I get asked all the time on my thoughts on all of the NCAA Football games, especially from the Playstation 2 and Xbox era.
I’ll gladly give my opinions, but these usually get lost in the comments section of one of my videos.
So I thought it best to collect all of my thoughts in one place.
This is not a review on every game per se, just highlights on the good and bad of them all from my point of view in hopes that you can decide which game is worth your time.
I’m not going to try and cover every little facet of each game so forgive me if I don’t mention something.
I have plenty to say about some games and not much about others.
I have played all 10 games that came out for the ps2. I have put in what feels like thousands of hours in some and not many in others.
Maybe over time I can spend more time in those that didn’t get enough attention. I will update this post if and when my opinions change.
Contents
NCAA Football 2002 & 2003
I will group 2002 and 2003 together as these are the two I’ve played the least.
I didn’t get my first ps2 until 2004 came out so timing was the issue here.
However, every time I tinker with 2004, I tend to pop in 2003 some to get a feel of it. I have dabbled with both ever since I started Playbook Gamer.
I haven’t played enough of either to have a strong opinion of them. For me it takes many weeks to get a good feel for a game.
I think it is a good idea to add these to the channel one day so you can see my reaction and thoughts in real time. Then I can perhaps add more to this section.
What alarms me about these games is that nobody talks about them, especially in the forums.
This might due to 2004 being so popular or that neither have much to offer. I need to find out one day why 2002 and 2003 do not get much love.
NCAA Football 2004
Gameplay
2004 is one of the more popular games of the bunch, probably for a two reasons.
First, the game leans more to the offensive side of the ball. Who doesn’t want to score more points?
The second reason is online play which was introduced in 2004. I never used that feature so I can’t tell you if it functioned well, but I can see how it could excite gamers back then.
The biggie here is the gameplay. Players tend to move a little faster and couple that with having more fun options on offense can equal a fun experience.
A game that let’s you do a little more schematically, especially on offense, is my preference.
This is what keeps me playing these games all these years. Even on Heisman, one can score plenty of points if they know what they are doing.
The running game feels pretty solid. The only issue I have with it is you can’t flip the run pre-snap.
This is perhaps the biggest reason I don’t play this game more often. It makes a big difference being able to decide to run left or right.
Yes, you can flip the play but the defense will do the same.
So if you call a run play to the right and the defense shifts their defensive line or linebackers right, you’re in a tough spot.
Being able to flip the run wasn’t introduced until NCAA 2005.
The passing game feels good with its own highs and lows.
As far as I know, 2004 is the only one that let’s you attack zone coverage to the strong side of the field 10 yards in with a dropback passing game.
This is a big breath of fresh air compared to the opposite situation 2005-11 has.
Yes, with certain pass plays I can attack zone to the far side in the later games, but 2004 seems to let me do more things in that situation.
However, 2004 struggles when attacking deep zone coverage.
To me, a good passing system in a football game means that you are able to attack all areas of the field regardless of coverage.
When on offense, you will notice how the defense keeps backpedaling way too far back for you to attack deep against zone.
You can attack the short field all day against zone but unless the defense blitzes heavily leaving holes, it’s very hard to attack deep when needed against zone.
Even against Cover 2 zone, it’s a real struggle attacking the safeties.
Thankfully this isn’t an issue against man coverage. There are plenty of routes in this game to can attack man coverage, deep routes too.
Another issue I have with the passing game is not being able to run full speed and throw on the run as a QB.
You have to toggle off passing icons in order to run with your QB. It’s cumbersome going back and forth.
Either you have a slow QB which hinders your movement in the pocket or you can’t take full advantage of a speedy QB back there. This issue wasn’t fixed until NCAA 06.
Defense feels fine for the game being a little more offensive-minded.
Oddly enough, 2004 is one of the few games where playing man coverage can work very well against the pass.
I tend to use zone against passing attacks and man against run, but it seems 2004 lets you to the opposite in a sense.
A big factor in good gameplay for me is player movement. Do players move on the field well?
Unlike the Playstation 3 games, 2004 feels good in this department.
Turning certain players on a dime may feel a little cheap, but players feel solid in this game.
Graphics & Sound
Graphics is usually the least important aspect of a football game for me, but it helps some if the game looks good.
I like the bulkier player models. One can argue that the skinnier player models from 06-11 aren’t as realistic.
This doesn’t mean much to me in the grand scheme of things, but I appreciate the aesthetic the game had.
2004 (and 2005) also had the best pre-game entrances.
Since I turn down the most of the sound so I can talk for channel purposes, the sound doesn’t mean that much to me so expect me to say this about most of these games.
In general though, I’ve never had any big sound issues in any of these games.
Game Modes & Features
Dynasty mode is solid, but its biggest problem is that it’s so bare bones.
Adding little dynasty features is easy to do and the later games are filled with tiny additions that make the mode great.
Unfortunately, dynasty mode in 2004 was the last one that felt incomplete.
It is not the game’s fault, EA didn’t have the ideas yet to add to the mode. Because of this, I don’t complain too much about it.
The biggest issue I have with dynasty mode is scheduling. There is no conference rotation.
If you play as a team in a conference with divisions, you will play the same eight teams every year. A simple oversight by EA.
As a Tennessee fan, I got tired of seeing Ole Miss on my schedule every season.
I believe 2004 was the last to feature slower recruits.
What I mean is that the fastest dual-threat QB recruit you will see will run a 4.65.
This is actually the same for all positions. The game doesn’t produce true speedsters.
I guess it’s a wash that other teams won’t be able to recruit them either but still, seeing special speedy athletes on the field are few and far between.
I love the classic college game scenarios. They took these away in 06.
These can act as a nice break from dynasty mode. Being able to relive some iconic moments in college football and rewriting history is a blast.
There are plenty of scenarios to keep you busy.
2004 was the last game to not let you create your own playbook.
You have to use one of the team playbooks instead. This forces you to get to know the team playbooks which can be fun though.
This isn’t a dealbreaker by any means, but I will always love creating my own schemes.
Overall
2004 is one of the games I can see myself diving deep into down the road. It fits my playstyle of it being offensive-minded.
It has its issues, mostly due to some of the some things missing in dynasty mode, but it’s always been a solid experience.
If you are okay with an older game not having the little things then 2004 may be your cup of tea.
NCAA Football 2005
Gameplay
I call NCAA Football 2005 the Dark Souls of NCAA Football games due to its difficulty.
I believe this is when EA Sports started the trend of going to the extremes from one game to the next, both in gameplay and in features.
2004 favored more to the offensive side of the ball. 2005 is the exact opposite. On Heisman especially, 2005 can be really hard to play.
I consider myself an advanced player, and I have to play on Heisman. Most of my games on that level in this game are all low-scoring affairs.
I don’t like playing super long games so I keep my quarter length at 5 minutes. It’s just not fun seeing every game result in 14-10.
Outside of that, the gameplay feels pretty good. I think the players feel a tad slower than in 2004, I could be wrong though.
Home Field Advantage was introduced that also included player composure so you feel like you can have the upper hand at home while younger, more inexperienced players can get rattled on the road.
I’ve always liked this feature throughout the remaining games.
However, in 2021, this feature doesn’t carry as much weight because players and coaches use other types of signals to change things pre-snap so the feature isn’t as realistic in a sense.
2005 introduced the matchup stick which was a great addition. Being able to see where you best match up helps a ton and adds a great layer of strategy.
It also shows player composure which relates to Home Field Advantage.
The running game received a big boost by finally letting you flip the direction of the run pre-snap. This open up your run options in so many ways.
2005 is the only one of the bunch where I can make HB Draw from shotgun formations work, if that means anything.
Ask any average gamer about 2005 and the first thing they will mention is the drop issue.
Players drop the ball a ton in this game so the only way to help this is with sliders and even then, it won’t completely fix it.
I honestly don’t see this issue as much, but I see enough of it to understand why people complain about it.
I don’t expect players to make every single catch though. User catching helps with this issue.
2005 was the last game to still feature the quarterback having to toggle the passing icons on and off.
It’s is cumbersome not being able to just use the speed button to get away from pressure.
You have to turn the icons off, then use the speed button. Thankfully this was streamlined in 06.
Like I mentioned earlier, defense gets the most love with this game. If you like low scoring games, 2005 is for you.
Perhaps the best thing 2005 has going for it is that it was the last one to not introduce a major feature that wasn’t overdone or broken altogether.
06 started the trend of gameplay features that weren’t implemented perfectly (more on that later).
This results 2005 in having solid gameplay, outside of the bugaboos I just mentioned.
Graphics & Sound
2005 was the last to keep the bulkier player models which I’ve always liked. I do feel like the colors in the game are a little more faded out than 2004.
I don’t see as many sharp colors. 2005 was the last one to have pre-game entrances featuring the teams coming from the tunnel which I’ve always liked.
See my previous thoughts on sound.
Game Modes & Features
Dynasty Mode introduced player discipline which was a nice addition.
The conference schedule rotation was fixed as well.
Perhaps a small but great addition was adding player models/images on the roster, depth chart, and recruiting screens. It’s a small thing but it goes a long way with immersion.
The only thing in Dynasty Mode I remember not liking is the occasional Group of 5 school getting a high recruiting class which is unrealistic.
I’ll admit, I haven’t played and tested enough of 2005’s dynasty mode to know if it has any other issues. Hopefully it doesn’t.
2005 introduced the Create-A-Playbook feature which is near and dear to my heart. Being able to put your preferred nine formations together to create whatever offense you wanted is a godsend.
Overall
I would probably play 2005 more if it wasn’t so defensive-minded.
Maybe I have to humble myself and play on All American or severely drop sliders on Heisman to enjoy it. Otherwise, the game feels solid, mainly due to not have any goofy features to bring it down.
However, I always ask myself what 2005 has that the later games do not to convince me to play it more. I can’t find anything yet.
For those who can’t stand certain features added in later games and don’t mind a defensive-oriented experience while also having a dynasty mode with enough features to keep you entertained, then 2005 might be the one for you.
NCAA Football 06
Everyone knows 06 is my favorite of the bunch, but I will be as unbiased as I can.
Gameplay
Keeping with the trend of EA going the opposite direction, 06 is more offensive oriented and the players seem to move faster compared to 2005.
My longevity with these games stems from having enough schematic freedom to be able to run any type of offense I want. 06 was the first to truly let me do that.
In the end, most gamers want to score points and 06-11 stuck with that trend. Thankfully you can field top-10 defenses in this game as well.
Perhaps the biggest addition to 06 is Impact Players. Each team has three impact players that when used correctly, can really make some big plays for you.
Like I mentioned before, new features tend to get overdone and impact players can feel the same.
Some games you will see impact players look like hall of famers, break six tackles in one play and other crazy situations.
However, both you and the CPU can do an equally good job of emphasizing these players so I think it’s a wash.
Besides, having impact players lets me gameplan around these players adding more strategy to the game.
I like having the option of having a bell-cow offense to maximize and impact player’s talent.
The running game feels as strong as ever up to this point.
Yes, some run concepts don’t work well (every game has them) like certain counters, HB draw from shotgun sets, zone blocking plays, and toss but what does work is simply great.
Slam, Dive, and all the various option concepts are a blast to use.
The passing game is the best it has ever been too. I can attack any coverage, and there are plenty of routes that work well against man and zone coverage.
EA finally fixed the QB running when passing by letting you use the speed button while being able to throw on the run. Once you use it, it’s hard to play any other game without it.
I can write for days about the passing game (I have plenty of blog posts that cover it), but you get the point.
The deep ball gets the most hate as it can be easier to complete. I have no arguments here although it’s not an automatic play.
I consider it a wash when the CPU can throw deep on me just as well. One thing to remember is that the deep ball feels just as potent to me in 06-11.
As offensive-oriented as 06 may seem, defense feels great as well. Like I just mentioned, I can field great defenses.
I’m not going to lie though, those impact players I mentioned? You will want to throw your controller at times when you go up against an impact halfback who will break every tackle and run for 250 yards without any issues.
I try not to get upset about it as I can have great HBs do the same, but it is frustrating. One of my games featured a CPU HB turn into Herschel Walker:
Special teams is fine, but it has two issues.
The first is the three-button kick meter. On Heisman, the kick meter is a nightmare. Many gamers stay away from Heisman difficulty for this reason alone.
I tell everyone that practice is needed to be good at it, but it’s still very hard.
The other issue is punt return close to your endzone. Hardly any of of the safe punt return plays work at times as some players are programmed to go for the ball even when you try to tell everyone to get away from it. The Middle Fan play has been my go-to for this, just to avoid a bad play.
Other than that, special teams is fine, lol. Kick and punt returns feel realistic even though I wish I can run up the middle more, especially on kickoffs but that’s not a big deal.
You may want to turn down CPU special teams in general. CPU kickers are incredible, regardless of the ratings.
Graphics & Sound
06 is when slimmer player models were introduced so there’s that.
They brought back sharper colors to the overall palette.
The only issue I have with graphics is the created school uniform glitch where the border around the numbers always ends up a dark grey.
It’s goofy-looking, but you can work around it to a degree. See my previous thoughts on sound.
Game Modes & Features
In-Season recruiting was introduced in 06 which adds a little more depth to dynasty mode.
This was the first game to include this which means it wasn’t fully implemented yet as you can only recruit 3-star players and above along with being able to snag commits from players that don’t really belong in your program.
It’s a nice addition though that let’s you recruit year-round which never gets old.
Race for the Heisman was added, but I never played it much as the gameplay is exactly the same as dynasty mode so I rarely bothered with it.
Create-A-Playbook is still in the game, but 06 is the last one to feature basic playbooks.
I am a playbook and scheme guy and 07-11 featured some amazing playbook additions that make 06 look inferior. I try to remind myself though that gameplay matters more.
Overall
The biggest thing you need to know about 06 is I think it is the best game with the most fun gameplay and features with the least amount of flaws.
It has it problems like any other game, but none of those issues have ever stopped me from playing it.
One of the reasons 06 is so popular is due to later games having more issues that aren’t worth dealing with.
This doesn’t mean that 06 is great by default, it’s just that EA Sports messed up a few things in the later games which I will cover.
I have hundreds of hours of 06 gameplay footage on the channel and have been playing this game consistently since it was released if that tells you anything.
NCAA Football 07
Gameplay
EA Sports introduced several gameplay features and as the theme with that company, most new things are overdone or don’t work well at all.
The first one is Jump the Snap (JTS). This feature lets you time the snap just right on the line to shove an offensive linemen down and make a big play.
JTS isn’t realistic. How may offensive linemen get shoved to the ground in a game?
Unless Aaron Donald is on the other team, not many defensive linemen should be able to blast offensive linemen so frequently.
The biggest issue I have with it is that the CPU defense can time it much more frequently compared to your own CPU players.
So unless you can time it yourself, you will always be at a disadvantage.
Thankfully you can mitigate this some with using various snap counts to draw the defense offsides and by turning off Auto Throw which was added in 07.
With Auto Throw off, you let the CPU drop your QB back perfectly without throwing the ball for you which can lead to less JTS issues.
If you control your QB’s drop back then your linemen may be suspect to JTS or just missing blocks altogether.
The next feature is the Momentum Meter. The more good plays one team has, the better chance more good plays will follow.
This is the main feature that keeps me from playing 07-11. It may impact turnovers, especially fumbles, but I have no way of verifying that.
You will have some games where 5+ turnovers are the norm. I’ve been able to overcome the other team’s momentum.
For those who aren’t fans of impact players can rest easy as this feature seems a little toned down compared to 06.
This is perhaps the game’s biggest problems as after playing several seasons on Heisman difficulty, the CPU offense can’t seem to produce yards and points.
Regardless of who I play, the other team struggles to move the ball. I think impact players being toned down have an effect on this.
In 06 you can feel who the best players are. In 07, not so much.
The running game feels the same as 06 but with JTS making it a little harder but with some concepts working better than before.
Counters and toss plays are actually doable in 07. They can still get stuffed, but they are vastly improved over 06.
07 features more run concepts wwhich add more depth to a scheme, especially form the shotgun, that are fun to use.
Speaking of, the passing game is even more potent 07.
More concepts and plays with a combination of some routes working better than before lead to a great passing system.
The biggest difference is the curl route. This was a tough route to throw to in 06 but is now almost automatic in 07.
When timed right and thrown well, the curl is amazing against man coverage, even if double-teamed.
It can still get picked off if not executed well though. This route alone, among other things, makes the short passing game in 07 feel very strong which I love as it simply adds more schematic fun to the game.
There are some routes that don’t work as well like whip routes which is fine.
The deep ball feels strong as well although it might be a tad harder than 06.
Perhaps the best thing about the passing game in 07 is the sheer amount of new plays and routes. I’m like a kid in a candy store.
It’s like playing 06 but with brand new playbooks.
Special teams took what seems like one step forward and one step back.
Gone is the three-button kick meter as the new kicking system is joystick related and infinitely easier to control.
They added more special team trick plays which is nice although I can’t say if they work or not.
The Third Person Camera is unique. I used to not like it but I notice I can get more touchdown returns with it than without although I still prefer to see where every player is at during the play.
Graphics & Sound
07 looks the same as 06 to me although I’m sure some things were improved.
The created uniform border glitch is gone which is a plus and some uniforms in general look better. Other that, it looks the same to me.
See my previous thoughts on sound.
Game Modes & Features
For dynasty mode, the Spring Game is the biggest addition.
Beyond just having a spring game, this feature actually has a purpose. You can name MVPs of the spring which results in you selecting your own impact players which is huge.
In 06, sometimes the game will make a kicker an impact player which can be annoying. Being able to decide who your impact players can help your scheme so much.
The rest of the mode seems to be exactly like 06.
Campus Legend replaced Race for the Heisman and what little I have played of it, it’s more fleshed out.
However, I haven’t played enough of it to give a real opinion on it yet. I can see this being a good series for the channel though.
My favorite addition to 07 is how well the playbooks were updated. You can have 12 formations in your playbook instead of nine.
Each team playbook feels unique. There are some plays that are exclusive to a specific playbook so you have to really study the playbooks to see what’s in there.
More formations and concepts never hurt. The defense got some love in this department as well with various 4-3 and 3-4 sets among other new formations.
I can talk about the playbook side of things forever, but well done by EA Sports for giving the playbooks some attention.
Overall
The biggest problems I have with 07 is the momentum meter and the lack of challenge I get.
Unless I am turning the ball over a ton, there’s a good chance I will win, even against more talented teams.
Jump the Snap still bugs me though not as bad at it used too.
I’ve tried to enjoy this game, but some of the additions mentioned keep me from doing so.
Even if I love the playbook additions, gameplay matters more.
NCAA Football 08 & 09
Here is where I will not be as detailed about the games and get to the point of what I mostly don’t like as EA stopped caring about the ps2/xbox games and focused more on the ps3/360 versions.
I will lump 08 and 09 together as they are similar when it comes to the major issues.
There are two big issues with 08 and 09 that keep me from ever playing them ever again.
The first one is the infamous pursuit angle issue. This is where defenders don’t know how to take proper angles to make tackles. It ruins the game for me as it’s way to easy to score touchdowns.
The video below explains this further. This seems tones down a little in 09 but’ it’s still there.
The second biggest issue is the discipline and probation glitch. I discovered this while playing 09, but another gamer confirmed that 08 has the same issue.
This issue involved teams not having enough points to discipline players during the season which results in having the program suspended.
The biggest problem is that by year three, at least 30 teams are put on probation which screws up everything in dynasty mode.
It’s a royal mess and since most of us play dynasty mode, having any fun long-term in that mode goes down the drain, for me at least.
Most features from previous games carry over into 08 and 09 like the Momentum Meter and Jump the Snap.
I’ve been told JTS is even worse in these games. And no, sliders can’t fix any of this stuff on Heisman which is weird, but I have to play on Heisman to get a challenge.
Others have tried to make these games work with sliders but to no avail.
The sad part with 08 and 09 are how some of the positive additions to these games get ignored due to how bad the other issues are.
Expanded playbooks, auto-motion, the option to turn off the special teams third person camera, getting to read corners against zone coverage as actual hi-lo reads, jersey number selection, and spring drills in dynasty mode just to name a few.
Overall, I choose to ignore 08 and 09.
NCAA Football 10 & 11
At this point EA completely focused on the latest generation of gaming and it shows with 10 and 11.
I lump 10 and 11 together as they are literally the same game with 11 having updated rosters.
As usual, everything carries over from the previous games but the biggest blunder is how lazy EA got with prospects.
The majority of 5 star players are either quarterbacks or wide receivers. This makes other positions inferior in talent.
EA didn’t even bother to generate new players every season with in-season recruiting. The exact same prospects are there for every first season of a dynasty.
The only cool thing about recruiting is you can now go after 1 and 2-star kids during the season. None of this matters though since these games are riddled with issues.
I would skip 10 and 11 altogether. I’m not the biggest fan of the ps3 games, but NCAA Football 11 was my favorite of the bunch.
Conclusion
I still recommend 06 first and 2004 after that. Hopefully my 5,000+ words helped you make a decision as to which games to sink your teeth into.
Like I said in the beginning, my thoughts may change on some of these games in time and if so, I will update this post.
And I’m sure I forgot to mention one point or another, but hopefully you have enough info here to make up your mind.
Great write up, and I agree with you on those that I’ve played. I had NCAA 2002 and from there I played Madden until 2011, so I’ve only come back as of late to play earlier games.
I played 2002 back when I didn’t care about challenge, so it almost didn’t count, lol. But I’ll say that when I re-visited it last year, it felt super slow. I couldn’t play a full game. I did like the graphics of the sky and sunset, so there’s that.
Obviously, 2006 brought so much that it’s my favorite of the PS2 era that I’ve played. You’ve pretty much covered reasons why. Honestly, the only reason I’m not still playing it is because of the limited concepts and play styles compared to nowadays.
2011 for the PS2: I wanted the latest game of the era just because I thought it would have the most features. What I hadn’t counted on was how JTS and the insane amount of fumbles would ruin my experience. Not to mention, I could call a Dollar all out blitz in the red zone and stop the CPU every time. Jumping down to All American made offense too easy, so I was in a constant slider battle from which I’d never recover. so the gameplay really had no balance at all.
It sounds like I need to try 07 due to the updated playbooks, but I’m so wrapped up in ‘11 for PS3 that it’ll be awhile before that happens.
How do you deal with the player progression issue in ps3 11? I tried running it on my emulator and had issues but if I ever go back to any of the ps3 games, it would be 11. I remember the read option being a big deal but didn’t work properly in that game.
I’m not really sure what the progression issue really is. I’ve heard people say the players don’t progress at all, which I don’t have that problem. I’ve also heard it had to do with one of the tuners screwing the game up. I’m on PS3 using no patches/updates at all, so I wonder if that’s it.
As far as the read option, it works but you have to use it VERY sparingly and after lots of handoffs. I do most of my running from under center, but I use PA Reads to sort of act as a read option whenever I want to play that style of game.
I’ll try to figure out the progression/patch issue out, if I can get it to work on my emulator. Also, I don’t remember PA Reads/RPOs being in any of the PS3 games.
Yes, I didn’t think RPOs were in PS3 games either. But I faintly remembered someone mentioning that they wished 14 still had the RPOs. So I gave it a try in ‘11 and handed off. It worked!
If that’s true then you need to share that with others on OS as that’s the first I’ve ever heard 11 having that.
Very well written reviews on these games. I really enjoy your channel and I appreciate some of the tips that you’ve given out in past videos, even the Dynasty ones.
I had 2004 & 2005 on the Gamecube and 2004 was the better game of the two. The one gripe I had about ’04: the PA announcer flip-flopped Montana and Montana State (both FCS schools) where he’d call Montana “Montana State” and vice versa. And as a student at Montana (GO GRIZ!) that kind of annoyed me so I had to change my sound settings to crowd & on-field sounds only whenever I was playing as the Griz in Dynasty or any other mode. Then again, this was the first game in the series to feature the Big Sky Conference schools so I kind of lucked out in that regard. Outside of that, I loved playing that game. Gameplay was amazing, especially on offense. In fact there was one play I always thought was money in 3rd & Long situations, and that was I-formation PA Fade.
I could never get into 2005 because passing the ball was a pain, as it seemed the receivers had hands of stone, so I can totally agree with your assessment of that game being more defense-oriented.
I currently have 07, 09, and 10 for my PS2 and I’ve played 09 the most out of the three, even though you’ve spoken highly of 07 which I’ve actually played very little of. But one thing I’ve actually noticed in both 07 & 09 during Dynasty Mode is if you pick Arizona State for your dynasty team, the Sun Devils never host any of the Oregon or Bay Area schools and play those schools on the road every year; they’d still rotate home & away for Arizona, UCLA, USC, Washington, and Washington State every season. So you’d be finding yourself scheduling all your non-conference games to be played in Tempe every other year because the Ducks, Beavers, Golden Bears, and Cardinal couldn’t come to Tempe. But at least the PA announcer got the Montana Grizzlies and Montana State Bobcats right! I typically don’t really notice anything too weird regarding pursuit angles in 09 but fumbles are so bad I have to max out the RB Ability slider to minimize them as best as possible. Otherwise, 09 plays pretty decently.
I wish I could say the same for 10, because you can really tell that EA/Tiburon shifted a lot of their focus on the PS3/XBOX 360 versions of the series and many things don’t really get updated. I tried doing a Western Kentucky dynasty with 10 and while you get to rotate home & away during Season 1 & Season 2, the Season 2 schedule never changes beyond that season. And that kind of makes playing Dynasty pretty pointless and a waste of time. Another Issue I noticed with that game is some teams don’t even have complete rosters, and WKU only had 46 players. 46 players with no true freshmen! I think 10 is probably better played for Play Now than Dynasty.
I haven’t bothered getting 11 because I’ve heard it’s even more issue-plagued than 10 is, and copies of it floating around on Amazon tend to be a little pricey since it was the last NCAA game for the PS2 console. I’ve seen many of your videos of 06 and the more I see them, the more convinced I want to buy it at my local retro gaming shop or off Amazon/EBay if not available locally. If I do, I hope it’s as amazing as many have said it is.
Good stuff, I would tinker with 09 more but the probation issue kills it for me.
I’ve certainly allowed Al to convince me that 06 is the best of the bunch and I’m ok with that. Ha
I played 09’ a lot last year until my disc cracked. I looked up a lot of info on the game differences, and that probation glitch was a problem. BUT, I started really recruiting with discipline in mind, and would drop recruits immediately when they lacked discipline. I soared to the top because of the other schools probation problems. Nothing like landing a excellent discipline player who is a 5 * recruit. That’s what it takes to run a great program. LOL. Good article though.
Thanks. It’s not so much my players getting in trouble, it’s other teams can’t handle discipline well due to a programming glitch in the game. It’s no fun when 1/3 of the teams are on probation by year 3. The game has other problems too that altogether keep me from enjoying it and playing it more. Overdisciplining players has helped me long term, less troubles down the road regardless of which game I play.
I own and love 09. I think I actually managed to play all of em for PS2, through my childhood. My only issue is in Create a School. The notorious number glitch. No matter what color you set for the outline, it always comes out black, during gameplay. I’ve learnt to work with it, but it takes away so much potential. I
09 has way too many issues for me to enjoy it long term, but it’s cool to see others like it somehow.
I have all the ncaas except 06 and 09-11, but I’ve only played 07 and 08 the other ones I got just to collect them, anyway when you was pointing out the negatives for 08 I realizing the stuff you was pointing out but I never really viewed them as negatives I guess since almost have of the games are older than I am. I watched the pursuit angle video because at first I didn’t understand what you meant but I quickly agreed with you there. I always had this mentality that with each new NCAA game they would build on the last but I didn’t take into account that the new generation of consoles where coming out. One thing I like about all the PS2 football games vs PS3 and PS4 is the movement, to me the newer football game movement is not even realistic, you can move the analog stick side to side and it works better than a juke. One thing i have done while playing NCAA football is messing with the sliders. Also it’s kinda fun playing a game where the SEC isn’t so dominant well at least in 08.
Good afternoon, Al,
I stumbled across this during the beginning of the pandemic, I dusted off my old PS2 and started playing my older games that I already had, in addition to purchasing some other ones I hadn’t picked up when they came out. I noticed some of the games I ended up playing more often, you had not, so I have really been angling for some time to leave my thoughts on some (not all) of these games.
NCAA Football 2002
This game was, to my knowledge, only released for the PS2. This was not the first football game I got for the PS2 (that was NCAA GameBreaker 2001), but it was the one I ended up playing the most, along with Madden NFL 2002. Having a PS2 was huge for this tandem as that meant you could import real draft classes from NCAA Football 2002 into Madden NFL 2002, which I of course took advantage of.
Other than NCAA Football 2004, NCAA Football 2002 was the one I played the most (Granted, I only had 2002, 2004, and ’08, but I’ll get into all that later). The gripe I hear about 2002 is that since it was the first game on PS2, a lot of things that had been present in older titles were not in this one. However, you still have Create-A-Player (accessible from the Rosters menu), Dynasty Mode, and Practice Mode. You can unlock mascots via Campus Challenge cards (although in later games this was an auto-inclusion, not exactly sure when that started). Since I didn’t play the older games on PS1, I was, I guess you could say blissfully unaware, of any exclusions from previous titles.
When compared to later games, 2002 does lack a decent bit. Team entrances only show a few players coming out in a line before proceeding to the pre-game breakdowns by Brad, Lee, and Kirk (which largely remained the same for 2003 and 2004 as far as I can tell). The stadiums are, while distinguishable, more generic-looking in this game than later titles, especially for lower-level (you may call them Group of 5 now) schools. For example, I had a dynasty going with Buffalo (the worst team on the game) and their stadium is presented as a simple bowl that, minus the scenery around it, looks like you could just as well be playing in the Sun Bowl or the Rose Bowl. This was fixed in 2003 as smaller schools had simple double-sided stadiums or berms on one or both endzones.
The one thing 2002 has going for it is the era. I prefer the older, classic-looking unforms, and this game has uniform combinations in it that you may not even be able to find on Google. Buffalo, Troy State, New Mexico State, Boise State, and San Jose State off the top of my head have that drip that is very difficult to Google, if you even can at all. So that’s a perk that a nerd like me can appreciate. I think Boise State’s “Broncos” script on the side of the helmet is quite nice and should be brought back on occasion.
The other thing about this game that may go unnoticed/unappreciated is it’s the first to include a) the Sun Belt as a football conference and b) all of the old Big West teams now in the WAC (the Big West football conference dissolved after 2000). So you’ll see Boise State in the WAC, as they were starting in the 2001 season. 2001 was the first season that had the conference lineup similar to what we see today (minus the dissolution of the D1A WAC).
As far as gameplay goes, it does seem very limited when compared to later games. There are limited animations and I’ve noticed that sometimes it takes a couple seconds or a few steps by both parties before a tackling/break tackle animation kicks in, and it is not always realistic. Sometimes, both ballcarrier and defender will just collide and fall down away from each other.
Passing the ball is not too difficult if you have a decent offensive line and a somewhat mobile quarterback that can at least buy time. Certain routes, especially when braided with another, seem available 70-80% of the time, like the Out and Quick Slant, if you time it right.
Running the ball is difficult if your talent level is below that of your opponent, at least for me. Which is nice, it should be that way. However, if you are on equal or better talent than your opponent, you can expect 5-6 yards a pop (again, this has been just my experience).
The Dynasty Mode is where I notice some real negatives. The recruiting is actually on par with what it is in 2003 and 2004, and you’re limited to a 55-man roster just like in 2003 and 2004. However, in 2003 and all titles after that, you have a breakdown on your roster screen of how many players are in that position group (or on the whole team if you’re in the ALL section), and how many of each class. There is no such assistant in 2002, so you have to either have a calculator or writing utensil and paper handy to keep track of what you’ve got, ESPECIALLY during cuts. Don’t want to cut more players than you have to or want to. Also, I noticed some measurables and ratings for certain prospects/positions could be really jacked up. I played Northwestern with Minnesota fairly deep in that dynasty I was in, and I noticed NW had a 6-2, 251 pound True Freshman HB with a rating of 91. If this was just a rare one-off specimen, I could see it, but this seems to happen with several guys each recruiting class. The other negative is scheduling. You can’t customize your non-conference schedule, and your in-conference schedule does not rotate from one season to the next. For example, in one dynasty I used Minnesota in the 11-team Big Ten, and I noticed from year to year that the dates and opponents of my conference schedule was always the same, with only the site of the game swapped. IIRC, I think Penn State and Indiana were the 2 teams that never rotated onto the schedule. Also, I played the Minny dynasty long enough to notice that the CPU recycles the schedule for every team every 5 seasons. So starting in Year 6, the schedules are the same for every team in the dynasty mode as they were in Season 1, including your own.
On top of all that I just mentioned, the visual and audio appeal of the game is what you might expect for a transition onto a more powerful console. The menu music is not fight songs; rather, it is a generic-sounding jam session. I actually do like the menu music in this game, but it’s not the fight songs we took for granted in all titles after. The other issue is the menu screen backgrounds is just a dull gray, for every menu. The only thing that changes is necessary items like team logo/names/etc. in the Rosters section, for example. Not really a big deal at all but it just doesn’t add much visual appeal like we started seeing in 2003 and 2004.
For you, if you ever played 2002, you’d probably have to play on Heisman and perhaps adjust sliders to get a real challenge. I consider myself in the next tier below type of player, so I play on AA with certain CPU sliders bumped up. This seemed to be a good compromise for me on this game. Is 2002 the best NCAA Football game ever made? No, but it’s a decent one, especially for its time (July 2001 release). It still gets some of my time and energy to this day.
NCAA Football 2003
I’m not sure why this game doesn’t get more love. I did not own this game originally, but I just played 6 seasons total of Dynasty Mode with 2 different teams, so I feel like I can offer some insight on it.
2003 plays much quicker than 2002 and 2004, IMO. Ball has to be out of the QB hands fast, and it seems players play much faster than their ratings would indicate. Which is fine, it just takes a lot of getting used to if you’re coming here from 2002, 2004, or so I’ve heard 2005. Once you’re up to speed, literally, on the gameplay, it’s quite fun in 2003. There are new tackling and let’s call them “highlight” animations, and the tackling animations trip much quicker than they do in 2002, where 2 players may run alongside each other several steps before an animation trips.
2003 introduced all of the Dynasty features that were lost in 2002 but are present in 2004 which everyone loves (including myself). Custom non-conference schedules are back, and conference schedules rotate appropriately (at least they do in the BIG XII). I used Iowa State for one of my dynasties, and the conference rotation for the Big XII South Division was done correctly. Iowa was also locked onto my schedule as it’s a rivalry AND trophy game. That left me with 3 games to play with (which is fine since Iowa is a P5 school and rival). The recruiting in 2003 starts to seem more realistic and doesn’t feature the jumbo-sized prospects that 2002 would throw out. Again, though, it’s the same points-based system used from 2002-2004.
Create-A-School returned in 2003 as well. I used this feature to create University of the Pacific which dropped football in December 1995. In 2003, as with all following titles as far as I can tell, if you want to use an FCS or created team in Dynasty Mode, you have to replace a current FBS team. I decided to replace Tulsa (who was awful and had awful gold uniforms, google those if you want to see the repulsiveness). This also allowed me to play my rival, San Jose State, in-conference (WAC) in November every season. The Create-A-School suite is everything that’s in NCAA Football 2004.
The visual appeal took off starting in 2003 as well. The main menu and dynasty menu both feature mascots and cheerleaders animating in front of the background of that team’s home field and stadium. 2002 only features mascots animating on a blank white background. The menus are uh, colorful, let’s say. EA went with a split color scheme for team roster menus. For example, the background on the left side of the screen for Iowa State is yellow, with red lettering and numerals. The right side of the screen is the opposite. For 2004, EA just went with a single color background and lettering/numeral scheme, which I think is easier on the eyes. The font type and size is the same in 2003 and 2004 as well. Another thing you start to see in 2003, especially on the Dynasty Weekly Schedule page, is waving flags of each team’s logo. This is present in 2004, also.
I want to leave further thoughts, but since I have so many, I’ll make separate posts for 2004 and 2008, as these are the only 2 games I bought on launch and therefore played the most after 2002. Hope this information helps you out and I look forward to continued discussion. Thanks!
This is great stuff! I plan on going back and playing the games older than 06 which I’ve worn out at this point. 04 has intrigued me the most of the older ones for various reasons, but I like the idea of playing them all at some point, maybe one dynasty for each.
Hey Al,
Thanks for your response. 2004 is very good, but 2003 is very similar as far as presentation and visuals go. I also noticed the dynasty schedule rotation in-conference was done correctly, at least for the Big XII. Sounds like for you, though, you definitely want to try both to see which speed of gameplay you prefer. 2003 seemed a lot faster to me than 2004. Both are fine/fun in their own right, but if you are going to be switching back and forth, it will take some getting used to each time.
2004 and 2008 are the two games I’ve logged the most hours on by far. 2004 is quite similar to 2003 minus the gameplay, which I mentioned above. A lot of what is in 2003 is the same as 2004 (which makes me wonder why nobody seems to remember 2003, a lot of what 2004 is based on started with 2003), namely the points-based recruiting at the end of every season (an issue for some regarding immersion, but I don’t mind it), and custom non-conference scheduling in dynasty.
Some of the differences in 2004, though, seem to be in the crowd and the presentation. The color and presentation in 2003 is by no means lacking, but the color and vibrancy in 2004 to me just seems to jump off the screen. It’s not too bright or overwhelming, it’s just right. Also, the crowd reacts during the play, especially if it’s a big play. If you break one, the crowd will get louder every 10-20 yards or so as your player approaches the end zone, resulting in a crescendo when your player crosses the goal line. It’s a small thing, but I love that kind of stuff.
One note about in-conference rotation (in 2002, 2003 and 2004 as far as I can tell) *without* divisions, though. The same problem in 2002 that I noted with the 11-team Big Ten, seems to still be present in 2004. I ended up joining C-USA with a created team, replacing Cincinnati and thus inheriting their schedule, and I found I never played Tulane or Houston. The game seems to rotate conference schedules correctly for conferences with divisions, but not teams without divisions that have more than 9 teams and therefore can’t stage a round robin.
One cool/underrated item in dynasty mode (again, that started with 2003) is the weekly Sports Illustrated cover and updates. I love exiting the Play Week screen after every week to see what the Sports Illustrated photo, headline, and caption will be. Even the sub-items within it have captions and photos. Player of the Week, Conference Standings, and Heisman Race (my three favorite sub-SI items) are all updated weekly with a fresh take. I love that.
I believe you mentioned that custom playbooks wasn’t a thing in 2004. This is true, and started with 2005. You can mix and match formations to create your own playbook starting with 2005. I know starting even way back on the Madden series with Madden NFL 2003, that you could create a play even, but I don’t think you can in the NCAAs, for whatever reason. In 2002, 2003, and 2004, you just have to go with a team-specific playbook, or a generic one (I actually use Pass Balanced).
The game play in 2004, again, seemingly slower than 2003 to me (but that’s not a bad thing), is super fluid. Quarterback ratings seem to matter. For example. I like to run concepts and formations where I hit quick/fast guys underneath, mostly from the slot, but not always. If I have a 70-ish QB with 70-ish pass accuracy, the zig out or quick out is by no means a guarantee, and I find it’s incomplete almost half the time, sometimes more than that if it’s to the wide side of the field. It’s aggravating in a big situation, of course, but it’s also quite realistic, which I’d rather have. Going deep seems to be difficult in this game, though. I play on AA with the defensive awareness slider up and the knockdown slider slightly up, so perhaps that’s it, but unless I get M2M coverage on a post or a flag, I really have trouble completing anything downfield. The Triple/Option is quite fun in this game and really underrated IMO. I don’t remember which game it was, maybe it was 2008, where they really emphasized and promoted the Triple/Option so much so that it was OP at times, but that’s not the case in 2004. You can still run it and have success, but you won’t end up with 350+ yards every single game doing it. Defensively, sometimes user DTs seem to be unrealistically bullish, though. I have ended up with interior DTs rated in the 70s or very low 80/81 having multiple-sack games and double-digit sacks at the end of the season. A minor quibble, and certainly not a big deal, but you don’t see that outside of Aaron Donald, Ndamuking Suh. That’s really the only defensive knock I can think of, though, outside of the zone coverages feeling quite suffocating.
One other in-game item I’ve noticed is how deep is the commentary. I’m not sure how big you are on this, but I’ve played 2004 basically non-stop when I got it in July 2003 until the spring of 2007, and then fairly often again since the pandemic started. I still hear commentary from all 3 folks that will be new to me, or at least something I had only heard once or twice before. Nessler seemingly has at least one call ready for almost any play outcome, specific to what kind of play it was and who the play was to (pass to WR or TE, he’ll even note the type of pass, or a handoff to tailback/fullback) and Lee and Kirk still surprise me every now and then with what they have to say. I know a lot of people even back then buttoned through that, and still probably do, but I like to have the whole game experience, so I listen to all of it.
Overall, from a gameplay standpoint, 2004 is about as close to perfection as you can get, IMO. Unfortunately, when it comes to off-field features and advancements, it’s quite lacking. It’s as if it was released one season too early, as 2005 added a lot of supplemental things within the modes, and then 2006 added more. I’ll reply to a more appropo post or reply for my thoughts on 2008. Thanks again, love your content. The Duke run was something else.
2004 is a strong one, but it’s missing quite a few gameplay aspects I wish it had. 06 just plays better to me than the rest in terms of gameplay. And as you mentioned, 04 is also missing dynasty features too. It’s cool to see someone still enjoy 04 though. I’m curious about your 08 comments since that game is riddled with issues but either way, thanks for your comment.
Hey AL. Love your work. I just noticed on 06 that if you take a fast qb like Vince Young and run a 5 WR set with the qb running outside the pocket that the slot receiver will be open everytime. Must be a glitch in the game.
Which version of these games or better. Ps2 or Xbox?
There should be no difference. I’ve heard in the past how like in 05 where drops are a big issue where the Xbox version has even more drops, but I can’t prove that. I’ve always been a ps2 guy and thankfully it’s still more accessible today from a PC/emulator and memory card/file front compared to the Xbox.
The unfortunate reality for me is that NCAA 07-11 are all unplayable for an extended period of time. Every game has its flaws, even 06, but the games that followed have game-breaking issues. It seems like these games were meant to be played with extended quarter lengths or in user vs. user matchups. The most frustrating aspect is that both NCAA 07 and 08 introduced significant improvements to their respective games.
NCAA 07 – EA Sports tends to go a little overboard when introducing new features and then forcing them upon you. The ideas of JTS (Jump The Snap) and the momentum meter were good in theory, but poorly executed. We all know that a football game can change with one big play, but the problem with it in NCAA 07 was that it was extremely imbalanced. The team with momentum saw their players performing above their ratings, while the opposing team suffered the opposite effect. I recall playing a game against Notre Dame and witnessing their impact safety standing still until I crossed the line when my team had full momentum. However, when the tides turned, that same safety suddenly became aggressive and made a play at the line of scrimmage on the same exact play later in the game. This inconsistency detracted from the overall enjoyment of the gaming experience. I don’t want to feel like I have to rely on momentum for my team to perform as they should. Additionally, the excessive turnovers, fumbles, interceptions, tip passes, and big hits caused by this feature only added to the frustration. Making the right offensive or defensive reads should result in successful plays, not be hindered by momentum swings. While the Jump The Snap feature was somewhat more tolerable, it was still frustrating to see offensive linemen being knocked over by average non-Power Five linemen. Sliders can help mitigate some of these issues, but finding the perfect set that aligns with your playing style can be challenging due to the numerous variables at play.
NCAA 08 – I really want to like this game. I appreciate the addition of features such as the highlight stick, toned-down momentum meter, customized zone drops, QB avoidance stick, and more. However, this game feels like you have to completely change your playing style for it to be enjoyable. You really can’t use the sprint button on offense due to the defenses’ poor pursuit angles and their tendency to come all the way down to the line of scrimmage in man coverage is unacceptable. While I have had some good games playing this title, these restrictions prevent me from fully immersing myself in a Dynasty mode. Additionally, this is the first year where the player disciplined glitch rears its ugly head. Honestly, I never noticed this back when I was playing the game years ago. It wasn’t until I did research online that and saw the glitch. I recently simmed a dynasty to see some of the results I would get for fun. The first thing I noticed was for my first three games I had players who needed disciplinary actions. For the first season, I simmed week by week and took care of all the disciplinary actions. By year three my team, along with a third of the country was on probation. Some people can look past this, maybe even make up storylines for their dynasty for why each team has those sanctions but after looking and seeing what happens in the dynasty, some very wacky teams start to emerge. There would be teams that dominated whoever they played but wouldn’t make a bowl game because of their probation sanctions. Iowa vs Cal was a national championship game and the college football landscape just looked wacky. Yes, I understand that in our respective dynasties there will always be a random team that emerges and becomes a really good team, but these teams felt like they were there because the top teams in their conferences lost their bowl bids. I’m all for seeing the underdog team beat the odds, but knowing it’s due to a glitch in the game ruins the experience for me.
NCAA 09 – This game had potential, but for whatever reason, it felt like the offense took a step back from ’08. It seemed like you had to play with the CPU offensive sliders jacked up for them to move the ball with any kind of regularity. If not, the CPU would get its yards off random big plays while it felt like you were in control the whole game. The discipline glitch still persists in the game and will continue to be an issue throughout the rest of the series on PS2.
NCAA 10/11 – In my opinion, both of these games had very good gameplay. It finally felt like you could get a challenge from the CPU. These games felt the most updated in terms of playcalling and the way college football is played compared to today. All the same features from the previous games were polished and felt like they were brought to a tolerable level. However, the lack of focus on the dynasty mode, likely due to the focus on the current generation versions of the game at the time, made these games unplayable very quickly outside of your regular play-now gamesYes, having updated rosters is a nice feature, but the continued neglect of FCS schools and historic teams, along with a dynasty mode plagued by disciplinary issues and sanctions, added to a new problem of an abundance of quarterbacks and wide receivers with high overalls (90+) quickly soured the experience. I recall looking over the roster and seeing Alabama with two 99 overall quarterbacks and five wide receivers all rated 90+. That imbalance was a turn-off for me. Despite the great gameplay, I couldn’t fully enjoy it knowing that those same players would carry over into Madden for imported Draft Classes.
Love it or Hate it NCAA 06 brings the best college football experience on the PS2 and arguably ever. I know it may seem like the cliché or easy answer, but it’s true. Not talking anything always from the pervious games, but they are too old for me to enjoy for an extended period of time. 03 and 04 VERY solid games. solid gameplay, but the are way to outdated for me. Too many advancements in the series since then. Even NCAA 06 is outdated in terms of what’s going on it college football. Concepts, playbooks, team identity is vastly different, some of which were fixed in later games. The competition, creativity, enjoyment, is unmatched to any other college football game I’ve played. Seeing an impact player blinking, you know you’re about to possibly see something special. The strategy, fun, and schemes were all present in NCAA 06. You could see the opposing team’s star athletic cornerback on offense for a play or two in the game to either get the ball or serve as a decoy. This level of detail and immersion was not as prominent in other versions of the game. The running quarterbacks felt like true dual threats, adding another layer of excitement to the gameplay. I could go on and on, but I’ll end it here. I’ll wrap this up by saying that as much as I want there to be another game, NCAA 06 feels like the only option. 🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️