EA Sports College Football 26 Review

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Can you smell that, yes that... It's college football season!!! Well for us gamers at least, EA has dropped their second iteration of College Football. EA Sports College Football 26 has arrived and I'm here to tell you if it's a TD or INT.

This year's version of CFB 26 has had a lot of hype surrounding it. A lot of players wondering if the improvements they wanted were going to be in the game, what new features are we going to see and if you can playthrough high school in "Road to Glory". EA themselves showed us some of the changes like for the first time the real-life coaches are in the game. The introduction of over 2000 new plays, which include new formations and team specific play books.

Presentation

EA Sports stepped up the presentation aspect in this year's version of College Football 26. The attention to detail can be seen right from the start of games, like pregame run outs. You can feel the energy from the fans as "Mr. Brightside" is played in the "The Big House" for Michigan or the pounding drums from "Enter Sandman" as Va Tech players take the field. These kinds of details were put into over 130 schools in the game. From the smaller teams having their own rituals to some of the bigger schools getting updated from last year.

Mascots are a core part of college football, and EA Sports College Football 26 delivers by adding over a dozen new ones to the game this year. These fresh additions bring even more school spirit and authenticity to the experience. Along with new touchdowns and turnover celebrations. Certain teams even have a short cutscene, like Georgia plays wearing their savage pads or Pitt dunking the ball in their mini basketball goal.

One of my favorite things in college football is the night games. Being in SEC country and staying in Alabama, the Tide night games are legendary. Even more so when it is a rivalry game. Fireworks blasting from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium for the Florida Gators. EA Sports captured these and so much in College Football 26.

In the game we see new player graphics, a new scoreboard, new commentary and some other needed improvements. One thing that for sure stands out is the new music. We have several new songs played by a variety of bands. The Marching band cover includes songs like "B.O.B", "Swag Surfin", "Blinding Lights" and more. College Football 26 also features fight songs from over 50 schools.

Gameplay

The first time picking up the controller to play the CFB 26, you could feel the movement felt smoother than last year. The overall player movement has improved so much this year. Tackling, running, blocking to catching the ball you can see and feel a difference. A new feature they added allows the ball carrier to stretch the ball out to get those extra yards. While helpful you must be careful because you can and will fumble if hit while doing this. EA Sports have resolved an issue that was a big problem in CFB 25, no more no look interceptions by the defenders. I tested this multiple times during my playthrough, and it looks fixed now… The defender must have eyes on the ball to intercept it; they can still swat the ball so be aware of that.

Another new feature I utilized a bunch were dynamic subs. This gives the player the ability to swap players on the field and not have to wait for the play call screen. It does take a play for it to go into effect, but this is a useful addition especially with wear and tear. On defense we saw the addition of custom zones, which gives us the power to set how far and how close we want our defender to play in an area. If you want your right-side cornerback to cover the line of scrimmage to help stop an opponent RPO you can do that with custom zones.

More defensive features include being able to use pass rush stunts. As a former defensive lineman myself, using the occasional stunt to help get penetration and confuse the opposing team's offensive lineman was always a fun time. Having this at my fingertip just adds another aspect to making defense fun. Players also have access to new tackle types such breakdown tackles, dive tackles and even leverage tackle-eligible plays.

Defense didn't get all the love; the offensive side of the ball got some new features as well. College Football 26 now includes block steering. This gives players the ability to influence the direction of blocks during gameplay. It's more control over the blocking interactions based on players strengths and weight ratings. Press specific buttons on PlayStation or Xbox to access the feature.

This year, a quarterback's height directly affects Field Vision. That means if your QB is on the shorter side they may have trouble throwing over their massive offensive lineman. They will have to utilize throwing lanes for better accuracy. Quarterbacks have moves now, certain QBs can juke while behind the line of scrimmage to avoid oncoming tacklers.

College Football 26 gives us new player abilities and over 59 player archetypes. New player archetypes for every position on the field like Pure Runner QB, Elusive Bruiser RB, Contested Specialist WR, Thumper Mike LB and the list goes on and on. Finding the right archetype with the right abilities is like finding the secret in the secret sauce. For instance, getting a Thumper MIKE LB with the aftershock and hammer abilities can be game changing.

Road to Glory

CFB 26 finally takes us back to high school with their "Road to Glory" Mode. Starting with RTG you must first decide if you want to be a 5-star athlete or try to earn your offers as a 2-star player. Once that is complete, now you choose your position, you decide from either a QB, RB, WR, MIKE or CB and then choose the archetype for the player you want to be. Each archetype comes with its own advantages and disadvantages.

You can play in 5 games and in those games, you only have 4 drives that you play in. Here is where you earn tape scores by completing challenges. Completing challenges helps you earn a scholarship to the schools of your choice. Depending on the school and if they are recruiting other players at your position, you could be offered a position on the bench or a possible starter spot.

I will say trying to reach a 5-star athlete from 2-star is not easy at all. Being a 2-star athlete, the path can be difficult. You must play near perfectly to get offers from the bigger programs. I thoroughly enjoyed "Road to Glory" even though you can't play through the entire game. Maybe we will see that in EA Sports College Football 27. I also enjoyed the small touches EA added where we have "Senior Night", and you have a "Hat Day" where you choose what school you are going to attend.

Outside of those thing "Road to Glory" is essentially the same as last years version. There are a few more dynamic conversations, which can increase or decrease a skill depending on what option you pick. Your teammates, depending on your position, will still run bad routes and your coach will still call a bad play from time to time. During off field time you must manage between studying, resting, leadership skills, training and managing your brand. With the addition of high school RTG is still a fun time, not quite great just yet though.

Dynasty

For me College Football 25 Dynasty Mode was my bread and butter. Most of my time was spent playing in it. I was beyond excited to start fresh with CFB 26 and take my team to multiple national championships. With over 300 real world coaches, I still must create my own coach. CFB 26 gives a lot more customizations option this year, from their clothing to how they stand and behave on the sideline. Â EA also increased the level cap to 100, which is up from the 50 we had in CFB 25. When building your coach, it's better to go the way of specializing in a certain area instead of the jack of all trades type of build. Hiring the good coordinators can compensate for your weakness.

EA Sports College Football 26 brings a ton of smart quality-of-life upgrades that make Dynasty Mode smoother and more immersive. Recruiting local players now costs fewer hours, team needs stay pinned at the top of the recruiting screen, and every athlete has a dealbreaker that can shift over time. The Transfer Portal feels more active, and player development now depends on your school's training facilities. Best of all, you can finally manually level up players, adding more control to how your team grows. These updates make programs like UConn and Boise State feel more realistic and challenging to manage.

Despite these welcome changes, Dynasty Mode still sticks closely to its traditional formula. The core experience"”recruiting, upgrading your coach, and playing games"”remains intact, with most improvements happening under the hood. If you loved it before, you'll enjoy it even more now. But if you've been hoping for deeper off-field features or more variety, those pieces still haven't arrived. It's a polished upgrade, not a complete reinvention.

Final Thoughts

EA Sports College Football 26 was one of my most anticipated games this year. From the EA deep dives and all the news, I was excited to play this game. While still exciting, there are some issues with the game. I ran into the bug where I could not call a play, there by having to waste a timeout. This happened to me several times during my "Road to Glory" with my QB. There was another bug I encountered where I kept receiving an error message saying, "I was not signed into the PlayStation Network". I have even experienced a crash, in the middle of my game, which happened twice in one night.

Gameplay had a few issues as well. There were countless times when I had a defender in front of the ball, but the interception was just dropped. Had receivers dropping balls when wide open and it increased during weather games. Notice that the defense has a delayed reacting when the QB scrambles, some defenders wouldn't even move.

Outside of all those issues College Football 26 is still a fun game, that I'm probably going to put close to 300 hundred hours into until we get the next version. Is this a perfect game, nope, it is better than last year, in some areas absolutely. However, with some challenges and other lingering issues, EA Sports College Football 26 is a solid 8 for me.