Something like three-fourths of NCAA Football's user base play it principally for Dynasty mode, and of those, probably more than half have done it to take the game's worst team to national prominence.
Kotaku reader Siubone decided to try that with Western Kentucky in NCAA Football 10. In last year's game, the Hilltoppers were ranked 119th out of 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, and had been playing in that division for all of a single year. Needing a challenge (and his Southern Illinois Salukis are a Football Championship Subdivision team, not in the game), he picked WKU. And scheduled Florida - this is the preseason No. 1 Tim Tebow Florida of 2009 - as a midseason tuneup.
Coming into the game at 6-3, 5-1 in the Sun Belt, including a narrow win over 1-9 Louisiana-Lafayette, Siubone expected to get destroyed. Florida zipped out to a 14-0 lead before a full minute had run off the clock. The Hilltoppers battled back to knot the score at 14 by the end of the quarter. Florida opened the second quarter with another fast two touchdowns - a kickoff return and the second pick-six of the day - to get out to 28-14. Western Kentucky battled back and went into halftime trailing 35-28.
WKU tied the game at 35 but the Gators kept throwing haymakers - including the third pick-six of the day to close out the third quarter at 49-35. But the Hilltoppers just kept coming, getting a quick TD through the air, finally holding Florida to a three-and-out, and marching down to the Gator 26 where starting quarterback Brandon Smith (looks like Siubone was using named rosters) was knocked out of the game. That brought in backup Tyler Bruce.
Facing 3rd-and-13 with the backup, Bruce hit Quinterrance Cooper over the middle to tie the score and, improbably, force the game to overtime. UF won the toss and made the worst mistake of the day - it elected to go on offense first. Western Kentucky held Florida to a field goal. Siubone went to his secret weapon.
"Pulling out my goal line set for the next seven plays, I pushed from the 25 into the endzone to take the game 55-52." No. 3 had lost to No. 119. Smith had gone 35-of-54 for 572 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions.
Here's the Box Score:
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Now the Kotaku Sports open thread commences with the sports TV schedule for today and tomorrow. All times are U.S. Eastern.
- College Football
Right now, State's leading Georgia Tech 10-0 but should be up 23-0. That's on ESPN. Michigan's Denard Robinson, the nation's leading rusher, pulled up gimpy after a touchdown run against Bowling Green, that's on ESPN2. No. 1 Alabama at No. 10 Arkansas is easily the day's biggest game; that will be on CBS at 3:30. No. 24 Oregon State at No. 3 Boise State on ABC at 8 p.m. is another upset contender. And No. 5 Oregon takes its point-a-minute offense to Arizona State on Fox Sports Net in the 10:30 nightcap. - NFL
Tomorrow's top game is easily the 0-2 Cowboys at the 2-0 Texans, a new rivalry game with enormous implications this early in the season. Other good bets include the 2-0 Steelers at the surprisingly 2-0 Buccaneers; Indianapolis at an emotionally reeling Denver, and the Jets-Dolphins in the 8 p.m. nightcap on NBC. The Monday Night Game is the Bears and Packers, both 2-0. - Major League Baseball
Best bet is Cincinnati at San Diego, if Fox shows it in your market, at 4 p.m. The Cards and Cubs play out the string on WGN at 1 p.m.
TBS has the Giants at Colorado at 3 p.m. tomorrow in a game with huge implications for the National League West. ESPN's game of the week is Red Sox at the Yankees at 8 p.m., a game that means more to the Rays chances than the Red Sox'. - Mixed Martial Arts
UFC 119's undercard begins at 9 p.m. on Spike. The feature bout, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic and Frank Mir, is on pay-per-view at 10.
- Motorsports
The NASCAR Nationwide Series Dover 200 is on ESPN2 at 3:30 p.m. today. The AAA 400, the second race in the Chase for the Cup, drops the flag at 1 p.m. tomorrow on ESPN.
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