College football’s 2008 season should be wildly entertaining; with Tim Tebow, the first-ever underclassman Heisman Trophy winner, returning to campus this season to try to win back-to-back Heismans and bring the championship trophy back to Florida after it spent a year in the bayous of Louisiana, there are going to be dozens of must-see games. If you’re anything like me, you can’t get enough of the preseason speculation and discussion…will Rich Rodriguez bring Michigan back to glory in ‘09? Can Stanford pull off another major Pac-10 upset? Who will earn the right to destroy Ohio State in this year’s championship bowl? So when my brother picked up NCAA ‘09 for xBox last week, I figured I’d take a few snaps under center and let our loyal readers know how it is.

The first thing I noticed about NCAA ‘09 is that the graphics are stunning. If not for the zoom, which is much wider than on tv to allow players to see most of the field, the game could fool people into thinking they were watching a live game. The players’ movements are incredibly fluid, the stadiums are realistic and detailed, and even the mascots are perfect.
Before I dove into the game, I browsed the team rankings…the top five are as follows: #1 Georgia, #2 Oklahoma, #3 OSU, #4 USC, #5 Florida. I have no complaints with the top 5, especially after playing as or against each of the teams. Georgia and OSU have stifling defenses, Oklahoma returns Bradford after a record setting freshman year, USC is a perennial west coast powerhouse and championship contender, and the aforementioned Tebow - with player rankings of 99 pretty much across the board - is enough to singlehandedly vault Florida into the top 5 despite their porous d.

I played as Florida for my first game, against #22 Alabama, and I had a hard time trading in Tebow’s arm and size to play with any other team. On a crucial third and four late in the third quarter, I ran a play called “QB Blast” found in the 5-wide Shotgun set. A defensive lineman stepped into the hole just before I hit it with #15, but sure enough, Tebow put his shoulder into the poor lineman’s chest and drove him back far enough to pick up the new set of downs. Florida’s receivers also deserve a shout-out; Percy Harvin is lightning quick and will torch any d-back if he gets a step on them, but #9 Louis Murphy quickly became my favorite target. He’s big, fast, and will go up and get any ball over smaller corners. He had well over 150 receiving yards and a score in my game against Alabama.

I didn’t run much option with Florida, opting instead to let Tebow pick apart defenses from the pocket and occasionally pick up a first down with his legs, but after playing against West Virginia, maybe I should have tried some option. Perhaps my only bone to pick with the makers of NCAA ‘09 is how effective the option is, and more specifically, how long the game allows the quarterback to wait before making the pitch to the running back. Several times, Pat White waited to pitch until he’d already been hit by my defensive end - and every single one was perfectly placed, hitting Noel Devine square in the numbers. I got to White behind the line several times on option plays, and had only one sack and no fumbles to show for it.

Overall, NCAA ‘09 was an awesome gaming experience, but with less than two weeks until Madden ‘09 hits stores, get your fill of the college game while you can.