American Football: King of the Bay Area

Nine basic points sounded like heavy artillery, but in reality, as soon as Lu Ke opened his stat sheet—which was riddled with holes—he knew it was still just a drop in the bucket. Still, the sixteen weeks of arduous training had finally paid off, bringing a sense of satisfaction that was difficult to put into words.

For the first time, Lu Ke truly settled down to carefully examine his individual stats, especially the technical skills for a quarterback. Apart from his basic character information, which remained unchanged, the other stats were as follows:

Physical Quality: 62/100

Spiritual Quality: 81/100

Tactical Awareness: 67

Willpower: 80

Speed: 65

Strength: 47

Acceleration: 61

Agility: 70

Jumping: 48

...The above are the various basic stats.

Throwing Power: 78

Short Pass Accuracy: 67

Mid-range Pass Accuracy: 64

Long Pass Accuracy: 81

Running Pass: 60

Fake Pass Action: 45

ball protection ability: 59

Observation Field of View: 50

Ball-Carrying Run: 59

Evasion Ability: 59

blocking ability: 53

dribbling ability: 53

illusionary ability: 53

...The above are the quarterback’s technical stats.

Catching Ability: 38

Route Running: 15

Extreme Catch: 15

Crowd Reception: 15

Explosive Burst: 15

...The above are technical stats for receiving skills, but they also affect the quarterback’s ability.

Resistance to Injury Index: 77

Endurance Index: 80

Recovery Speed: 75

...The above are injury-related attributes connected to Physical Quality.

After carefully reviewing the list, Lu Ke was delighted to discover that his ”Physical Quality: 62/100” had unexpectedly increased by one point. Lu Ke was absolutely certain that he had never directly allocated any basic points to this attribute. Yet, the number had still risen from ”61” to ”62”, which meant his relentless training over the past five months was paying off.

It was just as Qi had said when he first got the system: the various attributes influenced one another. Although the effect was minuscule, it didn’t mean it was nonexistent. The fundamental connection between them was like the relationship between quantitative and qualitative change. Only the long, arduous process of constant dripping wearing away the stone could produce a fundamental shift.

Daily basic training was called that for a reason: the emphasis was on ”daily” and ”basic.” It was a process where every little bit added up, leading to adjustments in his body and technique that could not be ignored.

Five months without missing a single day of training had resulted in just a one-point increase to his Physical Quality. Naturally, it couldn’t compare to the speed and directness of allocating basic points. But he could truly feel the change in his body. This feeling was even more tangible and real than the points themselves, allowing Lu Ke to see the clear results of his training.

This, undoubtedly, was a gratifying discovery.

Next, Lu Ke’s gaze fell upon the technical skills for a quarterback. The numbers clearly displayed his strengths and weaknesses—relatively speaking.

Footwork and mobility are crucial for a quarterback. Simply put, it’s the ability to evade tackles, protect oneself, and throw the ball while under siege from defenders. This is a fundamental part of the game. After all, the Offense Line can’t block every rush, and a quarterback can’t just stand there like a statue making stationary throws every time.

The skills related to this ability included Running Pass, Fake Pass Action, ball protection ability, Observation Field of View, Ball-Carrying Run, Evasion Ability, blocking ability, dribbling ability, illusionary ability, and so on.

Among these, Fake Pass Action is a skill used to deceive defenders, like the fake-run-to-pass or fake-pass-to-run plays Lu Ke used during the scrimmage. The ball protection ability is for when a defensive player hits the quarterback, allowing him to protect the football and avoid a fumble. The Ball-Carrying Run is similar to a running back’s skill; when necessary, the quarterback can run with the ball and look for an opportunity to make a pass.

You could think of it this way: Long Pass Accuracy, Mid-range Pass Accuracy, and Short Pass Accuracy relate to his ability as a pocket passer. The other skills, however, are what guarantee a quarterback gets the chance to even showcase that accuracy. If he never gets an opportunity to throw, then even with a perfect 100 in accuracy, his talent would be completely wasted.

But the reality was that, aside from his Running Pass score of sixty—just barely a passing grade—all the other related stats were a sea of red. Even if Lu Ke wanted to add points, he was faced with the awkward dilemma of not knowing where to begin.

Before becoming a backup quarterback for the Brown Bear Team, Lu Ke hadn’t actually realized the importance of footwork and mobility. Looking at his basic stats alone, his speed, agility, and endurance weren’t bad. In high school, he could get by just by relying on those attributes and using his head to read the field, allowing him to find an opening and complete a pass.

But after making the backup squad, Lu Ke gradually realized that his physicality and his efficiency when scrambling with the ball were seriously lacking. On the college field, where the competition was fiercer and the tactics more complex, his weaknesses became increasingly obvious. ’Looking back, it’s no wonder my performance at the freshman tryouts was so abysmal.’

Lu Ke hadn’t realized this before, so after getting the system, he had focused his points on Long Pass Accuracy and Short Pass Accuracy. ’Looking at it now, I can’t say it was the wrong decision, but there was definitely a more logical, more ideal way to allocate my points.’ Fortunately, after he joined the backup squad, his training became more structured. And Lu Ke was intelligent—that was his greatest asset—so his approach to allocating points became clearer.

Nine basic points. Lu Ke allocated them without any hesitation. He put three points into Short Pass Accuracy and the remaining six into Running Pass. As a result, his Short Pass Accuracy rose to seventy, while his Running Pass became sixty-six.

Lu Ke knew he had far too many weaknesses; he was like a sieve that needed patching all over. But if he had to pick the most urgent priority, it was undoubtedly his passing. To be more specific, it was the ability to convert his raw passing accuracy into actual completions and, ultimately, Touchdowns.

Now, Lu Ke’s Long Pass Accuracy, Mid-range Pass Accuracy, and Short Pass Accuracy were 81, 64, and 70, respectively. This meant that in terms of pocket passing, he had already reached the level of an average quarterback in the college Alliance—perhaps even better than Kevin Price and Darius Bell.

He used the word ’perhaps’ because the system couldn’t detect the other two quarterbacks’ stats; it was merely a conclusion he had inferred from their daily training.

With his Running Pass ability now up to 66, he had a much better foundation for utilizing his passing accuracy.

In just five short months, with the help of the system, Lu Ke had transformed from an amateur who didn’t even qualify to be on the practice squad into a college quarterback of average ability. Such a monumental leap in progress left him craving more training and more games. Training was the solid foundation, but games were the only true measure of skill.

Deep in his bones, Lu Ke yearned to step onto the field. It was a Shura Field where one was forced to grow up fast! Only the truly strong could emerge victorious!

He was constantly calculating. With over three months until the Rookie Training Camp in March, how high could he elevate his skills? He was constantly thinking. At his current level, how far was he from the real Professional Alliance, and what more did he need to do? As he trained, studied, and contemplated, the 2010 NCAA season drew to a close.

In the second week of December—to be precise, Saturday, December 11th—the UCLA Brown Bear Team faced their final opponent of the season: their crosstown archrivals, the University of Southern California Trojans Team.

The Brown Bear Team and the Trojans Team were without a doubt one of the most famous crosstown rivalries in the history of the NCAA football Alliance. They were true, irreconcilable enemies, and every game was a white-hot, life-or-death battle—a bloody, no-holds-barred affair. Even the rivalry with Stanford University couldn’t compare to the sheer animosity of a matchup between these two.

Over the past decade, the Trojans Team had established a dominant dynasty, winning ten or more games in the Alliance for five consecutive years and becoming its undisputed powerhouse. Since the start of the millennium, in ten meetings between the Trojans Team and the Brown Bear Team, the Trojans had won nine times. The Brown Bear Team had only managed a single, meager victory in 2006.

It was no exaggeration to say that for the past decade, the University of Southern California had kept UCLA pinned firmly under its heel. It had gotten to the point where UCLA students couldn’t even hold their heads high when they ran into USC students. It was arguably the longest, darkest period in the history of this crosstown rivalry.

This year, the situation was even more charged. First of all, in the season opener, UCLA had lost to Stanford University in a brutal 0-35 blowout. Nobody wanted to lose the showdown against the University of Southern California as well; that would be akin to the torture of whipping a dead body.

Secondly, while the Brown Bear Team, led by Kevin Price, had stumbled its way through the season with an average performance from their quarterback, the Defense Team had shown considerable skill. Coupled with three solid rotating running backs, they had managed a 6-5 record over the first eleven games of the season—the exact same record as the University of Southern California!

This year, the University of Southern California was caught in a rebuilding phase. They had stumbled through the season and had already lost five games. This was undoubtedly UCLA’s best chance for revenge!

The two rivals were currently ranked fourth and fifth in the Alliance, respectively, with the University of Southern California holding fourth place on a points advantage. However, the outcome of this game could flip their positions. If they defeated their rivals, UCLA could climb over the dead body of their arch-nemesis into the top four, earning a chance to be nominated for a spot in this year’s Rose Bowl!

The bowl games for the six major NCAA Alliances aren’t for the national championship, but only for the Alliance championship. Unlike basketball, football doesn’t have a playoff system. Instead, it uses an invitational format. Typically, two of the top four teams are invited based on a comprehensive consideration of their record, performance, and strength of schedule. These two teams then compete for the final ”bowl.” For the Pac-12 Conference, the highest honor is the Rose Bowl!

In other words, this year’s crosstown showdown wasn’t just about bragging rights—it was a decisive battle for a spot in a bowl game!