Respond to this if you still play NCAA regularly

[rhombic21]

Have you played Madden yet?

I'm just wondering, because I rented Madden this week, and have been playing it for the last few days, and I don't know if I can go back to playing NCAA again, even after I have to return Madden. Once you play Madden, you realize how far NCAA is from being a realistic sim. of football.

A significant number of the people who play Madden now, started out with NCAA for the first month, and then switched to Madden when it came out, and haven't touched NCAA since. Now that Madden has been out for a few weeks, I'm wondering how many people who still play NCAA have actually tried out Madden, and decided that they like NCAA better.

I just thought it would be interesting to compare whether NCAA's following were primarily still playing NCAA simply because they decided not to invest in another football game (perhaps they are like me, and don't like professional football anyways, so they figure that they won't get into it), or because they actually enjoy NCAA over Madden.

In my opinion, the only thing, gameplay wise, that NCAA has which I wish Madden had was the matchup stick. People ridiculed EA when they made that last year, but I find it really helpful, and I'm incredibly lost without it in Madden, because I don't know the strengths and weaknesses of many of the teams. As far as everything else goes, it seems to me like Madden is superior, or even to NCAA. But that's just my opinion.

BTW, I don't see how the controls are that hard to go back and forth between the two. The only differences are the vision cone (which really isn't that hard to adjust back to playing without for NCAA), the fact that the juke buttons are still the shoulder buttons, and not on the analog stick, and the faster kicking meter. Everything else is still pretty much the same, at least if you use the 2006 controls for both games like I do.

[djwill13]

i still play ncaa

here's the major difference between the 2 games IMO. user interaction. now, i know how much ncaa is ridiculed for the deep ball, but i can't complete a deep pass in madden for crap. i feel the user should be rewarded in some way (maybe not to the extreme as how easy it is in ncaa).

you can have the matchup stick. i can count on one hand how many times i've used it in 2 years.

[Irishman]

i still play ncaa

here's the major difference between the 2 games IMO. user interaction. now, i know how much ncaa is ridiculed for the deep ball, but i can't complete a deep pass in madden for crap. i feel the user should be rewarded in some way (maybe not to the extreme as how easy it is in ncaa).

you can have the matchup stick. i can count on one hand how many times i've used it in 2 years.
I use the matchup stick all the time. It helps me to know who to pick on. :o

[dirtybyrd]

That is one reason that I haven't bought Madden yet this year. I go through this every year when it comes out. I play Ncaa a ton for a couple of months and then start getting burnt out. So then I go to Madden for a couple of months and so on and so on. I WILL NEVER LAY DOWN MY NCAA. Lol. I love it too much to give it up.

GO MICHIGAN WOLVERINES....
DOWN WITH THE BUCKEYES.....LMAO... :D

[Soccerbest7]

I am right now a the point of renting Madden and then probably buying it

[rhombic21]

I use the matchup stick all the time. It helps me to know who to pick on. :o
I agree. Also, I play with a ton of teams, rather than just the same 2 or 3, so it's a lot harder for me to keep track of who my own playmakers are, let alone the other team's.

It's a help in NCAA, but I probably need it more in Madden, because like I said, I have no idea who is good on each team, and who the weak links are. At least with NCAA I have a general idea of who the superstars are on each team, due to the impact player icons.

[TnGolf22]

I've played Madden and play it from time to time with friends but not often and I will not buy it.

I'm just too much of a college football fan in general vs. NFL. That's probably the biggest reason. It's too fun to watch TN go undefeated even though it may not be a reality (who knows this year?!?). I do think Madden is a better game though so I would probably play that more often if I weren't such a die hard college football fan.

[djwill13]

I agree. Also, I play with a ton of teams, rather than just the same 2 or 3, so it's a lot harder for me to keep track of who my own playmakers are, let alone the other team's.

It's a help in NCAA, but I probably need it more in Madden, because like I said, I have no idea who is good on each team, and who the weak links are. At least with NCAA I have a general idea of who the superstars are on each team, due to the impact player icons.
i too play with a ton of teams. in fact, there's not a particular team i'd rather play with. i was probably one of the first to win the top 25 trophy. i usually look at a certain teams roster offline before i go to play with them. that or i'll pause to reorder the roster and look at a quick glance to see what's what. i'm too busy making other reads, audibles, hot routes, and other checkoffs to mess with the matchup stick. the only time i use it is when someone is kicking a fg i think

to each his own though.

oh yeah, i love the rivalries in ncaa. i love the different play styles. i'll take georgia and run the power spread. someone else can take georgia and play smashmouth football. someone else can take them and run the flexbone offense. i love that

[rhombic21]

i too play with a ton of teams. in fact, there's not a particular team i'd rather play with. i was probably one of the first to win the top 25 trophy. i usually look at a certain teams roster offline before i go to play with them. that or i'll pause to reorder the roster and look at a quick glance to see what's what. i'm too busy making other reads, audibles, hot routes, and other checkoffs to mess with the matchup stick. the only time i use it is when someone is kicking a fg i think

to each his own though.

oh yeah, i love the rivalries in ncaa. i love the different play styles. i'll take georgia and run the power spread. someone else can take georgia and play smashmouth football. someone else can take them and run the flexbone offense. i love that
Yeah, I definitely agree with you about the different play styles. That's the reason that I'm always drawn back to NCAA, because I like all of the variety. All of the pro teams essentially run a variation of the same offensive scheme, which gets kind of boring IMO.

But if you play Madden, and notice that CPU controlled safeties and linebackers actually pursue the running back when he breaks outside, or that you can defend the deep ball accurately (and I've been burned deep quite a few times as well), or that 3 man rushes don't just get pressure because of a DL slant, or that you can't just run around and throw bombs with mobile QBs, it's hard to go back and play NCAA. I'm really starting to agree with those people who say that NCAA should just take the Madden engine, and tweak it for the college game.

[djwill13]

Yeah, I definitely agree with you about the different play styles. That's the reason that I'm always drawn back to NCAA, because I like all of the variety. All of the pro teams essentially run a variation of the same offensive scheme, which gets kind of boring IMO.

But if you play Madden, and notice that CPU controlled safeties and linebackers actually pursue the running back when he breaks outside, or that you can defend the deep ball accurately (and I've been burned deep quite a few times as well), or that 3 man rushes don't just get pressure because of a DL slant, or that you can't just run around and throw bombs with mobile QBs, it's hard to go back and play NCAA. I'm really starting to agree with those people who say that NCAA should just take the Madden engine, and tweak it for the college game.
now that latter part i'll agree with. i don't see how the programming can be so different for both games. i mean i know ncaa should take hits in throwing accuracy (even at the 99 acc level) because this is after all collegiate athletes. it's almost as if the programming for the whole defense is wrong.

take a simple hb iso play ran to the right from i form normal. if the defense is in cover 3, the lb's will run away from the ball unless you flip the play (which is pretty pointless IMO). oh and the way the cb's and safeties defend passes is just obscene

[rhombic21]

now that latter part i'll agree with. i don't see how the programming can be so different for both games. i mean i know ncaa should take hits in throwing accuracy (even at the 99 acc level) because this is after all collegiate athletes. it's almost as if the programming for the whole defense is wrong.

take a simple hb iso play ran to the right from i form normal. if the defense is in cover 3, the lb's will run away from the ball unless you flip the play (which is pretty pointless IMO). oh and the way the cb's and safeties defend passes is just obscene
Yeah, that's what I mean.

You play Madden, and you can actually play realistic defense, without having to do the ridiculous things to try and manipulate teh game to actually stop somebody, and then you come back to NCAA and your CPU controlled defenders are just incompetent, and it makes you realize how unrealistic NCAA is.

[djwill13]

Yeah, that's what I mean.

You play Madden, and you can actually play realistic defense, without having to do the ridiculous things to try and manipulate teh game to actually stop somebody, and then you come back to NCAA and your CPU controlled defenders are just incompetent, and it makes you realize how unrealistic NCAA is.in that case, i feel what you're saying.

[Head Coach]

I will go against the grain and say I think the programming for NCAA is just fine. You have to remember college is a different game than that pros. It is not as predictable as to how the players perform. Also they DO complete a lot of deep balls in college that wouldnt get completed in the NFL. That aspect of the game is correct in my opinion.

Plus if a all-american DT goes against a average college offensive line he may actually go through 2 of them to get to the ball. You have to remember the talent level is not as even as it is in the NFL. NCAA is not supposed to have programming like Madden because its NOT pro football its college. How do you think college teams score 50 and 60 points? They either bomb the other team to death with the passing game or just run right through them seemingly at will. I think NCAA 2006 is the perfect gameplay for the college game. The presentation is years ahead of anything on John Madden.

The studio show at the beginning is awesome. I like when Corso puts on the head or helmet of the team he chooses to win. NCAA is as good a mirror of the college game as I have ever seen. For once EA sports got it right in a big way.

[Head Coach]

Yeah, that's what I mean.

You play Madden, and you can actually play realistic defense, without having to do the ridiculous things to try and manipulate teh game to actually stop somebody, and then you come back to NCAA and your CPU controlled defenders are just incompetent, and it makes you realize how unrealistic NCAA is.


The college game is based a lot on momentum. Once a team gets rolling they can walk right through a team even they have a good defense. Plus the NFL is different from the NCAA. Its a different type of game.

The NFL is all about gameplanning and scheme executions.
The NCAA is about momentum swings and emotion plus crowd involvement.
Its just a different game thats all.

[Farmer]

I'm really starting to agree with those people who say that NCAA should just take the Madden engine, and tweak it for the college game.


That's what I've been saying for the longest. In the past, that's what EA used to do; use Madden's engine and put all the NCAA touches to it. If they can do this for 07, well it just might have a chance of re-capturing 04's title of best college football video game.

[Farmer]

If you're like me, you've watched a lot of college football over the years. Never once in all my days of playing footbal or watching football have I seen a FS/SS or LB keep backpeddling into their coverage area while the HB is running straight at them!! That's the ludacris part of the game I can't stand.

Yes there is a talent parity in the NFL and not very much in the NCAA, that's because I'm willing to bet you that on any given NFL roster, you can research and find at least 8-10 1st team All-Americans, and a host of 2nd team All-Americans as well as 1st team conference players.

The problem lies in this:
I will agree with you that an All American DT from lets say Michigan should run through tackles/guards from say Akron on a regular basis. But when you line your AA DT across from my AA T/G it should be a stalemate in a sense where neither is dominating the other. Look at linemen like Willie Roaf, Jonathan Ogden, Orlando Pace, and John Runyan; theres a reason defensive co-ordinators line their stud DE on the opposite side of them............ their All-Pro DE/DT just aint gonna get the consistant pressure on the QB as they would like.

Take this years NC title game, I don't think OU sacked Leinhart once if at all, USC got to OU, but that's because White isn't very mobile. If you live in Texas like I do, you saw a lot of OU highlights and saw how their D-line was just creating havoc up front and getting all kinds of pressure on the offense ( against teams like Colorado, Baylor, and the other cupcake OOC games). But against a team that had just as many All-Americans on both sides of the trenches, OU's d-line found themselves barely able to put any kind of real pressure on the offense, and their o-line caught hell after their first scoring drive.

When I've played against inferior teams, my guys dominate them on both sides of the ball. When I play against teams that evenly match my own, the results just arent realistic.

Like I've said, Goliath vs Mini Me I expect a slaughter. But for Goliath vs Andre the Giant, I expect to see a back and forth tug-of-war struggle with neither gaining the upper hand for very long.

-Farmer

[rhombic21]

Speaking of Madden, I just played an incredible game against some random guy in play now. I'm Dallas vs his Green Bay.

Due to my inability to effectively kick the ball on field goals, and some poor decisions in the passing game, I'm down 17-7 to start the fourth quarter. My only touchdown to that point had been set up by a fumble recovery off of a punt, so that gives you an idea of how incompetent my offense had been to that point.

So late in the fourth quarter, I make a run, and get a drive deep into his territory, but have to settle for a field goal to make it 17-10 with like 1:30 to go, but I have all 3 TOs.

So I lose the onsides kick, and for reasons unknown, my opponent attempts three straight passes, all of which were incomplete, and then misses a 54 yard field goal attempt, giving me the ball at about my own 40 yard line with about a minute to go, and still with all 3 TOs.

I hit Keyshawn on a fake WR screen pass for about 15 yards, then hit Glenn on a pair of 12-15 yard slants to get inside the 10 yard line. Then I hit Whitten coming across the middle to go down to the 1, where I punch it in with the FB a play later.

So we go to OT, and I win the toss, and of course elect to receive. My return man looks like he's going to get tackled/step out of bounds at about the 20, but then suddenly he just breaks free, and there's nothing by green and white shirts between me and paydirt. 80 yards later, and my comeback was complete for the 23-17 win.

What a game!!!

[Head Coach]

Farmer-

Whenever my Hurricane team plays a good team my results are pretty realistic for me so far at least. If they have good players I will have a hard time beating them. Hell I even had a game where I barely got by Duke 23-13 but I have had some serious blowouts too where I stomped the other team.
I like the variety of not knowing what is going to happen when you go against the other team.

[M-Dub?]

The college game is based a lot on momentum. Once a team gets rolling they can walk right through a team even they have a good defense. Plus the NFL is different from the NCAA. Its a different type of game.

The NFL is all about gameplanning and scheme executions.
The NCAA is about momentum swings and emotion plus crowd involvement.
Its just a different game thats all.

I realize that there is momentum in real life college football, but it is out of control on this game. It might be the most frustrating part of the game, because there's really no way to counter it. I can even live with the backpedalling defenders, because if I switch to them in time, I can make the tackle. But when you get on the wrong side of momentum, there's literally nothing you can do. Two recent examples...

I'm playing Gamersfuel. He's UTEP, I'm ISU. I'm up 23-7 with less than 3 min to go. He scores a TD and gets the 2 pt conversion so it's 23-15. I eat some clock and eventually punt to him with less than 2 min left. He drives down, gets another TD with 32 seconds left but I stuff him on the conversion. 23-21 game over, right? Oh no. The CPU wasn't done with me yet. He kicks the onside, it bounces off my guy's leg (he doesn't even attempt to pick it up or dive on it or anything), and he recovers. The very next play, PA bomb for a TD. 28-23 him with 27 seconds left. That sucks. But hey, I've still got a look, right? Oh hell no. My first pass I try to hit my left WR on a streak, but instead the ball is throw directly into the waiting arms of his FS, about 5 yards to the right of my WR. My QB wasn't hit or pressured or anything. Now my WR was decently covered by his CB. If his CB had made the INT, that'd be one thing. But when it's so frickin' obvious that the CPU just hosed you, it's hard to stomach.

Example #2
I'm playing kokotan last night in his SPA tryout game. He's Ohio St, I'm OU. Peterson is running wild and I'm up 17-3 at halftime. I get the ball in the 2nd half and call a PA pass out of Ace Normal. My WR has a step on the CB, so I semi-lob it to him, but the CB makes an amazing INT and runs it back to the 10. He scores and it's 17-10. I get the ball back 1st & 10, call an option, make a bad pitch, he recovers, scores, it's 17-17. I get the ball back 1st & 10, call an option, make another bad pitch, he recovers, scores, and now it's 24-17 him. 3 plays, 3 TOs to start the half. We end up going to OT and both score on 1st possession. 2nd possession, I stuff him. On my possession, AP runs down to the 5 yard line. I call a basic dive play to the left for Kejuan Jones (a 5th year senior) out of Maryland I. All I'm trying to do is center my FG attempt. Hand it to Kejuan, immediately dive left, but before I hit the ground, I get blasted and fumble yet again. Of course he recovers. 3rd OT, yet another fumbled option pitch for me, he kicks the FG to win. I ended up with 6 fumbles (4 lost) and an INT. He had 4 fumbles too, but his guys miraculously managed to fall on all but one of them. Granted, 3 of mine were on questionable pitches, but still, when was the last time OU fumbled 6 times in a game? It had to be in the John Blake era. lol Plus, it seems a little convenient that of the 10 total fumbles in the game, he recovered 7 of them.

It's crap like that that takes years off my life. I don't mind momentum being a part of the game to a certain extent, but ultimately, I still want to see the best coach prevail, not the luckiest.

[funfootball]

The thing about it is the game is realistic with 15 minute quarters in Heisman. How many punts do you see in college games? A whole lot. Coordinators know when players and plays aren't working, and they adjust and sometimes that means play it safe and punt. You guys want your money plays/schemes to work just like it did in the first quarter. The game wants you to adapt when momentum is low. If you throw across the middle in zone while the momentum is not on your side in this game it will get picked or tipped for a pick. If that is where your money passing plays are, then get your game improved. If you play a 15min quarter game on Heisman the ebb and flow works and feels natural. The 5 minute AA compresses this dynamic and gives it a very unrealistic feel. You want it to be like a football game but you play it in 5 minute quarters expecting all offensive drives to end in success. College football don't work that way. If you want the chess game goto Madden where you have called the right play against your oponents defense and you want it to work 75% of the time. If you want the dynamics of what it is dealing with 18yr olds and 19yr old play NCAA. You see teams quit every Saturday, but on Sunday it rarely happens the talent and competition for your position will not allow for it.

But defense for HB direct is horrible just like it was for HB toss last year.

[rhombic21]

I hear what you guys are saying about college ball being higher scoring, and a more wide open, crazy, anything can happen type of game, and I agree with you.

I just feel like on NCAA the AI is set up to artificially create big plays on offense and defense (via obsenely bad pursuit angles, or ridiculous fumbles), simply for the sake of big plays. Yes, big plays happen, but they aren't usually the result of the HB breaking 5 tackles at the line of scrimmage, or the WR catching it in double coverage for the 5th time in a row, but are rather the result of offensive and defensive coordinators exploiting matchups via intelligent playcalling.

I dunno, it just feels over the top, like they were going for a wide open style of play, and ended up taking it too far. The thing is, you can still have a wide open style of game without having ridiculous impact players, or incompetent defenders, if you just work on making the fundamental things work the way that they should, because as you guys have noted, there is a lot of talent difference between the various teams, so that naturally creates mismatches that can result in big plays if you use them right. I feel like Madden does a much better job on the fundamentals, in terms of accurately portraying NFL football, than NCAA does in terms of portraying college football. Just my opinion.

The other nice thing about Madden is that there are like 10-20x as many people playing, so it's a lot easier to find a game against another "straight" player. I logged on to NCAA this afternoon, and there were like 119 people on. I couldn't find a game, so I logged off, and got on Madden, where there were over 1100 people. That's a huge difference.

[Farmer]

The thing is, you can still have a wide open style of game without having ridiculous impact players, or incompetent defenders, if you just work on making the fundamental things work the way that they should, because as you guys have noted, there is a lot of talent difference between the various teams, so that naturally creates mismatches that can result in big plays if you use them right. I feel like Madden does a much better job on the fundamentals, in terms of accurately portraying NFL football, than NCAA does in terms of portraying college football. Just my opinion.


For the most part, yes, Madden does do a better job of capturing/creating the atmosphere for it's sport.

But Madden has his fair share of "dummies" too.

I just got through playing Madden offline [ to try once again to get used to the damn vision cone. :mad: ] against the eagles. I played as the Texans, soooooooo quite naturally I expected David Carr to be seing a lot of Reliant Stadium's ceiling. For the most part, he did. But one thing I did notice that kept happening over and over to the point where it pissed me off, was that for some reason my pulling guards would simply run along side of the defender and not attempt to put a block on him. This also happened on a couple of KO's as my forward blocker would run stride for stride with the defender and not engage him.

Another memorable play was when I drove down to the 4 yard line and called a blast play from the I-form Big. Snap the ball the C and RG are both keeping the DT busy, the RT and TE are doing their parts as well, I lay off the speed button and decide to follow my FB. Basic football knowledge/stradegy right?? Well you guys are gonna love this one. My FB is at the hole and for whatever reason, he decides that the C needs a hand and engages the DT as well, that left me having to deal with not one, but 3 guys in a tight congested area. Thank God for the mini-juke as I left Trotter diving and molesting the atmosphere molecules where I WAS, the DT was pushed back by my C,RG and Friggin FB!!! I covered the ball up and shoved into him and used his butt as a shield to the endzone.

These are just a few of the stupid things those guys do on offense.

Oh and yes, Kearse was a major pain to deal with as no one wanted to block him. He sacked Carr like 4 times and the rest of his buddies got in on the gang banging too, I think I had something like 10 or 11 sacks ( Okay, 5 of those were the result of my dumb arse, :D but that's all I'm taking credit for. ) in the game and grudge game that I played against them.:confused:


-Farmer

[rhombic21]

For the most part, yes, Madden does do a better job of capturing/creating the atmosphere for it's sport.

But Madden has his fair share of "dummies" too.

I just got through playing Madden offline [ to try once again to get used to the damn vision cone. :mad: ] against the eagles. I played as the Texans, soooooooo quite naturally I expected David Carr to be seing a lot of Reliant Stadium's ceiling. For the most part, he did. But one thing I did notice that kept happening over and over to the point where it pissed me off, was that for some reason my pulling guards would simply run along side of the defender and not attempt to put a block on him. This also happened on a couple of KO's as my forward blocker would run stride for stride with the defender and not engage him.

Another memorable play was when I drove down to the 4 yard line and called a blast play from the I-form Big. Snap the ball the C and RG are both keeping the DT busy, the RT and TE are doing their parts as well, I lay off the speed button and decide to follow my FB. Basic football knowledge/stradegy right?? Well you guys are gonna love this one. My FB is at the hole and for whatever reason, he decides that the C needs a hand and engages the DT as well, that left me having to deal with not one, but 3 guys in a tight congested area. Thank God for the mini-juke as I left Trotter diving and molesting the atmosphere molecules where I WAS, the DT was pushed back by my C,RG and Friggin FB!!! I covered the ball up and shoved into him and used his butt as a shield to the endzone.

These are just a few of the stupid things those guys do on offense.

Oh and yes, Kearse was a major pain to deal with as no one wanted to block him. He sacked Carr like 4 times and the rest of his buddies got in on the gang banging too, I think I had something like 10 or 11 sacks ( Okay, 5 of those were the result of my dumb arse, :D but that's all I'm taking credit for. ) in the game and grudge game that I played against them.:confused:


-Farmer
Oh, I agree that Madden is far from perfect. Particuarly on any plays where linemen have to pull, they can be really retarded, or they appear to just stop running for no reason. There are definitely run blocking issues there.

But the difference to me is that Madden's development team seems to be making a genuine effort to make the game more "sim", and less arcade, while the NCAA team is going the other direction. I know that EA wants the two games to play differently, so that people have a reason to buy both other than just slapping a different set of jerseys on the players, but I really worry at the direction that the two are going. On the Madden side, we see the developers doing really innovative things like the vision cone, or adding package subs 2 years before NCAA had it, or having matchup assignments so that you can just instruct your best CB to follow a WR anywhere that he goes, while NCAA is busy adding impact players that become Gods and make a mockery of physics, and a "Race for the Heisman" mode that I doubt anybody over the age of 21 took seriously.

Basically, it seems to me like Madden is really trying to make a realistic game, and they just come up a little short in some areas due to programming time/technology limiations, while NCAA doesn't even seem to care about making their game play more like real football, so long as they get the bells and whistles, and make the game really easy on offense so that 15 year olds who don't know football can have fun scoring 7 TDs a game with Reggie Bush, they're satisfied. I respect the Madden crew, and am much more lenient with their mistakes, because I feel like they're making an honest effort. I feel like the NCAA crew (or more precisely, the people at EA who decide how much resources to put into the NCAA production team) are just half assing it, and hoping to syphon off a few Madden players who want an early fix, and then relying on the pageantry of college football to carry the rest.

In short, it seems like NCAA is content to be Madden's little brother, in terms of realism, because they know that they've got a niche market who will play regardless, and that the Madden heads will shell out 50 bucks just to get a new football game to play for a month and a half until the "franchise" comes out.

[mad_bomber]

I play both, the thing I like about Madden is the depth of the team playbooks. Hopefully NCAA will go this route next year.

[M-Dub?]

Oh, I agree that Madden is far from perfect. Particuarly on any plays where linemen have to pull, they can be really retarded, or they appear to just stop running for no reason. There are definitely run blocking issues there.

But the difference to me is that Madden's development team seems to be making a genuine effort to make the game more "sim", and less arcade, while the NCAA team is going the other direction. I know that EA wants the two games to play differently, so that people have a reason to buy both other than just slapping a different set of jerseys on the players, but I really worry at the direction that the two are going. On the Madden side, we see the developers doing really innovative things like the vision cone, or adding package subs 2 years before NCAA had it, or having matchup assignments so that you can just instruct your best CB to follow a WR anywhere that he goes, while NCAA is busy adding impact players that become Gods and make a mockery of physics, and a "Race for the Heisman" mode that I doubt anybody over the age of 21 took seriously.

Basically, it seems to me like Madden is really trying to make a realistic game, and they just come up a little short in some areas due to programming time/technology limiations, while NCAA doesn't even seem to care about making their game play more like real football, so long as they get the bells and whistles, and make the game really easy on offense so that 15 year olds who don't know football can have fun scoring 7 TDs a game with Reggie Bush, they're satisfied. I respect the Madden crew, and am much more lenient with their mistakes, because I feel like they're making an honest effort. I feel like the NCAA crew (or more precisely, the people at EA who decide how much resources to put into the NCAA production team) are just half assing it, and hoping to syphon off a few Madden players who want an early fix, and then relying on the pageantry of college football to carry the rest.

In short, it seems like NCAA is content to be Madden's little brother, in terms of realism, because they know that they've got a niche market who will play regardless, and that the Madden heads will shell out 50 bucks just to get a new football game to play for a month and a half until the "franchise" comes out.

I haven't played Madden 06 yet (hopefully this weekend), but what makes this so ironic is that it should be the other way around. College football fans tend to be better educated and more intelligent on the whole than NFL fans. I'm sure this has a lot to do with the fact that most people who prefer college football over the NFL actually went to (or are currently attending) college. I would also make the logical leap that NCAA fans are probably more desirous for a true sim-style game than NFL fans. All things being equal, the typical 14 year old win-at-all-costs lobber/scrambler would be more likely to gravitate towards Madden, since they are more familiar with the popular teams and players of the NFL. However, all things are not equal. Madden can afford to be more sim-oriented because EA also has NFL Street to satisfy the knuckle-draggers who want to play that style of football. NCAA has no corresponding "Street" version to fall back on, so they try to walk the line, incorporating both sim elements and "arcadey" BS into the mess that we have sitting in our PS2s or Xboxes right now.

If you are just a football fan in general, then Madden seems to be the obvious choice. But some people, such as myself, couldn't care less about the NFL (save for the 15 guys on our fantasy football teams) but follow NCAA football with religious fervor. I hate to say it, but EA pretty much has us by the balls. I will continue to buy this game year in and year out and put up with all the stupid crap because I love college football. We can ***** on message boards, and it seems like EA really does listen, to an extent. But ultimately they could put out the same crap year after year with updated rosters and I'd probably still buy it over Madden.