NCAAF
By Antonio Morales, Ari Wasserman and Chris Vannini
With EA Sports’ College Football 25 about a month away from returning after a decade-long absence, a large chunk of the college football community is dusting off game consoles and getting ready to hit the sticks again.
Chris Vannini, who played the game a few weeks ago in Orlando, has written extensively about what to expect from the new version. Now it’s time to think about which teams we are most looking forward to playing.
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Let’s get to it.
Alabama: Jalen Milroe is really good at two things: scrambling and throwing the deep ball. That makes him the ideal video game quarterback. Back in college, my buddies had a rule that you couldn’t play as Ohio State with Terrelle Pryor. I normally wouldn’t play with such a top-tier program like Alabama, but Milroe will be incredibly fun to use, and the new playbook under coach Kalen DeBoer could also provide a lot to work with. When playing online games, Alabama makes a lot of sense as a popular pick.
Air Force: I love playing with option teams. It’s the kind of thing that makes college football unique and the video game different from the NFL and Madden, and Air Force is the best of the three service academies. I spent about 10 minutes with the Falcons during my test run at EA Sports’ studios a few weeks ago. Running the ball in the new game is a lot more fun than in the past, as the blocking AI is much improved. If you hit the hole properly, you’re rewarded. The Falcons also work as a good Group of 5 Dynasty team you can build up. Although the service academies generally don’t take in transfers in real life, they will be able to in the video game, so you don’t need to worry about the roster limitations.
Wake Forest: This was the team I most wanted to test out while I was in Orlando, and I spent a good 20 minutes with the Demon Deacons working through their RPO offense and “slow mesh” fundamentals. (I’d also completely forgotten Hank Bachmeier had transferred here until I played this game.) The good news is that the RPO options are incredibly deep. I was hit with several ineligible man downfield penalties for throwing the ball late, so the realism is there. I couldn’t find much slow mesh in the playbook, but an EA developer told me the plan was to have more in the playbook by the time it launched. The work EA Sports puts into the playbooks is unreal. I talked with the man who leads the playbook team, and they have such trust with coaches in sharing information (no Wakeyleaks here). Even if I play with other teams, I may still use the Wake Forest playbook.
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South Florida: USF could be a G5 Dynasty darling, thanks to the combination of star dual-threat quarterback Byrum Brown and coach Alex Golesh’s exotic and exciting offense. Brown was a revelation last year as a second-year player, throwing for 3,292 yards and rushing for 809 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground. The only other 3,000/800 player? Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels. Throw in Golesh’s offense, which is built around going up-tempo and getting explosive plays and deep balls, and everything about USF makes it an ideal video game team. (While Brown is in the game, real coaches like Golesh are not, though the playbooks match the style of the real teams.)
North Texas: When starting a Dynasty with a G5 team in the old games, North Texas seemed like a cheat code. It was a two-star program that always found big success, perhaps because of the nearby recruiting talent. When I grew up in Michigan, I’d often start a Dynasty with Central Michigan (my best friend always picked Eastern Michigan). Now that I live in Dallas, UNT could be the G5 team of choice. That recruiting location advantage should still be in place, so the Mean Green make sense as a Dynasty starter team.
Kansas State: One of the teams I’m most excited to watch this upcoming season is Kansas State. We’re talking about quarterback Avery Johnson, a mobile up-and-comer with star potential. We’re also talking about Dylan Edwards, the versatile running back who transferred from Colorado. The Wildcats also return running back DJ Giddens, and the program welcomed in Penn State transfer receiver Dante Cephas, who has potential despite not really producing in State College. When most people are using big-time programs, it would be a lot of fun to pick the Wildcats and light up the scoreboard.
Arizona: Arizona may have been the favorite to win the Big 12 had Jedd Fisch not left Tucson and taken a chunk of the roster with him to Washington. But the Wildcats did hold on to two essential pieces from last year’s explosive offense in quarterback Noah Fifita and future first-round NFL Draft pick Tetairoa McMillan, one of the best receivers in the country. Arizona also held on to Tacario Davis, a long, rangy defensive back who will be a ball-hawking menace. This could be a top-15 team this year.
Missouri: When people think of Dynasty mode, they often think of taking a small G5 team and trying to build it up into a national title winner. In this year’s game, it’s going to be borderline impossible to pull a five-star prospect for these smaller schools because the game designers wanted the recruiting experience to reflect reality. I view Mizzou as an intriguing Dynasty team because it now plays in the deepest, most competitive conference in the sport, with Texas and Oklahoma joining. The Tigers will be able to recruit some big-time prospects — much like they have done in real life — and leading them to SEC supremacy would be fun/gratifying. You also have a chance to come out of the gate with a really good team, backed by quarterback Brady Cook and explosive receiver Luther Burden III.
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Appalachian State: Maybe I’m kind of a nerd, but I really love playing with teams that have pretty stadiums and nice surroundings. Add in the fact that App State has one of the better G5 rosters this year and it’s the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff, and the Mountaineers seem like a really fun team to start with to see if you could make a run. App State brings a ton of talent back from the team that played in the Sun Belt title game last year.
Ohio State: People are going to call me a homer in the comments. But I know I’m not alone in thinking that playing with an offense that has Will Howard (a mobile quarterback), running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins and receivers Emeka Egbuka and Jeremiah Smith is football video game nirvana. I’m very curious to see how EA Sports will rate Smith, a true freshman who may actually be one of the best receivers in the country right out of the gate. I also love the idea of using Caleb Downs as a rover on defense trying to snipe user picks. Although many of you love playing Dynasty mode, my real passion is playing online ranked matches against people and yelling into the headset. If people like Chris are going to run with Alabama, I’d love to match up with Ohio State and run up the score.
Oregon State: The path forward is daunting for the Beavers. The Pac-12 disintegrated and left Oregon State without a true conference home. Jonathan Smith did a great job of building the program after some dark years, but he took the Michigan State job after the regular season and brought most of his staff with him. After Smith’s departure, the roster was gutted by the transfer portal, with several players ending up at high-profile schools. So this is a major rebuild, and the first few seasons will be tough. But the reward of starting a dynasty, righting a wrong and getting the Beavers back into a power conference could be worth it.
Texas State: The Bobcats are a solid choice for online play or Dynasty. The teams I find most appealing are the ones with a solid playbook and a good quarterback. Texas State averaged 36.7 points last year with head coach GJ Kinne calling the plays, so that checks one box. The Bobcats added Jordan McCloud this offseason after he threw for 3,657 yards and 35 touchdowns at James Madison in 2023, so there’s a quarterback in place, too, in addition to 1,000-yard running back Ismail Mahdi. This is also a program that appeared in its first bowl game only last season, which means the chance to build something and get the school into a bigger conference or get yourself a bigger job is very much in play.
UCF: The Knights are going to be fun to use in head-to-head matchups. Look, KJ Jefferson is definitely not Cam Newton. But the last time Gus Malzahn had a QB with Jefferson’s size (6 feet 3, 247 pounds) was when he was the offensive coordinator at Auburn during the Tigers’ 2010 national championship season. Jefferson has true dual-threat ability and is in a system that will highlight his strengths. And he will be surrounded by playmakers like running back RJ Harvey, who rushed for 1,416 yards and 16 TDs in 2023, and receiver Kobe Hudson, who caught 44 passes for 900 yards. The offense will be explosive, which will make it good for online use.
Tennessee: The Volunteers have fun top-end talent. Start at quarterback with Nico Iamaleava, the former five-star prospect who is a gifted passer and displayed his solid mobility in the bowl game win over Iowa last season. The combination of Iamaleava and Josh Heupel’s offense attacking defenses vertically should be fun for any player. Everyone has their own preferences, but as a user, I always play as a pass rusher on defense. James Pearce Jr. notched 14.5 tackles for loss and 10 sacks in 2023 and will be one of the best edge rushers in the game with the ability to wreck an offense. Tennessee hasn’t won a national title — or an SEC title — since 1998, so it’s not like you’d be jumping on the bandwagon of a powerhouse if you picked them for a dynasty either.
Colorado: I put the Buffaloes here solely because playing with Travis Hunter at corner and receiver will be one of the most unique experiences in the game’s history. There just hasn’t been a ton of true two-way options who have come through the sport, and they’re usually not relied upon as heavily as Colorado leans on Hunter. Of course, quarterback Shedeur Sanders will be fun to play with as well — though the offensive line might make you have to run around a bit. There are real questions about Deion Sanders’ long-term aspirations at Colorado, so if you pick the Buffs for Dynasty and aim to stick around for the long haul, you’ll probably have to kick up the high school recruiting several notches.
(Photo of Air Force’s Jensen Jones and Dylan Carson: Isaiah J. Downing / USA Today)
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