by Sam Fretto
After an 11 year wait, we’re finally getting another college football video game from EA. With the last installment being NCAA Football 14, released July 9th, 2013, fans of sports video games have grown a love for the game and have been hoping for a revival of the franchise. The revival will be coming under a new name, EA College Football 25. EA dropped a teaser February 15th, showing off a new name and confirming a full reveal will be coming in May. With very little known about the game, I want to make a wish list of what I hope EA Sports gives us in the final product they release.
Dealbreakers
As you might imagine, with an 11 year wait and a lot of anticipation, there’s the chance that some are going to be disappointed with the final product due to features missing in the game. While I understand that it’s impossible for EA to do everything that fans want, I think there are some things that are absolute must-haves in this game, and if they aren’t in it, it’ll be a dealbreaker. There are some things that have been confirmed that I won’t mention as dealbreakers, such as all FBS schools being in the game.
Dynasty Mode
Dynasty Mode has been in NCAA Football since their ‘06 release and that game is widely considered one of the greatest installments of the series. Dynasty Mode has been confirmed to be in the game, but it needs to come back in this new game in a big way. College football isn’t the same game it was when NCAA Football 14 was released with the existence of NIL and the transfer portal. I want to see these implemented and used the same way you would see in real life for the most realistic version of a dynasty mode.
Create-a-School
Create-a-School was introduced in NCAA Football 2000 and TeamBuilder, the site in which you could download created schools, was introduced in NCAA Football 10. This is a necessary feature to have in the game. Something that has completely killed Madden’s franchise mode is the lack of customization within the mode. You can’t create teams anymore or add expansion teams. It’s vital College Football 25 has some sort of Create-a-School mode or community creator. Imagine how cool it could be to make North Central and build the school to win a national championship in dynasty!
Presentation
There’s something incredibly pleasing about a sports video game that has its UI and presentation on point. Something EA has fallen victim of is not giving any sort of depth in their presentation. In Madden, it’s a blank background with all the game modes laid out in front of you. In franchise, you had the NFL coach sitting in the same exact office for years and years with no change to the presentation. Give us a fresh, new, and fun look that’s modern and something we haven’t seen before.
Hopefuls
This part of my wish list is stuff I hope to see added into the game. If it’s not in the game, I’ll be disappointed and it’ll lower my grade of the game, but it won’t make me not buy College Football 25.
Create and Delete Conferences
A feature like this would be under the umbrella of Dynasty Mode, but it’s worth an individual mention. The Pac-12 just folded after this last year of college football. Well, what if I want to bring it back? Being able to create and delete conferences is a feature I hope to see in the new game. Maybe I want to make college football just Power 5 conferences, so I decide to fold every conference that isn’t the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC and bring back the Pac-12. This would allow for a lot of different user experiences that can give players endless options in their universes.
College Gameday
If EA wants to go for realism in its college football revival, College Gameday would be a spectacular addition. College Gameday is ESPN’s pregame show as they go around the country and visit different colleges week by week. I could see this being implemented the same way ESPN NFL 2K5 implemented their halftime show. They used Chris Berman to recap the games going on around the league and used realistic ESPN graphics. EA could implement this as you’re loading into the game, giving us the option to watch a mini-College Gameday broadcast.
Heisman Challenge
This is a feature that I’m not sure how they’ll be able to replicate, but it would add so much to the game. Heisman Challenge was introduced in NCAA Football 13, the second-to-last release before the decade-long hiatus of the series. The mode highlighted former Heisman winners in college football history, and you would take over their career in an attempt to win the Heisman with that player. Think about how fun it could be to replicate Lamar Jackson’s or Joe Burrow’s Heisman season in College Football 25’s Heisman Challenge!
Long Shots
The last part of my wish list contains things I consider to be a longshot to be in the game. It’ll influence my opinion of the game, but it the stuff I have accepted isn’t likely. If these things somehow do make it into the game, I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Fewer Microtransactions
Ask people who play sports video games what the biggest problem with them is, and 90% of them are going to answer microtransactions. EA is especially guilty of shoving microtransactions down players throats with their Ultimate Team game mode. Ultimate Team has been confirmed for College Football 25, but I hope it doesn’t seep into Dynasty Mode and make it unplayable and pay-to-win.
Don’t Make It Madden
When I say don’t make it Madden, I mean gameplay wise. I put this in longshot because EA has confirmed that College Football 25 will be using the Frostbite Engine, which is the same engine Madden has used since Madden 18. The good news is the NCAA Football games always played a bit different than Madden games back in the day, despite using the same engine. The big thing about the gameplay for me is that I hope EA does not use X-Factor. X-Factor in EA has been a disaster because it’s something they’ve never been able to balance. The X-Factor was created in an effort to make superstar players feel different than normal players. However, it’s just been a broken mess that makes players broken. I think it’s more likely we don’t see X-Factor in College Football 25, but I expect the gameplay to feel somewhat like Madden.
All FCS Teams in The Game
I don’t think it’s very realistic to ask for all FCS teams in College Football 25. In the 2024 college football season there were 129 FCS Division 1 college football programs. That’s just 5 less than the 134 FBS Division 1 programs that’ll all be included in the game. Something I do expect in the game are the bigger FCS programs. By putting in teams like South Dakota State or North Dakota State, it would add more to the game and dynasty. Instead of putting FCS East and FCS South on your schedule, you could play real schools, along with giving players the option to take them over in Dynasty.
With no release date yet, but a full reveal coming in May, we can expect more information about the game coming soon. I know myself and many sports video game fans are pumped for its release, and we all hope 11 years has been worth the wait!
