NCAA Football 14 News Post

What Really Killed NCAA Football? The Lawsuit or the Lack of a Playoff?

10:14 AM - July 12, 2014 by Steve_OS

Checking in today with his personal take on the lack of NCAA Football this summer, Owen Good writes that it won't be the lawsuit that does the series in, it will be the lack of a playoff option in old games.

Quote:


	"And nothing will give it the College Football Playoff, or any game mode resembling the four-team finals that begin with this year's postseason. It would have been intriguing to see it handled by this series,which had always done a smooth job of making the human-voted aspects of college football seem lifelike (even to the point of believably screwing have-nots out of big bowl bids or ignoring their players for big honors.) That's a big blow to a series that was, in hindsight, still one of the most cunningly future-proofed titles in licensed sports video gaming, thanks to a number of key features."

What do you think about the lack of a playoff option in NCAA? Are you going to play last year's game with updated rosters?

Game: NCAA Football 14Reader Score: 8/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 54 - View All

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# 1 grabursock55 @ 07/12/14 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve_OS


	Checking in today with his personal take on the lack of NCAA Football this summer, Owen Good writes that it won't be the lawsuit that does the series in, it will be the lack of a playoff option in old games. What do you think about the lack of a playoff option in NCAA? Are you going to play last year's game with updated rosters?

We dont really have much of a choice...

# 2 boxboy99 @ 07/12/14 12:33 PM

I disagree with the article. If NCAA 15 came out with the old system, I would still be the first in line. I have near 300 games of 14 under my belt. Game play wise, it is difficult to fire up 14 because: 1) I feel like there is nothing new to see. 2) I have a PS4. Ncaa was always my go to game. I have been playing with the same group of guys for 20 years, so it is sad to see it go.

# 3 radney @ 07/12/14 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boxboy99


	I disagree with the article. If NCAA 15 came out with the old system, I would still be the first in line. I have near 300 games of 14 under my belt. Game play wise, it is difficult to fire up 14 because: 1) I feel like there is nothing new to see. 2) I have a PS4. Ncaa was always my go to game. I have been playing with the same group of guys for 20 years, so it is sad to see it go.

I agree. I still fire up my NCAA 14. I'm saddened that I won't be able to enjoy it on XB1. Even though, there's updated rosters out there to reflect the 2014 season, I probably won't use them because you can't get the correct changes in the schedule for the upcoming season.

# 4 Retropyro @ 07/12/14 01:45 PM

I still love to play the game. Don't really care about the play-off, if anything I'd prefer the old bowl system. My only disappointment is not being able to enjoy NCAA on my XB1 or PS4. As much as I love Madden, it just can't equal the recruiting and off-season management of NCAA, hopefully Madden 15 offers a deeper off-season.

# 5 khaliib @ 07/12/14 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve_OS


	Checking in today with his personal take on the lack of NCAA Football this summer, Owen Good writes that it won't be the lawsuit that does the series in, it will be the lack of a playoff option in old games. What do you think about the lack of a playoff option in NCAA? Are you going to play last year's game with updated rosters?

One of the greatest tools was given to us by Xanathol, but I'm shocked to find that the majority of OS still doesn't know about it or have chose not to use it to altar/enhance any previous NCAA release.
generic-editor-ncaa-14

His editor allows us to do things with game (Gameplay, some visuals) that were hidden from the gamer.

Dealing with your OP, here is a thread that deals with this specific topic.
ncaa-2014-four-team-playoff-guide-plus-more-modding

These are other threads of Gameplay topics that contain a collaboration of community folks manipulating and testing, that have given us the ability to enhance the experience of playing NCAA Football.

No other Slider thread compares to what these guys have found out concerning what sliders actually will do to Gameplay/Animations.
ncaa-14-os-community-playmakers-split-sliders

Here is a thread that gives a foundation on how to manipulate Player Ratings to achieve the type of Gameplay/Animations each gamer would want.
true-gameplay-inside-ratings

Tdawg has made it possible for gamers to set Rating Thresholds and run their Roster/Dynasty through his Excel Workbook which sets the whole roster to these settings.
tdawgs-adjusted-scale-re-rated-roster

And to top it off, PocketScout has provided the community with a gorgeous html set up that puts each gamers Dynasty into an online web page that has everything about your Dynasty.
pocketscout-ncaa-2014-webpage-creator

So the community here at OS has found ways to make the game fresh and new while providing the ability to apply the topic noted in the OP.

And we've just scratched the surface because we really haven't gotten into the Dynasty portion.

BTW, thanks Steve for allowing the community to do this stuff.

# 6 jello1717 @ 07/12/14 02:20 PM

khaliib mentioned what I was going to. There's the editor that can add a 4 team playoff (or 8 team or 16 team or whatever you want) to NCAA 14 already. The amount of replayability this adds to the game is tremendous.

# 7 XXstormmXX @ 07/12/14 02:44 PM

The BCS had it right. I'm perfectly fine playing without a playoff.

# 8 EastC0astHusker @ 07/12/14 04:46 PM

The editor does make not having NCAA 15 bearable, but it's hard not to play the "what if" game... Might have finally gotten back some of the features they took away when they went to the PS3... Wait, who am I kidding? NCAA 15 would have been stripped down to the barest of bones.

# 9 statum71 @ 07/12/14 06:23 PM

I'll play '14 even without a playoff option. Simply for the love of college football this fall.

I am however hoping the series comes back in the future so we can get a next-gen version.

# 10 bigbob @ 07/12/14 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jello1717


	khaliib mentioned what I was going to. There's the editor that can add a 4 team playoff (or 8 team or 16 team or whatever you want) to NCAA 14 already. The amount of replayability this adds to the game is tremendous.

It's not the same as having a real playoff.

# 11 fballturkey @ 07/12/14 10:23 PM

The article title makes no sense. The lawsuit (or threats of lawsuits) are exactly what killed NCAA. The lack of a playoff in 14 had nothing to do with it.

# 12 Fifa fan 90 @ 07/12/14 10:34 PM

Saddest summer of my life

# 13 LastExit @ 07/12/14 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fballturkey


	The article title makes no sense. The lawsuit (or threats of lawsuits) are exactly what killed NCAA. The lack of a playoff in 14 had nothing to do with it.

I think what is meant by the article title is that the conclusion of the game (for the near future, at least) is not what really hurts playing it going forward......if the BCS system were still intact then all we would need is to update the rosters and live with outdated uniforms. It's the fact that the playoff system has changed how national champions are determined that really makes playing '14 feel dated despite roster updates.

Your point is taken that you couldn't have one without the other, but I'm in the camp that believes that EA could have patched the current game to include a "generic" playoff system without risking further lawsuits. The lawsuit was over player likenesses, not the similarity between the bowl game system.

# 14 Iceman87GT @ 07/13/14 01:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fballturkey


	The article title makes no sense. The lawsuit (or threats of lawsuits) are exactly what killed NCAA. The lack of a playoff in 14 had nothing to do with it.

I believe the article is referring to the fact that NCAA 14 would still be a game played for years to come if only the Playoff was in the game.

Games tend to live on long after support for the title is gone, so the fact that EA isn't making the game any more means doesn't mean that people won't still play it, but the fact that it doesn't have the playoff in the game, means that the game will die out online quicker which means EA will pull the plug on the servers sooner which means the game will be dead in terms of online and thus much less interactivity (rosters would have to be passed along using downloads to USB, not the roster share), Also Teambuilder will eventually be taken down and with it the ability to recreate uniforms, approximate new stadiums, etc.

The game was already going to die because EA will not make another version for the foreseeable future, but the fact that this decision to end the series happened a year before the Playoff System was put into place means that the game will die out online even quicker.

# 15 Cusefan @ 07/13/14 02:37 AM

I immediately disagreed with this article when I read it. A playoff will eventually kill this game but we have 6 months before a playoff is a real thing. We're just used to the BCS system so the immersion factor will not come come into play until a playoff happen.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

# 16 bigbob @ 07/13/14 02:49 AM

I've wanted a playoff option since it was removed from the game.

That hasn't stopped me from buying it every single year after telling myself I won't.

# 17 MichaelAngeloTMNT @ 07/13/14 08:49 AM

Right.... They cancelled NCAA 15 because NCAA 14 didn't have a Playoff System... Dumb article.

# 18 khaliib @ 07/13/14 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigbob


	It's not the same as having a real playoff.

Quick question, have you visited the Playoff Thread or have you had the chance to try Xan's editor?

Just trying to understand what is it that's missing from what they have come up with to create a playoff system with the editor.

Can you add a little more detail to what you mean.

Maybe there's something that can be done if we can understand what's missing.

# 19 malky @ 07/13/14 05:35 PM

I begged cried screamed for them to add it last year because of the danger of the lawsuit but here we are

# 20 DorianDonP @ 07/17/14 02:16 AM

Is there an editor that changes the schedule? That's one of the biggest reasons why I don't have a desire to use the updated rosters.

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