Game forcing higher graphics + FPS drop during corners & kick offs

Over the last couple of days I’ve run into two issues in EA FC that I can’t explain, and I’m hoping someone can help me troubleshoot them.

1) Sudden increase in graphics quality

Without changing anything, I noticed a big jump in visual quality across menus, cutscenes (celebrations, penalties, free kicks), pack animations, etc. It looks like the game is forcing higher settings than usual, even though my in‑game graphics settings are still set to Low.

2) Severe stuttering on kick-offs and corners

Whenever I take a kick-off or corner (but not when the opponent does), the game tanks hard, both right before putting the ball in play and for 5-10 seconds afterward. I’m also getting periodic frame stutters throughout matches too.

What I’ve already tried

• Verified that all in‑game graphics settings are still on Low
• Checked NVIDIA Control Panel for any changes
• Updated to the latest NVIDIA drivers
• Restarted my PC
• Reopened the game and tested again — issues still happening

Why I’m confused

I’ve spent a lot of time fine‑tuning my settings, and they’ve been stable for a while. Every so often something seems to break them, and this time I can’t figure out what changed.

Extra info

My PC specs are listed below, and I’ve attached screenshots of my settings in case they help.

Any ideas on what could be causing both the sudden graphics bump and the stuttering during set pieces would be appreciated.

Intel Ultra 9
32gb RAM
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU (6 GB)
165 Hz