EA Sports' team ratings for the 2014 installment of their yearly college football title NCAA Football have been released via Tradition Sports Online from the E3 (the largest video game conference of the year) floor. The team prestige ratings have not been released, but with some intelligent guesses, you could ballpark that figure yourself.
The Hokies, as we reported earlier today, were looked upon favorably in the team rankings:
#Hokies a 91 on O, 95 on D & 93 OVR RT @kegsneggs NCAA '14 team ratings revealed. Alabama is basically a cheat code. bit.ly/14UbEvu
— GobblerCountry.com (@gobblercountry) June 11, 2013
As for where that ranks amongst all FBS teams? Well, we'll tell you. Overall, the Hokies are behind or tied with:
OVERALL RANKINGS
Alabama 99 OVR
Oregon 95 OVR
Ohio State 95 OVR
Notre Dame (tied) 93 OVR
LSU (tied but the combined total of offense and defense favors Tech by one) 93 OVR
Clemson (tied, but the combined total of offense and defense favors Tech by one) 93 OVR
And that's it. So the Hokies are tied for the fourth best team in the game with Notre Dame, and technically LSU and Clemson, though by the offensive and defensive ratings the Hokies hold the advantage. So looking at those offensive and defensive rankings, where does Tech rank? Ask and you shall receive:
OFFENSIVE RANKINGS
Alabama 99
Oregon 99
Ohio State 97
Oklahoma 97
Clemson 95
Georgia 95
Texas 95
Texas A&M 95
USC 95
Florida State 93
LSU 93
Louisville 93
Notre Dame 93
Kansas State 91 (tied)
Miami (FL) 91 (tied)
Michigan 91 (tied)
Nebraska 91 (tied)
North Carolina 91 (tied)
Stanford 91 (tied)
Washington 91 (tied)
That would put the Hokies' offense tied for 14th nationally with seven other schools, high praise for a team that finished as low as it did a season ago offensively and lost its top three receivers and perhaps top two offensive linemen. Not to mention a quarterback who was among the NCAA leaders in turnovers a year ago and no established running back. But I'll take it if you say so EA. There are of course some other teams EA missed on when calculating this rating as well, many of which were brought up in the comments section of the Kegsnegss blog (the site from the above tweet) post on the ratings (See Texas as a 95 despite finishing the last two years No. 40 and No. 54 nationally in offense respectively, North Carolina as a 91 (they do know Gio left, right?) and you guessed it, your Hokies, who finished No. 81 in the nation in total offense with 377.76 ypg).
That of course still leaves defense, where the Hokies are almost always stronger. Here are the teams that are ahead of the Hokies on that front.
DEFENSIVE RANKINGS
Alabama 99
ANNNNNNNNNDDDDD.....That would be it. That's right, your Hokie defense, despite how we feel about it personally, is ranked second in the entire nation. That's not to say that the 2012 version of the defense wasn't good or didn't have to overcome any adversity, as they finished in the top-25 nationally in most major categories, including total defense. But, based on their preseason expectations, they underperformed. Granted they will have as many as nine starters back, including one additional starter from two years ago. But even then, this is probably generous. On paper they're this good or at least have this much potential, but they have yet to put it all together. Perhaps they'll pull a Florida State from a year ago. All I know is that after a 7-6 season, the program's worst in 20 years, several people are awfully high on the Hokies (Phil Steele ranked the Hokies No. 12 in the nation a few days ago).
Below is the complete chart of team rankings from SB Nation's rankings post:
TEAM | OVERALL | OFFENSE | DEFENSE |
---|---|---|---|
Air Force | 70 | 68 | 71 |
Akron | 63 | 61 | 65 |
Alabama | 99 | 99 | 99 |
Arizona | 86 | 86 | 88 |
Arizona State | 84 | 86 | 83 |
Arkansas | 88 | 88 | 87 |
Arkansas State | 77 | 79 | 76 |
Army | 72 | 72 | 73 |
Auburn | 88 | 88 | 90 |
BYU | 83 | 84 | 83 |
Ball State | 79 | 86 | 73 |
Baylor | 90 | 90 | 88 |
Boise State | 86 | 90 | 82 |
Boston College | 86 | 86 | 85 |
Bowling Green | 74 | 75 | 75 |
Buffalo | 79 | 81 | 78 |
Cal | 84 | 86 | 83 |
Central Michigan | 72 | 72 | 71 |
Cincinnati | 81 | 81 | 83 |
Clemson | 93 | 95 | 90 |
Colorado | 79 | 81 | 78 |
Colorado State | 72 | 74 | 73 |
UConn | 81 | 84 | 80 |
Duke | 79 | 79 | 78 |
ECU | 84 | 86 | 83 |
Eastern Michigan | 65 | 68 | 65 |
FIU | 79 | 77 | 80 |
Florida | 90 | 90 | 92 |
FAU | 75 | 77 | 76 |
Florida State | 91 | 93 | 92 |
Fresno State | 81 | 84 | 78 |
Georgia State | 60 | 60 | 60 |
Georgia | 91 | 95 | 88 |
Georgia Tech | 86 | 83 | 88 |
Hawaii | 77 | 77 | 76 |
Houston | 84 | 86 | 83 |
Idaho | 63 | 67 | 61 |
Illinois | 83 | 86 | 80 |
Indiana | 81 | 83 | 82 |
Iowa | 88 | 88 | 90 |
Iowa State | 81 | 81 | 83 |
Kansas | 81 | 84 | 78 |
Kansas State | 86 | 91 | 83 |
Kent State | 74 | 75 | 75 |
Kentucky | 84 | 84 | 83 |
LSU | 93 | 93 | 92 |
La Tech | 74 | 75 | 73 |
Louisville | 90 | 93 | 88 |
Marshall | 74 | 77 | 73 |
Maryland | 86 | 86 | 85 |
Memphis | 70 | 72 | 70 |
Miami (FL) | 90 | 91 | 88 |
Miami (OH) | 72 | 74 | 71 |
Michigan | 91 | 91 | 92 |
Michigan State | 91 | 90 | 93 |
MTSU | 74 | 75 | 75 |
Minnesota | 79 | 79 | 80 |
Mississippi State | 88 | 90 | 85 |
Missouri | 88 | 90 | 87 |
North Carolina State | 84 | 84 | 85 |
Navy | 74 | 74 | 75 |
Nebraska | 88 | 91 | 85 |
Nevada | 75 | 77 | 73 |
New Mexico | 65 | 67 | 66 |
New Mexico State | 65 | 68 | 65 |
North Carolina | 91 | 91 | 90 |
North Texas | 72 | 72 | 75 |
NIU | 79 | 83 | 78 |
Northwestern | 86 | 86 | 87 |
Notre Dame | 93 | 93 | 93 |
Ohio | 79 | 83 | 76 |
Ohio State | 95 | 97 | 92 |
Oklahoma | 91 | 97 | 88 |
Oklahoma State | 91 | 93 | 92 |
Old Dominion | 70 | 74 | 68 |
Ole Miss | 90 | 91 | 88 |
Oregon | 95 | 99 | 92 |
Oregon State | 84 | 86 | 83 |
Penn State | 84 | 86 | 85 |
Pitt | 77 | 77 | 80 |
Purdue | 84 | 84 | 85 |
Rice | 75 | 75 | 76 |
Rutgers | 84 | 86 | 82 |
SMU | 81 | 83 | 78 |
San Diego State | 84 | 84 | 83 |
San Jose | 77 | 81 | 76 |
South Carolina | 90 | 88 | 90 |
South Alabama | 68 | 67 | 70 |
Southern Miss | 74 | 72 | 75 |
Stanford | 91 | 91 | 93 |
Syracuse | 81 | 83 | 80 |
TCU | 84 | 86 | 85 |
Temple | 81 | 81 | 82 |
Tennessee | 86 | 84 | 88 |
Texas | 93 | 95 | 93 |
Texas A&M | 91 | 95 | 88 |
Texas State | 68 | 67 | 70 |
Texas Tech | 86 | 90 | 83 |
Toledo | 81 | 84 | 78 |
Troy | 75 | 75 | 75 |
Tulane | 75 | 77 | 68 |
Tulsa | 79 | 84 | 75 |
UAB | 68 | 68 | 68 |
UCF | 83 | 86 | 82 |
UCLA | 88 | 88 | 87 |
UL Lafayette | 77 | 81 | 75 |
UL Monroe | 75 | 79 | 75 |
UMass | 61 | 61 | 65 |
UNLV | 72 | 75 | 70 |
USC | 91 | 95 | 90 |
USF | 84 | 81 | 87 |
UTEP | 75 | 77 | 73 |
UTSA | 68 | 68 | 70 |
Utah | 86 | 84 | 87 |
Utah State | 75 | 77 | 75 |
Vanderbilt | 83 | 84 | 82 |
Virginia | 84 | 86 | 83 |
Virginia Tech | 93 | 91 | 95 |
Wake Forest | 83 | 83 | 85 |
Washington | 91 | 91 | 90 |
Washington State | 81 | 83 | 80 |
West Virginia | 84 | 83 | 87 |
Western Kentucky | 75 | 72 | 78 |
Western Michigan | 72 | 74 | 71 |
Wisconsin | 88 | 88 | 88 |
Wyoming | 75 | 77 | 75 |
EA has also released the top-15 players in the game, none of which are Virginia Tech players. We will try to have a staff member play NCAA Football 14 as a preview each week prior to the Hokies' game and post the results on the site. If you would be interested in such a post, contact the site at chicagomaroon@hotmail.com.
For more on everything Virginia Tech football, including post that derive from video games, Gobbler Country is your #1 hub.