Return Of EA Sports College Football Brings Back Flood Of Memories

SALT LAKE CITY – Hours before Alabama and Clemson’s first of three National Championship battles in 2016, the EA Sports College Football community had a glimmer of hope.

EA Sports College Football’s social media accounts posted a video with a heartbeat.

We will have a College Football video game on Monday.

The heartbeat is officially restored.#CFB25 pic.twitter.com/WkQ4VLzCZi

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) July 14, 2024

It was the first time anyone had heard from the EA CFB team in two years.

That heartbeat led to nothing at the moment. However, it was a sign that the diehard gamers were clamoring for the NCAA/College Football series to return.

The heartbeat returns to order this week after 11 long years.

EA Sports College Football 25 will be available to the public on Friday, July 19. It will only be available on current-gen consoles, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

For those who purchased the deluxe edition, you can pick up the sticks with your early access and start playing on Monday, July 15, at 2 p.m. (MT).

EA Sports College Football 25 at Big 12 Media Days.@EASPORTSCollege pic.twitter.com/AsUdBhIC5x

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) July 9, 2024

EA Sports College Football 25 brings back a rush of nostalgia

The return of this game has brought back a wave of memories. Since I’m a millennial, that probably comes as no surprise, as nostalgia seems to hit this generation harder than most.

College football is the ultimate anticipation sport. The news cycle for content has turned into a 365 deal, which wasn’t the case when this video game series was in its heyday.

Still, no offseason news story can replicate the atmosphere of LaVell Edwards Stadium at night. Or give you the chance to take a Group of 5 (Non-BCS back then) program and turn them into a dynasty.

The game gives you that college football fix throughout the year, reminding you of those fun gameday memories and connecting you to the pageantry of the teams you love.

So it’s safe to say there weren’t many fans of former Nebraska and Arizona State QB Sam Keller and former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon filing lawsuits that ultimately brought down this beloved series for more than a decade.

Madden NFL video games don’t have the same mystique as the College Football series.

Allegiant Stadium at night, leading a bottom feeder to the Super Bowl in Franchise mode? Sure, it’s fun. It just doesn’t hit the same.

What about grinding on Heisman mode in a Dynasty and recruiting to build up a college football program that hasn’t reached the mountaintop? Sign me up.

Bigger than expected

The popularity and anticipation for College Football 25 have floored me leading up to this release.

I always knew the series had a strong core gamer base because of sites like OperationSports.com or FKrosters.com.

Fairdale Kings “FK” saved me many hours when I fired up NCAA Football 2005 with a loaded 8MB memory card filled with the players’ names on all the rosters.

This year, thanks to Name, Image, and Likeness, College Football 25 will feature everyone who opted into the game with their name. Gone are the days of “QB #1.”

In my real-life interactions as a kid and teenager, I hardly knew anyone who played the NCAA games.

I’d call my local GameStop and ask if they planned to release the annual NCAA game at midnight, and I would politely be told that the only sports game they do midnight releases for is Madden.

My first memory of purchasing the NCAA Football game at midnight was in 2007 for the 08 edition, which featured Boise State QB Jared Zabransky on the cover. I picked it up at Wal-Mart after the employee stocked a run of copies inside the secure glass case.

The Deep Dive you've all been waiting for#CFB25 is just around the corner 👀

July 19 | 🔗 : https://t.co/Ev6vq6Dcg0 pic.twitter.com/qy2aUiWoDU

— EASPORTSCollege (@EASPORTSCollege) July 2, 2024

So, seeing people get hyped for teaser trailers, dynasty deep dives, and top offense and defense rankings has blown me away. But it speaks to how much this series has meant to people even during their 11-year absence.

EA Sports College Football returns after 11 years away

The College Football Revamped team deserves much credit for keeping the game’s spirit alive.

Welcome to 2021 and NCAA 14's brand new look! Everything from the in-game scorebug, to menus, fonts, and all 152 logos have been reconstructed and redesigned to match ESPN's 2020 style and give NCAA 14 a MUCH needed face-lift.#morethanuniforms #ncaa14 #collegefootball #cfbr pic.twitter.com/sjUqvaooMP

— College Football Revamped (@CFBRevamped) January 1, 2021

That crew put in a labor of love to try to keep NCAA Football 14 modern with the current state of the sport, and they did an excellent job.

The College Football series missed an entire era of consoles and the four-team Playoff model. But CFB Revamped did a great job of filling the gap. That led many of us to save a folder on our computers called “HEN” to mod our PS3s to play a somewhat modern version of a decade-old game.

When members of that team were brought on to help build College Football 25, it was a great sign of how committed the EA Sports team was to putting together a game that connected with college football fans.

That fact alone made me believe this game would not be the “Madden reskin” that people incessantly said it would be on social media and message boards.

The jury is out until I play for myself, but after watching gameplay the past few days, I’m optimistic this isn’t a Madden clone.

Regardless, it’s hard for a college football game to be terrible.

Keeping the game alive

Not to be forgotten in the push to keep the college football video game spirit alive was the COVID-19 pandemic.

When we all spent more time at home than ever, I watched Big Cat from Barstool Sports, leading Coach Duggs to dynasty glory on his streams. It sparked an itch to dust off an old console and scratch the itch to play college football games again.

Because in 2020, I, like many, thought there was no chance we’d see a game surface ever again.

For those who never stopped believing… #EASPORTSCollegeFootball pic.twitter.com/ojDl9LzXuj

— EASPORTSCollege (@EASPORTSCollege) February 2, 2021

I’ll admit I didn’t fall under the category of people “who never stopped believing.” But I sure was happy to be wrong when EA Sports officially announced the game was returning in 2021.

Bill Walsh and College Football USA

I’ve been playing College Football video games since Christmas of 1994 when I received a brand new Sega Genesis model 2.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Rocket Knight Adventures, and Bill Walsh College Football 95 were the games I opened up, much to my six-year-old delight.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was the game I was most excited about initially, but Bill Walsh College Football 95 quickly became an obsession.

As a kid, I was fascinated by the ability to stage a college football playoff or play in bowl games. Then, the weekly “Walsh Reports” piqued my interest in writing my own reports on the games I played.

I had a composition notebook and would grab my NFL team pencils from my blue Space Maker pencil holder in my room and write recaps. I’m not sure what they consisted of, but I’m sure they highlighted “BYU QB #7,” a.k.a. John Walsh quite often.

Post the cover of the NCAA Football game that started it all for you.@EASPORTSCollege pic.twitter.com/GBDGMvu1AU

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) February 2, 2021

If it wasn’t BYU, I probably played as Miami because, as I’ve grown up to learn, every kid in Utah in the 1990s had a Florida team.

When EA Sports rolled out “Dynasty Wire,” a story generator feature for NCAA Football 11, in 2010, it made me think maybe I wasn’t as strange as I thought.

Since those early Bill Walsh years, the game was an annual tradition for me.

College Football USA, then NCAA Football. On the side, I’d dabble with NCAA Gamebreaker. But I never had the same connection as I did with the EA Sports versions of the college football games.

New era

The College Football series has always been fun. Not every game was elite, like ’13, ’06, and 2004-2005, but the games were always entertaining.

I’ll be honest. With three kids, a wife, and a job at KSL Sports that requires attention to detail around the clock during football season, will I have the same number of hours played as I did as a kid?

I’m not sure.

But I’d rather ask that question than have no game at all.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.

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