College president challenges students to beat him at video game

Ask any college student or their parents and they will say the sticker shock from the price of textbooks is enough to cause whiplash. But students now have the chance to win free textbooks for a year and the terms of the challenge are not what you would expect from an academic.

Scott Dalrymple, Ph.D., president of Columbia College in Columbia, Missouri, has offered the challenge to his entire student body -- beat him at the popular football video game Madden 25, and he will pay for their textbooks for an entire year.


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Dalrymple posted his challenge on YouTube. The video starts with him in a suit sitting at a desk but then cuts to him wearing a baseball hat and eye black, playing Madden in his office. Game highlights appear to show Dalrymple is no amateur. He's no stranger to trash talk either, taking digs at the Rams, Cowboys and Bears while lauding his team of preference, the Buffalo Bills, which he calls "the greatest team in the history of professional sports."

Students will first face off in a tournament on October 17 before the winner "white-hot crucible of competition" goes head-to-head against Dalrymple in a live "epic" showdown on the big screen.

What do you think of a college president challenging his students to play video games? Let us know in the comments below.