NCAA Football Cover Curse
NCAA Football 09 comes out a week from today, so it’s as good a time as any to take a look at the curses associated with the game.
Everyone’s heard of the Madden Curse. A player appears on the cover of the EA Sports’ Madden NFL video game and the following season he doesn’t play up to expectations. There has been talk of a similar curse carrying over to the company’s college football game. But what about the schools these players leave behind? Looking back through the years, that curse is very alive as well.
Keep in mind EA Sports uses a whacky year system in which the game is titled for the next year. For example, NCAA Football 2008 came out prior to the 2007 college football season.
Bill Walsh College Football, Bill Walsh College Football 95 – Bill Walsh, Stanford – For the first 2 years, the series held the Stanford coach’s name. Stanford wasn’t exactly a powerhouse when Walsh was there – managing only a 17-17-1 record – but since he left, the program is 64-84-1 and has only been to 4 bowl games in 13 years.
College Football USA 96, College Football USA 97 – Unidentified Player (96); Tommie Frazier, Nebraska (97) – For the next 2 years, Walsh’s name was dropped from the game and EA Sports decided to call it College Football USA – pissing off Canadians everywhere. In 96, no specific player appeared on the cover. It looks like it could be a Kansas State wide receiver, but it’s unclear. In 97, it was Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier on the box. In the 12 seasons since Frazier appeared on the cover, the Cornhuskers did finish in the Top 10 5 times – including a national championship in 1997 – but also finished unranked 4 times. When Nebraska finished the 2002 season unranked, it was the first time since 1968 that had happened.
NCAA Football 98 – Danny Wuerffel, Florida – Wuerffel graced the cover of the first game to have the current title of the series. The Gators had just come off a national championship season and had won 4 straight SEC titles. In the 11 years since then, Florida did win another national title, but only got to the SEC championship game 3 times and had 6 seasons in which they didn’t get to 10 wins.
NCAA Football 99 – Charles Woodson, Michigan – Michigan was coming off its first national title in nearly 50 years with great hope for the future. However, the Wolverines wouldn’t get back to the promised land. Since the 1997 season, Michigan has posted a 1-3 record in BCS bowl games.
NCAA Football 2000 – Ricky Williams, Texas – At first glance, the Longhorns look like they could be an exception to the rule. Texas has been fairly consistent since the 1999 season and even won the Rose Bowl in 2004 and a national championship in 2005. But, the 2005 national championship team was also the only Texas team to win a Big 12 title since 1996.
NCAA Football 2001 – Shaun Alexander, Alabama – The Crimson Tide’s downward spiral started immediately following the cover. In 2000, Alabama went 3-8. 6 coaches and 8 years later, the program still hasn’t fully recovered, managing to go only 7-6 in 2007 under Nick Saban.
NCAA Football 2002 – Chris Weinke, FSU – Since the 2001 season, the Seminoles have only reached 10 wins once – after reaching the milestone every year from 1987 to 2000 – and are coming off of 2 straight 7-6 seasons.
NCAA Football 2003 – Joey Harrington, Oregon – The Ducks have gone 1-4 in bowl games since 2002 and have lost 4 or more games in every season except 2005.
NCAA Football 2004 – Carson Palmer, USC – Southern Cal is definitely the one school to beat the curse. In 2003, the Trojans won the Rose Bowl to get a share of the national title. The following year, they would win it outright. From 2005 to 2007, USC appeared in 3 straight Rose Bowls and although they lost to Texas in 2005 (for the national title), they would win each of the next 2 years. Yearly records since Palmer appeared on the cover: 12-1, 13-0, 12-1, 11-2, and 11-2.
NCAA Football 2005 – Larry Fitzgerald, Pittsburgh – The Panthers would win the Big East and go to the Fiesta Bowl in 2004 – the year of the game’s release. But since then, Pittsburgh has gone 16-19 in 3 seasons.
NCAA Football 06 – Desmond Howard, Michigan – EA Sports took a different approach and put Howard on the cover instead of a recent college star. That season, the Wolverines would go 7-5 – their worst finish since 1984.
NCAA Football 07 – Reggie Bush, USC – Although Southern Cal did go 22-4 and win 2 Rose Bowls over the 2 seasons following Bush’s appearance on the cover, they were 25-1 with a national title in the 2 seasons prior to the release of this game.
NCAA Football 08 – Jared Zabransky, Boise State – After going 13-0 and winning the Fiesta Bowl, the Broncos would fall to 10-3 in 2007. This isn’t too surprising though as most Cinderella small school teams take a step back the following year.
NCAA Football 09 – This year a different player will appear on the cover based on which console the game is released for. The players include DeSean Jackson (Cal), Darren McFadden (Arkansas), Matt Ryan (Boston College), and Owen Schmitt (West Virginia). The Nintendo Wii version gets an interesting choice – Michigan State’s mascot. Time will tell if they can keep the curse alive.