EA Sports College Football returned last year after a more than 10-year hiatus to record-setting numbers. EA Sports College Football 25 (CFB 25) ended the year as second-best-selling game in the U.S. Now, EA Sports is back for another go at defining college ball with EA Sports College Football 26 (CFB 26).
College Football 26 revealed the new game in late May, giving players a glimpse of what is coming for the July release. This included new features to the core game modes, Dynasty and Road to Glory. The goal was to add more authenticity by adding licensed real-world coaches, expanded playbooks, and a more robust love for pageantry.
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The in-game experience will also get new elements, like defensive adjustments, a more expansive and intense Home Field Advantage, and the big one: an upgraded Physics-Based Tackling System. This is just a little taste of things that were mentioned and are to come. Anyone looking for more of an overview of the new features can check out EA’s Campus Huddle Blog.
We got a chance to go hands-on with EA Sports College Football 26 and see some of the new gameplay for this sophomore addition to the franchise. During our hands-on preview event, we dove into the basics with Play Now sessions. And from those, two big things jump out right off the bat: pageantry and physics-based tackling.
EA Sports College Football 25 makes its Game Day atmosphere even better.
EA Sports College Football 25 already set a pretty high bar with stadiums feeling like they felt alive when you were playing a game, and College Football 26 is no different. Whether playing with the most prestigious of schools or an underdog, the stadium felt alive, and like you were at the game—the unique pageantry of the schools, including team introductions, and how the stadium just comes alive.
The other major aspect is in the upgraded Physics-Basic Tackling System. The new system introduces new tackle types and eliminates some of the “animation locking” that often led to frustrating and, to be honest, weird-looking situations. In many ways, tackling feels like you are actually tackling someone now, all because player movement has more responsiveness. As you play through games, it seems like the players are making collisions versus running close enough to hopefully get into a tackle animation.
This, of course, doesn’t mean there aren’t still animations in the gameplay. Still, at least from my limited time playing College Football 26, the abnormal “animation locking” like a player “stacking” on top of random players as he is being tackled, or blind picks were nowhere to be seen. As much as this is felt on the defensive side of the ball, this is also felt when playing offense.
When trying to get the corner during an outside play, it felt like your players could actually get there and not be sucked into a leg-wrapping animation tackle you just can’t escape. One of the most noticeable things for me is that it didn’t feel like players were being “warped” into animations outside the routes. CFB 25‘s gameplay already felt really good when it came to gameplay speed and player movement, so it’s quite impressive that College Football 26 is improving on that foundation.
Physics-based tackling is setting up to be a CFB gamechanger.
EA Sports College Football 26 introduces over 2,800 new plays and plenty of new formations to accompany them. The playbooks really show off the new plays. While we won’t get into the authentic playbooks or team schemes being added, the additions are noticeable even in Play Now.
Plays have much more pre-snap motion and movement. This highlights the creativity that people see from teams on Saturday Game Days. It also allows you to utilize putting players in space to take advantage of their athleticism, such as WRs in Options and RPOs. This helps balance all the defensive adjustments that have been placed into the game as well.
It makes the game and play calling feel more creative and allows for the open, fast-paced gameplay that college football is known for against professional football. Something as simple as having a running back motion to the other side of the quarterback to run a basic read option is now available, and that is exciting.
There is still much left to see from EA Sports College Football 26, both in terms of in-depth gameplay and new features. As an avid CFB 25 player (and having played in the same Dynasty since the NCAA days), I wasn’t entirely sure what the EA Sports team had in store for College Football 26, but after diving into the game myself, I couldn’t help but be impressed and excited to see more.
If you want learn more details about the changes and new gameplay features EA Campus Huddle Gameplay Deep Dive is available.
EA Sports College Football 26 is available for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S with cross-play across modes.
