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Many football fans may follow one level of football more than the other (college more than pro, for example), however sports gamers tend to play many different sports games, even of the same sport. It seems to only make sense that NCAA Football gamers would devote significant hours to Madden NFL as well (and vice versa) given some of the natural tie-ins including Draft Classes and Road to Glory export to Superstar Mode. However, it seems that in recent years the split has become more diverse, with fans of each franchise going into diverse directions. ...

The NCAA Football team is reaching out to the community and wants your help in gathering team reference details for possible inclusion in the years to come. After asking for info on Cheerleader Chants several months ago, they now want your help in learning where each college football marching band sits in their home stadium, as well as bowl, conference championship and neutral site locations.

Share your team - or any team you know - info in this thread with a photo reference/circling the section on a seating chart image. A written description would also work, but obviously a photo reference would be more beneficial.

UPDATE - Band seating sections have been gathered for ALL venues in NCAA Football. Great work by the community! Feel free to double check the list and make sure the info for your favorite program is correct.

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Over the past few days, the official NCAA Football 11 twitter page has asked gamers some questions on their game preferences and playing style. By themselves, the questions may seem simple but together they can give a clearer picture on how each person plays the game differently.

• What is your favorite game mode in NCAA Football 11 and why?
• Do you prefer to play Offense or Defense in NCAA Football 11?
• What is your favorite play to run in NCAA Football 11 and why?
• What is your favorite defensive formation to run in NCAA Football 11 and why?
• Which side of the ball is your strength in NCAA Football 11?
• When on Offense in NCAA Football 11, do you prefer to Run or Pass the ball?
• When on Defense in NCAA Football 11, which position do you prefer to play and why?
• On Defense, which position do you think is the most important and why?
• When you win the coin toss in NCAA Football 11, do you prefer to put your Offense or your Defense on the field first?
• How many games of NCAA Football 11 have you played Online this year?

Share your answers and thoughts with The Gaming Tailgate community. ...

With a new year upon us, it means the first info on NCAA Football 12 is just months away and an opportunity to glean what may be on the horizon for the franchise.

Back in November 2009, EA SPORTS distributed a survey with 13 possible feature additions for NCAA Football and asked respondents to select their top three choices. Let's take a look back at that survey to see what features were implemented in NCAA Football 11 and which items we may see in NCAA 12 or a future edition of the game. ...

After a long season it has all come down to this - Oregon vs. Auburn for the BCS National Championship. Each team has faced adversity and struggles in their quest to head home with the title. Click Read More for the video preview and share your thoughts on this game in the comments below. ...

One of the biggest features to ever hit the NCAA Football franchise is Online Dynasty. It has brought the community together in a whole new way, and it will be in it's fourth iteration with NCAA Football 12 next summer. The ability to fight with your friends for recruits, be able to spoil your friends championship run, and see who has the best horse in the Heisman race are just a few of the things that makes Online Dynasty so great. Now that EA has had some time to tinker and expand the Online Dynasty since its inception, what would you, as the community like to see from this point forward? Please post your thoughts and comments below. ...

In our first Bowl Preview Game of the Week, the drama and storylines off the field may eclipse on-the-field news.

Despite being border states, Iowa (7-5) and Missouri (10-2) have not met in football since 1910. The two programs had scheduled a four-year series from 2005 through 2008, but Missouri backed out of the first two years to schedule other opponents, leading Iowa to void the final two years on the deal. For the program administrators at that time, this led to some hard feelings. Click Read More for the full preview & video. ...

The bowl season is here! The bowls kick off on December 18 leading up to the BCS National Championship Game on Jan 10 with Auburn facing Oregon.

Prepare yourself for the bowl season with The Gaming Tailgate Bowl Schedule & Discussion. Match-ups, bowl schedule, date & time, TV coverage, links to official bowl websites and more are at your disposal and also talk about the bowl games with the community.

Think you know who will win the bowls? Join The Gaming Tailgate Bowl Pick 'Em Challenge at Yahoo! Sports. Just pick the winners straight up and we'll see who has the most success. Also, congrats to steelerfan for winning the regular season pick 'em. ...

Tuesday night on OS Radio, Operation Sports' Chris Sanner & Christian McLeod welcomed Ben Haumiller, Associate Producer for NCAA Football.

Among the topics discussed included working with the NCAA and universities, Dynasty/Online Dynasty, the development process & more, as well as their picks for some of the best games in the upcoming bowl season. Click here to listen to the show. ...

With the college football regular season at a close, talk has started amongst community members on whom may be potential cover athlete candidates for NCAA Football 12. This year appears to potentially be the most wide-open in recent memory as there is strong rationale for and against almost every candidate and the majority of candidates are all under-classmen. With the possibility of an NFL lock-out looming, the underclassmen have a difficult choice in deciding whether to stay in school or enter the NFL Draft. Following the bowl games, the cover athlete discussion should become clearer and we will revisit the topic to see what candidates emerged or may have dropped out of the picture.

Continue on to read bios for the early pre-bowl list of candidates and then vote for your top three choices. ...

In this edition of The Gaming Tailgate podcast, JBHuskers, gschwendt and cdj discuss some vague info on NCAA Football 12/Madden NFL 12 the and recap the 2010 NCAA Football Community Wish List Tournament.

The Gaming Tailgate Podcast is now available on iTunes! Copy the following address into iTunes or any other RSS client that supports enclosures:
http://www.thegamingtailgate.com/for...hp?forumids=39

Continue on to download or listen to the show. ...

The SEC Championship is the focus for our latest Game of the Week as Auburn looks to secure its spot in the BCS National Championship Game while South Carolina looks to avenge a 35-27 regular season loss to the Tigers.

South Carolina has started to reach the potential they thought existed when they hired Steve Spurrier as head coach in 2004. This season they won their first SEC East championship, defeated defending National Champion and #1 Alabama, and won in Gainesville for the first time.

At times, Auburn has looked dominant but has also needed lots of poise as they have rallied from behind in eight games including overcoming a 13-point deficit in the first match-up against the Gamecocks. Off the field, they have also overcome the rumors and speculation surrounding the eligibility of QB Cam Newton.

Will Auburn continue on their date with destiny and move one game away from being crowned Nation Champions? Or will South Carolina's breakthrough season continue with a victory and a spot in a BCS bowl?

Click Read More for the video preview and to vote on your pick for the Game of the Week. ...

After weeks of voting, 68 of the most requested features from the NCAA Football community have been whittled down to just two: Custom Playbooks versus a Coaching Carousel. No matter which items wins, when voting make sure to share your thoughts on how you would like to see either item implemented into the game.

Also, make sure to vote in the 2nd Chance Tournament where items eliminated in the first round of the main bracket have a chance to emerge as highly requested in the eyes of the community. ...

Last season, upset minded Auburn pushed Alabama to the brink before falling 26-21 to the eventual National Champions. This year, Alabama hopes to knock Auburn out of title contention by winning the Iron Bowl on Friday.

The Crimson Tide have taken everyone's best shot, with six conference foes having a bye week before playing Alabama. A team that is young and inexperienced at spots still finds itself in the top 10 and with a 9-2 record. South Carolina ended their undefeated streak at 19 games in early October with a 35-21 win before the Tide fell at LSU 24-21 a month later to end any chance of repeating as National Champs.

Auburn has used skill and luck as they have racked up a 11-0 record while overcoming rumors and speculation surrounding stand-out QB Cam Newton. By defeating Alabama and then South Carolina in the SEC Championship game, the Tigers will be playing for the National Championship. However, they have the toughest remaining road to Glendale among the four undefeated teams (Auburn, Boise State, Oregon, TCU).

Click Read More for a video preview of Auburn vs. Alabama and then vote on who you think will win the game. ...

The NCAA Football Community Wish List Tournament started with 68 of the most highly requested items from the community and has now been whittled down to the Elite 8. Voting for the final four is now open and each poll will close Thursday morning. Head over to Tournament Headquarters to vote today and let your thoughts on each feature (and how you would like both to be implemented) be known.

Also, make sure to vote in the 2nd Chance Tournament to help determine the 'Best of the Rest' from items eliminated in the first round. Click Read More to see the match-ups that comprise the Elite 8. ...

In the latest edition of the Madden NFL developers podcast, creative director Ian Cummings & ratings expert Donny Moore were joined by a member of the Central Gameplay team, Larry Richart. Central Gameplay designers help keep a base code & features between the two EA Tiburon football franchises, Madden NFL and NCAA Football.

While remaining vague in discussing the current project(s) Richart is working on, it was disclosed that defense (particularly zone coverage and assignment AI) and eliminating 'suction blocking' are among the focus areas for Central Gameplay, along with other aspects. Fellow Central Gameplay member Mike Scantlebury and designer Kasey Keltner have already been hard at work for months to help get zone coverages & assignment AI at a suitable level.

Click Read More to see more of the topics discussed in the Madden NFL developers podcast, including Real-Time Physics, the move of NBA ELITE to EA Tiburon, questions from the community, assigning player ratings, & more. ...

The 2010 NCAA Football Community Wish List Tournament has reached the Sweet 16. Make sure to visit Tournament Central to vote and (more importantly) share your opinions on each item.

Click Read More to see the 16 items vying to be crowned the most requested and clamored for by the NCAA Football community. ...

The latest Game of the Week focuses on an important Big 10 showdown in Iowa City between the Ohio State Buckeyes (9-1, 5-1) and the Iowa Hawkeyes (7-3, 4-2). Last year, Ohio State prevailed 27-24 in overtime to earn a trip to the Rose Bowl vs. Oregon and the game this season has huge implications once again.

If the Buckeyes wish to extend their five-year reign as Big 10 Champions, they must prevail against an Iowa team smarting from a tough loss last week to Northwestern. With a victory, they can keep pace with Wisconsin & Michigan State, while a loss all but eliminates them.

If Iowa can upset the Buckeyes, they maintain a slight outside shot at a co-championship but will need Wisconsin and Michigan State to each drop a game in the final two weeks of the season.

Click Read More for a video preview of Ohio State vs. Iowa and then share your thoughts on this big game. ...

The Second Round of the 2010 NCAA Football Community Wish List Tournament is now underway with eight match-ups now open for voting. Vote early as each match-up will remain open no longer than three days. As always, give your reason(s) for your vote and how you would like both features to be implemented if they were added to the NCAA Football franchise. Your comments on each aspect are just as important as the voting results. May the best feature win! ...