I've played more NCAA Football 11 than I think I've played of any other NCAA ever. The series has taken a giant leap forward since its rather disappointing introduction to "Next Gen" with NCAA 08. NCAA 11 in my opinion is the best of the series.
That being said....I think I've put together the ultimate "commandments" that most folks would agree would send NCAA Football 12 into the stratosphere of greatness. I haven't gotten it to 10 yet..but feel free to add to this.
1. "Thou shalt not giveth every 5 star RB 91 speed with 71 agility and 73 acceleration". I dig the whole acceleration addition this year...I do. But some of the ratings are a bit off. For example, I've seen probably 80% of the top backs in each recruiting class end up with very mediocre speed/agility/acc combos. If I land the #1 RB in the nation...that kid should be the total package. To piggy back onto this..the #1 Fullback in the land should not be 5'10" and 189 pounds. A 5 star Defensive End should not be coming into school weighing 207 pounds. While the acceleration emphasis was, in my opinion, a smart and much needed addition...more tweaking is necessary.
2. "Thou shalt not make Strong Safeties slower than most O linemen". We've all seen it. Strong Safeties..in a word...stink in NCAA 11. Most folks end up moving them to OLB because no one is going to start a Safety in the secondary with 84 speed and 72 acceleration unless they want to get toasted by the opposing Receiving corps. This is amplified when I see MLBs and OLBs with 87 speed and 99 acceleration.
3. "Thou shalt not have Ohio State be the end all be all in recruiting." Seriously...did a Buckeye program this recruiting logic? Literally, every top player in America has Ohio State in their top 5. All of them. Oklahoma and Alabama suffer from this favoritism as well, but man it feels like Ohio State is the god of recruiting in this game.
4. "Thou shalt have Coach Prestige and Stability adjust." These never change. I've won 4 straight Big 12 titles at Nebraska and my Coaching Stability is still a B.
5. "Thou shalt make CPU Read Option squads competent". It is still far too easy to destroy the Georgia Techs, Navys, and West Virginias of the Digital College Football world because of the lack of ability for CPU teams to run an effective Read option attack.
6. "Thou shalt speed up the QB/FB option handoff animation so that it shall be a viable option". The Triple option is fairly useless in that the animation of the QB faking and or handing off to the Fullback is waaaayyy toooooo slooooooow. This allows your opponent to effectively kill either your FB in the backfield or destroy your QB before he's able to turn the corner. Speeding this animation up would help this greatly.
7. "Thou shalt remember the rules of the game". Where o' where is my long lost Pass Interference Penalty? Much like Haley's Comet or Bigfoot, it is rarely seen in the NCAA world. If you are lucky enough to see this rare feat in a game, tell your fellow gamers. But don't expect them to believe you. By that same token, clipping and holding seem to skyrocket with just a click or two of the slider settings. As Mr. Miyagi always said...must have balance. In addition, the ability to have multiple and/or offsetting penalties during a play would be great. It's quite frustrating to see my team get called for holding on the same play that the opposing middle linebacker rips the facemask off of my tailback and it doesn't get flagged.
8. "Thou shalt make special teams a bit more special". As with Pass Interference, it seems there are no more blocked punts or blocked field goals in the digital college football realm. In a combined 17 seasons of online and offline dynasties....I have seen a total of one blocked punt and zero blocked field goals. While we shouldn't have the superhuman field goal rejections of NCAA 08, even professional football players aren't this perfect.
9. "Thou shalt have Recruits look at depth charts before committing". I'm Nebraska in our online dynasty. I run the old school triple option of the Tom Osborne era and I run it well. I average almost 400 rushing yards a game....and not a single 5 star scrambling quarterback will give me the time of day. If a team is the reincarnation of the 1995 Cornhuskers, 5 star RBs and Mobile QBs should be beating down that Coach's door wanting to commit. If I return 2 defensive backs on my entire team....I shouldn't go to the prospect list and see a total of 3 out of 200 generated defensive backs that have me in their top 10. By that same token, Georgia should not sign 3 of the top 6 Quarterbacks in a single recruiting season....while they already have 3 Signal Callers on their roster. Blatant roster management/recruiting snafus like these are quite common in NCAA 11 and should be tweaked for NCAA 12.
10. "Thou shalt have kids work in the offseason." If I move a 215 pound LB to the defensive line....I'd like to see the kid eat a few more hamurgers in the offseason. Realistic weight gain/loss in offseason position changes would really help out. Having a player only gain 2-3 pounds in the offseason would get most strength and conditioning coaches fired. Seeing a Linebacker pack on 10-20 pounds in the offseason and reach more of a true Defensive End size would be a welcome addition. By that same token...moving an end to tackle should pay off by seeing a 240 pound lineman move to a 280 pound lineman after 2 years of weightlifting and protein shakes.