Destructoid, citing unnamed sources, says the game is "NFL Trainer" and will put players through football-inspired workouts and drills. There's talk it will come with a football attachment that will assist players in learning how to throw perfect spirals.

If true, this is hardly exciting news for the core sports gamer. But it would be shrewd of EA Sports to differentiate its exergaming efforts with a pro league's license, and try to extend the offering beyond the typical soccer-mom demographic.

I've reached out to my contacts with EA Sports to see if they want to knock this rumor down. We likely know the drill here: A) it's a holiday week, and B) few companies ever comment on rumor or speculation.

Rumor: EA Sports Working on a Football Training Game [Destructoid]

An alternative, albeit one not fully licensed, to console football games like Madden, Quick Hit focuses on playcalling strategy rather than in-game action. The player and team progression are designed to appeal to both fantasy football and role-playing game motifs, whereby one builds a team uniquely to his style, develops its personnel and playbook, and then advances in a persistent environment among other team owners.

Quick Hit's first major update will introduce special player skills to the playcalling dynamic. Team owners will be able to implement more than 120 special moves their players can acquire as they progress. The skills range from quarterback elusiveness, to a strong safety stonewalling a ballcarrier, to punters acing a kick's placement to win the field position battle.

The update also adds 50 new plays to the game's playbook and the ability to tag them for quick access in pressure situations. Four new head coaches, announced earlier, will also face players as opposing AIs.

Quick Hit says the update will go live by Tuesday. For more information, see the site.

Quick Hit Football [site]

Warning: This is a very long column. There are more than 40 games described below. I've highlighted the playoff results in yellow if that's what you're really interested in.

One of the most false debating points in the college football playoff argument is the idea that somehow the bowls diminish a playoff, or vice versa. I maintain that the bowl postseason should be preserved, running alongside a meritorious, 16-team playoff inviting the champion of every conference. The bowls - the better ones, anyway - have a majesty that far surpasses any "football NIT" label some think they'd acquire if the NCAA implemented a Division I football playoff.

My idea is that, while a game like the Orange Bowl may not prefer a pairing of conference runner-ups, provided the sides are appropriately matched the games can be no less memorable. The bowls relentlessly tout their tradition, but forget that tradition, until the early 1990s, felt no obligation to help determine a national champion. And for a sporting culture so built on haves and have-nots, a holiday-based bowl structure as a consolation prize offers a much more meaningful postseason "reward," as one of the talking points always describes the bowls, to teams that rarely, or have never visited fabled venues like the Sugar or the Cotton, rather than sending them to Birmingham to play in an advertisement for Papa John's.

The bowls have a great value. But they have no place in determining a national champion. The Bowl Championship Series is the most meritless selection of a champion in major sports in the entire world. Worse than boxing. Worse than international soccer's reputation for draw-rigging and other shenanigans. The Bowl Championship Series is a system that is built on backroom dishonesty, not one exploited by it. And it's almost proud to announce it up front.

Well, not in the reality I control, which is NCAA Football 10, my most favorite model railroad of sporting sims. So this week I set up a 16-team playoff, and then painstakingly redrew the bowls as close to their existing conference ties as the pool of eligible teams would allow.

For an eloquent argument in favor of a 16-team playoff, and the legitimacy that comes from inviting every Division I conference champion, I encourage you to read Dan Wetzel's recent column for Yahoo! Sports. To it, I'd only add that teams like Troy are either major college football participants or they're not. It's not a self-declared thing. The NCAA admitted these teams to the highest level. But the comments and behavior of BCS conferences and the bowl committees hellbent on dividing the pie for the fattest do more to diminish a football program like East Carolina than the quality of the Pirates' schedule ever does.

Alright, here's the backstory of what happened in my reality this week. After creating this 16-team playoff, the NCAA made one demand and one concession. All bowls had to be completed before national title game. In return, the NCAA would never schedule a playoff game on Dec. 31 or Jan. 1. (or Dec. 24 or Dec. 25, for that matter). The larger bowls, cutting their own TV deals, then began a run back to traditional New Year's and New Year's Eve dates, bringing us back to the days of the Rose, Cotton, Sugar and Orange, all on the same day.

The championship game was booked for San Diego, largely because the city has a strong track record hosting Super Bowls, and because it's not home to any of the (very likely pissed off) former BCS bowls. And also because Qualcomm Stadium is an available venue in NCAA Football 10.

The football playoff seeding was then handed to an NCAA committee much like the one that handles the basketball bracket. The seeding considered mathematical formulae but, ultimately, it was a human decision, the same as the basketball tournament. Since everyone is so fired up about protecting the sanctity of the regular season games, I made a rule that no at-large team may host an opening round game. Yes, that effectively seeds a team like Florida ninth. It also turns the eighth-seed into a seat of death (likely facing an at-large team that is seeded artificially lower, and then the tournament No. 1 if they win) but, dammit, this is football. It's hard. We can't pave everyone's way to the semifinals, and a seeding reflects how many games a team is expected to win. Without the rule, this eight seed would drop at least one spot lower, which means it is expected to lose in the first round, anyway. Instead, an eight-seed under this rule gets a game at home - against a difficult opponent, sure - but also the advantage and, more importantly, revenue, of just such a date. I still expect Georgia Tech to hate me for this.

Anyway, following the Big XII championship game on Dec. 5, my seeding committee met and selected the following teams:

(1) Alabama
(2) Texas
(3) Cincinnati
(4) TCU
(5) Boise State
(6) Oregon
(7) Ohio State
(8) Georgia Tech
(9) Florida
(10) Virginia Tech
(11) Iowa
(12) Brigham Young
(13) LSU
(14) Central Michigan
(15) East Carolina
(16) Troy

BYU provides the only selection controversy, bumping Penn State. Both teams are 10-2. Brigham Young had a greater strength of schedule in the Sagarin Ratings and, although the victory doesn't look as good now, the Cougars' victory over then-No. 5 Oklahoma to begin the season was a mammoth upset. BYU also gutted out a victory over a ranked Utah to end the year. Penn State did not defeat a human-ranked team all year; did not beat any team that finished in Sagarin's top 30; lost badly to Iowa and Ohio State at home; played the definition of a cupcake non-conference schedule and didn't do a damn thing except start the season ranked high. Plus, the Nittany Lions finished a decisive third, and the Big Ten is a good conference, but it's not three-teams good. That's the SEC, and LSU is the third team. If I would not take Penn State over BYU, I definitely would not take it over LSU.

Brigham Young also was seeded ahead of LSU to avoid an opening-round rematch of conference opponents. These rematches are unavoidable elsewhere on the bracket, but it can be controlled here. I'm aware that Alabama and Florida will likely rematch in the second round, three weeks after their SEC title game. I prefer - and therefore my committee prefers - that such a meeting take place there rather than in the national championship.

The bowls were then free to invite any .500 or better, six-Division I win team, absent the ones above. Of course this means there are more bowls than can host eligible teams. Six died: the Poinsettia, Meineke Car Care, Little Caesars, Texas, Armed Forces and PapaJohns.com. Lots of horsetrading was involved as the minor bowls scrambled to fill slots. Ultimately, the free market prevailed. The total payout lost with the death of these six: $8.2 million. I think the conferences can spend their share of $8.2 million to reap a much larger slice of a nine-figure television contract for a football playoff.

With all that out of the way, here are all the games - 27 bowls and 15 playoff games - simulated on NCAA Football 10 using the roster and depth chart written by RomanCaesar from Operation Sports. The games are presented in the order they were played on the calendar.

I do not claim that this is a scientific simulation. These games were played once. A simulation for accuracy would require a much larger sample size and more finely tuned sim settings. The games were played with nine-minute quarters to hold down garish scoring and statistical performances. That also skewed a lot of the results to down-to-the-wire finishes.

Dec. 18
at St. Petersburg, Fla.
St. Petersburg Bowl
South Florida (Big East, 7-5) vs. Central Florida (Conference USA, 8-4)
These two Sunshine State up-and-comers did not play their rivalry game this year, so they meet here. USF holds on, 21-17.

at Albuquerque, N.M.
New Mexico Bowl
Wyoming (Mountain West, 6-6) vs. Fresno State (WAC, 8-4)
This pairing is one of a few drawn up that reflect real life. Fresno blasts the Cowboys 55-27 behind 151 yards rushing and two touchdowns by Ryan Mathews.

Dec. 19
NCAA Division I Football Championship
First Round
(seedings in parentheses)

Noon games:
(16) Troy (Sun Belt champion, 9-3) at (1) Alabama (SEC champion, 13-0)
Alabama only leads 24-20 at the half, stoking huge upset interest. But Heisman winner Mark Ingram breaks a 74-yard touchdown run to open the third quarter, en route to a 52-27 first round win for the Crimson Tide.

(15) East Carolina (Conference USA champion, 9-4) at (2) Texas (Big XII champion, 13-0)
Absolutely zero drama here. Texas annihilates East Carolina 52-0.

(14) No. 25 Central Michigan (MAC champion, 11-2) vs. (3) Cincinnati (Big East champion, 12-0)
The fearless Chippewas open with a come-into-the-room-honey 10-point lead early in the second quarter. But Cinderella fantasies prove premature, and the Bearcats respond with 35 unanswered points to win 45-24, behind six touchdowns from quarterback Tony Pike.

2 p.m. games:
(10) Virginia Tech (at-large, 9-3 ACC) at (7) Ohio State (Big Ten champion, 10-2)
The first nailbiter of the playoff. Ohio State leads 26-21 after a touchdown and failed two-point PAT. Virginia Tech faces third-and-18 from their own nine, but the Hokies' Tyrod Taylor responds with a 35-yard bomb to get a fresh set of downs and great field position. VPI scores but also misses its two-point attempt, and leads 27-26. Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor finds Ray Small for a 20 yard gain on 4th and five from the Buckeyes' 42 with 1:09 left, then hits DeVier Posey for a 26-yard gain to get down to Virginia Tech's 8. Aaron Pettrey hits the 25-yard field goal for the 29-27 win.

(9) Florida (at-large, 12-1 SEC) at (8) Georgia Tech (ACC champion, 11-2)
Florida coasts 43-3 in the playoff's first upset 43-3 - in name only - holding Tech's Jonathan Dwyer and Josh Nesbitt to 85 yards rushing combined.

4 p.m. games:
(11) Iowa (at large, 10-2 Big Ten) at (6) Oregon (Pac-10 champion, 10-2)
Another blowout victory, 41-15 for Oregon. The Ducks pile up 507 yards of offense and clamp down on Iowa, holding the Hawkeyes to 283 yards of offense. Oregon's LaMichael James gets only 79 yards rushing, but adds 107 receiving and even throws a touchdown pass.

(12) Brigham Young (at-large, 10-2 Mountain West) at (5) Boise State (WAC champion, 13-0)
Trailing 38-26 late in the fourth, a miracle 85-yard run by the Broncos' Jeremy Avery with 5:22 left makes it 38-33. The Cougars respond with a quick field goal, pushing the lead to eight and giving the Broncos one more drive. Kellen Moore's eight yard out pattern to Austin Pettis on fourth down from their own 44 keeps the Broncos in business. They reach BYU's 17 and throw three incompletions before Moore hits tight end Tommy Gallarda to make it 41-39 with 35 seconds left. But Moore's two-point conversion pass to wideout Tyler Shoemaker is no good. The onside attempt fails, and Brigham Young provides the prototypical 12-5 upset we expect in the college basketball bracket.

8 p.m. game:
(13) LSU (at-large, 9-3 SEC) at (4) Texas Christian (Mountain West champion, 12-0)
The primetime matchup explodes into one of the greatest games ever played in the history of college football. TCU gets out to a 28-10 lead at the half and then LSU puts it in gear, shrewdly making a two-point conversion in the third quarter en route to 25 unanswered points and a 35-28 lead with 1:17 left. TCU gets a 24 yard kickoff return, a 15-yard pass interference call, a 14-yard pickup on 3rd and 1 from LSU's 22, and ultimately an 8-yard touchdown strike from Andy Dalton to Jimmy Young with four seconds left to send the game to overtime.

Both sides trade touchdowns in the first two overtime periods. In the third, LSU cracks, settling for a 46-yard field goal. On third down of their final possession, the Horned Frogs' Joseph Turner shoves two defenders to the ground on the way to a 17-yard touchdown run and the win, 55-52, in triple overtime. Delirious TCU fans rip down the goalposts, forgetting they will need them the next week.

Dec. 22
at Las Vegas
Las Vegas Bowl:
No. 23 Utah (Mountain West, 9-3) vs. UCLA (Pac-10, 6-6)
This kind of matchup proves how a playoff would improve the bowls. In real life, this game brings a school with fans who don't travel (Oregon State) to Las Vegas to face one whose alumni don't drink or fornicate (Brigham Young). Under my system, we'd have Utah and UCLA. Great attendance, and indeed a great game. UCLA triumphs 28-25 in a rare bowl overtime.

at New Orleans
New Orleans Bowl:
Southern Mississippi (Conference USA, 7-5) vs. Middle Tennessee State (Sun Belt, 9-3)
Another real-life pairing. MTSU is probably the best nine-victory team no one's ever seen. For a reason. Senior halfback Damion Fletcher carries the day for Southern Mississippi, 167 yards and three touchdowns in a 28-9 snorefest.

Dec. 24
at Honolulu
Hawaii Bowl:
Nevada (WAC, 8-4) vs. SMU (Conference USA, 7-5)
Yet another real-life draw. June Jones returns to the 50th State for SMU's first bowl appearance since the NCAA leveled the infamous Death Penalty in 1986. Hawaii rolls 41-13 as the Mustangs stumble to just 178 yards of total offense.

Dec. 26
NCAA Division I Football Championship
Second Round

Noon games:
(7) Ohio State at (2) Texas
The Longhorns take a 21-3 lead after the first quarter and never look back, winning 45-17. Terrelle Pryor is intercepted three times, sacked four, and throws no touchdowns. Colt McCoy, meantime, tosses four.

(6) Oregon at (3) Cincinnati
Oregon, leading 20-17, misses a 46-yard field goal to open the fourth quarter. Cincinnati responds with a 71-yard, 14-play drive and a 24-20 advantage. The Ducks take over on their 20 with 1:27 left, getting to the Cincinnati 13 with no timeouts left. Jeremiah Masoli spikes the ball, then on fourth down finds D.J. Davis for a touchdown with 14 seconds left and a thrilling 27-24 victory.

4 p.m. game:
(12) Brigham Young at (4) TCU
TCU connects on a field goal at the beginning of the fourth quarter and leads 17-13. Later, a disastrous, shanked punt gives the Horned Frogs the ball on BYU's 35 with 5 minutes to play. The key play comes on 4th and 2 from the Cougars' 13; TCU elects to go for it, makes it, and Joseph Turner ultimately scores the decisive two-yard touchdown. The Frogs need it, as Brigham Young responds with a desperation touchdown and converts the two-point try but can't recover the onsides kick. TCU wins another thriller, 24-21.

8 p.m. game:
(9) Florida at (1) Alabama
The day's second rematch of conference titleists with runners-up. This dazzler features seven lead changes and a finish even more amazing than the TCU-LSU epic of a week before. Trailing 28-24 with the ball at midfield, Tim Tebow fumbles the snap, falls on it, then converts third-and-18 with a 33-yard bomb to Riley Cooper, and ultimately Tebow carries in a four-yard touchdown himself for the 31-28 lead.

Alabama gets the ball back with three minutes left and all its timeouts. Quarterback Greg McElroy throws three straight incompletions and is sacked on fourth-and-ten from Alabama's 27, apparently sealing Florida's victory. But the Crimson Tide use all of their timeouts, force Florida to kick a field goal, and get the ball back with 1:05 remaining. A miracle 68-yard bomb from McElroy to Julio Jones with 21 seconds left absolutely detonates Bryant-Denny Stadium. Jones has three touchdowns, 175 yards receiving, and never has to pay for a drink in Tuscaloosa the rest of his life.

Dec. 27
at Tempe, Ariz.
Insight Bowl: Iowa State (Big XII, 6-6) vs. Air Force (Mountain West, 7-5)
With two teams going to the playoff, the Big Ten ran out of bowl-eligible teams to send to this game. So I yanked the Zoomies from the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth and sent them to Arizona, home of a more established, higher-paying midlevel bowl. Air Force salts the game away in the fourth quarter when defensive back Anthony Wright returns an interception for a touchdown and the final 35-18 margin.

Dec. 27
at San Francisco
Emerald Bowl:
Navy (9-4) vs. California (Pac-10, 8-4)
Cal and its fans get a short trip across the Bay Bridge, assuming it's functioning. Navy gets a nice holiday in a town with a strong seapower tradition. Jahvid Best, back from his scary injury against Oregon State on Nov. 7, gets 138 yards and three touchdowns. the Bears romp 48-17 in a game not even half as close.

Dec. 28
at Orlando, Fla.
Champs Sports Bowl:
No. 14 Miami (ACC, 9-3) vs. Michigan State (Big Ten, 6-6)
ACC schools are not picked by finish and to a bowl committee, Miami - outside of the Orange Bowl or a national title game - is a money-losing disaster. That's why the Hurricanes fell so far here, but the good news is they stay close to home. Michigan State has the kind of fans who are delighted to go to Disney World for the holidays and call that the biggest thing they've done all year. I'm not sure I believe this result myself, but the Spartans trail 21-7 early before scoring 27 unanswered points and coasting to a 48-24 win. Miami's Jacory Harris is intercepted four times.

Dec. 29
at Washington
EagleBank Bowl:
Northern Illinois (MAC, 7-5) vs. Louisiana-Monroe (Sun Belt, 6-6)
Lacking enough participants from its tie in conferences, this new bowl survives only because it pays (Dr. Evil voice) one million dollars. Unfortunately, it's getting the least desirable matchup - UL-M isn't even going to a bowl in real life. But the Warhawks give a great show, winning 33-26 when Trey Revell and Luther Ambrose hook up on a 30-yard touchdown pass with four seconds left.

Dec. 30
at Boise, Idaho
Humanitarian Bowl:
Bowling Green (MAC, 7-5) vs. Idaho (WAC, 7-5)
Boise State isn't the only school that can go out guns blazing on the Smurf turf. Bowling Green and Idaho combine for more than 1,000 yards of offense - 433 of that from Idaho quarterback Nathan Enderle's arm - as the Vandals win a 44-42 track meet on a field goal with 1:56 left.

Dec. 31:
at Nashville, Tenn.
Music City Bowl:
Boston College (ACC, 8-4) vs. Kentucky (SEC, 7-5)
As a bowl attraction, Boston College is an even bigger disaster than Miami. BC can't even sell out its own stadium in the regular season. But at least Nashville's chamber of commerce gets Kentucky, whose fans regularly go to Tennessee to get their asses kicked without complaint. BC obliges, 35-17.

at Shreveport, La.
Independence Bowl:
Kansas State (Big XII, 6-6) vs. Rutgers (Big East, 8-4)
Rutgers had been slated for the Meineke Bowl, but with the SEC exhausting its bowl-eligible members, I shipped the Scarlet Knights to Shreveport, owing to the fact the Independence has been around longer, pays more, and enough time has passed since it was known as the Weedwhacker Bowl. Rutgers freshman Tom Savage tosses a bowl record six touchdowns in a 47-10 blowout.

at Atlanta
Chick-Fil-A Bowl:
North Carolina (ACC, 8-4) vs. Georgia (SEC, 7-5)
I have to say, for the realism of matchups, I'm proudest of this one. The Chick-Fil-A, formerly the Peach, loves teams from the Old North State. And who better to play in Atlanta than the Georgia Bulldogs? Plus both schools can settle that technical dispute regarding America's oldest public university. For the record, it's UNC, which also wins 35-17.

at El Paso, Texas
Sun Bowl:
Texas A&M (Big XII, 6-6) vs. USC (Pac-10, 8-4)
Brut smells like a man, and in El Paso, the Aggies smell like an armpit, losing 38-13 in a sim that probably did not account for USC's nosedive this year.

at Jacksonville, Fla.
Gator Bowl:
Florida State (ACC, 6-6) vs. Pittsburgh (Big East, 9-3)
The Gator wants to give Bobby Bowden a gold watch? Fine. They can take the 6-6 Seminoles over more deserving ACC teams for this one, too. It's not like Jacksonville's gonna sell out this stadium on Sundays. The Panthers hold on 37-31 thanks to 136 yards and four TDs - two of them receiving - by freshman back Dion Lewis.

at San Diego
Holiday Bowl:
Texas Tech (Big XII, 8-4) vs. No. 16 Oregon State (Pac-10, 8-4)
Unfortunately for Oregon State, Lubbock isn't the only city where Beavers get the Raider Rash. OSU loses 23-19 when, from Tech's 23, Sean Canfield can't hit James Rodgers on a fade as time expires.

Jan. 1
at Orlando, Fla.
Capital One Bowl:
No. 24 Wisconsin (Big Ten, 9-3) vs. Tennessee (SEC, 7-5)
This one is formerly known as the Citrus - which as Steve Spurrier reminds us, can't be spelled without the UT. Tennessee gets the ball on its 20 with 2:45 left, tied a 24. Jonathan Crompton passes of 14, 16 and 20 yards get Tennessee into kicking range, and Daniel Lincoln's 42-yard boot, after missing two previously from shorter distances, provides the 27-24 victory.

at Tampa, Fla.
Outback Bowl:
Northwestern (Big Ten, 8-4) vs. Auburn (SEC, 7-5)
The most major bowl reflecting real life in this simulation, Auburn trails 31-13 early in the third before charging back with 28 unanswered to win 41-31. Tigers halfback Ben Tate helps carry the load with 105 yards and two second-half scores.

at Dallas
Cotton Bowl:
Oklahoma (Big XII, 7-5) vs. Arkansas (SEC, 7-5)
The shooting gallery seesaw begins late in the third with Broderick Green's 60 yard catch-and-run to get Arkansas on top 38-34. Oklahoma hits a 47-yard field goal to draw to 38-37 early in the fourth. Quarterback Ryan Mallett and the Razorbacks storm back with an 11-play, 81-yard drive, 63 of it by air, to lead 45-37 with six minutes to play. Oklahoma stitches together an-eight play, 82-yard drive, and knots the game on a PAT pass from Landry Jones to Dejuan Miller with five minutes to go. Holding Arkansas to a three-and-out, Oklahoma goes back to work from its six, picking up passes of 18, 27, and 34 yards, and rumbling the final 10 to lead 52-45. Mallett gets one last drive, however, bringing the Hogs to the Sooners' 22 with eight seconds left, where he is intercepted by linebacker Travis Lewis to seal the game. Mallett's inhuman 485 yards passing is easily a Cotton Bowl record.

at Miami
Orange Bowl:
Clemson (ACC, 8-5) vs. No. 20 Nebraska (Big XII, 9-4)
By virtue of its tie-in with the ACC, the Orange has been the de facto Kids' Table of the BCS for much of this decade, including a Wake Forest-Louisville matchup in 2007 that should have been broadcast by Raycom. But here the Orange returns to its old Big Eight roots to invite Nebraska, pairing the Cornhuskers with Clemson in a matchup recalling 1982, Tom Osborne and Danny Ford, and the Tigers' only national championship.

Clemson's C.J. Spiller starts the game with an Orange Bowl record 82-yard run from scrimmage for a touchdown as the Tigers sprint to a 21-7 lead by the half. Nebraska rallies to a 28-28 tie, then goes for it on 4th and 1 from their own 35 with 6 minutes left in the fourth - and fumbles. Spiller's ensuing 7-yard touchdown grab out of the backfield from Kyle Parker provides the final margin, 35-28.

at New Orleans
Sugar Bowl:
No. 18 West Virginia (Big East, 9-3) vs. Ole Miss (SEC, 8-4)
After the SEC sent three teams to the playoffs, the bowls were left with an 8-4 Ole Miss, and a bunch of 7-5 teams. So the Rebels visit New Orleans for another A-list nailbiter. West Virginia scores 21 fourth quarter points to take a 35-28 lead. With three minutes remaining, Ole Miss begins driving from its 24, surviving a 3rd-and-18 with a 27-yard hookup from Jevean Snead to Shay Hodge. The drive gets down to West Virginia's 6 with 1:01 left but sophomore Brandon Bolden drops Snead's bullet in the end zone, and the Mountaineers hang on for the trophy.

at Pasadena, Calif.
Rose Bowl:
No. 11 Penn State (Big Ten, 10-2) vs. No. 22 Arizona (Pac-10, 8-4)
This one is indeed the granddaddy of the day. Trailing 27-20, facing 4th and 10 from Arizona's 25 with less than four minutes remaining in the fourth, the Nittany Lions' Daryll Clark hits wideout Derek Moye for a 16 yard gain to keep the drive alive. Then Evan Royster rumbles in from nine yards out to tie the game at 27 with 2:37 left. Arizona quarterback Nick Foles opens the next possession with completions of 11 and 14 yards but, facing 4th and 1 from the 50 - what an agonizing decision this had to be - the Wildcats opt to punt, pinning Penn State on their own 13 with 1:13 to play. On third and 15 his own 34, Clark hits Graham Zug for a 35 yard gain down to the Wildcat 29, and then three rushes by Royster reach paydirt, providing the final margin, 34-27, with 14 seconds to go. Fourteen points in four minutes, 17 in the fourth quarter, and an absolute double-dragon-kick-to-the-nutsack defeat for Arizona in its first-ever Rose appearance.

Jan. 2
NCAA Division I Football Championship
National Semifinals

4 p.m. game
(4) TCU at (1) Alabama
Alabama nails a 44-yard field goal at the end of the first half to take a 13-10 lead, then late in the third quarter goes 77 yards - the last 31 of it on seven straight carries by Mark Ingram - to go up 20-10. Alabama coffin-corners a punt, pinning TCU on its two midway through the fourth quarter, then Justin Woodall intercepts Andy Dalton and returns it for a touchdown. TCU does respond with an 11 play scoring drive, but can't recover an onsides kick, trailing by 10. An Alabama field goal ices the game 30-17. Mark Ingram rushes for 208 yards a playoff record. But then, everything is this year.

8 p.m. game
(6) Oregon at (2) Texas
Texas does not get beyond the 50-yard line in the entire first half as Oregon races to a 24-7 lead. Eddie Pleasant intercepts Colt McCoy on the Texas 27, and a 12-yard swing pass to the redeemed LeGarrette Blount gives Oregon the 31-10 advantage late in the third quarter. Texas responds with consecutive 80 yard drives to draw within seven, then recovers a LaMichael James fumble at the Oregon 18 with 2:11 left. But McCoy immediately tosses an interception, picked off by Spencer Paysinger, to cement the Ducks' 31-24 upset.

Jan. 4
at Toronto
International Bowl:
Temple (MAC, 9-3) vs. Connecticut (Big East, 7-5)
This game would be much better if it were Jim Calhoun and the Huskies back in the day facing John Chaney's Owls on the hardwood in Philadelphia. Instead, these two meet on a gridiron in Canada, with UConn winning 31-28.

at Mobile, Ala.
GMAC Bowl:
Ohio (MAC, 9-4) vs. Marshall (Conference USA, 6-6)
This game survives because of its MAC tie-in, but it had to drag over Marshall as a replacement, absent any ACC participant. Fortunately, it restores the Bobcats-Hundering Turd Thundering Herd rivalry. They last played in 2004, when both were members of the MAC. Marshall wins here, 31-24.

at San Antonio
Alamo Bowl:
Minnesota (Big 10, 6-6) vs. Missouri (Big XII, 8-4)
Another seesaw battle sees Minnesota upend favored Mizzou 35-31 with a 63-yard drive at the end of the game. The Tigers waste 330 yards from quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who also tosses two interceptions.

at Memphis, Tenn.
Liberty Bowl:
Houston (Conference USA, 10-3) vs. South Carolina (SEC, 7-5)
South Carolina's defense gets Houston down 17-0 early, but Case Keenum and the high-powered Cougars come storming back for a 45-34 win that isn't that close. Keenum tosses five touchdowns, two to Tyron Carrier, who also has 175 yards.

at Glendale, Ariz.
Fiesta Bowl:
No. 19 Stanford (Pac-10, 8-4) vs. No. 21 Oklahoma State (Big XII, 9-3)
As the wild card of the major bowls, the Fiesta schedules itself after New Year's Day, and picks Oklahoma State for proximity and Stanford for the star power of Heisman runner-up Toby Gerhart. The Cardinal lead 16-14 at halftime, but the Cowboys pull away for a 35-16 win. Gerhart gets 116 yards rushing but no touchdowns.

Jan. 9
NCAA Division I Football Championship
National Final
at San Diego, Calif.

(6) Oregon vs. (1) Alabama
Alabama punts on its first three possessions. Oregon scores on its first three, on the way to a 28-7 halftime lead. The Crimson Tide draw to 28-17 on a 70-yard punt return by Javier Arenas, but Oregon immediately answers with a 14-play drive covering 75 yards for the 35-17 advantage. Alabama scores again in the fourth quarter, but can't make the two point conversion, and its final drive dies on 4th-and-10 from the Oregon 14 with 2:05 to go.

The final is 35-23, and the first champion of the NCAA's first football tournament is the same as the champion of its first basketball tournament 70 years before: Oregon.

Stick Jockey is Kotaku's column on sports video games. It appears Saturdays at 10 a.m. U.S. Mountain time.

That may not have been what developer NaturalMotion went through while pitching Backbreaker to publisher 505 Games — the name doesn't even suggest football — but even when the dreaded Madden comparison was made, it was successfully dodged with "This is an alternative to Madden." The idea is that the developer approached football with a completely clean slate and no aspirations of doing what Madden does only somehow better.

Instead, NaturalMotion is using the Euphoria engine (of Grand Theft Auto IV fame) to craft a more game-y feel for the classic American sport. All the animations are real time as opposed to canned and the perspective from which the developer showed me the game was something like a third person action/adventure camera angle. Like GTA IV, only with football.

Backbreaker was in pre-alpha, so I wasn't able to see much. I watched an 11x11 Exhibition match in a Day Mode stadium (the game will have both night and raining modes for stadiums as well). A bug prevented us from switching views or switching between players, so I watched two or three plays from the perspective of a quarterback and a linebacker. Immediately, it felt like a more intimate experience from what I remember of Madden's overhead God view — although I confess I lack Owen Good's extensive knowledge of the series, so I'm not sure if there's a comparable camera angle in Madden NFL 10. Either way, I can definitely say that the football players move differently than I expect from my sports games. It's almost like they're less-realistic to look at, but when they tackle somebody, the response of the character model is more realistic.

Stuck in this perspective, I worried that it would be hard to see where the ball was — that is the challenge of sports in real life that they don't come with glowing icons. To tackle this problem (pun intended), the game makes the player who has the ball glow red. I like this because it doesn't make it too easy to find the ball, but it does cut back on the chances of me tackling the wrong guy.

When Backbreaker is finished, NaturalMotion plans to have all kinds of views in place during games, including a jumbo-tron view mode to review tackles or spectacular plays. At launch, they also plan to have 32 teams (and the ability to make your own) with 16 stadiums in day, night and raining modes. (Note that these teams and stadiums are only modeled after real life teams and stadiums — Madden sort of has the market cornered on that kind of realism.) Backbreaker will also have mini-games like something called Tackle Alley that I didn't get to see, and two difficulties for both the casual and hardcore players and online functionality for all. A press release sent out last night also says that the game will have two variants for on the field play: evasive mode and aggressive mode. I assume it has to do with offense and defense, but all the release says is "in evasive mode, players are more agile ... though they are more likely to fumble when tackled" and "in aggressive mode, players can stiff arm and fight through linemen, run faster and fend off big hits and tackles."

Hm. Sounds like it might be more fun to be aggressive. B-E Aggressive (sorry, had to do it!).

Backbreaker is looking at an April 2010 release for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Pasta Padre got his hands on a screenshot of the survey from a tipster, which you can see on his blog. Hypothetical gameplay upgrades include spread and no-huddle offenses (with specific animations, such as looking to the sidelines for the play), and "locomotion gameplay with authentic momentum based physics" and more team-specific authenticity in the offensive gameplans. It also sounds like they're interested in more real coaching personalities, as "active real-life coaches and coordinators" could be on the sidelines. Also, they're mulling having specific coaches themselves call signature plays to you through your headset (or the speakers).

Significantly, "All-New ESPN style TV Presentation with broadcast graphics and special attention to rivalries, bowl games, etc." is listed among the options. When I spoke to NCAA Basketball 10 producer Connor Dougan for this column, I asked if the authentic broadcast presentation in NCAA Basketball 10 would be proof of concept for other EA Sports titles. Dougan demurred, not wishing to speak for other project teams. Its inclusion here indicates the NCAA Football folks in Tiburon are considering it - I hope strongly. It's a great addition to the basketball game and would be even moreso for college football.

Check out the full list at the link and then sound off on what you'd like to see. I think all of these would be great new features for an already excellent, very deep simulation.

Potential Features for NCAA 11 [Pasta Padre]

Well, alright, maybe it's a heartwarming story anyway. The jamfest was put together by Pro vs. G.I. Joe, which arranges morale-booster multiplayer competitions between sports stars and service members overseas. Via Xbox Live and a satellite connection, Roethlisberger (git-tar, second from right), and his offensive line - Ramon Foster (guitar, left), Willie Colon (vocals) and Trai Essex (drums, looking like he's playing on easy) took their Guitar Hero 5 skills up against the Army's 336th Military Police Company.

Afterwards, Big Ben orated:

To be able to interact with these guys and enjoy it – and I could see the joy on their face – and get to beat them a little bit in some Rock Band. It's a lot of fun.

Facepalm.

Madden NFL 10 cover boy Troy Polamalu didn't play, but he did show up in grass-covered sniper camouflage (yes, really.) I bet Hines Ward's eyes got real big when he saw that, thinking that getup would be perfect for his next out-of-nowhere blindside hit on Keith Rivers.

NFL Super Bowl Champion Steelers Connect with Soldiers in Iraq for Guitar Hero Competition [Ripten]

Marty Schottenheimer, Jerry Glanville, Marv Levy and Herm "You Play to Win the Game" Edwards join the opposing cast in Quick Hit, which focuses on game preparation, playcalling, and player and franchise advancement as opposed to arcade running and passing action.

The coaches will head teams whose personnel and tactics conform to the types of teams they led in the NFL. Levy and Glanville, for example, would probably direct fast-paced offenses, the run and shoot for Glanville and a no-huddle pro set for Levy. Herm Edwards just plays to win the game. Hello?

OK, kidding. Quick Hit has had to put together more than 100 individual deals, the vast majority of them past players. (It's limited to using five current players by the NFLPA). These four coaches will add depth to the season simulation, said Jeffrey Anderson, the Quick Hit founder and former CEO of Turbine.

"Our users tell us they love testing their football skills against the true style of real coaches. We're all about coaching and strategy, and these four new coaches will bring even more authenticity to the single player experience," said Jeffrey Anderson, CEO at Quick Hit.

The game is free and open for signup to the general public.

Of the more than 20 races in the Blood Bowl board game, Cyanide Studio only included 8 in the initial PC release, and there were some grievous oversights. Where are the Dark Elves? That's a question that will be answered next month, as the pointy-eared bastards arrive as part of a free update to the game. Not only will the team, which combines the trademark elven agility with sheer brutality, be available as a free download, some stores will be getting a special Blood Bowl Dark Elves Edition that comes with their evil packed right in. From the official description:

"Dark Elves combine Elven agility with a cruel brutality. They are perfectly at ease playing the ball or crushing skulls with their callous fists. Furthermore, their Witch Elves excel in that field, as long as they don't get caught up in the euphoria of battle! Dark Elves are masters of deception and can also call upon deadly Assassins to instill fear (and the cold blade of a dagger!) in their adversaries' heart."

I don't know how the game survived without the Dark Elves in the first place. Not sure how the other teams will survive once they're included.

Visit the official Blood Bowl website for more pics and info on the Dark Elf team.

No word on when this patch goes live, but when it arrives, the development team has promised defensive tweaks that improve the chances you record a sack (rather than the CPU quarterback throwing the ball away), improving defenders' pursuit angles, and improving the coverage of the flats. Better simmed stats in franchise mode also are coming, as well as other unspecificed uniform and presentation changes. The official blog post on the patch reminds that the list of fixes and updates is not final.

Madden NFL 10 - 2nd title Update Preliminary Details [Inside EA Sports Blog via Pasta Padre]

I'm one of those Madden players who picks up the game every year, beats the pants off of the AI in easy mode a few times, gets his ass kicked online once or twice, and then trades the game back in. I enjoy the game, but when it comes right down to it the whole thing is a bit too deep for me. Perhaps Madden NFL Arcade for Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network is the answer.

There are no penalties and no field goals in Madden NFL Arcade. Just four downs to make it 60 yards to your goal, with the first team to score 30 points winning. Games can be tailored to your liking, tweaking skill level and points-to-win, and during play you can use any of 13 "Game Changers" to break the field wide open. It almost sounds like NFL Street, doesn't it?

"When you look around the office and see your whole team playing and having tons of fun with it, you know the game hit the right mark," said marketing director Nathan Stewart. "We have diehard Madden fans who have worked on the franchise for a decade, and more casual gamers who are all playing together and enjoying it. If our productivity the past few weeks is any indication, we've created a game that everyone will love."

Madden NFL Arcade will be available on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade in December for $14.99 and 1200 Microsoft points respectively.

The report of this greater-than-gaming feat appeared in Saturday's Syracuse Post-Standard. The newspaper reported that Ismail Brooks, a tailback in the Section III high school Auburn, has scored 25 touchdowns in his first six games.

The paper noted that such a performance seems to be out of a video game, but quotes Brooks' cousin and teammate, Julaun Richardson as saying: "Sometimes, you never see people score seven touchdowns with one player in the easiest level of video games... It's ridiculous what Ismail is doing. I knew he was that good, but I never knew he was this good."

Congratulations to the football player for his great stats. And congratulations to the Post-Standard for introducing a novel concept: The action in real life that is so amazing that it couldn't have even happened in a video game.

PIC via Flickr

The Xbox Avatar Store now contains football jersey's for each of the thirty-two current NFL teams, each coming in both male and female versions, courtesy of Madden NFL 10. From the amazing Philadelphia Eagles to the even more amazing Pittsburgh Steelers, your avatar can show his or her pride for football teams from Pennsylvania for the low price of 320 Microsoft points, or $4.00 real-world money. I suppose you could buy jerseys representing other teams as well, but that simply doesn't make any sense at all to me. It's crazy talk.

Buy Your NFL Avatar Jersey Here [Xbox Live Marketplace via Major Nelson]

Interrupting a football game between the San Diego Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers is enough reason to cause some sports fans to want to shoot someone, so slipping the new Modern Warfare 2 trailer in between plays is nothing short of marketing genius. Expensive marketing genius as that, as advertising during Sunday Night Football tends to run on the costlier side of the spectrum.

The new trailer, featuring in-game footage mixed with whatever that is in the image up there, should be dropping sometime after the show starts at 8pm Eastern. Don't worry - if you miss it, we should have it up shortly thereafter.

New 'Modern Warfare 2' trailer to kick off on 'NBC's Sunday Night Football' [USA Today]

Loved
Come-Back Story: Unlike NFL 2010, which kicked you back to the beginning of the current quarter, in iPhone Madden you may leave a game at any point - whether or not you select pause from its menu - and come back to it exactly at that point. This alone makes it the football sim to buy for your Apple mobile.

A Monster in Your Pants: For such a pocket-sized download (102.3 megabytes) this still delivers the core gameplay and presentation one uses and expects through 90 percent of a console Madden experience. Most notably, you get roster management - including trades - within your full season simulation. The real-life stadia are used; booth commentators Tom Hammond, Cris Collinsworth and (a bit obtrusively, however) John Madden himself supply analysis. The stadia you play in are the ones you see on Sunday, not generic clones. And most of all, the framerate and camera remained reasonably smooth and definitely well positioned. The game definitely exceeded what I expected to find in a Madden port to this platform.

Hated
The Clock Stops You: Madden, like NFL 2010, employs a bullet-time mechanic to let you pull off running back jukes, punishing hits, and timely pass breakups. The good news is in Madden, you have a manual trigger, and don't have to rely upon the game to slow down time for you, which sometimes never came. The bad news is it's one more part of the screen to touch, and fat-fingered button-spamming spazzes (*raises fat-fingered hand*) will face an inscrutable learning curve as to when to key this feature, and even hitting it correctly. I want to be clear, my quibble is only with the trigger; bullet-time itself is the best solution to performing finesse moves on this platform, and once I figured it out, I was springing runs of 12 and 20 yards, and more. It's the only shortcoming of what is, overall, a very solid control scheme given the platform. I loved drawing the custom receiver hot routes with a flick of my finger, and being able to touch any player on the screen and take over his control, rather than cycle through them with a pre-snap icon.

Now I can see why Gameloft hustled NFL 2010 out the door for the iPhone. They won the race to be first, but not to be best, and its offering shows glaring weaknesses against what Madden 10 on the iPhone brings to the table, even at double the price. You're still playing a complex game with a virtual stick and buttons - but once you grow accustomed to that, it easily becomes a football experience that fulfills both the Madden brand and the promise of mobile gaming.

Madden NFL 10 was developed and published by Electronic Arts for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Released to the iTunes App Store on Sept. 3. Retails for $9.99 USD. Reviewed on an iPhone 3G. Played through play-now and season modes.

It really is that simple. Well, it assumes you have both the PS3 version and a PSN account, but yeah, you probably do. So quit watching Jimmy, Terry and Howie laughing gratuitously at Frank Caliendo and go pick up some free football. And Xbox 360 owners, tough luck, but you can watch this sweet video below. It's free too.

AFL - Reebok [Reebok.com via Joystiq]

A Costa Rica casino is now taking proposition bets on when the Madden Curse strikes Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals, Troy Polamalu's cover co-star. Polamalu was sidelined for three to six weeks after spraining ligaments in his knee in week one. This, of course, was attributed to the Madden cover jinx, which has dinged pretty much everyone except Marshall Faulk (2003) since they started putting athletes on the cover.

Playblackjack.com is giving 9:1 odds (bet $100, win $900) on each of Fitzgerald's remaining 15 games. Basically, the terms are that Fitzgerald gets injured for at least one game - not the kind of season-ending, career death spiral the Curse is cracked up to be. He needs to be listed on the Cardinals' official injury report for that game to win the bet, says the casino.

Larry Fitzgerald must be listed on the Arizona Cardinals official injury report for a bet to be graded as a winner. If he's injured during practice or outside practice, the upcoming game is the wining game. If he stays healthy throughout the year, all bets are off and all money is returned.

You can see where this is headed. First, a player can be listed on an official injury report and still play the entire game. See Patriots, New England, whose coach has listed Tom Brady as "probable" since scouts watched Brady play for Michigan. Second, it suggests that Fitzgerald could get both legs broken in the first quarter of, say, week four, but the winning game is actually week five. Third, it leaves open the possibility that Fitzgerald gets a hangnail in weeks two through 17 and every game is a winner.

Betting on a specific player's injury? What a fantastic idea! If only there were some way to affect the outcome. Like, if only the people who organized such an honest gambling business also had professional relationships with people whose job it was to injure others ...

Will the Madden Curse strike again? Bet on it! [PlayBlackjack.com via Go Nintendo]

Hell, yes it is. I've seen unranked and untelevised N.C. State and North Carolina squads get into a helmet-swinging brawl in 1993. Clemson and South Carolina's fourth quarter throwdown 11 years later - including cops on the field - left both schools sitting at home instead of going to bowl games. And we'll all be dead a long time before there is ever again anything like the unforgettably amazing Miami-Florida International gong show of 2006, which showcased state troopers, 13 ejections, a kickoff from the 10-yard line, and running back A'Mod Ned on crutches, striding forth into the maw of disaster.

Really, though, the answer here is so obvious as to be not worth asking: There's no way in hell the NCAA would license a product that featured fighting, no matter how awesome. And you can forget about it in Madden, too. Football is the most institutionally conservative and image-conscious of the major team sports, and clearly prefers to keep its violence well regulated and between the lines. Anything else is left for games like Blitz: The League.

Two licensed sports games, however, do acknowledge illegal or semi-legal aggression in some way: baseball has its beanings, and hockey, well, need anyone say more. In fact, the physicality is going into new realms in this year's NHL 10, says producer David Littman, himself a former professional hockey goalie who had brief appearances in the NHL.

But the violence isn't a gratuitous minigame, Littman said. It's intended to function as hockey fighting does in the real world: A means of policing opposing players' conduct, responding to intimidating tactics and relentless checking, or to fire up the home crowd and inspire solidarity on your team.

"For me, fighting has a place in hockey because it does have a calming influence," Littman says, making a case that many have - without fighting in hockey, massive guys with sticks would seek dirtier, and more injurious, means to dissipate aggression. "We have that authenticity in this game. If you're being checked all over the ice by the other team, and being run out of your own building, you can bring out your fourth line, start a fight, win it, get the crowd back into the game, and it takes away the effects of that intimidation."

Is the NHL cool with this? Absolutely, Littman says. "We work very closely with them [and the NHL players' union] throughout the development process, on what goes in the game," he said. "It's their names on the box with us, too. And we go through yearlong approval processes with them. They're very happy because of our sales and quality, but at the same time they have to protect their names. We worked with them all year, particularly on fighting this year, and no doubt, fighting is a hot topic. There's always controversy, but that was something we worked with them all year on."

In fact, the eminent Edmonton enforcer Zack Stortini was brought in to consult with NHL 10's developers on how to build a first-person fighting engine. His guidance is what tied the fighting to in-game performance boosts, Littman said.

"When you fight in our game, the lines get their energy back, you hear the commentators talking about that, you see the crowd on its feet, banging on the glass," Littman said. "That comes from Zack. He said that there's nothing like being at home, and you've showed the other team that your team's not gonna take it on your home ice."

NHL 10's openness about aggression is authentic to something else: The league's posture on fighting. It's always a prickly subject, because the lessons of hockey's fisticuffs are much more subtle than the beating one sees on a screen. It's also not tolerated in any league other than the North American professionals; in all other ranks, fighting players are ejected, not sent to the penalty box for five minutes.

But the league has repeatedly refused to crack down on fighting with the intent of its elimination, tacitly acknowledging its fundamental relevance to the game. Officially, the league considers the issue from the standpoint of player safety. And if that's its only concern, the fighting in NHL 10 is no problem, because no one is ever injured at the end of a brawl.

"It's a safe way to fight," Littman said. "You can punch people and get punched and you're still sitting on your couch, no bruises. I played professional hockey and was in a lot of fights. To be honest, fighting isn't really where you see the injuries happen."

If bench-clearing brawls are authentic to baseball, MLB has clearly said no thank you to the idea. Then again, it's a league that fines and suspends nearly all of its combatants. Drill a guy in the back in MLB 09 The Show and he'll glare at the pitcher, mouth some unpleasantries and argue with the catcher. You can put a fastball right in his earflap and the reaction is similarly sanitized - he trots down to first no problems. Do this repeatedly and someone might charge the mound. But the animation ends just as the batter breaks out of the catcher's restraint and, it is implied, goes for the pitcher.

This is similar to how beanings have been handled in other licensed MLB games, meaning that league has probably drawn a clear line to developers. (On Tuesday I emailed the game's publicity representatives to talk about beanings and fighting; unfortunately, no one could be made available for comment by the time this was published.)

Interestingly, the NHL games carry a slightly higher age-rating than their colleagues. NHL 10 and NHL 2K10 are both rated E10+, whereas Madden, MLB 09 The Show and others are all E. And there's only one reason: the fighting.

"We have to weigh the pros and cons of that," Littlman said. "Really, I don't think too many 8-year-olds are buying $60 video games. Their parents can for them, sure. Have we ever thought about taking fighting out? The answer is no, because we are striving to be authentic to hockey." Also, fans would desert the game.

And anyway, Littman points out, a concerned parent worried about video game athletes setting a bad example for their youth hockey players can just deactivate the fighting in the game's options.

Stick Jockey is Kotaku's column on sports video games. It appears Saturdays at 10 a.m. U.S. Mountain time.

The NFL Hits the Oregon Trail [Slate via 100% Injury Rate on FanIQ]

More than 800 answered yesterday's trivia question, 300 of them incorrectly. The player on the left side of the screen at 0:59 of this video, helping Kellen Winslow from the field after 1982's "Epic in Miami" is none other than left tackle Billy Shields, No. 66, a sixth-round draft pick from Georgia Tech.

"I'm a 49ers and Chargers fan," not an Iggles partisan, Taylor writes. "For college football I like Michigan. I know, strange I don't like any of the local teams and believe me I get tons of crap from my family for liking Michigan over Penn State."

Well, you can wave around your copy of Madden NFL 10, and tell 'em answering questions about John Shaffer never won nobody nothing.

In the footage, Shields is wearing a helmet and his number is partially obscured, so we had plenty of incorrect answers. The most common wrong answers were defensive end Leroy Jenkins Jones, defensive tackle Jimmy Webb, and center Don Macek. Some also answered "Eric Sievers, WR, Maryland," which is correct - for the guy on the right side of the screen.

Thanks to all who entered. I've never been more delighted to see an inbox jammed with 800 "SUPER CHARGERS!" greetings.

Update: The contest is now closed, and a winner has been chosen from the more than 500 correct entries, and more than 800 overall. Thank you very much for participating.

Original post follows. Thanks very much for participating.

Alright, if you want it, you're playing for an NTSC region-coded copy of Madden NFL 10 for the Xbox 360. It's sealed, new in the box, so it's got the franchise codes with it.

To win, watch the video below, and pause it at the 0:59 mark - the last sequence with players on the screen. Tell me the name of the guy on the left, his position, and where he played in college. Send your entry to kotakucontestATgmailDOTcom, with "Super Chargers" somewhere in the subject header. You must also correctly spell the player's name and school.

Cutoff for entries is 11 p.m. U.S. Mountain time tonight. In the case of multiple correct entries, one will be selected at random.

Alright, here we go. Presenting the Epic in Miami: