College Football 26 preview: EA says “We listened” with 2,800 new plays and 300 coaches

As myriad successful pop groups will tell you, there's only one problem with unleashing a universally acclaimed debut album: getting the follow-up right. For the past year, the team at EA Orlando has faced a similar challenge. Its first NCAA-themed game in over a decade scored GR's sports game of the year honor for 2024, along with numerous other accolades. For sequel College Football 26 that suddenly means pressure. Attention. Expectation.

It's encouraging, then, to hear senior production director Rob Jones tell GR of the team's two-word ethos for the sequel: "We listened." The priority for Jones and his colleagues is to take on board fan feedback, and use it as the foundation for year two. He tells stories of devs throwing around ideas they'd just seen on Reddit at 3am, then adding them to the game the next day. The result is even more of what worked in year one: more traditions, more authenticity, more ludicrous plays that you only see in pre-NFL football.

Lofty numbers

Impressively, the dev team appears to be blending depth with accessibility. There are 136 different offensive playbooks for you to take the field with, containing 2,800 new plays and 45 new formations – but, whoever you're controlling, EA has focused on affording you a "four-minute offense". The idea is that even if you start on your own five-yard line, there are myriad ways to march down the field in 240 seconds. That's not just down to deep passing plays: running backs cut beautifully without the need for right-stick trickery, enabling you to leave a linebacker or safety for dead if you change direction at the perfect time.

I've made that sound simple, because it does feel that way when it all comes together and you reel off a 50-yard-run. But rest assured there's heaps of nuance. Run blocking feels more intelligent, while QB height matters – if he can't see a receiver over the O-line, his accuracy is temporarily reduced. Indeed, the improved AI works on both sides of the ball. Tackling is now physics-based, enabling you to hold a runner out of the end zone, while you can combat custom stems – where the offense adjusts receiver routes at the line – with custom zones, which give your cornerbacks and safeties the same flexibility.

After a day spent in Orlando going hands-on, it definitely feels like gameplay is a touch slower than College Football 25. That means a split-second longer to time those cuts, or unleash a killer pass. If that's one standout improvement over last year, it's bolstered by the option to quick sub at the line of scrimmage. Want to bring in an RB2, or switch up slot receivers, without pausing and faffing through menus? Finally you can. Tap up on the D-pad, then scroll up or down to cycle through positions – then left or right to select a different player. Quick, easy, so satisfying.

Homefield advantage has been a highlight of this series going back to its NCAA inception, and it's another feature to be tweaked in line with EA Orlando's "we listened" ethos. Gameplay design director Scott O'Gallagher says it's "louder, tougher and more personal". Play a road game at LSU's Tiger Stadium and you really see why it's known as Death Valley, with a decibel level that sends your receivers' routes haywire or kicking meter wild. But it now works both ways. Nail a 25-yard-completion on 3rd and 20 to silence the crowd, and buy yourself a play or three in silence.

As for the series' biggest time sink, for which we devoted an entire College Football 25 recruiting guide, rest assured that the already additive Dynasty mode looks to be hooking you in even deeper. Rivalries and trophies have evolved – again, that's all we're permitted to say for now – while the addition of 300 real coaches, including co-ordinators, gives you even more to ponder before you even set foot on the field. Do you select a pre-existing favorite such as James Franklin, and take on his strengths and weaknesses? (Franklin starts at Level 64!) Or start completely from scratch, taking a few seasons to build up experience and your abilities tree?

Coaching masterclass

Dynasty wasn't available for our hands-on, but the laundry lists of tweaks sounds mouth-watering. There's no more cap at 30 seasons, while your coach's level cap is 100 – double that of last year's game. The transfer portal is expanded to 2,000 players per season, while Team Needs are visible at the top of your recruiting screen at all times. Each prospect's 'dealbreaker' can evolve over time, and location-based recruiting is based on the last 40 years of data. Recruiting battles see select prospects narrow their shortlist down to two before you duke it out for their signature, and you can even manually progress your players if you don't trust the AI to do it. There's plenty more, too. It feels like this will be a monster year.

Ultimate Team details are also still to come, but what's noticeable – and welcome – is that it feels like it's just one facet of the overall package, rather than the priority. That's a deliberate choice. "Our bread and butter, our ID, has always been Dynasty," says principal game designer Ben Haumiller. "I left development for a number of years because I didn't think we were ever coming back… when we did, I returned because I wanted to bring this thing back the right way."

"To me that is gameplay, dynasty, and presentation," Haumiller continues. "Especially the dopamine hit of recruiting, pulling you through to the next week and the next season. So I give this company a lot of credit because the first year was 'build the core', and this second year was 'keep engagement'. We're going to ride that as long as we possibly can". On this evidence, it's very much the right call – and we can't wait to play College Football 26 even more for our mid-July review.