Summary
- EA Sports College Football 25 receives a new update focusing on gameplay, presentation, and game modes.
- The September update brings realism to uniforms and stadiums, the ability to save custom audibles, and better defensive playbooks.
- Changes include fixes for bugs, adjustments to gameplay, and mode improvements.
EA has released another new update for EA Sports College Football 25, making a lot of adjustments to general gameplay, presentation, and three different game modes. The September update for EA Sports College Football 25 provides fixes to the game's Dynasty, College Ultimate Team, and Road to Glory modes, as well as providing more realism in its uniforms and stadiums and beefing up defensive playbooks.
The success seen by the return of college football to EA after an 11-year absence has been remarkable, and its sales have reflected just how eager players have been to get a new college experience. EA Sports College Football 25 was the top-selling game in the United States in July, according to Circana executive director Mat Piscatella, with second place belonging to the EA Sports MVP Bundle, which includes the Deluxe Editions of both College Football 25 and Madden NFL 25.
Despite its commercial success, the game has not been without its flaws, many of which are addressed in the latest update. While the last major update for EA Sports College Football 25, released about three weeks ago, included offensive adjustments like more responsive pass blocking and balancing of Smart Routing, the gameplay updates this time around seem to focus a little more on the defensive side of the ball, especially in nickel formations. Playbooks for Nickel 3-3 Over and Nickel Over formations now feature three additional blitz plays to put pressure on opposing offenses from the outside, while two other new plays, Cover 4 Field Drop and Cover 3 Buzz Mable, offer more versatility in the secondary.
In addition to gameplay, the new update also introduces some fixes to EA Sports College Football 25 bugs and exploits. One of the more notable ones patches out an exploit that some players had been using on kickoffs to prevent the receiving team from being able to pick up the ball. Custom audibles can now be assigned and saved across all 32 playbooks in the game, meaning players won't have to keep manually resetting them from game to game. Additionally, the Wear and Tear feature, intended to show player fatigue as the season drags on, has been turned down a notch, preventing players from getting worn out too early.
In terms of game modes, while Road to Glory and College Ultimate Team see a lot of adjustments, the most attention seems to have been paid to EA Sports College Football's Dynasty Mode. There have been a couple of changes to recruiting, with bigger penalties for making uninteresting pitches to recruits and bigger rewards for higher school grades. The update also makes some improvements to custom scheduling, with a repair to the scheduling auto-fix feature and a correction in the ACC schedule rotation in 2025 and 2026.
EA Sports College Football 25 September 2024 Update Notes
Gameplay
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Added ability to Save Custom Audibles across all modes.
- Dev Note: As you change audibles in your formation at play call, they will save automatically and will not change from game to game. You will be able to do this for up to 32 playbooks. To change audibles, press LT/L2 after choosing a formation in playcall.
- Tuned Wear and Tear to slow down the accrual rate.
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Fixed a kickoff exploit where players could cause the ball to not be caught by the receiving team.
- Dev Note: We will continue to monitor feedback on this fix and will make further changes if necessary.
- Fixed an issue with Smart Routed Custom Stems which resulted with a Speed Boost off the line at the snap.
- Slight Composure tuning to increase the impact to attributes when getting hot or cold.
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Several Zone Coverage AI improvements:
- Addressed an issue preventing the Curl Flat zone depth coach adjustment from working properly when set at less than 15 yards.
- Addressed an issue causing Curl Flat defenders to continue to drift away from an eligible receiving threat in close proximity.
- Addressed an issue causing outside Deep Third defenders to bail too quickly from their alignment at the snap.
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General CPU play call and coach suggestion tuning across all modes.
- Dev Note: We adjusted play-call situations for certain coverages to be used more frequently vs Trips and Bunch formations.
- Partnered with a current Run and Shoot coach to improve authenticity in the run and shoot offense, this will include some minor adjustments to pre-existing plays and the inclusion of new plays in Run and Shoot Offensive playbook.
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Added new defensive plays for Nickel 3-3 Over and Nickel Over that are designed to bring pressure from the outside:
- Edge Blitz 0
- Edge Blitz 3
- FS Will Blitz 0
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Added Cover 3 Buzz Mable in Nickel 3-3 Over, Nickel Over, and Nickel 3-3 Odd.
- This version is ideal for defending formations with three receivers to the same side, such as Trips or Bunch.
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Added Cover 4 Field Drop to Nickel 3-3 Over and Nickel Over
- Dev Note: This is a 3-man rush with 8 defenders dropping into coverage; by default, the Nickel DB aligns to the wide side of the field and the defensive end on the opposite side (short side of the field) will drop into coverage.
- Added Nickel 3-3 Cub to 3-4 Multiple and 4-3 Multiple playbooks.
- Added Nickel 3-3 Mint to the 3-3-5 playbook.
- Replaced the Curl assignment with Vertical Hook assignment on Cover 6 and Cover 9 plays.
- Adjusted a defensive alignment and run fit issues with the plays in Nickel 3-3 Mint.
- Changed who the 4th rusher from an inside linebacker to an outside linebacker in 3-3-5 Mint Cover 4 Quarters and Palms.
Dynasty
- Fixed an issue where selecting auto-fix schedules in custom schedules would not correctly fix the schedule.
- Fixed an issue where recruits would be assigned incorrect jersey numbers up until Position Changes in the offseason.
- Increased the penalty for choosing pitches that the recruit is not interested in when hard or soft selling.
- Increased the reward for higher school grades when pitching a recruit with a hard or soft sell.
- Fixed an issue with the ACC schedule rotation in 2025 and 2026.
- Updated the name of Liberty’s stadium to Williams Stadium.
- Updated the name of FIU’s stadium to Pitbull Stadium.
- Fixed issues in various news stories that had the wrong score and team winning.
- Updated the Florida single game sack record holder to be Alex Brown.
- Included additional pop ups in recruiting to inform the user why certain actions are not allowed.
- Fixed an issue where the wrong award trophy was appearing in the Awards screen.
- Fixed an issue where coaches would not receive any job offers when receiving a contract extension.
College Ultimate Team
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Fixed some issues with a select group of players having inaccurate appearances in game.
- Dev Note: We are continuing to work on this issue and have additional fixes planned for future Title Updates.
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Swapped the following schools playbooks:
- Texas & Texas A&M
- Utah & Utah State
- Fixed an issue where some Team Chems were not being highlighted even though the user owned enough qualifying players when generating teams with recommended chems.
- Fixed an issue where sets were missing pack art after being redeemed.
- Fixed stability issues around Practice Mode.
- Fixed stability issues with Challenges.
- Fixed text alignment issues.
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We have a few live service issues that are being worked on currently, stay tuned to @EASports_CUT for more updates:
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Lineup Issues:
- Booger McFarland & Warren Sapp being unavailable in the same lineup.
- Announcers calling out the wrong names.
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Sets:
- Objectives for 85+ Sets not tracking properly.
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Lineup Issues:
Road to Glory
- Updated the icon for the Adidas Electric+ 2 cleats.
- Fixed an issue where sometimes a message sent in a scenario displays as a message received.
- Various fixes to scenario logic and text.
Presentation and UI Updates
- Various stadium authenticity updates to multiple schools.
- New uniform pieces for Colorado, Louisiana Tech, Northern Illinois, Colorado State, Boston College, Oklahoma, Georgia State, Texas State, Kansas, Fresno State, Liberty, Western Kentucky, Arizona, South Carolina, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Texas, Sam Houston State, Kennesaw State, ULM, Tulane, Jacksonville State.
- Adjusted uniforms to the 2024 season version for Texas State, Liberty, Georgia Southern, Jacksonville State.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 81 /100 Critics Rec: 84%
- Released
- July 19, 2024
- ESRB
- E For Everyone Due To Alcohol Reference
- Developer(s)
- EA Orlando
- Publisher(s)
- EA
- Engine
- frostbite
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Franchise
- EA Sports College Football
WHERE TO PLAY
In EA SPORTS™ College Football 25 experience explosive gameplay variety across 134 FBS schools and immerse yourself in the iconic atmospheres of college football as you chase college greatness. CampusIQ™ Immerse yourself in authentic, fast-paced, college football gameplay with CampusIQ™. Test your strategic decision-making with an all-new composure system, player Wear & Tear, screen-shaking homefield advantages and dozens of diverse play styles across 134 FBS teams. Iconic Atmospheres From The Big House to The Swamp. From Tuscaloosa to College Station. Experience the decibel-shaking soundscape of college football putting you inside the stadium, alongside all the iconic rituals and traditions that make you feel right at home. Bring Glory Home Set a new standard for college football greatness in classic modes like Dynasty and Road To Glory. Recruit a winning roster, develop a coaching staff, and lead your program to the Championship as a created coach, or balance student-athlete life and take home the Heisman as a player.
- Platform(s)
- PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Genre(s)
- Sports
