Gridiron Dynasty - Leahy DIAA

[joannes3000]

Our 2nd round game pits us against a much more talented opponent in #7 Butler. Butler landed the #2 seed in our division after finishing the regular season 13-1 and winning their CC. Their only loss came to current #1 ranked Colgate on the road.

Butler's offense features a balanced attack with plenty of talent to run or pass. Their OL is slightly stronger than mine, and much better in terms of TECH, which could pose a problem. They could open up holes running and could leave their QB plenty of time to dissect our defense. Their offensive skill positions are very strong also, featuring a top flight QB throwing to above average receivers. They also have a top flight RB and plenty of depth.

Their defense may be susceptible on the ground, with our OL marginally better overall than their DL. I may attack them through the air, however, because even though they have solid DBs they only have 6 which could be a factor in the 2nd half. I'll have to do some creative game planning for this game, as we are clearly an underdog in terms of player talent.

[joannes3000]

Butler showed the kind of offensive firepower in the opening drive that I expected. Our defense stopped them 1 yard short on a 3rd and 5 play, but facing 4th and 1 (from their 42) Butler was easily able to convert. Two plays later they scored the first points of the game with a TD. We had a promising drive stall on their 33 yard line, and to make matters worse our punt got blocked. Butler capitalized and held a 14-0 lead before we could even blink. Our next possession gave us some needed confidence, as we drove 63 yards for a TD. The first quarter ended with Butler driving again toward our redzone.

-------

The 2nd quarter opened much like the 1st, with Butler scoring a TD. Down 21-7 and feeling the game getting out of hand, we went for it on 4th and 1 from midfield and converted; scoring a TD of our own 4 plays later. Our defense picked us up on the next possession. After giving up a 22 yard pass on 3rd and 14, the defense stripped the ball and we took over just short of midfield. Our offense couldn't capitalize, however, and we were forced to punt the ball right back. With just under 3 minutes to go in the half, no more scoring took place and I was glad to end the first half only down 21-14.

-------

The all-important opening drive of the 2nd half started with a bang, as we returned the kickoff across midfield to the 44. We inexplicably failed to punch the ball in for a TD from the 5, throwing 2 incomplete passes before settling for a FG. Butler returned the ensuing KO to their 44 and looked to be ready to score after completing an 18 yard pass to get to our 37. Our defense stood tall and forced a punt, however. Our next drive featured two critical 3rd down conversions. The first was a 32 yard pass on 3rd and 7 that kept our drive alive. The second was a 7 yard TD pass on 3rd and 5 that gave us a 24-21 lead. Butler had another big return and parlayed it into a TD to retake the lead, 28-24. Continuing with the theme of the quarter, we took the next kickoff to midfield, scoring a TD with 2 seconds left in the 3rd to take a 31-28 lead.

-------

Our defense forced Butler to a 3 and out to open the 4th quarter, which had me pumped since we were clinging to a 3 point lead. We started our possession on the 44 but our drive stalled on the 24, and we went away completely empty-handed after missing a 41 yard FG. Our defense forced another 3 and out, giving us the ball with just under 10 minutes and that same 3 point lead. Our offense continues it's drought and we barely managed to drain a minute off the clock before punting the ball away. The defense stepped up yet again, forcing a 3rd consecutive punt. With 7 minutes to go we still can't put together a sustained drive and we punt away yet again after eating up just over a minute of clock. On Butler's next possession, they manage to do what we haven't been able to this quarter. They put together a nearly 5 minute drive that ends with a game-tying FG. We were unable to get in FG range in 46 seconds, so off to overtime we go.

-------

We won the coin toss, but our defense gave up a TD in 3 plays. Facing a 4th and 2, we manage to convert and score a TD to send the game into a second overtime.

-------

Starting on offense this time, we convert on a 3rd and 7 play and score a TD one play later. Our defense forces a fumble on Butler's first offensive play but we are unable to recover it. Two plays later they score a TD and we head into a third overtime.

-------

Butler scores a TD in three plays and makes the mandatory 2 point conversion. Our offense is unable to do the same, so the game and our season end in a triple-overtime defeat.

-------

45-53 (3OT) L

-------

[drzachary]

Tough loss, but it sounds like it was a real thriller! Submit it for game of the week maybe?

[joannes3000]

Coach,

I don't want to add to all the criticism in the press, but I think we both know that more is expected out of our football program. How are we looking for next season? I know the alumni are looking forward to turning things around next season.

Elmer Wright

Athletics Director

--------

I was a bit shocked to have this email waiting for me today. I'm actually not that concerned with getting fired, because that's relatively unheard of anywhere other than at BCS schools in DIA. What's shocking is that this was implemented with the update. I'm actually happy to see that this, which could be nothing more than a token effort, is a step toward preventing coaches from staying at school forever regardless of their success.

In all fairness I did guide Furman backwards from last season's 17 wins, CC, and semifinal loss. Comparing that to this season's 13 wins, no CC, and 2nd round loss I deserved to get the email and the reduction in my job security from very secure to secure. I need to, and should very likely, improve my record next year to prevent further drops in job security. The last thing I want to happen is the dreaded 'fire joannes3000.com' emails to start showing up. That's when you know you're in trouble.

[joannes3000]

Wow, talk about an interesting recruiting period. Things started off well, as we were able to keep some high priority targets (TE Joseph Magee, DB Stanley Brown) locked up for a minimal amount of money. We had to get into the usual fight for OL and DL but came up with decent prospects. Then there's the issue we ran into at WR... Let's just say that we got worked at that position and ended up with 3 AC recruits because of it.

Two of my top WR targets got snatched up late by a pair of Alabama schools. Charles Weber was rated the stud of Alabama A&M's class with a rating of 69.39. Thomas Lee was also rated the stud of the class, at Alabama State, rating an even 70. I consider 70 rated recruits to be the absolute top of DIAA. My third and final WR recruit? South Florida swooped in late and landed Ernest Christie, a WR rated 71.62.

Between those three WR targets I ended up spending an exorbitant amount of money, at least by my standards. Keep in mind that you receive 10k per scholarship when I say that I spent well over 15k on each recruit only to have them land elsewhere. As a result of signing zero WRs with this class, I ended up switching one of my RBs that doesn't look like he will get strong enough to be higher than 3rd on my depth chart.

Lesson learned? Absolutely. I think I got too caught up with my early success with recruiting and got careless. We still landed the #45 class after taking those 3 AC recruits, however, which is a testament to the quality of recruits we signed overall. In fact we still signed the #4 and #5 recruits 7 (of 10 that we actually signed) of the top 50 in the conference.

[joannes3000]

I took one look at my OOC schedule and wondered how crazy I must have been last season.

10/25/07 at #6 Illinois State

10/26/07 at #13 California State

10/27/07 #19 Florida International

10/28/07 at #9 Texas State

10/29/07 at #21 Stephen F. Austin

Illinois State is quickly becoming the official springboard school to DIA. They are on their 5th coach in 6 seasons. The team is loaded with talent and is only two seasons removed from a NC (they also lost in the NC three seasons ago).

California State looks to be a team that I can upset early. They are one notch above me in terms of talent, but their coach hasn't been able to guide them to more than 11 wins in his 10+ seasons there.

I beat FIU last season on the road and look to beat them again this year at home. They have 2 QBs, 3 RBs, and 4 WRs. I don't know what kind of offense you can muster with that, but I doubt it would be very much.

Texas State is another perennial powerhouse that is under new management. Before the coaching change this season they averaged 15.4 wins and 2.1 losses. They're about 2 notches above me in terms of talent.

SFA is an upstart team that is equal to me in terms of talent. They've been about a 10 win team as of late, so this looks to be another winnable game.

For those of you keeping track at home, it looks like we have two or maybe three winnable games on our OOC slate. I haven't met a challenge I didn't like, however, and this will be one tall order. I'll be happy with 3 wins and content with 2 wins heading into conference play.

-------

Conference play looks to be an absolute cake walk this season. Unlike last season, we didn't draw Northwestern State. We drew Nicholls State as one of our two human games during conference play. The other game is against Citadel, whom we beat last season. I'm also looking forward to my rematch against sim coached Western Carolina, the team that beat me and won the CC last season.

-------

Offensively we will be relying more on our running game after I failed to add any depth at WR. Our QBs continue to mature, with Johnny McCarthy continuing to be the leader. Our running game will be strong, with the 5 man unit averaging 80 elusiveness, 73 strength, 78 speed, 66 athleticism, and 57 stamina. I'll be content to pound the ball on the ground about 75% of the time. After switching David Dodson to WR we still only have 4 at the position, so I've tweaked my game plans to run more Pro Set than Trips. Given the success I've had lately with Pro Set I've been wanting to use it more any way, and this is a good a time as any. Our OL 'gains' RS FR Tom Gibson who will be a devastating run blocker. We also added a second run blocking TE in Joseph Magee.

Defensively we look about as solid as we did last year. Our DL remains the weak spot, but the rest of our defense is solid and has quality depth. I need to find a way to stop teams from running on me, which is how I would attack my own defense.

[joannes3000]

Our brutal OOC slate begins with a trip to #6 ranked Illinois State where we were 9.5 point dogs. We were actually up 21-20 at the half but we just couldn't hold on in the 2nd half. Other than the 3rd quarter where we were outscored 13-0, we actually outscored Illinois State 28-27. We ran for 124/3 and passed for 222/1.

28-40 L

The going got slightly easier against California State, where we were 10.5 point dogs. Cal State was ranked #13 to open the season but dropped their opener and dropped out of the top 25. We led 17-13 at the half and held on to win the game on a 40 yard FG with 1:20 left in the game. We ran for 130/2 and passed for 322/2.

37-34 W

Game three brings FIU to our house for the 2nd installment of our home-and-home series. We won at their house last season and hoped to not return the favor this season. As has been the case so far, we went into the game against #19 FIU as 11.5 point dogs at home! We were down 28-21 at the half before coming on strong in the 2nd half. We ran for 192/3 and passed for 285/2.

31-38 W

---------

I'm proud to say that our team has stood tall in the early goings this season. We will surely be battle-tested as this 5 game stretch is pretty close to being a playoff run, given the caliber of teams and coaches we are playing. Having won 2 of the first 3 is a pleasant surprise, and my optimistic goal of 3 wins looks very attainable at this point. Both of the teams left on our OOC slate are currently undefeated and both have improved on their preseason rankings. Tonight's game against Texas State will be our 3rd (in 4) game against a top 25 team and tomorrow's game against SFA will likely be our 4th (in 5).

----------

10/28/07 at #5 Texas State

10/29/07 at #10 Stephen F. Austin

[joannes3000]

We rolled into the Texas State game motivated after a 2 game winning streak. We led at halftime 17-10 and looked to grind away the clock in the 2nd half. Texas State tied the game early in the 4th, and while we managed a FG to take a 3 point lead with 5 minutes to play, our defense just couldn't hold on as we surrendered the game-winning TD with just over a minute to play. We ran for 73/2 and passed for 319/1.

27-31 L

At last, the end of the gauntlet! SFA was one of the two teams that I felt strongly about being able to beat before the season began. We were all over them in the 1st half, taking a 21-7 lead. We played evenly in the 2nd half with SFA kicking 2 FGs in the 4th quarter to provide the final score. We ran for 202/3 and passed for 225/2.

34-20 W

I should've never said anything about in-conference play being easy. Nicholls State actually led at halftime (17-14) before I made some key 2nd half adjustments. We literally ran away with the game in the 3rd quarter and put an end to their upset bid. We ran for 285/4 and passed for 311/2. Injury: What is the deal with me sustaining injuries to thin positions these past two seasons? I only have 4 WRs on my roster, so naturally my top WR goes down for a few games. He's back after the 1st, so it's not nearly as catastrophic as the RB injuries I had at Appy State.

24-42 W

--------

A 3-2 record coming out of OOC play was about the best that I could've hoped for. Coupled with the fact that we nearly upset then #1 ranked Texas State on the road and I think we made a strong statement regarding our playoff aspirations this season. Imagine if I hadn't gotten shut out in the recruiting of WRs and I had depth! There's no question that we would've won 4 games and been a top 5 team right now.

As it stands, we are 4-2 and ranked #19. It's going to be hard to keep our ranking that high because our SOS is going to be weak until the CC. As of right now, we don't have anyone ranked higher than #31 on the slate and have two games against teams ranked lower than #100.

--------

10/31/07 McNeese State (#102)

11/1/07 at Elon (#60)

11/2/07 Georgia Southern (#61)

[joannes3000]

McNeese State stood no chance because our OL was going to dominate their DL. The plan was to run right through them. We ran for 502/6 and passed for 126/2.

17-55 W

Elon played us much tougher because I forgot to set my game plan after the previous game. We ran for 304/2 and passed for 217/2.

34-17 W

Georgia Southern was another team that was going to get manhandled up front. We ran for 407/5 and passed for 316/4.

20-62 W

-------

The final four games of the regular season brings two challenges to the table, even with us boasting a 4-0 conference record and 7-2 overall record so far. The first one is against Western Carolina, the defending CC. They are still a sim team and they are still strong. They are currently 3-1 in the conference, but pose little threat to our CC bid this season due to their 3-6 overall record. In order for them to overtake us, we have to lose to them and we also have to lose to Citadel.

Citadel is a human coached team and is currently 3-1 as well. They are more of a threat to our CC bid because they are also 7-2 overall. Our game will likely determine who plays in the CC from the East division. We are in the driver's seat at this point. If we win out, we make it to the CC. If we stumble against either team, we will have to sit out the CC again.

---------

11/3/07 at Western Carolina (#51)

11/4/07 at Wofford (#88)

11/5/07 Citadel (#35)

11/6/07 Appalachian State (#104)

[gsuteke]

Looks like I need to join your league and restore Georgia Southern's proud and storied tradition!

[joannes3000]

Much like last year a lot was on the line against Western Carolina, the last sim team I want to run into. They had a 17-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, aided by a costly turnover on our part. We barely narrowed the gap in the second quarter and went into halftime facing a 24-10 deficit. The only ray of hope from the first half? We get the ball to start the 3rd quarter.

We changed up the game plan in the 2nd half to take advantage of how Western Carolina defends the run. Going into an all-out running attack, we stormed back and tied the game by DOMINATING time of possession in the 3rd. The one possession Western Carolina had was a three and out. Western Carolina got the ball to start the final frame with everything tied at 24. We forced a punt on Western Carolina's first possession and took the lead with a TD on our possession. Western Carolina's next drive tied things up with 2:30 to go. We returned the kickoff across midfield and took to the air; scoring the go-ahead TD in one minute. I wish we had taken up more time... With 26 seconds, Western Carolina stood at our 29 facing 2nd and game. Three consecutive throws from shotgun resulted in three incomplete passes as our defense stood tall.

We ended up running for 194/3 and passing for 269/2.

38-31 W

Wofford also played us tough (again, another sim team), and the game wasn't decided until we took the lead for good halfway through the 4th quarter. We ran for 209/2 and passed for 217/2.

28-14 W

After all the drama of the last two games, we still had to get past a human-coached Citadel team. Lose here, and we will have to sit out the CC. Citadel only has 6 DL, so we came out running in the first half. The plan worked as we went into halftime with a 28-14 lead. We didn't stray from that plan in the second half and cruised to victory and a bid in the CC! We ran for 331/3 and passed for 173/3.

28-45 W

Appalachian State also has a hopelessly mismatched DL so we're going full steam ahead with our running game. We threw three times all game. The end result was 3 RBs going over 125 yards, with one nearly hitting 200! We ran for a total of 493/6 and passed for 23/1.

10-48 W

---------

With the regular season now complete, we have accomplished the first goal I laid out at the beginning of the season. We beat everyone in our path, going 8-0 in the conference and will be matching up with Northwestern State in the CC. Our overall record stands at 11-2, with those two losses coming to teams currently ranked #3 and #12 in the nation. We are currently ranked #10 fueled heavily by our OOC slate, because we didn't play another top 25 team during regular season play. The CC game against Northwestern State will be the first ranked opponent we've played since the 29th.

---------

11/7/07 #22 Northwestern State

[joannes3000]

Our first round opponent is a familiar foe from last season's playoffs. Once again we were given a #3 seed and once again we face Marist as the #6 seed. Their offense is a step down from last season, especially in the running game. Their passing attack looks to be their bread and butter.

Their defense only features 6 DL, so you know what that means. The first half is going to feature a steady diet of our running game because the best they can hope for is to slow us down. Fatigue and a lack of bodies should be evident in the second half.

--------

11/8/07 #21 Marist

[joannes3000]

Well, our plan worked to perfection. We stormed out of the gate thanks mainly in part to our rushing attack. At halftime we held a 28-14 lead and it didn't look like Marist was going to be able to slow us down. It felt almost unfair to run out of the NDB and to watch Marist try to slow us down from a base 4-3. They had little choice though, due to depth, and by halftime they had LBs subbing in at DL. I made zero changes to our game plan for the second half and the ground attack continued. Marist switched to a more aggressive passing attack and managed to play within a point of us in the half, but they never came within less than 11 points.

The final box score sums up our dominating performance. We ran for 406/6 and passed for 122/1. We only threw 9 passes all game long and our top two RBs ran for 205/3 and 150/1.

---------

34-49 W

[joannes3000]

So far my playoff journey has been exactly the same as last season. We faced and beat Marist in the first round and now we are facing Butler in the second round. If you remember, last season's game against Butler was a classic - a triple OT thriller that we ended up losing.

This season's tilt could possibly bring more dramatics. Both of our teams are fairly well matched, with Butler having more talent overall. Offensively, Butler still has all-world RB Larry Martin leading their offense much like last season. Not much has changed beyond that, so once again I'm hoping to at least keep things close and hope for the ball last with a chance to win the game.

---------

11/9/07 at #9 Butler

[AHF]

I do have to say that it looks like the AI has dramatically improved in this game. Good luck in your playoff matchup!

[joannes3000]

Quote:

---

I do have to say that it looks like the AI has dramatically improved in this game. Good luck in your playoff matchup!

---

I'll need all the luck I can get. The 2nd half simulates in about half an hour and I'm staying up for it even though I was up for over 20 hours yesterday (work, watching my son, sleep, work).

The sim is definitely harder to beat if it has enough talent but I think I've found a way to exploit it's game planning tendencies. You still need the talent to pull it off, as there are still plenty of mediocre human teams losing to mediocre sim teams.

[joannes3000]

Different season, same team, same result. We played Butler extremely tough for a second straight year but once again fell just short. We were down 17-20 at halftime and could've been up 21-20 but we had a late drive stall and had to settle for a FG.

We got the ball first in the 2nd half and after moving the ball effortlessly to Butler's 1 yard line, we inexplicably threw a pick. We forced a fumble on the very next play to get the ball back but couldn't capitalize again, this time going 3 and out and punting away. Butler put up the only points on the board late in the 3rd with a TD to extend their lead to 27-17.

We completed a late 3rd quarter drive by scoring a TD early in the 4th quarter to get back within a FG, 24-27. Two plays later we pick off a pass at midfield. We got inside the redzone with a deep pass only to fumble the ball right back to Butler. Butler scores another TD with 8:30 to go, putting us down 10. Punts are exchanged, but we pinned Butler inside their 7 yard line and got the ball at midfield after forcing another punt. We score a TD with just over 5 minutes to go and get within 3 again. Our defense then takes a nap and allows a 69 yard TD pass. With 4 minutes to go, we march right back down the field to score a TD of our own, giving Butler the ball with just over 2 minutes to go. The final 2 minutes was a frustrating series of forcing an incomplete pass on 1st down only to give up a 10 yard pass on 2nd down. We finally force a 3rd down at midfield with just over a minute to go, but naturally we give up a 15 yard pass to wrap up the game.

-------

All-world RB Larry Martin was 'held' to 111 yards, while our own star RB Paul Lopez went for 152. Like with most good teams, however, Butler chose to attack through the air and we did little to stop them. Their QB only completed 25/50, but he passed for 467/2. Butler was also 6/10 on 3rd down conversions and 2/2 on 4th down conversions.

I was happy to have our offense do so well against a very good defense. Our balanced attack out of the Pro set seems to be working out well in that regard. Our defense, however, looks to be a work in progress, especially the secondary. We'll have plenty of time to assess the situation(s) now that the offseason is upon us. There's always next year.

[joannes3000]

Maybe I was more hung over from our loss against Butler than I thought. My mind was completely elsewhere last night and I forgot to renew my team! What's even funnier is the fact that I have enough reward points for a free season; I just didn't go through the motions. It didn't take long for Furman to get scooped up and by the time I got up and realized I was unemployed, Furman already had a new coach in place. It sucks because we left a considerable amount of talent at Furman and I felt that with one or two more recruiting classes we could've been making some serious noise in the playoffs.

I spent the early part of this morning cruising through what jobs were open. My first thought was to lateral over to another DIAA school and take the Illinois State job. They were one of the two teams I lost to during the regular season and are absolutely stacked. I could've stayed there for a handful of seasons and waited for a cushy DIA job to open up. I decided against that, however, because I felt that my two seasons at DIAA were good enough to land me a BCS job. In looking at the open DIA positions, there were a handful of non-BCS jobs that looked pretty good.

There were a handful of Cali schools open: San Jose State, Fresno State, even BCS Stanford. I thought about applying at one of these schools to reap the benefits of having a nice recruiting area to pull from. I decided against it, however, because USC is the only elite school in the west and they cast a rather large shadow. On top of that you have Cal and UCLA ahead in the pecking order. After some thought, I decided to stay in the south and took the job at Duke.

-----

Why Duke? Because I wanted to take a rebuilding project and they were about as close to the bottom as I could tolerate. They've been human-coached for all of 4 seasons (out of 32 completed seasons), so the talent level is definitely lacking. They haven't had a winning season or gone to a bowl game since season 18, the last time they were human-coached. They've won a grand total of 2 CCs in their history. Funny thing is they actually won a NC way back in season 1, the first season GD existed.

I figure to bring success that Duke can only reminisce about, and I hope to have enough time to do it before getting fired. Fresh off of a 3-10 campaign I would hope that I can at least stick around long enough to fill my roster with my own players and see how I stack up at that point. By then I think i will be able to compete within the conference, which is loaded with talent.

Boston College: jwest44 - 345-35 overall, 61-20 neutral site, 41-9 playoff, 5-4 bowl, 15 CC, 4 NC.

Florida State: conqistdr - 243-48 overall, 29-15 neutral site, 18-9 playoff, 5-2 bowl, 6 CC, 2 NC.

Clemson: cavone - 313-139 overall, 20-16 neutral site, 8-4 playoff, 10-8 bowl, 2 CC, 0 NC.

Virginia: bigbluefan05 - 379-44 overall, 57-15 neutral site, 25-8 playoff, 14-2 bowl, 18 CC, 2 NC.

Miami: statshawn - 315-100 overall, 28-23 neutral site, 15-10 playoff, 6-8 bowl, 7 CC, 0 NC.

Georgia Tech: metsny - 274-60 overall, 26-22 neutral site, 16-12 playoff, 4-3 bowl, 6 CC, 0 NC.

This will easily be my biggest test as a game planner as I am clearly in the presence of greatness in the ACC. I have a feeling that I will be lucky to win 5 conference games each season and the only way I'm going to crack 10 wins is by winning all of my OOC games each season. That will be a far cry from the level of competition I've been facing to this point in my coaching career.

-------

So why in the hell did I sign up for this again? Because I'm ready to stake my claim as more than just a coach that can win the easy games in the easy conferences. I think I've barely registered as a blip on the radar screen for most of the top coaches in GD but this opportunity will hopefully put everyone on notice. I've done amazingly well so far with my other DIA job and I think it's time to put my coaching to the test.