Very Early EA Sports College Football 26 Takes and Impressions

At a recent EA event, we went hands-on with EA Sports College Football 26. There’s a ton of information on the way, but we’re going to walk through everything we know and can currently discuss regarding the game. The cover athletes for the Standard Edition of College Football 26 are Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith and Alabama’s Ryan Williams. The release date is July 10 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. There are 300 coaches in the game, including coordinators that will include brand-new plays never before seen in the series. The amount of depth and creative freedom for College Football 26 will be revealed up until release.

Going Hands-On with No Context

There’s simply a lot that can’t be discussed as the depth of almost every aspect of College Football 26 is wild. Simply having the coaches and being able to play with 136 schools and 2800 new plays doubles down on the play how you like. The gameplay in the current build is much more consistent. At the event, there were multiple instances where users had stated the gameplay is slower than last year’s.

Some Overall Gameplay Updates

• Over 300 Real-World Coaches: Suit up for Dan Lanning. Compete against Kirby Smart. Recruit as or against James Franklin. Go toe-to-toe with current coaches who bring distinctive playstyles to the field. Strategize like they would with their unique playbooks for a more authentic coaching experience.
• Expanded Player Types & Abilities: Recruit and develop athletes with 84 abilities and 10 new archetypes, giving you more ways to dominate on either side of the ball.
• Wear & Tear Everywhere: Manage fatigue and injuries dynamically with no need to pause the action. Customize the system to match your playstyle and save your stars for when it matters most.
• Foundational Football Advancements: Enhanced AI, dynamic play-calling adjustments, improved blocking and coverages plus new features like Dynamic Substitutions and custom zones give you more control on both sides of the ball, so you can show your opponent what your program is made of.

From personal experience, the defense is much improved in terms of capitalizing on turnovers. Taking certain angles did not allow the ball carrier to break away easily, but this could be based on the team, as there was no way to test 136 teams during the gameplay session. It’s also worth noting that the fonts have been reworked allowing for more visibility on key information during the game. There will be a lot more information involving schemes and strategy coming later as more tools will be available on both sides of the ball.

Thoughts on Some Things That Have Been Announced

The Wear and Tear system is returning and multiple aspects can be customized to tailor to anyone’s desires. Dynamic Substitutions are officially added, which means players can substitute in-game with the click of a button. The changes will happen on the following play, but any position can be subbed on the fly as this will add more strategy for managing Wear and Tear. The whole process will just be better and if you’re simply looking to quickly sub someone, that option is there without having to go to the pause menu.

Viewing the trailer, it’s obvious that Enter Sandman from Metallica will be joining the game for the Virginia Tech introduction. We interviewed Cade Klubnik at this event from Clemson who stated that Virginia Tech was his toughest away location to play in, but the introduction was awesome. Ten new PA songs have been added and a good bit of these are pop songs that we got to preview during the event. There will be 160 new specific chants to go with new exciting commentary from the returning team last year. Rece Davis was losing his mind in some situations during gameplay and it sounded both natural and fluid.

This development team is not messing around when it says it’s listening to the community. This goes for both Madden and College Football 26, and honestly, you have no idea what’s coming. The hands-on early gameplay felt fun yet more grounded, but this may be due to player skills. The amount of customization that is coming for College Football 26 will rekindle sports games of years past, as we’ll have more news coming for you over the course of the next month leading up to release on July 10. You can pre-order the MVP Bundle now, which includes both Madden NFL 26 and College Football 26.