Meet the people who keep NCAA Football video game alive
Five years ago this week, NCAA Football hit the shelves for the final time. Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson graced the cover of the game, which sold roughly 1.5 million copies.
It was the end of an era. No longer would its annual release mark the unofficial start of the college football season. A multimillion-dollar franchise adored by fans was discontinued, done in by a lawsuit brought against the NCAA by former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon against that challenged the use of college athletes' names and likenesses without compensation.
At least a half-dozen petitions have been created on change.org to resurrect the game. One petitioner wrote that he signed because, "Without NCAA Football life is dull!"
Floridaor Florida A&M, you had a way of building your own digital dynasty.
For gamers like Austin Pope, seeing the franchise shuttered was an especially difficult pill to swallow. It wasn't just that he and his brothers had spent countless hours playing the game growing up. It was that the dream of one day being in the game -- a dream he had long before he ever received his first scholarship offer -- might never come to fruition.
"I always thought growing up, I can't wait to be on the game, to have my own rating, to have them actually create me," said Pope, now a veteran tight end at Tennessee. "But then obviously once I got to college they stopped making the game -- of course.
"It was just a dream that got crushed."
"I always thought growing up, I can't wait to be on the game, to have my own rating, to have them actually create me. But then obviously once I got to college they stopped making the game -- of course. It was just a dream that got crushed." Tennessee tight end Austin Pope
Pope's teammate, linebacker Quart'e Sapp, felt the same way. He said he was "disappointed" when he got the news.
Then he paused.
"But," he said, "to this day some people still have it and update it. I've actually played it the last two years a few times."
He didn't know who did it or how, but Sapp had seen it with his own eyes: One of his friends had a bootleg version of NCAA Football where he could play as himself.
As it turns out, Pope had seen it, too. Last season's Volunteers holder, Parker Henry, had downloaded the updated roster to his console.
"It was hilarious," Pope said.
Hilarious and apparently not all that unusual. Because players at Ole Miss and Florida said they had used the rosters as well.
Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks was amazed when his brother showed him how to download the updated rosters. When he played as himself, however, he had a sinking feeling. His rating was in the low 60s.
"I was garbage," he said, laughing. "They had me rated so low I didn't want to play."
Jalen Hurts is going to get only a 70 rating in strength despite his reputation as a weight-room warrior.
"Yeah, I know," he said. "He's super strong and I've got a dude from Alabama who is always texting me like, 'Dude, this is bullcrap! He's squatting 600 pounds!' But the only reason it's done like that is I redid the whole entire scale and I made it match the recruits that are created in the game. What I did is I simulated five seasons and the highest any quarterback was in five years was a 70 in strength. So it's not my personal feelings. If it were up to me it would probably be around 78. But the game doesn't understand. The game's physics doesn't let it understand if you're a 78 in power and you're only 220 pounds."
Yes, physics. Burhans goes that far down the rabbit hole to understand ratings.
Still, he said he hears complaints from fans all the time.
"Alllll the time," he said. "And it's crazy because we do it for free."
There are times he asks himself why he does all this, but then he starts working, gets in a rhythm and "it's so freaking fun."
"The game has been gone for a few years now and people are like, 'I can't believe people are still playing the game,'" he said.
"But in reality it's not really the game from 2013. We're always updating it. It's different. It's the same mechanics, same everything else. But it feels like Christmastime when you get that new roster. It makes the game feel alive and new and fresh."
Five years ago this week, NCAA Football hit the shelves for the final time. Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson graced the cover of the game, which sold roughly 1.5 million copies.
It was the end of an era. No longer would its annual release mark the unofficial start of the college football season. A multimillion-dollar franchise adored by fans was discontinued, done in by a lawsuit brought against the NCAA by former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon against that challenged the use of college athletes' names and likenesses without compensation.
At least a half-dozen petitions have been created on change.org to resurrect the game. One petitioner wrote that he signed because, "Without NCAA Football life is dull!"
Floridaor Florida A&M, you had a way of building your own digital dynasty.
For gamers like Austin Pope, seeing the franchise shuttered was an especially difficult pill to swallow. It wasn't just that he and his brothers had spent countless hours playing the game growing up. It was that the dream of one day being in the game -- a dream he had long before he ever received his first scholarship offer -- might never come to fruition.
"I always thought growing up, I can't wait to be on the game, to have my own rating, to have them actually create me," said Pope, now a veteran tight end at Tennessee. "But then obviously once I got to college they stopped making the game -- of course.
"It was just a dream that got crushed."
"I always thought growing up, I can't wait to be on the game, to have my own rating, to have them actually create me. But then obviously once I got to college they stopped making the game -- of course. It was just a dream that got crushed." Tennessee tight end Austin Pope
Pope's teammate, linebacker Quart'e Sapp, felt the same way. He said he was "disappointed" when he got the news.
Then he paused.
"But," he said, "to this day some people still have it and update it. I've actually played it the last two years a few times."
He didn't know who did it or how, but Sapp had seen it with his own eyes: One of his friends had a bootleg version of NCAA Football where he could play as himself.
As it turns out, Pope had seen it, too. Last season's Volunteers holder, Parker Henry, had downloaded the updated roster to his console.
"It was hilarious," Pope said.
Hilarious and apparently not all that unusual. Because players at Ole Miss and Florida said they had used the rosters as well.
Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks was amazed when his brother showed him how to download the updated rosters. When he played as himself, however, he had a sinking feeling. His rating was in the low 60s.
"I was garbage," he said, laughing. "They had me rated so low I didn't want to play."
Jalen Hurts is going to get only a 70 rating in strength despite his reputation as a weight-room warrior.
"Yeah, I know," he said. "He's super strong and I've got a dude from Alabama who is always texting me like, 'Dude, this is bullcrap! He's squatting 600 pounds!' But the only reason it's done like that is I redid the whole entire scale and I made it match the recruits that are created in the game. What I did is I simulated five seasons and the highest any quarterback was in five years was a 70 in strength. So it's not my personal feelings. If it were up to me it would probably be around 78. But the game doesn't understand. The game's physics doesn't let it understand if you're a 78 in power and you're only 220 pounds."
Yes, physics. Burhans goes that far down the rabbit hole to understand ratings.
Still, he said he hears complaints from fans all the time.
"Alllll the time," he said. "And it's crazy because we do it for free."
There are times he asks himself why he does all this, but then he starts working, gets in a rhythm and "it's so freaking fun."
"The game has been gone for a few years now and people are like, 'I can't believe people are still playing the game,'" he said.
"But in reality it's not really the game from 2013. We're always updating it. It's different. It's the same mechanics, same everything else. But it feels like Christmastime when you get that new roster. It makes the game feel alive and new and fresh."
Them were good times.
