www.primagames.com
PRIMA Offi cial Game Guide
Dynasty Mode: Part II
For owners of the XBox 360 and
PlayStation 3 versions of NCAA
Football 08, this is what you’ve been
waiting for: the new and enhanced
Dynasty Mode. Let’s dive in and
break it down from start to fi nish.
One of the greatest challenges in
NCAA Football 08 is to turn a one-
star school into a national power-
house. With that in mind, this year
we’ll tackle Dynasty Mode strategy
with a lovable team that has no-
where to go but up: the Temple Owls.
The Owls in 2006 ranked last in
Division I FBS offense and near the
bottom in defense. To preserve the
realism of our recruiting efforts, we
won’t try to “distort reality” by play-
ing games manually—this way, we’ll
get a true feel as to how effective
our recruiting strategies are as the
years of Dynasty progress.
As you can imagine, turning a lowly
team into a top-ranked school won’t
happen overnight—it’ll take years to
reverse Temple’s fortunes. So let’s
roll our sleeves up: We’ve got lots of
work ahead…
GET A JOB
Dynasty Mode starts at the team
select screen, where the overall, of-
fensive, defensive and special teams
rankings are listed for every Division
I FBS team. At the top of the screen
is a listing of one to six stars, which
refl ects that team’s reputation: The
more stars shown, the easier it will
be to recruit prospects.
Not surprisingly, our team of choice
for this year’s guide, Temple, is a one-
star school with one of the lowest
overall scores of any team.
IN THE PRE-SEASON
After choosing a team, Dynasty
Mode begins in the preseason.
The fi rst thing a coach needs to do
at the pre-season schedule screen is
to view the depth chart by pressing
the Y Button (Xbox 360) or Triangle
Dynasty Mode: Part I
Players of the PlayStation 2 and
Xbox versions of NCAA Football 08
will fi nd several new twists in Dy-
nasty Mode compared to last year’s
offering. They include:
1. Medical Redshirts: Injured play-
ers can now seek Medical Redshirt
status. This lets them recover from
their injuries without using up a year
of eligibility.
2. Summer Workout Program:
Users can choose specifi c players to
train during the summer, using vari-
ous drills (similar to the Spring Drills)
to boost up their stats before the
start of the upcoming season.
Like with Campus Legend, aside
from the new features above, this
year’s Dynasty Mode for the Xbox
and PlayStation 2 will be familiar in
terms of features and structure to
those who’ve already played it.
Last year’s strategy guide covered
Dynasty Mode in depth for these
versions, so we won’t rehash it here
except for the following key tips:
1. Identify Recruiting Needs: Be-
fore starting the recruiting process,
look at your team overview to see
which needs should be addressed
fi rst. Positions with no freshmen or
sophomores, or positions with low
overall stats should be fi lled fi rst.
2. Tap the Pipeline: Your school
should have a number of “pipeline”
states where a good number of your
team’s players have come from.
In general, it’s easier to attract
recruits from an established pipeline
state, so try to scout out prospects
from those states fi rst.
3. Keep it Real: If you coach a
powerhouse school like Michigan or
USC, you’ll be able to go after the
nation’s best athletes. However, if
you’re coaching a lowly one-star
school, it’ll be extremely diffi cult to
snag top athletes.
4. Winning is Everything: There is
no greater recruiting tool than a win-
ning football team—especially when
you have prospects visiting your
school that weekend. As a result,
manually play (and win) important
games instead of simulating them.
Use the Spring Drills tips found
earlier in this section to help
maximize the effect of Summer
Workouts on your players’ stats.
Compare all Division I FBS school
stats at the school select screen.
169
