July | 2020 | The Double Extra Point

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My guess is a good percentage of those reading this blog have played a football videogame at some point. And while we all lament the loss of NCAA College Football, Nebraska fans got a welcome jolt of good news from Electronic Arts.

Which College will you choose in your Rise to Fame?#Madden21 pic.twitter.com/zmTfYEOHvt

— Madden NFL 21 (@EAMaddenNFL) June 30, 2020

For those of you unfamiliar with the Madden franchise, recently EA added a “Face of the Franchise” mode where you can play a character working his way up from college to the pros. Last year was the first time since NCAA 14 that licensed college teams and uniforms were in a video game (with fictional players) as your created character competed in the College Football Playoff.

For this year’s version, two new schools were included in your choices of which college your character can attend – and take a look at what one of your options are.

Yep, Husker Fan, your virtual athlete can now sign with Nebraska on Signing Day and wear the N in two years’ worth of College Football Playoff games. You are forgiven in advance for just playing that tiny sliver of Madden 21 over and over (and over and over and over) again.

Ohio State alums Chase Young (the second overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft) and Dwayne Haskins (the Washington NFL team’s starting quarterback) were not pleased with EA’s decision to choose Nebraska and Michigan State over Ohio State.

And they have a point. Ohio State has been one of the dominant powers in college football in the Playoff era. Nebraska has endured three consecutive losing seasons and hasn’t been to a bowl since a 38-24 loss to Tennessee in the 2016 (!) Music City Bowl.

So what’s Nebraska doing on this list of college football luminaries? Why would EA think to put a program that has gone 13-23 in the last three years in such a place of prominence, that include that red N on the list would make its game sell more copies?

Because of you, Husker Fan.

Sure, Nebraska has its history of greatness. But Nebraska hasn’t been great for quite a while now. But it’s you, Husker Fan, and your loyalty and passion that keeps Nebraska’s place as a national program, one that a company like EA would think is a selling point.

A smart and particularly handsome analyst made this point after Nebraska’s loss to Colorado last year.

Even more than other programs, Husker Fan, you are the beating heart of why Nebraska is considered a blue-blood of college football. From a distance, there’s no reason the Nebraska program should be considered alongside the royalty of college football.

Except for you. You’re the ones who painted Folsom Field red, and in doing so you were the spiritual heirs of all those red-clad faithful that boarded the trains and descended on the Rose Bowl in 1941. You’re the ones who have sold out Memorial Stadium since 1962. You’re the ones, ultimately, who provide the platform from which Nebraska has the potential to launch itself back into the college football stratosphere.

You know the tune. You’ve sung the words – probably about a half-count off the beat, because that’s how we Nebraskans roll.

We’ll all stick together, in all kinds of weather, for dear old Nebraska U

Nebraska’s inclusion in Madden 21 is yet another example of how the wildly, crazily devoted fanbase keeps the soil fertile for a rise to national prominence for the Cornhuskers.

So pat yourself on the back, Husker Fan. Buy your copy of Madden 21 and enjoy seeing the scarlet and cream in the College Football Playoff – at least until we can see it for real.

GBR, baby.

In the offseason, most of us are used to non-descript, happy-talk, coach-speak interviews talking about how this year’s squad has never practiced so well, never been so together, and all the other cotton candy gobbledygook we usually get.

In other words, college football coaches have taken a page from Crash Davis’ playbook.

“You’re gonna have to learn your clichés. You’re gonna have to study them, you’re gonna have to know them. They’re your friends.”

Crash Davis, “Bull Durham”

Nebraska football head coach Scott Frost apparently never saw the movie. In an interview with Steven M. Sipple of the Lincoln Journal-Star, Frost was talking about why quarterback Adrian Martinez struggled last season. We knew about his injury issues, and that he had surgery in the offseason. But then Frost told us – or at least confirmed to us – something we didn’t know before.

Year 2, because of the situation, I think he was able to put it in cruise control a little more, and I think that showed up on the field a little bit. That’s not to put everything on him. There’s a lot of things he couldn’t control. But I don’t think he’ll be lax in his preparation ever again.

Stop. Read that paragraph again. Let it sink in.

Frost just told us that last year Martinez was “in cruise control.” That Martinez was “lax in his preparation” last season.

That’s a heck of a thing to say about your junior quarterback, your incumbent starter. That’s putting a heck of a lot of pressure on his shoulders. You know if he struggles next season, both Martinez and Frost will be peppered with questions about Martinez’s preparation and effort level.

So why would Frost say something like that?

Well, first of all, likely because it’s true. Martinez didn’t really have a legitimate challenger for his job last year. Noah Vedral is a great story and a competent athlete, but there’s a reason he’s playing at Rutgers this year. Luke McCaffrey is an electric athlete and certainly would have been a serious contender – if it wasn’t crystal clear that Frost had decided he was not going to burn McCaffrey’s redshirt season by playing him more than four games last season.

(ed. note: an earlier version reflected Vedral transferring to Northern Illinois, and the error has been corrected)

But even if it’s true, Frost didn’t have to say it out loud. So the clearest answer has to be that he’s sending a message to Martinez. The starting quarterback’s job is his to win – but Nebraska has other options if Martinez isn’t able to answer the bell.

This year, McCaffrey will have every ability to challenge for the starting job (although I still think he’s likely to be Nebraska’s version of Taysom Hill). And true freshman Logan Smothers looks every bit the part of a kid who could come in and win a starting quarterback job as a true freshman in Frost’s offense – just like Martinez did in 2018.

We still really don’t know what the 2020 season is going to look like under the specter of the coronavirus pandemic. But Nebraska is coming off three straight losing seasons, and facing a murderous schedule. Frost knows that – while he’s certainly not on the hot seat – the clock is ticking for him to turn Nebraska into a winning program again.

When Martinez is right – physically and mentally – he’s one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in the nation. We knew he wasn’t right physically last year, and now we know he wasn’t right mentally either. Clearly Frost must be confident of Martinez being ready physically, or he would not have laid down such a public challenge to him mentally.

We will see in September (hopefully) the fruits of Frost’s decision. Either Martinez will return to the form we saw as a freshman – or we could see a new signal-caller for Nebraska.

GBR, baby.