Clady strong, Scandrick fast in Madden 09

The latest version of Madden was released on Tuesday, much to the dismay of our social calendar. Seriously, between Boise State football and video games, we're booked for the next few months.

While each year brings new features to the game (Cris Collinsworth, anyone?), the updated rosters get people talking just as much as anything else. An 85 overall rating for Matt Leinart? Please. At least it appears that the Madden folks have the numbers right for Boise State's two newest NFL stars.

Ryan Clady

• Overall: 79
• Morale: 95
• Acceleration: 85
• Strength: 87
• Runblock: 80
• Passblock: 88
  

Orlando Scandrick

• Overall: 73
• Speed: 97
• Acceleration: 97
• Awareness: 42
• Man coverage: 79
  
• Zone coverage: 78

Madden lists Clady's catching ability as a 45. They must not have seen the Idaho game.

Player ratings [IGN.com]
Fastest players in Madden [List After List]

Wednesday: Links with determination

Story of the day:

For Oregon fans, BSU a better draw than some Pac-10 teams [Arbiter Online]

No wonder tickets for the Boise State-Oregon game are in such demand. Duck fans would rather see the Broncos than several conference opponents. Sorry, Stanford.

"Frankly, the Boise State game has garnered the type of interest amongst our ticket holders and donors that is as great as some of our conference games and greater than some conference games," Mike Marlow, senior associate athletic director at the University of Oregon said. "It's been a ticket that has been in demand from our season ticket holders and donors as well."

We're curious to find out what demand is for the Utah State game (or if "demand" is even the right word).

Also in the Arbiter's story was news that the Boise State ticket lottery would be happening soon. However, they neglected to describe what kind of lottery it would be. Scratch tickets? Ping pong balls? Names out of a hat? Human tetris contest? College journalists have a lot to learn about asking the right questions.

Other links:

Brock Forsey to speak at local youth camp [Statesman]
OBNUG to crash local youth camp.

Nevada's terrifying schedule poster [Wizard of Odds]
The wolf eye follows you everywhere.

Ada County Vandal picnic on Saturday [Statesman]
Bring your lowered expectations. And a Jell-O salad.

Minor glitch in Boise State's NCAA 09 schedule [GameZone]
No more Idaho State at least.

Flash animation of BSU's new turf [Statesman]
That's one way to spend your resources.

Virtual football kicks off tomorrow with NCAA 09

Fall practice may still be three weeks away, but for many college football fans, the season begins tomorrow with the release of EA Sports' NCAA Football 09. And by "college football fans," we mean "geeky guys."

The release of NCAA has become an annual sign that the long, boring, football-less summer is almost over. Now, instead of playing out the Boise State season in our heads and with our M&M's, we can plug NCAA 09 into our PS3 and watch the whole thing unfold before us. (Full disclosure: we do not own a PlayStation 3. We own a Gamecube.)

For Bronco fans, the game may be a little less exciting than last year's Jared Zabransky version. Unfortunately, the Marty Tadman cover idea we submitted did not fly with EA Sports. However, there are still more than enough reasons to buy the game.

• Kill time before August 30.
• Have your own quarterback competition.
• Take as many tries as you need to beat Oregon in Autzen stadium.
• Prove that Fresno State is overrated.

There's a lot of information on the game available on the Internet (the entire Bronco playbook is here; eyes off, Akey!), and the early reviews have been excellent. Each year EA seems to improve from the previous version, and this year appears to be no different. Of course, what would an EA Sports video game be without loads of new features? NCAA 09 sure has plenty of upgrades.

• Online Dynasty Mode. Up to 12 players can compete with one another online in dynasties that can last as long as 60 years. With features like this, who needs girlfriends? Til death do we part, NCAA 09.
• Break Away Animation engine. Apparently, you will have more control than ever over the movements of the players. Want Ian Johnson to spin away from a tackle? Just rotate the control stick. Want Kellen Moore to sidestep a defensive end? Wiggle the analog to the left. Need to help a freshman with a midterm? Use the controller as a pen (feature available only on Wii).
• Composure. Have you ever seen a quarterback lose confidence after an interception? Of course you have! Boise State plays in the WAC! Well, NCAA 09 will take advantage of this real-life phenomenon by testing the composure of in-game players. Throw a pick-six, and you'll have to read the defensive photos to see where you went wrong. If you can't figure it out, then you must be playing with Nathan Enderle.
• Celebration mechanic. The Syracuse Orange wants to party! In NCAA 09, you can celebrate touchdowns with mascots, fans, or yourself with just a push of a button. Take that, NFL!
• Realistic lighting. The graphics engine has been souped-up to provide a more accurate rendering of time-of-day. This will come in handy for those 9:00am San Jose State home games.
• 60 frames per second. We don't know what this means (see "Gamecube," above).

A new play-calling system, customizable music, and much more will be included in the game. But our favorite feature of the NCAA series, more so than the unique stadiums, the crowd influence, the rankings, and the option, is the fact that you can end the season with a playoff if you want to.

That is reason enough to buy the game right there.

NCAA Football 09 [EA Sports]

Wednesday: Links with anticipation

Story of the day:

D-1 bowl trolling for D1-AA participants [Missoulian]

Got any holiday plans, Weber State? If not, then there might be a desperate lower-tiered bowl that wants to speak to you.

We found a lot of gems in the Missoulian's series on the University of Montana's chances for a move to Division I-A, but none of the tidbits were as strange and embarrassing as this one.

Last fall a lower-tier bowl called the Big Sky Conference to inquire about inviting one of its teams. We are not making this up.

“It kind of caught us by surprise,” said Montana athletic director Jim O'Day. “But I think it's something that might have to happen.”

The obvious question is which bowl was doing the inquiring. There are only a few small-time West Coast bowls that would have been interested in a Big Sky team, and yes, the Humanitarian Bowl would probably be on that list. Any guesses would be pure speculation. That said, we are looking at you, Emerald Nuts San Francisco Bowl.

The story was somewhat of an admonishment of Division 1-A's lax standards on bowl eligibility. How great would it be to see a 6-6 Minnesota lose out to an Alcorn State? Is this why NCAA administrators are so hesitant to go to a playoff system?

Other links:

A great recommendation from a Behler peer [Gazettenet]
Wonder if this guy was on Behler's resume reference list.

Ian Johnson gets a 93 from EA Sports [Vetzballin]
Tim Tebow and his 99 rating: "Hmm, that's cute."

Dan Hawkins and the Buffs a team on the rise [SI.com]
Stewart Mandel has his eye on them.

Toughest video game rebuilding projects [Bleacher Report]
Good to see the WAC well represented.

EA Sports knows its football

While so-called experts are making preseason picks about WAC champions and dark-horse BCS candidates, EA Sports is speaking the plain truth. And nothing says credibility like a video game.

Fight Fight BSU brought us news of Bronco Stadium being one of the toughest places to play in NCAA Football 09, and today we find that the team rankings in the game are optimistic, too. EA Sports lists Boise State and Hawaii as the best teams in the WAC with Fresno State a distant third. Here is the predicted order of finish judging from the total team rankings (in parentheses)

1. Boise State (77)
2. Hawaii (77)
3. Fresno State (74)
4. New Mexico State (74)
5. Nevada (69)
6. LaTech (69)
7. San Jose State (62)
8. Utah State (60)
9. Idaho (60)

We were also pleased to find out that EA thinks Utah State has the worst offense in college football and Idaho has the worst defense in college football. We haven't felt this good about a video game since we went undefeated in Madden 05 on the Gamecube.

NCAA Football 09 rosters [EA Sports]

Buster Bronco loses mascot contest

Buster Bronco lost in his bid to become the cover mascot for NCAA Football 09 for the Wii, losing out to Michigan State's Sparty Spartan and his giant fake eyebrows. Keep your kids away from the box art! That's a nightmare waiting to happen.

Over 700,000 votes were cast resulting in a very close race. The final top 10 went as follows: Michigan State, Central Florida, Washington State, Auburn, LSU, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa State, Alabama, Penn State.

We anxiously await Bob Stoop's reaction.

Sparty gets Wii cover [Pasta Padre]

Tharp not on the cover of NCAA 09

The frantic Fiesta Bowl finish propelled BSU QB Jared Zabransky onto the cover of NCAA Football 08. Beating Utah State by 56 did not do the same for Taylor Tharp.

Darren McFadden will grace the cover of EA Sports' NCAA Football 09, which will be released this summer. The XBox 360 version will have the former Arkansas RB as its featured athlete, but the PS3, PS2, and PSP will each have their own cover athlete.

Here is a look at some features:

NCAA Football 09 will unveil the all-new Break Away Animation Engine which allows gamers to break in and out of moves giving the user more direct control as well as instant influence and responsiveness on the field. At its core, NCAA Football 09 will focus on wide-open collegiate style gameplay featuring unique animations that you will only find on college football Saturdays. This style of gameplay will allow agile backs like McFadden to show off their break out speed and maneuverability in-game.

I guess "Tharp" and "breakaway" aren't often used in the same sentence.

Buster Bronco is in the running for a mascot cover for the Wii version. Vote here.

NCAA Football 09 to have platform-specific covers [Pasta Padre]

Vote for NCAA Football 09 Wii cover

EA Sports is bringing college football to the Wii for the first time, and to commemorate, they are allowing fans to vote a mascot onto the cover of the Wii version.

There are the typical entrants: the Syracuse Orange, Ralphie, Uga, etc. But our very own Buster Bronco is a choice, too!

Vote for him here.