Do the people at EA even watch college football?

[DonkeyJote]

Quote: Originally Posted by jmik58

First off, in order to answer any of these questions we would have to know why EA rates the teams as they do. What combination of player ratings leads to team and offense/defense ratings of B vs. A ? (For teams like Iowa or TCU who are known for defense but have a higher rated offense in the game) Is an A on offense the equivalent of a B on defense? Do the ratings help the teams play more accurately on the field? For example, maybe offenses have to be overrated for them to play accurately on the field in the game. As a side note, without continuing the ratings/rankings debate, remember that Oregon brings back practically everyone from a very dominate offense that (contrary to what ESPN tells you) did not revolve around Masoli. And TCU, while they are known for defense, lost a LOT of players from that side of the ball but returns nearly everyone from the offensive side, including QB Andy Dalton (you'll know his name by December). So it's possible EA accidentally got a few things right. Instead of being here to judge the developers, I'd just like some answers to a few of my questions above to help clear up the raw numbers. Numbers may not lie, but they're not speaking our language yet.

TCU traditionally has a very good defense, but you are very right - everyone will know Dalton by the end of the year, and this is a very good offense.

Quote: Originally Posted by UnderRatedCoast

Kellen Clemons was a 2nd round pick after he missed 1/3 of the season with a broken ankle, and it was a totally different offensive set and O-coordinator that year.

Okay, how about Dennis Dixon? Yeah, I know he was up for the Heisman. But he has an average throwing arm, never made very good decisions, wasn't very accurate. He was fast. That was about all he had going for him. Darron Thomas is just as fast and has a better arm, and isn't any less accurate than Dixon or Masoli and doesn't make any worse of decisions.

[UnderRatedCoast]

Quote: Originally Posted by DonkeyJote

TCU traditionally has a very good defense, but you are very right - everyone will know Dalton by the end of the year, and this is a very good offense. Okay, how about Dennis Dixon? Yeah, I know he was up for the Heisman. But he has an average throwing arm, never made very good decisions, wasn't very accurate. He was fast. That was about all he had going for him. Darron Thomas is just as fast and has a better arm, and isn't any less accurate than Dixon or Masoli and doesn't make any worse of decisions.

This is a joke, right? Dixon was an average passer? The guy was one of the most accurate passers Oregon has ever had (67.7% CAREER completion percentage), he had great arm strength, and didn't miss a single read his senior season. The guy threw four interceptions as a senior, and 3 of them were on end of the half hail marys. Darron Thomas is nowhere near as fast (check his spring practice 40 time, it was slower than Costa, while DD has the record for QBs at 4.48). You can't possibly be placing a QB with 1 quarter of experience in the same league as Dixon. There's a reason he hasn't been named the starter yet over a guy with two bum knees in a QB centric option offense.

[Methlab]

I'm not going to defend EA football, but Larry Richart played QB for Florida under Spurrier, so I think he knows a few things about the game.

[Krodis]

Dennis Dixon was the overwhelming Heisman frontrunner before he got hurt. To throw an inexperienced QB in the same league as him is funny.

[DonkeyJote]

Quote: Originally Posted by UnderRatedCoast

This is a joke, right? Dixon was an average passer? The guy was one of the most accurate passers Oregon has ever had (67.7% CAREER completion percentage), he had great arm strength, and didn't miss a single read his senior season. The guy threw four interceptions as a senior, and 3 of them were on end of the half hail marys. Darron Thomas is nowhere near as fast (check his spring practice 40 time, it was slower than Costa, while DD has the record for QBs at 4.48). You can't possibly be placing a QB with 1 quarter of experience in the same league as Dixon. There's a reason he hasn't been named the starter yet over a guy with two bum knees in a QB centric option offense.

Look at his junior year. He was terrible. 12 td, 14 int. He did a much better job in his senior year, when they changed to the spread. The offense is predicated on a lot of screens and quick passes, which is going to inflate a QB's completion %. The offense can be adapted to be more of a passing offense pretty easily because of that - it's a balanced offense that has turned into a run offense because Oregon has had QB's that were better runners than passers. Costa runs well enough to keep the defense honest on the Read, though he's not going to hurt them. Thomas makes some dumb decisions sometimes, but I do believe he has a strong arm, and after watching the spring game, he's a lot more accurate than I expected.

If you provide a link to spring practice 40 times, I'll gladly look at them. I couldn't find any. What I found said that Thomas ran about a 4.5 40. Costa is around a 4.7, which isn't too bad for a QB.

[$D-Money$]

Quote: Originally Posted by jd@os

Getting banned isn't that bad. Some people come on here with another name (wink wink). I thought you played with Oregon for football and Western Kentucky for basketball. I don't know too much about WK's football team, but I agree about Oregon; they'll be good, but maybe not a top 5 team.

lol at your warning reason hahaha

I like to build us (WKU) up in the NCAA game and make us into a powerhouse..that is the only cool thing with my team being a cupcake lol. But I also like to play with Oregon cause of the uni's and because they are pretty good so its not as challenging or frustrating.

I don't know that much about them, yes other teams have had unproven QBs and have been successful, but I know that #7 has injury problems and Thomas is still a youngin, Thomas is good but yeah still unproven. I think we should all just wait til the season starts though to bicker about this stuff.

Its all personal perception at this point, aka bias.

[jmik58]

Quote: Originally Posted by Methlab

I'm not going to defend EA football, but Larry Richart played QB for Florida under Spurrier, so I think he knows a few things about the game.

You could be right, but it's not a free pass.

Knowing someone or playing with/for someone doesn't guarantee anything and can lead to complacency.

Americans nowadays have information at their fingertips so we need proof of someone's ability. Word of mouth reputation doesn't go as far as it used to.

EA needs to show us how smart they are.

[BlastX21]

Quote: Originally Posted by DonkeyJote

Look at his junior year. He was terrible. 12 td, 14 int. He did a much better job in his senior year, when they changed to the spread. The offense is predicated on a lot of screens and quick passes, which is going to inflate a QB's completion %. The offense can be adapted to be more of a passing offense pretty easily because of that - it's a balanced offense that has turned into a run offense because Oregon has had QB's that were better runners than passers. Costa runs well enough to keep the defense honest on the Read, though he's not going to hurt them. Thomas makes some dumb decisions sometimes, but I do believe he has a strong arm, and after watching the spring game, he's a lot more accurate than I expected. If you provide a link to spring practice 40 times, I'll gladly look at them. I couldn't find any. What I found said that Thomas ran about a 4.5 40. Costa is around a 4.7, which isn't too bad for a QB.

Costa's pretty good. I watched him in the spring game and he made decisions quickly and efficiently. Being a 5th year senior also speaks for itself.