If you are like me, EA Sports video games made up much of my middle school years. Of these games for the past 11 years NCAA Football 14 was the holy grail of EA’s masterwork. When I was little, I only watched one sport religiously, College Football, specifically Michigan Football, and NCAA 14 cover athlete Denard Robinson was the primary reason for me asking for the game during Christmas of 2014. I opened a pristine copy of the game and put it into my PlayStation 3 and eagerly played every Saturday morning during football season. I did not get a new PlayStation for a long time, so I spent an unhealthy amount of time dedicated to the game. All of my favorite teams became 99 overall super teams and any season saves inevitably featured 2 of those goliaths going head to head. So much has changed since that game, disk games have almost become obsolete, online gameplay has become much better, and EA’s Madden series has dominated the football video game market, and that doesn’t even begin to discuss any of the changes to the College Football Landscape. The franchise was stopped due to complications with player name image and likeness(NIL) violations and so NCAA 14 became the last College Football game for 11 years. Rumors swirled after NIL became legal in the college landscape that the game would make a comeback and this year EA made it official. It is clear that EA has been working hard on the design and there will be many changes but in this article we will discuss what needs to be featured in the game.
The most obvious of the changes to the game will be player names and face likenesses. As a 9 year old who did not understand how or why EA could not use players names or faces baffled me. I did not want to play with QB #16 at Michigan whose face is largely ambiguous, I wanted to play with Denard “Shoelace” Robinson. He got to be on the cover after all, why was he not named in the game. However to the 9 year olds of today, they will be able to play with the real Quinn Ewers instead of QB#3 at Texas. Honestly I envy that, however naming your entire roster after players playing that year, or just random funny names builds character. I can not tell you how many players in my NCAA saves were named after popular people, or commercials at the time. That being said it will certainly be good to see.
NCAA 14 had another revolutionary(well at least in my eyes) the addition of schools actual fight songs and one fan chant before kickoff. It was exciting to start off the game with fans chanting “Go Blue” around the stadium before kickoff, it felt like you were really there, and then to hear the fight song was a real treat. EA has already announced that it will in fact add more fan chants and band songs to the game for each individual college. I am absolutely thrilled at the idea that between the 3rd and 4th quarters Wisconsin will have the Jump Around and Michigan will have Mr. Brightside. That alone gets me really excited for the game. In the same vein, NCAA 14 had playbooks that operated similarly to those of the real schools, however every team had access to the same plays for the most part in their playbook. In NCAA 25, each team will have their own custom play book. I am excited to see how this feature plays out. It has a chance to be unique and exciting, however I think I am going to keep relying on the triple option.
NCAA 14 featured a groundbreaking new playstyle that revolutionized the football video game, the option. The option developed for NCAA 14 is still the same as it is in the most recent Madden games. This offensive strategy was groundbreaking and unique, however the option has become fairly standard in today’s modern video game landscape, and the more recent development has been the introduction of the RPO offense. The option used in NCAA 14 is the relatively standard, read option, speed option, and triple option; there is not much diversity in regards to different option types. The same is true in the Madden franchise since most NFL teams run nothing more than a read and speed option if an option plays at all. In college, the option is huge, plays like Ohio State’s read option with a wide receiver making it a triple option have revolutionized offense and certainly need to be included in the game. I would also like to see more RPO offense put in place, besides a run and one route in the entire play. To me that is where NCAA 25 can separate itself from the Madden franchise.
Within the trailer of NCAA 25 there is a sequence in which they show a computer model under development of Brutis the Buckeye. This is not an official statement saying that Mascot Mashup will return but it would be silly to not. It was one of the most endearing parts of the game. There is nothing like pitting a team of Otto the Orange up against a team of Akron mascots Zippy. Certainly the game put a toll on the PS3 but you expect me to believe the PS4 and 5 models can not run it with ease? There is no excuse for EA not to include this feature in NCAA25. Now, as a devoted Michigan fan what do we do with teams who do not have mascots? Are they not allowed to take part in the game? Well here is my solution, let the university or football teams determine a stand-in for a mascot, just something so that they can be included in the game, maybe make it the university’s president or football coach.
One of my largest qualms with EA games are the insistence on the importance of Ultimate Teams. I just don’t get it, it makes the game pay to play and I think that is ridiculous. If you want to add an Ultimate Team, fine do that but don’t center the game around it, focus on what the people want, Dynasty Mode. Make Dynasty Mode incredible and develop Ultimate Team as you go, keeping the fans priorities in order. Conference realignment, NIL, and the transfer portal are already confirmed to be in Dynasty Mode which is a great start. Dynasty in NCAA14 was quite good; it does not need any major overhauls other than NIL and the transfer portal. One thing I would like to see is a season by season uniform editor, this will likely never happen but it would be fun to see. On the same note things like rebrands and stadium upgrades would be cool too but with the exception of stadium upgrades which exist in EAFC these will likely never happen.
Another unlikely add on but interesting hypothetical would be the construction of your own university. You could pick and choose the best elements from different schools and combine them together to make the ultimate college football team. Imagine a night game in a stadium similar to LSU’s Death Valley, one of college football’s loudest stadiums, a Penn State like white out in effect, in a stadium that uses Mississippi State’s cowbells or Florida State’s iconic chant, the environment would be insane, and video games modern realism would make this a truly unique experience.
When conducting research into NCAA 25 I listened to several podcasts discussing the game. It seems as though there is a huge market for games with older gamers. The gaming landscape has changed greatly since 2013, but for this particular edition of the game, I think that they should bring back the old school release. Although games are most often purchased online through a console game store, EA should break out one last disc drop at stores around the country. In addition EA should make the game available for older consoles, certainly the PS4 if not the PS3. Do right by its main audience, have an old school release and make the game what it was. It has been 11 years since the last release, just honor its history.
I am beyond excited for the new edition of the NCAA franchise and an unhealthy amount of my summer will be spent playing the game, I can not wait.
