Brent Yarina, BTN.com Senior Editor, June 11, 2013
You know it's summer when video game ratings receive as much attention as they did Tuesday afternoon. The reason for all the talk? NCAA '14 team ratings were released, and a few of the grades were a bit interesting.
Like Iowa receiving an 88 overall, the same as reigning Legends Division champ Nebraska and Wisconsin and higher than Northwestern (86), which returns most of the nucleus from a 10-win season.
Here's how the Big Ten teams stack up:
1. Ohio State 95 (97 offense, 92 defense)
T-2. Michigan 91 (91, 92)
T-2. Michigan State 91 (90, 93)
T-4. Iowa 88 (88, 90)
T-4. Nebraska 88 (91, 85)
T-4. Wisconsin 88 (88, 88)
7. Northwestern 86 (86, 87)
T-8. Penn State 84 (86, 85)
T-8. Purdue 84 (84, 85)
10. Illinois 83 (86, 80)
11. Indiana 81 (83, 82)
12. Minnesota 79 (79, 80)
Check out these reactions on Twitter:
/dies of laughter at Iowa's NCAA 14 rating
— Ivan Bologna (@PV_GIA) June 11, 2013
WAIT IOWA IS BETTER THAN WISCONSIN? NCAA '14, EA SPORTS, COME ON SONS!
— I?m Steve Allen. You?re stealing my bit. (@thegnc) June 11, 2013
EA Sports is trolling the entire B1G, particularly Iowa fans. Buy your tickets for Minneapolis right now, you guys.
— Ben Dawson (@BenjaminJDawson) June 11, 2013
https://twitter.com/Adam_Jacobi/status/344560430376693760
Iowa is rated 88 overall in NCAA 14. Apparently EA Sports isn't always watching what's in the game.
— Ben Jones (@Ben_Jones88) June 11, 2013
Is it possible the MSU offense is ranked a 90 so the NCAA can say the game clearly isn't based on real players?
— Mike Wilson (@ByMikeWilson) June 11, 2013
Hard to argue with any of those tweets. To the game's credit, it did get the Big Ten's best team right: Ohio State (95).
But having Michigan State as the second best team, tied with Michigan and ahead of Nebraska, Northwestern and Wisconsin, is almost as questionable as the surprising Iowa overall rating. Iowa and Michigan State's 88 and 90 offensive ratings, respectively, aren't easy to comprehend, either.
Worst of all is this: There's a bigger gap between Iowa and Minnesota (9 points) than Iowa and Big Ten favorite Ohio State (7 points)!
Clearly, EA knows something the rest of us don't.
About Brent Yarina | BTN.com web editor Brent Yarina covers football and men's basketball for BTN.com. He writes the popular uniform feature "Clothes Call," which also focuses on the latest cosmetic changes across Big Ten arenas and stadiums. Read all of his work here. You can subscribe to Yarina's RSS feed and follow him on Twitter @BTNBrentYarina. |