The NCAA Playing Oversight Panel has approved new rules regarding kickoffs and touchbacks that - thanks to the NCAA Football dev team - The Gaming Tailgate can confirm will be in NCAA Football 13. "Our guys are already on it and these changes will be in NCAA 13," said NCAA Football producer Ben Haumiller in a statement via e-mail.

The Playing Rules Oversight Panel (PROP) during its conference call on Tuesday approved moving the kickoff and touchback lines beginning with the 2012 football season.

Next fall, teams will kick off at the 35-yard line instead of the 30. Also, touchbacks on free kicks will be moved to the 25-yard line instead of the 20 to encourage more touchbacks. Touchbacks on other plays (for example, punts that go into the end zone, or fumbles that go out of the end zone) will remain at the 20-yard line.

The recommended changes came from the Football Rules Committee after that group examined NCAA data showing that injuries during kickoffs occur more often than in other phases of the game. (Click here for the full release.)

Let us know how you think this rule change will alter special teams and field position in NCAA Football as well as in real-life action. ...

This is the second part series looking at the NCAA Football franchise as we enter the seventh year of NCAA Football on the next-gen consoles.


NCAA Football 08 stepped on the stage in July of 2007 and was the first real look at next-gen college football for many as it was the first version of NCAA available on both the PlayStation 3 and X-Box 360. As a result, it had high expectations among the NCAA Football community faithful.

The game featured a Skill Performance (motivation) feature which seemed to be a logical tie-in after cover athlete QB Jared Zabransky helped lead Boise State to a 43-42 overtime win over Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. That classic battle also saw two of its signature plays added to the game: The Statue of Liberty and the Hook and Ladder. ...

Since February 1st, six different pictures have surfaced on twitter relating NCAA Football 13 and former Heisman winners. Players including Eddie George, Barry Sanders, Marcus Allen, Mark Ingram, and Archie Griffin have come up with either pictures of themselves with the Heisman Trophy or in photos that appear to be taken on a set. The latest (seen above) is of Griffin sitting in front of an NCAA Football 13 backdrop.

These pictures come from the Twitter accounts of Sanders and also Sandy Sandoval, Senior Director of Athlete Relations for EA Sports. Of course it's not uncommon to see photos of Sandoval with various athletes given his job duties, however these images have surfaced with descriptions tying them to NCAA Football 13.

Continue after the break to see the images as well as links to the tweets they were pulled from and let us know what you think this might mean for the next version of NCAA Football. ...

This is the first part of our series looking at the NCAA Football franchise as we enter the seventh year of NCAA Football on the next-gen consoles.


NCAA Football 07 kicked-off the next-gen revolution of college football in the summer of 2006 on the X-Box 360. The game is considered the “lost” next-gen game due to only being available on one console and being released at a time when many were just starting to make the switch to the 360.

The move to next-gen gaming saw both gamers and studios alike place a huge emphasis on the improved visuals that were now possible thanks to the new powerful technology at-hand. The majority of early previews of these consoles and upcoming titles focused on their visual capabilities with screenshots and CG movies touting the possibility that laid ahead in the years to come. Continuing with this trend, visuals would be an aspect that NCAA Football 07 focused heavily on. ...

After an indefinite "Coming Soon" period, the upgraded NCAA Football 12 Online Dynasty Website is now live.

Among the significant improvements included in the new website are a Teams tab dedicated to showing the status of OD members (game result and time remaining in recruiting) and ESPN.com style design in displaying standings.

After checking out the new site, share your thoughts here with the community. If you notice any bugs or issues, please post them here and we will pass them on to the development team. ...

Who do you want to see on the cover of NCAA Football 13? Each year, some of the first game-related info surrounding NCAA Football is of the cover athlete. Last year, fans voted for the NCAA Football 12 cover athlete and it seems logical to expect some sort of fan voting once again given the success of cover votes for NCAA 12, Madden NFL 12 and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 13.

The Gaming Tailgate asked our Twitter followers and Facebook fans to tell us who they would like to see on the cover of NCAA Football 13 this coming July. Taking their requests, we have formulated a list of potential candidates for the NCAA 13 cover. Continue on to see who we feel are the favorites and vote for your pick, players on the radar and a brief look at players who are on track to grace the cover of NCAA Football in the future. ...

With the release of NCAA Football 12, many Online Dynasties fell victim to the "Transfer Failed" issue which helped end ODs and damper the enthusiasm surrounding numerous improvements to the mode, including Coaching Carousel. Rectifying the "Transfer Failed" issue has been a priority for the NCAA Football team in regards to both NCAA 12 and NCAA 13.

A now released server-side update will help alleviate additional "Transfer Failed" issues in NCAA Football 12. Currently, these "Transfer Failed" issues could be a result of a wide variety of issues making it difficult for the team to diagnose, even with details and information from the community. The cause of these transfer issues can be very random as, for example, some long file names were getting truncated, leading to the "Transfer Failed" message. Heading into July, the dev team is working on a significantly proactive measure to prevent a repeat of the "Transfer Failed" issue in NCAA 13.

With NCAA Football 13, the development team will utilize an (server-side) Online Dynasty Live Dashboard which will record all user actions, providing a clear idea of the issue and therefore a quicker resolution. Expect more news on NCAA Football 13 this spring. ...

What features do you want to see in NCAA Football 13? Next month is the first NCAA Football Community Event with community members from The Gaming Tailgate, other community sites and members at large being brought in to help convey community requests for NCAA Football 13 and the franchise in general.

Before the event next month in beautiful Orlando, we want to hear more from you on what you want to see in the game. While we will be compiling info from your wish lists and the Community Wish List Tournament, we want to know your top requests in the following areas of focus:

• Top 10 issues that you have with Dynasty mode
• Top 10 issues that you have with Road to Glory
• Top 10 gameplay issues that drive you crazy
• Top 10 presentation issues that you have
• Top 10 items that you’d like to see in NCAA Football 13

...

As some of you may already know, Stat Box Stories is a great community site that uses NCAA Football 12, Madden NFL 12, NHL 12, and FIFA 12 to play games, record statistics, post video highlights, and tell the stories of games played every week. With Bowl Season beginning next Saturday, December 17th, Stat Box Stories is trying to rally some interested guest writers to the cause of trying to create statistical write-ups of all of the Bowl Games for this 2011-2012 season.

If you have yet to read a write-up over at the blog site, here is the most recent example of work done using NCAA Football 12: the Army-Navy Game. Here also is the link to the guide for guest writers--Write a Guest Story--to give you some idea of what is looked for from guest contributors. Our own psuexv here at The Gaming Tailgate actually contributed the first guest story for the site this week, which you can read here: New York Islanders at Pittsburgh Penguins in NHL 12.

Continue on to learn how to help write a guest story for Stat Box Stories for any of the great bowls this postseason and to sign-up. ...