NCAA Football 14

[Twigg4075]

Any idea when or if there are already named rosters available? That's all I care about.

[Matt]

Game 1 Review

Georgia Tech at Nevada (Me)

Sliders: Playmakers

Well after my first game all I can say is I love it. Option offense is back and it's deadlier than ever. It still has it's faults but it's light years to what we saw the last few years. I do wish we had the ability to take out the READ and Pitch button icons off the screen.

SCORE
Nevada: 21
Georgia Tech : 14


The game was the closest game I've ever had with the computer. A pure defensive battle. The 1st half ended 3-3. I don't think I've ever had a 3-3 tie in NCAA. Everything was tough to get yardage wise. The longer the drives I had the more holes would open for my backfield to get through. The one thing I loved was you could tell the difference in SPEED between players. Nevada RB was slow as ever, had wide open holes that closed in a moment.

CPU Option: Well it is fixed to a certain degree. I saw most option plays go to the right side. I don't know if it was the code or due to the fact that each time they ran option to the left side my DE would break the play up for a loss. I would say it was about 80-20% option plays to the right. Out in the open field you better be prepared to pick the player you want to go after cause the QB will make you look silly. I had one play where I followed the QB and tried to split him with the RB thinking he would pitch, he didn't and turned the play upfield for a 15 yard gain. The QB knows who to give the ball to at the right moments.

CPU Passing: I can't really base an opinion on passing playing against GT. The QB went 8-10 for 72 yards. But not one completion was over a 5 yard pass. I mostly picked cover 3 defense on passing situations. Had I picked Cover 2 it woulda been a different passing game for the CPU.

CPU Defense: Tough as ever. Couldn't get any rushing yards until I got some long drives going and the defense got tired. Passing lanes weren't there and when they were, the defense stopped any chance of YAC.

CPU Clock Management: End of the 1st half GT had the ball and ran the clock out instead of trying to make a big play. End of the game GT had the ball with 2 minutes left to tie the game. The probably ran the ball twice. The rest was passing or the QB running after a break down. on 3rd and 13 they completed a 8 yard pass. With time running out on them with no TO they went for the long ball which was overthrown. I also tried to run the clock out and GT used timeouts with 4 minutes left to save time.

Human Option: I fear against the CPU and without house rules this can be overpowered. It could've been bad defense on GT or it could've been good play calling on my part. This is about the same as it was in NCAA 12 but with better holes to pick to run through.

Human Running: People who have played me in NCAA and Madden know I'm a run first type of player. And just seeing linemen get to the second level and having the read my blocks just makes my giddy. I love it.

Human Passing: Did I ever have a hard time getting a good pass off. I was 11-25 for 164 yards with 2 TD and 1 INT. The passing plays just weren't there for me. Zone worked against me most of the time, I did at time see open passing lanes due to terrible zone coverage, I abused it once for a first down but for the most part Zone worked good against me.



Stats

GT QB: 10 -12 63 Yards
Nevada QB: 11 - 25 164 Yards 2 TD 1 INT

GT QB: 26 Att 120 Yards 4.6 Avg
GT RB: 6 Att 38 Yards 6.3 Avg
GT RB: 5 Att 77 Yards 15.4 Avg
Nevada RB: 18 Att 108 Yards 6.0 Avg

[dave]

11 for 25 as Nevada QB? Jeez, Matt. LOL. Learn to check down.

[Atlas]

Any idea when or if there are already named rosters available? That's all I care about.

auscott7 on PSN says he is about 75% done, try em out i guess... also good look on the TRU stuff, even though BB wouldnt match, TRU just applied the gift card to the purchase price

[Aso]

Great review Matt. Definitely makes me want to try this game out right now.

[Playmakers]

Great review Matt. Definitely makes me want to try this game out right now.

I hope they don't release any patches that break shit this year. The only thing I can really think of right now is the CPU QB sees to always scramble right no matter what in this game. The only reason why I use their Pass Block slider close to default 50 is because of that reason and the RT's are dumb as rock when blocking. The best OL vs DL interaction IMO is when te Pass Block can be set lower then you see all kinds of spin moves and swim moves out the DL. But EA butchered the RT's in this game and editing might be the best way to fix it. Other than that I'm enjoying the game again for the 1st time in like 2 years.

[Matt]

Game 2 Review

Clemson at Vanderbilt (Me)

Sliders: Playmakers

Score
Vanderbilt: 22
Clemson: 21

Well another fun game. Switched it up and played against an overpowering offense in Clemson. It started off to be a scary situation with Robo-QB but that changed quickly when I fixed up my defense and called different plays. Clemson was able to move the ball, but when they went into No-Huddle mode they did it at will. I had trouble picking a new play in time.

My favorite part of this game. I had the ball with 4 mins in the 3rd Quarter. I rode my RB the entire way. He started to bust off good runs after good runs. Even my OL was in the yellow. I decided to hit the CPU with a play action pass and it was wide open for a 27 yard strike. I ran the ball to the 1 and got stuffed 3 times in a row, on 4th down I tried to dive over the pile and LB jumped up and finished me off.

Later in the game I saw the best run I've ever seen in Next Gen football. My RB went up the hole, bounced off a CPU defender and switched ball hands. I then Juke Cut up the field and while I was running my WR came back and picked up a block for me.

CPU Passing: Robo-QB started off fast for Boyd. He hit 5-5 with 63 yards and a TD on Clemson first drive. Once I switched up my defensive play calling it was a different game. The long passes weren't hitting anymore, I was getting to Boyd which cause a lot of over and under throws. Once QB gets a little pressure he starts to get off his game. 5 WR caught 2+ balls. 7 total caught balls. The CPU spread the ball out to all weapons.

CPU Running: When they decided to run they had holes to get through. They ran plays all over the place and it worked. Unfortunately they decided to pass more. This can be an easy fix with toning down Coach Edits. Option run was there as well, QB kept it when he needed to and gave it when he needed to.

CPU Clock Management: End of the 1st half with 7 seconds left on 4th down, they decided to throw a hail mary instead of punting. They threw the ball at times when they didn't need to, they were short passes that kept the clock running. They ran the ball on 2nd and 3rd down to keep it churning. Nothing out of the ordinary. During their last possession down 1, they connected on plays that resulted in 1st downs which stopped the clock but didn't use any of the 2 TO. I would've like to see TO used but it is computer and only go so far.

Human Passing: Played a different game than the first one. I ran the ball and set up the play action. Worked very well. I got my QB hot at times where he would continue connecting on passes. I took my chances and the defense denied me. I waited for opening in zones and hit them when I could.

Human Running: Y'all already read these thoughts above.

WTF Moments: 1. Clemson was running the offense at full speed vs me. They got the ball to 3rd and 2 in the 2nd quarter but drained the clock down to Delay of Game. I decline the penalty. Next play they get stopped. Then go for it on 4th and 6 from the 27. Most coaches would kick a FG, but that spot is not out of question with going for it.

2. During an option play the RB didn't take the ball and Tahj Boyd just stood with the ball and wasted 10 seconds before he was sacked for 3 yard loss.

Overview on Score: I was trailing the entire game until my last possession. I was throwing and completing passes. I would mix in runs which caught the defense off guard that resulted in good yardage. I connected on a TD pass where the safety tried to pick it off and it floated over his head.

Stats
Clemson QB: 20 - 36 262 Yards 2 TD
Clemson QB: 10 ATT 17 Yards 1.7 Avg
Clemson RB: 8 Att 56 Yards 7.0 Avg

Vanderbilt QB: 19 - 33 302 Yards 2 TD 1 INT
Vanderbilt RB: 29 Att 118 Yards 4.0 Avg

[Hasselbeck]

Online play is a train wreck with all the major defensive issues. So hopefully these named rosters drop soon so I can just focus on offline dynasties with major slider adjustments.

[Hasselbeck]

I will rent it eventually for them draft classes in madden

This guy doesn't even know who Johnny Manziel is and he wants draft classes.

[Aso]

I like having real people and not make believe people. I guess I'll start learning more about college football teams and players then

[Playmakers]

I like having real people and not make believe people. I guess I'll start learning more about college football teams and players then

They got real players on the Ultimate team Aso21Raiders....the only problem is it's a damn card game and you have to spend for ever just to earn them LOL! But I'm creating my own rosters again this year since EA won't allow us to take those players into a franchise mode. I just think it's stupid they include Classic players in both Madden and NCAA yet you can't play a season with them as a full team(s). If I want to play with Texas I want Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams together in the backfield with Vince Young not Tim Tebow or Drew Brees handing the ball off to them

[Aso]

Yeah MUT is a total cash grab and I definitely don't have any interest in that.

Getting to play through 6+ seasons of an NCAA dynasty and building my team and seeing successful college players on other teams, seeing who would enter the draft, and follow those careers from college to the pros always made both Madden and NCAA a trillion times more fun to me and I haven't experienced that since the PS2 days.

Even having limited knowledge of college football players, the NCAA draft classes gives me more of an interest and a tie to the college players coming out because I know them through the video game. I know how they did in college, what they did, what kind of players they were. I like to see how the top college players in the game fare when going into the NFL.

Just scouting Joe Schmo and unlocking his attributes doesn't immerse me in the draft. I know they try to give some players stories but that just doesn't do it for me.

And on that note I may try and buy it used now that I look back at how much fun I had way back in the day when franchise mode wasn't a piece of crap AND there were draft classes. If all goes well with the draft classes this seems like it'll be more fun that the PS2 days of doing it.

[bucky]

Defense is not terrible. Out of box without touching sliders it is. But tinker with a couple things here and there and it's a solid match up.

I ran an entire game running just zone and things worked fine.

I wouldn't base any reviews or comments from people who posted before todays release date. The Season Ticket version didn't get the patch and tuners.

You have suggestions for sliders? Sliders that will work well w/o having to do micro-manage the Dline into zone coverage? If you have sliders set that the game will play like real football, I'll go get the game. I'd really like this game to be worth it so I can skip this gen Madden and wait till November to take a good look at next gen Madden.

[Nash]

[Aso]

Lol at EA calling that physics