Good win man. Akron should be a pushover, but you know how this game is sometimes.
Good win man. Akron should be a pushover, but you know how this game is sometimes.
Thanks man. And that's what worries me going into my game against Akron. I'm scared to hell right now I'm going to have the worst game of my life and lose after that Duke game. Honestly, for the people in the past who have posted about it seeming like this game has an internal coin flip before each game, that decides one team is going to have everything go their way, and the other team is going to lose no matter what they do, I'd believe them now after that Duke game.
Nothing I did could go wrong. 2 for 2 on fourth down, at one point I was 6 for 7 on 3rd down conversions. No turnovers, no mistakes, nothing, I didn't even have my first punt until halfway through the 3rd quarter. It was the best played game of my NCAA career.
And now I'm honestly scared of playing Akron, because I have this feeling that I can't get rid of that I'm going to play the game, and everything that could go wrong will go wrong.
I feel what you are saying. I completely crushed an undefeated Southern Miss team on the road only to come home and host Mid Tenn State and have everything go wrong. Southern Miss I should have lose, Mid Tenn State I should never loose.
Game Six
Game Notes
--- Our first game on the road since week 3, kicking off a stretch of 5 straight away games, as we travel to Akron. The Zips come in with a 1-4 record, we’re coming in at 2-3 on a two game winning streak, including our unbelievable upset, and probably what will be the biggest win of the entire season, over Duke. It was also a cold day in Ohio, as the October 8th temperature was only in the high 30s.
We lost the coin toss, Akron elected to kick, giving our offense the chance to once again set the momentum for the game right out of the game. Right away it became clear this was not going to be a good day for our ground game. Akron apparently had watched game film of our game against Duke, as they were keying on the run early and often. We would only get as far as the 50 yard line before an incomplete pass on 3rd and 3 would bring our first drive to an end. Akron’s first drive went about 20 yards as well before they too were forced to punt.
Our second offensive drive however, Akron changed their defensive gameplan for some reason, and chose to drop back more into pass coverage, rather than continuing to focus on my ground game. This change of focus allowed Darriet Perry to start stuffing the ball down Akron’s throat on 6 straight plays before they finally shut down our run game once again. However, another incomplete pass on 3rd and 10 would once again bring our offense to a stop on the Akron 40 yard line. Akron’s drive however was once again short lived, only managing one first down and 15 yards of offense before being forced to punt.
Unfortunately, an attempt to throw Akron’s defense off with a first down pass failed pathetically, as one of Akron’s safeties were able to pick off the pass, and then return it for 17 yards down to our 38 yard line. The line of scrimmage at the beginning of that play, was our own 35 yard line.Akron would need only 3 plays before finding the end zone on a 34 yard pass. After seeing the collapse that Duke had after the momentum swing in our previous game, our offense was not about to let Akron claim the momentum in this game and potentially put us into an unrecoverable hole. We came out pissed and hard, driving the ball 75 yards in 5 plays down to the Akron 1 yard line before the clock hit 0 to end the first quarter. First play of the second quarter, Darriet Perry punched the ball into the end zone, tying the game back up.
After our defense forced an Akron punt from their own 18 yard line, we got a bit of help from the return team as they gave us the ball 1st and 10 at the Akron 37 yard line after the punt return. Taking over on offense that far into Akron territory, we knew we had to come away with a touchdown or else. And that is exactly what we did. However, it wasn’t as big of a lead as we would have like, thanks to Sir Shanks-a-lot missing the extra point.
After that, both defenses stepped in and started shutting down the other team, leading to a trading of punts before we were able to get the ball back with three minutes left to play. Thanks to a couple of holes in the secondary, and a 15 yard facemask penalty, we were able to advance the ball down to the Akron 30 yard line before Perry took over, found a hole, and broke free for a 30 yard scramble to the end zone. Things would only get worse for Akron as their second play of their ensuing series, our CB Emmanuel Souarin was able to intercept a pass attempt at the Akron 31 yard line, setting us up for a chance to really blow the game wide open. Three plays later, Perry pounded the ball forward for another touchdown, this one from 10 yards out on 1st and goal. After both teams traded a pair of punts, that would be all she wrote for the first half.
Start of the second half, the Akron offense once again proved inept, and were quickly forced to punt. Our offense didn’t even need to be on the field as T.Y. Hilton punished the Akron punt team with a 30 yard return up the right sideline, before being finally brought down at the Akron 38 yard line. Despite a holding penalty on 1st down that set us back, we would eventually once again find the end zone 11 plays later. The game would quickly get even worse for Akron. Despite a 15 yard pass interference penalty on the defense on 1st down that advance the LOS up to the Akron 34 yard line, an interception by Jonathan Cyprien on the very next play was returned 29 yards all the way to the Akron 13 yard line. The Zips offense very clearly had imploded under the weight of the hole they were already in. Perry would only need two plays to cover those 13 yards on the ground.
While the Zips offense never got any rhythm going again, their defense had apparently decided that they had given up enough points for the day, as they proceeded to stuff our offense’s rushing attempts on 3rd and 1 for three straight series, forcing us to punt each time. Neither offense would get much going the rest of the game as our second team offense took over at the end of the third quarter, and Akron’s offense just simply walked onto the field.
The win improves our record to 3-3, currently on a three game winning streak. Akron drops to 1-5. Up next for FIU, the Red Wolves of Arkansas State, currently 5-1 on the season, 2-0 in the Sun Belt. Arkansas State opened their season with a 48-0 loss at Illinois, who is currently 5-1 and ranked 25th in the nation. The Red Wolves then proceeded to whoop Memphis, whoop Central Arkansas, they upset Virginia Tech 41-35, and just won by 10 over UL Monroe.
Final Score
7
Stat(s) of the Game:
FIU Offense – Most points of the season.
FIU Running Backs – 173 yards rushing, 4 touchdowns.
FIU Defense – Only 164 yards of total offense given up. Two interceptions, first at Akron’s 31 yard line, second at Akron’s 42 yard line, returned all the way down to the Akron 13.
FIU FS Jonathon Cyprien – 1 interception, 28 yard INT return down to Akron 13 yard line, setting up offense for the final touchdown of the day.
Akron QB Patrick Nicely – 6-40 passing, 88 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs, 31.7 QB Rating.
Scoring Summary
Team 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter Final Score 0 27 14 0 41 7 0 0 0 7
Team Result Play Score First Quarter Touchdown D. Martin, 33 yard pass from P. Nicely (J. Long kick) Second Quarter Touchdown D. Perry, 1 yard run (J. Griffin kick) TIED 7-7 Touchdown J. Mertile, 2 yard pass from W. Carroll (missed kick) Touchdown D. Perry, 30 yard run (J. Griffin kick) Touchdown D. Perry, 11 yard run (J. Griffin kick) Third Quarter Touchdown D. LaPorte, 12 yard pass from W. Carroll (J. Griffin kick) Touchdown D. Perry, 2 yard run (J. Griffin kick) Fourth Quarter
Game Stats
Florida International Stat Akron 41 Score 7 16 First Downs 8 399 Total Offense 164 39 - 173 - 4 Rushes - Yards - TD 22 - 76 - 0 16 - 28 - 2 Comp - Att - TD 6 - 40 - 1 226 Passing Yards 88 0 Times Sacked 2 4 - 13 (30%) 3rd Down Conversion 4 - 17 (23%) 0 - 0 (0%) 4th Down Conversion 0 - 0 (0%) 0 - 0 (0%) 2-Point Conversion 0 - 0 (0%) 9 - 5 - 0 (55%) Red Zone - TD - FG 0 - 0 - 0 (0%) 1 Turnovers 2 0 Fumbles Losts 0 1 Intercepted 2 102 Punt Return Yards 40 44 Kick Return Yards 60 545 Total Yards 244 9 - 41.9 Punts - Average 13 - 38.1 9 - 82 Penalties 1 - 15 23:10 Time of Possession 12:50
Florida International Contract Goals Update
Fail Impact Goal Progress Pass Impact 500+ rushing yards in each season 606 Win 8 games in one season 3 2000+ total offensive yards in each season 2684 7+ passing TD in one season 10+ points per game in each season 25 PPG 2400+ total offensive yards in one season Win 4 games in one season 3 2000+ total offensive yards in one season
Job Security Status
61%
Last edited by SmoothPancakes; 08-26-2011 at 04:45 PM.
Thankfully I avoided the upset bid by the game, though I was starting to pull my hair out halfway through that 1st quarter.
Now I get to have fun trying to compete with Arkansas State. This was another game I had penciled in as an automatic loss at the beginning of the season.
Nice win man. I figured you would get the win against Akron. After playing with them in the TGTOD, they're just plain awful. I don't see how any team could possibly be as bad as they are. It's really quite sad.
Arkansas State is going to be tough. Their offense is ridiculously talented in this game.
Yeah, I was worried at first after my interception set them up for that first touchdown. Then once I got that first score on the board to tie things up, they just collapsed. Their QB was HORRIBLE. How do you go 6 for 40 passing, besides sucking?Originally Posted by morsdraconis
Then there was the two interceptions by our defense. First one gave us the ball on the Akron 31. Second one, thanks to a 28 yard return, gave us the ball on the Akron 13. There are not too many teams who would be able to recover from bad interceptions like that. Akron definitely is not one of them.
And our punt return team. Some massive help from them. 102 punt return yards, gave us the ball inside the Akron 35-40 two or three times. Multiple short field drives for our offense spelled doom for Akron.
And yeah, I just looked at Arkansas State. I'm definitely worried. Especially after I saw that they beat Virginia Tech at VT in week 3, 41-35. I do not like seeing that result at all.
The Red Wolves are a force to be reckoned with.... until I control them that is.
Yeah, FIU already came through once against Arkansas State in your dynasty. Now to see if we can do it again, this time in my dynasty.
Son of a... I was almost entirely done with recruiting for the week before I play my game against Arkansas State. I stopped with about 10 more players to go because I was typing out a post on here, and the damn game froze on me while it was just sitting in the recruiting board screen for a couple of minutes.
Arkansas State will probably be getting played a bit later tonight. I'm going to redo recruiting right now, then there's a show on at 4pm EST that I want to watch.
Last edited by SmoothPancakes; 07-26-2011 at 07:45 PM.
Thats why I knock out a week... advance then save and then finally update the boards. I'm afraid of the freeze. Been able to escape it so far but I did have to find out the hard way to never trust Auto Save
Oh I wasn't doing any updates for this thread, I was just doing my recruiting for the week in my dynasty so I'd be ready to play my game against Arkansas State. I did recruiting updates on here in my dynasty last year. Between game summaries, recruiting updates, and "Around the NCAA" updates, listing upsets, blowouts, shutouts, the current top 25, Heisman update, etc, it took twice as long just to type up the updates in the thread as it was to actually play the game. So for this dynasty, I've cut out everything except for game summaries. Much less typing, much less work, and I can get updates up faster and games played more often.Thats why I knock out a week... advance then save and then finally update the boards. I'm afraid of the freeze. Been able to escape it so far but I did have to find out the hard way to never trust Auto Save
Unfortunately, this time, I was just going through working on my recruiting. I only had about 10 or 12 players left to finish my recruiting for when I put my controller down for a couple minutes to make a post in one of the forums on here. Sometime during those couple of minutes, the game randomly froze on me. All I lost was what I had done for recruiting for the week, having to start all over against with 10 recruiting hours, but it's done now and just the game against the Red Wolves awaits.
So I was just looking through the schedules for the teams I've faced so far, going back through all my previous game posts and editing in a little recap/preview record-wise of the team I just played and the team I face next. You're right, Akron is just plain awful. There are no words to describe how bad they are.
Looking at their schedule so far up through week 8 in my dynasty, Akron is 1-5. They lost at Ohio State 55-14. They lost at home vs. Temple 35-17. They lost at Cincinnati 41-3. The kicker in all of this. They lost to FCS East 37-0!!! They got blown and shut the heck out by freaking FCS East! It's official. Akron is an abomination. I would be willing to say that Akron in NCAA 12 could quite possibly be the worst team in the history of NCAA football, going back through every game EA has ever released.
Their only win came in a 14-13 win at Eastern Michigan, which means Eastern Michigan sucks pretty much just as bad if Akron can beat EMU one week after getting shut out and blown out by an FCS team.
Yup. Eastern Michigan and Akron are historically bad. It'll be interesting to see if they're actually this bad in real life (I would venture to guess it's a no - Akron, and MAC schools in general, are always severely underrated in this game throughout the years).
Well, they did go 1-11 last year, with their only win being a 22-14 win over Buffalo in their very last game of the season.
Game Seven
Game Notes
--- Coming into this game on a three game winning streak, and looking to make it a two game winning streak in the Sun Belt, we knew it was going to be a tall task as we were going on the road to Arkansas State. It was a mild day, temps in the 50s, and the sun shining bright. We lost the coin toss, the Red Wolves elected to kick. We were immediately set up in decent shape for our first offensive drive thanks to a 29 yard kickoff return by T.Y. Hilton that gave our offense the ball at the 40 yard line.
Our offense was able to find instant success on the ground, as Arkansas State was able to do little to stop our rushing attack. We were able to work our way clear down to the Arkansas State 14 yard line before the ball was fumbled away by LaPorte after catching a pass on the Red Wolves 5 yard line. Our offense started to exit the field for our defense when the referees whistled and said there was a booth review.
Coach Cristobal had challenged the ruling on the field. Instant replay showed that the fumble was caused by the ground, after LaPorte had already been tackled down onto the ground, resulting in the play being overturned. Our offense came back onto the field with new life and would finally punch the ball into the end zone as Darriet Perry was able to push into the end zone on 4th and goal from right on top of the of Red Wolves goal line. It was an 11 play, 60 yard drive that showed Arkansas State that we weren’t going to roll over and go down without a fight, no matter how many of the experts and analysts deemed us the underdogs.
Arkansas State meanwhile showed that they were ready to respond, as they drove right down the field on our defense without pause. We would definitely have to go punch for punch with the Red Wolves if we were going to win today. Our following offense drive, we were able to get as close as the Arkansas State 29 yard line, before a 5 yard loss on a pitch play, and a 9 yard loss on a sack pushed us clear back to the 44 yard line. We would attempt to convert, and almost were able to, but a fumble by our receiver right before the 1st down line gave the ball back to the Red Wolves, who were able to return the fumble clear out to their own 37 yard line. They would waste no time finding the end zone again, even converting on 4th and 1 from our 12 yard line just so they wouldn’t have to settle for a field goal.
Arkansas State’s defense cost themselves huge on our next offensive drive, as the Red Wolves D was keying hard on our run game, bringing heavy blitzes, including twice bringing 8 guys. Some well timed audibles from rushes to passes allowed us to burn the Red Wolves defense on those blitzes. Using those well timed audibles, and two key third down conversions, we were able to eventually get down to the Arkansas State 3 yard line before our offense found the end zone a second time. Our defense on the other hand, once again was no help to us as the Red Wolves offense once again marched right down the field on us to retake the lead.
Our offense needed only one play to respond. A single rush up the gut by Perry, a huge miss by an Arkansas State defender, and he was able to evade the Red Wolves defense on his way to a 72 yard touchdown run. It wasn’t until less than 2 minutes to play in the 2nd quarter, before our defense had seemingly finally found a way to stop Arkansas State’s offense, stopping the Red Wolves on 3rd down to set up 4th and 6 on our own 38 yard line. However, appearances can be deceiving, as Arkansas State converted on 4th down with a 20 yard pass down to our 18 yard line. They would find the end zone 5 plays later.
Faced with only 38 seconds until halftime, and starting on our own 29 yard line, we knew it was pass or bust. We would make it as far as the Arkansas State 7 yard line before being forced to settle for a field goal. That apparently pissed Arkansas State off, as they proceeded to return the kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown to expand their halftime lead from just 4 out to 11. Our defense however as more than ready for the second half, as they stopped the Red Wolves for a 4 yard loss on a 1st down rush attempt, then sacked the QB for an 8 yard loss, before forcing an incomplete pass to set up the first punt of the entire game on 4th and 22 for the ASU 8 yard line.
Our offense was able to drive down as far as the ASU 11 yard line, however an interception on 3rd and 5 would bring our drive screeching to a halt. The Wolves wasted little time in striking a blow to us with an 87 yard touchdown pass. A holding penalty on 2nd and inches would ultimately doom what had looked to be a promising drive for our offense. Our defense once again held tough. A pair of holding penalties this time failed to kill our drive, though we ultimately were stonewalled on the ASU 5 yard line, and forced to settle for a 22 yard field goal to get within 15. Arkansas State meanwhile, decided it was time to strike the deathblow, and marched right down the field, covering 80 yards in 6 plays to score yet another touchdown.
We tried our best to get back into the game, including managing to finally find the end zone again on our next offensive drive. Unfortunately the hole was too deep, and time was too short for us to have any hope of a comeback.
With the loss, we drop to 3-4 on the season, 1-2 in Sun Belt Conference play. With the win, Arkansas State improves to 6-1 for the year, 3-0 in conference play. Up next for the Golden Panthers, we go on the road to Troy, who is currently 4-2 on the season, 2-1 in the Sun Belt Conference. Troy opened up the year with a 20-10 loss at Clemson, before rebounding for three straight wins, 38-17 against UAB, 42-7 vs. Alcorn State, and 21-10 on the road at Mid Tennessee State. Their second loss came in week 7 at Louisiana-Lafayette, as the Ragin’ Cajuns edged the Trojans 21-20. Troy then won their week 8 matchup on the road at UL Monroe, 40-7.
Final Score
63,
Stat(s) of the Game:
- FIU Defense – Most points given up all season. Allowed 214 yards rushing. Gave up 8 touchdowns.
- FIU Offense – Was able to hit the century mark in rushing, over 400 yards passing, but failed to score too many times on a number of good chances.
- FIU Kicker Jack Griffin – Sir Shanks-a-Lot was finally perfect for a game, going 2 for 2 on field goals, 3 for 3 on extra points.
- Arkansas State Offense – 8 touchdowns scored, torched our defense for 627 yards of offense. I now understand why Arkansas State is 6-1 and why they defeated Virginia Tech 41-35 after seeing their offense in action firsthand.
Scoring Summary
Team 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter Final Score 7 17 3 10 37 7 28 7 21 63
Team Result Play Score First Quarter Touchdown D. Perry, 1 yard run (J. Griffin kick) Touchdown T. Stockemer, 25 yard pass from R. Aplin (B. Zalud kick) TIED 7-7 Second Quarter Touchdown C. McCants, 2 yard pass from R. Aplin (B. Zalud kick) Touchdown J. Mertile, 4 yard pass from W. Carroll (J. Griffin kick) TIED 14-14 Touchdown D. Lawson, 4 yard run (B. Zalud kick) Touchdown D. Perry, 72 yard run (J. Griffin kick) TIED 21-21 Touchdown A. Muse, 6 yard pass from R. Aplin (B. Zalud kick) Field Goal J. Griffin, 23 yard field goal Touchdown D. Lawson, returned kickoff 94 yards (B. Zalud kick) Third Quarter Touchdown A. Muse, 87 yard pass from R. Aplin (B. Zalud kick) Field Goal J. Griffin, 22 yard field goal Fourth Quarter Touchdown D. Frampton, 10 yard pass from P. Butterfield (B. Zalud kick) Touchdown W. Times, 27 yard pass from W. Carroll (2-point conversion good) Touchdown D. Lawson, 51 yard run (B. Zalud kick) INT-Safety W. Carroll pass intercepted by D. Edwards, Edwards tackled in the end zone for a safety Touchdown D. Lawson, 47 yard run (B. Zalud kick)
Game Stats
Florida International Stat Arkansas State 37 Score 63 20 First Downs 20 561 Total Offense 627 37 - 120 - 2 Rushes - Yards - TD 40 - 214 - 3 18 - 36 - 2 Comp - Att - TD 20 - 35 - 5 441 Passing Yards 413 3 Times Sacked 2 5 - 16 (31%) 3rd Down Conversion 10 - 16 (62%) 2 - 3 (66%) 4th Down Conversion 2 - 2 (100%) 1 - 1 (100%) 2-Point Conversion 0 - 0 (0%) 8 - 2 - 2 (50%) Red Zone - TD - FG 7 - 4 - 0 (57%) 3 Turnovers 0 1 Fumbles Losts 0 2 Intercepted 0 11 Punt Return Yards 8 232 Kick Return Yards 131 804 Total Yards 766 4 - 41.8 Punts - Average 4 - 42.5 6 - 42 Penalties 0 - 0 21:35 Time of Possession 16:25
Florida International Contract Goals Update
Fail Impact Goal Progress Pass Impact 500+ rushing yards in each season 1/3 Passed Win 8 games in one season 3 2000+ total offensive yards in each season 1/3 Passed 7+ passing TD in one season 10+ points per game in each season 27 PPG 2400+ total offensive yards in one season Win 4 games in one season 3 2000+ total offensive yards in one season
Job Security Status
61%
Last edited by SmoothPancakes; 08-26-2011 at 04:46 PM.
This game played out exactly as I thought it would. Arkansas State's offense is so damn explosive, I knew even before the coin toss, I was going to have to go punch for punch with the Red Wolves and hope I could keep up to have a chance to win. I did exactly that for most of the 1st half. Unfortunately, what I thought was the smart play, settling for a field goal with 11 seconds left in the half to cut the ASU lead in 4, rather than take a gamble and end up down 7 at halftime, came back and bit me in the ass, hard. Only Arkansas State would manage to turn around and return the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown with no time left in the half.
That was pretty much the play that screwed me. I needed to stay within 7 of them to have a chance. Going into halftime down 11, with Arkansas State getting the ball to start the half, pretty much spelled out my doom. They would get 4 more touchdowns, all I could muster was a single touchdown, a field goal, and a safety immediately following an interception inside the Arkansas State 5 yard line.
The Arkansas State Red Wolves just joined UL Lafayette, and UCF, on my list of teams I am very much not looking forward to playing again in the future.
And here's the video of my, by far, best play of the game against Arkansas State, Darriet Perry's 72 yard touchdown rush.
I swear, the only way to break a run long in this game is straight up the middle. Otherwise, it's 4 yards, at best.
Good run, but tough luck on the game. Figured it wasn't gonna look good by the end, but you never know. They could have rolled over and let you beat the shit out of them.
Yeah, that's been my personal experience. I can get anywhere from as little as a 1 yard gain or break it for maybe as much as 30 yards if I go with a pitch or counter. If I try an outside handoff, for me, it almost always gets blown up for no gain or a loss. Inside handoff, depending on the defense the CPU calls, it might get stonewalled for no gain or maybe a one or two yard gain, some times, I'll get consistent 4, 5, 6 yard gains each run up the middle, other times, I'm breaking it up the middle for 10, 20 yard gains at a time. The middle/inside runs are clearly, without a doubt, the money plays for rushing this year.
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