Everything NCAA 19 Would Need to Include

As the years seep away and college football seasons pass by, video game fans are left with the realization that time is not a friend of the NCAA football series. The most recent was NCAA Football 14, and that was released all the way back in July 2013.

Florida State had not even won the last BCS National Championship when it graced our eyes. A vibrant online community updates the rosters every year for the enjoyment of loyal fans, but it can only prolong the inevitable. At some point, we will lose interest in the games and simply put them in our personal archives.

Whether or not another game will be coming soon is not the point of this piece (probably because we have no idea). Instead, we wanted to compile everything that should be added to the next iteration of NCAA Football, should it ever see the light of day. A new console generation means that fans deserve an upgraded game which reaches new heights for the sports genre. It needs to incorporate past successes and visionary breakthroughs that make it a truly unique NCAA football experience.

Have any ideas that you think should be included? Comment below or on our Facebook and Twitter.

Bring Back the Dorm Room (Include Player Interviews)

A chief failing of the later editions (in my opinion) was the shift away from pageantry in the Road to Glory modes. Basically, the only vibe of a college football game that you received was during the pregame videos and occasional crowd shots throughout the contest. The earlier editions never had this problem, mainly because their Road to Glory setups dedicated more time to establishing your player as a college student.

One of the main ways they accomplished this was your dorm room. Here’s an example of the Florida State version from NCAA Football 10. Much like how the actual NCAA gives lip service to the ideal of the “student-athlete”, the dorm room feature seems to have been abandoned somewhere along the way.

That’s a shame, because we want to see our Road to Glory player be an actual character, not just another computer generated model with a name. They could even include postgame interviews after each game. Why not have a bit of a free roam/customizable section where our player could select what he wants to do? I’m thinking of something like the Call of Duty: WWII beachhead.

NCAA Football ’06 was notable for the inclusion of a girlfriend photo that got more attractive as your player’s skill/accomplishments went up. While that’s not acceptable today for obvious reasons, there could still be some enjoyable humor and gags within the room. Perhaps a laptop where you can read social media platforms and see what people are saying about you, which gets progressively meaner as your team does better, and @LuvMyG8rs starts sending you tweets inquiring about how much the school paid you to come there. Or @CaneGang01 who keeps insisting that you’ll never be as good as Sean Taylor.

Pontiac College Classics

As far as I can tell, the Pontiac College Classics mini game was only available in NCAA Football 05. This was the mode that contained a certain number of historic games in college football that were notable for their level of drama. You would take control of one side and attempt to either alter history or recreate an amazing finish. Florida State was featured heavily on this with Wide Right I, 1993 vs. Notre Dame, the Choke at Doak, 1995 vs. Virginia, and 1997 vs. Florida all being included.

It’s truly perplexing why this was apparently a 1-year deal. It brought a ton of replay value to the game and let fans indulge in a time honored college football past-time of “What If?”

Think of how many scenarios we’ve seen in the past decade that could be present in a new version. The Kick Six, Appalachian State vs. Michigan, Florida State vs. Auburn, the possibilities are endless. In fact, it’d honestly be difficult to figure out which ones would be selected. Perhaps there could even be a custom mode where you input the teams and conditions that you want to play.

Say you wanted to play as FSU during the 2016 Orange Bowl when it had just gone down to Michigan late in the game. You’d select the teams, choose the Orange Bowl venue, set the quarter/clock/score, assign possession, and work from there.

Would that be asking a lot? Sure. But hey, let’s all collectively shift the Overton Window when it comes to discussion on the NCAA video games. The radical must become the normal!

Combine the Two Recruiting Layouts (Tweak Recruiting Skills Tree For Assistants As Well)

Recruiting in the Dynasty modes waffled between being too in depth and being too removed. Back in NCAA Football 12, you’d actually have an allotment of time every week that you could call a recruit from your board. When you called, you’d have up to six topics to discuss. The computer would randomly select topics, and then you would have a myriad of options.

Each subject had seven routes to choose from. You could either: make a pitch, ask what he thinks of the topic, compare you to your closest competition, change the topic, make him a promise, offer him a scholarship, or try to set up a visit when he was interested enough.

Personally, I liked this method of recruiting. But I also realize that it was incredibly time consuming and required a lot of attention. They tried to clean it up by making it more streamlined in NCAA Football 14, where you had a set amount of points that you could distribute to recruits on your board. No phone calls, no decision tree, just plain resource distribution.

It’s easier but it also makes it less satisfying, and some of the results made no sense. How could I be ahead 700-plus points with this recruit but then one week later it’s a toss-up between me and another school? Maybe that was their subtle way of incorporating bag men?

Regardless, a combination of the two would likely bring a nice middle ground to the recruiting portion. Maybe have a recruit’s priorities be listed from the get-go, and then you could spend some points to figure out what he thinks of each topic. From there, you could assign your points to the various categories. If he likes being close to home? Make that your focus. If he’s not sure how much early playing time will benefit him? Try to sway his opinion towards you.

This will never happen as long as the game is affiliated with the NCAA, but heck, I’d love it if the feature had a cheating component. You could have options like “Contact him during the dead period” or “Buy him a new car” and risk your job. Your chances with a recruit would go up astronomically if you got away with it successfully. Every time you choose a cheating option though, there’s a randomized chance that the NCAA will investigate you. Are you going to be Hugh Freeze or are you going to be Bill Snyder? Your choice!

Add “Explosion” Plays Where It’s Basically a Gamebreaker

This next suggestion is reaching outside the series for inspiration. As it stands, the recent games have “Reaction Time” for their Road to Glory modes, which slows down time and allows you to read the field. It’s wonky for a couple reasons: first, the whole point of sports games is that the action is supposed to be fast=paced and fun to play. Slowing down time goes directly against that ideal and isn’t all that fun of a perk.

The second problem is that it’s pretty much broken when playing as a quarterback. Your receivers slow down when you enter reaction time, so when you leave it and attempt the pass, it sails 10 yards in front of them. I don’t know if this was a widespread issue, but it was a huge letdown when I played.

The solution: create a version of the “Gamebreaker” mode from NFL Street. Once a certain meter on screen got filled, you could activate this mode where your player would become nearly unstoppable. If you were on offense, you became faster and hard to tackle; on defense you would blast through blockers and force more turnovers.

NCAA could have a toned-down version of this where your player would use it in certain situations and be more prone to momentous plays. So if you were a running back who activated this, you might be able to bounce outside faster or shed more tackles than usual. Part of the appeal with college football are the “home run” type plays that make you jump out of your seat in excitement. Want to recreate Dalvin Cook accurately? This addition would be perfect for just that.

Slight Tweaks to the Physics

It became a running joke among fans of the series how certain positions were ridiculously overpowered. The main culprits were the linebackers, who became the sons of Hermes whenever a pass came within 10 yards of them. Other occurrences like cornerbacks who closed gaps in the blink of an eye, offensive linemen who did nothing but backpedal, and wide receivers who moon-walked have been observed.

Correcting these bugs and adding more realistic movements to the game could go a long way with immersion. It doesn’t have to completely lifelike, but the small things really do add up in the long run. It would give the series an updated feel and complete its transition to the current console generation.

Revive the Crowd Factor

Emphasis on the crowd as an aspect of college football was another feature that waned in the later years. There used to be a visible meter that would tell you how loud the crowd was getting. You could pump them up with your player and if you were a big enough school, the screen would start shaking.

This was one area that they really could have done more with. EA Sports used to have customizable signs that you could assemble, but that was pretty bare bones. How about including a more varied crowd experience? For instance, everyone knows that the student sections are typically more rowdy than the rest — so if an opponent had the ball near them, the effect could be more pronounced. If there was a big upset or instant classic of a game, they could even include postgame shots of the fans rushing the field.

The character models could also be updated and made more realistic since they were borderline unacceptable in NCAA 14. The crowd isn’t going to make or break the game-play experience, but again, it could become a legitimate component of enhancing the atmosphere.

Add an Athletic Director Mode

The Madden series contains a Franchise mode that allows users to control everything that a General Manager would. Oddly enough, NCAA never had a comparable mode, instead keeping true to the coach/player choice. Both of those have generally been highlights of the games, but it does raise the question of why there couldn’t be an Athletic Director mode.

The college dynamic would certainly add unique twists to the formula. Your character would be forced to decide between expenditures like added/upgraded seating, new facilities, higher assistant salaries, etc. The day-to-day operations of things like concession pricing and fan experience wouldn’t change all that much from its Madden counterpart. It could even add a touch of realism by forcing you to negotiate with a coach every year who demands a standalone football building even though you’ve been giving him everything he wants. Just spit-balling here.

Surprise events could make it even more engaging. Imagine seeing the program on an upward swing, but then getting a notification that there’s a highly publicized cheating scandal within the team. You would have to choose your response and begin making tough decisions about the future of the very sports that you oversee. That’s as likely to happen as the bag men feature for recruiting though.

Add Very Realistic Coaching Progression Choice Where You Can Start As A Position Coach

Coaching skill trees are a great way to keep players interested in the Dynasty mode and add a nice customizable experience. It could be even better and more enticing by expanding this aspect.

Currently, the game allows for three choices: head coach, offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator. Yet head coach is the only option where you have separate skill trees for in-game performance and recruiting (despite the fact that you control recruiting in every choice). An easy fix would be expanding that to both the coordinator spots and making exclusive branches for them. Not only could you become the master strategist of the team, you could turn into the ace recruiter on the trail.

Along those same lines, they should expand dynasty to include position coaches. Players could start out as a position coach and work their way up into a coordinator spot. Their skill trees would initially be confined to their specific position, as well as the actual game-play. Depending on how your unit performs and how successful you are on the recruiting trail, you’d start getting offers for better jobs. When you eventually accepted those offers…

Include Contract Negotiations With Money

One of the minor annoyances with coaching in Dynasty mode was the lack of control with your contract. Even if you received the job offer you wanted, you had no control over the years offered. That’s a problem when it’s the only thing being given to you.

It’s time for the coaching contracts to step up to the next level. They need to include the years being offered, the actual amount of money, performance based incentives, and buyout structures. I’m fine with the market being “fixed” in the sense that there’s a limit to how expensive the contracts can become, but there should still be a clear financial component within the game. Heck, they could even include just the bare money amount and incentives, and it would still be an improvement.

Not only do these options need to be included, they must have a system where you can negotiate them. It can be relatively simple like the NBA 2K trade machine, but it still needs to be there. Ever been a fan of a school whose coach left for a better offer? Re-live that experience in your favorite college football video game!

What you could do with that money is still up in the air? One route would be giving the user a variety of purchasable special events or perks that would help your skill trees. Maybe you choose to spend the raise on a recruiting camp, which preemptively scouts the top 150 players so you don’t have to spend as many points on them initially. Or you upgrade your strength and conditioning coach, giving your players an on-field boost. There’s a lot of freedom here when brainstorming.

Have Option For “Classic Dynasty” and “Story Dynasty”

The current dynasty setup is perfectly acceptable and needs to be included in the next edition. What I want to see is genuine risk taking on the part of the developers. They should construct a Dynasty mode that involves storytelling and narrative structure. As fun as classic Dynasty can be, there’s a bit of a hollow feeling whenever you choose to leave for another school.

In real life there’s plenty of drama surrounding a coach’s decision, as Florida State fans and others can attest to. That aspect is missing from the game and could really put it over the top as a genuinely groundbreaking experience.

Madden 18 attempted something similar with their Longshot story mode, which received a very split reaction. According to who you talked to, it was either a successful attempt at expanding the Madden experience, or a botched experiment in video game storytelling.

NCAA football could learn from some of these mistakes and tweak the Dynasty mode to incorporate actual characters. For instance, every time you switched jobs, you would be forced to answer questions at a press conference and your responses would affect your reputation with recruits or your team.

Throughout the season there could be scenarios presented to you as a result of your actions. You benched a longtime starter at running back? Well now he’s in your office threatening to transfer if he doesn’t get his spot back. Will you tell him to hit the road, or will you try and convince him to stay with the team?

How much of this do I expect to even be considered? Maybe one or two parts. The problems that plagued NCAA (and many video game franchises) are usually rooted in stagnation. For all of its endless fun provided, NCAA rarely took big leaps forward. How could it? Football is football. It hasn’t changed all that much in the past two decades. Developers of a new one could conceivably venture out more since they’ll have a largely blank slate. Yet that’s putting a lot of faith in a sector of the industry that typically doesn’t deserve it.

In general, I do think at least small changes will come to basically all the facets of the game, from dynasty to road to glory to actual game-play. The question is whether those will be substantive changes. Putting paint on an old car spruces it up but you’re left with the understanding that the car has not actually changed. It has the same flaws under the hood and the same scratches that won’t go away. You love the car, but you also know it’s not the best it could be.

I’ve long put to rest the idea that the NCAA video games will ever have the pure fun they had when we were younger. They still have enough in them to keep me playing four years after the conclusion of the past console generation. It would just be nice to see a triumphant comeback with a package that we couldn’t refuse.