NFL
By: Brock Vierra
When EA Sports College Football 25 drops, it will be a momentous occasion that is 10 years in the making. In the 10 years since NCAA Football 14, the last fully licensed college football video game was released, the landscape of college football looked much different from what it is today. The FBS didn’t have teams like Coastal Carolina, Appalachian State or James Madison. The Pac-12 was something that not only existed but was celebrated and respected. The BCS era brought in a host of incredible bowl matchups and the controversial computer that decided the National Championship game’s participants. That was what college football looked like 10 years ago.
College Football was very different in 2014
10 years ago, Texas nor Texas A&M played in the mega stadiums they fit in now. Sure it’s still DKR and it’s still Kyle Field but in 2014, those stadiums didn’t have the look or financial investment they have today. That can be said about many teams. Washington State’s Martin Stadium looks like a shell of itself in NCAA Football 14 as does the LA Coliseum. Hawaii moved out of Aloha Stadium and into a makeshift field. UNLV traded Sam Boyd for Allegiant. Colorado State and SDSU are among the many programs that built specific stadiums for their programs with their new endowments. Progress. That’s what happens in 10 years.
The explosive offenses of Oklahoma, the rise of Michigan, the demise of Florida, the achieved aspirations of Georgia, the fall and rebirth of Florida State, the dominance of the SEC and the creation of the CFP. That’s what happens in 10 years. Heisman winners like Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray played for Texas Tech and Texas A&M when the game came out. Lamar Jackson and Caleb Williams never got to be controlled by the sticks. That is what happened and what was missed in these past 10 years.
Unforgettable players, memorable moments, sensational storylines. All eyes predicated on one thing come Saturday. College Football had all eyes on it and it gave us something to talk about. The video game served and will serve as another narrative device to tell the story of this great sport. How friends enjoyed time with one another, how people stayed connected, how little kids got to fill out those college football fantasies. That’s NCAA Football and that’s what we’ve missed over these past 10 years.
In these past 10 years, so much in life has changed as well. We all got older, we all got to living and we made our own way. Some got married, some had kids, some did both and some chose to do neither. Everyone did something. People graduated high school, college, grad school. Embarked on great adventures, indulged in life’s spoils, began and remain in careers. Some brought houses and cars, some frequent clubs and bars.
Some have problems, some have issues. Stresses of adulthood and the pain of time have revealed it’s ugly head many times. In 10 years, the world has been impacted by war and violence. An epidemic that will go down in the history books, a social justice movement that divided neighbor against neighbor, a death that sparked the revealment of the repressed feelings of a nation.
Three different Presidents governed the country over 10 years, two dramatic elections, an insurrection and an ungodly use of twitter by sex workers and government officials alike. That’s what has happened over 10 years.
So when we all come together to enjoy College Football 25, a game not just 10 years in the making but a lifetime to dream, I think about the journey. The trials overcome in life, the friends made and lost along the way. I think about how the new generation doesn’t have to struggle with importing the players’ real names or hopefully the overpowered read option. I think about four vert and joy of using it against my opponents. I think about the simplicity of what used to be.
I think about the friends that I had back then, the friends I played with, the friends that are no longer here. I think about all of us together back in the day, I think about watching their gamer tag come across my screen. I think about accounts that remain offline, last played years ago. I think about the cruelness of life, the permanence of death and how I missed them and wish they got to experience the game and that they could experience it with me. I think about the cruelness of what happened in 10 years.
So when College Football 25 drops, I am grateful. Grateful that a dream comes true. Grateful that I get to be a kid again. To my friends from beyond, to the friends taken too soon, I miss y’all and I hope we get to play again once day. For now, I’m going to enjoy the game that is made for all.
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