The crowd noise at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium was incredibly palpable.

My Tulane Green Wave — the program I've selected as my dynasty team in EA Sports College Football 25 — came into Norman as a heavy underdog in Week 3, even though I handily defeated No. 12 Kansas State 41-23 the previous week. The Sooners started the season 2-0 after dominant victories over Temple (41-10) and Houston (35-13) and were an easy favorite to defeat my Green Wave at home.

The Sooners won the toss and opted to defer to the second half, giving me the ball first. The crowd at Owen Field let me have it from the opening kickoff. It was nearly impossible to remain steady, especially in the first half.

But my Green Wave were not shaken. They handed the Sooners a 28-20 loss in Norman on Sunday, propelling yet another impressive win to start the season.

However, as I played the game, I realized this was an interesting opportunity. CFB25 was released on Monday, but this was my first chance to play against the Sooners. With the computer running things for the Sooners, this was a chance to see how the video game operates things in Norman.

Now, is this going to have any impact on how things actually shake out this fall? Of course not. But I thought it was interesting to see how things shake out for OU from CFB25's perspective, from personnel decisions to key decisions and the overall experience of playing as a visiting team in Norman.

Here's how it all played out:

(Editor's note: This game was played with five-minute quarters on All-American difficulty. It should also be noted that I picked Tulane as my dynasty team because they were my go-to team on the older video games as a kid. Don't judge me. I liked the uniforms).

Quarterback: Jackson Arnold

Running back: Taylor Tatum

Wide receivers: Deion Burks, Andrel Anthony, Jalil Farooq

Tight end: Jake Roberts

Offensive line: Jake Taylor (LT), Geirean Hatchett (LG), Troy Everett (C), Febechi Nwaiwu (RG), Spencer Brown (RT)

Defensive line: Caiden Woullard, Trace Ford, Damonic Williams, Ethan Downs

Linebackers: Danny Stutsman, Kip Lewis

Secondary: Billy Bowman, Robert Spears-Jennings, Woodi Washington, Gentry Williams, Kendel Dolby

First quarter

— My goodness. The stadium noise is insanity.

I had the ball first, and I knew immediately things were going to be difficult. It was impossible to see my playart before I snapped the ball. The routes would get all scrambled up; sometimes the playart would show a running play when I had called a passing play; there were even a few times when it would show a question mark above a wide receiver's head instead of the correct controller icon. OU is ranked as the fifth-toughest environment in the game, so all of this should've come as no surprise.

— Thankfully, I was able to score a touchdown on the first drive on a running play from Makhi Hughes, but it wasn't easy. I went for it twice on fourth down (both passing plays), and both times it didn't even show the icon above the receiver at any point in the play.

— Holy cow, the game has the Sooners firmly still operating in the Jeff Lebby system. They go no huddle on every play. Whether it's an incomplete pass, a negative play or a pivotal third down, OU is rushing to the line on every play. No other team I've played against in CFB25 does this. Most of them hardly run a no-huddle offense unless it's late in the second or fourth quarter. Maybe they know something about how Seth Littrell plans on calling the shots this season.

Arnold completed some nice passes on the first drive, I managed to hold them to a field goal. Tyler Keltner promptly, and easily, made it from 50 yards out. I led 7-3 at the end of the first.

— While Gavin Sawchuk is first on OU's depth chart at RB, it was true freshman Taylor Tatum who got the start. Sawchuk is rated as an 86 overall with a 98 speed rating, but he played just five snaps by my official count. Considering the Sooners never huddled up, there weren't many opportunities to sub, but still.

Second quarter

— OU's offense rarely made any subs, so I never saw guys like Nic Anderson or Jayden Gibson come into the game. The offensive line largely stayed the same, too.

— I stymied OU's offense with zone defense after zone defense. The Sooners essentially ran run-pass options on every play, but Arnold rarely handed the ball off. But Arnold isn't hesitant to scramble and take it himself, either.

— I forced OU to punt on their first drive of the second quarter, but Arnold led the Sooners down the field to end the quarter. Keltner again booted a 50-yard field goal as the half expired.

— I diced OU up with run-pass options in the second quarter. Brent Venables and Zac Alley's squad never knew what hit them. I scored 14 points in the second quarter and took a 21-6 lead into halftime.

Third quarter

— The Sooners came out firing after halftime. Arnold immediately hit Anthony for a big gain, and Tatum scored from nine yards out for OU's first score of the game, cutting the score to 21-13.

— I chewed up the clock in the third quarter and scored early in the fourth quarter. I went for it on fourth and goal from the two-yard line and narrowly floated the ball over Woodi Washington. The stadium noise was absolutely insane on that fourth-down play.

Fouth quarter

— I forced a three and out, and immediately drove down the field. Then, of course, I threw an interception inside the 10-yard line. Billy Bowman picked it off (who else?).

— Jackson Arnold then immediately found Deion Burks for a 64-yard touchdown. This is when the no-huddle really had me on my heels. I had been running zone all game but picked a man defense after Tatum picked up a first down. Arnold and Burks immediately exposed it. Playing man defense is really hard on this game.

— But again, my RPO offense was too much to overcome, and I was able to run out the clock to secure a victory. The biggest play came on a game-sealing third-down pick-up. I handed the ball off on an RPO and Kip Lewis read it well but over-pursued, giving me a free lane up the middle to pick up the first down.

OFFENSE

Jackson Arnold — 243 passing yards, 14/19 completions (73%), 1 TD, 0 INT, 6 carries, 19 yards

Taylor Tatum — 4 carries, 31 yards, 1 TD

Andrel Anthony — 4 REC, 93 yards

Deion Burks — 3 REC, 78 yards, 1 TD

Jalil Farooq — 3 REC, 42 yards

Gavin Sawchuk — 1 REC, 3 yards

DEFENSE

Billy Bowman — 8 tackles, 1 INT

Robert Spears-Jennings — 8 tackles, 2 TFLs

Kip Lewis — 8 tackles, 1 TFL

Gentry Williams — 6 tackles

Kendel Dolby — 6 tackles

Woodi Washington — 6 tackles

Caiden Woullard — 5 tackles, 2 TFLs

Danny Stutsman — 5 tackles

Damonic Williams — 4 tackles, 2 TFLs

David Stone — 1 TFL

Dasan McCullough — 1 TFL

Outside of a couple significant exceptions — I doubt Hicks and Roberts are offensive starters — it felt like CFB25 mostly got it right.

The Sooners rotated a lot on defense. David Stone played just as much as anyone on the defensive line, and Dasan McCullough and Peyton Bowen got a lot of run, too. Danny Stutsman is a menace up the middle. No running back is breaking off chunk plays or tackles if Stutsman is anywhere nearby.

Offensively, it was interesting to see the game has OU programmed as an all-gas, no-breaks team. OU's playbook literally doesn't have a package where the quarterback lines up under center except for the goal line package. Anthony was the clear No. 1 target, with Burks as the No. 2 guy. It did make me wonder, again, how the wide receiver snaps shake out this fall.

OU fans should be thrilled with how the game depicts the stadium. They've got everything programmed, from how the team comes out of tunnel before the game, to the "Boomer Sooner" chants, to the "OOOOOOOOOU" chant on kickoffs. They even have the RUF/NEKs shooting their guns off once the ball is kicked. The only thing that's missing is "Seven Nation Army" playing before the first kickoff.

Tulane could be a sneakily-tough opponent in real life this season. But Sooner fans can breathe easily knowing I won't be the one calling the shots for the Green Wave.

— At SEC Media Days, I mentioned CFB25 to Venables prior to his availability on Tuesday. He joked with me and said, 'The only thing I know about that game is that some of my players aren't in it, so I've gotta make some phone calls. I'm always solving the world's problems.

— Before his appearance at SEC Media Days, Stutsman posted a picture on social media of a player he created in the game named "Danny Stutsman II."

I asked Stutsman about his son on Tuesday. This is what he said.

"Yeah about that. So Danny Stutsman II, he actually changed Danny Stutsman’s alarms, so I slept through a fall camp practice and Danny Stutsman didn’t play. We lost versus Temple in a simulation because Danny Stutsman he’s buried deep on the depth chart. He’s made his way up. Somehow the simulation lost against Tulane. That’s alright. I deleted the app. I deleted the game. It’ll all come back in a few days. So, not great."