Paakaa10's Road to Glory -- The Lost Episodes
For the EA SPORTS Game Changers program, I began a blog series detailing my time with a fictitious Road to Glory athlete in NCAA Football 11 on February 15th, 2011. Unfortunately, only two postings were made before the series came to an end on the EA SPORTS Inside Blog.
However, I completed two more blogs to finish out my athlete's freshman year of college. In this thread, I will re-post the first two blogs that did go live on the EA SPORTS Inside Blog as well as the two previously-unpublished blogs that conclude the season.
If I have more time before NCAA Football 12 is released, I may try to finish this player's career and chronicle those three seasons. Chances are I won't be able to, however.
Entry #1: Paakaa10's Road to Glory in NCAA Football 11: High School Playoffs
Posted at: http://insideblog.easports.com/archi...-playoffs.aspx
Welcome to the start of a new EA SPORTS Game Changers blog series for NCAA Football 11. My name is Brian Parker-though you probably know me better as Paakaa10-and I will be chronicling the career of a created player in the game's Road to Glory mode. The goal here is to see this player through his entire college football career as we approach the July 2011 release of NCAA Football 12.
This blog series will take the form of staged interviews between a fictitious member of the media interviewing my fictional Road to Glory player about the events of his playing career. For this debut entry, the entire high school football playoffs segment of the mode was completed with the game set on All-American difficulty and 5 minute quarter lengths. Here's the pre-Signing Day interview with Benjamin Colby, a quarterback from Anchorage, Alaska, rated as a 4-star recruit.
EA SPORTS Interviewer: Thank you for joining us, Benjamin, as you get ready for your Signing Day announcement.
Benjamin Colby: It's my pleasure; I'm just surprised at the interest you guys have in me considering where I'm from.
EA: That's as good a place to start as any for our questions today; as a football player in Alaska-a place with no professional team and few options to play college ball-what is your motivation to stick with the game?
BC: Well, this is a game that I'm very passionate about. There haven't been many Alaskans in the NFL, so I see it as an opportunity to represent my home state. I've got a lot of goals in mind too, like becoming the new highest-drafted player in the National Football League from "The Last Frontier."
EA: At current, that distinction belongs to offensive lineman Daryn Colledge of the Green Bay Packers, correct?
BC: I see that you've done your research! Yeah, he got taken in the 2nd round of the NFL Draft, 47th pick overall. I hope to improve upon that and be a 1st round pick.
EA: Take us back to your senior year and the high school football playoffs for Alaska. You played against Meadow Lakes in the first round, winning 21-14.
BC: That was where it all began, yeah. The game was close at the start, and we only led by a touchdown going into the half. Scoring in the fourth quarter to go up 21-7 was a big play, but we nearly gave it away on their last touchdown with just over a minute to play.
EA: Your stat line for that game was 10-for-21, 164 yards, and 2 touchdowns. I can't help but notice that you accumulated -19 yards on the ground, however. Would you consider that a weakness in your game?
BC: (laughing) It definitely was in that game. But, if you've really done your research, you'll know that I can get moving in the running game when I have to.
EA: I did see that impressive 44-yard rushing touchdown in your team's second round win over Unalaska. Ironically enough, however, you passed for over 200 yards but managed 2 interceptions and no touchdown passes.
BC: That was a tough game, man. Not a single point scored through the first three quarters, and each team had some really good opportunities to score. We made it into the red zone on both of those interceptions I threw, so I definitely was getting nervous when we got into the fourth quarter and the game was still scoreless. We willed ourselves to a win though, that was a great character game.
EA: Now in the third game of the playoffs, you guys really seemed to click in all facets of the game. It was your first game on the road against Fairbanks; why is it that you think you were able to have such success in a hostile environment?
BC: The most important thing was starting off strong and trying to keep their fans out of it. When we got to the half up 10-0, it was a really good feeling in the locker room; even though we hadn't scored on offense yet! Then we came out in the third quarter and got in a real groove; that was a great time for us.
EA: Those were definitely some impressive throws, touchdowns of 50 yards and 20 yards within the same quarter for that 27-7 victory. Now, I hate to do this to you, but the high school championship game really didn't go the way you wanted it to. How did it feel to be playing on the big stage, so close to taking that title, and then having it slip away?
BC: Brutal. That's the only word that really begins to describe that. It was a tough game the whole way through, the first game we played from behind in the whole playoff experience. When we were down 7-3 going into the fourth quarter, that was the most nervous I'd been all season. We managed to get in the end zone and take a 10-7 lead, but it still didn't feel like it was going to be enough. Then they scored with under 10 seconds left, and their fans were going crazy and it was just dead quiet on our sideline.
EA: To be fair, you definitely kept your team in the game. Those 282 yards passing were your highest total of the playoffs, and your team's kicker missed two makeable field goals which would have put you on top in the end.
BC: But I threw an interception too; you can't play the "woulda-shoulda-coulda" game. Valdez High School played a great game against us, and I'm just disappointed that I wasn't able to get a deep ball off on the last play of the game to at least let one of my receivers try to make a play on it.
EA: Now, despite that disappointing end to your high school career, you were still heavily recruited by 11 of the preseason Top 25 teams in the NCAA. Can you go into some of the schools you were heavily considering before you made your decision for today's Signing Day?
BC: Well, only one team in the Top 25 offered me the chance to be a starter: Houston. I got starting offers and scholarships from Tennessee, BYU, and UCLA as well.
EA: There were a number of schools offering a 2nd-string role, correct?
BC: Yeah, and you have to consider those options: Boise State, Virginia Tech, TCU, Miami, Wisconsin; all great schools, very prestigious, very highly-ranked. It's hard when you start all four years in high school to think about falling down the depth chart, but that's something you have to expect when you move up to the next level. There are some great quarterbacks starting at those schools, and a lot to learn from both them and the coaching staff.
EA: Does that mean that you're willing to sign up with one of those schools?
BC: Honestly? I love the offers, but I'm ready to play now. It was a tough decision to make, but I'm going to need all four years on the field if I want to achieve my goals.
EA: I'm hearing that they're just about ready for you to make your announcement; are you ready to go?
BC: Yes sir; I've already got my hat picked out.
This is where you come in, NCAA Football 11 fans and blog readers; who should Benjamin Colby fax a letter of intent to for his Signing Day? Comment on this blog, leave a message over at Facebook, or mention @EANCAAFootball on Twitter with one of the following schools:
- Houston
- Tennessee
- BYU
- UCLA
The votes will be tallied in the next few days and the school selection will be announced-along with an interview midway through Benjamin's freshman season-in the next entry. I hope that you will join me for that. Thanks for reading!
Entry #2: Paakaa10's Road to Glory in NCAA Football 11: Orientation & 1st Half
Posted at: http://insideblog.easports.com/archi...hman-year.aspx
Welcome to the second entry of my NCAA Football 11 Road to Glory blog series for the EA SPORTS Game Changers program. My name is Brian Parker-you can find me on the PlayStation Network with the ID Paakaa10-and I am back to update all of you on the signing decision made by quarterback Benjamin Colby of Anchorage, Alaska, along with an interview coming at the half-way point of his freshman season.
Before we get to that, note that this blog series is-above all-meant to tell a story about a college football player and the experience offered through NCAA Football 11 from EA SPORTS. If you would like to be able to write stories like this in the future as a member of the EA SPORTS Game Changers program, I encourage you to go to http://tinyurl.com/24zwubh to learn more about the program and submit an application.
At the end of the last entry, Mr. Colby had a tough decision to make between four schools which were offering him a scholarship to start for their football programs: Houston, Tennessee, BYU, and UCLA. After tallying votes from the community, here were the results:
Although UCLA and BYU in particular put up a good fight, in the end the promise of playing against some of the toughest teams in the NCAA as part of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) proved the overwhelming favorite. Benjamin Colby faxed his letter of intent to the Tennessee Volunteers and made the long move from Alaska.
Our EA SPORTS interviewer caught up with Benjamin on Saturday, October 9th, 2010-Tennessee's "bye" week-to talk about the season so far.
EA SPORTS Interviewer: Thank you again for joining me for this interview, Benjamin.
Benjamin Colby: Thanks to you guys for having me out, I appreciate it.
EA: Now that you've had the opportunity to put in just over a month on-campus, is it at all what you expected when you made your decision back in February?
BC: There have been some surprises, but coach and the rest of the staff did a great job preparing me for what to expect before I made the move down here. It's definitely a lot warmer here than I'm used to in Alaska, but I'm not complaining!
EA: Have any of your teammates had weird questions for you or played pranks on you considering where you're from?
BC: The first week of practice, actually, some of the seniors kept chasing me down after each play and offering me water because I'd never been in such a warm environment before. They were being very dramatic about it (laughs).
EA: Now, in your first NCAA start, you hosted a team from the FCS Southeast. What was it like to finally take the field on the highest level of college football in a stadium with such a long tradition of success?
BC: It was the most nervous I've ever been before a football game in my life. Thankfully, we were able to put on a good show for the fans and get a lot of our plays figured out in a real game situation. Practice is important, but nothing compares to playing in front of thousands and thousands of orange-clad fans.
EA: You had a very good stat line for your first game at this level as well; three touchdowns in the air, along with a single touchdown on the ground. One might say that your competition was a little bit below average, however, and that anything less than the game you had would've been a disappointment.
BC: Well, that person definitely wouldn't be able to complain about our second opponent on the year! We definitely circled the game against Oregon as a real measuring stick for how prepared we were as a team; having it as our second game of the season was a nice early test.
EA: Taking down the #5 team in the country was definitely looked at as a big achievement for your team. That being said, your numbers definitely dropped off in that game. The game even got very close at the end, despite your team taking a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter.
BC: Their defense was hugely improved over what I faced in the first game, and even though we put points on the board, it was a struggle to move the ball all game. Then I threw that interception with just over a minute left and they managed to score a touchdown; that felt really awful. I was already imagining the stories in the campus newspaper and online about how I lost the game for us.
EA: Your team managed to hold on and improve to 2-0 on the season at that time; the voters even rewarded you with the #19 rank in the NCAA. Unfortunately, the next game was less successful when you took the field against #5 Florida. What was the key to that game?
BC: It's hard for me to really put my finger on what went wrong in that game. We kept pace with the Gators for pretty much the entire game, but they were just able to push into our end of the field more often. I was glad to put another touchdown on the board in the final two minutes of the game, but unfortunately we weren't able to recover the onside kick and had to watch Florida kneel out the clock.
EA: With that loss, the voters dropped you down to #22 before your game against the UAB Blazers. I know at the time that the Volunteer faithful were still quite optimistic about the season, sitting at 2-1 with the one loss coming by a field goal to a "Top 5" team.
BC: Yeah, and everyone on our sideline was still very excited about our chances for the rest of the season, even though losing a game is usually a death knell to a team's opportunity to play for the BCS Title. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get business done while we were still in the "Top 25."
EA: Considering the offensive numbers you were able to put up in the first three games, it had to be difficult to go through an entire half without scoring at home.
BC: The fans were really letting us hear it, and even after we put that field goal on the board it was still ugly. I don't know how it all came apart in the fourth quarter, but I know as much as anyone else that the game's final score was more truthfully 20-3 instead of 20-10. That touchdown to close out the game really came at garbage time, and I was taking advantage of some "vanilla" defensive schemes. We really got reamed out in the locker room once the game was over.
EA: There was definitely a sense of shock from the fan base after your 2-0 start quickly became 2-2 with an upsetting loss. With a tough SEC schedule, how did the team try and get back in the right mindset?
BC: Well, I'm not sure we're in the right mindset yet. Our first road game of the season was a disappointment as well, even against a quality school like LSU. I really had a rough start to the game with those two interceptions in the first quarter, and we got in a bad hole down 14-0 early.
EA: To your credit, the team did seem to get on the right track as the game went on, putting up touchdowns in the final three quarters.
BC: It was nice to see the team rally together to try and fight our way back in. In the end, it was just too tall of a task to complete, and I take the responsibility upon myself for putting the team into that situation. We could just as easily have been 3-2 with a 1-1 record in the conference, and instead we dropped to 2-3 and 0-2.
EA: Last week's game saw you put up your highest totals of the season in terms of passing yardage and touchdown passes on the road against Georgia. Despite that, however, your team still fell short of adding another game to the win column.
BC: I think that loss hurt almost more than any other loss we've had so far this season. So much went right for us on offense but we just couldn't keep them from putting points on the board after our scores. It was a real old-fashioned shootout, not a lot of defense being played by either side, and they just managed to end the game with the higher score when all was said and done.
EA: So this is your "bye" week, and next week is a big rivalry game against the Alabama Crimson Tide who are currently ranked #16. How are you getting ready for that showdown on the road?
BC: Honestly, there isn't anything different being done on the practice field. For us, this is just like the last two weeks: a game against a conference opponent when we're still trying to get our first SEC win of the season. Coach has been emphasizing that we can't over-think this game, so we're trying to enjoy the one weekend off of the regular season and hope that we're ready to spoil a rival next Saturday.
EA: Thank you for joining us, Benjamin, and we look forward to catching up with you once the regular season draws to a close.
Six games into the 2010 season and Benjamin Colby and the Tennessee Volunteers are 2-4 (0-3) and fighting for the opportunity to stay in the hunt for an outside shot at the SEC Championship Game or at the very least a Bowl Game appearance. Key match-ups against Alabama, South Carolina, Memphis, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, and Kentucky still await on the tough schedule.
Now it's time for you in the EA SPORTS NCAA Football 11 community to try and show off your predictive skills; how many wins do you think Tennessee will finish the regular season with? Will they shock the conference and end up at the Georgia Dome for the SEC Championship? Will they manage to make it to a Bowl Game? Or will a disappointing start lead to the season ending early? Let us know and we'll see how close your predictions were in the next blog entry!
Entry #3: Paakaa10's Road to Glory in NCAA Football 11: 2nd Half of Freshman Year
Here is the first of the unpublished--"lost"--entries:
When we last visited with Benjamin Colby—an Alaska native now starting at quarterback as a freshman for the Tennessee Volunteers of the SEC—his Vols had a record of 2-4 on the year and 0-3 in conference games. With the season slipping away, major tests were still ahead on the schedule.
EA SPORTS caught up with Benjamin in mid-December 2010 as he and his teammates waited to hear whether or not their efforts in the second half of the season would be enough to earn them Bowl Game consideration.
EA SPORTS Interviewer: Thank you for joining us again, Benjamin, and congratulations on the successful completion of your first season of college football!
Benjamin Colby: Thank you! It wasn’t as strong a result as we were hoping for going into the season, but we’re happy to still have a chance to play football in the coming weeks.
EA: Last time we checked in, you were 2-4 overall and 0-3 against SEC opponents with a big game coming up against then-#16 Alabama at home. Take us back to that game and how you felt about it.
BC: If I’m being honest, that was just about the lowest point of the season for me. Obviously, when you look at the statistics, I made too many mistakes. Those three interceptions were bad, but completing less than 40% of my throws was even worse. It’s hard to believe we were only down a touchdown at halftime.
EA: And there was a little bit of controversy at the end of that game as well, if I remember correctly.
BC: Not for me. I wasn’t getting the job done, and it was clear that we didn’t have enough time left to legitimately mount a comeback. In that situation, with my performance, I wasn’t surprised when coach took me out for the last drive of the game.
EA: Were you concerned that you might lose the job at that point?
BC: The thought crossed my mind, of course. It was a rough game, and people weren’t happy with the performance. But it motivated me to get back to work in practice, and I think that lesson was important.
EA: One week later you went on the road for a game against the South Carolina Gamecocks, still looking for your first SEC win.
BC: And we didn’t get it that week either! (laughs) We just came out so flat in that game, despite knowing that we needed to get back to a winning gameplan. Those two interceptions I threw in the first half were turned into touchdowns both times, and we were out of it at halftime down 21-6. This is another game where the score doesn’t do the game justice, since they were just trying to run out the clock on us at the end of the game.
EA: With that loss you dropped to 2-6 on the season and the writing was on the wall; win the rest of your games, or give up any thought of even being considered for a Bowl Game. How did the team react to that do-or-die mentality?
BC: I was bummed out, personally; I knew those games against Alabama and South Carolina were going to be tough, but I made mistakes that just took us out of contention before we had the chance to really get anything done. But I owe it to the upperclassmen; they really challenged me to get myself figured out in practice and start thinking ahead instead of dwelling on what had happened to that point.
EA: On the day before Halloween, you visited a non-conference opponent in Memphis. What was the key to that game for you?
BC: After two games of multiple interceptions, I was just trying to be more precise and make better decisions. I still put two balls in the hands of guys wearing the wrong color jerseys, but I was really proud of that 75% completion rate. It doesn’t hurt that we were able to finally get another win on the board as well.
EA: Wins are always nice, but you still hadn’t picked up a win against an SEC opponent at that stage of the schedule.
BC: Absolutely, and that was coming up in every interview! (laughs) We knew that we weren’t back on the path yet, but just winning a game; you could tell that guys were breathing easier in the locker room with that behind us.
EA: After that road win against Memphis, you faced a really tough test going to play against #23-ranked Ole Miss on their home field. How did you manage your first SEC Player of the Week award in that hostile environment?
BC: Going into that game, with just three games left to play and all against SEC teams, the pressure had actually been taken off a little bit. We were either going to win out and put ourselves in position to make a Bowl Game, or we were going to lose and just be going through the motions to end the season. Ole Miss definitely had more pressure on them that day.
EA: How did you manage to put those rough games behind you and put up five touchdowns and no turnovers?
BC: It was just being really confident in what we do. Practices went really well that whole week, and I knew that I could count on my teammates going into that game. Nobody was going to stop us that week; that’s just the way we felt.
EA: The long road trip continued a week later as you traveled to Vanderbilt, still needing to win out just to make it back to a .500 winning percentage.
BC: That was a good test for us as well. Obviously my numbers dropped off in that game compared to the week before, but I was happy that we started off the game with everything working the way we needed. We’d just had so many slow starts over the season; it was nice to go into halftime with a 17-7 lead.
EA: You also scored your first rushing touchdown since the Alabama match-up in that game.
BC: You know me, a real dual-threat through and through! (laughs) When you’re on the goal line and you face a tough defense covering all of the receivers, sometimes you just have to tuck the ball and fight for that one yard if you’re going to win.
EA: With that win, you and your teammates had fought back to a 5-6 record overall, and 2-5 in the SEC.
BC: And we still knew that the job wasn’t over yet. But our confidence was definitely up going into the last game against Kentucky.
EA: How did you feel when you saw snow in the forecast for that game at home to end the season?
BC: (laughs) I was definitely more excited about it than my teammates were. Most of those guys had only seen snow once or twice in their lives! They were all asking me for tips on how to play in the cold going into that game, but we still had our fair share of issues adjusting.
EA: You did still manage to pull off the victory with a touchdown drive you orchestrated at the end of the game, scoring with 5 seconds left in the game. What were you thinking when you got the ball with the whole field ahead of you?
BC: Don’t throw the ball to one of them! I knew that a field goal would give us the win so the pressure wasn’t as bad, but I also wanted to put my stamp on this season for our fans that had to stick with us through the ups and downs. It wasn’t the cleanest game we ever played, but we did enough to get back to an even record and earn another SEC win.
EA: With that win, your record moved to an even 6-6, with a 3-5 record in conference. After the SEC Championship game was played, you ended up 4th place in SEC East and 9th place in the conference overall. Do you think that Tennessee will be called for a Bowl Game selection tonight?
BC: I honestly don’t know. I hope that our name is called, but at the same time it would be a hollow feeling. The season did not go as well as we hoped it would, and we know that there is room for improvement as we prepare for the 2011 schedule.
EA: I’m hearing that the selections are just about to be announced. Good luck!
BC: Thank you!
Despite the disappointing season, the Tennessee Volunteers were declared bowl-eligible and extended an invitation to play against the Miami Hurricanes in the Champs Sports Bowl on December 29th, 2010.
Benjamin Colby was named to the Freshman team as an All-American on the season, and posted an impressive 4.0 grade point average for his first college semester as a student.
Join me for the next blog entry update as we report on Benjamin’s first Bowl Game appearance and look ahead to his sophomore season as an NCAA quarterback. Let us know your predictions for the game result as well as Benjamin’s performance in the comments!
Entry #4: Paakaa10's Road to Glory in NCAA Football 11 -- Bowl Game & Wrap-up
And now the second unpublished blog entry and the final one completed:
When we last visited with Tennessee Volunteer freshman quarterback Benjamin Colby, he and his teammates had just booked a ticket to the Champs Sports Bowl on December 29th, 2011, despite a season where they struggled to a 6-6 record, 3-5 in the Southeastern Conference. Their opponents, the #17-ranked Miami Hurricanes, had a 9-3 record going into the game and were the unanimous pregame pick to take home the Bowl Game trophy.
EA SPORTS got an interviewer down to the Tennessee locker room immediately following the Champs Sports Bowl at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida, to visit with Benjamin after the game.
EA SPORTS Interviewer: Benjamin, first off: congratulations to you and your teammates for your surprising upset victory here tonight!
Benjamin Colby: Thank you! It seemed like the whole world picked against us before the game, and to be honest I can’t say I blamed them. That was a good Miami team that just didn’t have it together tonight.
EA: Compared to some of your games this season, your stat line wasn’t as strong as your fans have gotten used to. That said, you still ended up as the Champs Sports Bowl Most Valuable Player. What was it like to play on a bigger stage tonight?
BC: It was a great experience all around. The organizers down here were great at showing us around Orlando—this was actually my first time visiting the state of Florida—and I got to have my parents and some friends from back home in Alaska make the trip down as well. Even though it was a bigger stage, it’s still a game of football. I’m glad I made it worth the flight down here for all of them.
EA: Now I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but you actually set a new University of Tennessee record for passing yards in a single season with this performance tonight. The previous record from 1997 was 3,819 yards, and you surpassed it by 102 yards.
BC: Really? That’s great, man. I had no idea about that, I was just hoping to get out there and really represent the school colors, make everyone proud. I am really honored to know that my name is in the record book at school now, and hopefully we can keep improving as a whole team for the next three years.
EA: Back to tonight’s game; it really seemed as though nothing was going to stop you once you got into that second quarter. How did it feel on the field?
BC: Well, we got fortunate in some ways. It was obviously very rainy out there, and the ball was doing some strange things. I threw a tipped ball that Miami got their hands on early on, but then we were able to get everybody on the same page for those three touchdowns before halftime. It didn’t hurt that their quarterback was having trouble with turnovers either, and we definitely tried to take advantage of the field position our defense gave us.
EA: In the regular season, your rushing offense was ranked 116th out of 120 schools, while your passing offense was ranked 14th; what will your team need to do next year to improve upon a final record of 7-6 including this Bowl Game?
BC: Like you said, there’s a big difference in terms of the yards we gain on the ground versus through the air. Our defense showed that they’ve grown a lot with the near-shutout tonight, and I expect them to get even better with more time together and a full year under their belts. Hopefully our offense can be more balanced for the 2011 season and we’ll find ourselves playing in the SEC Championship Game.
EA: Benjamin, it’s been a pleasure covering your freshman season at Tennessee. Enjoy this win, celebrate it with your teammates, and we’ll see you in the fall.
BC: Thank you; I appreciate it, and I hope to be in a BCS Bowl Game at the end of next season with this team!
In his freshman season, Benjamin Colby set the school record for passing yards at the University of Tennessee, and he also set an NCAA record for longest pass play with a 92-yard touchdown pass he threw in his very first collegiate game against FCS Southeast. Here is a round-up of his stats for the season:
The next time we see Benjamin, he’ll be halfway through his sophomore season as the quarterback of the Tennessee Volunteers. Preseason ranking has Tennessee at #31—just outside of the Top 25—and Benjamin has been named to the Preseason 1st Team All-Americans for the SEC.
Join us next time to find out where the Volunteers stand in their quest to win the SEC and find their way to the BCS National Championship Game!
