The Ratings Break Down - NCAA 13 Edition

[Gotmadskillzson]

4th year in a row, let me get started in this adventure known as the NCAA 13 ratings. Let me start off by saying read & react effect ALL PLAYERS. It just isn't a WR/DB thing. It effects everybody on the field from linemen to the QB. The rating system in NCAA 13 is more powerful then it was in NCAA 12, however you simply have to go pretty high to unlock the power.

Awareness - The higher it is, the better they play. I know I say it every year, but this saying has never been so more true then it is in NCAA 13. Due to the read and react system, awareness plays a very huge factor in how well a player performs.

Not only does it make them smarter on the field, it also makes their other ratings more effective and increases their willingness to use their special moves. Plus a higher awareness player can maintain their balance better as well.

Agility - The higher it is, the sharper the cut when they juke. You will notice it the most when it is above 95.

Impact Blocking - The higher it is, the better they block. Seriously crank it up to 85 and higher for option and pistol teams. They will miss way less blocks.

Catching - This year, I like to call it the aggressiveness rating. The higher it is, the more aggressive the WR is towards catching the ball and the more animations you will see. The cut off number is 75. Anything below 75 and the WR won't go out of his way to catch the ball.

Man Coverage and Zone Coverage - This year due to the new read and react engine, I call it recovery speed. The higher it is, the quicker they can recover and it also effects their range of how much ground they can cover as well. By default, zone coverage rating is way too low for linebackers.

Game Play Enhancements

Ok folks, roll up your sleeves and have your favorite drink sitting next to you, it is time to get down and dirty. By far, too get the best game play and animations out of NCAA 13, you will have to edit the ratings if you playing against the CPU.

1. Speed, lower it. Way too many players with 90 plus speed. Not every WR, DB or RB is a speed demon. No defensive lineman should have 80 plus speed either. By and large, 98% of defensive linemen should have less then 70 for speed and a lot of the them should be in the mid 50s to low 60s.

2. Acceleration, lower it. Especially for defensive linemen and linebackers. Keep them in the low 70s, unless they are a star pass rusher or run stopper. High acceleration by too many defenders kills the running game and screens.

For corner backs, drop it too. Should be only a handful of corner backs with 90 plus acceleration.

3. Pursuit for defensive linemen, keep it in the 70s and for the big 300 pound linemen, drop them to the 50s. It will give a much more realistic flow to the ball.

4. Man Coverage/Zone Coverage:

60s - average
70s - Good
80s - Great
90s - Ball Hawk

With that said......98% of players are either good or average. Only some are great and very few should be ball hawks.

5. Awareness:

60s - Dumb
70s -Average but Inconsistent.
80s - Good
90-94 - Great
95 and above - Game Changer

Option and Pistol teams can't have their QB lower then 80 for awareness.

Impact players - 90 awareness automatically. It will make them actually play like impact players and stand out more.

True Beasts and Game Changers - 95 and above. They will make their presence known very well in the game and take it over.

6. Fixing option teams

Offensive linemen have to have 85 or above awareness, impact blocking and run blocking.

Tight Ends, 1st two WRs, 1st two RBs and the FB have to have 80 or above awareness, 70s run blocking and impact blocking.

Don't forget the QB has to have good blocking ratings as well in the 80s.

Bottom line, the smarter the QB, RBs and FB for option and pistol teams, the way better they will play.

7. Block shedding, lower it. Shouldn't be that many defenders on a team with block shedding in the 80s.

8. Play Recognition, majority of players should be in the 60s and 70s. The higher it is, the more plays they will bust up in the backfield.

9. Trucking and elusiveness, don't go above 85. If you do, you will them lean forward while running in open space, which basically slows them down. You don't want them trucking air.

10. Agility, lower it. Not everybody is highly agile and not all fast players are agile either.

Well there you go guys. Happy editing.

[scottyo60]

Do you have a recomendation for how to rate speed? I know for Marshall we had several players run in 4.3s but EA makes them bad by just lowering speed and such to even out ratings. I'd really like to get that as realistic as possible with speed ratings stretched out.

[DNMHIII]

Nice work man.....thanks.

[Lets Mosh]

What exactly does impact blocking effect?

[Gotmadskillzson]

Quote: Originally Posted by scottyo60

Do you have a recomendation for how to rate speed? I know for Marshall we had several players run in 4.3s but EA makes them bad by just lowering speed and such to even out ratings. I'd really like to get that as realistic as possible with speed ratings stretched out.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that not every fast player has high acceleration. Some players take a while to get to top speed. So technically you could have players with 90 or 92 speed but yet have 70 or 60 acceleration.

Just like you can have players with 92 speed but 70 or 65 agility. Which means they are a vertical threat, but yet suck running routes and changing directions.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Quote: Originally Posted by Lets Mosh

What exactly does impact blocking effect?

Blocking in open space.

[Purplepower_NC]

As always skills has given a great breakdown of how the ratings work together. I am not picking up this years game (as of yet), but have used his suggestions to make a very good NCAA 12 with the proper editing.

Again, very good job Skills!

[Pmoney327]

You know what I wonder....if the Developers would have as good rationalization as you do for what the ratings really do.