NCAA Football 12 News Post

The "Commandments" of NCAA Football 12

10:28 PM - January 22, 2011 by AuburnAlumni

I've played more NCAA Football 11 than I think I've played of any other NCAA ever. The series has taken a giant leap forward since its rather disappointing introduction to "Next Gen" with NCAA 08. NCAA 11 in my opinion is the best of the series.

That being said....I think I've put together the ultimate "commandments" that most folks would agree would send NCAA Football 12 into the stratosphere of greatness. I haven't gotten it to 10 yet..but feel free to add to this.

1. "Thou shalt not giveth every 5 star RB 91 speed with 71 agility and 73 acceleration". I dig the whole acceleration addition this year...I do. But some of the ratings are a bit off. For example, I've seen probably 80% of the top backs in each recruiting class end up with very mediocre speed/agility/acc combos. If I land the #1 RB in the nation...that kid should be the total package. To piggy back onto this..the #1 Fullback in the land should not be 5'10" and 189 pounds. A 5 star Defensive End should not be coming into school weighing 207 pounds. While the acceleration emphasis was, in my opinion, a smart and much needed addition...more tweaking is necessary.

2. "Thou shalt not make Strong Safeties slower than most O linemen". We've all seen it. Strong Safeties..in a word...stink in NCAA 11. Most folks end up moving them to OLB because no one is going to start a Safety in the secondary with 84 speed and 72 acceleration unless they want to get toasted by the opposing Receiving corps. This is amplified when I see MLBs and OLBs with 87 speed and 99 acceleration.

3. "Thou shalt not have Ohio State be the end all be all in recruiting." Seriously...did a Buckeye program this recruiting logic? Literally, every top player in America has Ohio State in their top 5. All of them. Oklahoma and Alabama suffer from this favoritism as well, but man it feels like Ohio State is the god of recruiting in this game.

4. "Thou shalt have Coach Prestige and Stability adjust." These never change. I've won 4 straight Big 12 titles at Nebraska and my Coaching Stability is still a B.

5. "Thou shalt make CPU Read Option squads competent". It is still far too easy to destroy the Georgia Techs, Navys, and West Virginias of the Digital College Football world because of the lack of ability for CPU teams to run an effective Read option attack.

6. "Thou shalt speed up the QB/FB option handoff animation so that it shall be a viable option". The Triple option is fairly useless in that the animation of the QB faking and or handing off to the Fullback is waaaayyy toooooo slooooooow. This allows your opponent to effectively kill either your FB in the backfield or destroy your QB before he's able to turn the corner. Speeding this animation up would help this greatly.

7. "Thou shalt remember the rules of the game". Where o' where is my long lost Pass Interference Penalty? Much like Haley's Comet or Bigfoot, it is rarely seen in the NCAA world. If you are lucky enough to see this rare feat in a game, tell your fellow gamers. But don't expect them to believe you. By that same token, clipping and holding seem to skyrocket with just a click or two of the slider settings. As Mr. Miyagi always said...must have balance. In addition, the ability to have multiple and/or offsetting penalties during a play would be great. It's quite frustrating to see my team get called for holding on the same play that the opposing middle linebacker rips the facemask off of my tailback and it doesn't get flagged.

8. "Thou shalt make special teams a bit more special". As with Pass Interference, it seems there are no more blocked punts or blocked field goals in the digital college football realm. In a combined 17 seasons of online and offline dynasties....I have seen a total of one blocked punt and zero blocked field goals. While we shouldn't have the superhuman field goal rejections of NCAA 08, even professional football players aren't this perfect.

9. "Thou shalt have Recruits look at depth charts before committing". I'm Nebraska in our online dynasty. I run the old school triple option of the Tom Osborne era and I run it well. I average almost 400 rushing yards a game....and not a single 5 star scrambling quarterback will give me the time of day. If a team is the reincarnation of the 1995 Cornhuskers, 5 star RBs and Mobile QBs should be beating down that Coach's door wanting to commit. If I return 2 defensive backs on my entire team....I shouldn't go to the prospect list and see a total of 3 out of 200 generated defensive backs that have me in their top 10. By that same token, Georgia should not sign 3 of the top 6 Quarterbacks in a single recruiting season....while they already have 3 Signal Callers on their roster. Blatant roster management/recruiting snafus like these are quite common in NCAA 11 and should be tweaked for NCAA 12.

10. "Thou shalt have kids work in the offseason." If I move a 215 pound LB to the defensive line....I'd like to see the kid eat a few more hamurgers in the offseason. Realistic weight gain/loss in offseason position changes would really help out. Having a player only gain 2-3 pounds in the offseason would get most strength and conditioning coaches fired. Seeing a Linebacker pack on 10-20 pounds in the offseason and reach more of a true Defensive End size would be a welcome addition. By that same token...moving an end to tackle should pay off by seeing a 240 pound lineman move to a 280 pound lineman after 2 years of weightlifting and protein shakes.

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Member Comments

# 41 sportyguyfl31 @ 01/25/11 11:08 AM

what Ive noticed as far as recruiting, is that there is a HUGE dropoff, from the top 5-10 at a position, and everyone else.

If you recruit a top 10 player at his position, you will get a monster.

Its when you get below that, is where you have these weird athletic mutations.

Guys with A speed, D acceleration, C- catching, A jumping abilty...things like that.

# 42 thejake @ 01/25/11 12:05 PM

There is a lot of good stuff in this thread. Pretty much every major issue in the game is mentioned. Hopefully this is the kind of stuff they've been working on for '12.

The one major thing that I didn't see mentioned was the CPU "knowing" your offensive playcall. There needs to be an overhaul to cpu playcalling in general. They should look at your personnel, down and distance, and game history to make a reasonable playcall. Also, it wouldn't hurt if all of the engage 8 plays were removed from the game. I'm pretty sure no one ever calls that in real life.

# 43 thejake @ 01/25/11 12:13 PM

Another thing... some of the helmets/facemasks can use fixing. Some of them, especially the revo ones, just don't look right.

# 44 44drob @ 01/25/11 12:21 PM

Also Special Teams is a must for me

Its one of the great things about college football today IMO!

# 45 illwill10 @ 01/25/11 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thejake


	The one major thing that I didn't see mentioned was the CPU "knowing" your offensive playcall. There needs to be an overhaul to cpu playcalling in general. They should look at your personnel, down and distance, and game history to make a reasonable playcall. Also, it wouldn't hurt if all of the engage 8 plays were removed from the game. I'm pretty sure no one ever calls that in real life.

Exactly. That is one of the major gameplay that is needed to be fixed. It seamed it 90% of the time I ran the ball The CPU showed a Heavy Blitz, Blitzed the right hole, or moved into the right spot. I had to audible alot. I imagine it would be hard to run option plays, wildcat, and be a option team. Defense was not different. If I ran zone and did not get pressure 9/10 passes will be Completed. CPU QBs always find someone open and someones always wide open
Coverage need to be overhauled. NO DBs running routes. No no-look swats. No eyes in the back of the head. No LBs or DL Super Mario jumping 20 ft to swat down passes intended 20+ yards down the field. More interception animations. It seems like 70% of interception are when both DB and WR are mirroring each other. Instead of CB running WR routes, they should jump more routes, stay inside of the WRs, be more physical
Dline There is no consistent pressure from DLine men, It effects coverage and robo qbs. Where is the bull rushes. Where is the penetration from DTs. There should more Dline animations. It is hard for Users to sped rush unless CPU messes up(rarely). It seems like CPU Linemen knows who is blitzing. Awareness should matter more in picking up blitz. They have to get off the ball quicker.
Play action is a big part of every offense. CPU can be successful. But user cannot. Instant sack and a ton of pressure. I would not mind it time-to-time. But you cannot rely on blocking

# 46 Playmakers @ 01/25/11 12:57 PM

The only thing i really wish for a QB scrambling in game Play Slider.....If they add that next year I'll be happy

This years game has been awesome for me the best in years and i don't encounter too many bad things within the actual GAMEPLAY I love it

# 47 kevinmerida @ 01/25/11 01:27 PM

Colleg Hoops 2k8 was great at this, coaches would move and you would see teams fall and rise. I remember specifically that when coach k retired that duke would sometimes fall of because they made a bad hire. I dont need coach names Im fine with coachFSU but at least fire him if he is doing bad and let coachwhatever take his and bring his style of ball with him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by callmetaternuts


	Make team style mean something. You can do this with a coaching carousel of some sort. It gets old controlling FSU and playing Ga Tech and dominating the option every time. 20 years down the road, the head coach should be gone and a new coach with a new system should be there.

# 48 ZombieNationPSU @ 01/25/11 03:53 PM

For me, the single most important dynasty bug is the depth chart glitch.

I could honestly handle (if I absolutely HAD TO) the lack of blocked kicks, KO/P returns, etc.

But I simply can't wrap my head around knowing that any dynasty that goes beyond 4 years is not worth playing due to the CPU not recruiting like anything resembling a real human being.

My life in the NCAA games began and will probably end with the dynasty modes. They are the bell cow of the NCAA games, and should be treated as such.

# 49 ZombieNationPSU @ 01/25/11 03:55 PM

I should mention that I started playing way back in NCAA 2001.

# 50 sportyguyfl31 @ 01/25/11 05:52 PM

My only gameplay gripe is the PA Pass Game.

Im sure Im not alone, but I have had more occasions then I can count, that go like this:

I sucker a user in with a jet sweep or read option fake..there is a receiver with about 10 yards of open space, but KABOOM!...I get hit and fumble, or hit and the balll pops out for a DL INT.

# 51 jbrew2411 @ 01/25/11 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sportyguyfl31


	My only gameplay gripe is the PA Pass Game. Im sure Im not alone, but I have had more occasions then I can count, that go like this: I sucker a user in with a jet sweep or read option fake..there is a receiver with about 10 yards of open space, but KABOOM!...I get hit and fumble, or hit and the balll pops out for a DL INT.

The release day patch really killed the PA pass. It is sad because without the patches the game played great in a lot of areas.

# 52 Gloves 82 @ 01/25/11 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ipadblack11


	So you wanna fix a handoff, seriously, a handoff. I guess that better then them adding the band to the stands. It's not like there going to run onto the field.

The triple option is huge in the option offense therefore yes, it should be fixed.

# 53 DubTrey1 @ 01/25/11 08:09 PM

Agree with all of this.

One year, I had an ATH that was 6'1" and 205 pounds that had massive 88 something strength and ended up being best OVR at Center. Unreal. He was awesome, but looked like a toothpick on the line smashing dudes to the floor. It's the little things I guess

# 54 N51_rob @ 01/25/11 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ipadblack11


	So you wanna fix a handoff, seriously, a handoff. I guess that better then them adding the band to the stands. It's not like there going to run onto the field.

So we should have a broken option in the games because no one would fix a handoff, seriously a handoff? If its broken its broken and should be addressed.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

# 55 illwill10 @ 01/25/11 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DubTrey1


	Agree with all of this. One year, I had an ATH that was 6'1" and 205 pounds that had massive 88 something strength and ended up being best OVR at Center. Unreal. He was awesome, but looked like a toothpick on the line smashing dudes to the floor. It's the little things I guess

Me too
Mine came in about the same weight and height. He came in 78 ovr as a G, 75 as a C, 78 as a FB. He was slow. I already had a 78 Ovr FB who was a Soph. I was thinking WTH. I could understand if he had 75+ Ovr.
We denititely need the abilty to edit draft classes, Height, Weight, every team in Dynasty.

# 56 AuburnAlumni @ 01/25/11 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ipadblack11


	6.' "Thou shalt speed up the QB/FB option handoff animation so that it shall be a viable option". The Triple option is fairly useless in that the animation of the QB faking and or handing off to the Fullback is waaaayyy toooooo slooooooow. This allows your opponent to effectively kill either your FB in the backfield or destroy your QB before he's able to turn the corner. Speeding this animation up would help this greatly.''' So you wanna fix a handoff, seriously, a handoff. I guess that better then them adding the band to the stands. It's not like there going to run onto the field.

Uh yeah. I do. Because it is actually a big deal and affects gameplay.

# 57 jbrew2411 @ 01/25/11 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ipadblack11


	So you wanna fix a handoff, seriously, a handoff. I guess that better then them adding the band to the stands. It's not like there going to run onto the field.

So you had rather have the bands in the stands over having a killer of any form of option systems? I guess you also want to have all the correct cheers that the cheerleaders do for each school as well. Seriously who cares about gameplay when we could have bands. It's not like the triple option, spread option or pistol offense plays a major role in college football unlike the bands.

# 58 AUsouthpaw2013 @ 01/26/11 05:16 AM

ESPN presentation was really cool. It could be made better by bringing in the "ESPN on ABC" aspect as well. Including a slightly different lead-in, the "Saturday Night Football" theme music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5AUi...eature=related (1:05-1:20), as well as the updated ESPN college football theme (the techo-esque one). I know ESPN pulled a fast one on us last year with that one. But the new one should be in the game this year.

# 59 dan_457 @ 01/26/11 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuburnAlumni


	Uh yeah. I do. Because it is actually a big deal and affects gameplay.

In general the hand off animations need to be made faster imo. It takes forever for option and play action plays to develop, because it takes 3 seconds for the QB to fake a hand off, resulting in way too many blown up plays.

I'd like to add to this

Thou shall not make the CPU Defensive lineman gods amongst mortals. Seriously, Defensive lineman have the ability to disregard any and all of their assigned ratings. I've seen D-lineman chase down HB's with 95 spd from behind, with the HB in full stride while the D-lineman was at a standstill. I've seen 71 OVR D-lineman toss around 97 OVR All-Americans like rag dolls play after play. I've seen D-lineman Jump to a referee's shoulder level to make an INT. I've seen D-lineman jump to block a pass before my QB even finished raising his arm to throw. I've seen D-lineman jump the snap, play after play without ever getting a single false start(while i was hard counting). And I've seen D-lineman shed blocks literally at will, doesn't matter who's blocking, once the ball carrier's near there's a 85% chance that D-lineman will break his block. And by "I've seen" i don't mean once or twice, I mean see this kind of thing almost every single game. In particular the DE disregarding their speed rating and man handling much better lineman I see every single game.

Seriously I can't stand the way the D-line behaves in this game, it's been broken for years.

# 60 bigtimegeek @ 01/26/11 03:45 PM

its time for athletic director mode....
i want to be able to make my program grow....would like to see if i make it to a bcs bowl, i can put that money into a new weight room facility, or expand my stadium...
i'm having a great dynasty with kent st, but you are limited with what you can do
also, need to have conference invites in OD

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