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It would be far too easy to ride with the Buckeyes…
Everybody knows that one of the best parts of being a sports fan is debating and dissecting the most (and least) important questions in the sporting world with your friends. So, we’re bringing that to the pages of LGHL with our favorite head-to-head column: You’re Nuts.
In You’re Nuts, two LGHL staff members will take differing sides of one question and argue their opinions passionately. Then, in the end, it’s up to you to determine who’s right and who’s nuts.
The story of summer 2024 – despite what else you may have heard or believe – is and will be, even when history is revisited many years from now, the long-awaited return of EA Sports’ college football video game.
That’s right, after an 11-year hiatus, the next iteration of EA’s college football series is dropping on July 19, ending a decade plus of misery for sports gamers across the world. EA College Football’s return to glory (no pun intended) has been several years in the making, with hurdles to clear and many false starts along the way.
Details about the game have been slowly leaking out for months, however, it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that visuals, game modes, and other specifics really began to emerge. Which finally started to make it feel real for NCAA/EA college football-heads like myself.
And the timing could not possibly be any better. Because we are about to enter the dog days of summer, meaning there are far fewer sporting options to choose from. Especially if you’ve given up on baseball like I have. In that (my) case, the major sports calendar gets or becomes pretty bare after the NBA and NHL finals. Fortunately we get the Summer Olympics to help bridge the gap this year, but I can only watch so much diving, equestrian, and sailing… No offense.
So suffice it to say that I plan on picking up the sticks and playing EA College Football 25 until my thumbs hurt this summer. I’ve already told my wife and daughter that I will be going on a “daddy sabbatical” beginning July 19. I’ll still be present for dinner and bedtime, but don’t expect much else.
With the game and its release being such a hot topic, Gene and I decided that for today’s edition of You’re Nuts, we would look ahead to EACF25’s eventual release and discuss which teams we plan on starting a dynasty with. Dynasty mode is inarguably the game’s best mode, and we are both looking forward to either building a new powerhouse program or returning a past power to prominence.
Since I am an Ohio guy, I want to choose an in-state team for my dynasty. However, running the table with Ohio State – from now until my next video game retirement – would be far too easy. For that reason, I will be packing my virtual bags and office and heading about an hour south, down I-71 to Cincinnati, where I will restore the Bearcats to a respectable program (and more).
In UC’s first season under Scott Satterfield – and first season as a member of the Big 12 – the Bearcats went a dreadful 3-9 and 1-8 in the conference. Simply put, that stinks. So Satterfield will be heading back to a non-Power 5 school while Nippert Stadium becomes The House That Dooley Built.
But taking over Cincinnati is about more than just building a dynasty with an Ohio team. I also want to establish dominance in a P5 conference — with a team that has not been historically dominant. Upon doing so, I can then parlay the Bearcats’ future success into a bigger, better opportunity for myself, a la Brian Kelly and Luke Fickell. Or I can just stick around and become the Queen City’s version of Nick Saban.
Yet another reason I will be taking over UC is that I want to end the Colorado-Deion Sanders experiment once and for all. Frankly, I’m just sort of over it, and I’d like to see Coach Prime and his social media “stars” move on. By coaching and dominating in the Big 12, I can crush the Buffs at least once per year until Sanders is ready for a new hobby… Likely by 2025 or 2026 at the latest.
And lastly, I want to build a dynasty with Cincinnati because I think doing so is or would be rooted in some semblance of reality. UC has been to a College Football Playoff and enjoyed a handful of double-digit win seasons in the past. So elevating the Bearcats’ program to national prominence is more realistic than winning national championships with Ohio University or Kent State, for example. And even though we’re talking about a video game, I have still always preferred to keep things, I don’t know, remotely within reason?
There ya have it, Gene. I can’t wait to hear which program you plan on building up or restoring. Let’s get that online dynasty going against each other!
I love the idea of Cincinnati as a bit of a smaller school, a newcomer to a bigger conference and could use some stability. For the Bearcats, it is their fourth conference in just the past two decades. Cinci was a member of Conference USA until 2005, then joined the now-defunct Big East before helping form the American Athletic Conference in 2013, and finally have jumped ship from the AAC to the Big 12 prior to this past season, where they finished 3-8 (1-9 in-conference) in their first season as a P5 school.
However, while things are quite different from when Luke Fickell was around, Cincinnati has still had too much recent success for me to consider them an option. On top of that, while all black is always a good look for uniforms, the Bearcats don’t have too many exciting options to choose from, and that is of course a big factor in what I’m looking for in my prospective rebuild school.
I want a team that both looks good and is currently very bad. A team that has had virtually no track record of success in its history, but plays in a region that I can recruit a bit and build a foundation. Assuming there is also the option for conference realignment, which existed in previous NCAA Football games, I also want to pick a team from the Group of 5 that I can work into a P4 powerhouse.
For all of these reasons, I am going to run with the East Carolina Pirates.
East Carolina looked like they might be building something under head coach Mike Houston, who took the program from 4-8 in his first season at the helm to 7-5 and 8-5 in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Then it all came crashing down in 2023, with the Pirates suffering a 2-10 campaign that featured wins against only Gardner-Webb (FCS) and Florida Atlantic (Tom Herman, you okay?).
East Carolina, in my opinion, has some really incredible jerseys with a variety of potential combinations. Purple and gold always goes so well together, and their chrome purple helmets — which were featured in the trailer for EA Sports College Football 25 — really are some of the best in the sport. They also have an all-black alternate, which could be mixed and matched with their other color combinations to make some fire uniforms.
Recruiting is going to be tough out of the gate, but outside of Clemson and UNC, there are no true powerhouses in either of the Carolinas. You could also dip into Virginia a bit, a state that usually has some good talent (see: TreVeyon Henderson) as neither the Cavaliers or the Hokies have been doing all that much, and probably get some run-off of the excess of talent in Georgia. Plus, I’ll be able to sell ECU on location, as it’s less than a two-hour car ride to the beach — the closest of any of the Carolina schools.
Of course, I won’t have to worry about that stuff all that much once I’ve built the Pirates into a national brand capable of joining the ranks of the ACC or SEC (Or even the Big Ten, I guess, since geography clearly doesn’t matter anymore).
The other option I had in mind was Appalachian State. My reasoning for the Mountaineers is 95% based on the stadium, which features likely the best view of any sports stadium in the country. However, App State has probably had a little too much success of late to be considered a true rebuild, with seven bowl wins in the last 10 years and as good as a 10-4 campaign as recently as 2021.
That being said, I’ll definitely also have a second Dynasty on the side with Ohio State where I win each of the next 30 national titles, but that one is just for me…
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