*This post is part of a week long series being sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.*

When you go to a particular school or grow up around college football, you are more than just a fan. It's who you are. We thought we could leverage this pride in your roots and show that "where you come from" is more than just a statement about geography. By positioning NCAA Football 11 as a game that understands this pride and is authentic to these traditions, the takeaway should be that anything that is in college football is in NCAA Football 11. And this doesn't just include game play (though that's a huge part of it). It's rivals and mascots; it's legends and stories. It's those things that are at the very fabric of the game itself. Of course the game is great this year as well. With authentic entrances, mascots and specific offenses for each team, the term "where I come from" takes on a much larger meaning. While playing NCAA Football 11 is ultimately a great sports sim, it should also give you a sense of the pride and emotion one has for being a fan of a team they will never not be a part of.

*This post is part of a week long series being sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.*

The game will be released at midnight tonight which out west in the mountain time zone that is t-minus 12 hours to get the game.  The Mountain West is largely considered the best non-BCS conference (never really going to say non-AQ) with three participants in the BCS since 2004 and one in each of the past two season.  This year the league maybe slightly down from the past two years of having three teams ranked in the final top 25, and unless either BYU or Air Force exceed expectations this year two looks to be the limit. 

TCU looks to be the flag bearer this year with nearly ever starter back with nine on offense and seven on defense, and will be in prime position to make a BCS bowl bid if they go undefeated.  TCU's schedule is not uber difficult with no non conference game that takes them outside of the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  TCU looks to be the class of the league and it would be more of a surprise that they do not go undefeated then if they do go undefeated.   With the new rules TCU could go to the Rose Bowl if the Big 10 or Pac-10 champion is in the title game.

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*This post is part of a week long series being sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.*

This one is a tough one being a Utah fan as I could choose being at the Fiesta Bowl against Pitt or watching the Sugar Bowl beat down over Alabama up 21-0.  I have a few so I am not going to limit it to just one.  A recent favorite moment was last year's game where Utah traveled to take on TCU.  The game featured Utah at 16 with TCU at four and it was the first big start for freshman Jordan Wynn who just took over the reins.  Everyone was making a big deal out of this game and I was as pumped as the Sugar Bowl game the year prior, but then the game started and that was that.  Part of the reason for the hype that made the build up to the game so cool was with ESPN's GameDay in town, CBS College Sports made a huge deal of it with a very nice on location pregame, TCU had the custom Nike uni's that are sick, and finally Ammon G. Carter stadium was actually rocking.

One moment that would seem odd to an outsider in 2004 was the BYU game and not the Fiesta Bowl.  Had BYU somehow upset Utah then the Utes would have been a really good team and not a great.  The BYU game in 2004 since it was a blowout in a standing room only crowd at Rice-Eccles made it even better that the Utes blew out the Cougars.  Do not get me wrong being at the Fiesta Bowl in person and watching Utah run trick plays and abuse an out manned Pitt team was awesome, but crushing your rival to get to a place they have never been was amazing.

Now onto my favorite moment.

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*This post is part of a week long series being sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.*

When favorite players are mentioned some may think it is always the best player of their team.  My favorite team growing up was Texas and my all-time favorite Texas player has always been Major Applewhite because I always felt he was more deserving over Chris Simms and could have lead Texas over Colorado and go to the national title game which i think was the Rose Bowl back in the day.  Simms was chosen because of his name only, not that he was not good but Applewhite was just a gamer and a stud.

My favorite all-time MWC player could easily be Alex Smith of Utah since he lead my Utes to the 2004 Fiesta Bowl and was an all around stud, but no my favorite player is DB Eric Weddle.  He was just a stud and an all around playmaker, plus he was a cool guy to interview when I had the chance while being part of Utah's student radio station.

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*This post is part of a week long series being sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.*

Fist off I have to be honest I am not a huge tailgating guy at the games, because I have only been attending games the past few years by either attending Utah or BYU games.  Those have only been a few of my tailgating experiences there which have been solid, but the best times tailgating were when I att Texas verse Texas A&M games.  

The games I attended were at College Station and the best part of tailgating there was just going trailer to trailer and testing everyones food. This was when the kick was at 11a.m. and not the Thanksgiving evening game, which did not matter with the tailgaters having the smokers, grills, and open flames cooking up some very, very good Texas barbecue, sausages, chili, and pretty much any type of meat that will go on a grill.  

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*This post is part of a week long series being sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.*

2004 gets the nod for me as a team on the whole, because they were dominant all year and it was new and exciting being a fan and student of Utah to watch them climb up the polls. There was some minor buzz for Utah prior to the season since they were ranked in the top 20 that year in the preseason which was the first time in a long time, if not ever. The opening game was against Texas A&M and it was still a time when they were considered a solid Big XII team as they went 7-5 and earned a Cotton Bowl berth.

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*This post is part of a week long series being sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.*

I did not come to be a fan of Utah or the Mountain West conference until I stepped foot on campus at Utah back in 2003, and even then I was a casual fan that went to only a few games. Part of that reason was because my prior college which I attended was a non-scholarship I-AA football, and were not really good. Prior to heading to Utah my team was the University of Texas partly due that my brother went to Texas A&M just so that I could annoy him. Plus I kept tabs on BYU since I am of the same faith, and followed them to a lesser extent.  

My fascination with the Mountain West and Utah came in the 2004 season when Utah was smashing their way through the Mountain West, but it I really got into the Utes in their season opening win over Texas A&M. My brother was sure they would not lose to the lowly Utes from the Mountain West, but that game was a solid beat down of 41-21 over Texas A&M and gave me some huge bragging rights over his former mighty Texas A&M Aggies. Side note on the Aggies, it is the best place I have ever been to see a college football game, even more so when they win.

The end of the game when everyone sways back and forth locked in arms and singing the school song is freaking amazing because the stadium looks like it is moving as well, and that game was against an average Oklahoma State team nearly a decade ago. Also, being in attendance of the Texas vs. Texas A&M game was also amazing, but for me the only way I got to go was if I would wear Aggie maroon which I did. Still that was worth it with the pregame festivities and that the game was a close one so my Aggie brother was not too upset they lost to the Longhorns.

Back to the current topic I followed the Utes in 2004 and went to every home game, plus I was in attendance at the Fiesta Bowl which was great to beat down Pitt, but kind of disappointing at the same time knowing there were better teams they could have played like Auburn. More on that game later in the week with the top fan moments post.

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EA Sports asked our college sites to sponsor a week's worth of posts leading up to the release of NCAA Football 2011 next Tuesday, July 13th (can't wait!). They weren't interested in telling us what to say, but rather in sponsoring a series of posts celebrating diehard fans of college football.