College football will return to the virtual gridiron when EA Sports College Football launches in the summer of 2024, giving hardcore fans of the franchise their first release in 10 years. Significant differences in structure help make the college-focused game stand out from the NFL, and EA can leverage several modes in EA Sports College Football to make its next release different enough from Madden to shine as a must-buy for fans.
College football features several large conferences that operate as separate entities, with member schools playing a specific schedule with three non-conference games worked in. Some conferences are full of powerhouses, and others are comprised of relatively small schools that don't produce as much hype, but every different conference provides the potential for unique experiences in a video game adaptation. A new playoff system for real college football is also rolling out in 2024, giving the EA Sports College Football game a chance to hit the ground running with this new format.
Road to Glory Should Return in EA Sports College Football
Road to Glory is EA Sports College Football's "Be A Pro" mode, allowing players to live the life of a college athlete on and off the field. Players create their own character and are locked to their position throughout a college career, giving a lot more weight to any choice. After completing a high school career, the player selects from available scholarship offers and joins a Division 1 team, balancing school, fame, and team activities to develop their skills and achieve glory on the field.
Before the NCAA Football series was canceled, Road to Glory was arguably its centerpiece. The mode offered immersion that other modes in titles like Madden or NHL did not, and leading a team to the National Championship while competing for the coveted Heisman Trophy gave every match and practice a level of importance that is hard to find in competing sports games. With new mechanics and a deeper off-field college experience, Road to Glory could once again stand out as the premier mode in EA Sports College Football.
EA Sports Should Let Players Build a College Football Dynasty
Tradition in college football helps it stand out among other sports. Rivalries span generations, with some existing over 100 years, and teams play for annual rivalry trophies like bells, pigs, jugs, axes, and shillelaghs. This aspect of college football makes the EA Sports College Football version of Franchise, known as "Dynasty," one of the strongest fan-favorite modes in any sports game. The new game should continue this legacy, but find a way to harness an extra layer of management that the rise of the transfer portal has presented. Players would need to find ways to make their team members happy through honest commitments, or risk losing their trust and having them leave.
Online Dynasty lets players invite their friends to take part in a season, and EA Sports would miss out of it doesn't bring this back for EA Sports College Football in 2024. Groups of friends can construct a season where players control any team, or it can be set as limited to one conference per-players so that there are head-to-head matches almost every week. The Online Dynasty mode also includes recruiting, management, and development features from the standard Dynasty mode with the added benefit of friendly competition. Madden's Connected Franchise often gets praise in this regard, but NCAA Football 14's Online Dynasty was a true stand-out and should be included in the new game.
Taking Advantage of College Football's New Playoff Format
College football recently approved a new 12-team playoff format that will begin with the 2024 season, so EA Sports College Football has a prime opportunity to capture this style immediately. More teams taking part in the playoffs than the current format of four teams should encourage players to use a wider range of competitors, as more than just a handful of teams will be equipped to make it into the playoff on the harder difficulties. EA Sports College Football should look to incorporate innovative presentation elements to highlight weekly rankings and celebrate big moves by teams or players, similar to what MLB The Show does with podcasts in its Road to the Show mode.
EA Sports College Football is in development.