NCAA 11: Well, Shit

As UConn sets up to play Cincy in order to secure a Bowl spot, I decided to do some solo dynasty testing to check the stat engine, recruiting, player progression...some of the nuts and bolts before starting to write my review.

And, well...shit.

I was really hoping that nothing would pop up that kicked the game in the nuts, and honestly I do not know how much this will upset people but I know it upsets me.

At the start of the game there are 12 teams rated in the "A" range. At the start of year two I only saw right. Which I thought was cool.

Then I saw why.

Special Teams.

Ohio State, USC, Texas, and countless other teams were rated a D or LOWER in Special Teams starting the 2011 season.

The reason?

Kickers. As in, the AI will rarely carry more than one. So, at the start of the 2010 season teams with a Sr. kicker must sign a freshmen kicker in order to field a team and they sign 1 star no names who can't kick a 40 yard FG. There are 70 roster spots and the game SHOULD have came preloaded with more than one kicker per team to avoid this from happening.

Ohio State played 2011 with a freshman kicker who connected on 43% of his field goal tries.

OSU lost 5 games.

USC's freshman kicker did better, nailing 55% of his kicks. If you're new to this whole football thing -- that's awful.

Last year in the real world of college football the worst kicker, percentage wise, was a kid from Akron who went 7 for 15 on the year. He was ranked last.

In NCAA 11, after the first season if you are playing a Dynasty, that's par for the course for teams who had to sign a new kicker.

Think this is trivial? Have you played a game against a kicker rated an overall 52? Let's just say it sort of takes the excitement of that last second 40 yard FG pretty much right out of the conversation.

More later as I sim into season 3 to see if these kids improve to the point of at least respectability.