Quote Originally Posted by jwallace0317 View Post
In real life when you're scouting an opponent, you know every formation they've come out in, every play they've run (and tendencies based on every down/distance situation), and you've seen tape of your opponent actually running their plays in past games. None of this is contained in the video game (despite the availability of some of this information, a la the scouting reports in Madden), and it's one of the biggest gaps in "realism" in the NCAA Football series. This gap is particularly evident when you consider that in online dynasties you're supposed to be the coach, and one of a coach's top responsibilities is scouting your opponents. So, simply disclosing what formations and number of plays are in your book isn't intrusive or heavy handed, from that perspective. And, considering many people are going to spend hours cooking up their custom playbook, taking 5 minutes to jot down your formations and play counts doesn't take much work.
You may know everything they've run in the past, however, teams are always adding/creating plays now and then for a certain team, to take advantage of issues with that team's defense. Or a team will never use a certain formation for half the season, then bring it out for a big game against their rival or something to throw them off a bit and bring out something that they didn't prepare for during practice. I think the thing I wouldn't agree with is forcing people to list every single formation in their playbook, as at that point, you may as well force them to list their entire playbook, play for play. You're not going to go up to another team in real life the week you play them and say "I'd like to have a list of every single formation in your playbook". Maybe listing the base formations, but not every single one.