It's that time of year again when we find out the team ratings for the newest release in the EA Sports NCAA Football franchise. NCAA 14 is due out July 9 but the team ratings were revealed yesterday at E3 (/ht Tradition Sports).
Let's start at the top with this foolishness. Alabama has 99s across the board: overall, offense and defense. The top player rankings have also been released and Bama QB A.J. McCarron has a 97 overall rating. McCarron is in a five-way tie for second highest rating in the game with teammate C.J. Mosley and Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, among others. Fans of the FIFA title in the EA Sports world know that not even Messi gets close to 99 rating so what are college football players doing with such high ratings? Having two players (one on offense and one on defense) in the top five certainly should boost a team rating, but no college team outside of the 1899 Sewanee Tigers probably deserves 99s (and even that team had a nailbiter against Auburn down the stretch).
The problem is not so much that Alabama is the team you will rage quit many times against in online play but that there's always a team like that in the game. Additionally, another issue is that most teams are overrated because the basement is not dug deep enough. The worst team on the game is Georgia State at a 60 overall. As you might recall, this is a team that went 1-10 in FCS football last season and is making the jump to FBS this season. Other teams that stood out in Twitter responses yesterday in laughable ratings were Iowa at an 88 overall, Boston College at an 86 overall and West Virginia's defense coming an at an 87 overall.
I guess the only caveat is that the numbers that were seen at E3 might not be the final ones which end up in the game that will be released to the public. But, if Kansas and Washington State are still at 81s overall on July 9, then we can collectively shake our heads or just start up a dynasty with Old Dominion (70 overall).
