My NCAA Football '07 Experience Last Night

Remember that blog I posted not too long ago about my NCAA '06 experience where that guy got ahead 14-0 and I came back to win 35-27? Well, for some reason, my friend wanted to see us play again last night in the new version, '07.

Last night wasn't my night. When my friend invited me over, I was in the mood (at that time) to play some football. After my 30-45 minute drive to his place, he wasn't home and I was not happy. I called his phone and he told me I could get in through the side door, so I did so. I waited another 45 minutes, while he went and did some things he shouldn't be doing. During this time, his cat scratched me pretty good again, so I had to clean the cut, place some neosporin on it and look for band-aids. I looked around and finally settled down at the computer playing solitaire. When they got home, my eyes were already watery and hurting from looking at the computer screen and due to that and my anger from having to wait there close to an hour after he was the one who called and invited me, I was no longer in the mood to play football. But, he insisted. So, he put one controller in my hand (a busted one I discovered soon into the game) and another in my opponent's hand.

As I just mentioned, I soon discovered that my controller had something(s) wrong with it, to which my friend later admitted that most all of the controllers had either pop spilled on them or had a lovely adventure through a river one time. Luckily for my opponent, only his L2 button wasn't functioning and he wasn't at home, so it didn't really matter. On mine, almost every button stuck: the x, o, square, triangle, direction pad, analog sticks, L1, L2, R1, and R2. Before I knew it, as my players could hardly move, I was down 21-0. I will admit that my opponent was kind enough to offer to switch controllers at halftime, but I felt a little challenge in the whole thing, so I declined on the offer.

He was up 35-13 in the 4th quarter when I started scoring fast and frequently: 35-20, 35-27 with just over a minute left in the game. I attempted to do an onsides kick (my first time) and wasn't successful there. But, I held him on 4th down at my own 7-yard line with a half minute left. On the last play from scrimmage, I launched a 40-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-33, but failed on the 2-point conversion. My opponent offered to make the game not count, since it wasn't fair due to my controller, but I again declined on the offer.

I had everything going against me in this game and still found a way to keep it close, which I must say, I was impressed with. I also must admit, I find no fun in playing this guy. He picks the exact same play on offense and defense every single time. I find no fun in playing someone like that. It'd be like watching a game where a team ran a fullback dive for 35 consecutive plays and a 3-4 outside linebacker blitz for 35 straight plays. It turns a game of strategy into a game of nothing but luck with hail mary-type passes being thrown all game long. There's no realism to it. It feels more like a game of NFL Blitz than a game of NCAA Football or Madden.

But, even though I never want to play him again because I get rather bored of doing so (perhaps that dealt with him getting the early lead as well), I suggested that I bring my two controllers next time I come over (neither have had pop spill on them and neither have gone swimming). So, we'll see. I'm still not too pleased with my friend for inviting me over and then after driving close to 45 minutes to get there, having to wait another 45 for the simple fact that he wanted to kill some brain cells. I may not be heading over there for a while because of that.