The two things that CFB needs to get right (that NCAA 14 got wrong)
If you're anything like me, you see CFB25 as the "last stand" of NCAA football as a sport. Money has all but destroyed the pageantry of the game, and this title will be our escape from the realities of the college football landscape. I have no love for EA anymore but there is a part of me that remembers the pure nirvana of the 2000s and wants to believe that the 2010s were subject to the NCAA overlords getting too bullish in their influence. I was pleasantly surprised how EA handled the loss of FIFA's blessing with EAFC and I hope they go even further with CFB25. I've been playing NCAA 14 Revamped for years (as I'm sure many of us have) and for all the amazing work they've done, there has always been systemic issues with the base game that they simply couldn't fix, forcing us to rely on self-imposed house rules. Nuking the injury rating of every incoming freshman and literally flipping a coin to simulate in-season injuries is no way to play a game of football. I believe that the Revamped crew's input combined with EA's freedom to create the game they want will result in a CFB return that we can be proud of, but let me just emphasize a couple of "final touches" that I hope have made it into the game.
1. Allow us to restore order to the college football landscape entirely. Custom conferences, in retrospect, were probably the most important feature of the old games. But it was always clunky to use and seemed half-baked in that moving a school to a new conference did nothing to update that school's graphics or profile. Field logos, jersey patches, the inability to ever develop a new in-conference rivalry, etc. It was what it was as college football wasn't entirely broken yet despite realignment at the time and the feature was probably thrown in as a nicety. Today, however, I don't know who would want to play in a college football universe where the Pac 12 has only two schools, the Big 10 and SEC have gorged themselves, and there's little joy in playing as a school from anywhere else. Custom conferences, nay, custom everything should be a priority now. I've heard rumors that there will be options to modify the playoff structure, and that's the start I want to see and what gives me hope for this game. But more needs to be flexible than just how many teams make the playoff.
2. Make roster management deeper than the sea. We don't need to get into NIL and the transfer portal. The devs know what's up and they'll model it as best they can. But in regards to NCAA 14, it was virtually pointless to recruit for depth because injuries were so scarce (O-linemen literally never got injured), transfers were so rare and nonsensical when they did happen, and NCAA influence robbed us of the roguelike random bits of drama that were player discipline and suspensions. Recruiting was like a building a conveyor belt for each position--bringing in freshmen to merely feed the machine and ride the pine until the guy in front of them graduated. It all became a mundane process with little variance. While I'm not a fan of NIL's influence on transfers and recruiting, I'm willing to put up with it as long as it is but one factor in how I build my team. By introducing this wear and tear mechanic, I want to know that it applies to linemen as well as my backup running back. I want to breathe a sigh of relief that my players made it through the week of practice unscathed because there is a palpable possibility that they won't. Bring back player personalities and the risk-reward that came with a high-talent/low character hooligan. Make roster building dangerous and complex! When it feels like EA takes pleasure in dumbing down its game systems to appeal to the casuals, I really hope they don't insult the intelligence of the CFB playerbase, because they should know who we are.
Against my better judgment, I believe that the first college football game in a decade is an undertaking that EA is honored to put forward and relishes the challenge in executing. That there's no NCAA hanging over their heads should make this a slam dunk return to glory for a franchise that played so special a role in so many childhoods. When they say that Dynasty will be their focus because Dynasty is what made the NCAA football games great, I dare to believe them. I believe they'll get 90% of it right just by default. This post is just a reminder from 10 years ago of that last 10% that current gen technology may be able to fix.
