This is a follow up post to my transfer portal scout post a few days ago. The main problem that has is it's useless once you reach year 4+ in your dynasty and all of the in-game players are fully replaced by auto-generated recruits.

So I went digging into the save files of 10 transfer portals to figure out how everything works for auto-generated recruits. I was really blown away by what I found. Here are the main takeaways:

A 2-star transfer is often better than a 5-star transfer, and it's not random.

When you open the transfer portal in dynasty, the game shows you every available player ranked 1 to ~2,000 by national rank, with a star rating next to each player. Look through that list and you'll see the 5-stars first, then the 4-stars, then the 3-stars, and so on.

Here's the crazy part: in all 10 of the portal classes I looked at, the very first 2-star in the national rankings (the highest-ranked 2-star in the list) was an 82 overall junior. Every single time. Meanwhile the last 5-star, the lowest-ranked player still holding a 5-star rating, was a freshman somewhere between 68 and 76 overall. The "worse" player by stars was about 10 points better, every cycle. Sounds impossible until you see how the rankings actually get built, which is takeaway 2.

National Rank is compiled using a hidden formula

Every transfer portal player has a national rank but the game never explains what it's based on. It's not overall rating, or the rankings would look completely different.

After digging through the save files, here's what it actually is: the game gives every player a score equal to his current overall rating + about 6 points for every season of eligibility he has left. The portal list is just that score, sorted from highest to lowest.

The star ratings come from the same score too, as simple cutoffs: score roughly 98+ and you're a 5-star, 94+ is a 4-star, 86+ is a 3-star, 80+ is a 2-star.

A freshman transfer has 3 seasons left to play, so he gets 18 points added on top of his actual overall. A junior has 1 season left, so he only gets 6. Run two players through it: an 86 overall junior scores 86+6 = 92. A 74 overall freshman scores 74+18 = 92. Identical score, so they sit right next to each other in the national rankings with the same star rating, even though one is twelve overall points better right now.

The stars aren't rating who a player is today, they are rating who the game predicts he'll become by his senior year. And that's also the answer to takeaway 1: the first 2-star is a junior being scored almost exclusively on his ratings today. The last 5-star is a freshman being scored mostly on prediction.

Junior star ratings are the only ones you can trust completely.

Across 3,500+ juniors in the 10 portal classes, these floors never broke a single time:

• A 2-star junior was never below 73 overall (typically around 77)
• A 3-star junior was never below 79 (typically around 83)
• A 4-star junior was never below 84 (typically around 86)

So when you see a junior with a 3-star rating at a position you need, you don't have to spend scouting hours on him or wonder what you're getting. He's a 79+ overall, probably an 83. Sign him and move on.

The one exception in the whole dataset: quarterbacks. Not a single 2-star junior QB ever reached 80 overall, so if you need an actual starting QB from the transfer portal, go after 3 stars or better.

The freshmen at the bottom of the 5 and 4 star lists are the worst deal in the portal.

In every class, there are a couple 5 star freshmen at the bottom of the 5 star list and a bunch of 4 star freshmen at the bottom of the 4 star list.

These are the worst deals in the portal. Think of it like grading in school technically an 80% is a B and an 89% is also a B. At the end of each star group (based on national rank) you get all of the people who barely cleared that "B" threshold.

On top of that, freshmen get that added huge +18 boost. Given their NIL expectations and how much competition there is to recruit them, you may be better off passing on them completely.

Anyways, this is getting pretty long and there are a ton of things to still cover like the exact spots you should be recruiting in the portal, how to quickly find speedy players, dev traits, etc. Also, some weird quirks like 89 overall kickers and punters at 1 star. You can read all of those at the full article below.

Link: https://collegefootball.gg/cfb-27-transfer-portal-the-hidden-formula-behind-every-star-rating/

Yall ever have a bad day then play this shit ? And get more pissed 😂😂😂

EA please fix this.

I've done a bunch of testing by just simming to year 2 and looking at the CPU depth charts to check out who they spent money on to keep. The short answer is they didn't. I'm seeing MAYBE 1 player per team that got a raise and stayed with the same team. In fact, I'm seeing numerous players on GOOD teams that make LESS than they did in year 1.

Anyone seeing differently?

This is a huge problem if CPU head coaches are not giving raises to keep their good players. This will KILL small schools because they lose their best players and don't replenish with good players in the portal. like the big schools do. How did nobody notice this?

They need to add a Hawaiian shirt for UH coaches.

I feel the amount of pancakes that happen is absurd. I can understand if a lineman has a lead block on a backer or db. But my d lineman get pancaked way too much from just a one on one block.

And don’t even get me started on the receivers blocking on my dbs. If it’s not them pancaking then they are holding their blocks for eternity.

If you guess pass and are wrong there is a good chance it’s going to the house. I can live with this somewhat since I guessed wrong, but it’s still overpowered.

The gameplay is honestly pretty good but this is one thing that has been very frustrating. I’ve had plays where an entire side of my defense gets pancaked as the rb just runs by with ease.

I am playing on Hesiman with default sliders. I like the difficulty but feel a bit cheated when that’s constantly happening

Im not sure about other dynasty users, but one feature that made dynasty fun and kept things fresh was the ability to play other games on the schedule that were not your user team. For example, if I were using New Mexico State. Most likely I would not be playing for a national championship in the first few years(realistically speaking). However, some of the other games might be appealing to me. A night game with bowl game implications. Maybe a big ten conference championship game. Or even the national championship game. I always liked having full control of my dynasty. Does anyone else miss that feature/option? If so, let’s make EA aware of it. Maybe they listen and bring it back. Upvote the hell out of this and please comment regardless if you want this or not.

I love playing user DLine. Basically have done it throughout all the versions of the game. I for the life of me cannot figure out how to effectively use moves on this game. I even just for shits edited one of the DLineman to be this hulking figure with 99 everything stats and I still was getting walled by a guard or tackle. What is so different with this game?

I wish CFB had the resume game feature like in Madden. Cuz it’s annoying whenever I load up 27 but I face that EA server connection issue and it boots me back to the main menu

i genuinely don’t understand how they made every form of blocking in this game horrendous

Yet beats Florida State next week. College football at it's finest

A lot of gamers and streamers on X say there is a patch coming out tomorrow that will fix a lot of issues. However, I have seen nothing from EA.

Did I miss something?

Pablo Torre has entered the fight!

Unfuck our game EA you fucking clowns!

I set all 5 starting lineman to 80 AWR, STR, RBK, Impact block and lead block. alternated between RBF at 1 and RBP at 99 and vice versa. I alternated multiple times to see if it consistently felt the same with both settings and it did. After calling a certain run scheme I would go back and watch replays and see if the offensive lineman won or lost the rep. Ex. If a lineman consistently stayed engaged or controlled his d lineman I would consider that a win. If a lineman got insta shed or could not control his D lineman consistently I considered it a loss. Here are is how I would categorize every run from what I saw

IZ: RBP
Power/Counter RBP
Read Option with IZ: RBP
Triple with IZ: RBP

OZ: RBF
Sweep: RBF
Triple with OZ: RBF
Read option with OZ: RBF
Speed/load option: RBF

I did not test RPO but would assume it follows the read option logic. If the rpo has power or IZ attached it’s RBP. If it has some kind of OZ or sweep it’s RBF

I think it’s as simple as

Inside the tackles RBP

Outside the tackles RBF

Hope this helps!

Had a few things come up:

Not sure if anyone else has come across these... or not.

- As a head coach there is a pre-done low ball offer to coordinators (I want to try and keep) but I when I edit the offer to increase it to a good offer, the new offer doesn't save and I lose that coordinator. Even worse - they are unavailable for me to make a better offer during the bowl week/ hiring season.

- Coordinators randomly disappearing from team = deleted out of the game?? Had it happen 3 times in different dynasty games.

- about 25% when advancing through the semi or cfp final week, the background vanishes, and I am looking at a black screen.

I started like 3 dynasties but couldn’t get through even one year for some reason. I really want to start a gators dynasty but i saw there are still a few players missing from the roster.

Also I heard the recruiting it broken because there are always a bunch of 4 stars with no interest.

Anyone know if this will be addressed soon or is it typical EA crap and we’ll have to wait?

What’s everyone do? I realize wear & tear is broken. I turn it down and still have tons of injuries. Some weeks long some season ending. I turn it off, put injuries to 30 and have no injuries. Anyone found a realistic middle ground?

I did it and it won’t pop

I am on year four of my NMSU dynasty. It is always my first dynasty as it's where I grew up. Last year in CFB 26 it took me eight seasons to win the CFB playoff and ten total seasons to win the natty.

In CFB27? I won the natty in year four. My playoff (81 OVR team) run consisted of beating Duke (82 OVR), BYU (84 OVR), Memphis (in the semis no less 74 OVR), and playing the Natty over K-State (81 OVR).

Ohio St lost to memphis, Georgia lost to K-State and no other 90 OVR team made it out of the 1st or second round.

Comparing this to last year's Indiana win which came out of nowhere and with improbable odds, has anyone else seen this level of parity, or are the "good teams" still good in your dynasty, and do you prefer it this way?

Too many times when running man or a man blitz, my players will line up on the opposite aide of the field of the man they are guarding. I have auto flip set to ON. I have tried changing the coverage shells, changing the settings in the adjustments menu, but it still happens. A lot. I cant find any info on how to man align pre snap or during the play call.

Does anyone know how to do this. Having to drag across 2 safties to line up in front of their man takes up too much time and they end up running back anyway. Thanks

After some years pass and team overalls are low… it just is not a correct representation of the team.
I’m noticing that my team’s overall is too high all the time and cpu teams are always too low. Like im 89 and they’re 76 but they have better players at every position.

It’s the playbook. It’s the coach. It’s something.

When I go look at the roster of the 76 overall team im about to play… they don’t have a team that looks 76. They have an 89 QB and 92 RB, low 80s across the o-line, 90s and high 80s WRs…. Like how bro? And then same for defense maybe.
And then im starting freshmen all over my entire team damn near…. And my teams overall is so called an 89? No
My QB and RB are 77. My o-line is from 78-74. My WRs are one 90 and a bunch of 70s freshmen. Half my defense is 74-78 freshmen. But im an 89?

So yea. That’s what I’m seeing. It’s really not bad teams. It’s just incorrect overall scores. So I do a quick roster check of every team before I play to see if they’re good or not. Also this makes me feel better about the low overall teams that keep having good records and making it inside the top 25.

Anyways that’s what I’m seeing and my opinion. What do y’all think? Have you checked the rosters and see no decent players after several years into your dynasty?
I’m only in my second season but I noticed this since CF25 also