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NCAA Football 09 enrolls July 15

EA's annual college football sim will feature different cover stars for Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, and Wii versions, with Razorback Darren McFadden named to Microsoft's edition.

The 2007-2008 NCAA college football season offered innumerable massive upsets, Cinderella runs, and smashed records, with the storied season culminating in the Ohio State Buckeyes seemingly falling into the BCS National Championship game--and the controversial two-loss LSU Tigers promptly trouncing them and making off with the coveted crystal trophy.

Darren McFadden.

So, ready for next season? EA certainly is, as the publisher today confirmed NCAA Football 09 will greet the marching band on July 15 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable. Looking to spread the cover-star love this year, EA has decided to grace the boxes of the individual editions of the game with separate athletes. Leading with the Xbox 360 edition, EA has named University of Arkansas tailback Darren McFadden.

With 4,485 yards in 37 games, McFadden holds the distinction as the University of Arkansas' all-time leading rusher. Among the speedy power back's many awards and distinctions, McFadden has been selected for the First Team All-SEC three times, been named the SEC coaches and AP Offensive Player of the Year in 2006, was the first sophomore to receive the Doak Walker Award for best college tailback two years running, and is a two-time Heisman Trophy runner-up.

As for what EA Tiburon will be bringing to the table this year, NCAA Football 09 will feature an all-new "break away animation engine." The new mechanic will give players the ability to interrupt special moves on the fly, which EA hopes will give gamers more of a responsive, dynamic feel to the onscreen action.

EA plans to unveil the PS3 cover athlete on April 24, with the PS2 and PSP stars to be named in early May. The Wii cover will feature the winner of the NCAA Football 09 Cover Mascot Challenge, which will be announced on March 18. To keep tabs on the various cover stars, keep an eye on EA's official NCAA Football 09 Web site.

39 Comments

  • freyr123

    Posted May 8, 2008 12:08 pm PT

    So when can we expect the demo?

  • exelon

    Posted Apr 17, 2008 10:36 pm PT

    THis whole cover bs is just a ploy to distract people from the terrible gameplay they have put out the last couple years at the least. There hasnt been a decent football game out on the 360 yet. Ea sucks a big one and is once again just relaxing in their cubicles. Here's an idea.. they should EARN their money by actually working to make the game realistic and fun instead of cheesy gimmicks.. such as the ten second idea of 'lets jsut slap on a few new covers to maybe make people wanna collect em all' freakin worthless...

  • wagepeace

    Posted Apr 13, 2008 5:03 pm PT

    c2messer=awesome. UGA all the way in 08-09. go dawgs!

  • c2messer

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:26 am PT

    i gotta say as a canes fan, the fans i love the most other than canes fans are UGA fans... i mean we have so much in common, we both hate fla, i personally hate GT and i also think it should have been UGA NOT LSU in the NC last year beating the crap out of osu... and b4 osu fans say anything i know Miami didn't do it blah blah blah w/e. anyway reading this thread some stuff stood out too me tebow overrated? hell yes he is say what you want about his STATS he was not the best played in the nation but was rewarded as such by being the heismen trophy winner thats like the freakin definition of being overrated now as far as harvin goes, watch out for that kid i played against him in the va st championship and he is freakin nasty. and real quick b4 i end this FCS not 1AA teams would be great but lets see if they even get it right and add western ky to the list of FBS schools, or has ea even paid attention too college football at all over te last 10 years or so

  • j18811mec

    Posted Mar 13, 2008 11:00 pm PT

    I can understand why NCAA 07 didn't have 1AA teams, or lacked the added features the older gen systems included, such as referees, alternate uniforms, and out of game animations. Why they couldn't include them in 08 for the next gen systems is pure laziness. I expect the same lackluster performance from EA in 09. Afterall, who is their competition? They'll sit back, year after year, and soak up the dollars from annual releases that are basically a patch of last year's game. Since this is college ball, and not Madden, that doesn't even amount to a roster update!

    Also, for all the Buckeye bashers out there. Ohio State will return to the NC this year. They will beat Michigan, again, and then Michigan will go to a bowl game where they will put a smack down on LSU, just like they did to the Gators. I may hate Michigan, but at least they gave the Big Ten some redemption. Could the SEC repeat if they actually had to play a bowl game that wasn't in there home f***ing state? How about a BCS bowl game up north in January! Don't tell me the stadium wouldn't sell out, because if you think that, your either retarded or know nothing about football.

  • kylewds20

    Posted Mar 12, 2008 8:49 pm PT

    I did not say that I didn't want them in the game. I just think it will be very unlikely. It sucks when you get your hopes up for something that just won't happen. Sorry, it may be a pessimistic view, but I would rather people think realistic than idealistic. Just don't get your hopes up for the features anytime soon. =/

  • robnrnbrgr

    Posted Mar 9, 2008 8:55 pm PT

    kyle,
    thats a copout... the game used to have I-AA teams on older systems... in fact, I'm told PS2 had them for 2008... how is it any easier to make all those individual players then but not for now

    I hope the I-AA team are in there too, along with a create-a-team function

  • kylewds20

    Posted Mar 9, 2008 5:01 pm PT

    There is one big problem with adding 1-AA schools to a football game. If you look at Basketball, every team only has... oh.. I don't know... 15 players tops? I'm not that into basketball, so someone can correct that if they wish. That means that if they put 100 schools in a basketball game, then they only have to make 1500 individual players. Now try and do that in football. Every team has between 50-60 players, on average. 100 football teams would mean 5000-6000 individual players. And of course, the more teams you add, the bigger the difference will be. Point I'm trying to get at is, though it may not be impossible, it would be highly improbable for EA to add all 1-AA schools in NCAA Football. And to jdr589, you must be from Ohio, since you are too idiotic to type/spell correctly.

  • ripdareaper92

    Posted Mar 9, 2008 12:19 pm PT

    TexasAnMGrad2K lol he's right though, i mean as much money as their raking in there's no way ea can't afford at least 300 to 600 lines of dialogue. i'm a die hard football fan so i'm always playing but come on we have to listen to the same crappy dialogue for a whole year. that b.s.

  • jdr589

    Posted Mar 8, 2008 2:28 pm PT

    seriously Zam they better have the AA teams. lyk The App State / Michigan Game hahahaha Michigan u suck cuz of that never forget that 1. Next time they play them it better be lyk 150 to 0... And Tebow should be onthe cover, is he going pro?

  • zam22

    Posted Mar 8, 2008 9:16 am PT

    lets just hope EA gets it right this year by adding 1-AA schools to this years addition to ncaa...schools like Georgia Southern, App. State, Montana, Furman, etc. are well deserved to run circles around those so called powerhouses...if college basketball can add all teams that should tell football developers to get up off of their lazy buts and start getting to work...i have no problem with saving my money again with hopes that they will get it right before my 360 blows out on me again...we'll see if EA can make it happen!!

  • Marcd25

    Posted Mar 7, 2008 10:41 pm PT

    I really hope create a school is in this years version. Plus I wish that they could transfer players and seasons from one year to the next. Its always a beating starting over evrery year.

  • TexasAnMGrad2K

    Posted Mar 7, 2008 12:53 pm PT

    I always get suckered into playing NCAA football. Been doing so since NCAA 2002 on the PS2. But for goodness sakes, get Corso and the gang back in the recording studio to record some new dialogue!!! That line about "passing the lineman on the stairs and him carrying a whole sack of food" has been in the game every year!

  • HBOMB29

    Posted Mar 7, 2008 10:39 am PT

    hey g_hart when your team makes it to the title game you can talk, you guys played overrated and in over there heads hawaii now as far as the tebow comment he is overated how many good fla teams ( the state thats supposedly has the fast players and best rb NOT HAVE A TAILBACK or even a decent one at that yea he scored all those td s BECAUSE HE HAD TO all the other or should i say ONE other good weapon they have percy harvin ( hes a monster no doubt ) is a reciever and is to small to run between the tackles consistently and yea big ten was down last you BUT i saw mich smack up fla in what was that the gator bowl or outback cant remember and for real be lucky your school even got in a bcs game and uga coach on tv **** about being in the titile game hell you guys had 2 LOSSES and werent even in sec champ game so until your team gets there get to the back of the bus uga has a good team good tailback, BUT NOT AS loaded as osu and heaven help them if they meet osu in the title game but if you knew anything about college football your dumb ass would know that most fla schools NEVER HAVE A LACK OF GOOD RUNNING BACKs but this fla team did THATS WHY HE SCORED hell who else gonna run the ball so you need to talk what you KNOW not what you think, cause tebow s good but hes not heisman good hes not better than mcfadden or d. dixon from oregon hes got loose AND HAD A GOOD RUNNING BACK tebow HAD TO RUN BY DEFAULT BECAUSE they didnt have any decent tailbacks, he wasnt recruited to do that, but he has to cause until c. raney is ready to take the reins they didnt have one last season. period.

  • footballchamp74

    Posted Mar 7, 2008 7:28 am PT

    I vote Matt Ryan on the PS2 version cover

  • joeyfine

    Posted Mar 7, 2008 6:27 am PT

    please dont suck this year. and go back to the old style of recuiting!

  • Xanybox

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 6:09 pm PT

    But will all the official Stadiums be in it with no stupid generic ones? Do it right EA or you can kiss my cash goodbye...

  • g_hart

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 4:48 pm PT

    I could care less about the cover. I just hope that they make the PS3 version somewhat comparable to the 360 version....especially in the framerate department.

  • g_hart

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 4:30 pm PT

    HBOMB29 -
    "I like the different cover athletes this year because a. theyre wasnt a clear cut best player in the country to put on the cover, tim tebow is overrated its just that fla didnt have a real tailback so he HAD TO SCORE THOSE 5 yard TDS and you guys can hate if you want OHIO STATE WILL WIN IT ALL and has tressels dumb ass gave the ball to the BEST PLAYER IN THE COUNTRY c. wells they wouldve rolled over LSU they gave that game away but got blown out by fla (no excuses over that one) if he give c. wells the ball atleast 19-30 times they will smash USC AND EVERYONE ELSE "

    Just like a dumb a** Ohio State fan to say something that stupid. Ohio State shouldn't have even been in the National Championship this past season. They got their a**es handed to them again just like they did last year by another school in the SEC (just for fun...three times if you include the NCAA Basketball Championship). They played a weak schedule in a weak conference and still couldn't go undefeated.

    As far as Tebow goes, I'm a UGA fan and I wouldn't even call him overrated. That is by far the most idiotic comment on your entire post. You could get away with saying that he probably won't do what he did last season in the NFL, but to call him overrated is crazy. The guy was single handly over 70% of his teams offense (and this is coming from a person that hates the Florida Gators).

  • pikepig

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 4:23 pm PT

    To the best of my knowledge, to be on the cover of NCAA Football the athlete must be done playing college ball, I don't think the NCAA will allow a current student to get paid to be on the cover of a game (probably because they don't get any money from it)

  • nickythenewt21

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 3:55 pm PT

    I'd rather have Dennis Dixon, but McFadden is alright.

  • huskerman34

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 3:43 pm PT

    Man i hope they improve the gameplay. NO more ai cheating.

  • HBOMB29

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 1:55 pm PT

    I like the different cover athletes this year because a. theyre wasnt a clear cut best player in the country to put on the cover, tim tebow is overrated its just that fla didnt have a real tailback so he HAD TO SCORE THOSE 5 yard TDS and you guys can hate if you want OHIO STATE WILL WIN IT ALL and has tressels dumb ass gave the ball to the BEST PLAYER IN THE COUNTRY c. wells they wouldve rolled over LSU they gave that game away but got blown out by fla (no excuses over that one) if he give c. wells the ball atleast 19-30 times they will smash USC AND EVERYONE ELSE

  • VolcanoMan001

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 1:54 pm PT

    How exactly with NCAA Football 09 changed from the previous year besides the cover? Does anyone care? This is even a more important question given the fact that there aren't really player names to update with the rosters. I am all for a good football game but I have resorted to buying an EA sports game every two or three years and it does not seem like I am missing much. I just don't want people to spend so much money when they could be demanding more for it.

  • starcher5150

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 1:42 pm PT

    hunter8man:
    You cannot be on the cover until you graduate.

  • anobleloss

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 1:40 pm PT

    why even buy a ea sport game.....its basically the same recycled stuff every year...omg i can break even more tackles now by holding the left trigger and flicking the right analog stick forward

  • hunter8man

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 1:31 pm PT

    Something tells me that Tebow is going to be on one of those covers.

  • Nachoking2k2

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 1:12 pm PT

    wasn't the breakaway animations included last year?

  • TXDRiPpA

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 1:05 pm PT

    It dont matter, im gonig to make better cover's anyways.....

  • MetalContra

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 1:03 pm PT

    Awesome, Go DMAC, and GO HOGS!!!

  • juicenpancakes

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 12:58 pm PT

    I think this is actually a pretty cool idea having different players on the different platform covers.

  • mysterylobster

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 12:56 pm PT

    I wanted to see Rashard Mendenhall on the cover. He was dominant all year and was essential to taking a surprising Illini team to the Rose Bowl.

  • cheezlarson

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 12:42 pm PT

    Just because the Wii is targeted towards everyone, doesn't mean it should have mascots on the cover of a college sports game. Especially since college students buy college football games.

  • riseagainst976

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 12:28 pm PT

    Alright come on Demodocus, ya the sec and pac10 have earned the top two spots but the big10 is just as good as all the others. And come on fight fair, ya OSU had a weak weak schedule but the last 2 years they played Texas, the next two USC, and the next two Miami, FL. -----Can't wait to win the USC game!-----

  • ocdog45

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 12:02 pm PT

    don't care about the 360 cover. what about the ps3 cover. also i want to know more about this new breakaway system. didn't they have that in another previous game?

  • Bay_Maximus

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 11:55 am PT

    Is it me or do companies baiting the fanboy wars? Let the fanboys commence....

  • killejo

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 11:55 am PT

    Pretty cool idea. Can't wait to see who will be on the cover for the PSP!

  • bluezy

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 11:54 am PT

    I still wish that the Wii version had an actual athlete on the cover.

  • Demodocus

    Posted Mar 6, 2008 11:50 am PT

    I'm down with more college football. By the way, Big 10 = the new WAC. Thank goodness THE Ohio State plays USC this year so they have to play somebody legit.

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