Now that we know what features are coming with NCAA Football 09, what should we start looking for in 2010?

The hype in the forums for NCAA Football 09 is building exponentially with the game still over a month away. With new features such as online dynasties, wide-open gameplay, and deeper playbooks, some folks are already planning vacations to meet the July 15th release date. A main contributor to the hype has been the presence of NCAA developers answering questions in the forums. This involvement by the developers has been a pleasant surprise and the response by community members has been amazing. Since development of NCAA Football 09 is nearly wrapped up, let's take a look at what we want to see in NCAA Football 2010.

FCS Schools/Create-a-school Feature

Appalachian State's improbable win over Michigan last season makes this a feature that EA must add. If you weren't aware, FCS teams can now be voted into the Top 25 thanks to ASU and their three straight FCS National Championships. The fact is that FCS teams are a huge part of college football. Who in their right mind wants to play an entirely generic FCS Southwest squad? If college basketball games can include 300+ teams I see no reason EA can't add around 50 FCS teams at least.

At the very least give us the ability to create our own team, this feature is something the masses are hungry for and not carrying this over to next gen from current gen was a mistake. Adding this would allow FCS fans to create their own school as closely as possible and have something to work with. This would open up the options for us to keep the game fresh and to add another way to have fun.

Improving the battle in the trenches

Alright EA, it's about time you guys get away from the stiff arm lock and predictable outcomes of the line play. In fact here are all of the situations which can and do happen when the linemen interact:

1) Nothing. Both stand there locked together upright and don't move, at all.

2) Pancake. Upon contact one of the linemen gets sat on his rear. Pancakes are a part of the game but the way in which they happen in EA's football games are ridiculous. Add some animations where the lineman actually pushes the other person to the game after a few yards. For a great example of a pancake check out this vid (Watch the RT #70).

3) Defender spins/rips out of block. This is the only way to get out of a block which it saddens me to say. You either use use the swim move to get by or spin off him. What about a speed rush to the outside or a quick move to the inside? There are so many different things that could happen with the linemen interacting!

4) Defender warps to tackle ball carrier. It's happened to all of us. You're on offense and you call a run play only to see a huge hole in the line. Your eyes light up as you head for the hole and once you reach it some d-lineman magically ends up in a tackle animation and you view the replay thirty times to witness the terrible play.

Most NCAA fans hope we finally get a good engine to simulate the battle in the trenches.

Adding depth to the interaction in the trenches would get extreme praise from the OS community. This could even be marketed EA! The perfect guy would've been Glen Dorsey but a linebacker could work as well. I could envision James Laurinaitis as a pretty good cover boy for EA.

Presentation, presentation, presentation

EA has been extremely honest in the forums and have repeatedly said they have been in talks about improving the presentation. Well do it one time! Here are some ideas to improve a very mediocre attempt at presentation:

1) Team specific entrances. Some the come to mind immediately are: ND's touching of the "Play Like a Champion Today" sign and Clemson's touching of Howard Rock. How about a generic entrance where the players rush out of the tunnel and you let us set some music? How easy would that be!? Just give us something because fast forwarding to the coin toss is about as stale as it gets. Currently we get a great shot of the stadium, they look lovely. But where's the "wow" factor in that? Oh man look at this greatly designed stadium, it really pumps me up for the game. Here you can see what these generic entrances could be like.

2) Pregame information. Give us a little information on the game at hand. Show a couple impact players on each team with a stat overlay and we're all good.

3) Halftime highlights. Could we get some stats with a little discussion on the game and a "play of the half" segment? Have one of the commentators talk about the game a little to recap what happened.

4) In-game information. I would love to see the ESPN bottomline utilized as scores of other games in our Dynasty would scroll across the screen. Wasn't this in a NCAA game before? More stat overlays would also be a great welcome and I think a page can be taken out of 2K's basketball series. The stats could be added very subtly on the bottom of the screen.

5) Post game highlights. Improvement on the current post game system would be a nice addition. Bring back the cut scenes of coaches shaking hands and players celebrating and pouting. Put some weight on the game matchups and if a big upset happens have the crowd go nuts and have commentary on the importance of the upset for the underdog.

Honorable Mention
WR/DB Interaction
Field condition affecting play
Formation subs

EA has mentioned they have their priority list and like everyone out there, I really want to view it and then organize it myself. There are certain features/gameplay additions that should be included to make NCAA 2010 leaps and bounds better than 2009 will be. The interaction in the forums is the beginning of a beautiful relationship and with the continued visits from developers future sports video games titles are only going to move towards perfection.