Everything Penn State in EA Sports College Football 25

welcome everyone to Beaver Stadium nestled in buic State College and home of the Penn State nitty lions and one of the loudest most passionate crowds you'll find anywhere in college football there's nothing quite like a great rivalry matchup in college football the bitterness the intensity the lifetime of memories that will come as a result of what we're about to see in this this week on the nney dispatch the much anticipated debut of the NCAA football game we get into the player ratings some discussion about the game play and you know some uh some odds and ends from from the new game this week on the Dy dispatch hello and welcome to nney dispatch I am John saber Penn State football reporter from the center daily time she is Audrey Snider of the athletic and Audrey uh we had some fun today John let's just rip the Band-Aid right off uh people are hearing this it's Monday hopefully you're listening live well not live but right as soon the episode goes up yes uh right when the Embargo lifts uh we got our hands on an advanced copy of EA college football 2025 John it was like Christmas morning for you uh we kind of I stumbled my way into one of these Advanced copies on Friday as we've discussed on here before I am not a gamer so what does one do with a with a code but no console that's those are the biggest degenerate they know yeah text a friend and say hey can I come over to your house and use your PS5 that I haven't touched the video game in at least 15 years to maybe try and play this game and oh yeah I hope you can play too we were all able to play was yes it was uh delightful and full disclosure I think I don't know if I mentioned this on the podcast before but I'm taking vacation time to play this game right like when I had it scheduled around when it would release it also coincides with pretty much the last week of Freedom before media day starts and just a little happy coincidence there but yeah this is uh this has been anticipated for 11 years now right like the last game to come out was NCAA uh football 14 which came out in 2013 obviously 11 years ago uh I is this I don't think this will surprise anyone who's listened to this pod before I actually have my Xbox 360 still hooked up in my living room because on occasion I play that game uh the Xbox is broken the disc tray won't open but that game is what's stuck inside so it doesn't really matter that's all I ever played on there anyway so this was yeah you're right like this was gonna be like Christmas morning for me something that I you know and I think I'm sure a lot of people that grew up on this game because I played this a lot when I was in high school and everything not just 14 but the iterations before it but a lot of us have been waiting for this for a very long time but there are some aspects to this I want to make something clear before we dive into this though I did clear this with John's wife before I torpedoed their weekend and I said hey so this thing happened are you okay if I come over um but I promise John won't play the game repeatedly you know until Monday act release no promises were made uh I have some work to do this weekend as well but once that's done I will be I I was joking with her before I I came up here to record uh in my office and said you know I I'm gonna go record the podcast and I'm gonna move out to the basement for a week uh I'll see you next Sunday but uh G John's house now because I really really enjoyed myself playing this game and let's let's rip the Band-Aid off John the ratings um yes any any surprises so we knew going into this that because EA released the top 100 guys we knew the top three right we knew that KJ Winston Nick Singleton and um Abdul Carter are 91 overalls and uh I think it had come out to that Tyler Warren was a 90 overall uh stuff that we kind of known we didn't necessarily know where Drew Aller was we didn't know where KRON Allen was especially in comparison to Nick Singleton Aller an 88 overall uh I believe he among QBs yeah tied for 13th among QBs notably I think kind of funny Arch Manning an 87 overall uh you know just something very interesting especially when he's someone that's been advertising the game and everything uh you know and and doesn't have a ton of reps and you for those of us who have played the game for a long time you don't see freshman with an 87 overall so I think that is that is fascinating but yeah Drew Aller with with that 88 overall one of the things I thought was most interesting 96 throw power right this is what this is what the people want people want to Chuck it deep uh and rest assured that he can uh notable too that he has 80 speed only two speeds slower than Bo per is something that I thought was really interesting really wild uh yeah and although on some level I think it kind of makes sense because if you think about the acceleration actually we we did not check the probably should have with the benefit of hindsight but the acceleration is where B should be significantly better right if we're talking true Long speed like 40 yard dash I wouldn't be surprised if it's closer than people would think I would expect Bo to win obviously but I would expect that to be a little closer just because Drew is longer and you know has has better long speed hey we hear all about the competitor of the day uh rankings in the actual football season with Bo Pula uh 76 overall uh but yeah I think John the thing that I took away from this and Ethan Myers a 75 overall um as well Jackson smck I don't have in my notes but we we are such journalism nerds that I showed up at John's house with my notebook and said I'm here to take notes on the game to report back to the podcast um so yeah this is this is really uh really kind of how how nerds go about watching this we were in the Weeds on this we we were investigating every overall every rating we could with the exception of the quarterback acceleration of course yeah and I think the and again I I did get to play it a little bit John did as well um I enjoyed my time playing with Drew Aller I'm sure a lot of pennstate fans will as well um but I think John we talk about the running backs and the co-starters in the real world and kind of the disparity there Nick Singleton we knew the 91 overall KRON Allen 87 overall yeah I think this is interesting I also don't necessarily think it's correct right like I If I had to pick a lead back going into this season I think I would pick KRON that's nothing against Nick Singleton I think they're both Elite backs if I were to make these ratings I would have said this is where we probably missed the boat right we should have done a prediction before uh before we open that roster up and then compared uh turned this into a little game but I would have probably said that you know Singleton would have been around like a 90 and then Allen would have been around a 90 or both you know what I mean both at an 89 somewhere in that range like I think the range I think KRON is at the low end of what his range should be and Singleton's at the high end of what his should be going into this year it would make a lot of sense to me if they met at the midpoint and both of them were 89s um Singleton much faster than KRON Kon I believe had high 80s speed not ideal for a game like this but as as we learned playing the game there is there's more than just hammering that R2 button and hitting the hole and run as fast as you can right you got to navigate that space uh we'll get to we'll get to my big showdown of the national champ game let's be clear about something Audrey played one in one one and one full game and a two-minute game one of those games was on freshman difficulty the other was on Heisman I'm sure the listeners can guess how those both went uh yes but no I I uh I do think that they're like I just think it's a range right and I think they're probably one's a little too high one's a little too low and if you know this is part of what I think will be really cool about this game compared to uh years past when it came out because of nil because guys are officially in the game you can do roster updates right like they can update ratings as guys play well it can be like Madden and other sports games that people play where you update that and you know Nick Singleton has a good three weeks and so does KRON Allen but KRON Allen's slightly better maybe we see they're both 91s right like maybe we see by you know whatever Illinois you know won KRON has taken over uh the starting r or whatever it is uh I think that is one of the more exciting things and one that I think may be necessary at wide receiver because uh it was not great uh well I want to go back real quick to one thing John because I think you brought up a really good point when I was over in your man cave earlier today um and that is you know because again I I grew up playing Madden and my brother's older so I had to kind of I had to fight for my reps on the controller right um but you always hear about the 99 club right the overall ratings it's different here he talk about kind of scaling it down a little bit um you get KRON Allen with that 87 and I wanted to pull up while you were talking I was pulling up a story that I wrote on the athletic uh earlier this spring I was kind of surveying players throughout Spring football about like what they hoped their ranking would be or their rating would be and those kinds of things um and KRON Allen said to me back in the spring I'm gonna say hopefully like a 90 I hope I don't get played um again 87 in this which again we kind of feel like it's a bit of a bit of a tough scale that they that they kind of evaluated guys on well and to be clear I what I when we talked about this earlier I compared to you I compared this to you to how EA has done with what used to be FIFA what is now EA Sports FC like the soccer ratings right like you mentioned Madden like there are a bunch of 99s like you play a bunch of sports games there's a bunch of 99s in FIFA like you know Messi greatest soccer player of all time I think the highest he ever got when I would play would be like 95 96 right there's no one rated a 97 or above in NCAA 25 or sorry in EA Sports college football 25 that's going to be Tak it's gonna take some serious getting used to for me uh but there's no one above 96 I believe at at at release date so there is no 99 like that that I think should be an important note that even the best players aren't like uh you know 99 overalls even like the top two quarterbacks are 93s and Carson back and Stor Sanders and there are only two players in the game with 99 speed one of them you know former Penn State connection and and Nick Harbor at at South Carolina who I'm gonna guess will be a cheat code in the game at 65 240 with 99 speed but yeah this is uh it's it's different and like i' wouldn't compare it to Madden if you if you're someone who plays that like I wouldn't compare the rating scale to that because I do think this is different and in how they did it I think that it's pretty clear based on when you look at the ratings that it's different and for those and again John and I got really in the Weeds on the pen state roster especially um no Quinton Martin Jr on there no Cory Smith on there which again it's going to be interesting uh we'll get into the the people that weren't included on the roster as we kind of go through this but if people are looking right out of the get-go on Monday to try and they're curious about Quint Martin Jr um you won't find him on there but again updates can happen and I'm curious to like one of the things I would venture to guess go ahead go I was I would venture to guess that so early release for this game is is today at 4 pm this obviously releasing on Monday like and and regular releas is Friday I would venture to guess by Friday there going to be a lot of annoyed frustrated whatever college football players who either didn't get the paperwor in or didn't know or whatever and are suddenly clamoring to get in the game and my guess is that pretty quickly there's going to be an update that gets some guys in that you know didn't get it done for one reason or another and a lot of of the the absences are are taken care of or you know it's not I I don't I wouldn't expect this to be a big I don't think it's an intentional thing and I bring this up because when I was reporting in the spring on on players and you know their thoughts about being in the game if they were going to be in the game at Penn State and one of the responses that I heard from a lot of guys was like oh shoot I hope I responded to that email I wanted to be and I hope I did so I think you might see some of that uh kind of around the country but cam Wallace is in there so again I think too and again like keep in mind you just had scholarship guys which like Corey Smith the running back like these are guys who just got the campus this summer right so like there are differences there uh but there are a couple couple older guys that we will get to too that we thought would be there that that weren't yeah and you know we'll we'll finish up this wide receiver discussion that I uh dragged us into and I think we can get to those guys then because that's probably the next most not thing but yeah the highest rated receiver is Julian Fleming 83 overall um one overall higher than kandre Lambert Smith one overall higher than Dante cus for those keep keeping score at home I think that's pretty notable considering one guy was in the door and two went out uh not of course not that these ratings are everything when it comes to the actual game but when it comes to the game like you you know the the Penn State team you're playing with will be better than it would have been had had had flaming left also notable Ohio state has three receivers above an 83 All Above what FL is it as but we were out here doing all the work as soon as John and you know for to kind of set the scene I'm sitting there in John's man cave and we are pulling up this roster going through it like the Nerds that we are crosschecking the Penn State roster at our scholarship charts with the roster in the game figuring out who's in who's out and then we said oh what about the transfers let's go look at that and then right away I said we look at the receivers I said yeah what about Ohio States like again I'm thinking of it like the actual game which I'm sure you know the real life game that many people will uh Malik mlan Malik magga we also kind of went in the weeds there on those um mlan was a 77 overall Mega a 73 um so again for the people that were a few of you that we've heard from that we're in kind of the sky is falling category uh with the changes in the receiving car I think you're uh you're G to be fine yeah mlan the highest rated receiver at Arizona State probably says more about Arizona State than anything else uh but yeah Harrison Wallace was next up at an 80 overall which uh I if there is anyone to benefit from a roster update or continual roster updates throughout the season I think it might be Wallace right like if I had to pick an under the radar candidate to be like a 90 overall by the end of the year I think Wallace would probably be that guy right like I mean Drew is obvious right like Drew Aller being a 90 at some point if that happens or if like KRON like we talked about but if I had to pick someone that's in that like 80 or lower range I think I would pick Trey Wallace as having a legitimate chance to become you know that 90 overall guy that true number one option at receiver now I will say John because I will get to we'll get to my big my big return to the sticks in a bit here uh but I was torching one particular team in the Commonwealth in my game yes with Kaden Saunders um punt returner again a lot of speed elusiv I two punt return touchdowns for you that game with him mhm oh yeah we'll we'll be sure to we'll we'll tally up all my stats there um I believe it was three receiving touchdowns with Kaden Saunders two catches 85 yards yep I had fun playing with him and he is the kind of speed low 90 speed that can be effective you know what I mean in in a game like that too and he's a slot like that's you're always going to be able to throw a little bit easier to slots and in games like this although I will say the game play is uh different than like I've played Madden for years it's definitely different right like it does it feels um more responsive I guess the the way that I would phrase it right like it feels like uh you have more control I guess over over guys you're controlling but I do think that will help with someone like Kaden Saunders uh of course there was the the Litany of other receivers on the roster uh I don't know that anything in particular there stood out to me was there anything to you that was notable yeah it was just not really yeah which is again it mimics mimics kind of a lot two and there are two fake receivers there just like there were two fake running backs we would assume that taer Denmark will take one of those spots at an update eventually when P Gonzalez wasn't in either yeah Peter Gonzalez as well like those two seem like the obvious ones just like at running back it seems like Cory Smith and Quint Martin Jr are obvious like candidates to take up a spot um the offensive line we can we can kind of gloss over quickly tight end yeah oh yeah sorry Ty War it T yeah Tyler Warren which we we knew he was gonna he was gonna be a studed he is um Luke Reynolds they absolutely nailed his hair I think he looks like he looks really really cool like I think they did a good job with that uh but a 79 overall is a true freshman too by the way for Luke Reynolds really good Warren is a 90 by the way but yeah the 79 for Reynolds is like that's a a quality rating right off the Jump 79 they made his hair look really good we'll get to the folks that maybe didn't get as as great of Lam UPS in the game but no Andrew Raper uh no no Joey schlafer so I don't know again we we'll see updates kind of what happened there but if you were hoping to play with Andrew Raper um right out of the gate you might uh you might not find him yeah uh they did have c denkin in there obviously Jerry cross as well Tyler Tyler danzansky Long Snapper was at tight end um but yeah I I think rapo is a pretty notable one probably the most notable offense of a mission that isn't like like with with Denmark and well I guess to Martin's notable because he was on campus and like able to do it right like but with Denmark and Gonzalez it's like okay like they didn't get to Penn State to late that's understandable same with Donnie Harbor at on the offensive line yeah yeah Egan Boer but at tight end like schlafer and rapu were here for a year right like this is not you know these are not guys that are just coming in the door uh so I think it's interesting that they weren't there I don't know if they just overlooked it or what have you but you know I think the the odds of a guy not ending up in the game are higher with someone that isn't a true freshman just because like there's uh there you can eliminate that option of oh they just weren't there in time right like so I'd be curious to see if and when they end up in the game uh offensive line I don't believe there were any notable uh yeah guys um yeah I'm fairly certain everyone there was real though right like there was nobody that was a a madeup player along the offensive line I believe so Javin Williams was an 80 overall Cooper cousins 76 there was a left guard that was uh made up and now that I remember yes because I remember you said the name that's not real can't I can see the name in my head when we were looking at the screen but yeah I thought it was interesting that Drew Shelton is uh not much more highly rated than Javin Williams Javin Williams obviously still has some of the Shine from being a high-end recruit so uh you know for those who are looking to get Will Williams some reps early in the game they will be able to do that he's an 80 overall uh yeah I think mostly like runof-the-mill stuff for the offensive line it's good like it's I don't think it's like I believe every starters at least in the 80s uh and there's some youth there at every spot um the defensive line is where I think it gets a little more interesting right uh Abdul Carter is a 91 overall like I said deny Dennis Sutton uh was pretty low uh All Things Considered yeah he so I was enjoying going between playing with Deni and playing with Abdul because as one does right you I want to rush the passer in these video games um no Joseph mapo no Mason Robinson again we're getting in the weeds here um but you're gonna have a lot of fun playing with these defensive ends like that to me is that was like the the major takeaway as I was torching the team from elsewhere in the state um just again sack after sack with these guys like you're going to have a ton of fun uh with them but along the interior there was another notable H guy that we were we were scrolling through and we said Hey where's hakee deman was and by the way you mentioned how fun it would be with those guys it'd be a lot more fun if you had Hakeem Beeman and his speed on the interior rushing next to them but yeah Beaman not in there again an older guy like you we don't know the reasoning uh we haven't had a chance to talk to hakee or anything like that so uh be interesting to see if he eventually gets added that's obviously of the positions we've gone through like that's the most notable one so far Bean is wasn't there yeah but no artist there but Bean is probably a starter right like off the top of my head I would think he would start over over Zayn Durant at this point who is in the game um probably not as fast as he should be either uh I think he had 67 speed Zan Durant is faster than that um but yeah something something worth monitoring there see if he ends up being in the game uh but yeah the defensive ends are great like Deni Dennis Sutton started I think he's an 83 or an 85 I can't remember the I was gonna say that's yeah yeah I don't I do not have him my notes I apologize well that's that's because he was so low on the you know what I mean I was surprised uh I would that's another great candidate to be a 90 plus by honestly might be their best player on their roster by the end of the year uh linebacker was pretty runof-the-mill I don't think there anything NE Tony Roos out there Roos was good job with the hair yes every player at the position was real there were no I I do remember this there were no madeup players at linebacker I don't think there was anyone even missing that we that we have that was no I I had no linebacker Emissions on my list um I do and same thing cornerbacks were were pretty much everybody Kenny wosley but again wasn't there true freshman like you can you can kind of figure that one out um AJ Harris I think is another guy that people are gonna Joy because again we haven't we haven't actually SE another guy that might be pretty highly rated by the end of it yeah I I think you're looking at risers there he's one for sure Corner really in general I would guess so they have a bunch of guys that are rated around like 78 to 82 right now I would guess that within you know halfway through the season at least two of those guys are like 86s 87s and are suddenly clear-cut starters and quality players uh but in the defensive backfield the most notable ad Mission I think from from Penn State's roster no Jaylen Reed uh very curious Jaylen Reed who is going to Big 10 media days like has been a we hear from him in a couple weeks and'll be able to ask yeah we'll have a chance to ask him if I will I'm gonna guess there gonna be plenty of guys tweeting about this we saw Keandre Lambert Smith uh as you hint at our guys that e did Dirty a little bit with this but uh you know tweeting about how his uh his uh guy didn't have any hair which was is a tough look for a guy with last we saw him had dreads yeah like the uh not not ideal but yeah Reed is like it's I don't know that's that's a that's a tough one because he is the kind of guy that you listen anyways that I would move to linebacker and just you know what I mean make him into a a big hitting linebacker yeah play him at the Husky right exactly how uh how Tom Allen's gonna do it but yeah just KJ Winston uh at the top of death chart with saki Wheatley there yeah also no Makai flowers no Lamont pain um so you wonder how much of that is roster space too just because like it's you know it's a position where you're probably going to play only a two deep and usually again those who play these games a lot you g to have like three safeties at most at each safety spot so you wonder how deep they can even go with it uh Vu tour was in there no dwan Lane was in there either yes yeah no Lane um but the other thing you know you mentioned playing so many safeties you got to keep your players happy in the game now because the transfer we were kind of toying around with that a little bit which is a really awesome I lost Ethan grun after year one uh because of our play style uh you know so it is something you have to monitor uh speaking of which by the way just there's one more emission from the game notable emission no punter Riley Thompson yes like fresh sof they probably didn't know what year to put him as so I was gonna say you have to wonder if they just didn't know what class he was and that's the faest reason they could have to not put him in the game but yeah that is a notable one that was a a fake player at that position uh I I think for the most part like guys you know Reed Beaman Raper are are the the really big ones that you notice uh and that you wonder like what what it ends up meaning or if they end up in the game but yeah I thought all in all they did a good job with the ratings there were like I said there were some spots where we fly a little too close to the Sun on some level so we see it all the time like we would have Singleton Allen closer to to each other I would say and you know maybe uh you know maybe have someone like I don't know Zan Durant being a little faster minutia like that but I think all in all it it's it's fairly accurate and the we went through too and also looked at the three highest speeds on the team three best speeds uh yes three guys with 94s so that was running back cam Wallace running back Nick Singleton wide receiver and Mari Evans which again John bringing the beat writer perspective into this you and I both then said o we wonder how fast uh King Mack is so then we started scrolling through the rosters uh King Mack is a 79 overall but his speed is a 98 so again you talk about transfer portal losses and would have had a lot of fun playing with kingm yeah no no without a doubt but uh we did we did simulate two seasons as we mentioned uh as John is gonna give gives people a lot of heartburn here you might want to just if you fast forward two minutes I will not blame you uh we simulated the 2024 season uh and that may or may not have resulted in a nine and3 record with a bull loss in the Las Vegas bull uh I believe that one was to Missouri uh no no no you lost you lost the you beat Missouri in the music that's right that's right we lost we lost a uhas yes it was Kansas State in D yeah uh so that's tough and the way it happened though would have been especially heartbreaking for Penn State fans uh they're nine- two heading into the last week of the season number five team in the country pretty much locked into the playoff with a you know a real chance at at being the the fifth overall seed playing a Maryland team that you know isn't going to be great nothing nothing to see there we simulate that one last week and see that Penn State lost 42 to 40 and double overtime Maryland in a just yeah really tough one like the the ultimate uh punch the outside looking in on the playoff and the other lone the other losses were USC and Ohio State USC and Ohio State which I think most people would probably Pickers are two most probable I we'll get into this as we discuss the season more on a later episode the Maryland one was yeah I kind of think they're going to lose to Wisconsin and not USC but we'll get into that later um but yeah I that you know that obviously they lose the the Bull game go nine and4 and then lose Ethan gruny like I said to the portal no other losses Drew Aller comes back like the everyone coaching offers yes I offers could have gone all woo Pig suoi gone to Arkansas uh decided to stay I don't even remember what the coach it was so for for what in case people are wondering the coaches aren't in the game um and instead of like making James Franklin or anything I just chose whatever autogenerated coach is is in place there already um and you know like I said could have gone wo pigui could have gone Clemson despite that uh tough end to year one ended up saying it Penn State everyone comes back except I believe I think Abdul Carter even came back convinced him to stay yeah this is the thing this is where it gets a little less realistic here in that we didn't recruit at all the goal for this was just to simulate through and get get some results right like uh so we could give them to you guys so we also didn't hit the portal hard which we obviously would have done if we were uh being a little more uh intentional with it but the second year uh like I said Drew Aller comes back you'd think he's got a chance to Heisman he's up to a 95 95 overall and then uh Penn State drops a road game to roders and then still one loss you know nine and one heading into the last two weeks of the year in a really good spot in position to make the playoff this is it just got to go one and or one and one sure you face a tough or team yeah you you face a tough Oregon team to end the season but you're facing a Northwestern team that isn't very good at home in the second last game of the year Well Penn State dropped that one and then they dropped the organ one and then once again finished at nine and three and ended up in the Music City bow uh just really see yeah where they beat missou finished it 10 and three and that's where we kind of caught it quits there uh to to come record this podcast but yeah just like really brutal we tried to get pen state in the playoff for like we tried I'm not goingon to lie I thought we were going to sim two seasons they were going to be like the eight seed in both seasons and that was going to be the end of it and like and there was a brief moment there too where it looked like it looked like pit was gonna make it in the second year and then they lose in Conference Championship week and uh I think it was Miami ends up getting in instead yeah so like it it saved Penn State fans some pain of listening to this uh fortunately though Audrey got revenge uh she played on freshman difficulty uh against hand me that controller I haven't played a video game in at least 15 years knock it all the way down I walked through yeah we we had a full walkthrough of everything and then she proceeded to stomp pit uh in the national title game yeah yeah we we did an exhibition game set it as a national title game uh and then Audrey destroyed pit at every in every phase what was the final was it 48 to nothing off the top it was a shut out um it was a shut out in true Audrey fashion I was calling my timeouts late in the game to run up the score um I I was I was that person I was the imaginary coach some fits on the other sideline she said with seven seconds left oh I out of timeout and I was like what are we doing here I was I there I was there to run up the score um I I had a blast like if you're someone like me who hasn't played a video game in a really long time and you're thinking I don't know if I want to invest in a system I don't know if I want to invest in the game I don't have time um I'm afraid I'm going to suck at the game so I don't want to play you won't be disappointed like I think you will have a good time you can knock the difficulty down and then even as John and I did we put me on the hardest level just so I I did I so I play on Heisman usually I don't know that that'll surprise a lot of people given I talk about how much I play video games and everything but I play on Heisman so we put Audrey on Heisman uh gave her Ohio State uh i p i put her yeah I I put her up against Texas State who is the team that I will be using in my first online dynasty we've got a 16 person online dynasty ready to go once everyone gets the game uh not the only online dynasty I'm in right away it's gonna be terrifying how I manage my schedule uh but my Texas State Bobcats as I have now been calling them for the last three months in preparation for this uh we're the team that Audrey took on and then she got two stops early on two plays and then got eviscerated by the Texas state offense for a touchdown uh punted the ball away I believe got the ball back on I went I went three and out and then got eviscerated and then got the ball back couldn't figure out where my guy was so I thought I was getting I was getting the ball but I wasn't I dropped it so then I get backed up in my own territory most people would say run the ball not me not when I'm playing a video game we're chucking this ball around not going well and John there was no CH yeah John goes oh you're definitely gonna get picked and I was like yeah probably a pick six coming nope and then I said to to be fair I said shortly after never mind this is a safety after I saw the play selection and then within two seconds of the snap Audrey was down nine to nothing and that is where we caught it quits on her playing on Heisman and here's the thing though John I think if I if I dedicated myself to it like anything right if I played more frequently I think I'd be decent I think I'd be okay like I think I could eventually I don't think you I don't think you need to play on freshman like I think you could play on varsity and be fine All-American might be a bridge too far right now but I think most people it's it's like Madden like a lot of people play on All Pro on Madden instead of all Madden I think a lot of people are probably gonna play on All-American and like that is you know perfectly reasonable to get there eventually and play on that level Heisman sometimes is just relegated for us sios and that's understandable I did play as Texas State against Sam Houston State a little bit today uh I I can't I know I said this earlier it is so much fun it feels so much more like I said it it feels more authentic right like it all feels like uh you're actually was playing a college football game like this is the one thing yeah like I think the problem with sports games at times can be that they don't look or they don't feel like you're watching an NFL game or an NBA game or major league baseball game the presentation was done so well the gamepl is really good too like I said I I I have had my issues with gameplay in football games in the past I think that's not an issue uh from my early I gotta get the kicking down the kicking I had some trouble with the kicking is was real tough for Audrey that was tough that was a tough go to watch even even on freshman some bral Ones Still Still racking up pit even though I was giving him good good field position yeah good field position every single time for what it's worth she did kick one off her her uh her safety punch she she punted after the safety this was the final play of the game because it went about four yards to the left and about no yards forward and was fair caught at her own 40 yard line uh but yeah I I like the presentation aspect of this you know the national title uh you know the the when even though it's an exhibition like it's not during the dynasty but they they put on the pageantry of the N you winning the national title it's really cool you see guys holding the trophy up and and excited and celebrating and uh you know you see the me how to get screenshots so I could share some of those with you all I will say that Audrey perfected screenshotting while playing a PlayStation game more so than any other skill uh that she perfected while we were doing this circle button I think right it's a little share button on the side the share button the circle takes it back yeah y That's right uh as we continue to learn these things but no I like it it really felt immersive and I think for a lot of people who grew up just massive college football fans massive fans of of the old NCAA games like that's what made it so fun right like you felt like it was your school whichever team you picked like uh I was joking with Audrey that like I might I think I might accidentally be a Texas State football fan now I didn't mean to like I don't have a college football team you know especially because you cover the sport but like like I like I think I might have accidentally become a Texas State fan uh because you get so bought in and it and it allows you to get bought in I think that's a really important part of it oh yeah I think you're spot on with that like to me again as someone who hasn't looked at a video game in a very long time watching Penn State run out of the tunnel I was like oh my gosh like this looks real and like I've seen you know the previews and stuff like everybody has on social media um but during like during the game they'd cut to the crowd shots right you've got the nitty lion like ruffling up his or her ears right you've got the nitty lion doing the one-armed push-ups um you have the lion going you know throughout the end zone at different points you cut to the crowd um you know you've got the crowd doing the same Penn State chance like you've got people holding up their cell phones like you feel like in a weird way you feel like you're at a college football game and when I played for with Ohio State for that hot second um I pregame I said Jos I wonder if they're gonna dot the eye sure enough they came out they do yep you got to right and it's all of those cool Traditions the land grant trophy right we were looking at that in our simulated game I said John oh boy there's the trophy and it looks just as hideous in the game as it does you know up close right like so they that's how you know it's realistic when that thing looks awful yes yeah and like the um we also had some fun looking at the alternate uniforms that are in the game so if you want to play with Penn State with the generations of greatness uniforms with the white shoes the numbers on the helmet you can do that I thought that was really cool um we also Morgan's uniforms are so awesome we went through there were I how three or four different organ ones that we looked at they're they're I think they're the eggshell ones I love them so much I know a lot of people hate on but I love those uniform one of them yeah there were there were a few of those they were really cool um yeah all in all I think a lot a lot of people are going to be spending a ton of time on this game and it's also it is the perfect segue and I do want to say I think EA has done a great job capturing and also building off of the momentum of this game right like by rolling out the ratings the way that they did rolling out the different clips like they have owned these last two and a half weeks for a game that you knew was going to be insanely popular even if you like messed up kind of the roll out and so they've just nailed it I think on every every single level um and I think I think some people may be nervous about like all right what are the hiccups going to be when it when it initially comes out I didn't really find anything so far right that I like that would frustrate me or anything like that like most importantly it's I think the biggest thing for me is that it felt like what I wanted it to feel like it felt like what it did when I played it as a high school senior you know for the last time in in 2013 right or college freshman whenever I was in 2013 when it last came out like or or when I was you know 13 or 14 playing it you know in 2018 2009 like it it felt like what I wanted it to feel like and what it felt like then and like of that is just Nostalgia right and I understand that and there's just some novelty to that but the other part is it's also just fun right like these and that's my favorite thing to do in those games was was to recruit right and we I haven't touched recruiting yet and I cannot wait to do these online dynasties and to destroy my friends uh a quick shout out to my buddy Corey who is Sam Houston State who's gonna get decimated to be clear that is it is Texas state for a reason the state is not called Sam Houston I want that to be known uh but like I am like I'm that excited about this right like this was this was so much fun it was so cool to get a look ahead before everyone else too but like this it felt like everything I wanted it to be and for those for people who listen I've been playing video games forever now I didn't take a Hiatus like I'm sure some people have I think for people that are just getting back into it like in into Dynasty and everything it they're going to love it right like this is what it was it what the things that made it a lot of fun are still there from a gameplay standpoint uh I was I was looking around recruiting a little bit I obviously watched a lot of the same preview stuff that a lot of people did about recruiting a lot of that seems Seems like a lot of fun still the transfer port on the offseason makes it better getting coaching offers at various times at the end of the season I think makes it more interesting so like this it was just really cool I'm not one to like brag about you know like a game or something like that like I if I if I think a game sucks I'll tell you right like it's because I'll quit playing it real quick I am going to be taking my PlayStation everywhere I travel this year just because like I don't I will be playing this non-stop until next that's good so I can advance past past rookie mode I'll just show up on the road say hey John remember that time I let you play the game early because I needed your console yes and uh we're doing this for work purposes right um and I think like yeah the thing that that really I think is so special and this is where again like the the thing that the game has nailed is like it's so cool just to look at the different venues right and we and we were just scratching the surface on it like I want to see Notre Dame come out of the tunnel I want to see Michigan come out like you want to see these iconic entrances um you know we saw Beaver Stadium in a white out we saw like the regular Penn State crowd like there's just so many different wrinkles to this game where you know I think anybody and again if you're listening to us you're a college football fan so you're you're going to be among the people that's going to love it I can speak to the if you haven't played a game in a really long time and you're worried that you might get frustrated knock it down a few levels build your confidence back up uh but definitely do it however John I'd like to now enter what we're gonna refer to as the they did them dirty portion of the podcast yeah only only a few here that we noticed uh all pen State related three three players with Penn State connections KJ Winston Penn State's best player I would argue and highest rated uh on the team at 91 uh Dante cus former nney lion and kandre Lambert Smith who I mentioned earlier all bald uh not ideal yeah I I like next time we talk I believe Audrey said oh my God he's bald when I pointed out that KJ he does not look anything like him I was like he looks bald um and then we looked like no they made him bald and he is not bald um yeah we're gonna have to ask him about that like how did you know I think the uh because one of the the stories I'd been working on that will be up on the athletic um at some point here in the next probably this week myself and some colleagues we've talked to college football coaches who either grew up playing the game or had an interest in the game or were in the game so I'm thinking like Phil troutwine Marcus Hain who like were never in the game they were never in the game technically but like you know you we knew I believe it was offensive tackle number 71 when when pH TR was there something like that and and one of the things that uh Marcus Hagins was telling me that when they would play the game at UVA that he's like you just wanted to be like good at the game like you don't want to be the guy that everybody's clowning on in the locker room yep I think when people see KJ woodston on the team they're gonna be like what in the world that's gonna be tough right that's gonna be tough for him in the locker room especially for a guy that highly rated um I mean again some of like they nailed Luke reynolds's hair they nailed Tony ras' hair uh they got Nick Singleton looking pretty good uh Drew Aller to me like at the line of scrimmage the body type like you you're like that looks like Drew Allard um but up close I it's I I was saying this to you like it's tough with faces because they don't face scan these guys like they do in other sports games because like I'm sure they would if they could I'm sure it's just way too much to try and do it maybe eventually they can uh but so they look a little bit less realistic but it is football you're not seeing their face on the field anyways well here's the thing you do see though John this is my pet peeve their Hometown their hometown um so that the kind of the running joke what's your hometown by the way Audrey my hometown is Downingtown Pennsylvania but the running joke was always um and I was in marching band in high school and so we'd March in parades and stuff and they'd announce it on TV and they'd say okay here comes the blue and gold marching bound from downington Pennsylvania right it I don't for whatever reason like I don't know because I grew up there it seems obvious to me like T WN Town not t n ton so I said to John I said oh go check true Shelton's Hometown because it should be Downing Town it's downington however if you go to the Ohio State roster because I then said oh check will Howard's because he's also from Downingtown will Howard is Downing Town it's spelled correctly Drew Shelton downington so maybe they can update that make that little little fix because you know a lot of people go to these games sure you be on them about it I yeah I I go for grammatical and spelling weird things that's right this wouldn't be two journalists doing a podcast if we weren't complaining about the GR in in the most hotly anticipated sports game in the yeah just just a little factual thing that I yeah met probably only me and Drew Shelton will notice right that's right um but yeah all in all I I hope you all if if you want to play the game you have any interest in the game I hope you do um John is gonna slip into Oblivion here with the game um I I am off thought about doing a a live stream not of me like playing but just watching me slowly deteriorate over the of the week but there's going to be a knock at your door at some point this it's going to be me saying hey John I think you're busy you got to do something uh your wife needs you to take care of something I I'll keep your PlayStation 5 going I'll keep that couch in front of the door nobody's getting in I promise you nobody's leaving either I'm telling you this is the uh this is how we're spending our last week before Big 10 me it is before the season gets rolling uh you and I will both be out in Indianapolis for that we know Penn State talk July 24th The Unofficial start of of the season for us really right that's when we kick it in gear and that's when too by the way uh we'll do a podcast from Indie but we'll be back to weekly starting at that point right uh you know this week season's almost gone yep like I said this is coming out Monday uh Audrey on vacation and you know for better reasons than I have I'm on vacation uh so we won't be recording anything else past today but starting next week we'll be back once a week I was I was I was checking this John I had somebody was texting me about they tried to get a they were trying to get Drew Aller into a a Heisman race in the game so this is I'm now I've now become a video game yeah that was the other thing nobody nobody else uh no no nitty lions in the Heisman Heisman watch at all uh during year one or year two uh by playing on yeah Audrey can fix that for you by playing on freshman for all 12 games yeah if ever you're in need of any advice on the freshman level that I'm I'm your person and I will be leading my Texas State Bobcats to Victory week in and week out uh but I think that'll do it uh for this episode of the nitty dispatch I this has been a lot of fun today was a lot of fun uh like I said I hope everyone who gets this game enjoys it as much as I did and gets the feelings of nostalgia but also enjoys the things that you know uh are still fun and new in in the game so uh we will be back next week uh to do that media days podcast Audrey will be covering media days I will be covering media days as as she said uh I will have uh at some point this week another story on center.com that I would recommend you you check out uh I don't want to get too into it yet I'm not certain when it's going to publish so I don't want to I don't want to tease that just yet but very excited something I've been working on for a good bit now um and then it'll be Penn State football all all day right every day it's going to be it's going to be non-stop for what I think we can agree is a pretty big season so we'll do some preview stuff we some prediction stuff it'll be a lot of fun our first preview uh season as the nitty dispatch First full season yeah yeah uh very exciting so find Audrey on Twitter at odd Snider 4 you can find me on Twitter John saber of course you can find all of Audrey's writing at the athletic you can find mine at s Daily Times don't forget to rate review And subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcast hit that subscribe button if you're watching on YouTube Down Below uh this has been a lot of fun uh until next time thank you for tuning in have a great day okay [Music]