The Postgame Tailgate: Week 6 EA Sports NCAA Football Ratings Adjustments

In EA Sports’ annual NCAA Football and Madden offerings, players are individually assigned ratings for their attributes, physical and otherwise. If you start a dynasty with a team, these ratings change as your season progresses.

Unfortunately, the default ratings don’t ever evolve within the game as real-life football evolves. Lucky for you, though, I have moles deep within the confines of EA (OK, not really), and for the first time, weekly adjustments are now available to the gaming public, courtesy of The Postgame Tailgate.

You’re welcome.

Texas QB #6 (-13), Texas QB #14 (-11)

The two Longhorn passers that vaguely resemble Case McCoy and David Ash take equal hits in Awareness (-4), Accuracy (-5) and Open Field Blocking (-2), and #6 especially loses Legacy points (-2). #14 makes out a little better because his passes appear to be particularly catchable, no matter the team that happens to do the catching.

Oregon RB #21 (+2)

The back who appears to be particularly inspired by Oregon’s LaMichael James (but with braids!) was already programmed to be a step faster than Pac-12 defenses, though he’s now two (+1 Speed) ahead. In addition, an ability to actively self-repair serious injuries immediately after they’re incurred renders #21 more Immune (+1) to the common hit stick.

Iowa Offense (-8)

Scoring on the Penn State defense hasn’t been particularly easy for anyone thus far, but watching the Nittany Lion offense makes it painfully clear that just 17-20 points are necessary to walk away with a quality road win. Iowa QB #16 ensured that the Hawkeye offense scored an equal number of points to his own personal turnovers. He’s now the pixelated embodiment of “I didn’t hit that receiver button! I got screwed!”

UCLA WR #83 (+4)

The Bruins’ Nelson Rosario-esque WR #83 continues to impress, despite mediocre play from his QBs. #83 has yet to see the end zone, but because of his ability to play effectively with but one hand (+4 Hands), a multi-buttoned combination of audibles is becoming a must before each play.

South Carolina QB #5 (+3)

Sure, the former starting Gamecock QB who shares some traits with Stephen Garcia took a ratings hit these past few weeks, but fair is fair, and QB #5 gets a +2 Sideline Support Boost and gets a +1 Clipboard Management bump. Get the points where you can, that’s what we say.

Arizona Defense (-16)

Some teams in the NCAA Football series possess defensive ends who can suddenly chase down speedy running backs from behind, middle linebackers who mysteriously teleport to once-open passing lanes or safeties who tip balls without visual evidence to prove contact. Whatever talent Arizona once had who approached those abilities are now nowhere to be found after the Wildcats’ 10th straight loss to an FBS team, this time to a previously winless Oregon State. The team’s defensive rating is now officially 40ish.

Illinois WR #8 (+4)

Very few teams have receivers as talented as WR #8, a wideout eerily similar to Illini star A.J. Jenkins. After Saturday’s Illinois performance in Bloomington, #8 is officially a receiver with equally skilled Hands (+1), game-breaking Speed (+1) and an ability to run potent enough deep routes that you can merely tap his associated WR button to loft it up and count on #8 coming down with a catch more often than not. That’d be a +2 in Loft Confidence.

Kansas Defense (-45)

It’s not that Kansas’s defense is bad enough that a toddler or member of a remote Amazonian tribe who’s never heard of electricity could take a PS3 controller into their hands and randomly call plays against the computer playing as Kansas (on All-American mode) and succeed more often than not…oh wait—that’s exactly it. The Jayhawks' rating may in fact read as negative when you’re scrolling through the team selection screen.

LSU DB  #7 (+3)

The destructive DB #7 in LSU’s backfield who very well could be Tyrann Mathieu’s doppelganger continues his journey to a high 90s overall score with both an increased Awareness (+2) and Overall Destruction rating (+1). At first, developers couldn’t understand why opposing offenses appeared to be buggy with beta testers, but when isolated, it was discovered that DB #7 was constantly causing errors in the code by the player's very nature.

Ohio State QB #14 (-6)

A depth-chart mainstay from previous versions, QB #14, or a generic backup modeled after a Bauserman-type prototype, finally had to be detailed for this year’s incarnation. Unfortunately, some tweaks have been made since September, with the most dramatic reshaping occurring after QB #14’s late-game entrance and subsequent 1-of-10 passing outburst. Six points are docked for accuracy, whereas an additional four ratings points were removed for QB #14 just generally playing out the nightmare of gamers who fear seeing their QB throw as if he were being simultaneously hit from behind without actual contact on the play. “QB #14” is dangerously close to always being displayed in the emergency shade of red in playbook formations.

Please enjoy the rest of your gameplay accordingly.

Dan Rubenstein co-hosts The Solid Verbal college football podcast and can be followed on Twitter here.