My Wishlist for NCAA Football 24

“Just update the rosters on NCAA 14 and rerelease it,” said -a guy on Twitter in November 2022. Now I could see EA doing that however, I am holding out hope that they will do some justice to this game and series that we have had to wait ELEVEN YEARS for another installment. Thank God for modders, youtube creators, and my PS3 otherwise I would have lost my mind waiting for the day the new NCAA Football comes out. Now some of the items on my wish list are musts as well so without further ado unlike the game itself here is my wish list for NCAA Football 24. These will be broken down into categories

Gameplay

1. To not be a Madden clone.

The great thing about the original NCAA games was that they played and looked differently than their Madden counterparts. The controls and engine of NCAA 14 are not the same as Madden 25 nor do the graphics look the same. For someone who never grew up playing both, they wouldn’t understand. Starting with Madden 09 and NCAA 08 I fell for both game series. As time has worn on however Madden has fallen so far that I have not bought a game since Madden 19 and before I bought that one, I had not played a newer Madden since Madden 15. If EA were to use the same engine from NCAA 14, I do not think anyone would bat an eye.

2. Give the same level of overhaul that you did to NHL 23.

Now for those of you who don’t play NHL games, they are the only EA sports games that any even close to being a true improvement from one to another. Look no further than the most recent installment as EA took the massive improvements from NHL 22 and expanded upon it greatly with new intro player, fan, and arena animations, Be A Pro mode, and presentation. Build upon the foundation from NCAA 14 with the same level you did with NHL 23. But not like Madden does their “improvements”.

3. NO MUT!!!!

MUT and its clones have not been fun except for MLB because of the Customization options and NCAA started to fall into this trap. Yes, gather around children to listen to the old man regale you in tales before microtransactions. NCAA 14 had their MUT clone called Ultimate Team very original I know. I played this mode once after the servers had been shut down and that made it unplayable. Beyond that, however, it wasn’t a good idea as the NCAA does lend itself to historical items like that, but maybe not in that way. Perhaps a legends mode or something

4. No X Factor BS

The X factor and other special perks were among the things a disliked in the new Madden and easily the worst addition to the NHL games. NCAA 14 was very reliant upon what the ratings were for each player. And each player played like their ratings.

5. MASCOT MASHUP

Easily one of the most fun modes to play as a kid. The players take a seat as the Mascots strap up to settle their differences on the gridiron. It was unironically some of the most fun I had as a kid. West Virginia and Notre Dame became bitter rivals on that mode for me as neither mascot wore any extra gear, so it was like backyard football.

6. Ability to Add Custom Audio

Previous NCAA games allowed you to use custom cheers, chants, sound effects, and songs to make your NCAA experience different from anyone else’s. Want to have a bell toll on 3rd down just go in and add it, want a certain song to play for kickoff you could do it. This is an aspect of the franchise that should be brought back.

7. Entrances for teams

I know this seems like a small thing, but it is for me a very important thing as few things are as exciting in college football as the entrance. Enter Sandman in Blacksburg, Howards Rock in Clemson, Osceola in Tallahassee, The Masked Rider in Lubbock, The Boomer Schooner in Norman, running through the T in Knoxville, and Truman’s Taxi in COMO. I am sure there are many more I am missing here like all the animals that run out with the teams like Beevo, Rocky, etc.

Team Builder

8. For it to be good and be a thing

Yes, I know that seems like a low bar however this is EA we are talking about here. Bring back team builder for us to use and watch all the great and some horrible schools come to life. Now there are several more in-depth things that I would like to see as well.

9. Create a Stadium

EA had it to create a team in Madden for years so why not bring it back for NCAA as part of the new team builder? It doesn’t have to be fancy or in-depth just give an option of like 4 or so options for each thing similar to the NHL and still have the other stadium options like in the old team builder.

10. Create a Mascot

Another idea from the NHL franchise is the create a mascot. It could be the same options for mascots as in NHL that’s still more options than what was available in NCAA It would give people the option to breathe more life into their schools.

11. Custom Fight Songs

Along the lines of the custom audio in the previous category, you should have the ability to have your fight song for your school. Maybe even have some samples to use for Team Builder.

Dynasty Mode

12. Shaping Your Own NCAA

No not just flipping some teams around as in adding brand new conferences or removing conferences. Creating a playoff that you want to use or going back to the old BCS. Removing, be able to edit, or create new bowl games with locations. With rivalry trophies/ awards for you to be able to win.

13. Improving Importing Teams

When you imported a team in NCAA 14 you had to remove an existing team which made for some hard decisions outside of getting rid of Idaho and Old Dominion. Because if you wanted to make dynasty mode where you added the schools that have joined the FBS say App State and Charlotte you couldn’t add Georgia Southern, Liberty, etc. if you wanted an accurate FBS dynasty. Just having the ability to plop my team builder team into Dynasty mode without removing a team.

14. More FCS Opponent Options

The five or so options are nice until you’re in year 6 and you’ve played FCS Southeast twice on a dynasty mode. Why not give the option of using a custom team builder team as an FCS opponent, or have the actual FCS schools in there?

15. More Neutral Site Options

Even if it was all the NFL stadiums as options that would give a lot more options. In addition to the neutral sites already like Cotton Bowl (OU vs Texas), Choctaw Stadium (Army vs Air Force), Ireland, Fenway Park (Boston College vs Notre Dame), etc.

Road to Glory

16. Don’t be whatever the hell Madden and 2K are doing

Look I get it we are in the age of video games being the new movies, but some games don’t need to be that. And football games' career mode doesn’t need to be that when all you can be is a QB, WR, or RB. And Road to Glory should not fall into that same trap.

17. Bring back the NCAA 11 style of Road to Glory

The presentation was exactly what a Road to Glory mode should be. A sports analyst shows your highlights when you’ve done something of note or won a big game. With additional commentary from an expert. Heck if you want to update it you could make it in the form of a Barstool style show.

18. Keep NCAA 14’s High School Football Customization

NCAA 14 got it right when it came to the high school portion of Road to Glory. You created your high school, uniforms, and field. While having a fully customizable schedule where you could edit everything about your opponents. Including bringing in a Team Builder team for you or your opponent.

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9. Allow us to play as OL, Fullbacks, Punters, and Kickers

Madden 11 is my favorite Madden of all time one of those reasons is because you could play the Be a Superstar as a Fullback, Lineman, and more. That and other reasons like the AFL mode, but back on track the amount of fun I had bulldozing defenders on running plays was incredible. And that fun should be brought to NCAA 24 and Punter and Kickers are people too because it’s For the Brand!

There you go is my wish list for NCAA 24 what did I miss, leave out, or get wrong let me know on Twitter @BrockGorton99