NCAA Football 14 ratings revealed

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, more commonly known as E3, is underway in Los Angeles. It is arguably the biggest video game related conference in the world. All the big shots show up to reveal new games, new hardware, and demo never-before-seen technology. Why does this matter to you? Because the newest installment of EA Sports NCAA Football 14 is being showcased on the floor, and those inside the Los Angeles Convention Center revealed the team ratings for all 126 teams.

Depending on your outlook for the coming season, Kentucky’s ratings might surprise you. Take a look at a breakdown of the entire Southeastern Conference.

 

SEC TEAMS RATINGS ACCORDING TO EA SPORTS

TEAM	OVERALL	OFFENSE	DEFENSE
Alabama	99	99	99
LSU	93	93	92
Georgia	91	95	88
Texas A&M	91	95	88
Florida	90	90	92
Ole Miss	90	91	88
South Carolina	90	88	90
Arkansas	88	88	87
Auburn	88	88	90
Mississippi State	88	90	85
Missouri	88	90	87
Tennessee	86	84	88
Kentucky	84	84	83
Vanderbilt	83	84	82

 

The Cats are second-to-last in the conference. But an 84-overall rating doesn’t seem too bad, does it? It’s on par with other teams ranking in the bottom handful of their conference as well.

Looking at how EA Sports ranks the teams appearing in Kentucky’s schedule, it falls in line with what we expected; an absolute gauntlet through mid-September into mid-October, playing Louisville, Florida, South Carolina, and Alabama, with the season corner stoned by two of the easier games on the schedule in Western Kentucky and Tennessee.

 

KENTUCKY 2013 SCHEDULE

TEAM	OVERALL	OFFENSE	DEFENSE
vs. Western Kentucky	75	72	78
vs. Miami (OH)	72	74	71
vs. Louisville	90	93	88
vs. Florida	90	90	92
at South Carolina	90	88	90
vs. Alabama	99	99	99
at Mississippi State	88	90	85
vs. Alabama State	—	—	—
vs. Missouri	88	90	87
at Vanderbilt	83	84	82
at Georgia	91	95	88
vs. Tennessee	86	84	88

 

Beginning the season with a win — or better yet two wins — is important for any team in any conference. But the importance for Kentucky cannot be overstated enough. Two of the weakest teams, at least according to Electronic Arts, come back-to-back to start the year. It’s these games that inevitably doomed Joker Phillips. If you can’t win the gimmies, you can’t win anything.

Knocking off Bobby Petrino and the Hilltoppers in Nashville will be a huge morale boost for a team that went months without a victory last season. Come back and beat the second-worst team on the schedule (including unranked FCS-division Alabama State) the following week, and you can hype up the Louisville game to no end.

Because you were wondering, three of the top five rated players in the game are in the SEC: No. 1 Jadeveon Clowney (DE, South Carolina), No. 2 Johnny Manziel (QB, Texas A&M), and No. 4 A.J. McCarron (QB, Alabama).

Also checking in the top-rated players is No. 8 Teddy Bridgewater (QB, Louisville), and No. 10 Aaron Murray (QB, Georgia).