UCLA Football: Ratings in NCAA Football 19 (if it still existed)

SBNation released their projected ratings for every Division I football team in EA Sports NCAA Football 19 (if the game franchise still existed) which included the ratings for UCLA football.

It was five years ago when the the last edition of EA Sports NCAA Football was released. The beloved game was a summer highlight for college football fans that were able to get their fix before the upcoming season started. Unfortunately, it was not long for this world.

But even though the game is no longer with us, the spirit is, and thanks to Jason Kirk of SBNation, you can see what your favorite team would be rated if the the game existed today. So what would the UCLA football team be rated in NCAA Football 19?

First let us look at his criteria for Kirk’s rankings. His “rough process” for ratings include Bill Connelly’s S+P ratings, the use of EA Sports’ 60-99 rating scale, tweaks for notable transfers and tweaks for major coaching moves.

One would always have to allow a little bit of leeway in the game for the team ratings, but for the most part, they were accurate enough, including UCLA’s in the “19” edition?

UCLA Football’s Mock Ratings for NCAA Football 19

Overall – 80
Offense – 87
Defense – 76

With an 80 rating, UCLA would be the 41st best team in the nation. Not a bad assessment, especially since several outlets have UCLA around the same ranking. SBNation has them at 39, USA Today has the Bruins ranked 42nd and Athlon has them at 50th. Kirk actually checked several existing team rankings as a baseline, and it seems to line up for the Bruins.

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Though the overall rating seems on par with the expectations placed on UCLA for 2018, the offensive and defensive ratings are a bit surprising.

The 87 rating for the offense is quite good, which means that Kirk (using the parameters of his rating process), probably bumped up UCLA due to their hiring of Chip Kelly. The 76 rating for the defense is questionable.

It is true that UCLA did not have a good defense last season as they gave up 483.7 yards per game, putting them 122nd out of 129 teams. But in my opinion, the rating could be bumped up slightly due to the hiring of Jerry Azzinaro as the defensive coordinator.

Though I agree with the 80 overall rating, I think at this point, the offense should be at 84 and the defense at 79 (if not higher). My basis for this reasoning… UCLA Spring Game.

Though the offense had some bright spots, the Spring Game showed that they need more time to understand and operate Kelly’s offense, especially since they have no idea who the starting QB is.

Next: UCLA Football: 10 bold predictions for the 2018 season

As for the defense, they have the talent, but now they have the coaching and style that could make them a very dangerous group of defenders.