The Real Reason South Alabama Isn't In The Game...

[Dr Death]

I came upon this link and all I can say is that this is something that EA needs to address in-house. They favor certain schools... ahem :Florida_State: whilst ignoring others... ahem :Washington: and when you read this article, my hope is that it drives home the point that EA cannot continue to do business this way. They have to show equal support for ALL schools... not just the ones their employees graduated from. The fact is that :South_Alabama: was the first of the four new teams to declare for FBS... this happened in 2009... and the fact that they aren't in this year's game is inexcusable.

I would implore all CD guys to let them know that this type of business practice cannot continue. Here's the story, in italics so you can tell it's the article and not me. The link for the article will be after the article:

South Alabama is a member of FBS football — even if EA Sports doesn't acknowledge it.

The Jaguars were left out of EA Sports' hit video game franchise NCAA Football 13 despite being a full-fledged member of the Sun Belt Conference in 2013.

Julie Foster, a communications manager at EA Sports, told JagsJungle.com, a South Alabama fan site, that the video game franchise didn't know South Alabama was going to be a full member of the FBS.

"South Alabama was a provisional member of FBS last year and did not play a full FBS schedule," she wrote the site in an email. "We did not receive confirmation that they were changing to a full FBS schedule this year until it was too late for inclusion in NCAA Football 13. South Alabama will be included in NCAA Football 14."

As the site points out, this is ridiculous. South Alabama is the only new FBS team left out of the game despite being the first of the four to join an FBS league. When South Alabama decided to form its football team that began play in 2009, it was known that it would ultimately join its other sports in the Sun Belt after enduring the NCAA's mandatory two-year provisionary period.

Last year marked the beginning of that period and this year the Jaguars face teams from the Sun Belt in preparation for its full membership in 2013. It's true that of the four teams transitioning to the FBS — Texas-San Antonio, Texas State and UMass — South Alabama might have received the least amount of pub because it joined its league back in 2009. However, the Jaguars are playing 11 FBS schools in 2012, which should have been the first clue that it wasn't an FCS team.

Yeah, this is just a video game, but it's the most popular college football video game franchise ever and to be slighted by EA Sports has got to be a little slap in the face.

Not to worry South Alabama, we here at The Doc acknowledge your existence as an FBS program even if the video gaming world doesn't.

Link: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/south-alabama-left-ea-sports-ncaa-13-because-173346569--ncaaf.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[beartide06]

Tried to get this link up but it did not make it into the "New & Announcements" thread because I found it on my South Alabama's library Facebook page.

Appreciate the concern Dr Death! This is just how fast things spread with today's technology. A lot of fans, not Just South Alabama fans, will be disappointed this year that EA can't even get all of the correct teams into the game.

My question is, what "reliable" sources are they using to obtain this information? To me, the NCAA would have known South was going to be a full member in the FBS, so why doesn't EA contact the school and/or the NCAA for this type of crucial information? It just doesn't make sense to me.

[Dr Death]

Tried to get this link up but it did not make it into the "New & Announcements" thread because I found it on my South Alabama's library Facebook page.

Appreciate the concern Dr Death! This is just how fast things spread with today's technology. A lot of fans, not Just South Alabama fans, will be disappointed this year that EA can't even get all of the correct teams into the game.

My question is, what "reliable" sources are they using to obtain this information? To me, the NCAA would have known South was going to be a full member in the FBS, so why doesn't EA contact the school and/or the NCAA for this type of crucial information? It just doesn't make sense to me.

It frustrates me because every year it's something w/ many teams. Last year's game :Boise_State: couldn't have 12 games! WTF is that about? And w/ only 123 teams in this year's game, will that screw up other school's schedules? There is simply no valid excuse for this oversight. The 'We didn't find out until it was too late' line doesn't fly w/ me. As you point out, it takes one phone call. Call the f*cking school and find out! It's 2012... we have amazing technology and they can't get off their butt and make one call to the school?

So very frustrating. :fp:

[beartide06]

Speaking of schedules, We (South) play 13 games this season. Only ONE of those teams is an FCS team, all the others are FBS teams! We play Mississippi state, NC State, and your Hawaii warriors! Lol.

Now, I wonder if EA didn't include them because having 13 regular season games would mess up their scheduling formula?? Not sure if the other new teams have 13 teams on their schedule as well, but I know South does. Here is the link for that as well: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-12/sun-belt/2012-south-alabama-jaguars-football-schedule.php

[Dr Death]

Speaking of schedules, We (South) play 13 games this season. Only ONE of those teams is an FCS team, all the others are FBS teams! We play Mississippi state, NC State, and your Hawaii warriors! Lol.

Now, I wonder if EA didn't include them because having 13 regular season games would mess up their scheduling formula?? Not sure if the other new teams have 13 teams on their schedule as well, but I know South does. Here is the link for that as well: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-12/sun-belt/2012-south-alabama-jaguars-football-schedule.php

That's another thing EA gets wrong every single year! :Hawaii: plays 13 games every season, unless teams back out on them, like in 2007, and if they qualify, then a 14th game as a bowl game. They get this "extra" game due to all the travel they have to endure. Yet EA never has that right either.

[SmoothPancakes]

Actually, it's not that South Alabama got left out, it's that the other three schools got put in when they shouldn't have been. The CD guys (G) can better explain this, but EA has in the past not added team until they were FULL FBS members. With none of the four being full members until 2013, none of them should have been in the game until NCAA 14. I'll let G or one of the other guys go into the full details on it all.

[baseballplyrmvp]

Speaking of schedules, We (South) play 13 games this season. Only ONE of those teams is an FCS team, all the others are FBS teams! We play Mississippi state, NC State, and your Hawaii warriors! Lol.

Now, I wonder if EA didn't include them because having 13 regular season games would mess up their scheduling formula?? Not sure if the other new teams have 13 teams on their schedule as well, but I know South does. Here is the link for that as well: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-12/sun-belt/2012-south-alabama-jaguars-football-schedule.php

only teams who play @:Hawaii: are allowed 13 regular season games.

i thought tommy or jeff? said that there was a lot of confusion about them and that someone initially told ea that south alabama would be a full fledged member next year and not this year (not positive on what the direct quote was). on something like this though, it should have been checked and confirmed 20X over as to when south alabama is a full member.

[gschwendt]

Actually, it's not that UMass got left out, it's that the other three schools got put in when they shouldn't have been. The CD guys (G) can better explain this, but EA has in the past not added team until they were FULL FBS members. With none of the four being full members until 2013, none of them should have been in the game until NCAA 14. I'll let G or one of the other guys go into the full details on it all.
only teams who play @:Hawaii: are allowed 13 regular season games.

i thought tommy or jeff? said that there was a lot of confusion about them and that someone initially told ea that south alabama would be a full fledged member next year and not this year (not positive on what the direct quote was). on something like this though, it should have been checked and confirmed 20X over as to when south alabama is a full member.
Smooth has it right. They've never added schools during their probationary year, they've only added them the first year that they were full-fledged. I think it came down to that UTSA & TSU essentially had to be added in order to make the crumbling WAC a suitable conference. I'm not sure how that brings UMass in but again, none of the four would have normally be added.

The reason I was given was that they were under the impression that UTSA, TSU, & UMass were full-fledged this year and USA was full-fledged next. By the time they realized their mistake, it was too late to remove the three new teams (which would have been the proper step) and also too late to add USA.

My curiosity for next year though will be whether they add both USA & GSU to NCAA14.

[SmoothPancakes]

Damn, I thought I had edited my post in time before it got quoted. :D I accidentally said it was UMass getting left out when I meant South Alabama. But oh well, I corrected it in the original post and you guys know what I meant anyways. :D

But next year will be interesting. I'm gonna guess USA gets added and then GSU probably comes in with NCAA 15 like it's always been done.

[beartide06]

only teams who play @:Hawaii: are allowed 13 regular season games.

i thought tommy or jeff? said that there was a lot of confusion about them and that someone initially told ea that south alabama would be a full fledged member next year and not this year (not positive on what the direct quote was). on something like this though, it should have been checked and confirmed 20X over as to when south alabama is a full member.

So, teams that play @ :Hawaii: have the OPTION to play 13 games if they so choose?

Hey G, what exactly is the definition of a "full-fledged FBS member?"

[gschwendt]

Hey G, what exactly is the definition of a "full-fledged FBS member?"
Can qualify for post-season play and/or win a conference championship. None of the four teams can do either of those this season.

[baseballplyrmvp]

So, teams that play @ :Hawaii: have the OPTION to play 13 games if they so choose?

:nod: dont know why they wouldnt want to play a 13th game, as it'd help even more offset the trip to the islands.

[beartide06]

Can qualify for post-season play and/or win a conference championship. None of the four teams can do either of those this season.

Right. So, in the past teams have been added in the NCAA series that were only full-fledged or FBS or 1A members? Isn't that what Smooth meant by "from how it's always been done?"

[SmoothPancakes]

Right. So, in the past teams have been added in the NCAA series that were only full-fledged or FBS or 1A members? Isn't that what Smooth meant by "from how it's always been done?"

Yes, that's what I meant in my post. They only added teams once they were full-fledged FBS members. Obviously, clearly, something got screwed up somewhere along the line and the team thought the three teams that got in were full-fledged this year when none of them are, and none of them should have been in the game until next year's game.

[gschwendt]

Right. So, in the past teams have been added in the NCAA series that were only full-fledged or FBS or 1A members? Isn't that what Smooth meant by "from how it's always been done?"
Yes... to my recollection that's how FIU, FAU & WKU were all treated.

[beartide06]

Yes... to my recollection that's how FIU, FAU & WKU were all treated.

What about with the FCS teams in the past? I know it may seem like I'm :deadhorse: but i just want to understand all of this correctly.

The whole deal with adding and not adding teams this year seems to have been a huge mess with a lot of misunderstanding and confusion. Obviously, you guys do not know the whole story, just what you have been told.

[gschwendt]

What about with the FCS teams in the past? I know it may seem like I'm :deadhorse: but i just want to understand all of this correctly.

I don't remember how they handled those last gen. They never had every FCS school in the game anyway so they didn't really have to worry about who they left out.

At the end of the day it's unfortunate and I feel for you but you can always create them as a Teambuilder team and then just rip out UMass to put USA in their place.

[Kwizzy]

Also, as to the original post, I would argue that EA is far from the worst offender when it comes to overrating Florida St. Phil Steele has them winning the national championship for cryin out loud. EA tries to follow the general consensus as to who the best teams will be & FSU is constantly overrated by everyone!

[Dr Death]

Also, as to the original post, I would argue that EA is far from the worst offender when it comes to overrating Florida St. Phil Steele has them winning the national championship for cryin out loud. EA tries to follow the general consensus as to who the best teams will be & FSU is constantly overrated by everyone!

That may be, but Phil Steele isn't making a video game. I've never had anything against :Washington: but since my favorite coach is now at :Washington_State: I am going to have to learn to hate the Huskies... :D However, I do sympathize w/ their fans when their field has been wrong for multiple years despite numerous posts SHOWING EA how it should look and the fact that their home uniform has also been wrong. This lack of attention to detail - or lack of CARING about every team really reflects poorly on EA.

[Kwizzy]

See now that is a valid & reasonable stance. You made 2 different ones: A)The devs favor & overrate their own teams which is absolutely NOT the case. B) They spend too much time focusing on the more popular teams within the game, which is absolutely true.

As to B, I understand why they do it but I can also see where it would piss off fans of smaller schools.

[souljahbill]

See now that is a valid & reasonable stance. You made 2 different ones: A)The devs favor & overrate their own teams which is absolutely NOT the case. B) They spend too much time focusing on the more popular teams within the game, which is absolutely true.

As to B, I understand why they do it but I can also see where it would piss off fans of smaller schools.

Right. I'm glad USC added the song girls but if Southern Miss is STILL missing our mascot or comes out of a tunnel that does not exist, I'll accept it begrudgingly.

[Dr Death]

See now that is a valid & reasonable stance. You made 2 different ones: A)The devs favor & overrate their own teams which is absolutely NOT the case. B) They spend too much time focusing on the more popular teams within the game, which is absolutely true.

As to B, I understand why they do it but I can also see where it would piss off fans of smaller schools.

It's not two different points. As to your claim that EA doesn't favor certain schools, I give you :Florida_State: last year. On OS someone posted the new field art at midfield of the Seminoles stadium. Within hours EA made the change in the game and bragged about it when they showed, in a video released a few days later, the guy making the changes and the post from OS was seen on the screen!

Nobody can convince me they don't favor certain teams. ALL teams should be treated as equals, and they aren't. I get that teams like :North_Texas: and :FAU: don't have a legion of fans, but there are people out there who care passionately for those teams, and EA treats the so-called lesser school like they're dirt. I'm actually shocked that those two schools - :North_Texas: and :FAU: actually have their new stadiums in the game this year. But what about :Washington:? Several years in a row - wrong field art - wrong home uniform. Number of posts on OS about it? Too many to count. Yet nothing gets done.

[ram29jackson]

Right. I'm glad USC added the song girls but if Southern Miss is STILL missing our mascot or comes out of a tunnel that does not exist, I'll accept it begrudgingly.

in all seriousness, do you suppose they care about traditions of schools that arent ranked high often ? are there any schools below the top 40 that have many specifics ?

[souljahbill]

Stay following your LA teams. We've had, like 19 consecutive winning seasons, been to a bowl for like 12 of the last 13 years or something like that, are the current C-USA champs, nationally ranked at the end of last season, and produced Brett Farve and Ray Guy. If you don't know us, you're not paying attention.

[ram29jackson]

Stay following your LA teams. We've had, like 19 consecutive winning seasons, been to a bowl for like 12 of the last 13 years or something like that, are the current C-USA champs, nationally ranked at the end of last season, and produced Brett Farve and Ray Guy. If you don't know us, you're not paying attention.

LOL I wasnt making fun of them. They arent a national powerhouse.Theyve been ranked pretty high the last few years but obviously arent cared about nationally or taken all that seriously. Therefore, may not get in-game attention like a few others, concerning what this thread is about.

[souljahbill]

I don't care if they show the Dixie Darlings doing the dance routine that they do at every pre-game at home. Just give us our mascot and have the team come out of an inflatable helmet and we're set.

[Kwizzy]

They absolutely know which teams are used most in the game & focus their efforts to ensure that they are accurate. That's smart business, keep the majority of your consumer base happy. Now I understand that stinks for the smaller teams but that's the breaks. They only have so much time & resources to allocate to that type of stuff and It's only reasonable that the resources are first allocated to the most popular teams.

[cdj]

They absolutely know which teams are used most in the game & focus their efforts to ensure that they are accurate. That's smart business, keep the majority of your consumer base happy. Now I understand that stinks for the smaller teams but that's the breaks. They only have so much time & resources to allocate to that type of stuff and It's only reasonable that the resources are first allocated to the most popular teams.

I agree, but at some point it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Address the major teams, ignore the smaller teams; fans of larger programs are happy and get more invested in franchise, fans of smaller programs get turned off at inaccuracies/missing details and fall out of favor with the franchise. If you're a fan of a program that has been languishing, NCAA Football may be your way of seeing your team do something that they haven't done in real-life in a long time, if ever. However, if the stadium/uniforms/field art/traditions are incorrect, it's tougher to establish that connection or attachment to try and 'rewrite history' and you may just say 'screw it.'

Dr. Death did bring up a very good point. While using the FSU field art was a good example of showing the use of community feedback in a quick manner, it did also set them up for failure when other highly requested/mentioned team details (from the same forum, no less!) are not added.

I will say that I think the team is getting better at getting details correct and there's several community event attendees who have been repeatedly indicating how important they are for all in the community. With so many games on TV or the web nowadays, hardcore CFB fans can now tell you key details about a lot of programs. That only increases the need for the game to get them correct. Having incorrect details for a school not only upsets their fans, but fans of fellow conference members and regional teams or fans of schools who play there are going to notice the errors/missing details as well.

[Dr Death]

They absolutely know which teams are used most in the game & focus their efforts to ensure that they are accurate. That's smart business, keep the majority of your consumer base happy. Now I understand that stinks for the smaller teams but that's the breaks. They only have so much time & resources to allocate to that type of stuff and It's only reasonable that the resources are first allocated to the most popular teams.

Don't take this wrong, Kwizzy, I am not arguing w/ you... just trying make some points. As far as the 'they only have so much time & resources' bit, I get that. But it's been 3 years for :Washington: and still their field and home uni's are incorrect. Yet :Florida_State: gets fixed w/ in hours of the post.

Now... as far as them {EA} knowing who people use the most, you may be correct in On-Line Play Now games, because about 97% of those people are cheesers and they will always choose the best teams. However... I've read countless threads and posts over the years of people talking about how they're going to take over :FAU: or :North_Texas: or :Southern_Miss: or :Tulsa: or :FIU: or :Akron: or :Tulane: or :Idaho: or :Arkansas_State: or any other small school for the

express purpose of having a challenge and building them up. So again... I would question whether or not they know which teams get used the most.

Again, not trying to argue w/ you, I do get what you're saying. And thanks to CDJ for the comments!

[JeffHCross]

Yet :Florida_State: gets fixed w/ in hours of the post. Last year a set of uniforms was announced by a team (I can't recall which) while we were on-site for the community day event. We asked if they would be in the game. They already were. Is it possible that FSU wasn't right, and then was fixed within hours? Sure, it's possible. But very unlikely. It's more likely that it already was in the game, and they just couldn't show it until the art was debuted by the school.

In fact, that's my response to this entire thread ... it's full of conclusions that, most likely, are not nearly as simple as are being portrayed here. South Alabama is not in the game because a mistake was made, not because of some conspiracy against the small schools. That's what we've been told by the CD guys, and we really have no reason to disbelieve that (nor EA's communication manager). FSU being overrated was not EA's mistake alone, if you look at the vast majority of pre-season polls last year there was consensus about them being back.

I agree that situations like Washington (and Arizona) being incorrect for years is inexcusable ... but I don't believe it's the result of misappropriated resources or an effort to ignore changes made at smaller schools.


What about with the FCS teams in the past?FCS teams in the previous generations were added based on licensing with those schools. In some cases Tiburon had licenses with part of a conference but not all. The teams that did not have an agreement were left out. I believe this was also the case in March Madness.

As for teams joining/leaving, which is the situation here ... as far as I can recall, that really never happened during the years that EA had FCS teams in the game, so I can't recall how it was handled (if it was). There was a lot more stability back then. :D


ALL teams should be treated as equals, and they aren't.For what it's worth, this assumes that all schools have the same capacity for handling requests/questions from EA, responding to those requests, and working with EA to ensure their schools is well represented. While I imagine that the vast majority of schools want to ensure that they are 100% accurate, I don't imagine that every school has the staff required to facilitate this. I knew or worked with countless people in the athletic department during my five years at Ohio State, but I can't even guess who would be the best contact for EA or responsible for communicating about their requests. I imagine it's even more difficult at Joe Blow U. There's probably some schools that pass it off to an intern (which may explain some of the mistakes :D).

I agree that, at the end of the day, EA is responsible for their product and it is their job to ensure 100% accuracy for the schools that are represented. I also know that perfect software is a pipe dream, and errors get made. I expect those errors to be corrected at the next opportunity, but that doesn't always happen either (and now back to my job as a software tester :D).

[souljahbill]

While I have no evidence supporting (or disproving) this, I would be very confident against your theory being true. Last year a set of uniforms was announced by a team (I can't recall which) while we were on-site for the community day event. We asked if they would be in the game. They already were. Is it possible that FSU wasn't right, and then was fixed within hours? Sure, it's possible. But very unlikely. It's more likely that it already was in the game, and they just couldn't show it until the art was debuted by the school.
In a video (I think it was for NCAA '11), there was a video of an art team guy looking at OS, seeing that the FSU midfield logo was too small, and then resizing it, almost on the spot. I remember seeing it and it being a big deal at OS at the time.

[JeffHCross]

In a video (I think it was for NCAA '11), there was a video of an art team guy looking at OS, seeing that the FSU midfield logo was too small, and then resizing it, almost on the spot. I remember seeing it and it being a big deal at OS at the time.Yeah, I withdrew my comment about being confident after re-reading his post :D

Resizing a logo is also a lot different than what I was thinking he meant :D I was imagining more like it going from the :Florida_State: to the FS (http://www.floridafarmbureau.org/files/resources/FSU2.gif) they use on their baseball caps or something.

It's still inexcusable that errors of this type are not corrected from one iteration to the next, but I can also appreciate that was ridiculously easy to fix. It is kinda silly to make a video of it and set that level of precedent though. As a software developer, I'd hate to call that kind of attention to how "easy" it is to fix something. :D

[NatureBoy]

Sorry, South Alabama, You’re Not in the Game

A couple years ago, Cullen Loeffler was sore at EA Sports because they had deliberately left the Minnesota Vikings' long snapper out of Madden NFL, for years, because of roster space restrictions. It was an amusing kerfuffle, mostly because who the hell is really looking to play as a long snapper on special teams, anyway.

Well, that's one player. The University of South Alabama has about 85, and 15,000 students enrolled, and a bunch more alumni, and is a full member of the Sun Belt Conference, and they're none too pleased they won't be appearing in NCAA Football 13 when the game releases in July. This season will be USA's debut year in Division I-A Football Bowl Subdivision play, and while they're ineligible for postseason bowls, three other schools making their Division I-A FBS debut—Massachusetts, Texas-San Antonio and Texas State—will be included.

An EA Sports spokesperson told a South Alabama blog that "We did not receive confirmation that they were changing to a full FBS schedule this year until it was too late for inclusion in NCAA Football 13. South Alabama will be included in NCAA Football 14."

But the same blog points out that South Alabama declared its intentions, back in 2009, to move to Division I-A FBS play—earlier than any of the other three teams joining Division I-A FBS play this year. Further, South Alabama is playing a full schedule in the Sun Belt Conference, which is a full Division I-A FBS conference featured in the game.

Yesterday evening, I pinged an EA Sports producer for an answer and was referred over to the same spokeswoman, who didn't immediately reply. While I thought this might be explainable by the fact USA is not bowl-eligible in its provisional year—and would require a fix to the game's extremely complicated scheduling logic that may not be worth it for a single season, that doesn't make much sense if the other three provisional schools are included. Further, Western Kentucky was added into the game's Division I-A FBS lineup with no problems back in 2008.

It may not mean a lot to me—I went to a Division I-A FBS BCS-member school, so I'm one of the Haves in college football even if N.C. State and the ACC only technically belong to that club . South Alabama is not a school I'm particularly interested in playing as or playing against, either, but that speaks only for me. I do know it's a tremendous affirmation when your school—and South Alabama was chartered as a university in 1963— is included in mass-market media, whether that's a national ESPN broadcast or a simulation of one in a video game.

You could still create South Alabama through the game's TeamBuilder feature, or import any of the several user-created versions of USA available on the TeamBuilder site. But whatever the reason for South Alabama's exclusion, it's regrettable and an unfortunate slight.

http://kotaku.com/5918582/sorry-south-alabama-youre-not-in-the-game

[JeffHCross]

Would anyone else not be surprised if this popped up on Outside The Lines at some point? :D

[ram29jackson]

Would anyone else not be surprised if this popped up on Outside The Lines at some point? :D

that would be one heck of a slow news week :D

[JSmith03]

Read the blog on Yahoo! about it and as I scrolled down the comments I saw something that was interesting to me...now it's making me wonder:

Does anyone think it's possible EA adds South Alabama in a patch? Or even if they could actually do that in the first place? They'd have to replace every FCS team that was scheduled in USA's place with USA, as well as create a whole roster. I dunno, but it would be considerate if they could and actually decided to...

[souljahbill]

Read the blog on Yahoo! about it and as I scrolled down the comments I saw something that was interesting to me...now it's making me wonder:

Does anyone think it's possible EA adds South Alabama in a patch? Or even if they could actually do that in the first place? They'd have to replace every FCS team that was scheduled in USA's place with USA, as well as create a whole roster. I dunno, but it would be considerate if they could and actually decided to...

I would assume its possible, (like free DLC or something) but I doubt they go through the trouble. The scheduling logic would need to be altered because it's set for the current amount of teams. USA won't appear into '14.

[Kwizzy]

Don't take this wrong, Kwizzy, I am not arguing w/ you... just trying make some points. As far as the 'they only have so much time & resources' bit, I get that. But it's been 3 years for :Washington: and still their field and home uni's are incorrect. Yet :Florida_State: gets fixed w/ in hours of the post.

Now... as far as them {EA} knowing who people use the most, you may be correct in On-Line Play Now games, because about 97% of those people are cheesers and they will always choose the best teams. However... I've read countless threads and posts over the years of people talking about how they're going to take over :FAU: or :North_Texas: or :Southern_Miss: or :Tulsa: or :FIU: or :Akron: or :Tulane: or :Idaho: or :Arkansas_State: or any other small school for the

express purpose of having a challenge and building them up. So again... I would question whether or not they know which teams get used the most.

Again, not trying to argue w/ you, I do get what you're saying. And thanks to CDJ for the comments!

Yeah I guess it's coming off like I'm disagreeing with you more than I am. The only thing that I am disagreeing with is the notion that they only focus on their favorite teams or overrate their team. As to focussing on the larger more popular schools, I'm saying yes, you're absolutely right that they do that. They are playing the numbers game that making a change to the more popular teams gives them more bang for their buck so to speak. But like cdj said, it could bite them in the ass in the long run if they're not careful.

[JeffHCross]

Does anyone think it's possible EA adds South Alabama in a patch? Or even if they could actually do that in the first place?Is it possible that they could? Yes, absolutely. Practically anything is possible with software, though I admit that I don't know what limitations there are for disc-based games versus patches that are stored on the hard drive.

However, I would be extremely hesitant to think for a second that they would. Unless this conversation (which seems to be gaining momentum and talked about more and more) gets too big for them to ignore. As you said, the changes to the scheduling would be massive, and the testing that would be required as a result would be headache inducing.

Now, that being said ... I could envision a scenario where they could be added for Play Now only ..............

[gschwendt]

South Alabama will get extra attention in NCAA14 (http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/06/ea_sports_to_add_south_alabama.html)
via Pastapadre (http://www.pastapadre.com/2012/06/22/ea-sports-pledges-extra-attention-to-south-alabama-for-ncaa-football-14)


MOBILE, Alabama (https://blog.advance.net/mt-static/html/www.al.com)
-
EA Sports (http://www.al.com/mobile)
likes to say "It's in the Game,'' when referring to its popular NCAA Football video games. And that's true for each of the 124 Football Bowl Championship teams in the country for the upcoming "NCAA Football 13.'' Except
South Alabama (http://www.al.com/mobile)
.
In an oversight by the company, which said it was unaware the Jaguars were in the last year of their two-year transition to FBS status this season, South Alabama was left out of this year's game. The omission has been a point of contention with South Alabama fans, especially the school's student body, in recent days. Many of those upset that the Jags will not be featured in the game this year have expressed that disappointment via a number of social media outlets and Jags' message boards and have called for EA Sports to add the Jags to the game.

EA Sports officials have contacted South Alabama football officials and administrators, informing them the Jags will be a part of "NCAA Football 14'' which comes out next season. It was too late for the Jags to be added to this year's game. In an effort to make up for leaving the team out of this year's game, EA Sports officials have sent a list of extras they are planning for South Alabama's inclusion in next year's game.

In a letter EA Sports sent to South Alabama, the company assured school officials it was "going to go above and beyond what we typically do for a new FBS school.'' The letter stated the company would give the Jags the type of treatment that is normally reserved "for the biggest and highest profile teams in the country.''

Here is a list of extra the company plans for South Alabama's inclusion in next year's game:

1. During one of the games this upcoming year, EA Sports will videotape the team and cheerleader run-out onto the field at the start of a game so that we can try and replicate the run out and make it as realistic as possible.

2. EA Sports will perform a crowd recording of a South Alabama game this year and use that recording to replicate the stadium sound effects and crowd chants in the game.

3. EA Sports also wants to work closely with the South Alabama athletic department in developing the South Alabama team introductions that ESPN announcers Brad Nessler, Rece Davis and Kirk Herbstreit will talk about at the start of each game.

4. EA Sports will be adding the South Alabama mascot "South Paw" into the game so South Paw will be on the sidelines during games and also be included in the "Mascot Mash-Up" game mode.

5. EA Sports wants to meet with the South Alabama football coaches to replicate the South Alabama playbook and make it as realistic as possible to what the team uses during the 2014 season.

6. EA SPORTS is already looking into licensing the rights to use Ladd Peebles Stadium so EA can perform a "Stadium Scan" of the stadium and get the most authentic South Alabama stadium possible into the 2014 NCAA Football game.

[SmoothPancakes]

Cue the bitching and moaning about "why the hell won't EA do that for my school" in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

[souljahbill]

Why the hell won't EA do this for MY school?!?!

[JSmith03]

South Alabama will get extra attention in NCAA14 (http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/06/ea_sports_to_add_south_alabama.html)
via Pastapadre (http://www.pastapadre.com/2012/06/22/ea-sports-pledges-extra-attention-to-south-alabama-for-ncaa-football-14)

:clap::clap::clap::clap:

[SmoothPancakes]

Why the hell won't EA do this for MY school?!?!

:D I was wondering who was the going to be the one to say it.

[souljahbill]

:D I was wondering who was the going to be the one to say it.

In all seriousness, I'm happy for them.......unless we STILL come out of an imaginary tunnel and are still mascot-less in '14.

[NatureBoy]

In all seriousness, I'm happy for them.......unless we STILL come out of an imaginary tunnel and are still mascot-less in '14. :D South Carolina runs out of an imaginary tunnel too. We do have our mascot Cocky in the game but I would rather have our real live mascot, Sir Big Spur instead.

[CLW]

Pretty standard PR move here by EA. They basically blew it and so to make ammends they claim they will go the extra mile in the future. Of course, time will tell if that is true.

Of course the larger issue as many have noted is the "smaller" schools traditions and stadiums often come second fiddle to the big boys. Its not just "Ben overrating" :Florida_State: every year. The commentary for the smaller schools, the traditions, etc... are all lacking IMHO compared to the big boys.

[JeffHCross]

I do love how people, people that I think know better, are acting like South Alabama got the shaft, when in reality they included three teams that shouldn't have been.

[JBHuskers]

I do love how people, people that I think know better, are acting like South Alabama got the shaft, when in reality they included three teams that shouldn't have been.

It's just another catalyst for people to bitch. Most probably won't even notice.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

[cdj]

It's just another catalyst for people to bitch. Most probably won't even notice.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

I think they will notice more next year when/if USA has the bells & whistles and if any legacy detail issues still exist. Fan bases of all caliber of programs won't be happy.

[JeffHCross]

I don't mind the people that bitch. I mind the people that shape the narrative. Like news organizations are often accused of.