the ACC and they usually finish in last. They have some decent skill at some of the key positions, but they have a weak offensive line. Without a good offensive line, this team will crumble. Florida State Florida State is a very good college football team, but they are very overrated. Florida State has problems at the quarterback position, where they don't have a clear cut starter. The teams' success will rely on their running back, Leon Washington. Washington is a very talented running back. If you decide to take over the head coaching position at Florida State, your first move should be to find a better quarterback when you're recruiting. Georgia Tech Georgia Tech is an underrated team that has a chance to surprise a lot of people. They have one of the top defenses in college football, and some weapons on offense that may be able to give them a spark. Running back, P.J. Daniels, and wide receiver Calvin Johnson will have a big year for Georgia Tech. Maryland Maryland had a very disappointing season last year and will hope to turn it around this year. The offense really isn't what you'd expect from Maryland, but their defense should keep them in close games. I would look for a lot of low scoring match-ups if you choose Maryland. You may want to try to improve the quarterback position through recruiting too. Miami (FL) Miami is an extremely talented team that has the chance to make it all the way to the National Championship. Miami has one of the top defenses in the league, even though they don't really have any "stand out players". The offense is lead by quarterback Kyle Wright and halfback Tyrone Moss. Tyrone Moss is an excellent rusher that has a great combination of speed and power. North Carolina North Carolina had a good season last year, which surprised many. North Carolina probably won't finish with a winning record, but they might come close. The offensive line will need to become more consistent if North Carolina wants to be taken as a serious threat in the ACC conference. North Carolina State North Carolina State has one of the top defenses throughout all of college football and that will be important if they want to be successful. North Carolina will need to make less mistakes on offense, which is the reason why they struggled so much last season. Virginia The key to Virginia's offense is their offense tackle, D'Brickashaw Ferguson. Ferguson is the top offensive lineman throughout college football, so the offense should be able to do its part. The young wide receivers will need to step it up if Virginia wants to be this years surprise team. Virginia Tech Virginia Tech is a very talented team led my Marcus Vick, the younger brother of the Atlanta Falcon's quarterback, Michael Vick. The defense is very talented, but probably won't be the same as it was last year. You will need to be successful with Marcus Vick if you want Virginia Tech to win the ACC conference. This will be very hard, especially when you play an amazing team like Miami. Wake Forest Wake Forest will not be able to match the power that the other teams in the ACC have. A realistic goal for this team would be about five or six wins, but that might be pushing it. Cornerback Riley Swanson will need to do a good job on defense for the team to have success. This conference will probably be won by either Miami or Virginia Tech. I have a good feeling about Miami's defense, so they're my favorite to win the ACC. B. Big 12 Baylor Baylor is nothing special and is a good team to use if you're looking for a challenge. You will be lucky if you're able to win three or four game while using Baylor, and will need to rebuild almost the entire team through recruiting during the off-season. Colorado Colorado has a very inconsistent offense that will rely on a breakout season from Lawrence Vickers. Colorado's defense is the worst in the conference, but it has potential. Iowa State This season will rely on the connection between quarterback Brent Meyer and wide receiver Todd Blythe. Todd Blythe is one of the most talented players on the team, but he is coming off of an injury. You will have to make sure that Brent Meyer does not go into a sophomore slump and get the ball to Todd Blythe when he is open. Kansas Kansas has a very talented defense that should be able to carry the team. Kansas also has an experienced offensive line, which should help whoever you decide to start at quarterback. There is quite a battle at the quarterback position in Kansas, so you will need to make a wise decision here. Kansas State Kansas State's offensive line will need to be successful in order for you to have a good season with this team. Jeromey Clary should be able to protect the quarterback. Missouri Missouri has a good defense that will be the key if you want to have a successful season with them. Quarterback, Brad Smith, should have a good season for you, now that he is able to stay in the pocket and find the open receiver. Nebraska The key to Nebraska getting back on track will be their offensive line. The offensive line will need to be successful for Cory Ross to have a good season for you. You should try cutting back and running to the outside with him. Oklahoma Oklahoma will have to rely on Adrian Peterson if they want to have success in NCAA Football 06. Oklahoma may be on the decline, but they're still a team to watch for. Oklahoma's secondary may need to pick it up a little bit, but other than that the defense should play well. Oklahoma State Oklahoma State will need to execute more on offense if they want to finish near the top of the conference. The defense is already good with their playmaker, Darrent Williams, at cornerback. Texas Texas is easily the team to beat in the Big 12. Vince Young is a great athlete and you should dominate with him as your quarterback. He is a great passer and can threaten defenses with his ability to scramble. Rodrique Wright will anchor your defense with his ability to put pressure on the quarterback. Texas A&M Texas A&M should finish in the top five of the Big 12. With Reggie McNeal as your quarterback, you will have a great leader for your offense. He has a good receiving corps and a good running back that he can hand the ball off to. Texas Tech Texas Tech is a very talented team that has great chemistry. Quarterback Cody Hodges will need to have a good season for you team to fight for a chance in the Big 12. The defense should be able to hold up. C. Big East Cincinnati Cincinnati will have a tough year as they play their first season in the Big East. You will probably be forced to start a true freshman quarterback, Dustin Garza. You will probably need to rely on your running game if you want to pull off a few wins. Connecticut Connecticut has a great backfield of running backs and fullbacks. This is great because you can keep rotating them so there stamina ratings stay high. I would definitely focus on smashing the ball down your opponent's throat if you're playing as Connecticut. Louisville Louisville is the favorite to win the Big East. You will need to have a good season with Brian Brohm if you want to have a dominate offense, now that Stefan LeFors is gone. Elvis Dumervil should be a dominate defensive end for you because he puts a massive amount of pressure on quarterbacks. Pittsburgh Pittsburgh has a chance to become a team that will surprise a lot of people. Tyler Palko and Greg Lee are a great combination that will hook up for touchdowns a lot for you. Rutgers If you want to have a good season with Rutgers, you will need to get the ball to their running back, Brian Leonard. Leonard has some of the best hands in the country and he can rush the ball very well. He is a powerful running back that can wear down defenses, so you should establish the running game early in the game. South Florida South Florida has become a team for people to watch out for. They have an easy schedule since they face Big East teams, but will probably earn a bowl bid if you're a good player. You should also run the ball a lot with Andre Hall. Syracuse You'll have a big challenge if you choose to use Syracuse. Damien Rhodes seems to be the teams' loan talent on offense, which is where they really struggle. The defense is better, but it's still not that good. West Virginia West Virginia will likely be competing with their only competition in the Big East for the conference, Louisville. West Virginia lost a big playmaker in Adam "Pac-Man" Jones, but they should be successful still. There defense still has a lot of talent, which is what will carry the team far. D. Big Ten Illinois Illinois is a very disappointing team that will struggle in the Big Ten. Their best players are their running backs, Pierre Thomas and E.B. Halsey. Tim Brasic will need to pull a miracle for your team if you want to have a successful season with the Fighting Illini. Indiana You will need to have a good season with Balke Powers if you want to be successful with Indiana. You will probably play from behind most of the time, so he will need to be able to execute for you. Iowa Iowa is one of the better teams in the Big Ten. Drew Tate is an amazing quarterback in NCAA Football 06, and you should take advantage of that. Tate can also hand off to Marques Simmons, who is a decent running back. Michigan Michigan is a great team that has an offense that can overpower many teams. Chad Henne is a great quarterback that can get his team out of a jam. Mike Hart is a very good running back, and probably one of the best in the league. He is a workhorse that averages around five yards per carry. Michigan State Michigan State is a decent team led by their quarterback, Drew Stanton. Stanton has a great set of receivers to throw to, which is why he is so successful. Stanton will have to stay healthy, though. Michigan State doesn't have much experience with their other quarterbacks. Minnesota Laurence Maroney will play a huge role in the success that Minnesota has. Maroney is an extremely talented running back that should rush for at least 1,500 yards. Minnesota will also need to improve their secondary a little bit in order to compete. Northwestern Northwestern's defense has the potential to make a lot of big plays. This will be important for Northwestern to have success. Northwestern has a great offensive tackle in Zach Strief and that should help both the passing and running game. Ohio State Ohio State has an extremely talented team that has talent on both offense and defense. Ohio State has a good passing game, since they have a great wide receiver in Ted Ginn Jr. to pass too. On defense they have one of the most talented linebackers in college football, A.J. Hawk. Penn State Penn State may be the most talented team in the Big Ten. Michael Robinson is a great quarterback that has both the power and accuracy to power the ball to his receivers. Robinson also has the ability to scramble once he gets pressure and the pocket collapses. Purdue Purdue has a very talented defense, but I don't think that will be enough for this team to win with. The teams' offense will suffer a lot due to the loss of their quarterback, Kyle Orton. They still have some talented receivers, but that won't be enough for Brandon Kirsch. Wisconsin Wisconsin has an amazing defense that may be able to carry them to the top of this tough conference. Linebacker, Dontez Sanders, may be undersized, but he is very tough and can bring down the ball carrier. I would watch out for Wisconsin if you have them on your schedule. E. Conference USA East Carolina East Carolina really needs to improve their defense, which is the first step you need to take if you decide to use East Carolina. It'll be a few years before East Carolina can begin contending again. Houston Houston will need to improve their defense if they want to be taken as a serious threat. Their offense has some talent in their quarterback, Kevin Kolb, but he isn't enough to save this team. Marshall Marshall has a pretty good defense, but they really lack the talent that they need on offense. Running back, Ahmad Bradshaw, will be the main part of the offense until Marshall can figure out their quarterback situation. Memphis The key to this Memphis team is their running back, DeAngelo Williams. He is one of the best in the nation, but it will be hard to establish the run with him if you have no passing game. During the off-season, you should try to recruit a good quarterback to come to Memphis. Rice If you want to have a successful season with Rice, you will basically need to improve them in every area of the game. They have a decent defense, but it's definitely not something I would brag about. Rice's quarterback, Joel Armstrong, may be extremely fast, but he has very poor accuracy. Southern Methodist For Southern Methodist to have a good season, you will need to turn around the team's offense. You will need to work on their quarterbacks, who aren't that good compared to others around the league. You should try to find your tight end, Robert Kennedy. Kennedy is a reliable tight end that will not let you down. Southern Miss Southern Miss will need to improve their defense and their running game. Southern Miss' defense is on the decline and their running game isn't as good as it could be. Tulane Tulane's success will rely on quarterback Lester Ricard. Ricard is big, mobile, and he has a great arm. Jovon Jackson is also a good running back and he should be called on to wear down defenses. Tulsa Tulsa will need to improve its offense to win more games. They have a good offense with their running attack featuring Uril Parrish and Brandon Diles. UAB UAB has a very good offense that is led by their quarterback, Darnell Hackney. He has young, unproven wide receivers, so he'll need to use all of his talent for UAB to be successful. He is one of the better quarterbacks in the Conference USA. UCF UCF will have a good season if their quarterbacks can step it up. UCF's wide receivers should do fine, which leaves no excuse for their quarterback to play poorly. Their offensive line will also need to improve. UTEP UTEP has a great receiving corps, which is why they do so well on offense. Jordan Palmer has plenty of time to find the open receiver, thanks to his offensive line. UTEP needs a little work on the defensive side of the ball, though. F. Independents Army Army's season lies on their entire offensive line. The offensive line will need to do well for Carlton Jones to do good rushing the ball. Carlton Jones is a very good player, so he will need to make big plays too. Navy Navy will need to be able to successfully replace quarterback Aaron Polanco. If Lamar Owens or Brian Hampton struggle for you, you will likely have a bad season. Navy will need to execute in the passing game to have a good season. Notre Dame You should have a good season with Notre Dame if you're able to run a balance offense that equally passes and rushes the ball. Brady Quinn is a great quarterback that can find the open receiver, and he also has great leadership. Darius Walker, who is a sophomore, will have to step it up in the running game to improve the teams' offense. Temple Not much looks good for Temple this year as they lost their two best players to the NFL draft last season. They will struggle on both on offense and defense, and this team will need a complete overhaul. The one good player that they have is their defensive end, Mike Mendenhall. G. MAC Akron Akron's success will lie on their offensive line and the way their offense executes. Now that Charlie Frye has left and is in the NFL now, the team will be left with an inexperienced quarterback as the starter. Domenik Hixon should help your choice of quarterback because he is a very athletic wide receiver that has the ability to improve his team. Ball State Ball State isn't as bad as many people think. Their team isn't great, but quarterback Joey Lynch should be able to command the offense well. The defense will need to step up, though. The front seven will need to apply more pressure on the quarterback if Ball State wants to be successful. Bowling Green Omar Jacobs is obviously the key to Bowling Green's team. Jacobs is an outstanding quarterback that can sit in the pocket and find the open receiver. Jacobs can also run the ball well, even though he is a pretty large quarterback. Bowling Green's pass defense will also need to improve. Buffalo Buffalo may have a pretty weak team, but they will be able to stay close in most of their games. They have a weak schedule, and may be able to surprise people with a few wins. Gamara Williams is Buffalo's top player and he should be able to make a big difference in the team's pass defense. Central Michigan Central Michigan's pass defense will need to take a stride forward for the team to improve. Their top pass rusher, Daniel Bazuin, should be able to put enough pressure on the quarterback. Eastern Michigan Eastern Michigan has a fairly good defense, but there is a big question mark on offense for this team. Eastern Michigan has a great secondary that shouldn't allow many big plays. On offense Matt Bohnet will need to make some big plays for Eastern Michigan. Kent State Kent State's defense will carry them far, and maybe even to a bowl game if you're lucky. If you want to make that bowl game, your running game will need to be successful. Luke Tillman and Jon Drager should be able to wear down the opposing defense. Miami (OH) Miami University should be able to make a bowl game, since they're in a very weak conference. Josh Betts should be able to lead this team very far. He has a good receiving corps and an offensive line that will be able to overpower many defenses. Northern Illinois Northern Illinois will need play better on defense if they want to be seen as a major threat. They have talent on offense with their dominate receiving corps, but they may not have a good enough quarterback to feed them the ball. Ohio Ohio will need to improve their play in the battle of the trenches on the offensive line. Last season Ohio struggled on the offensive line, which is why they lost games. If the offensive line is able to execute, Ohio will be able to get the running game going. Toledo Toledo has a very powerful offense that will overpower many defenses. Bruce Gradkowski is a great quarterback that has great touch on his passes. He is one of the most accurate passers in all of college football right now. Western Michigan Western Michigan is led by their wide receiver, Greg Jennings. Jennings is an outstanding athlete that can also return kicks. You should try to build your team around him. H. Mountain West Air Force Air Force will be led by their quarterback, Shaun Carney. Carney had a good season last year during his freshman year and will improve as his career progresses. He is a good passer and he can also run with the ball if he needs too. Brigham Young Brigham Young has a talented offense, but they may not have enough talent of the defensive side of the ball to be successful. The defense will need to become more aggressive and force more turnovers. Colorado State Colorado State's defense will need to step it up while defending the run. They can stop the pass well, but they struggle while stopping the running game. The offensive line should be able to help Colorado State's offense improve. New Mexico New Mexico has a very good running game with DonTrell Moore and Rodney Ferguson. The offensive line does a very good job at opening up holes for the back to run through, which is something you should exploit. Their passing game is very weak, which is the biggest problem you will face if you use New Mexico. San Diego State San Diego State's linebacking corps will need to improve for San Diego State to have a successful season. If their linebacking corps improves they will be able to stop the run, which is something they've struggled with before. TCU Tye Gunn will play an important role in the success of TCU. His offensive line will need to play well, though. If the blocking doesn't hold up it may be a long season for TCU. However, if the offensive line does well, TCU will make a bowl appearance. UNLV UNLV probably won't have a good year without their old quarterback, but there two junior quarterbacks will obviously need to step up. Your wide receivers will also need to step up so the team has a go-to receiver. Utah Without Alex Smith, Utah will struggle. Brian Smith will be a great quarterback, but he doesn't have the weapons that Alex Smith had while he was at Utah. The offense will need to step up now that Smith is gone. Wyoming Wyoming probably won't do that well in the Mountain West. The team's pass protection is really lagging, which will eventually get their quarterback injured. I. Pac-10 Arizona Arizona has one of the leagues worst offenses, which is why they struggle to win games. Mike Bell and Richard Kovalcheck will need to improve from their previous seasons in order to get the offense moving. While recruiting you should look for a quarterback that can lead your team during his four years at Arizona. Arizona State Arizona State has a very explosive offense featuring two All-American caliber players in Derek Hagan and Zach Miller. Quarterback Sam Keller should have a great year with these receivers. Arizona State also has a talented defense, but they need to improve their play on the defensive line. California California has lost a lot of their key players from last year's team, but they should be able to overcome this. The offense will struggle at first, but once you get Jeff Tedford on a role, he will surprise you with his excellent play. Oregon Oregon's offensive line will need to improve for Oregon to have a successful season. Terrance Whitehead is a great running back, but he will need to have a lane to run through. Oregon will also need to improve their linebacking corps, which is where they lack experience. Oregon State Oregon State had a very good defense last year, but most of their best defensive players have left. If the players replacing them can perform well, then Oregon State will be successful. Oregon State also has a great wide receiver in Mike Hass. Hass is a possible All-American candidate, and can make any quarterback look good. Stanford Stanford's offensive line will need to be successful for Stanford to have a good season. The team has an experienced quarterback, Trent Edwards, that should be able to fire the ball to his receivers if he is given enough time. UCLA UCLA has a very talented team that will surprise many people. They have an outstanding rushing attack which is led by Maurice Drew. You should expect big things from him. UCLA has a lot of problems on defense, though. They have a porous rush defense that has great difficulty while trying to stop the run game. Their passing defense isn't all that great either. I would work on recruiting defensive players if I were to control UCLA. USC USC is obviously the most dominate team in college football. They have a very dominate offense featuring Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush. The offensive line plays very well, which is one of the reasons why they are so successful, not to take anything away from either of those players, though. USC also has one of the top defenses in college football. The only position they really need to improve is cornerback. Washington For Washington to have a season that isn't laughable, they will need to stop turning the ball over so much on offense. The offensive line will also need to be more efficient while blocking. Washington doesn't have much of a quarterback, so you should probably look for a top quarterback while recruiting. Washington State Washington State has some talent on offense, but they need a quarterback that can lead the team. The front seven on the defensive side of the ball play amazingly well, and they will play an important role in Washington State's success. J. SEC Alabama Alabama should have a good season this season since they have a lot of returning starters on both sides of the ball. The defensive line should have a big year. Alabama also has a great secondary, which is the reason why their defense is so successful. Arkansas The offense may struggle for you this season without Matt Jones, but that should be expected when you lose such an athletic player. Your quarterback will need to step up and get the ball to Marcus Monk. Monk is a big receiver that can make big plays. Auburn Sophomore quarterback, Brandon Cox, will need to step up for the Auburn offense. After losing Carnell "Cadillac" Williams and Ronnie Brown to the NFL Draft, the offense will definitely slip in terms of production. It'll be your job to find a new running back during your time recruiting. Florida The key to the Florida Gators team will be their quarterback, Chris Leak. Leak should be able to connect with wide receiver Chad Jackson, which is why they will have a powerful offense. Georgia Georgia will look to impress many people this year as D.J. Shockley takes control of the Georgia team. Shockley has tremendous speed, even though he is a large quarterback. Georgia doesn't exactly have a number one wide receiver, so one of the receivers will need to step it up. Kentucky Kentucky's offense will definitely need to improve if they want to contend in the SEC. Kentucky needs more depth on offense all-around, which is why you should concentrate on improving the offense during recruiting. LSU LSU's offense is loaded with talent and you will need to dominate on the offensive side of the ball to win games. They have on of the most talented receiving corps in college football, which will help your starting quarterback. Mississippi Mississippi's offense will definitely need to improve for the team to get back into shape. The Rebels have trouble at the quarterback position, and they can definitely use their amazing quarterback Eli Manning, who used to play for Ole Miss. Mississippi State Mississippi State has a decent team, but they definitely need to improve their passing game. Omarr Conner doesn't look that good in the pocket and he will need to be replaced. I would definitely look for a top quarterback while recruiting. South Carolina South Carolina has a good team, but they won't play well, since they have a tough schedule. They also have a bit of a situation at the quarterback position, which may cause them to struggle early in the season. Tennessee Tennessee has a great team that has big expectations when you first start dynasty mode. They have a tough schedule, so it will be hard to meet these expectations. Tennessee has one of the best defenses in college football, so I would expect them to play a lot of low scoring games. You may want to tone your skills on offense before you start playing with Tennessee. Vanderbilt Vanderbilt has never been a successful program, so I wouldn't expect a quick change. Vanderbilt will need to improve their running game to get some more respect in the SEC. K. Sun Belt Arkansas State Arkansas State has a chance at winning the Sun Belt conference. They have one of the most explosive offenses in the Sun Belt division, which will be the way they win games. Arkansas State has a very inconsistent defense that will need to be improved on during recruiting. You can definitely use a JUCO player for some experience. Florida Atlantic Florida Atlantic will have a very tough time trying to pull off a winning season. They have a very small offensive line that will be overpowered by many teams. I would definitely work on improving the offensive line through recruiting. Florida International Florida International can expect an improvement on the offensive side of the ball this year, since they have quite a few veterans returning to the starting lineup. There defense will struggle badly, though. Florida International has a very weak pass defense, and this is why they will lose so many games. Louisiana-Lafayette Jerry Babb is a great quarterback, and quite possibly the best quarterback in the Sun Belt conference. He is also a threat to scramble, which makes it hard for defenses to create a gameplan against the Louisiana-Lafayette offense. Louisiana-Monroe Louisiana-Monroe has problems on the defensive side of the ball. They give up a lot of yardage and they're usually burned on deep plays, which is why you should try to recruit cornerbacks with a very good forty time. Middle Tennessee State Middle Tennessee State has a very good team, but don't receive much credit since they never execute. They have a very good front seven on defense, which is why they're so successful while stopping the run game. North Texas North Texas has a very good running game that features Patrick Cobbs and Jamario Thomas. They are one of the most feared running back combinations throughout college football, and you should use that to your advantage. You should also call a lot of play action plays because this will usually catch the opposing teams' defense off guard. Troy Troy has a very good defense, which is the key to their success. Linebacker, Bernard Davis, is a very strong player that does his best to make the stop. He can single-handedly shut down the run game. L. WAC Boise State Boise State has an extremely strong offense with an experienced offensive line. Jared Zabransky should play well for you know that he is more experienced and has a better group of receivers to pass to. Boise State should win the WAC conference. Fresno State Fresno State has a very successful running game that should be even better this year. Fresno State's offensive line is more experienced, and can open up holes for Bryson Sumlin and Wendell Mathis. Fresno State should continue its success defending the pass, but expect them to struggle while defending the run. Hawaii Hawaii will be a very different team compared to last season after losing Timmy Chang and their two best running backs. On the defensive side of the ball, Hawaii will need to improve on stopping the run game, which something they have struggled doing in the past. Idaho Idaho has a very weak defense that will need a lot of help from recruiting. They have problems stopping both the passing game and the run game. Idaho needs some work on their secondary, which should help some of the problems mentioned above. Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech does a good job at putting pressure on the quarterback, but the secondary still seems to have trouble shutting down the receivers. I would work on recruiting a top cornerback to try to improve Louisiana Tech's pass defense. Nevada Nevada has a good offense that features a great wide receiving corps. Jeff Rowe does a great job getting the ball to his receivers. The only problem Nevada may have is on the offensive line, which is where they have quite a few inexperienced players. New Mexico State New Mexico State has a very tough time trying to stop the run while their on defense. This is because they don't get much of a pass rush at the line of scrimmage. You should work on New Mexico State's outside linebackers if you choose to play as them in dynasty mode. San Jose State San Jose State has a very powerful offensive line and a pair of quick, speedy running backs. These running backs may not have much power, but they will be able to get through the massive holes created by the offensive line and turn them into big gains. Utah State Utah State's offense is basically non-existent. They have one of the worst running games throughout college football, which isn't exactly something you want. Utah State's passing game is also pretty bad, but it's better then the run game. During recruiting I would make a major push for one of the top running backs. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- VIII. - Copyright Information Copyright 2005 Thomas Barnett This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.