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NCAA Demo Team Ranks Stuck

Posted on July 7, 2010 at 08:20 PM.

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Hey guys, my friend and I have been playing through the demo a bunch so far this month and here are some of the rankings he came up with. He wrote this up for OS and his blog won't post so I am posting it for him here. Thanks and enjoy.

NCAA Demo Team Ranks

By Rob Tufo

Every year in mid to late summer true football gamers begin preparing for the start of the gaming season. So for my first commentary for Operations Sports, I felt it essential to take an in depth look into the demo for NCAA Football 11. Although a demo is an elementary version of the soon to be released game, you can still get a good sense of what is to come.

NCAA Football 11 has 4 games in this demo. The demo games have 4 quarters with 2 minutes in each quarter. Truly the option which can be adjusted with regards to the initial game setup is the skill level (Freshman, Varsity, All-American, Heisman), the weather conditions and time of day are all determined by the game and will not change.

The 4 games in this demo are Miami at Ohio St (Sept. 11, 2010), Texas vs. Oklahoma (Oct. 2, 2010), Florida at Florida State (Nov. 27, 2010) and Clemson at Missouri (not scheduled this season). As research, I played each of these games at the very least 4 times (twice with each team). Playing with any team one time in an 8 minute game (even in a demo) is not enough to assess the overall playability of a squad. However, after the second game, I was able to explore the offensive playbook and understand the system much better than after the first.

Looking at offense, the game designers continued to do a great job of incorporating a number of team specific plays such as the �Gator Heavy� set of the Florida Gators and the �Monster� of Missouri. Even though not every team has these specific plays, the offensive systems which are in place at each schools mirrors the schools overall style of play exceptionally well. This can be seen in the Miami at Ohio St. game as both teams have a balanced attack; however they go about it in different ways. The looks provided with Ohio St. have minor subtitles (more single back plays) than a Miami. This separation of very similar offenses makes NCAA Football 11 more realistic outside of graphics.

But onto the serious business, with college players constantly changing, it is crucial to know which teams are the best (outside of the rankings). As many gamers have come to realize, just because your team has a strong national ranking, doesn�t mean they will stack up when it comes to playing a lower ranked team in a game.

With this in mind I have crafted 4 ranking systems for the 8 teams included in the demo; special teams, defensive, offense and most playable.

When assessing the overall video game talent of a team, speed and plays are very important. To start, both Florida and Miami have exceptional speed and it shows all over the field especially on Special Teams. In each game I have played with these teams (I have played about 5 games with each team) I have returned at least 1 kick off or punt for a touchdown. This gives any player a huge advantage in the game. Florida got the top notch in this category as I had 3 return TDs in a game more than once.

Top Special Teams:
1.Florida
2.Miami
3.Texas
4.Ohio St.
5.Florida St.
6.Oklahoma
7.Clemson
8.Missouri

Moving forward, the defense is really the same for every team, so I looked for tackling ability and interceptions. Ohio St. and Texas stood out from the pack in those categories. I did not feel like I was missing tackles or dropping easy interceptions which these teams. Actually, these teams made some surprisingly nice interceptions which were not seen in other games. Ohio St. got the top notch in this category because they had the same performance as Texas playing against the more impressive offense of Miami.

Top Defense: *Corrections made
1.Ohio St.
2.Texas
3.Miami
4.Florida
5.Oklahoma
6.Missouri
7.Florida St.
8.Clemson

Looking at offense, my rankings are based on how I play specifically. Ohio St., Florida and Miami are the top talents on offense. Ohio St. has great speed, playmakers at specialty positions but most importantly they have the best QB for gaming. Terrelle Pryor (who is similar to Miami�s Jacory Harris) has great accuracy and arm strength but most importantly has speed. If he is your QB, you should NEVER get sacked as he can open things up substantially through speed. Miami could be and probably should be the #2 offensive but their play book does not flatter that offense as it is very hard to pass the ball. This could also be the effect of playing the best defense in the game.

Top Offense:
1.Ohio St.
2.Florida
3.Miami
4.Texas
5.Oklahoma
6.Florida St.
7.Clemson
8.Missouri

Ohio St., Florida and Miami are my top ranked teams to play with. As you heard me exclaim from above Ohio St. is really the best team to be for many reasons. Florida is another great team; although they do not have a running QB, the offense has some plays which I haven�t seen stopped even when I was playing on the Heisman Level even when the speed is on the sidelines. Defensively they are very difficult to pass against.

Top Overall Team:
1.Ohio St.
2.Florida
3.Miami
4.Texas
5.Oklahoma
6.Florida St.
7.Missouri
8.Clemson

Miami is my sleeper team for this game. They have a lot of speed and talent which when used properly can stop the best team in the demo in its tracks. Jacory Harris has speed which can be used to evade pass rushers and pick up great yardage. Unfortunately, by playing Ohio St. one mistake and the game was all but in Ohio St�s control. If you can get past Ohio St., this could be the team to beat in all online dynasty games.

Comments

# 1 Potatoes002 @ Jul 7

How is Mizzou better than Clemson overall if they are worse in every category?

# 2 bdozer66 @ Jul 7

also you said the top D was Ohio state and Texas but you put Florida and Miami ahead of them.

Pretty much a poop list to me, also 3 plus TDs mutliple times with Florida? come on. One more point Florida does have a running QB, he is just third string, if you used the sub player option you can put him in on QB running formations.

you suck. Just saying.

# 3 theD25 @ Jul 7

Your defensive ranking makes no sense compared the summary you wrote about it, and your rankings are similar in every category. so basically you just put them in order how the demo did

# 4 hawkeye2188 @ Jul 8

Doesnt make sense...

# 5 DLev45 @ Jul 8

It was a nice structured attempt at a good NCAA blog article, but there were a lot of contradictions, and very little interest since the demo has already been out for a month and the full retail version comes out in 5 days.