Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
“People are going to play this game and find out who we are” - Long road to EA Sports College Football 25 nears its conclusion for MTSU
6/5/2024 4:49:00 PM | Football
Several steps had to be taken behind the scenes by the Blue Raiders to help represent the school in the game.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Larry Maples thought his emergency uniform plan had gone off without a hitch.
Just weeks ahead of the start of the 2023 football season, supply chain issues had prevented Middle Tennessee's normal road white tops from arriving in Murfreesboro. So, the Blue Raiders' Associate AD for Equipment & Capital Projects and his staff put together a "contingency jersey" for Week 1 against the Crimson Tide.
The road whites MTSU wore against the Crimson Tide were indeed different than the road uniforms MTSU wore the previous year. There was no two-tone collar, the blue numbers on the uniform didn't have a grey outline and the sleeves no longer had the player's number on them, concessions to be made to deal with the supply chain issues at hand.
Heading into the office later that next week, however, Maples found out at least one person had noticed the uniform change. Thomas Fleming, a feature producer at EA Sports, had reached out via email asking for pictures of the new jerseys so they could be put into EA Sports College Football 25.
"I remember I was like 'Ain't no way,'" Maples said. "To my surprise, they actually paid attention to what we were wearing. To get an email saying 'Hey, we noticed the uniforms you're wearing, you didn't send them to us,' was eye opening to myself."
That's just one example of the level of detail EA Sports has put effort into regarding MTSU's presentation in the game as one of 134 FBS Programs to be featured in the series revival, scheduled for release later this summer. Chelsea Floyd, MTSU's Associate AD for Marketing and Fan Engagement who handles licensing for the university, said she'd been in communication with EA Sports since early 2021 on licensing the Blue Raiders in the game.
"At that point, it was going to be (a release date of) July 1st, 2023, but it of course was postponed," Floyd said.
Floyd said MTSU has sent over hundreds of assets since EA first reached out, most of which were pictures of Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium, in order to render it as close as possible to the real thing virtually. Nathan Wallach, Assistant AD for Broadcast Technology and Game Operations, worked with Athletic Communications at the time and took hundreds of pictures of Floyd Stadium in 2021.
"We didn't care about a big artsy photo," Wallach noted. "Artists were going to build the 3D models off of this."
That meant the photos had to be accompanied by photo of an industry standard color wheel taken with the same settings as Wallach's camera, ensuring the colors of everything in the image matched up. Wallach said that EA Sports sent him a diagram of a generic stadium with certain spots highlighted and asked for photos from those sightlines in multiple directions, ultimately resulting in over 370 photos in just one shoot.
They also asked for pictures of the concourse level of Floyd Stadium, even asking for details like how trashcans look or where concessions stands are specifically located. Wallach, a long-time fan of the series, knows that in years past, you'd only see the inside of the bowl regularly, so the request for concourse shots was intriguing.
The requested assets extended beyond just raw photos of Floyd Stadium, with EA Sports also wanting photos of tailgating on campus, the Raider Walk, fan pictures during games and, of course, photos of MTSU's mascot, Lightning. Pictures of the Palladium, MTSU's rivalry game trophy for the series against Troy, were also shared, as well as a breakdown of chants led by the cheerleaders and song cues used by the in-game marketing team. EA Sports has also promised that the Band and Student Sections for all 134 schools will be represented accurately in their stadiums by seating them in their proper sections.
"EA Sports is really watching," Floyd said. "They want to make it as close to our atmosphere as possible."
New this year is the inclusion of player likenesses in the game, a necessity that caused the series' 11-year hiatus in the first place after the Ed O'Bannon Lawsuit. No longer will fans have to play as "QB #11" when taking the field with MTSU, but they can actually play as Nicholas Vattiato. Over 110 Blue Raider football players (some of whom have left the program this offseason) have opted-in to EA's licensing agreement to appear in the game, though only 85 will be chosen for the initial roster. MTSU sent over headshots of each student athlete to EA Sports, allowing them to more easily craft a player's likeness in game using their own software.
One of those opt-ins is wide receiver Omari Kelly, who grew up playing the game and will be looking forward to the addition of Mascot mode, his favorite growing up because the ability to do flips, in a future edition (that particular feature didn't make the cut this year).
"It's kind of surreal. just because I played the last game a lot," Kelly said. "It's kind of crazy knowing it's coming."
Perhaps the best part of the game being made in 2024, Floyd noted, is the ability for MTSU to update EA Sports on changes to Floyd Stadium as they occur. Those involved with the game have encouraged MTSU to send photos after major updates to the SAPC during its construction, allowing for EA to update the stadium in game, perhaps even in-season. One update that has already been sent over is the renderings of the new video board in the South End Zone, which will allow the video board to be ready prior to the season starting in game, just like it will be in real life.
One other final update that's been sent to the good folks at EA: the Blue Raiders' new uniforms for the 2024 season, which will debut publicly around the game's July 19th release date. There's a good chance, Maples noted, that Blue Raider fans will be able to play as MTSU in those uniforms before the real Blue Raiders take the field against Tennessee Tech on August 31st.
"Anytime I design a uniform or a jersey, there's a markup that's done that I sign off on prior to it going into production," Maples said. "They've got every stripe, every panel, how tall the numbers are, how wide it is, what that font is, whether it's a wordmark or a custom logo. Every detail you could possibly think of for that uniform lives in that document."
---
Author's Note: Hey y'all! Just wanted to note that video game development is very much non-linear, particularly when you're putting in details for 134 schools! I don't know exactly what will make the game for MTSU. Like the rest of y'all, I'll have to wait until the game is published to see! But I wanted to at least share in the excitement we all feel for the game's return by highlighting work that's been done for years behind the scenes to represent the Blue Raiders in the game.
Can't wait to play it all with you later this summer!
-S.D.
Just weeks ahead of the start of the 2023 football season, supply chain issues had prevented Middle Tennessee's normal road white tops from arriving in Murfreesboro. So, the Blue Raiders' Associate AD for Equipment & Capital Projects and his staff put together a "contingency jersey" for Week 1 against the Crimson Tide.
The road whites MTSU wore against the Crimson Tide were indeed different than the road uniforms MTSU wore the previous year. There was no two-tone collar, the blue numbers on the uniform didn't have a grey outline and the sleeves no longer had the player's number on them, concessions to be made to deal with the supply chain issues at hand.
Heading into the office later that next week, however, Maples found out at least one person had noticed the uniform change. Thomas Fleming, a feature producer at EA Sports, had reached out via email asking for pictures of the new jerseys so they could be put into EA Sports College Football 25.
"I remember I was like 'Ain't no way,'" Maples said. "To my surprise, they actually paid attention to what we were wearing. To get an email saying 'Hey, we noticed the uniforms you're wearing, you didn't send them to us,' was eye opening to myself."
That's just one example of the level of detail EA Sports has put effort into regarding MTSU's presentation in the game as one of 134 FBS Programs to be featured in the series revival, scheduled for release later this summer. Chelsea Floyd, MTSU's Associate AD for Marketing and Fan Engagement who handles licensing for the university, said she'd been in communication with EA Sports since early 2021 on licensing the Blue Raiders in the game.
"At that point, it was going to be (a release date of) July 1st, 2023, but it of course was postponed," Floyd said.
Floyd said MTSU has sent over hundreds of assets since EA first reached out, most of which were pictures of Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium, in order to render it as close as possible to the real thing virtually. Nathan Wallach, Assistant AD for Broadcast Technology and Game Operations, worked with Athletic Communications at the time and took hundreds of pictures of Floyd Stadium in 2021.
"We didn't care about a big artsy photo," Wallach noted. "Artists were going to build the 3D models off of this."
That meant the photos had to be accompanied by photo of an industry standard color wheel taken with the same settings as Wallach's camera, ensuring the colors of everything in the image matched up. Wallach said that EA Sports sent him a diagram of a generic stadium with certain spots highlighted and asked for photos from those sightlines in multiple directions, ultimately resulting in over 370 photos in just one shoot.
They also asked for pictures of the concourse level of Floyd Stadium, even asking for details like how trashcans look or where concessions stands are specifically located. Wallach, a long-time fan of the series, knows that in years past, you'd only see the inside of the bowl regularly, so the request for concourse shots was intriguing.
The requested assets extended beyond just raw photos of Floyd Stadium, with EA Sports also wanting photos of tailgating on campus, the Raider Walk, fan pictures during games and, of course, photos of MTSU's mascot, Lightning. Pictures of the Palladium, MTSU's rivalry game trophy for the series against Troy, were also shared, as well as a breakdown of chants led by the cheerleaders and song cues used by the in-game marketing team. EA Sports has also promised that the Band and Student Sections for all 134 schools will be represented accurately in their stadiums by seating them in their proper sections.
"EA Sports is really watching," Floyd said. "They want to make it as close to our atmosphere as possible."
New this year is the inclusion of player likenesses in the game, a necessity that caused the series' 11-year hiatus in the first place after the Ed O'Bannon Lawsuit. No longer will fans have to play as "QB #11" when taking the field with MTSU, but they can actually play as Nicholas Vattiato. Over 110 Blue Raider football players (some of whom have left the program this offseason) have opted-in to EA's licensing agreement to appear in the game, though only 85 will be chosen for the initial roster. MTSU sent over headshots of each student athlete to EA Sports, allowing them to more easily craft a player's likeness in game using their own software.
One of those opt-ins is wide receiver Omari Kelly, who grew up playing the game and will be looking forward to the addition of Mascot mode, his favorite growing up because the ability to do flips, in a future edition (that particular feature didn't make the cut this year).
"It's kind of surreal. just because I played the last game a lot," Kelly said. "It's kind of crazy knowing it's coming."
Perhaps the best part of the game being made in 2024, Floyd noted, is the ability for MTSU to update EA Sports on changes to Floyd Stadium as they occur. Those involved with the game have encouraged MTSU to send photos after major updates to the SAPC during its construction, allowing for EA to update the stadium in game, perhaps even in-season. One update that has already been sent over is the renderings of the new video board in the South End Zone, which will allow the video board to be ready prior to the season starting in game, just like it will be in real life.
One other final update that's been sent to the good folks at EA: the Blue Raiders' new uniforms for the 2024 season, which will debut publicly around the game's July 19th release date. There's a good chance, Maples noted, that Blue Raider fans will be able to play as MTSU in those uniforms before the real Blue Raiders take the field against Tennessee Tech on August 31st.
"Anytime I design a uniform or a jersey, there's a markup that's done that I sign off on prior to it going into production," Maples said. "They've got every stripe, every panel, how tall the numbers are, how wide it is, what that font is, whether it's a wordmark or a custom logo. Every detail you could possibly think of for that uniform lives in that document."
---
Author's Note: Hey y'all! Just wanted to note that video game development is very much non-linear, particularly when you're putting in details for 134 schools! I don't know exactly what will make the game for MTSU. Like the rest of y'all, I'll have to wait until the game is published to see! But I wanted to at least share in the excitement we all feel for the game's return by highlighting work that's been done for years behind the scenes to represent the Blue Raiders in the game.
Can't wait to play it all with you later this summer!
-S.D.
Players Mentioned
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