| | Operation Sports:NCAA Football 2005: Under Pressure
By Shawn Drotar, Managing Editor, OperationSports.com
Grace under pressure: The ability to perform at your best when the situation is at its worst. It's what separates the good from the great—and the great can win you games when the chips are down. The ability to find that “clutch” performer at the right time can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
In NCAA® Football 2005, the clutch player makes a difference as well, and the developers at Electronic Arts have come up with some innovative new ideas to bring that exciting level of realism to your Xbox®. Every player in the game has a “Composure” rating—a guide to help you determine who can handle the pressure best and, conversely, who gets jittery when the game is on the line. A player's rating will play a part in his Composure, but his experience is an even bigger factor. Seniors and juniors tend to be more composed, since they've battled on the college gridiron for years and know both what to expect and what's expected of them. Sophomores have even less experience, and freshmen, of course, have none whatsoever: 100,000 rabid, screaming Michigan fans are pretty likely to throw the kids off of their game.
The game day crowd can help, or hurt.
NCAA Football 2005’s Composure system is remarkably fluid and realistic. Players' confidence will be higher at home, and lower on the road, sometimes dramatically if they're playing at one of the schools with, how should I say it, a more passionate following. As the game wears on, the score, situation, and how the player himself has played also factors into the equation. It's not coincidence that most national championship teams are laden with upperclassmen: They handle the ups and downs better, and the factors mentioned above won't affect them as drastically.
During a game, you can pause and visit the In-Game Strategy menu. From there, select Depth Chart, and take a look at the ratings and composure of every player on your team. A white circle denotes a composed player, while half-black, half-white represents a slightly jittery player. A black circle indicates a player who's rattled. A small red bar alongside each circle further illustrates the difference between players' current composures.
Every player's Composure rating can change during the course of the game. If your quarterback has been throwing interceptions, his rating will decrease as he begins to lose confidence in himself and struggles to improve his play. On the flip side, a linebacker who's intercepted a pass or made a quarterback sack will see his Composure rating rise, since he's feeling good about his play thus far. These changes in Composure directly affect the game through each player's other ratings. If you go into your Depth Chart menu and look at the poorly-playing quarterback, you'll likely find that his overall rating has dropped. The linebacker in our example, however, has seen his overall rating increase. These will change through the ebb and flow of the game. If the quarterback gets hot, throwing a touchdown or two to get his team back into the game, then his Composure rating will rise again, and his overall rating will rise as well. 
Choose your match-ups carefully.
There's an easy way to take advantage off all this information on the field, with the Match-up Stick. When your players are at the line of scrimmage, you can use the right thumbstick to view how members of the offense stack up to their counterparts on the defense. By pushing the stick in one of three directions, you can quickly and easily view the composure of each player and his overall rating. The same black/white icon from the Depth Chart menu will appear directly under each player, along with a small bar on its right. If the bar is green, the player is talented. If it's red, well … then not so much. The bars will also be longer and shorter depending on each player's talent level.
Flip the thumbstick to the right, and you'll see how the two lines match up. Point it down, and it'll display the offensive backfield and linebackers. A quick nudge to the left will show how the receivers match up against the defensive secondary. See a composed senior flanker matched up one-on-one against a rattled freshman D-back? Call a hot route and send him deep, and watch the veteran beat the kid to the end zone.
It's real college football, where every play and every match-up matters. That's NCAA Football 2005.
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