Here's my first season recap:
I lost to Michigan (Chad Henne killed me), but avenged the loss by absolutely destroying USC in a game in which I forced 6 turnovers (I don't think I had more than 2 or 3 any other game). I picked off Booty 4 times (3 with Zibby) before they changed and put in Sanchez. I ended up facing SC again in the Rose Bowl and beat them again, although this one was much closer. I won the game with two long runs by Aldridge (more on him later in the post) and a kickoff return for a TD by Prince.
Clausen is pretty good and his accuracy was much better than DD (whom I was forced to use late in the season when Clausen missed 2 games due to injury). I had far more success using Aldridge over Prince, although Prince is great in the return game.
Surprises:
1) Kallen Wade - Starting DE had 13 sacks and a couple of forced fumbles
2) Raeshon McNeil - Nickel corner had 3 sacks and 3 interceptions
3) Paul Duncan - I had a lot more success running of the right side than I did off the left side (Sam Young's side).
4) Richard Jackson - #3 WR made a lot of nice catches on post and corner patterns
5) Jimmy Clausen - QB rating of 153 with 2726 yards, 26 TD's and 12 interceptions speaks for itself.
Dissapointments:
1) John Carlson - Seemed to drop the ball every time I threw it to him in a big situation.
2) Demetrius Jones - Great speed with the option, but I found him very difficult to throw with. He had 373 yards with 5 TD's and 7 interceptions.
3) Offensive Line in pass protection - I hope they protect the QB better in real life than they did for Clausen in the game because he was sacked 41 times.
I was upset to learn that, after the season, Prince transferred to Purdue due to lack of playing time. It's cool because you can try and talk him into staying, which didn't work for me.
The in-season recruiting was great and I had 5 commitments before the end of the season and then went on to pull in the #7 class, highlighted by a pair of 5 star Defensive Ends and 5 cornerbacks (I think I got every cornerback I recruited).
I loved it and now I think I will try it on a more difficult level next season.