Title: Road to Glory Mode – Getting a High Legend Score Game: NCAA Football ’13 (PS3 and Xbox360) Author: LuckyLindy84 Table of Contents 1. Intro 2. Selecting a Difficulty Setting 3. Character Creation 4. High School 5. Picking a School A. List of every School's Offensive Philosophy 6. Going to Practice 7. Earning Coach Trust 8. Skill Increases (Career and One-Game Boosts) 9. The Importance of Injury and Stamina 10. The Option of Quitting at Halftime 11. Reaction Time 12. Catching 13. Getting a High Legend Score A. As a Quarterback B. As a Running Back C. As a Wide Receiver D. As a Defensive Player 14. Save before the Offseason Begins 15. Record Breaking 16. Don’t Cheat 17. Playing for Realism 18. Power-Up Packages 19. The End 1. Intro Playing NCAA ’13 is something that should be fun and enjoyable. I have been playing NCAA Football every year since it came out in 1992. I was eight years old in the beginning and I haven’t stopped playing since. Although I have many more adult responsibilities now, my love of football and the game have not diminished one bit. I find myself putting in the hours every week, though mostly when my girlfriend is not around. Haha. Let me introduce myself real quick. I am a hardcore jock but I’m also a gaming enthusiast. I’ve been playing video games ever since I played Super Mario Bros. on regular, 16-bit Nintendo in 1989 and I’ve been hooked on sports video games ever since Techmo Super Bowl came out… I served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2005-10. I am very passionate about the Denver Broncos and College Football as well. Playing an NCAA “Road to Glory Mode” is the closest that a sports game can come to acting like an RPG. I have created a simple guide here for you to get the highest Legend Score possible (50,000 Max). There is an inherent trait in all of us that simply enjoys logging in and seeing our name at the top of the leaderboard, no matter what that leaderboard may be. Everyone likes being #1, even if it’s beating your best-friend in a game of Horse. If you want bragging rights amongst your friends or like seeing your name at the top, let my guide aid you in your efforts. I’ve always abided by the motto: “Why play if not to win?” 2. Choosing a Difficulty Setting When you begin your Road to Glory Mode there are 4 difficulty settings available. They are Freshman, Varsity, All-American, and Heisman. These are ranked in order of their difficulty. Competing in the Online Leaderboards is only available in Varsity and Heisman modes. If you’re a hardcore realist who wants the most intense gaming experience, Heisman might be the level for you. However, keep in mind that competing in the Online Leaderboards is only available in Varsity and Heisman modes. 3. Creating a Character If you choose to begin a Road to Glory Mode with an already existing NCAA player, you will not be eligible for the Road to Glory Online Leaderboards. When creating your character, it is imperative that he be tall if he is a QB, WR, or DB. This will stop you from getting as many passes knocked down at the line of scrimmage if you’re a QB and will help you jump up and grab balls either as a receiver or a defensive back. Being a tall player also helps you see your player when he is on the screen better. If you are 5-9 it is a lot harder to go up over a defender and snag a ball over the middle. On the other hand, having a running back who is 5-6 and 165 lbs. makes running the ball a lot easier. Why? Because you’re smaller and able to get through holes a lot easier than a 6-3, 250 lb. running back. Remember Noel Devine from West Virginia or Darren Sproles when he was at Kansas State? That’s what I’m talking about. How much strength or trucking ability you have as a 6-3, 250 lb. running back or as a 5-6, 165 lb. running back has no difference in the game. That will depend on your character’s individual strength and trucking ratings, so don’t worry about your 5-6 guy not being able to break tackles. A break tackle rating of 80 is the same regardless of your player’s size. Having a running back who is tiny and able to get through any hole will make running the ball a lot easier. You won’t have a hard time catching screens, swing passes and out-routes, but if you’re a RB who likes to go over the middle a lot, having a 5-6 guy won’t work well. However, you will rack up 400 yards a game on the ground a lot easier. Having a WR who is 6-7 will enable you to jump up over any DB for a pass and will help you when you go over the middle. Having a 6-6 QB will help you throw passes better over the middle and they will very rarely get batted down. This is important. 4. High School For some this may be boring as you want to start your NCAA career, for others it may be fun to go back in time and create your high school playing days. Hopefully the jersey options available will help you get as close to possible as creating your high school uniforms and team. It is important to become a 5-star recruit in the SPARQ ratings. Why? Because if you are a 5-star recruit you are going to have a lot higher ratings than a 3-star recruit once you get to your college. This could mean the difference between starting out as a 79 overall and as a 68 overall. Play all of the games and try to rack up as many stats as possible. This will give you more available points for Skill Boosts once your college career begins. Being able to power-up early on in your career will enable you to perform better on the field. Believe me, there is a huge difference between a running back having 90 speed or 99 speed and a quarterback having 92 arm strength or 81 arm strength. You also want to finish the regular season either 9-1 or 10-0 (depending on how long of a schedule you chose. The longer the better). This is because you will most likely go to the State Playoffs, which will give you more games to earn extra attribute points so you can Power Up big time in your Freshman year at your school. You should try to advance to the State Championship game as well because this will give you more games and more attribute points. However, if you wish to simulate your High School career, don’t skip the weeks, simply play the game, but once the game starts just choose the “Skip Ahead to End of Game” option and the entire game will simulate. You will still receive recruiting bonuses like you played the game, but if you skip ahead weeks you will not receive any recruiting bonuses. 5. Picking a School If you aren’t sure of what school to choose from, my advice is to choose a school that will place you at #1 or #2 on the depth chart right away. You only have so many games over a 4 year career and you don’t want to be spending half of the first season or the whole first season on the bench where you won’t be able to generate many stats or points. If you are a loyal band-wagoner of your favorite team, you may have to ride the pine for some of the first year if you are going to play with Alabama, but if that’s where you’ll be happiest, do it. If you aren’t sure of what school to pick, what school suits your playing style? If you are a Running QB who also likes to run the Option, you are better suited for playing at Navy, Georgia Tech, Ohio State, Army or Air Force to name a few. If you prefer a spread offense that gives you the opportunity to run and pass, schools like Arizona, Baylor, Cincinnati, Clemson or Northern Illinois are your best bet. The in-game play calling is based on what school you are playing for. If you want to be a Pocket Passer or a Balanced QB playing in a Pro-Style Offense, you are better suited for a school like USC, Oklahoma, Cal, Florida, Arkansas or Alabama. Even playing for June Jones’ Run-And-Shoot style at SMU will be sure to help you rack-up monster passing stats. You might also be better choosing a school that plays in a Conference with a Conference Championship Game. This will give you the chance to play 4 extra games over the course of your college career. Take a glance at the Depth Charts or Rosters of the schools before you begin. If a school has 3 Freshman offensive lineman that are that are mid-70’s or low 80’s in ratings, this will be a good school for you to choose. This way they will be there for the 4 years you are there and by the time they are Seniors they will most likely be in the 90’s. I cannot stress the importance of how much easier the game is on offense if you are a QB or a RB and you have a great offensive line. If you are a WR, there is nothing worse than catching the ball from a terrible QB. Does the school you’re thinking of have a promising Freshman or Sophomore QB who can take over in 2 years? You don’t want to run the risk of catching passes from a 60 OVR walk-on your Junior year or being stuck with a 57 OVR walk-on Freshman left tackle blocking for you. Make sure the school you want to play for is amongst your Top 3 choices when you begin, otherwise you may not get an offer from that school. A. Here is a list of all the schools and the offensive system that they run: Air Force: Option Run Akron: Spread Alabama: One Back Arizona: Spread Arizona State: Spread Arkansas: Spread Arkansas State: Spread Army: Option Auburn: Multiple Ball State: Spread Baylor: Spread Boise State: Multiple Boston College: One Back Bowling Green: Multiple Buffalo: Spread BYU: Pro Cal: Pro Central Michigan: Multiple Cincinnati: Spread Clemson: Spread Colorado: Pro Colorado State: One Back Connecticut: Pro Duke: Pistol East Carolina: Air Raid Eastern Michigan: One Back Florida: Pro Florida Atlantic: Spread FIU: Spread Florida State: Multiple Fresno State: Spread Georgia: Pro Georgia Tech: Option Hawaii: Pro Houston: Air Raid Idaho: One Back Illinois: Spread Indiana: Air Raid Iowa: Pro Iowa State: Spread Kansas: Pro Kansas State: Multiple Kent State: One Back Kentucky: Pro Louisiana Tech: Air Raid Louisville: Spread LSU: Multiple Marshall: Spread Maryland: Multiple Memphis: Spread Miami: Pro Miami (OH): Pro Michigan: Multiple Michigan State: Pro Mid Tenn State: Air Raid Minnesota: Multiple Mississippi State: Spread Missouri: Spread Navy: Option NC State: Multiple Nebraska: Spread Nevada: Pistol New Mexico: Pistol New Mexico State: Spread North Carolina: Spread North Texas: Spread Northern Illinois: Pistol Northwestern: Spread Notre Dame: Spread Ohio: Pistol Ohio State: Spread Oklahoma: Multiple Oklahoma State: Air Raid Ole Miss: Spread Oregon: Spread Oregon State: Pro Penn State: Multiple Pitt: Pro Purdue: Spread Rice: Spread Rutgers: Pro San Diego State: Pro San Jose State: Pistol SMU: Run and Shoot South Carolina: Multiple Southern Miss: Spread Stanford: Pro Syracuse: Pro TCU: Spread Temple: Multiple Tennessee: Pro Texas: Pro Texas A&M: Air Raid Texas State: Spread Texas Tech: Air Raid Toledo: Spread Troy: Air Raid Tulane: One Back Tulsa: Spread UAB: Pro UCF: Multiple UCLA: Spread UL Lafayette: Spread UL Monroe: Spread UMass: Spread UNLV: Pistol USC: Pro USF: Multiple Utah: Multiple Utah State: Spread UTEP: One Back UT – San Antonio: Multiple Vanderbilt: Pro Virginia: Pro Virginia Tech: Multiple Wake Forest: Spread Washington: Pro Washington State: Air Raid West Virginia: Air Raid Western Kentucky: Pro Western Michigan: Pro Wisconsin: Pro Wyoming: Spread 6. The Importance of Practice Each week you will have the option to go to practice where you will be required to partake in 25 practice reps. This is important because it gives you the opportunity to earn more skill points for Skill Boosts and also helps you learn the playbook. Sometimes it may be important to practice that Screen Pass play a couple of times before you really learn how to master it. The closer you get your character to 99 in everything, the better. It’s worth taking 5 minutes of your time to go to practice each week and rack up extra skill points. I’ve even gotten up to 5,000 extra skill points just from one Practice session. It’s worth it. 7. Coach Trust You earn the ability to increase your Coach Trust rating with each good play you make. Earning the Max Coach Trust rating will give you the option to call up to 20 plays per game on your own as well as to change the direction of the play. This is very important because it helps you be able to call plays that you’re good at running, as well as switch to a running play on 1st and Goal at the 2 so you can get a rushing touchdown if you’re a RB or call a pass-play on 1st and Goal at the 2 if you’re a QB wanting a TD pass in your stats. 8. Skill Increases (Career and One-Game Boosts) There are various skill increases that you will have the option to pick each week. The ones that are Career Boosts will be outlined in Green and the ones that are One-Game Boosts will be outlined in Yellow. One game boosts such as an improvement to your Stamina and Injury are important, however, don’t waste too much of your hard- earned skill points on temporary quick-fixes that will only last one game. Spend your points on a boost that will help you for the rest of your career. Then once you get to 99 in everything you will no longer have to practice or worry about skill boosts. But in the meantime it’s very important to try to get to 99 Catch or 99 Agility if you are a Wide Receiver. 9. Injury and Stamina Increasing your Injury and Stamina ratings to 99 is imperative. As a running back, you will take a lot of hits. There is nothing more annoying than getting inside the goal line and either being taken out of the game due to injury (it happens a lot if your injury rating is low) or being taken out of the game because your character is fatigued (happens a lot too if Stamina isn’t a 99). You can either offset this by calling the hurry-up after each play (whether it was a rush, pass completion or pass incompletion) and the same play will run again. If you’ve ran the ball 5 times in a row, most likely the computer will sub you out of the game if your stamina is low. You can offset this by calling a hurry-up at the conclusion of the play. This is done on the PS3 by holding “Triangle” as soon as the play is over and the computer will call the same play again. You can keep doing this over and over (even on 4th down) until there is a penalty, your player gets injured, your team scores, or there is a turnover on downs. Being able to call the hurry-up is important once you get inside the 20 because scoring TD’s is important to increasing your Legend Score. Calling the hurry-up can also save Game Time and can allow your team to have a few more offensive possessions a game, enabling you to have better stats. If you are a RB or a WR who also returns kicks and punts, you can let the kickoff bounce into the end zone on purpose (this will save clock time and save your character fatigue) and you can run away from punts and let them bounce. Why? Because there are no Legend score increases for anything involving kick or punt returns and you won’t be penalized by your coach for not returning it. Not returning kicks or punts will also save your character’s stamina. This will also enable you to rack up better stats because you’ll be starting every drive about 20 yards further back, giving you the opportunity to get more yards. When the computer punts a ball that will land inside of the 10, you can simply run back and fair catch it and your coach won’t hold it against you. Imagine how many more yards you can rack-up starting in bad field position compared to good field position? It could mean the difference of an extra 150-200 yards per game. Something to think about. 10. The Option of Quitting at Halftime If the game you are playing in isn’t going according to plan, just simply quit at halftime. Make sure that AutoSave is set to off (your Legend Score is automatically updated online each time your file is saved). You don’t want to have your player get injured and then hit the “Sim until In Game” button only to realize in horror that your player is out for the entire game and the rest of the game simulates. If this happens and you haven’t saved in a while, you will either have to power off your console or exit the game (which will automatically save if the game is completed upon exit). I have Auto Save disabled because if I am having a bad game at Halftime or if my team is losing badly, I simply quit the game and start a new one. This gives you the chance to earn better stats the next time around. Your Legend Score is not affected and the system doesn’t consider it cheating (because it’s not). So if you have a goal of getting 400 yards rushing, 5 TD’s, and 100 yards receiving, simply quit at halftime if you only have 8 carries for 32 yards and your team is losing 28-10. Then you can start over and try to get a higher Legend Score. Just make sure that AutoSave is off. 11. Reaction Time The game has a new feature called Reaction Time. This enables you to have time slow when you are getting a carry and you want to see how the play develops first. Having a higher rating will help you make better reads and wait for the open hole. It’s pretty self- explanatory, but it is very helpful when running counters, half-back screens, and off-tackle runs that require you to wait for your blocks to set up. This is also very helpful when running a route and trying to catch a pass. It slows time down and enables you to get open quicker. This is especially great for quick slant routes over the middle. 12. Catching One of the biggest challenges for some people in this game is catching the ball or racking up a lot of receiving numbers as a running back. I have figured out a simple way to take care of all of that. On PS3, by hitting the “X” button, your player automatically calls for the ball. If done when you are open or are the primary receiver for the play, you will get the ball 95% of the time. One way to rack up a lot of receptions or receiving stats as a Running Back is to hit the Hurry-Up button (Triangle on the PS3) after a screen pass play is ran. As a Running Back, you can run this play over and over and over again (Until you score, you are injured, there is a penalty, or a turnover on downs). This may enable you to get 12 receptions in a row and dink your way all the way down the field into the end zone for a touchdown. When you want to catch the ball, simply hit the Triangle button on PS3 when the ball arrives and your player will take off with the ball. Practice makes perfect and it’s all about timing. If you want to rack up monster receiving numbers once a good passing play is called, simply hit the hurry-up button after the conclusion of the play and you can keep running it over and over. Screen passes are the best for this. 13. Getting a High Legend Score There are many things that affect your Legend Score. There is a maximum of 50,000 total points. The important things to keep in mind are the 1,000 point winners. For instance, you will receive 1,000 points if you win the Heisman, but you will have a difficult time winning the Heisman if your team isn’t in relevant contention for the National Title. Even if you went 9-3 and rushed for 4,000 yards and 50 TD’s, you will end up as a Heisman finalist, but don’t expect to win it if your school isn’t even ranked. Your goal throughout the season is for your team to finish to as close to undefeated as possible. Now if you are Arkansas State going up against Oregon, winning the game is going to be very difficult. But you should try to win as many games as you can. This will help you get into a BCS Bowl Game (which will give you extra points), help you win the Heisman, and will assure of better recruits coming to your school for the next year. Having a good record can also get you into your Conference Championship game, which will give you 4 extra games over the course of your career to build up points. If you want to reach the 50,000 Legend Score plateau, you simply need to average a score of 12,500 each year. A. Here is a list of the bonus points you will receive for being a Quarterback: - 1000 points = Win the Heisman Memorial Trophy - 1000 points = NCAA record 19,127 Passing Yards (Career) - 1000 points = NCAA record 155 Passing TD’s (Career) - 750 points = NCAA record 2,628 Rushing Yards (Season) - 750 points = Beat Barry Sanders’s Record of 37 Rushing TD’s (Season) - 750 points = 5,833 Passing Yards (Season) - 750 points = 58 Passing TD’s (Season) B. Here is a list of the important bonus points you will receive for being a Running Back: - 1000 points = Win the Heisman Memorial Trophy - 1000 points = NCAA record 349 Receptions (Career) - 1000 points = NCAA record 50005 Receiving Yards (Career) - 1000 points = NCAA record 60 Receiving TDs (Career) - 1000 points = NCAA Career Rushing Record (career) - 750 points = Break the NCAA Single Season Receiving TD’s Record (27) - 750 points = Break the NCAA Single-Season Receiving Record (2060) - 750 points = Beat Barry Sanders’ Record of 37 Rushing TD’s (Season) - 750 points = Break the NCAA Single-Season Rushing Record - 750 points = Win the National Championship C. Here is a list of the important bonus points you will receive for being a Wide Receiver: - 1000 points = Win the Heisman Memorial Trophy - 1000 points = NCAA record 60 Receiving TD’s (Career) - 1000 points = NCAA record 5,005 Receiving Yards (Career) - 1000 points = NCAA record 349 Receptions (Career) - 750 points = NCAA record 27 Receiving TD’s (Season) D. Here is a list of the important bonus points you will receive for being a Defensive Player - 1000 points = Win the Heisman Memorial Trophy - 1000 points = 52 Sacks (Career) - 1000 points = Intercept 29 Passes (Career) - 750 points = Intercept 20 Passes (Career) - 750 points = 24 Sacks (Season) - 750 points = 14 Interceptions (Season) 14. Save before the Offseason There’s nothing worse than beginning a new season and realizing that there’s a 62 Overall Quarterback throwing passes to you, or a 57 Overall Left Tackle blocking for you. How do you avoid this? Simply save before the Offseason begins. Just make sure that “Auto-Save” is turned off. This way once you begin your new season you can check out the Depth Chart before you start the first week of your new season and you can see who is starting. If there are terrible players starting on your team, simply quit and re-start from your previous save. Let the offseason simulate again and hopefully your Coach recruited better players this time around. This will have a larger affect if your team went 11-2 compared to 5-7. The better your team record was, usually the better the next wave of recruited players are. Keep repeating this until hopefully there are at least some decent players out there blocking for you or catching passes for you. Another important thing to consider is players leaving early for the NFL. If you have a 92 Overall Junior Left Tackle, he may not be at your school for the next season. Keep track of what Juniors and Redshirt Sophomores are on your team before you begin the offseason (only 80 and higher). You don’t want your 92 Overall Left Tackle graduating early and leaving you stuck with a 71 Overall Left Tackle for the next year. Save before you begin The Offseason and if he isn’t there on your Depth Chart for the next season because he left for the NFL early, simply quit and go back to your previous save and sim the Offseason again. There is a good chance that he will be back on your team. Keep quitting and going back to your previous save until all the players that you want are back. 15. Record breaking You want to have an impressive Freshman campaign, but you don’t want to set the bar too high. If you’ve magically rushed for 5,000 yards your first year, you won’t get anywhere near as many points towards your Legend Score in your Sophomore campaign if you aren’t able to break all of your previous records. The goal is to steadily increase your stats in each season, ultimately blowing the doors off in your final Senior Season. There are certain benchmarks you should want to hit each year, depending on your position. One important thing to keep in mind is to know what the Single Game records are for your school. If the single-game rushing record for your school is 311 yards, don’t go out and rip off 588 yards against Valdosta State. Why? Because you receive a 175 point bonus every time you set a new single-game rushing record for your school. Raising the bar from 311 to 588 yards will stop you from being able to break the record again (at least for a while). Once you got to 350 yards, don’t accept a handoff unless you’re inside the 5, otherwise keep calling pass plays and rack-up receiving yards instead. Same goes for single-game passing records as well. If the single-game Passing TD record for your school is at 5, don’t go and pass for 8 TD’s the first time you can. Get it to 6 and try to scramble into the end zone the rest of the game. Qualifying for the point bonuses in your Legend Score every year are more important than the yards you average per carry or how many receiving TD’s you’ve had. If you look at the Online Leaderboards you’ll notice there are RB’s with 45000 scores with little receiving yards and QB’s with 48000 scores with little or no rushing yards and RB’s with a 10.0 avg. ranked below RB’s with an 8.0 avg. It’s all about earning the right point bonuses in your Legend Score. 16. Don’t Cheat If you change any of the default settings on your Road to Glory Mode you’ll automatically be disqualified and your score will drop to zero, so leave the settings alone. Also, the 5 minute quarters setting cannot be changed either. If you are playing for realism, 5 minute quarters can be annoying, I know. However, leave the settings as they are, otherwise you will receive a Legend Score of 0 in the online leaderboards. 17. Playing for Realism For those of you who want to play a more realistic Road to Glory Mode and don’t care about your Legend Score, don’t worry about your score then. Just have fun. If you are bothered by 700 yard passing games each week, don’t worry about it. You can play it to as realistic as you want. If you want to play on All-American as a 3- star recruit at Ball State and see if you can launch them into National Title contention, do it. You don’t have to restart any of the games if you don’t want to. If you happen to go 8 of 17 passing for 141 yards and 3 INT’s and don’t want to restart, then don’t. This is your Road to Glory Mode and you should play it however you want to. 18. Power-Up Packages There are Power-Ups available once you begin your Road to Glory Mode. They can be purchased while your player is still in high school. You can receive an automatic 5-star rating, extra recruiting points, maximum coach trust, and other perks if you choose. It’s all up to you as to what you would like to do. 19. The End I hope this guide helped you throughout your Road to Glory Mode. Your Road to Glory Mode is however you want it to be. Playing the game should be fun. If racking up 10,000 yards passing a season isn’t fun for you, then don’t do it. Play it as you want it, but if you want a high Legend Score and want to be at the top of the Online Leaderboards, do us all a favor and throw realism out the window. I hope this guide helped!