NCAA Football 08 first look

Pride · Mar 4, 2007

NCAA Football 08: First Down
Surprise cover athlete Jared Zabransky and EA Tiburon explain Leadership Control, Campus Legend and the Statue of Liberty.
by Jonathan Miller

March 2, 2007 - Troy Smith. Chris Leak. Brady Quinn.

A Heisman Trophy winner, a national champion and a household name.

These would have been the easy picks to front NCAA Football 08, the next installment in Electronic Arts' vaunted franchise, slated to hit the Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2 this summer. Look back at past covers and that's what you see: Heisman winners, national champs and marketable household names. That's what college football fans expect.

But doing what everyone expects has gotten EA Sports into trouble as of late. Its library of next-generation sports titles have received lukewarm reception from fans for being feature-light and a tad, well, boring. At the same time, interest in current-generation games is waning as they seem to have reached an innovation plateau. So, EA decided it's time to do the unexpected.

The cover athlete of NCAA Football 08 will be Jared Zabransky.

Jared Zabransky?

Casual football fans around the country are wondering, "Who the heck is Jared Zabransky?" Hardcore fans already know the answer. The former Boise State quarterback led the Broncos to an undefeated season in 2006, and Z, as his friends call him, compiled a 32-5 record as a starter. For those keeping track, that's more wins than Smith, Leak and Quinn, and more than every other quarterback at the 2007 NFL Combine.

Most recently, Zabransky was named the 2007 Fiesta Bowl MVP after guiding the underdog Broncos over Oklahoma, bringing his team back from certain defeat in the final seconds, scoring on a miraculous hook-and-lateral trick play on fourth-and-18 to force overtime. After scoring on a halfback pass in OT to get within one, Boise State opted to go for the win with a two-point conversion. Cool as ever, Zabransky faked a throw to his three receivers to the right, slyly handed off to Ian Johnson who then outran the Sooner defense for the win, a Statue of Liberty play that cemented the game as one of the greatest ever played.

That's leadership. And that's what EA is banking on in NCAA 08.

"A lot of intangibles go into being a leader," says Zabransky. We're eating breakfast at Disney's MGM Studios in Orlando, Fla., in between an ESPN Radio interview and an appearance on Cold Pizza where he would officially break the news that he's on the cover of NCAA 08. "We were fortunate to have a core group of seniors, 23 seniors and 13 senior starters, so we had a lot of leaders on our team."
Click to expand...

Pride · Mar 4, 2007

Im not letting EA fool me again like they did last year with their below average football titles again. They need to put all the stadiums in the game, fix player running stances, get rid of every QB throwing like Aaron Rodgers, put all the current gen modes in next gen, etc......

Twombles · Mar 4, 2007

Top pic looks awesome, bottom pic, not so much.
I didnt even buy NCAA Football 07, didnt look anything like madden

Canadian · Mar 31, 2007

Sweet, I always pick it up but this year I will rent it first because I think they have a lot of things to improve on

NCAA Football 08 first look

Pride New Member

Pride New Member

Twombles Active Member

Canadian New Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches

NCAA Football 08 first look

Pride New Member

Pride New Member

Twombles Active Member

Canadian New Member

Share This Page