It’s In the Game – I Hope

Everything I want in the new EA College Football game, and then some.

By DREW

There’s no doubt that the Name, Image, and Likeness deal has changed the landscape of college football. Players, once relegated to surviving on the scraps of part-time jobs, full-ride scholarships, and the meager offerings of under-the-table booster money, are now able to make a quarter of what universities have been making off of them for decades.

Regardless of how you feel about whether the NIL is a good thing or bad thing, we can all agree on one positive: it opens the door for another college football console video game.

From 1993 to 2013, Electronic Arts (heretofore referred to as “EA”) Sports produced a yearly college football game for whatever console popular at the time, and it was amazing. Over 100+ teams, all their stadiums (eventually) and what I appreciated the most, the ability to create custom teams and custom players.

Where EA really blew our minds it’s when they came up with the career mode and the custom dynasty mode. We had several dynasty leagues in college; I can remember racing out of class on Fridays to get back and try to take on my old roommate for supremacy. 

One league ended abruptly when the commissioner took one too many an L and “lost” the memory card. I was mad; I had Vandy in contention the SEC East when the season ended.

There’s still an uphill battle to bring the series back, but there’s more promise now than ever.

So that said, there are a few things I think need to be added to the next NCAA Football title:

OVERAGRANDIZED SIGNING DAY ANTICS: Toward the end of it’s run, NCAA Football allowed your career to start in your senior year of high school (which you could customize to be your high school and it’s schedule) and build stats up to eventually become a five-star recruit. What I want is the ability to plan out the stupidly elaborate signing day ego trip we see all-too-often these days. Pull out a bulldog pup? Child’s play. I’m riding in on an actual Lobo dressed in full western gear to announce my decision to lead New Mexico to dominate the eventual WAC-PAC Conference.

SKETCHY AGENTS: Oh I better get hit up after leading Idaho to a National Title. I want NIL money (more on that later), I want that cool “headline/magazine cover” thing that has always been in the game, and I want some rookie agent dogging me and trying to ruin my eligibility before junior year starts. I mean, Ace Moneymaker’s gotta start somewhere, and if it means texting me and causing me to sit out a quarter against Texas, bring it on. I’m going full Johnny Football and leading a comeback for the ages.

NIL DEALS: The game has to change to meet the times, and that means adding NIL deals. And make no mistake, I may not take them all, but I will review them all. Fake or not. Harry’s House of Hubcaps? I’ll holla. Tiburon Studios? Put my face on the fish. Our friends at Faulty Spark Plugs or Dogwater Sports Drink want in? I’d better be able to slap my EA Mug all over their ads. I also want to see bidding wars for my services too. You’d better believe I’ll go to LSU over USC if it means I get a lifetime supply of Tabasco.

TAKING MY TALENTS TO THE NEXT LEVEL: Old timers remember the supreme achievement in NCAA: having your career player do so well you could export them to a file and import the same player to be drafted in a high round in Madden. It was awesome. I once took Baylor to incredible heights—before anyone ever heard of RGIII—winning the National title, a Heisman, and maybe even a Maxwell. My reward? Getting selected early-to-mid first round by Washington, ironically enough. Maybe that wasn’t a reward. All of my stats and skills transferred over, and the player had to work hard to correct some of the things that worked in college but not the NFL. I’d like to see this again, and I think most of the people who played both titles would too.

THE ABILITY TO TRANSFER: Look, sometimes, it doesn’t work out. And if I’ve learned anything from college football the last decade, it can not work out several times. I want the COVID transfer bonus, and I want the ability to transfer without sitting out. In all seriousness, one of the few complaints I had with the old series was that you couldn’t ever leave your chosen school. I rode the bench at TCU for several years because my player’s scramble-and-sling style didn’t jive with the coaching style. I would’ve loved to have moved on, but was locked in. I really think this needs to be added to the next game and add an air of realism to it.

That’s what I want to see, what about you? What would add? Let us know in the comments, and as always, thanks for reading!