The top video game moments of ACC football
Celebrating the release of NCAA Football 25
With yesterday’s release of EA’s NCAA Football 25, the long-awaited return of a college football video game is here! One of my favorite gameplay options of previous games was reliving iconic moments, taking over teams to replay or rewrite history.
In the 11 seasons between installments, we missed plenty of accomplishments and video-game-worthy moments in ACC football, including three national titles and a Heisman winner, so I’m recapping the top four scenarios:
FSU title-winning drive (2014)
Clemson title-winning play (2017)
Lamar Jackson Heisman hurdle (2016)
The worst football game ever played (2014)
Jameis Eating the Ultimate W
Game Scenario: Trailing 27-31, 1st & 10 on the 20 yard line, 1:19 in Q4
Prompt: Win the national title
Jameis Winston was in the 2013 version of the game, but the game missed his heroics leading FSU to a national title that year, and with particular drama. Auburn led most of the game, including a 21-3 margin in the second quarter. Jameis led the comeback, the Noles took a lead with 4 mins left, and Auburn responded with their own go-ahead touchdown.
Enter the scenario. Jameis was surgical leading the 80-yard title-winning drive, capping it with a short TD pass to Kelvin Benjamin with 13 seconds left. It’d be fun to try to match Jameis’ heroics.
Deshaun Watson National Championship Play
Game Scenario: Trailing 28-31, 1st & Goal on 2 yard line, 0:06 in Q4
Prompt: Win the national title
With the NIL and portal era in full swing, we might be at the backend of Clemson’s dynasty. Clemson’s status seems like common knowledge now, but the video game gap missed the Tigers’ impressive run, so the ascension deserves inclusion in the video game era.
Flash back to the 2016 season and Clemson had yet to cement itself as a giant. The Tigers had lost to Bama in the 2016 championship game, and 2016-17 was only the second of their six straight CFP appearances.
Clemson had to overcome another titan, defeating Nick Saban and Alabama to capture their first title. The parallels to FSU’s title win are eerie: trailing against an SEC opponent for most of the game, capping a 21-point fourth quarter with a 2-yard TD pass in the waning seconds.
Deshaun’s title-winning drive was slightly easier than Jameis’: he “only” had to drive 68 yards and had a full 2 mins. But the Tigers’ win truly came down to the last second, as the clock read :01 after their final TD, the height of make-or-break drama. Facing a single play to win (or lose) a title is an ideal video game situation.
Clemson’s second title run in 2018 was more dominant, with only an early-season scare vs Texas A&M, so provides less video game fodder.
Lamar Jackson’s Heisman Hurdle
Game Scenario: Leading 28-7, 1st & Goal on the 10
Prompt: Score a touchdown
If there’s one thing Lamar’s Heisman season lacked, it was a clutch win in a big-time game. Dominance defined the wins more than drama. The Cardinals were winning games by nearly five touchdowns, with an average score of 51-18 in their wins. And they weren’t running up the scores against cupcakes. Their average ACC score was 46-20, nearly a four touchdown margin, including a 63-20 demolition against No. 2 FSU.
The Cardinals twice rose to No. 3 in the rankings but stumbled each time, including a loss to a No. 5 Clemson team that won a national title (see above). A late season losing streak gave the Cards a 9-4 record and an appearance in the illustrious Citrus Bowl, none of which screams “legendary moments.” However, Lamar epitomizes a video game joy-stick player with his speed and cuts, and his impossibly smooth athleticism is best captured by his hurdle against Syracuse.
The worst football game ever played
Game Scenario: 0-0 in OT
Prompt: Win the game
To objectively chronicle the ACC’s missing video game decade, we’re obligated to include the good and the bad. The other scenarios capture the highs of ACC football, and there’s plenty to celebrate. But no image encapsulates the other side of ACC football — the puzzling incompetence and general chaos — as well as Frank Beamer’s celebration of “arguably the worst football game ever played.”1
The video game scenario would gloss over other details that made the game uniquely horrific: Wake’s motorcycle mishap, the Wakeyleaks drama, 18 punts and five missed field goals. Luckily, those details are captured in ESPN’s fun oral history of the game and other think pieces inspired by the putrid performance. However, being tasked with scoring and winning a game that set “offensive football back 100 years” is a worthy video game prompt and a fitting inclusion for ACC football.
As decreed by ESPN writer David Hale in his oral history of the game