NCAA/NFL "Doubling up" of figures

[MK1603]

Hi all, it's Mike back looking for MORE advice 😂

As my interest in American football has reignited thanks to Electric football, I have branched my interests not only to the NFL and now spend some time watching college games. I must say the passion and rivalries in these college games is incredible. And recently I have actually enjoyed watching college match ups a little bit more recently than NFL.... There are people on youtube who stream the college games (don't know how legal that is on their part) but its opened up a whole new world to me with the sport and I do have the urge to eventually maybe bring my new found interest of college football to the world of EF.

Although I do find the college set up very confusing as a Brit as I believe there are hundreds of college teams playing for all sorts of different bowls and competitions. It boggles the mind but hey it sounds fun and I'd love to see a college game if I ever have a holiday in the US. I also know about the Canadian CFL but have not branched out that far in gridiron just yet but maybe I will have a watch of this one day 🙂 

Being based in UK I am fairly limited to resources unlike you lucky chaps in the US when it comes to electric football. I maybe have a blow out on the Tudor games store for new accessories now and again to keep me going but the shipping charges are sometimes a killer.... I do have some pre-painted figures that I currently use for my games and most notably at the moment my "Super 6 Tournament". But I was wondering due to me not having the greatest of access to figures I was thinking of maybe doubling up some of my generic pre painted figures that I use for NFL teams to use as college teams? It will require some imagination as colours may not be exactly right but close enough!

After doing a small bit of research I have found that the team I use as Pittsburgh Steelers away uniform looks kinda like the Iowa Hawkeyes. And the team I use as the Dolphins look a bit like the Michigan State Spartans. I do have a project I want to work on next year which I may now slightly reconsider to not be just exclusively NFL in my gameplay. I will be painting my own Packers team at some point that is for definite!  However I have had the thought to maybe make some "generic" teams that can double up as both NFL/NCAA teams. For example Red jersey/white helmet, Blue jersey/white helmet, Black jersey/Gold helmet etc as I see there are a lot of teams in NFL and college who follow similar if not identical colour schemes. I wont be doing helmet decals and stripes will be minimal so I can interchange these generic teams I made to pass off as a variety of different teams how I see fit. Like as above one day my Pittsburgh team will be the Hawkeyes and vice versa depending on if I want to play an NFL or a NCAA matchup 🙂

I would love to hear peoples opinions on this! But I do not want to upset people in the community by doing this I am just doing what I can with the limited resources and trying to get as much mileage as I can with this game! Believe me if I was based in the US and had the funds I would buy all teams separately but alas I am across the pond and this option is not feasible. If there are any downsides to my idea I'd like to hear them as well 🙂 

 

What teams are the top/most popular in college football? I have an idea in mind of who are the biggest like Buckeyes, Crimson Tide, Sooners, Notre Dame, Florida Gators, Georgia Bulldogs (I could be totally wrong but please feel free to drop some more names) so being not so educated on college teams I will most likely miss a few important names if I do create these generic figures and do tournaments and gameplay

 

I have attached a picture from some gameplay between the Steelers and the Dolphins. But I reckon this could also pass off as Hawkeyes and Spartans. What do you think?

 

Look forward to hearing from anyone who has read yet another long winded post by me! Thanks for the taking the time to take a look and have a read

 

Thanks

Mike 🙂 

[MK1603]

So after trawling the past few hours I stumbled on the Big 5 conferences and went through the colleges team colours and came up with a list of teams/colour combinations I will hopefully end up painting. I understand some of the colours WILL be a bit off and not 100% accurate and there will be mistakes. I know some are for example "more gold than yellow" etc but I just have to make do with the limited resources. But I feel using this list will help me have more teams to use rather than buying tons upon tons of figures. Also there will be big teams I have most likely missed but I am here to learn also 🙂 

 

Colour coding is:

Yellow - Already own this colour combination

Green - Very likely I will be painting these figures

Blue - Interested in painting but not overly bothered, may do in future

[MK1603]

Also if there are teams that can be added to the colour combinations or switched around please feel free to drop a post 🙂

[nefgm.org]

First, I really wouldn't worry too much about what any body else thinks of what you are doing. I admire you very much for your creativity and making the best of your situation. The main thing is to do what is making the game and hobby fun and entertaining for you and you only.

Yes college football is much more exciting than the pros with all the pagentry and traditions that comes with it. My list of top major college football teams would include the following: 

Notre Dame

Ohio State

Michigan 

USC

Alabama

Georgia

Clemson

Miami

Florida St. 

Texas

Oklahoma

The SEC is my favorite conference I live in the South in Tennessee. 

I also enjoy watching the CFL very much. A much more exciting brand of football than the NFL in my opinion. You can watch CFL replays of games on YouTube. 

Please keep posting. I am very much enjoying your enthusiasm for the game. It is very refreshing. 

 

[MK1603]

Thank you for the kind words and advice I always appreciate it 🙂 Yes I do need to stop worrying, I agree!

Thanks for your list of teams there's some on there I missed on mine so will add to my list to maybe paint eventually 🙂

SEC looks good, some very good teams in that conference! I think the Alabama and Georgia game will be a good one. 

Yes I have seen a number of posts from users saying how much they enjoy the CFL so I may take a look very soon

 

And thank you! Having a great time wish I found electric football a lot sooner, it's great! 😀😀

[MK1603]

Just for fun created Wake Forest and Crimson tide on an old madden game lol

[WeeVikes]

Great idea!

Some possibilities:

Red Helmets & Jerseys, White Pants: Wisconsin, Alabama, Indiana, Louisville (can go with white jerseys as well)

Gold Helmets, Black/White Jerseys, gold pants: New Orleans Saints, Purdue Boilermakers (my alma mater!)  I’m not sure, but Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt may work as well  

As you noted, Pittsburgh Steelers = Iowa Hawkeyes (white and black jerseys)

Purple helmets & Jerseys — Minnesota Vikings & Northwestern Wildcats

I know there are more but they’re not jumping out at me at the moment.  If I think of more I’ll post them. 

[MK1603]

Thanks man that's a great help 🙂

I have been trawling through the college teams on Wikipedia and found a few more teams I could play as if I ever feel the need 🙂

[Paul Kian]

This is a very interesting post to stumble upon today, for the sheer fact that I was debating on doing something similar with mine since I generally only buy pre-printed figures and maybe add some touches of paint here and there. I'm honestly not a huge NFL fan anymore, but I like the Arena Football League (RIP) and Indoor Football in General so I still play 7 and 8 man EF games based on those leagues. Last week I noticed that a lot of the teams that I have look similar to local High School Football teams, so perhaps I could introduce EF to some of my younger cousins and such. But I digress....

 

I can add a couple teams to the "Purple  & White and/or Gold" aka Vikings category, for colleges at from both ends of my State:

1) Western Carolina University Catamounts (my alma matter, and yes I know they suck at Football 😋).

2) East Carolina University Pirates (actually decent some times, definitely good to have if you're playing Duke and NC State as they're kinda-sorta rivals or at least they used to be)

 

I'll also add Appalachian State Mountaineers to the "Black and Yellow" aka Steelers/Iowa category. One of the better football schools here in North Carolina, and probably had the biggest upset victory in College Football against a big Michigan University, forgot which one but someone here will know. They were also Western Carolina's biggest rival until they got too good and moved to a better division during my Senior Year. 😆

 

Hope these help, and I second the Canadian Football recommendations. 👍

Edited December 24, 2021 by Paul Kian

[Paul Kian]

Sorry for the super long post, they always looks more concise when editing then they get way longer once they actually post....

[MK1603]

Thanks Paul and yeah the posts I swear get longer when actually posted😂 thanks for the additions to the list! I have seen the pirates on some highlights of matches I have seen

Western Carolina not so much....but hey in my opinion anyone for any college who puts on the jersey and puts their bodies on the line for their college is a winner. Hopefully results will get better one day!

Yes App State I do know about and I know are a big name 🙂although I did watch them get beat down the other day by Western KY 🙈 but I will use my white/black tram as App State too at some point

If you think of any more please feel free to post! Thanks again

[Paul Kian]

1 hour ago, MK1603 said:

Thanks Paul and yeah the posts I swear get longer when actually posted😂 thanks for the additions to the list! I have seen the pirates on some highlights of matches I have seen

Western Carolina not so much....but hey in my opinion anyone for any college who puts on the jersey and puts their bodies on the line for their college is a winner. Hopefully results will get better one day!

Yes App State I do know about and I know are a big name 🙂although I did watch them get beat down the other day by Western KY 🙈 but I will use my white/black tram as App State too at some point

If you think of any more please feel free to post! Thanks again

Oh definitely, it's even worse on Mobile, like I use 99% of the time. 😆

 

WCU is probably not really on anyone's radar for football, heck our most famous player is a retired 1990s-style Fullback (not that I have anything against Fullbacks, I love a good I formation here and there!) We used to play Alabama and a couple of the other big schools as a "tune up" team though, not sure if this is still the case.

 

I'll let you know if I think of any others not already mentioned, really it seems like the main ones are covered for now. 👍

[Paul Kian]

Also this is a bit off-topic, but Mike, have you ever seen either of "The Longest Yard" movies (the 1970s one or its Remake from the 2000s?)

 

They're pretty rough (and deffo not for kids), but there's a good line of dialogue in one of them (I think the remake) about App State being used as "tune up" team, which is what made me think of them.

 

Fun movies too, especially if you're still learning about the ole Gridiron Game. Highly recommend seeing them in order just to compare the difference in Football from the two periods as well. 😁

[MK1603]

I have seen the remake of the longest yard years ago when I was a kid and was only interested because many of the cast were wrestlers. I seem to remember one of the guards was given oestrogen pills or something 😂I could be wrong. Definitely a film i need to rewatch including the original

I have also been watching TWIPF on YouTube from the 70s and 80s as recommended by Capanther, they're very good!

Gridiron gang and Leatherheads are films I would like to watch! Off topic too but Slapshot with Paul Newman is a great sporting film 🙂

[Paul Kian]

All excellent movies, well I haven't seen Leatherheads but I assume it is pretty good based on what my friends have told me. Definitely love Slapshot, though the sequels are pretty awful. Same with "Major League" for Baseball movies, and I don't even like baseball that much. 😁

 

My favorite movie for those "I really need to cry when no one's around" type days is "We Are Marshall". It's extremely sad in the beginning, but the redemption arc is just perfect....Which is a great segue back on-topic, as Marshall University is a pretty good football College that uses Green and White as their colors. 😆

[nefgm.org]

Leatherheads is a great movie about the beginnings of Professional Football and a time when College football was more popular.  I enjoy it mostly for the nostalgia of the old uniforms. 

 

[Paul Kian]

15 minutes ago, nefgm.org said:

Leatherheads is a great movie about the beginnings of Professional Football and a time when College football was more popular.  I enjoy it mostly for the nostalgia of the old uniforms. 

 

Awesome, I will have to see if it's on a streaming service or Redbox or something. I remember when it came out I was probably in my late teens or so and really wanted to see it but just never did for some reason. I probably had to choose between watching Leatherheads and Harry Potter or something that year. 😆

 

Old Time sports fascinate me, often times way more than the modern stuff. I was watching a documentary on James Naismith and early 20th century basketball a few days ago, and despite my relative lack of basketball knowledge or fandom (probably because I'm a 5'11" Scots-Irish/Abenaki guy with T-Rex arms 😆) I still watched the entire thing with gusto. It's also on my bucket list to go up North and catch an Old Time baseball game, with no fences, lights, brown balls, bare hands, etc.

But that's enough off-topic for me today. 😋

[nefgm.org]

It's on YouTube to Buy Rent and seems like I have seen it available on tubi. A public library that has movies to loan out is another option. I have it on DVD and have watched it many times, one of my favorites. 

[Paul Kian]

6 minutes ago, nefgm.org said:

It's on YouTube to Buy Rent and seems like I have seen it available on tubi. A public library that has movies to loan out is another option. I have it on DVD and have watched it many times, one of my favorites. 

Yep, it's on Tubi right now along with Major League. I know what I'm doing during my next couple of days off. 😁

[nefgm.org]

I quess among the many other things I collect is sports movies especially football. I have all these on DVD. 

Friday Night Lights, Rudy, We are Marshall, Invincible, The Express, Leatherheads, Several NFL Films productions. 

The Slapshot DVD that I have has commentary with the Hanson Brothers voiced over it. Kind of annoying but still good to watch.