Which of these teams would you have started a dynasty with?

There is no new college football video game released this July, but we won’t let that stop us from torturing ourselves with what might’ve been.

Every year since NCAA Football left us, I try and guesstimate how EA might’ve chosen to rate each team’s quality, if it’d released a new edition. (Also, yes, you can just download player-created 2018 rosters for NCAA 14, if you still have an older system.)

Before you yell at lil ole me for underrating your team, as if I matter in any way, here’s the rough process:

The baseline: Bill Connelly’s projected S&P+ ratings for overall, offense, and defense.

I cram that into a 60-to-99 scale, fitting EA’s traditional range for FBS teams.

I make a few adjustments based on big transfers (Shea Patterson pulls a few team offense rating points from Ole Miss to Michigan, for example) and general public sentiment (for example, Bill’s numbers are not excited by West Virginia, but most humans are, so I gave WVU a bump on offense to reflect the game people would want to see).

Though the game has a whole other metric for incorporating coach impact, I still make some tweaks there. For example, Scott Frost to Nebraska bumps up the Huskers’ offense, and new UCF HC Josh Heupel mitigates the Knights’ losses there, but Mizzou replacing Heupel with the dreaded Derek Dooley demanded a nerf.

And a check of the many early top 25s and top 130s made by humans, just to see if all this sort of lines up with what the public expects.

That gives us this:

What NCAA 19 team ratings might’ve looked like

Team Overall Offense Defense Team Overall Offense Defense Alabama 95 91 96 Ohio State 95 95 91 Clemson 94 88 98 Washington 93 89 94 Auburn 92 88 93 Georgia 92 91 91 Notre Dame 91 88 92 Penn State 91 90 89 Oklahoma 90 94 82 Michigan 90 84 95 Michigan State 90 81 96 Wisconsin 89 88 91 Miami 89 87 89 Mississippi State 88 84 91 LSU 87 83 90 USC 87 87 86 UCF 86 92 79 Florida State 85 86 86 Stanford 85 90 81 TCU 85 82 89 Oklahoma State 85 91 79 Virginia Tech 85 81 90 Oregon 84 89 83 Texas A&M 84 85 85 Ole Miss 84 91 76 Texas 84 82 88 Boise State 84 81 88 Utah 83 82 86 Missouri 83 90 78 Louisville 83 89 76 Florida 84 83 87 FAU 83 86 82 Arizona 82 90 76 South Carolina 81 83 84 Wake Forest 81 86 80 Iowa 81 79 88 NC State 81 89 78 Northwestern 81 80 86 West Virginia 84 92 78 UCLA 80 87 76 Memphis 80 89 73 Duke 80 76 86 Washington State 80 79 82 Pittsburgh 80 81 81 Fresno State 79 78 83 Iowa State 79 76 85 Texas Tech 80 84 77 Boston College 79 77 85 Toledo 79 81 80 Baylor 79 82 76 North Carolina 79 82 80 Arkansas 79 84 77 San Diego State 78 79 81 USF 78 77 81 Georgia Tech 78 81 78 Purdue 78 82 76 Nebraska 78 84 76 Houston 79 80 84 Kansas State 81 85 80 Indiana 77 76 81 Marshall 77 75 83 Appalachian State 77 76 81 Kentucky 77 76 80 California 77 78 79 Arkansas State 77 81 73 Arizona State 77 81 74 Minnesota 76 72 81 Ohio 76 79 75 NIU 76 74 81 Louisiana Tech 75 77 76 Syracuse 75 81 73 Wyoming 76 70 85 Virginia 75 70 82 SMU 75 83 69 Vanderbilt 75 75 75 BYU 75 68 84 Troy 76 76 79 Utah State 75 74 78 Maryland 76 79 76 Tennessee 77 76 82 Temple 74 73 78 Miami (Ohio) 74 73 78 Navy 77 82 76 Middle Tennessee 74 73 76 Rutgers 73 67 82 North Texas 73 81 69 Western Michigan 73 74 73 Colorado 72 75 68 Cincinnati 72 72 71 Western Kentucky 72 71 72 UAB 72 71 73 Army 71 72 72 Buffalo 71 75 68 Colorado State 71 76 67 Southern Miss 71 70 72 Eastern Michigan 71 65 78 Bowling Green 71 75 67 Tulane 70 80 63 Illinois 70 66 73 Nevada 70 74 67 New Mexico State 70 68 73 UMass 70 73 68 Kansas 69 65 72 UNLV 69 73 66 UTSA 69 63 78 Georgia Southern 69 65 75 ULM 69 80 60 Oregon State 70 73 67 Tulsa 68 76 61 South Alabama 68 67 70 Air Force 69 75 64 New Mexico 68 67 68 Georgia State 67 65 69 Old Dominion 67 62 71 Central Michigan 66 61 70 Ball State 66 65 68 Akron 66 60 72 FIU 66 68 63 Coastal Carolina 66 65 68 UL-Lafayette 65 74 60 Hawaii 65 67 63 Texas State 64 61 66 UConn 64 71 60 East Carolina 64 74 60 Charlotte 64 60 67 Kent State 64 60 68 Rice 63 64 61 San Jose State 61 64 60 Liberty 60 61 62 UTEP 61 60 64

And then a few more adjustments:

Of course, then you’d need to give 10-point boosts to popular teams like Notre Dame, Texas, and Michigan, as it often felt like EA did.

For the full EA effect, you’d also need to make the top three or four teams in each category a full 99, even though a 99 should be reserved for a true, proven, all-time elite. Does anybody expect this year’s Alabama, Clemson, or Ohio State to be one of the greatest teams ever? A modern game would be wise to start out the best teams lower than 99 and make them work their way up, via in-game updates later on.

Which team would you pick for dynasty mode?

Arizona would’ve been a crazy popular pick for every mode, thanks to dual-threat QB Khalil Tate. Trick plays would’ve made Purdue’s playbook a frequent choice.

But for dynasty mode, you want to start at the bottom, albeit with one fun piece to build around. You want a school in an oddball location and no real history of winning, so you can tell your friends you turned [Random School] into a power.

UNLV would’ve checked every box, coming off its 15th losing season this century but boasting Armani Rogers, a big and speedy QB with three years of eligibility still to go, and access to Cali recruiting. And maybe you could’ve downloaded the new Raiders stadium for his senior year.

Anyway, what do you think? Sorry for reminding you there’s no game this year.