Nebraska football's virtual gridiron legacy: The Huskers' EA ratings history

After a monumental 11-year hiatus, the beloved college football video game has made its triumphant return in the form of EA Sports College Football 25. The memories of buying the game on release day, launching a dynasty with the Nebraska football program, and forming irrational attachments to players like Heisman-winning quarterback Brian Hildebrand (who I just now learned was supposed to be Joe Ganz) come flooding back. It's a nostalgic journey that we're all excited to embark on once again.

Leading up to the release of EA College Football 25, I reloaded all my old games to look back at the rosters of past Huskers teams. I collected all the overall ratings for the 859 virtual Huskers that have appeared in a game since NCAA Football 2003. With all this data, I wanted to see how well each position group on the current Huskers rated compared to those on past games. For this exercise, I looked at the top quarterback, two halfbacks, three wide receivers, two tight ends, and six offensive linemen and averaged their ratings to get the unit’s score.

Nebraska football quarterbacks

Incoming freshman Dylan Raiola has the highest ceiling of any quarterback in Husker history. But when it comes to the highest-rated QB1 in each game, he ranks 12 out of 13 (80 overall) ahead of only Jammal Lord (76 overall) in NCAA Football 2003. This puts him in a tie as the 21st highest-rated QB on a game with NCAA Football 2005 backups Garth Glissman, Mike Stuntz, and Jordan Adams (although Garth humbly disagrees).

With EA releasing rating updates throughout the season, I believe they aired on the cautious side of the initial roster, knowing that if a freshman plays well, they can always increase their ratings later. Taylor Martinez (NCAA 14) and Sam Keller (NCAA 2008) share the highest overall Husker QB title at 91.

Halfbacks

In the 12 games between 2002 and 2013, the Nebraska football program had some special running backs – Dahrran Diedrick, Cory Ross, Roy Helu, Rex Burkhead, and Ameer Abdullah. However, since the game ended, only two Huskers have rushed for 1000+ yards – Ameer and Devine Ozigbo. Looking at the top two RBs, it is unsurprising that this group is the worst backfield the Huskers have had in the series. The current roster has three players tied at 79 overall. The only other time a top two HB on the Huskers was ranked below an 80 was on NCAA 2014 when Imani Cross was rated 77. Four Huskers have reached 93 overall, with Dahrran Diedrick, Marlon Lucky, Roy Helu, and Rex Burkhead all accomplishing the feat.

Wide Receivers

The receivers are the first area where the current Huskers don’t rank towards the bottom, with the current unit at 8. On NCAA Football 2004, the Husker managed no wide receivers over 70 overall. Jahmal Banks, Isaiah Neyor, and Malachi Coleman have an average rating of 81.7. However, this unit is still far from the 2010 unit of Niles Paul, Menelik Holt, and Chris Brooks, three of the top five Husker WRs ranked in an EA College Football game.

Tight Ends

Thomas Fidone II and Nate Boerkircher are tied with Jake Long and Sam Cotton (NCAA Football 14) as the Huskers' tenth-best tight end grouping. Matt Herian represents the gold standard of Huskers tight ends in NCAA Football, having been the only Husker TE to be at least a 90 overall (and he did it three times, no less)! This is a unit I could see moving up the ranks in future roster updates. If Fidone can play well and Carter Nelson, who isn’t on the game, plays well and agrees to a NIL deal with EA, I could see this unit having a massive improvement in future roster updates.

Offensive Line

Another unit and another last-place ranking for the current Huskers. In past games, lineman weren’t always assigned to their correct positions, so I took the six best offensive lineman to calculate the unit rankings. Only seven times have the Huskers had a top 6 OL rate below 70 overall, and three of those are current players – Micah Mazzccua (78 overall), Henry Lutovsky (78 overall), and Turner Corcoran (79 overall). Bryce Benhart (85 overall) is the Husker's top offensive player on College Football 25 and ranks as the 29th-best OL to appear in an NCAA game.

The initial ratings of the 2024 Nebraska football team in College Football 25 reflect the poor offensive output on the field in 2023. However, with Dylan Raiola's arrival and Glenn Thomas's addition to the coaching staff, we can't help but feel a sense of anticipation for the potential improvements for the upcoming 2024 season. I’m hopeful and excited to see all these position groups increase their overall ratings by December!