Bookies in Vegas might like the NFL, but (just as in basketball) the real spirit of football lives in the NCAA. Over the past couple of years, EA has been bringing the collegiate game home in NCAA Football, with a full roster of mascots, cheerleaders, rivalries, and dynasties. With little in the way of competition, EA generally has the pre-pro market cornered, but for 2005 it's not simply rehashing last year's release. Instead, the development team has sought to capture the elements that make college football a totally different beast from the pro game. Based on an early look at code for all three platforms, it seems to be doing its job well.

Intimidation is a much bigger factor in college ball than pro, and NCAA 2005 has taken the influence to heart. New composure ratings affect player performance in detailed ways. Make good or bad plays, and the ensuing lift or depression with noticeably alter performance. The composure ratings can be called up instantly at the line of scrimmage, showing how offense and defense match up. For example, you'll be able to check your receivers' ratings versus opposing defensive backs, or compare offensive and defensive lines. Two pieces of info are revealed in the pull-up HUD: morale and skill level. The former can fluctuate dramatically from play to play, while skill seems to be a more stable rating. And, if a few guys are sagging in spirit, the team captain can give a quick pep talk to pump them up.


Personal performance can change the game, but the crowd can realistically rattle players, too. Home-field advantage lets home defense pump the crowd up loud enough that the volume will actually shake the camera and vibrate the opposition's controller. The implementation is solid, with a one-button control (or two-button for the more limited GameCube pad) tapped before the snap to excite or cool down the crowd. The volume can also negatively affect the visiting offense when trying to hear audibles, and you might see some false starts when the noise level cranks up to full thunder. The upper limit of crowd noise will change from stadium to stadium, and a smart player should be able to exploit the home advantage to outperform even a much more potent adversary.

The best way to see the new composure and home-field elements in practice is to jump into one of the rivalry games. With my own Texas history at work, I stepped into UT's offense against A&M in the now-classic post-Thanksgiving game. NCAA gives some detail on the history of the rivalry, displays the results of the past five years, and sets the weather and temperature conditions appropriately for a late November game. The usefulness of the home advantage was immediately obvious as I was able to use the crowd against the Aggies right from the start.