News Post

NCAA Football 09 Postmortem

10:59 AM - January 13, 2009 by RaychelSnr

It is the perfect time to revisit EA Sports' NCAA Football 09 and discuss the game in postmortem fashion. NCAA 09 did a lot of things right both on and off the field. I wanted to focus specifically on what 09 brought to the table this season, and how these features held up over the course of the 2008 college season. I know there are many of you out there still playing the game -- and many who will not agree with what I have to say -- but as of this week, I feel it is important to at least "officially" end our NCAA Football 09 discussion, and begin our NCAA Football 10 discussions.

Plus, it is always fun to take a look back at a title nearly seven months after release because, at this point, most people can speak more calmly about a title that is not so fresh in their minds. Is the honeymoon officially over? How did NCAA 09 withstand the test of time?

Read More - NCAA Football 09 Postmortem

Game: NCAA Football 09Reader Score: 7/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS2 / PS3 / PSP / Wii / Xbox 360Votes for game: 95 - View All

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Member Comments

# 1 fistofrage @ 01/13/09 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMChrisS


	It is the perfect time to revisit EA Sports' NCAA Football 09 and discuss the game in postmortem fashion. NCAA 09 did a lot of things right both on and off the field. I wanted to focus specifically on what 09 brought to the table this season, and how these features held up over the course of the 2008 college season. I know there are many of you out there still playing the game -- and many who will not agree with what I have to say -- but as of this week, I feel it is important to at least "officially" end our NCAA Football 09 discussion, and begin our NCAA Football 10 discussions. Plus, it is always fun to take a look back at a title nearly seven months after release because, at this point, most people can speak more calmly about a title that is not so fresh in their minds. Is the honeymoon officially over? How did NCAA 09 withstand the test of time? Read More - NCAA Football 09 Postmortem

Speed Kills, thats all I can say about the 2009 version. Nothing else mattered. Take a team of 2* speedy recruits and you'll easily have a national title. Doesn't matter if they are rated D- in every category but speed. You could even line up 5 punters as your O-line. As long as you had speed at the skill positions, you win. period.

# 2 jkra0512 @ 01/13/09 01:13 PM

I have to agree with you fists. In my online dynasty with my friend, I let him be Miami while I picked Wake Forest. I recruited a WR who was a 2-star but had a 4.20 40-yard dash. I put him in the slot and I could rack up 200-yard games with him on a whim. I hardly threw to my outside WRs because I knew I could give this guy a crossing a route, complete it, and outrun the defense.

From then on I recruited speed only, RBs, CBs, WRs, QBs, all were recruited for their speed regardless of their ratings in other categories. I was winning NCs left and right....just didn't seem right, but I got to brag because I beat him in the ACC Championship Game every season.

# 3 Bumble14 @ 01/13/09 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jkra0512


	I have to agree with you fists. In my online dynasty with my friend, I let him be Miami while I picked Wake Forest. I recruited a WR who was a 2-star but had a 4.20 40-yard dash. I put him in the slot and I could rack up 200-yard games with him on a whim. I hardly threw to my outside WRs because I knew I could give this guy a crossing a route, complete it, and outrun the defense. From then on I recruited speed only, RBs, CBs, WRs, QBs, all were recruited for their speed regardless of their ratings in other categories. I was winning NCs left and right....just didn't seem right, but I got to brag because I beat him in the ACC Championship Game every season.

I agree with you guys that speed was a major emphasis in this game-but not as drastic as Fists is trying to make it out to be.

To play devil's advocate here- aren't the fastest teams the best teams in real life as well? You can't teach speed, but you can pretty much teach everything else in football. Look at your National Champion as a prime example.

# 4 desertdevil88 @ 01/13/09 03:07 PM

I think the real issue was the lack of disparity in the other skills. For example, a LB with good speed and marginal tackling/coverage was far better than one with marginal speed and good tackling/coverage. What's the difference between C+ catching and D+ catching for a CB? One, two drops a season? It really simplified the recruiting process in a negative way.

# 5 fistofrage @ 01/13/09 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bumble14


	I agree with you guys that speed was a major emphasis in this game-but not as drastic as Fists is trying to make it out to be. To play devil's advocate here- aren't the fastest teams the best teams in real life as well? You can't teach speed, but you can pretty much teach everything else in football. Look at your National Champion as a prime example.

My point is no other stat matters besides speed. And there is an overabundance of offensive skill speed guys. Many of them ranked 2 & 3*'s. I don't mind having a few elite burners in the game. How many Percy Harvin's are there in the NCAA? But make them 5* prospects so everyone recruits them.

But it is WAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY too easy to recruit 2 & 3* 99 speed guys that just blow the defense out of the water.

And if you are citing the national champions, yes they have speed on offense, but look at the final score too, a good defense can keep them in check. I could recruit just 2* speed and beat Florida on the toughest Heisman sliders, probably even roll the scoreboard.

# 6 Trini G1aDiaToR @ 01/13/09 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bumble14


	I agree with you guys that speed was a major emphasis in this game-but not as drastic as Fists is trying to make it out to be. To play devil's advocate here- aren't the fastest teams the best teams in real life as well? You can't teach speed, but you can pretty much teach everything else in football. Look at your National Champion as a prime example.

You mean Utah right? This years true National Champion!

# 7 stoncold32 @ 01/13/09 04:17 PM

This game was dead to me by October.

The demo was better than the retail version.

# 8 youALREADYknow @ 01/13/09 04:25 PM

NCAA 2009:

The game with 20 irrelevant player ratings, broken gameplay sliders, broken BCS formula logic, stumbling defenders, terrible kick coverage, boom or bust passing offense, no CPU deep passing, warping players, superjumping defenders, and a plethora of online dynasty bugs.

Oh yea, and the addition of a great mode in Online Dynasty.

Online Dynasty will be the only positive memory from NCAA 09.

# 9 sportyguyfl31 @ 01/13/09 05:00 PM

I have no clue what game this guy was playing.

This game was an abomination in every way, and a slap in the face to anyone who really loves the game of football

# 10 Bumble14 @ 01/13/09 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sportyguyfl31


	I have no clue what game this guy was playing. This game was an abomination in every way, and a slap in the face to anyone who really loves the game of football

Really?

Don't you think this is a little overly dramatic?

# 11 mercalnd @ 01/13/09 05:53 PM

Quote:


	This in turn, allowed me to generate more pressure on the CPU QB, and I began seeing myself get 3-5 sacks per game with powerhouses like USC and Florida, and 1-2 sacks per game with weaker schools like Purdue and Baylor. To me these were realistic enough numbers, especially when you consider the fact that you really do not see that many sacks in your average NCAA game

Yet another person who assumes pass rush only means sacks. While it's realistic to get 3-5 sacks in a game with a great defense, if the opposing QB has all day to throw on the 25 to 35 other passing attempts in that game then there is still a major pass rush problem. A good pass rush has a major impact in the game that is not necessarily visible by looking at the stats. It forces quicker throws, bad decisions, shorter passes, etc. You may have been getting a realistic number of sacks but I highly doubt you got a realistic pass rush.

# 12 rudyjuly2 @ 01/13/09 05:55 PM

I agree that NCAA 09 was pretty darn good and that many people over exagerrated the problems with the game. However, the biggest problem I had with the game was the horrible cpu rushing game. It was just too weak on every difficulty level and the sliders were so watered down that it was impossible to fix.

The cpu running game has traditionally been garbage on default levels but I had always been able to tweak it to something realistic until this year. That problem alone caused me to stop playing the game in December. Pick up games are still fun but I'll enjoy playing basketball and baseball games for the most part until the next release.

# 13 TrevJo @ 01/13/09 06:54 PM

I only bought this game for Online Dynasty. While waiting for the right people to come along with an OD to join, I played some Campus Legend. It was pretty fun. I joined the OD and experienced major issues with online play. Turned out to be an issue with my cable modem dropping packets for a few seconds at a time at an average interval of about 15 minutes. Still frustrating though that what wasn't bad enough to kick me off Xbox Live was bad enough to kick me off the EA servers. And, there was no option in Online Dynasty games for the other user to invite me back in. So season 1 of Online Dynasty was ruined by connection problems. Season 2 was pretty good, and then in the offseason we ran into the Online Dynasty Players Leaving glitch. Right now we are all pretty pissed off.

Online Dynasty was a brilliant idea. Along with the revamped recruiting from NCAA 08, those are the only two features EA has added that made the game better. And they almost pulled it off. However leaving in a major clitch like the players leaving thing on online dynasty ruined that. They need to stop trying to add so many features and do a better job of perfecting the ones they have. But, everyone wants flashy new options in their game so it will never happen.

# 14 JAKEHB20 @ 01/13/09 08:03 PM

i absolutely love this game. yes there a few bugs and stuff but i havent played an ncaa this deep from launch day ever. Online dynastys are amazing. if you can find the right league with house rules and all that, its golden. I'll probably play this game until 2010 comes out.

# 15 JAYMO76 @ 01/14/09 12:19 AM

YOU GAVE PRESENTATION A B?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Are you kidding me? Hey I like NCAA 09 but a "B" for presentation?

DIRECT QUOTE:"From a presentation standpoint, NCAA 09 turned in yet another weak (or should I say, Notre Dame-like) performance. For the third straight year on next-gen consoles, gamers had to live without any type of pregame Gameday festivities, bowl patches, special bowl presentation, highlight shows of any type, pride stickers that actually equate to on-field performance, and many of the other small nuances that fans of the franchise took for granted during the last generation."

Does that caption above sound like a B to you?

Atmosphere in NCAA FOOTBALL 09 is a joke. Where is dynamic attendance? where is the pre-game? where are the cut scenes? where is the bowl game feel? The list is endless.

# 16 JAYMO76 @ 01/14/09 12:22 AM

163.2 PASSER RATING... that needs to be toned down. Oh by the way... that's not one game, that's the entire season!

# 17 youALREADYknow @ 01/14/09 12:32 AM

Just read the article... this made me laugh.

"Retrospective Review Score for Gameplay: A"

Great job undermining the legitimate complaints of the hundreds of people here in regards to the flimsy AI in this game.

# 18 stoncold32 @ 01/14/09 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rudyjuly2


	I agree that NCAA 09 was pretty darn good and that many people over exagerrated the problems with the game. However, the biggest problem I had with the game was the horrible cpu rushing game. It was just too weak on every difficulty level and the sliders were so watered down that it was impossible to fix. The cpu running game has traditionally been garbage on default levels but I had always been able to tweak it to something realistic until this year. That problem alone caused me to stop playing the game in December. Pick up games are still fun but I'll enjoy playing basketball and baseball games for the most part until the next release.

I gotta disagree dude. This game is borderline terrible if you've ever played the PS2/Xbox versions. You say the biggest problem is the CPU running game, but I think it's WAy more than that. What about the CPU never passing deep? I think I've counted a total of two pass plays where the ball traveled at least 30yds before the WR caught it....and both of those were in the same game.

-QB option/running is broken. I put in NCAA 2004 a couple months back and I had forgotten how good the QB's ran the option in that game. In '09, the QBs run like they are confused.

- Defense if just too slow. If a 80's speed TE get's a step on you, it's over, no matter who your DB is. Just put the controller down and get ready to go back on offense.

# 19 Rocky @ 01/14/09 10:59 AM

NCAA 2009 for the XBOX 360 featured the worst gameplay in the series....EVER

Yes.

EVER

Go back and play NCAA Football 2007 for the PS2 and you will see great gameplay crippled by terrible pursuit angles. That was the one flaw in otherwise a great game....and somehow NCAA 2009 for the 360 seemed to make them worse. And this is on top of a whole hosts of defensive problems.

The PS2 version is light years ahead of Next Gen in the gameplay department.

# 20 sportyguyfl31 @ 01/14/09 11:41 AM

somone else sid it earlier, the shining moment of the game is its visuals. It was artful.

Everything else just sucked on ice.

Pursuit angles, quicksand running when you tried to switch to a player to control yourself. Teams running qb keepers with clod footed pocketpassers, hitting 50+ yard FG with just about any kicker I want to...and on, and on, and on, and on.

This isnt just the worst NCAA football title ever, it is the second worst EA Football title on next gen, only beating Madden 06.

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