After waiting nearly 11 years for a new college football video game, fans finally got their first taste of what to expect in the latest installment of EA Sports College Football 25.
On Thursday, EA revealed this year’s cover, which features student-athletes for the first time in the storied franchise. Three players will grace the cover of CFB25 with each representing a different position. The three players include Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, Michigan running back Donovan Edwards, and Colorado wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter. We also got a little bit more information on the deluxe and MVP bundles.
But what fans really wanted to know was what game modes would make the cut. And even more importantly, how the game would play and look compared to its older brother, Madden. I don’t have all the answers. But with EA finally releasing the trailer along with some lengthy nuggets on features and game modes, we do have a little bit of an idea of what to expect. And to say that excitement is at an all-time high would be an understatement.
Here’s everything we learned from the official College Football 2025 release trailer.
Team-Specific Cutscenes And Sideline Celebrations
The thing that makes college football so different from the pros, besides their extra-wide hashes, is the atmosphere. And if EA planned to come out and immediately differentiate that, at least with the visuals and presentation, they’ve accomplished that. From the moment the trailer fades into the iconic Boise State blue turf, we knew we finally made it. Clips showcasing some of the other iconic pregame rituals fade in and out. My personal favorites were the shot of Notre Dame walking through the tunnel, the 12th man at Kyle Field, Oregon the Duck riding a motorcycle, Bevo the Longhorn being restrained in the tunnel, and Penn State’s iconic whiteout, to name a few.
There’s no confirmation on how many of these team-specific scenes made it into the game. But considering they spent the time and created a college stadium for all 134 teams, I think there’s a good chance we’ll get team-specific intros and cutscenes for most teams. Another neat detail we saw in the trailer was the introduction of turnover chains and belts, and we even witnessed a Pitt Panther pulling off a 360-slam on a mini-basketball hoop. It’s all there. Every little detail that makes your favorite school or college atmosphere unique.
Authentic Rosters And Commentary Teams
Let’s not forget that for the first time in a college football game, student-athletes get to see and hear their unique characters, and it’s an absolute game-changer. Gone are the days of manually editing each player or relying on a memory card from eBay. Several questions remain, like how often rosters will be updated or whether or not we’ll get additional face scans as we see with Madden. Plenty of players improve throughout a college football season and injuries play a factor.
This is also the first year a football video game will implement multiple broadcast teams, with the big dogs Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit calling the marquee matchups. Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, and David Pollack will be the standard commentary team. This should keep the commentary fresh and really add a big-game-feel element to the games that Fowler and Herbstreit call. Additionally, each team will have stadium-specific sights and sounds between plays, adding the necessary realism to make this the college football game.
Dynasty Mode, Road To Glory, College Ultimate Team, And More
Along with a new trailer, we also got our first glimpse at some of the different game modes and features that have made it into this year’s game via a new series called Campus Huddle. On the surface, I think fans will be happy with what CFB25 is bringing to the table. Dynasty mode is back and better than ever, with NIL deals and the transfer portal shaking things up. How this will ultimately play compared to the dynasty mode we fell in love with many years ago is still unknown. But with their reputation at stake, I can’t imagine a disappointing dynasty mode, no matter how frustrated we may get with Madden.
That said, we won’t have cross-play for dynasty mode according to the official FAQ, but there will be online dynasty mode for up to 32 players.
Road to Glory is another staple that really helped grow the popularity of the NCAA franchise. Very few details have emerged, but if they can manage to recycle the magic we all felt in previous games and somehow tie it into this year’s Madden, we may really have a solid single-player football game mode. And for those who have been following my work for the last several years, you know this would be a dream come true.
Cross-play has found its way into next-gen college football, with gamers getting to compete with one another in a variety of game modes, including College Ultimate Team, Play Now against friends, and Road to the College Playoffs. Although not much information is known on the Road to the College Playoffs mode, it seems like a way to play more “important” H2H games across platforms. Ultimate team, for example, will have more competitive formats for those looking to play cross-platform.
I’m not a fan of Madden Ultimate Team, so I admittedly got a bit queasy when I saw that the popular game mode would be returning to the college scene with College Football Ultimate Team. With that said, there’s definitely a place for a game mode like Ultimate Team, where the prime goals are to grind specific objectives and climb the ranks while building a legendary squad. I also think the college game can bring many unique cards and players to the forefront of this game mode, which may not get the same type of attention or glory in a game like Madden. Nevertheless, for EA to succeed, they must strike a happy medium between the Ultimate Team crowd and keeping the core fans around.
Team Builder, Wear And Tear, CampusIQ
One of my favorite features in previous games was the ability to create your own school from the ground up. This is back and better than ever before, with the official site claiming players can upload their own team logos and compete with their new universities in Play Now and offline dynasty modes. “Wear and tear” has also been implemented this year, stealing a page out of the NFL Head Coach playbook. I’m sure this is to counter the Travis Hunters of the world, but a legitimate fatigue system that wears down as the game progresses would be great.
A few other features EA is promoting with the game include wide-open, fast-paced gameplay and pre-snap recognition. The latter is probably no different from what we’ve seen in previous games. The same probably holds true for homefield advantage, which has slowly found its way into Madden over the last few years.
Bottom Line
There’s plenty of information that will circulate over the next two months, but for now, I couldn’t be happier with what we’ve seen from EA Sports College Football 25. It’s breathtaking and embodies everything we hoped a college football game would in the year 2024. And although we don’t know how the gameplay will hold up against Madden or even our GOAT, NCAA 14, fans have to be pleased with what EA is slowly starting to reveal.
The stadiums and characters look authentic, and the added sights and sounds appear better than ever before. It even looks as though we’ll get some of our favorite game modes (dynasty, Road to Glory, etc…), with updated objectives like GPAs and the transfer portal playing a critical factor.
The only question I have now is how we are supposed to go back to living our lives knowing that we are only two months away from a moment many of us have been waiting for since July 9, 2013.
The Standard Edition of EA Sports College Football 25 is scheduled to release on July 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Fans can get behind the sticks three days early on July 16 by pre-ordering the Deluxe Edition or MVP Bundle. The EA Play trial for the game will also be available on July 16.
