We need a NCAA Football game now more than ever

With the college football season in doubt, we need a NCAA Football game now more than ever.

As the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc across the United States, University presidents and athletic directors as well as conference commissioners are faced with a difficult decision regarding collegiate sports for the fall (and possibly spring) seasons. The student-athletes apparently want to play — provided their list demands are met — but there’s a lot more to take into account. There’s player safety, scheduling logistics and, of course, money.

In all honesty, it’s probably that last point that’s the main driving factor behind the conference decisions. Is it worth having a shortened season with no fans in the stands and having to rely only on television contracts? For most Power 5 schools, probably. But as we’re seeing with the less fortunate Group of Five schools, that often rely on Power 5 scheduling to make up for their lack of TV money, it’s more financial sense to just delay or cancel the season.

As I write this, it seems like kind of a free for all. The Mountain West Conference and Mid-American Conference have both postponed the fall sports season with hopes of picking up in the spring.  The Power 5 conferences are also expected to follow suit. Let’s be honest, we’re almost certainly not having fall football this year.

Which brings me to the whole point of this article, we really need an NCAA Football game. College football fans need an outlet and a new NCAA Football game would be the perfect distraction.

Honestly, though, there’s potential for something even bigger here. Like we saw with the NBA 2K Players Tournament and MLB The Show 20 Players League, colleges and universities around the country could participate in an all-digital NCAA Football tournament. The first-ever college football video game playoff.

Each participating school could be represented by a handful of players on its team. And let’s be honest, a lot of these current players have grown up with video games, so you can bet it’d be entertaining to watch.

Admittedly, I don’t know if the NCAA would take issue with any of this, but who really cares at this point? We’re so far beyond the NCAA’s restrictive domain right now that not even the bigger schools or conferences care what it thinks.

Unfortunately, this dream won’t become a reality unless every school can find a copy of NCAA Football 14, the last college football game to be published by Electronic Arts before legal issues put a damper on the series. While recent NCAA rulings regarding player names and likenesses have opened the door for a future college football game we’re still a far ways off from someone actually developing one. So unless you have a copy of NCAA Football 14 lying around, it looks like it’s going to be a long fall without college football.