Washington Huskies Football: NCAA 14 Ratings Released

Nov. 23, 2012; Pullman, WA, USA; Washington Huskies running back Bishop Sankey (25) cuts the ball up field a against the Washington State Cougars during the first half at Martin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

One of the most exciting times of the year for anyone with a gaming system is when the biggest sports games come out. EA Sports’s NCAA Football 14 is due to be released on July 9, but the top-10 players’ ratings on each team were released on Thursday. The five-minute video goes through each team’s roster and shows a screen of the team’s top-10 rated players in the game. Washington shows up at the 4:34 mark, if you’d like to skip ahead in the video.

Here are the top-10 players on the Huskies and their ratings, according to NCAA Football 14.

1. TE – Austin Seferian-Jenkins – 92 overall
2. SS – Sean Parker – 91 overall
3. HB – Bishop Sankey – 89 overall
4. WR – Kasen Williams – 89 overall
5. DE – Josh Shirley – 89 overall
6. LT – Micah Hatchie – 89 overall
7. DT – Danny Shelton – 87 overall
8. DT – Sione Potoa’e – 87 overall
9. MLB – John Timu – 87 overall
10. WR – Kevin Smith – 86 overall

The Huskies, as a team, are rated 91 overall (91 offense, 90 defense) — good enough to tie for second in the Pac-12 with Stanford and USC, behind Oregon (95).

A few of the picks surprise me, most notably the absence of Shaq Thompson. There are a few other players that could make a case to be in the top-10, but Thompson’s absence jumps out more than anyone, especially with Parker rated so highly. Playing next to each other for some time last season, Thompson looked just as impressive as Parker in the secondary. Maybe the move to linebacker hurt his rating.

As far as inclusions, Hatchie and Smith are my two biggest question marks. Both have shown to be reliable role players, but more deserving of a spot in the top 10 than Thompson, Travis Feeney or Marcus Peters? I would have to disagree. With a team rating of 91, it is possible that all these guys not included sit just outside of the top 10 with ratings around 84 or 85, too.

As far as team ratings go, here is how the whole conference stacks up:

1. Oregon Ducks – Overall: 95, Offense: 99, Defense: 92
2. USC Trojans – 91, 95, 90
3. Stanford Cardinal – 91, 91, 93
4. Washington Huskies –  91, 91, 90
5. UCLA Bruins – 88, 88, 87
6. Arizona Wildcats – 86, 86, 88
7. Utah Utes – 86, 84, 87
8. Arizona State Sun Devils – 84, 86, 83
9. Oregon State Beavers – 84, 86, 83
10. Cal Bears – 84, 86, 83
11. Washington State Cougars – 81, 83, 80
12. Colorado Buffaloes – 79, 81, 78

If you ask me, the team ratings discredit the player ratings a little bit. Rating ASU and Oregon State the same as Cal, as eighth-best team in the conference? That’s laughable, seeing as many are picking the Sun Devils to win the South and the Beavers to compete with Washington, Oregon and Stanford for the North title. Ranking USC as the second-best team in the conference with Stanford and Washington? Also laughable. EA may love the Trojans, but there is no excusing rating a team that is expected to win seven or eight games a 91-overall, with the second-best offense in the conference.

My version of the ratings go like this:

1. Oregon, 95 overall (good job, EA, you got this one right)
2. Stanford, 94
3. Arizona State, 91
4. Washington, 90
5. UCLA, 89
6. Oregon State, 88
7. USC, 88
8. Arizona, 86
9. Utah, 86
10. Cal, 83
11. Washington State, 80
12. Colorado, 78

There is quite a difference in rankings/ratings between mine and EA’s, but it is nice to see the Huskies highly rated. I know I’ll be picking up the game this summer and avenging the Apple Cup a couple dozen times before Husky Stadium opens August 31 versus Boise State (86 overall).