Florida Football: Three ways for EA Sports College Football 25 to not be terrible

On July 19, the long awaited return of the NCAA video game series will launch as EA Sports College Football 25 is set to drop. In one breathe this is a day many video gamers have been looking forward to for over a decade. In another breathe, EA Sports hasn't thrown away a ton of goodwill over the last decade.

With Madden, EA FC (formally FIFA), and the NHL series all having annual issues, what does EA Sports College Football 25 need to do to ensure gamers aren't ticked off come August?

Focus on Dynasty, not Ultimate team

Yes, NCAA 14 had an Ultimate Team mode. No, no one played it and EA Sports didn't pay much attention to it.

One of the massive reasons the Madden series and the FIFA/EA FC series have gone downhill in the last decade is because of EA's apathy in making annual improvements. Because Ultimate Team essentially forces users into microtransactions if they at all want a competitive team to use online, EA rakes in so much money year after year that they don't feel pressured to make improvements.

Franchise mode in Madden has gone essentially untouched over the last few iterations, and when they do make "changes" they are miniscule and irrelevant to how the mode plays out.

And the problem is that by the third or fourth season of Franchise, rosters get completely skewed because of AI logic that trying to press forward in the mode becomes a chore rather than a feature.

EA Sports College Football 25 is going to have an Ultimate Team mode and EA is already winding up the packs in the presale options. No Florida Football fan wants to play a mode where the only way to win is to put some Georgia of FSU players on the squad.

We're sure Georgia and FSU fans feel the same way.

Make defensive backs behave in a logical manner

Whether one opts to play online or play offline, gameplay is what will decide the fate of this game in the long run.

Among the massive issues present in Madden, defensive back logic continues to be a sore spot. Far too many times one can throw a pass to a wide open receiver where the opposing defensive back either has their back turned and isn't looking or their momentum should continue to carry them in a direction away from the ball.

Nope, route jump, interception.

The other problem, and this is prevalent in EA FC as well, is that EA can't decide when ratings do or don't matter.

For example, sometimes you can put a 95-speed guy up against a 75-speed and blow right by them. Other rimes the 75 speed will be stride for stride.

Sim stats are realistic

Going back to dynasty mode, one of Madden's massive struggles is that player and team stats are wonky when siming an entire game or even just a half.

For players hoping to get through multiple seasons of dynasty who also do this thing called work, players are going to have to sim some stuff here and there.

And much like the interactions between defensive backs and receivers, there has to be some level of predictability when siming and not just constant chaos.

As fun as it is to see someone like Western Kentucky randomly win a national title, it simply isn't realistic.