How to Win in Dynasty Mode in NCAA 2008

Choose the right School

This is the most important step. If your favorite school is not the best of the rated schools it may take you significantly longer to develop a winning dynasty. However, this does not mean that it is not possible. But I highly recommended choosing a better school if your school does not have that great of a team. For example, of you pick Temple, it may take you three or four seasons to get a good team and there are no guarantees. However if you pick Boston College, you may just go all the way on your first or second season. It is up to you.

But try and select your top three schools and choose the one that is rated the best for optimal performance. Again your choice, but you may suffer if your school is not that great. It makes it harder to sign and scout top players and you will not have as large of a budget. Finally, other big-name teams may refuse to play open scheduled games against you, which makes it all that more difficult to get to the Championship.

Simulate the first season

Typically the first season will be so-so. This is because you did not scout the players nor did you sign any of them or select the first season games in the open schedule, which can have a huge impact on your top ten BCS rankings. It is suggested that you simply simulate the first season, a game at a time, making sure that you scout players to sign for the next season.

You can go ahead and suffer through a season if you like. However, you may not be too happy with the results. Simulate your first season, scout the players in between each game and make sure that you have a winning season so your school reputation is high.

Scout players properly

Scouting players is the key. You want to look for their interests on their player card. Make sure that your school is at least in their top ten or they more than likely will not sign with you. Choose several five star players for scouting that favor your school. Make the rest of them four stars and toss in a few three and two star players as well. Your best bet at securing top prospects is in having many to choose from and scout, as not all of them will choose to sign with your team.

Find out what scouted players want

Each player has different wants and needs that will decide on what school that they will sign with. Check out their player card so you know what to tell them when you call them. After you have found a few things that they favor highly that your school has to offer, make them promises that you can keep; like no red shirt their first season, or winning season their first year.

Conserve your scouting time on the phone and make sure that you talk to each player at least once per week to motivate them to come to your school. Only schedule in-game visits when you are playing other top rated teams. This way your scouted players see you crush the better team and are more willing to sign with your school.

Choose the right playbook

Each team will have different strengths and weakness both on their offense and their defense. No single playbook is better than another. It will be up to you to play around with different playbooks and find the one best suited for your team. You may have to change this up year in and year out to best accommodate your players strengths and weaknesses. Make sure that you customize your audibles so that in-game play changes are smooth and easy.

Align your depth chart accordingly

After you have finished setting up your team for the following season it is important that you make sure and align your depth chart. There may be better players that for some reasons are not starters. Look at their attributes.

For example, there may be a lower rated overall player on special teams for punt returns, but there may be a faster player with a better hands rating beneath him. It would be ideal to place this player as a starter on special teams due to his speed and hands, even if he is lower rated overall.

Use your best judgments. Try playing around with the depth chart and if a player is not performing try putting another in his place as a starter. You never know who your next star player may be.

Schedule the right games

I have been playing this game for a while so I am confident that I can beat most teams against the CPU AI. When you schedule custom games for the year you are allowed five or six, depending on the team that you chose. Make sure that you play a few games against high ranked opponents. This will allow you to easily dominate the top ten rankings. If for some reason you suffered a loss during the regular season, winning one of these top ten games will easily get you back up in the BCS standings.

Practice and time make a perfect team

This game is all about how much time that you spend playing it and familiarizing yourself with the computer AI. The more you play the better that you get. The more tricks that you will learn. Play around with different teams. Check out the playbooks and see what you like best. Make sure to schedule custom games. Finally, if you like cheating you can create your own star player each year, but limit yourself to just one custom player so you do not feel like total cheater. Have fun, enjoy and remember gambling is a serious addiction!