What If USF played in the Big 12 this season? Madden 2027 delivers its verdict

I received an unusual text from my adult son Ben early Sunday morning. It was about the Madden 2027 college football video game.

He had placed an advance order for the game, which I didn't do, so I had asked him to simulate USF's upcoming season. He obliged, but with a twist. He manually entered the Bulls into the Big 12 Conference.

Well, USF fans want to see their team join a power conference, so this is as close as it wil get for now.

The good news is, the game gave the Bulls and new coach Brian Hartline a winning record 7-6 overall. But the not-so-good news is it has them finishing in 10th place in the conference.

The simulated season had a few eyebrow-raisers in single game results as well. Judge for yourself as you scroll through the results.

Opponent. Result

at East Carolina. W 50-7 (promising start)

at West Virginia W 49-46 (opening conference play with win)

Florida International. L 47-28 (say what???)

at Baylor L 28-21 (well, Baylor's usually pretty good)

at TCU. W 45-24 (back on track)

Arizona W 36-35 (3rd conference win against one loss)

UCF W 17-10 (The War on I-4 lives!)

Kansas L 34-16 (oh well)

Colorado L 24-7 (Deion Sanders said he almost came to USF)

at Kansas State. L 38-7 (wearing down?)

at Florida Atlantic W 35-17 (that's much better)

Memphis. W 34-31 (the curse is ended!)

The reward for a 7-5 regular season was a trip to the Pop-Tarts. Bowl against Duke. It did not end well for USF as the Bulls fell 42-23.

I have questions.

While Ben generally believes the game is reasonably accurate, the simulation made the Bulls' defense way too porous.

I will go on the record now that there is no way under the heavens that the Bulls' defense will surrender 47 points to Florida International. Yes, there is only one returning starter from last season, but the defense has been rebuilt with size and speed. Opponents should find it hard to run on USF, and the secondary has been stocked with difference-makers.

Hey -- it's only a video game.

And it does have the Bulls beating UCF, so maybe it's not so bad after all. Let's hope we can see it again for real before too much longer.

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