College Football: 5 Best college football video games of all time
4. EA’s NCAA Football ’02
EA’s NCAA Football 2002 moved from the PlayStation 1 to the PlayStation 2 console and with that came a huge jump in graphics and a loss of game features. However, the most important feature was the Dynasty Mode and it was there for the ’02 edition. This was the first year where the NCAA game felt as detailed and cared for as the NFL version.
The game featured Brad Nessler, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso on commentary not to mention the cheerleaders, mascots and bands that separate college and pro football. The 2002 version’s AI was vastly improved and a good option quarterback wouldn’t pitch into traffic while running speed option with Ken Dorsey always felt like a mistake waiting to happen.
The recruiting process in Dynasty Mode was excellent in the 2002 edition. Larger schools like Florida State had bigger recruiting budgets than a lowly Tulane or UCF. The mode showed Top 100 players, your current targets, broke down recruits combine numbers such as height and 40 times, and as the head coach you had to figure out where to spend your recruiting points to take the UCF Golden Knights to the national championship which was my goal back in 2001.
I also enjoyed playing as my Miami Hurricanes and the greatest team of players ever on one roster is here for NCAA ’02 as the 2001 Miami Hurricanes defeated the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the 2002 Rose Bowl for the championship. I lost many afternoons building my UCF dynasty while I should have been studying; don’t worry- I still graduated.