NCAA Football 08
50 Achievements
1,000
15-20h
Xbox 360
1-Star into 6-Star
Turn a 1-star prestige school into a 6-star prestige school in single team Dynasty Mode.
50
How to unlock the 1-Star into 6-Star achievement in NCAA Football 08 - Definitive Guide
At most, you can increase one star per year. As a result, this will take you at least 5 seasons to achieve.
You can earn this achievement without doing any recruiting at all. I chose Western Michigan, because I'm also looking to get the BCS invitation achievement. WMU is also probably the best of the 1-star teams.
For the first few seasons, you should be able to sim a season at a time. As long as your team doesn't do horribly, you should automatically gain a star per year. WMU is already better than many of the MAC teams, so that should help with the simming.
During the preseason, adjust your season schedule to include the top 4 (or so) ranked teams. That will increase your schedule strength, and is vital in later seasons since you will probably not make the BCS championship without a strong schedule. I also play those games away; I don't know if it helps or not, but I like killing a #1 team on their home turf. :-p
Eventually you'll have to start winning games, by the 3rd season or so. (You may be able to sim straight through the first two seasons. Save at the beginning. If you don't go up, restart the season.) You will almost definitely need to play the tougher games (although you might get lucky simming).
Starting in the 3rd season, make sure you go game-by-game and save after every win. Start going for undefeated or 1-loss seasons. Your roster should start improving on its own with your higher prestige.
When playing the games, there are some tricks. Freshman difficulty, 1-minute quarters. Super Sim works well through the first 3 quarters or so, even against the better teams. If you pump up your stats in AI settings (and lower the CPU stats), you may even find yourself shutting out the top-ranked teams through simming.
If you need to win a game, there are a few plays that work *really* well, and both are in the WMU playbook. In fact, I play only two plays all game, and they work 90+% of the time. Make sure your settings are freshman with your stats adjusted.
*Ace Spread, PA pass (I can't remember the play right now, but if you go to the Ace Spread menu, 2nd page, bottom right play. I'll fix this when I next play the game). Your slot receiver will go in motion across the backfield, streak forward, and cut to the corner. Make sure that if you're at the right hash mark, flip the play so the receiver goes from right to left (and vice versa). It's almost a guaranteed 20+ yard pickup, and if you get around the coverage, a lot of times it goes for a TD. EASY PLAY, even against elite teams. It's so consistent that I use it in 4th-and-long. I never punt.
*The other play, for short yardage and 2-point conversions (I like to RUTS against good teams) is Shotgun 5-Wide, QB Draw (1st page, bottom left corner). No matter the team, this will almost always guarantee you a few yards, and sometimes more.
Once you run these two plays, they're in your Recent Plays for easy reference.
*On defense, use the standard trick. Turn off Offsides, get your guy behind the line, and sack, TFL, or at least disrupt the play. If a pass gets off, don't worry. Rinse, repeat. Kill the punter when you get the chance for easy 1st-and-goals or safeties.
Using this strategy, I routinely win by 28+ points w/shutout, no matter the opponent, and that's with 1-minute quarters.
The achievement will unlock during the offseason, a little bit after you see the 6th star. (Don't have a heart attack if it isn't immediately... wait for the offseason sim to finish.)
It's a bit grinding, but enjoy your 50 GS (and ~100 TA).
You can earn this achievement without doing any recruiting at all. I chose Western Michigan, because I'm also looking to get the BCS invitation achievement. WMU is also probably the best of the 1-star teams.
For the first few seasons, you should be able to sim a season at a time. As long as your team doesn't do horribly, you should automatically gain a star per year. WMU is already better than many of the MAC teams, so that should help with the simming.
During the preseason, adjust your season schedule to include the top 4 (or so) ranked teams. That will increase your schedule strength, and is vital in later seasons since you will probably not make the BCS championship without a strong schedule. I also play those games away; I don't know if it helps or not, but I like killing a #1 team on their home turf. :-p
Eventually you'll have to start winning games, by the 3rd season or so. (You may be able to sim straight through the first two seasons. Save at the beginning. If you don't go up, restart the season.) You will almost definitely need to play the tougher games (although you might get lucky simming).
Starting in the 3rd season, make sure you go game-by-game and save after every win. Start going for undefeated or 1-loss seasons. Your roster should start improving on its own with your higher prestige.
When playing the games, there are some tricks. Freshman difficulty, 1-minute quarters. Super Sim works well through the first 3 quarters or so, even against the better teams. If you pump up your stats in AI settings (and lower the CPU stats), you may even find yourself shutting out the top-ranked teams through simming.
If you need to win a game, there are a few plays that work *really* well, and both are in the WMU playbook. In fact, I play only two plays all game, and they work 90+% of the time. Make sure your settings are freshman with your stats adjusted.
*Ace Spread, PA pass (I can't remember the play right now, but if you go to the Ace Spread menu, 2nd page, bottom right play. I'll fix this when I next play the game). Your slot receiver will go in motion across the backfield, streak forward, and cut to the corner. Make sure that if you're at the right hash mark, flip the play so the receiver goes from right to left (and vice versa). It's almost a guaranteed 20+ yard pickup, and if you get around the coverage, a lot of times it goes for a TD. EASY PLAY, even against elite teams. It's so consistent that I use it in 4th-and-long. I never punt.
*The other play, for short yardage and 2-point conversions (I like to RUTS against good teams) is Shotgun 5-Wide, QB Draw (1st page, bottom left corner). No matter the team, this will almost always guarantee you a few yards, and sometimes more.
Once you run these two plays, they're in your Recent Plays for easy reference.
*On defense, use the standard trick. Turn off Offsides, get your guy behind the line, and sack, TFL, or at least disrupt the play. If a pass gets off, don't worry. Rinse, repeat. Kill the punter when you get the chance for easy 1st-and-goals or safeties.
Using this strategy, I routinely win by 28+ points w/shutout, no matter the opponent, and that's with 1-minute quarters.
The achievement will unlock during the offseason, a little bit after you see the 6th star. (Don't have a heart attack if it isn't immediately... wait for the offseason sim to finish.)
It's a bit grinding, but enjoy your 50 GS (and ~100 TA).
15 Comments
Looks like it might be important to continue all season on the same saved game in which it started. For some reason or other (probably to back up what I'd done so far), about half way through I saved to a new game and the Achievement did not unlock once I reached 6-stars (even after the waiting period indicated in the solution).
By Vermin360 on 03 Aug 2010 11:49
Confirmed, it was the save game. Went back to the original save on which it was created, and the Achievement popped on hitting 6-stars. Must compare against the save game to determine whether you came from 1-star.
By Vermin360 on 21 Aug 2010 16:21
I used Western Michigan to be close to the Big Ten, because I was coupling this effort with the one about getting a non BCS team invited to a BCS conference. I modified my roster to up all of the players abilities, especially the younger guys. I was then able to sim through the first 4 seasons since the team was so strong. During that time they won 3 National Championships and it wasn't until the 5th season that I needed to start playing some of the games. This achievement takes a while, but I think this method should get you there the quickest. Also when you do have to start playing the games drop the quarters down to 1 minute to get through the games quicker.
This one is pretty straightforward. Pick a 1 star team, (I've used SMU but Buffalo works too). and just dynasty. Win and your stars will go up, you can also get the achievement for joining a BCS conference with these teams too. You should gain a star a season if you win most of your games. it's tedious and I am working on this gamertag with it now.
To do this, choose a 1-Star school and either play or sim enough winning games to have your prestige increase. Once you start to win, you'll get better recruits, which also helps. I used Eastern Michigan, many people have had good success with Western Michigan as well.