NCAA Football series
This article is for the video game series; for the sport, see College Football.
NCAA Football is a football video game series in which you play as (and against) any current major university football team, as well as several historic teams. This game is developed by EA Sports in an exclusive license with the NCAA.
[edit] Yearly Releases
[edit] NCAA Football 08
- Main article: NCAA Football 08
NCAA Football 08 is the unreleased 2007 version of the NCAA Football games from EA Sports. The cover athlete is Boise State University quarterback Jared Zabransky. It is scheduled for release this summer. Jared Zabransky is the second athlete featured on the cover of any EA Sports NCAA football game that was not drafted in the NFL draft immediately following his senior year of College, following Tommie Frazier in the 1997 edition.
Some of the new features for this version include Leadership Control, which allows players who perform well to "lead by example" and control the action on the field and increase their sphere of influence by improving their players' personal ratings on each big play. The game also features a new and deeper recruiting system and an all-new Campus Legend mode.
[edit] NCAA Football 07
- Main article: NCAA Football 07
NCAA Football 07 was released on July 18 2006 and is the series' latest incarnation. It is the series' first release on both the Xbox 360 and PSP. University of Southern California running back and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush is featured on the game's coverTemplate:Ref.
This version of the game utilized a feature called Turn the Tide, which consisted of a momentum meter on the score graphic at the top or bottom of the screen. Gamerosters.com has the NCAA Football rosters. A boost in momentum for a team would increase the performance of all players and boost their attributes by a varying amount.
This version also included spring drills, an update to the Race for the Heisman mode called Campus Legend (which plays more like NFL Superstar mode in Madden), ESPN integration, and a spring game in Dynasty and Campus Legend modes.
[edit] NCAA Football 06
- Main article: NCAA Football 06
NCAA Football 2006 has features that include the Dynasty mode, wherein the player act as a team's head coach, both on and off the field. Aside from weekly games, the player also controls recruiting freshman for the next year's season; new to the 2006 version is in-season recruiting.
Another new feature in the 2006 game is the Race for the Heisman mode, in which the player takes on the role of a single player attempting to win the Heisman trophy.
Desmond Howard, a Heisman-winning player from the University of Michigan, is on the cover. This is a slight break in tradition as the NCAA Football series traditionally featured an NFL rookie on the cover of the game, with an action shot of him wearing his college jersey from the previous year. The game was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.
[edit] NCAA Football 2005
- Main article: NCAA Football 2005
NCAA Football 2005, released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, featured University of Pittsburgh wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald on the cover.
This version introduced more fan interaction in the game. The home team's defense can incite the crowd to make noise, making it difficult for the offense to hear the quarterback's audibles. This feature, dubbed "home field advantage", allowed stadium influence and energy to swing a game's momentum if strong enough. The game ranked the "Top 25 Toughest Places to Play," which included famous stadiums such as Florida's "Swamp," LSU's "Death Valley," and Michigan's "Big House", where this feature would be felt more strongly.
The new "Match-Up Stick" feature allowed players to match up more experienced and skilled players on younger, less-talented ones to exploit matchup problems.
All Division l-A schools were included in the game along with more than 70 smaller l-AA schools. Signature fan celebrations, such as the "Gator Chomp" or "Texas Hook 'Em Horns, were also included."
[edit] NCAA Football 2004
NCAA Football 2004, released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, featured University of Southern California quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer on the cover.
This edition featured the return of gameplay modes seen in previous versions such as Dynasty Mode.
The College Classics mode was introduced in this version and allowed players to replay classic games in college football history. New tackling animations and more realistic zone defenses were also included.
[edit] NCAA Football 2003
NCAA Football 2003, released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, featured University of Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington on the cover.
New features in this version included over 200 licensed fight songs, 3D cheerleaders and 144 different schools.
Dynasty mode was enhanced with the ability to redshirt a player and schedule non-conference games before each season. Trophies and awards, modeled after real-life college football awards, was another feature new to this version. Players could win trophies by playing game and could add them to a personal collection which is shown off in a trophy room. These awards include the Heisman, Coach of the Year and Bowl-specific trophies. The game featured 23 different rivalry trophies that were created to represent their real-life counterparts.
Create-A-School mode returned in this edition of the game after being absent from the previous year. The game also featured a customizable interface for the first time. A player could choose his or her favorite team and the game interface would be based around that team's fight song, mascot, logos and school colors.
[edit] NCAA Football 2002
NCAA Football 2002, released only for the PlayStation 2, featured Florida State quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke on the cover.
This was the first version released for Playstation 2, it lacked features (such as Custom League, Custom Tournament, Create-a-player, and Create-a-school) that were present in the previous Playstation 1 edition (2001).
The game featured a new "Campus Cards" rewards system, which allowed players to unlock special features in the game such as historical teams or special stadiums.
[edit] NCAA Football 2001
NCAA Football 2001, released only for the PlayStation, featured University of Alabama running back Shaun Alexander on the cover.
This version included Create-a-player, Create-a-school, Custom League (up to eight teams, double round-robin, plus playoff), Custom Tournament (up to 16 teams, double elimination), and fully customizable Season/Dynasty schedules (which allowed players to violate conference obligations in rescheduling opponents).
[edit] NCAA Football 2000
NCAA Football 2000, released only for the PlayStation, featured University of Texas running back and Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams on the cover.
The game included all 114 Division I-A schools and 26 from Division I-AA and also featured 3D, polygon-rendered players for the first time in the franchise's history.
Other notable new additions included coaching tips, 23 bowls (up from four), the ability to edit new plays, and the official Heisman Trophy award.
[edit] NCAA Football 99
NCAA Football 99 was the sixth edition of the game. The game featured University of Michigan cornerback and Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson on the cover.
The game featured all 112 Division I-A teams and the ability to create or edit players and names, sixty fight songs and crowd chants. Over eighty historical teams were added to the game as well.
[edit] NCAA Football 98
This was the first installment of the franchise known as "NCAA College Football". The game featured University of Florida quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel on the cover.
This was the first game in the series to feature a multi-season Dynasty Mode, allowing players to take control of a team for four seasons and recruit players to fill out roster vacancies at the completion of each season.
[edit] College Football USA 97
College Football USA 97 was the fourth installment of the series. The game featured University of Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier on the cover.
The game added a new "create player" feature (up to 28 players) and custom schedules, new animations and all 111 Division I-A teams. Players could also compete in a customized Tournament with support for up to 16 players in a single-elimination or round robin format.
Players were also able to adjust penalties, set weather type, enter user records, perform substitutions, set audibles, toggle injuries, and change game length as well as difficulty level. Authentic playbooks (with plays like the Wishbone), a USA Today/CNN Coaches Poll, and the Sears National Championship Trophy were also available.
[edit] College Football USA 96
The series was renamed "College Football USA 96", and was the first version to feature all (108 at the time) division l-A teams. It was also the first in the series to feature real bowl games (Orange, Sugar, Fiesta and Rose). Players could play an entire 11-game season (or shorter if desired) before advancing to one of the bowl games.
There were 400 plays from which to choose, and a new passing mode allowed players to select from five receivers on every play. Other new features and options included the following: four-player mode, three different game lengths, substitutions, injuries, audibles, fake snaps, spins, hurdles, dives, blocked kicks, interceptions and laterals.
[edit] Bill Walsh College Football 95
"Bill Walsh College Football 95" was the second installment of the college football franchise.
The game featured 36 Division I-A teams, a windowless passing mode, customizable seasons from one to sixteen weeks, and complete statistical tracking throughout the season. Players could choose either a playoff system or bowl games with fictional names: Maple Bowl, Palm Bowl, Pecan Bowl, and Redwood Bowl.
Bill Walsh College Football 95 also provided 36 new plays and formations including the Wishbone, Veer, Tee Offense, and 4-4 D.
[edit] Bill Walsh College Football
NCAA Football was originally known as "Bill Walsh College Football" and was released on 4th generation video game consoles, such as Sega Genesis.
Bill Walsh College Football featured the top twenty-four college football teams from 1992 and twenty-four of the all-time greatest teams since 1978. While no actual players were named and no official team logos used, colleges were listed by city and players identified by number. Play modes include Exhibition, Playoffs and All-Time Playoffs. Sixty-eight classic college plays were available, including the triple option, student body, and wishbone.
Other options and features include automatic or manual-pass catch mode, audibles, reverse angle replay, onside kicks, four weather conditions (fair, windy, rain and snow), three different quarter lengths (20, 40 and 60 minutes) and a hurry-up offense.
The Bill Walsh endorsement was meant to parallel John Madden NFL Football.
[edit] Criticisms
Players' real names and exact likenesses are not used in the game. While the Madden NFL series uses real player names and likenesses, those players are compensated for the use of their image. In order to use NCAA players' names, they would have to provide the players with compensation. Due to NCAA restrictions on the amateur status of athletes, this is not allowed.
Although EA Sports however does not claim that the players in the game represent real life players, the jersey number, position, height, weight, home state and ethnicity, are aligned with the real players. Fans of any particular team are sure to recognize their favorite players. The game gives the player the option to name them. Some team rosters do have flaws. Player numbers, heights & weights, and sometimes even year (usually only when red shirt is involved) can be incorrect.
EA Sports releases another game in this series each year. Each full-priced ($50-$60) release includes incremental feature upgrades and complete roster updates.
NCAA Football is not published on as many platforms as EA's Madden Football series. NCAA Football was last published for the PC in 1999, and was last published for the GameCube in 2005.
EA has signed an exclusive deal with the NCAA to produce football games, giving EA Sports a large degree of control over the playing experience. Division 1-AA Schools are included in later games however many smaller schools (II, and III) are not.
[edit] Soundtracks
Prior to the release of NCAA Football 06, the only music featured in the game were fight songs of several major colleges. These would play at random, however the user-selected "favorite team" would always have their fight song played first whenever the game was first started.
NCAA Football 06 was the first and so far only to include licensed music to keep the series in uniform with other EA Sports releases such as Madden NFL and the NHL series. The punk rock tracks proved massively unpopular with players who were used to hearing only traditional fight songs and various other marching band music.
NCAA Football 07 returned to the fight song only format.
