Whats up everyone! Patch 3 and its tuner update have come and gone and I would like to put out my final review for NCAA 2011 because I have a feeling that they are over. I started writing this and it got really long so this is part one and it will take you through everything but the on the field action.

First of all I play NCAA on Heisman so a little of my info might be skewed.

If I say I like something in passing I really do like it but I will expound something I don't like only for clarities sake. So I preface this evaluation by saying that I really like 85% of this game but I really hate the other 15%.

I feel like the best way to analyze NCAA is through an Online Dynasty because other than the pretty much untouched campus legend mode it hits every facet of the game. I have played in an online dynasty that has done over 50 seasons in the last two NCAA titles.

Lets first talk about the need for all the patches. While I applaud the dev team for coming up with these patches and trying to improve the game. The fact that theses patches were needed to fix very broken parts of the game is a bit troubling. Some of these problems will not be fixed and I can guarantee that they will be in the next game.

Example: In your online dynasty year one, switch your team to Rutgers. Rutgers will not have New Jersey as a pipeline state! The state university of New Jersey does not have it as a pipeline state.

Even more troubling are the little glitches that have pervaded the game for years. Ever tried to practice with LSU in a dynasty? Its gonna be hard since you practice white versus white on the practice field. makes it very difficult to figuire out whats going on. These type of glitches pervade the game.

Lets move on. Default players in NCAA are very funny. You will see the fastest players in a team be the slowest, or a guy that hasn't played a down be an impact player. An all conference player ranked lower than an incoming true freshman. Stats suited to fit the way they feel a player should be rather than what he actually is. This is not a new problem.

Example: Florida Linebacker Brandon Spikes who now plays for the New England Patriots was ranked an 88 speed in NCAA that is a 4.46. Yes, the speeds are unrealistic in this game so lets say he would run a 4.60 realisticly. In the NFL combine he ran a 5.02! But because he played at Florida, he just had to be fast! Ridiculous. You will see a lot of discrepancies like that this year too.

Recruits, remember this is post patch 3, are pretty good but there are some major problems at certain positions.

Running backs with no carry.

Wide recivers with higher cacth in traffic than catch and higher break tackle and carry than running backs.

Way too many weak lineman on both sides of the ball but especially at offensive line and DT. Should be the strongest guys on the team. If I see
another 4 star D strength Lineman I'm gonna scream.

Too many linebackers who can't tackle. They should be the best tacklers on the team.

The most unathletic strong safeties ever. Linebackers are more athletic than these guys.

Then there are guys who have no bussiness playing college football at all.

Ok, on to actual recruiting. First and foremost this recruiting system is set to be effective at Varsity. Why? Because you have to have the 3 "change subject" options to be effective at recruting. Also you will be hard pressed to beat the computer on a recruit even if you both spend 60 minutes a week and the computer will beat you by offering no promises.

But first lets talk about the logic of having the computer choose which pitches you get. Okay lets look at this logically. When has anyone ever called you and said "Hey man what do you want to talk about?" What would you say? "Hey man you called me!"

Unfortunately instead of a players choice where the player or their parents ask questions, we have a coaches choice where we can actually have some power in pitching our own program. Too many times I've hung up after a 60 minute call and thought. We talked about nothing positive about my program.

How many times have you been stuck -1 point behind someone! Infuriating.

There are no more gems. 4 and 5 star recruits make a recruiting class which is more realistic but that means that initial interest determines how well a team will recruit that year. If I'm more than 300 points away from a recruit you might as well not recruit if you think that the person in front of you will spend 60 minutes a week.

The solution to this problem has to be to remove the initial top 10 and let people offer scholarships and let the top 10 be at least partially based on scholarship offers recieved. There are too many players with no scholarship offers that you have to work so hard to get. Lets be realistic if you only have one scholarship offer that team has to hop into your top schools immediately.

I also think they need to calculate playing style when they factor in where recruits want to go.

Unfortunately if you play in a dynasty with the Michigans, Ohio States, Florida's, USC's, Oklahoma's, Texas's and other big time teams they will negative recruit the hell out of you. Even in BCS conferences it can get pretty ugly when a team has all A and A+pitches.

I do like how they generate freshman that can play immediately compared to last season.

I do like only using 60 minutes per recruits.

Lord Marshall X