Charlie Strong, the football coach for the University of Louisville, blames his team's recent loss against the University of Pittsburgh on Modern Warfare 3, a game which he says has engulfed the team.
"Young people are dealing with so much," Strong said to Cardinal Sports [via IGN]. "I told [the team] Tuesday. I get them off the practice field and we weren't sharp, so you're thinking we come back on Wednesday and we weren't sharp then. There's a new video game that come out and those guys are so... I said, how can you allow a video game to take control of what you have in your hand and what's ahead of you."
That game ended with a final score of 21-14, which by football standards is only a touchdown and point-after difference, though the Cardinals were scoreless in the first half of the game. They scored 38 points against West Virginia in the prior week.
"Our guys talk about it," Strong added, referring to the team's excitement over Call of Duty. "It's the buzz when you hear it all the time. Call of Duty, the new video game out, so it was a call to duty and they got called to duty Saturday."
"It's young people. We're dealing with young guys who see something new, they want to try and and it just engulfs them. I heard them talking about it all week."
Strong added he found out through the team members' Twitter accounts that they had lost focus on football, and even missed classes as a result of all-nighters. And when asked if he himself had ever played Call of Duty, he laughed and replied, "No, I haven't played it, I'm not a video game guy."
