How I Won It All With Duke In My First Season In NCAA Football 06

Trying to turn an academic, non-traditional school like Duke into a powerhouse is not easy.

It is considered one of the toughest challenges in a game.

My most recent Duke series was not different.

Over the years you have heard me talk about my other Duke dynasty when I won the National Championship in their first season.

If you have played 06 much, you know how bad Duke is in the game.

They have a rating of “C” across the board: Overall, Offense, Defense, and Special Teams.

They are also in one of the toughest divisions in a very tough Atlantic Coast Conference.

Add in the fact that I played on Heisman difficulty, you can say the odds were stacked against me.

So how did I pull off this seemingly impossible feat?

Let’s break that down as I believe these tips can help when you are the underdog.

Some of these tips may look familiar.

Roster Fit

My plan going into that dynasty was to run a pro style offense, and Duke’s current roster fit that.

I also knew I was going to run the ball a lot to control the clock so it helped that my backfield had enough decent halfbacks to make it at least feasible.

The offensive line was average too but doable.

I don’t think I would have had much success if I had a team that couldn’t run the ball that well.

I could be wrong, but it is easier for me to have upset wins by running the clock via the run.

Clock Control

I am a firm believer that in order to win with an underdog roster, you have to prioritize the ability to control the clock.

Most of my upset victories over vastly superior teams have come from me holding onto the ball as much as possible.

Modern offenses now treat the clock as their enemy where in fact it can become your friend.

The easiest way to control the clock is to make the running game the focal point of your offense.

Yes, you can run a ball-controlled passing attack like the West Coast or Air Raid offense, but dropped passes can hinder your ability to run clock.

Nothing can run the clock better than simply handing the ball off to your halfback, fullback, and other skill players over and over again.

The main reason we want to control the clock is the keep the ball away from the opposing offense as much as possible.

More often than not, you will not have much talent on defense to stop better offenses on a consistent basis.

So why not play defense while on offense by playing “keep away”?

On most plays, I didn’t snap the ball until the play clock got under 3 seconds. There is no reason to snap the ball as soon as your offense is set in an underdog situation.

As long as you have the mindset of “controlling the clock keeps us in every game against better teams”, this will instill confidence that you can defeat any team on your schedule.

Run the Ball!

Now let’s get into the playbook and plays themselves.

Here are the run concepts I used:

1. HB Slam
2. HB Dive/Iso
3. HB Off Tackle
4. HB Counter Weak
5. HB/Power Option (my Toss play)
6. FB Dive/Blast
7. FB Over/Weak

These are the seven distinct run concepts I use to punish defenses while also controlling the clock.

Notice that none of these plays are option plays as HB/Power Option is only used as a toss play.

This means that you will not need a running quarterback to make this offense work.

In fact, I think running an option offense for this situation can be counter-intuitive.

Option plays require the QB to pitch the ball most of the time, pitching the ball can cause problems. mostly fumbles.

You will also notice that 6 of the 7 plays above have the QB literally handing the ball to the backs, only HB/Power Option has the ball in the air at some point.

But I’m not going to lie, having a dual threat QB would be nice too.

These plays also attack every gap your offensive line can offer.

They will allow you to attack between the center, guards, tackles, and tight ends.

Finally, notice how all of the plays are available in mostly under-center formations. That’s right, you will be under center most of the time.

Formation Advantage

Speaking of formations, you can use various sets to amplify your offense while also punishing the defense. Here are of the formations I used (from what I remember):

1. Ace Big Twin WR
2. Ace Normal
3. Ace Slot
4. Ace Spread
5. I-Form Normal
6. I-Form Twins
7. Weak Normal
8. Gun Y-Trips
9. Gun Trips

You will notice some trends. Like I mentioned earlier, I use mostly under-center sets as the run game is more diverse from these sets, you don’t have to worry about high snaps like you would if in shotgun formations.

You will also notice mostly two and three-wide sets. This lets you move WRs around so you can use more grass or blocking to your advantage.

Pass When Needed

I would pass the ball when needed such as obvious 3rd down situations, and I used play action to complement my run game.

I had maybe two 3rd-down pass plays I would always go to and a few great man and zone beating plays that could really change a game.

But in the end, I still threw the ball maybe 20-25% of the time.

And this is with an impact QB who was a pocket passer.

What About Defense?

I am a 4-3 guy, and I feel this gives me the best chance to stop opponents.

I like having a four-man front as I think I can stop the run better with it.

Other than that, I don’t think I did anything special on defense.

I tend to make a better impact controlling an OLB.

Unfortunately I don’t remember as much about the defense as I do the offense.

I’m sure my defense made enough big plays to make an impact at least.

I Got Lucky

This is the biggest reason I was able to win it all in my first season with Duke. It helps that:

• I didn’t turn the ball over much like the other teams did
• I converted my 3rd downs
• I didn’t have any big injuries
• My non-conference schedule wasn’t loaded (the conference schedule is tough enough)
• I played defense on both fronts by controlling clock

I doubt I could ever pull this off again as you can see with my recent Duke dynasty, a Duke dynasty is a challenging one, but that is part of the fun.

At least this gives you somewhat of a blueprint that can help you pull of some upsets in your dynasty.