College Football

If EA Sports had released ‘NCAA Football 19,’ team ratings would’ve looked something like this

Which of these teams would you have started a dynasty with?

Jul 11, 2018, 12:00 PM UTC

This particular group would’ve been all 99s, of course

There is no new college football video game released this July, but we won’t let that stop us from torturing ourselves with what might’ve been.

Every year since NCAA Football left us, I try and guesstimate how EA might’ve chosen to rate each team’s quality, if it’d released a new edition. (Also, yes, you can just download player-created 2018 rosters for NCAA 14, if you still have an older system.)

Before you yell at lil ole me for underrating your team, as if I matter in any way, here’s the rough process:

The baseline: Bill Connelly’s projected S&P+ ratings for overall, offense, and defense.
I cram that into a 60-to-99 scale, fitting EA’s traditional range for FBS teams.
I make a few adjustments based on big transfers (Shea Patterson pulls a few team offense rating points from Ole Miss to Michigan, for example) and general public sentiment (for example, Bill’s numbers are not excited by West Virginia, but most humans are, so I gave WVU a bump on offense to reflect the game people would want to see).
Though the game has a whole other metric for incorporating coach impact, I still make some tweaks there. For example, Scott Frost to Nebraska bumps up the Huskers’ offense, and new UCF HC Josh Heupel mitigates the Knights’ losses there, but Mizzou replacing Heupel with the dreaded Derek Dooley demanded a nerf.
And a check of the many early top 25s and top 130s made by humans, just to see if all this sort of lines up with what the public expects.

That gives us this:

What NCAA 19 team ratings might’ve looked like

Team	Overall	Offense	Defense
Alabama	95	91	96
Ohio State	95	95	91
Clemson	94	88	98
Washington	93	89	94
Auburn	92	88	93
Georgia	92	91	91
Notre Dame	91	88	92
Penn State	91	90	89
Oklahoma	90	94	82
Michigan	90	84	95
Michigan State	90	81	96
Wisconsin	89	88	91
Miami	89	87	89
Mississippi State	88	84	91
LSU	87	83	90
USC	87	87	86
UCF	86	92	79
Florida State	85	86	86
Stanford	85	90	81
TCU	85	82	89
Oklahoma State	85	91	79
Virginia Tech	85	81	90
Oregon	84	89	83
Texas A&M	84	85	85
Ole Miss	84	91	76
Texas	84	82	88
Boise State	84	81	88
Utah	83	82	86
Missouri	83	90	78
Louisville	83	89	76
Florida	84	83	87
FAU	83	86	82
Arizona	82	90	76
South Carolina	81	83	84
Wake Forest	81	86	80
Iowa	81	79	88
NC State	81	89	78
Northwestern	81	80	86
West Virginia	84	92	78
UCLA	80	87	76
Memphis	80	89	73
Duke	80	76	86
Washington State	80	79	82
Pittsburgh	80	81	81
Fresno State	79	78	83
Iowa State	79	76	85
Texas Tech	80	84	77
Boston College	79	77	85
Toledo	79	81	80
Baylor	79	82	76
North Carolina	79	82	80
Arkansas	79	84	77
San Diego State	78	79	81
USF	78	77	81
Georgia Tech	78	81	78
Purdue	78	82	76
Nebraska	78	84	76
Houston	79	80	84
Kansas State	81	85	80
Indiana	77	76	81
Marshall	77	75	83
Appalachian State	77	76	81
Kentucky	77	76	80
California	77	78	79
Arkansas State	77	81	73
Arizona State	77	81	74
Minnesota	76	72	81
Ohio	76	79	75
NIU	76	74	81
Louisiana Tech	75	77	76
Syracuse	75	81	73
Wyoming	76	70	85
Virginia	75	70	82
SMU	75	83	69
Vanderbilt	75	75	75
BYU	75	68	84
Troy	76	76	79
Utah State	75	74	78
Maryland	76	79	76
Tennessee	77	76	82
Temple	74	73	78
Miami (Ohio)	74	73	78
Navy	77	82	76
Middle Tennessee	74	73	76
Rutgers	73	67	82
North Texas	73	81	69
Western Michigan	73	74	73
Colorado	72	75	68
Cincinnati	72	72	71
Western Kentucky	72	71	72
UAB	72	71	73
Army	71	72	72
Buffalo	71	75	68
Colorado State	71	76	67
Southern Miss	71	70	72
Eastern Michigan	71	65	78
Bowling Green	71	75	67
Tulane	70	80	63
Illinois	70	66	73
Nevada	70	74	67
New Mexico State	70	68	73
UMass	70	73	68
Kansas	69	65	72
UNLV	69	73	66
UTSA	69	63	78
Georgia Southern	69	65	75
ULM	69	80	60
Oregon State	70	73	67
Tulsa	68	76	61
South Alabama	68	67	70
Air Force	69	75	64
New Mexico	68	67	68
Georgia State	67	65	69
Old Dominion	67	62	71
Central Michigan	66	61	70
Ball State	66	65	68
Akron	66	60	72
FIU	66	68	63
Coastal Carolina	66	65	68
UL-Lafayette	65	74	60
Hawaii	65	67	63
Texas State	64	61	66
UConn	64	71	60
East Carolina	64	74	60
Charlotte	64	60	67
Kent State	64	60	68
Rice	63	64	61
San Jose State	61	64	60
Liberty	60	61	62
UTEP	61	60	64

And then a few more adjustments:

Of course, then you’d need to give 10-point boosts to popular teams like Notre Dame, Texas, and Michigan, as it often felt like EA did.

For the full EA effect, you’d also need to make the top three or four teams in each category a full 99, even though a 99 should be reserved for a true, proven, all-time elite. Does anybody expect this year’s Alabama, Clemson, or Ohio State to be one of the greatest teams ever? A modern game would be wise to start out the best teams lower than 99 and make them work their way up, via in-game updates later on.

Just bring the game back, NCAA

Which team would you pick for dynasty mode?

Arizona would’ve been a crazy popular pick for every mode, thanks to dual-threat QB Khalil Tate. Trick plays would’ve made Purdue’s playbook a frequent choice.

But for dynasty mode, you want to start at the bottom, albeit with one fun piece to build around. You want a school in an oddball location and no real history of winning, so you can tell your friends you turned [Random School] into a power.

UNLV would’ve checked every box, coming off its 15th losing season this century but boasting Armani Rogers, a big and speedy QB with three years of eligibility still to go, and access to Cali recruiting. And maybe you could’ve downloaded the new Raiders stadium for his senior year.