In living rooms, bedrooms and dorm rooms around the country nearly two decades ago, an Xbox or PlayStation would power up and unleash that familiar proclamation: “EA SPORTS: It’s in the game.”
The eager gamers then made the decision of utmost importance: picking the team to ride with on the sticks.
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If the West Virginia Mountaineers were allowed on this given day in summer 2007, they were picked. Guaranteed. The opponent on the other controller was either the most confident gamer in that ZIP code or someone who understood the fate that was about to befall them: They faced one of the most unfair teams in the 30-year history of the game.
With the triumphant return of what was known as NCAA Football this summer after 12 long years away, fans of the game have been able to reflect on definitive eras in which some teams were simply too good, too fast and too fun to play with.
At the top of that list is West Virginia on NCAA Football 2008.
Read more: College Football 25 review: Seamless gameplay, intricate Dynasty mode make it worth the wait
Sports media cliche phrases like “cheat code” and “video game numbers” can be tied to the team that had a quarterback as fast as anyone else on the roster and two versatile tailbacks who could, at any time, be used in tandem to confuse and frustrate the poor soul in charge of the other controller.
“I will get introduced to people who will say, ‘You’re Pat White from the video game!’” the former WVU star quarterback said.
“The majority of people I’ve met at different stages in my life, the first thing they always say is, ‘Dude, I used to play with you on the video game!’” former WVU running back Noel Devine said.
“Oh, I still get it,” fellow WVU running back Steve Slaton said. “And it’s been nearly 20 years.”
West Virginia running back Steve Slaton (shown with Maryland’s Dave Philistin in 2007) is still tied to the NCAA Football video game by fans’ memories. (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
The 2008 game featured the only year, the 2007 season, in which White, Slaton and Devine were all on the team together. Slaton, a one-time under-recruited running back, would blossom into one of the best players in the country before going to the NFL after the 2007 season. Devine, a five-star recruit from South Florida, who became a viral sensation in high school for his absurd speed, chose Morgantown over a long list of options. White, a one-time LSU commit, fulfilled his destiny of being a college quarterback when the Tigers, among many others, wanted him to be a receiver in college.
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For fans of the sport and the game, that team’s absurd team speed has been tattooed into memory. How many controllers were smashed due to a fake pitch from White to Devine on a speed option? Or putting Devine and Slaton in the backfield behind White for an option toss sweep? Or just turboing with White with five receivers wide as a decoy to use the acceleration no other quarterback on the game had?
The answer: probably too many to count.
They were, back then, just No. 5, No. 10 and No. 7, with fictional profiles cultivated by a system that could not identify them as their true selves. The game’s creators toed the creative line so tightly that though they were often accurate in home state, they couldn’t describe that WVU’s quarterback, No. 5, was from Daphne, Ala. White remembers they listed his hometown in one rendition of the game as Muscle Shoals, which is nearly six hours north of Daphne. Then, of course, there was the 2007 game that featured White as a right-handed quarterback.
“That hurt,” he said.
To provide facts would’ve necessitated payment, and this was 14 years before name, image and likeness transformed college athletics.
For the players themselves, they waited for the release of the game July 17, 2007, the same as those fervent NCAA acolytes. It was a couple of weeks before the start of preseason camp, and with players filtering back into Morgantown, everyone on the team knew what sort of battles were about to be waged in apartments, homes and dorm rooms across town. The Mountaineers were no trendy upstart preseason pick, either. As a Big East powerhouse, they were ranked No. 3 in the AP’s preseason Top 25 poll.
“Trust that guys were keeping an eye on what their overall rating was and believe that mattered to everybody in the locker room,” former WVU linebacker Reed Williams said.
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Williams said players were always praying for a star on their player card, which designated they were an impact player. The game’s designers followed the stat lines from the previous season to determine which players would receive the star — a badge of honor to those who felt they’d arrived on the national scene, albeit in digital form. When there was spare time during the season, players would find a way to face off.
“When it came out, me and Pat played against each other,” Slaton said. “It definitely came down to bragging rights.”
White’s younger brother, Coley, who would eventually play wide receiver at West Virginia, was a revered and feared NCAA player known in the Mountaineers locker room when he was a teenager. Pat White said when the stakes called for it in a meaningful matchup, he remembers Coley riding with WVU: “I’m sure he broke a lot of hearts and emptied a lot of wallets.”
Once the season started, the numbers being put up by Rich Rodriguez’s offense on the field translated onto screens. In 2007, the Mountaineers would rush for 297 yards per game, behind only triple-option teams Navy and Air Force. They ranked No. 9 in the country in total offense.
“There was the fun factor, too,” White said. “I think people could tell we enjoyed ourselves on the field in real life, and I guess it helped people enjoy themselves when they were able to lose themselves in a video game for a few hours.”
Said Williams: “We often had 60- or 70-yard touchdown runs that we took for granted on a regular basis? Like, we were going to be pissed off if we don’t have over 300 yards rushing each week.”
Those Rich Rod West Virginia teams capitalized on space. They kept defenses flummoxed with their ability to be as versatile offensively as anyone in the game. Running backs could line up at receiver. And vice versa. That wasn’t en vogue and commonplace as it would soon become.
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“We had to be one of the best-conditioned teams in America,” Slaton said. “One of our things was, once we get to the fourth quarter, we will be able to keep running all day. When it came to who got the ball, there was no jealousy, no animosity —everybody is going to get a chance to touch the ball.”
Just like the game. Dedicated college football fans saw the highlights of that West Virginia offense busting off those long runs on “SportsCenter” every weekend. If you knew how to use the turbo button and make the kind of similar moves in the open field the Mountaineers made on the regular, they were easily one of the most popular teams to pick and play with in the game’s history.
“When you spread the field with a lot of fast guys, you’ve got numbers and you’ve got matchups,” Devine said. “You can go either way. You can run the QB, hand it off or throw the bubble. It’s a three-headed monster. At any time, any one of those guys could take it the distance.”
The cultural reach of the game for the Mountaineers extended to future success in recruiting, too. Members of those teams believe that because WVU was so fun to play with, it helped land future star recruits like Geno Smith, Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey and others. The 2007 team went 11-2, finished No. 6 in the final AP rankings and stomped Oklahoma 48-28 in the Fiesta Bowl. Slaton’s early hamstring injury in his last game with the Mountaineers didn’t stop them from rushing for a whopping 349 yards on the Sooners.
In this new version of NCAA, players will be themselves. EA Sports paid athletes a minimum of $600 and a copy of College Football 25 to be featured in the game. As the sport continues to undergo radical transformation, the former WVU stars wondered how their one-time cutting-edge approach to offensive football would’ve been marketed today.
“If we played now, just how much money was Pat White worth to the NCAA, the institution? What about the state of West Virginia?” Williams wondered.
They say they’re elated to see the game return. Slaton said he feels bad for the generations of players who didn’t get to see themselves in the game, even if it was just a number on the back of a jersey. Devine said he’s happy players are being paid to be in it now, calling the video game a piece “of our game’s culture.”
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It’s also part of their legacy as college football revolutionaries. Their professional careers, which spanned the NFL and the CFL, did not compare to the influence they had collectively in the college ranks. Slaton is a chef in the Houston area. Devine runs his own speed training business for local athletes back home in North Fort Myers, Fla. White has been an assistant coach in the college and pro ranks, most recently with the Los Angeles Chargers. He’s also back home in Daphne, Ala., and runs a training business for aspiring college athletes.
They’re all parents now and inching closer to 40. And they all plan on finding time to settle in and play, either solo or with their kids. As Williams joked: “Can we get away with committing that much time?”
For White, he is just eager to see the return of the game that will only add to the annual excitement of the fall.
“Can’t just pound away on (social media) with your words anymore,” he said. “Show up and show what you could do in the game. It’s good for the competitive spirit of college athletics.”
College Football 25 could have a familiar flair, too. A freshman running back is set to play for Rodriguez, now the head coach at Jacksonville State. His name is Andre Devine. He wears No. 7, just like his dad.
“Yeah,” Noel Devine said, “he’s fast, too.”
proud of my son Andre as he takes his next steps of becoming a young man and starts his new journey of his academic and football career. Being a young father wasn’t easy but I have two in college now that have way exceeded my expectations. Thankful for the opportunity Coach Rod pic.twitter.com/YvqqO8YfpG
— Noel Devine (@noel_devine7) June 1, 2024
When his parents dropped him off at school May 31, Andre was photographed in the dorms standing next to his dad. In his left hand, he’s carrying a box for his PS5. His first preseason camp will be memorable, in the sweltering southern humidity and in the air-conditioned rooms where players power up their consoles and let their thumbs do all the talking.
(Top photo of West Virginia quarterback Pat White and Oklahoma’s D.J. Wolfe in the 2008 Fiesta Bowl: Doug Pensinger / Getty Images)
