Could we be satisfied with an unlicensed college football video game?

It’s been nearly five years since you could play as the Syracuse Orange in a new college football video game. That’s a crime, clearly, and one that has yet to be rectified by the powers that be (aka, an agreement between EA Sports and more importantly, the NCAA).

However, there may be hope yet, if you’re buying into the idea behind the unlicensed “Gridiron Champions” game from Imackulate Gaming, due for release in 2020. With 126 teams and the ability to create-your-own brands, you can see where this is going. It won’t include mascot mode, sadly. But maybe by showing just how much demand is there for the return of a college football video game, it might push the NCAA to try and figure something out with EA.

That, plus the rest of your more Syracuse-focused daily links below:

College football video games back in 2020? It’s not EA, and won’t ship with real teams, but... (SB Nation)

Obviously, those of us who grew up on Bill Walsh and NCAA Football would prefer to see a proven company make a game with actual teams, but if a new company were somehow able to make a quality football simulation (not easy!) and empower users to fill in uniforms and names and stuff, that’d be the next best thing. Let’s see what the new guys got.

Syracuse Football: Eric Dungey can break passing records if he stays healthy in 2018 (Saturday Blitz)

Moreover, he could potentially shatter the record of former Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib for single season passing yards, at 3,749 achieved back in 2012. Dungey actually rings in second for the most passing yards in an individual season for the Orange. Nassib also owns the single season passing touchdown record in Syracuse football history, at 26.

Darius Bazley Charts Yet Another Path to the N.B.A.: The Development League (The New York Times)

“He’s got a chance to be an N.B.A. player some day, but given what I know about the G League, this is probably not the route I would’ve chosen,” said Fraschilla, who compared Bazley to a hard-throwing high school baseball pitcher who gets drafted and then stashed in the minor leagues.

Akok Akok talks latest offer, top suitors (ZagsBlog)

Syracuse: “Gerry [McNamara] and [Jim] Boeheim are recruiting me. They said that coming in I would play a lot and they feel like I would play good in their zone defense.”

From Flint to Syracuse, Eric Devendorf’s charitable efforts continue with spring clothing drive (Daily Orange)

He helped raise $10,000 for Flint, Michigan for its water crisis. Sometimes he trains local children who cannot afford basketball lessons. He has spoken at local schools. He led a shoe drive last fall. He plays in charity basketball games, including a wheelchair basketball game held last Thursday. This week he launched a spring cleaning, where anyone can drop off gently-used clothing at five AmeriCU Credit Union locations in Syracuse, Liverpool, Camillus and Fayetteville.

New Hartford’s Frankie Policelli commits to Dayton basketball (Syracuse.com)

Corcoran lineman accepts challenge of becoming Syracuse football walk-on (Syracuse.com)

Visors or not? Players explain game day headwear choices (Daily Orange)

Doug Marrone recites Othello on GMFB (Big Cat Country)

And your daily music selection: