Not many girls spent their free time over the summer playing EA Sport’s NFL Madden 2005 in a desperate attempt to learn the in’s and out’s of football.

So, I guess I’m in the minority.

When this last summer started, Tom Brady quickly became my new best friend. And I don’t think anyone in the history of the game ran the Fauria option as many times as I did.

Luckily, my 17-year-old brother and my ex-boyfriend were around enough to tell me that I shouldn’t blitz on every play, and that passing on every drive doesn’t help you beat the Cleveland Browns.

Kent State’s home opener against Southeast Missouri State on Saturday was the first football game that I’ve seen without a controller – or pom-poms – in my hands.

Nevertheless, thanks to Madden, I know what’s going on. But I’m still learning.

But one thing that probably happened to me twice in Madden, occurred 30 times in Saturday’s game.

Together, the Flashes and the Redhawks totaled 254 yards of penalties.

I never thought that 30 penalties in one game was even possible.

I’m sure that without those penalties, the score would have been completely different.

If it wasn’t for those penalties, there would have been a few more touchdowns and successful interceptions on both sides of the ball.

A number of times there was a touchdown or an interception negated by a penalty flag.

Something else that was different was the number of second chances. Not only were there 30 penalties, but seven turnovers.

This wasn’t really what I thought would happen during any football game, let alone the first live football game I ever went to where I wasn’t cheering.

But aside from that, what I thought was going to happen, did.

The Redhawks’ offense was beyond strikingly similar to my offense in Madden, nearly every play was a pass and the rushing plays were unsuccessful.

The Redhawks only gained 20 rushing yards.

I’m used to seeing plays like that. Over the summer, I gained maybe 10 rushing yards total. Both teams made plenty of offensive mistakes, but as Kent State coach Doug Martin mentioned after the game, the offense is still evolving.

“That’s the evolution of offense and quarterback play,” Martin said. “I’ve been through this too many times and that’s why my hair looks like it does. You just have to learn and it was a great learning experience today.”

A win is a win and a loss is a loss, on PlayStation or not.

But if it’s on my TV or on the field, it’s still all about learning.

Contact assistant sports editor Kali Price at [email protected].