As fans are probably well aware by now, college football is doing away with the BCS, a controversial system used to determine a team's ranking, and ultimately the two national championship eligible teams, based on several debatable factors. Replacing the BCS will be a new playoff system whose details are still not totally fleshed out. The new format for post-season play won't go into effect until after the 2014 season which leaves us with one question — how will NCAA Football 14 handle this change? Turns out, it won't.
NCAA Football 14 will continue to sue the BCS system as a way to determine the national championship team, even beyond the initial season in any dynasty you might have.
"The BCS will continue as the post-season format for all years of Dynasty," an EA representative told me on behalf of NCAA Football 14 producer Ben Haumiller.
"We don’t yet have all the info about how the playoff system will work, including who will make up the selection committee and what their criteria will be for picking the playoff teams, and it’s our policy to not include anything in-game that hasn’t been approved and finalized by the NCAA," he explained. I wasn't told if a playoff system would eventually be patched into the game once all of the details are finalized; however, EA seems content with keeping the current BCS intact, at least for this year.
Looking toward the future, there are still plenty of changes that will take place across the college football landscape — most of it relating to conference alignments. While NCAA Football 14 will recognize the new American Athletic Conference (formerly the Big East) along with the many other conference alignment movements, it won't take into account the future movements of teams like, for instance, the departure of Louisville and Rutgers from the AAC. Although not confirmed, I'm assuming NCAA Football 14 will allow you to rearrange the conferences once again.
NCAA Football 14 is set to release on Tuesday, July 9 for Xbox 360 and PS3. No next-gen platforms have been announced.
