Do you have to watch the game if you aren't playing in CL mode? I find it boring if I'm not playing so does it sim the game and cut in if you play?

Finally started getting into it tonight with a BYU Dynasty. Have played three games with sliders all on default (except INT) and am very happy. Got upset by Kent State at home 24-23 my first game as they totally shut my run game down and I had 6 turnovers (4 ints on bad reads) Hightlight was the first Kickoff I have returned for a TD in two years on NCAA.

Game 2 went to ASU and upset them 35-17 in a driving rain (Monsoon Season) only 2 TO though and a much more productive running. got my first commit before this game as well as recruiting is really fun to me....You have to put thought into it but it still doesn't bog you down.

Game 3 Went to Tulsa and jumped to a 27-0 Lead, then hung on for a 34-28 win, both this and the Kent game became ESPN instant classics and my running game finally looks potent with 2 runs over 20 yards finally. Have my first recruits coming for a visit next week with Air Force in town and looking forward to seeing how the activities planning works.

I have to say EA really out did themselves so far...also playing on a PS 3 and while the graphics are not as smooth as the 360, they still look damn good and I have suffered no lag in gameplay.....The pre-release hype made it sound like the PS 3 version would just suck and thankfully there are no problems that give me any heartburn....great game.

Yeah, the game froze on me twice last night (one totally froze the system). Both times it was related to doing snapshots and the like. It also froze on my buddy's system (we were chatting and he just dropped). Hopefully this doesn't continually occur, as it would suck a lot. Mine froze in CL mode after seeing my first action ever and converting a 3rd down which led to the winning score. Very sad...

You can sim or watch the plays.

Anyone else having problems with trying to save videos or pictures on the 360 version? I could only get one game's highlights to save and a buddy of mine said he can't get anything to save, period.

I had the game give me an error when I tried saving videos, but I turned my 360 off and back on and it saved fine after that.

My campus Legend was a RB from Alabama. Won the state championship and was a 5 star recruit. I signed with Alabama. Week 1 we played a D2 school and won 100-7 (8 min quarters). I need to lower the quarters down to 7 for this mode but that's another story (hardly no time ever comes off the play clock).

I was a 2nd stringer for this game and got into the game when the starter went down in the 1st quarter (out for 3 weeks). I ended up with 30 carries for 380 yards and 7 TDs. I set school rushing and scoring records as a true freshman in my first ever game.

2nd game of the year, at Vandy, we won and I had 117 rushing and 150 receiving with 2 scores through the air (one 59 yarder).

After week 1 I was already named the starting RB based on my practice performance.

Looking forward to the PS3 rosters!

I had to take it down to 5 minute quarters in CL mode to get realistic results.

I'm still not getting very many penalties other than clipping and that's with everything maxed. I also am seeing lots of interceptions, but I think that's me playing QB and not necessarily the game. :D The interceptions against opposing QBs haven't been too bad.

Okay...after another game, I do have one knock. The sound and "college atmosphere" could be better. I think that's the one place the game might be lacking a little something.

Yeah, that was my only real complaint about the game. However, the gameplay easily makes up for that weakness.

Noticed Bill Abner is already finding AI issues only two days after release. Anyone else having similar problems?

http://sportsgamer.blogspot.com/2007...s-so-hard.html

I've seen the same problem in CL when I'm the running back. Maybe it's just Penn State's QB, but I've seen him throw four to five interceptions per game. There's nothing more maddening than when the coach keeps calling freaking pass plays when I'm dominating my man/

I've been playing on AA mode and have CPU interceptions set to zero and knockdowns set to 100. I think the next move is to knock down AI defensive awareness down a bit. Hopefully that will turn down the interceptions.

I haven't played that many games, yet. However, when I was beating the CPU by 7 with 35 seconds left, it threw intermediate to deep passes including a Hail Mary from the 50 with 2 seconds left.

I remember somebody doing that last year and it going for a touchdown. Can't remember the team though.

I've had a couple games so far come down to the final play and both times the AI called a long pass or hail mary.

Also meant to mention, I've seen the AI go into a prevent defense when I had the ball on my own 20 and had only 20 seconds left to score. I don't remember the AI doing that last year and it made it very difficult to get any big chunks of yard.

Sorry, I thought you were talking 08 verison.

Controlling one player appears to be only in the next gen Campus Legend mode from impressions I've been reading. It seems current gen didn't do much to update that mode from previous years.

I've seen that too.

While the AI isn't the greatest in the world, so far I haven't seen anything that makes me crazy. I have seen a couple cool things though. My team has a stud HB and the coach runs the ball a lot. When he went down with an injury in the first half of the last game, the backup came in and was a noticeable downgrade. We began throwing the ball a LOT more than normal. It was also cool to see the defense adjust to our adjustment. They had been stacking a lot of men on the scrimmage, but by the third quarter they were playing off the line a lot more.

Fairdale King's Xbox 360 rosters are out. Pretty nice: http://www.yourcampusconnections.com/ncaa08/

In dynasty mode, is there a way on offense to just call plays and not have to control the QB on passing plays? On the legacy Xbox, you'd simply hike the ball and if you didn't do anything, the CPU would take over. On the 360, the QB will automatically drop back or rollout, but never throws a pass.

Wow. I didn't think that would happen. I know the RBs and Defense will play automatically. I just assumed that the QB would as well.

I've seen that, too. Also, one other huge improvement: If you are running it well and they are stacking the line. If you audible out of a run into a pass play from the same formation, the defense doesn't magically re-align to anticipate a pass. That is a huge improvement from previous years.

No, there is no coach mode in the next gen versions. The QB will just stand there after doing an auto drop back. :( The auto drop back is very helpful to my passing game, at least.

That's the first thing I've heard that really bothers me. After playing my CL career, I was going to start up a dynasty game as coach only. :(

FYI......PS3 rosters now available for download. Just download to a flash drive and then stick it in the PS3 USB port to load.

http://www.ncaastrategies.com/index....ters&Itemid=41

It seems as though they are still working on them. There is no link and it says they expect a late July/early August release.

Ah, the PS2 is done, not PS3. Good catch. I doubt it will take too long to convert the PS2 version to a PS3 file as they are similar. Just have to keep an eye on the site.

You have to like how easy is it to load user created rosters for the PS3 vs the 360.

Figured it made more sense to quote as opposed to edit, with it being a page or so later.

Couldn't figure out how to link to individual videos, but if you go here http://www.easportsworld.com/#video-990/HOME/565 you'll see two highlights from my RU-VT game where I experienced the problem. Unfortunately my video with my RB stuttering couldn't get uploaded. Anyway, in the first highlight, I was controlling Kevin Malast, LB #34, and pressing sprint well before the stuttering occurred (btw, don't ask me how I missed that sack). In the 2nd video, Kenny Britt was running down the sideline and then veered out of bounds while I was pressing the sprint button, again pressing it before it happened. The randomness is what I can't figure out.

Logan, that stutter move makes it look like you're using the right thumbstick or something. Are you sure you're not touching the thumbstick at all while you try to sprint?

I am really trying to hold off purchasing NCAA 08 but you guys are really making it hard to. I just have to keep thinking Madden comes out in a few weeks and I've already put a down payment on it...

How many are getting both Madden and NCAA this year?

As a 360 user, no, no I don't.

I am getting both. The games share the same engine with slight differences and since NCAA is so good, I feel hopeful that Madden will finally be enjoyable again.

I thought the 360 had a USB port, no???

It has several USB ports.

Yep, but you can't use a flash drive to transfer the rosters.

If Madden ends up being as good as NCAA, I'll get both.

Ah, gotta love it. Go to Michigan as their #3 guy, get my first carry in scrub time at the end of the first game of the season. First carry, fantastic as it's a 2 yard TD run. Second run, minus 1 yard along with a lost fumble.

4 weeks later I finally work my way up to the 2nd string, starter goes down in the second quarter and I get to crack the 100 yard mark and get to forget about that first game. Fantastic game thus far, kept me up way too late last night.

You, me and a couple of other people have all had the person in front of them on the depth chart get injured. Feature/bug?

Unless I'm somehow doing it subconsciously. Usually my finger is hovering over the A button (from being used to pressing that for speed...which has hurt me at times when I accidentally stiff arm and end up fumbling), so I don't think that's the case either.

If no one else is seeing it, I'll chalk it up to it being something on my end. Although I talked to a buddy who has said it happened to him once on defense, but not on offense.

Maybe I'll set up a video camera fixed on my hands to see what the hell is going on :).

I'm the 5th string RB at Georgia Tech, 5 weeks into my freshman year I have yet to see the field. I've almost worked my way up to 4th string though, we'll see how that goes.

I wonder if there is some sort of calibration problem with your controller. When I played NCAA 2006, I think it was, on the XBox, sometimes my defender would go into the "hit stick" animation when I didn't touch the analog stick. Usually moving the right analog stick in a circular motion a few times fixed it (I guess it "recentered" it somehow).

It was strange because it would only happen with NCAA, not any other game, but it was apparently my controller.

I've been able to move up to #3 on the USC running back depth chart just before the Nebraska game. Hopefully I'll be able to see some game time

I constantly have a problem with 2007 when I first fire up the game - whatever player I am usually drifts to the right until I either shake him out of it, pause/resume multiple times to stop it, or it ends on its own. Happens with either controller, only when I go directly into playing a game when I first start the PS2 up, and doesn't happen with any other games.

ditto, 5th string at Miami. my RB still hasn't seen action in the 2 games i played, so i've simmed the last 3 games and with me being 30 something points away from being 4th string i'll go back to playing the actual games to see if the coach will let me block on special teams or something. i'm not complaining about the lack of PT, but i just think if a guy is gonna be on a team he should at least make special teams appearances. i guess this is just realism, so right now i'm just enjoying "the early years" and i'll wait for my chance to be the starter. coming from such humble beginnings will make the later glory years all the more special. when my guy wins the Heisman i'll look back and say "i remember when i couldn't even get on the field as a 5th stringer".

btw, i'm not likely to keep this game when Madden comes out. i don't need two games based on the same sport. might be cool to use NCAA to create the rookies for my Madden dynasty, but traditionally i've always used NCAA to get my football gaming early and would simply trade it in to get Madden at a discount. i'm only doing CL but it's still the most fun i've had in video game football in many years. very well done and i still haven't even played an actual game yet, i've just been doing CL.

This is why I always buy the NCAA game used a couple of weeks after Madden comes out. I have a few weeks to figure out if the NCAA game is any good and I can get it at the cheaper price.

I was actually a little worried that it was too easy to become the starter but it doesn't sound like that's the case. In my game, I went to Arkansas as the 2nd string QB and after the very first practice I was named the starter and haven't looked back.

See - that is exactly what I would probably do when Madden comes out. I know I wouldn't play both but Gamespot will probably give a $20 credit towards when Madden come out. So I guess I have to realize is NCAA really worth $40 to play with for a month?

I thought you don't get the football games?

I'll again point out that Casey Dick is horrible as are all of the Arkansas QB's.

Look back in this thread. I mentioned that the NCAA game is the one game I will buy used after a month or two if it gets positive feedback. I haven't bought it in 3 years, but the Sportsgamer guys and Bill Harris (who are both EA critical) like the game. Add in that most of the PS3 owners say that the lower framerate isn't a hinderance in any way, and I may purchase it used. Note that I still have a few weeks to make that determination, so that may change by then as well.

Well you should, so far it's so much better than last years.

That explains why they were like the only team in the country that didn't want me as the 4th stringer. :D

I would think of it the other way: Is that $20 you would get back enough to not have the game sitting around when you feel like firing the game up in a few months? I tend to play football games all year round, in spurts, so once I make the decision to buy a game, I know I'm going to be playing it for awhile. For example, I don't think there's ever been a year where I wasn't playing Madden during the month leading up to the NFL draft.

I haven't made it to the next game yet (will tonight), but the #1 is supposed to be back and good to go for that one. So we'll see if he goes down again and opens the door for more action.

Only game I got into as the #3 was in a serious blowout, got no action in the other 3-4 games until I made it to second string.

Anyone up for a game around 7est?

I guess their servers are still getting pretty hammered. I have not been able to upload at all today.

i would be, but would we have to talk to each other? i don't have much to say when i play.

No we don't. It infuriates me in sports games to talk to people.

Just installed the FK Rosters. A godsend

Oh god, having the roster names makes me so f'ing happy.

question guys,

Did EA take out the "create school" option? This is something I've always done before, and I can't find it.

Hooray for rosters!!! Any guesses on the average review score for the 360 version of NCAA? Between IGN and Gamespot, I'm going to guess an average of 9.1. Anyone else have a guess?

No create a school option this year :(

They are always a bit inflated at those two sites, so I'll guess a 9.5 average.

dammit. that sucks

The new dynasty recruiting would be awesome with create-a-school.

I always create my own school, and then build it into a national powerhouse. Anyone have any recommendations for a replacement school.? I'm looking for an very low rated school, with nice uniforms, and a nice stadium

played my first two online games.. 2-0 baby! comeback win in my first game with Tennessee and a blowout with Michigan over WV. goldenglove21 for anyone that wants to play a little.

I just played my first online game. Lost 3 fumbles and fell victim to the dreaded "DBs suddenly let guys run right past them with under a minute left" defense and lost on a last second FG.

Looking forward to more of this.

http://www.easportsworld.com/#video-5392/HOME/3004

A pretty good user pick.. I was the FS the whole way, and just figured he was coming back to the guy on the crossing route. (everyone seems to love those routes) Not exactly sure why I used Iowa, but they weren't too bad. Albert Young is pretty tough and the QB was good enough for me.

i'm going on in a few. astoria23

What, no Kingjackoff77?

I'm using San Diego State, jersey's are pretty cool, 2* prestige i believe I started out with, and you're playing in qualcomm.

good stuff. I'm going to check them out too.

Wow, as a reciever in CL 2nd round of state playoffs get these stats:

9 catches for 331 yards, 5 TD's.

4* performance. Damn. That was just a ridiculous game though, seemed like everything was working.

I think the only time you can turn in a 5* performance is in the championship game. When I tried playing a QB I had a game where I was 9-10 for 309 yards and 6 TD with another 75 yards rushing with 1 TD and only got a 4* performance as well.

This reminds me I think that things should count against you in practice. If I go to a school and in practice I complete 2 passes out of 10 chances and throw 3 interceptions I should fall further down the depth charts not stay at the same level or move up.

Daym.. are you on AA?

I turned in a 5 star in the 2nd round. 197 yards rushing, 58 receiving, 3 TDs.

yeah with default sliders.

Not to shamelessly self promote but I started a dynasty with videos/pics over in the dynasty forum. Lemme know what you think. Some good campus legend stuff going on there as well.

I have to say, the addition of videos and pics in dynasties is awesome.

1UP gave it an 8.5, but then gave the xbox version something like a 9.1

I think the only real gripe they had was no online dynasty. I think it deserves a 9.0.

So, uhh...can anyone give me some tips on how to actually develop a pass rush?

Play against Drew Bledsoe.

I played the first game of my Maryland dynasty last night. 8 min quarters, AA with interceptions reduced on the sliders.

Our first game was against FCS East. At the end of the first it's tied 3-3 and I'm thinking, "this is pretty good, I'm not going to run away with this." Then, I start moving the ball quite easily for a TD, intercept the next pass for a TD and, by halftime, I'm up 38-7. I decide to supersim the rest of the way - BAD DECISION. We win, 96-10 ?!!? I think I might have to start over now - as my offensive statistics are WAY skewed and it doesn't feel like my team anymore.

The first few days of NCAA are the most tenuous for me. I want to jump in and play, but I always find it hard to find sliders that will allow me to easily beat the chump teams (but not 96-10) and yet get beaten handily by the teams that should. I should probably go back to "Play now" until I'm fully satisfied.

From what people have posted earlier, the catch-22 with supersim is that if you're going to use it a lot, you can only play 5-6 minute quarters.

4-4 Defense, blitz all LBs. Control your Safety and cover the Tight End. If he blocks, look to cover the HB or FB. If it's a 3 or 4 WR set, cover the middle.

Usually someone will get through or someone will get their hands up to block to pass at the line.

Good ol' EA introduces a feature that most of us have waited for, and then they have to go and screw with the execution of it. It's not a game killer for me, and I sort of understand why they did it (they seem to think most people want 5 minute quarters), but it didn't have to be this way. If someone's playing 10 minute quarters and they go to supersim, they could've made twice as much time run down between plays, for instance. That way, the stats and number of plays line up OK, and people can still use supersim.

THANKS, EA! :mad:

Yeah, this is my biggest complaint about the game. I've decided I need to play between 8 and 9 minute quarters to get a realistic number of plays, but if I'm going to go with either one for my dynasty, I can only ever use Super Sim for very short bursts of time in a game or it is going to completely screw up my stats.

Edit: This will probably force me to only play dynasty games when I have plenty of time on the weekends, and only play CL games when I have less time. At least, most people seem to be enjoying CL and I'm going to give it a shot this afternoon.

I finally got my RB at Georgia Tech up to #3 in the depth chart in about week 8. As soon as I did, I was starting. The #1 back was out for the season, the #2 guy isn't injured but I was on the field!

My ratings skyrockted from 78->91 during those first 8 weeks of practice. In my second game(a Thursday night game vs Virginia Tech) I was now #2 in the depth chart. My speed was 97, accelleration 99, and Herbstreet twice referred to me as "the fastest running back he's seen all season". I had a good game vs Va Tech, though we lost 20-19 after missing an extra point on a 3rd quarter TD. The next week I dropped a dart on my foot during the week in the extra activities part of it, and my overall rating went down to 90 from 91, and my speed dropped to 94, accelleration 97.


In 3 games I've run for 100 yards twice(against Army and Duke) and 95 yards vs Virginia Tech. We have UNC, Georgia and a Bowl game to go. Given that my ratings are this good as a freshman, I'm expecting to contend for the Heisman at some point in my career. It seems a bit too easy on All-American to get this good.

Also, 6 minutes seems to work best for me for CL... when I'm on the field. If the game is completely gettig simmed, 5 seems better.

Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a shot when that defense is appropriate. However, I meant more like "execution" of a pass rush. I can't seem to do anything with the shoulder buttons. Is it a timing thing? Do you combine the speed burst with spin moves? I also am against using the "jump the snap" button...seems a little cheap to me and I hate when the CPU does it.

i will need to decrease the gametime to 5 minute quarters. i had it at 8 min for my CL, and my freshman RB was named the starter by week 11 and set the school rushing record with 315 yards and 3 total td's. i mean, the coach kept calling running plays (like he should have done since he was having so much success with the run), but i didn't expect to be this good this fast.

whatever, i had a lot of fun playing. first game was against WV, so i don't know if that means we should have dominated them (i'm Miami). very fun game, but i still plan on trading it in for Madden in August.

I don't think jumping the snap is cheap. It's just anticipating the snap which should be rewarded. It's not like you can just keep jamming on the "jump snap" button without penalty. As long as there's a risk to doing such a move, it should be OK. Cheap would be something like running a money play over and over again because the AI doesn't have a way to stop it.

The cheapness of the jump the snap move, at least in the 2007 version (not sure if anything has changed), is that it really doesn't function as the name suggests. Jumping the snap should be about anticipation, meaning that you shouldn't be able to hear the snap and then perform the function. However, the way it works, as long as you hit the button within a second or so, even after the snap, you still get rewarded. But that's just reacting to the snap and starting the play, that's not "jumping the snap."

Same here. As soon as I win a game against a decent opponent I have to fight the urge to start my dynasty.

Indeed. I'm all happy with my good ol' Xbox version just arrived in the mail, and then I see these clips...

Damn you EA and your f****** region lock!!! :mad:

However, we can save pictures on old-gen! Woot! :D

IGN's review is up:

hxxp://xbox360.ign.com/articles/806/806766p1.html\

Closing Comments
Is it a leap and bound beyond last year's game? You bet. NCAA Football 08 is easily improved over a weak effort that was delivered last season. It's on the edge of greatness as well, particularly thanks to a deeper Dynasty mode and inclusion of Campus Legend mode that helps add to the replayability of the title. However, the game still features a number of technical and balancing issues that keep it from being a truly great football game. However, football fans won't be let down by this game, and they should definitely check it out.

IGN Ratings for NCAA Football 08 (X360)
Rating Description
out of 10 click here for ratings guide

8.0 Presentation
The presentation of the game is much better, thanks to the inclusion of The Weather Channel feature and new animations. Too Bad the Motivation feature is weak.

8.0 Graphics
Thanks to new animations, the game looks much better, but some of the old glitches are still present in this year's game.

8.0 Sound
The trio of Herbstreit, Corso and Nessler are still solid, but you still wish that there were more fight songs, cheers and noise present in the game.

8.5 Gameplay
The new break animations, improved hit stick and tackles really improve upon the gameplay.

8.0 Lasting Appeal
The game is much deeper than it was last year, but with Campus Legend being too easy and elements of Dynasty out of your control, this isn't as great as it could have been.

8.3
Impressive OVERALL