NCAA Football 13 ratings 'down to a science'

NCAA Football 13 ratings 'down to a science'

Published Jul. 2, 2012 9:04 a.m. ET

When college football teams across the country wrap up their respective recruiting classes the first Wednesday in February, one college football powerhouse is just beginning its player evaluations.

That would be the folks over at Orlando-based EA Sports, makers of the ultra-popular NCAA Football series. Once rosters for the upcoming season appear finalized on National Signing Day in the real world, the process of replicating those rosters in the video game world takes center stage.

"That's when you know what the makeup of the team is going to be," said Ben Haumiller, associate producer for NCAA Football 13. "Maybe a junior declared early so a team isn't going to have that senior leader at quarterback. Or are you looking for a hot-shot freshman that's going to be the future?"

The annual process of transforming real players into two-dimensional graphics culminates on July 10, with the release of EA Sports' latest college football game on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. What college football fans may not recognize while playing is the arduous detail that goes into completing such a product.

Haumiller said a team of roughly 60 people -- including engineers, artists and designers – work on the game. EA Sports actually employs one person — a man with a degree in mathematics who also is an avid college football fan — to handle the all-important duty of determining player and team ratings.

"He's kind of got it down to a science of how he's going to rate players and get teams in the way that he wants them to look," Haumiller told FOXSportsWisconsin.com last week. "Way back in the day, it used to be very much tuned by feel. You just set numbers and figured things out. He's got a regimented mathematical approach that speeds things up tremendously."

Through the complicated mathematical formula, a highly rated star quarterback is given more weight than a top-rated tight end toward the overall team ratings because his value to the team is more significant. Haumiller said even the best teams often wind up in the 80s on a 100-point scale once all player ratings are configured. But team numbers are boosted to the high 90s because fans want the top teams to be as close to 100 as possible.

An early look at the video game's ratings for the 2012 season reveals that five teams earned a 99, the highest overall team rating in the game: LSU, Oregon, Texas, USC and Wisconsin — although team ratings don't necessarily reflect the game's top 25 poll.

Alabama is ranked No. 1, followed by USC, LSU, Oregon and Oklahoma. Wisconsin, despite having a 99 team rating, is ranked No. 16 in the top 25.

Haumiller said the video game makers hold a roundtable discussion with college football fans to help determine the top 25.

"It's one of the most fun meetings of the year," Haumiller said. "We're trying to mirror what we feel the first coaches poll or AP poll is going to look like. A lot of times we are very happy to see how close we can get it. I'd say we average 17 or 18 schools that are within one ranking spot of where they actually get released in the polls."

Due to NCAA restrictions on the amateur status of athletes, players' real names are not used. But standout players in the game certainly possess the physical and athletic attributes of their real-life counterparts. For example, Matt Barkley, otherwise known in the game as USC's "QB #7," has an overall rating of 98, as do Manti Te'o (Notre Dame's "MLB #5") and Montee Ball (Wisconsin's "RB #28"). Those numbers represent the highest overall individual ratings in the game, and all three are potential Heisman Trophy finalists next season. 

Haumiller said that while makers of the video game cannot use actual names, they do attempt to replicate the style of play from each team. Wisconsin, for example, is known nationally as a power running team, which shows up in the game.

"You have a phenomenal offensive line," Haumiller said. "You've got a tremendous halfback. You start building your pieces from there so that when someone picks up and plays the game, even though we don't have the real players, if they know Wisconsin, they have an idea of what they expect to be able to use and how that team is going to play. We want to replicate that and want them to feel that same way."

Haumiller said USC's pro-style attack, Oregon's spread option offense and Georgia Tech's triple-option offense are among the styles unique to each team that translate to the game. 

Sometimes, however, the game does not fully represent a team on the field. Last year, quarterback Russell Wilson transferred to Wisconsin in July, drastically changing the team's fortunes on the way to a Rose Bowl appearance. But because of the late transfer, he was not included on the Badgers' roster in the video game. Haumiller said all roster updates must be finished by April for the game to ship in July.

Among the biggest enhancements implemented in this year's game is the opportunity to play with 16 former Heisman Trophy winners. Gamers can put those winners on any college team for one season to see if they can earn the Heisman Trophy again. The list of Heisman Trophy winners in the game includes: Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III, USC running back Marcus Allen, Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie, Oklahoma State running back Barry Sanders and Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.

The NCAA Football series is one of the top-selling sports video games in the United States. Haumiller said it sold nearly 2 million units last year on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. This year's game marks the 20th installment in the series, which was first released as Bill Walsh College Football in June 1993. 

Haumiller said members of the EA Sports team already are planning for next year's video game and thinking even further down the road, when a four-team playoff becomes an integral part of the college football season.

"Right now the subject of the playoff comes up, so you're thinking about how you're going to adapt to it," Haumiller said. "You've got to start thinking about those things. But you definitely take some time to decompress and relax. The crunch to get a game finished is pretty insane. It's a lot of work."


Follow Jesse Temple on Twitter.

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