College Football 26 news is coming hard and fast with a few weeks before its highly anticipated release date.
Last week, EA Sports showed off the new features in its gameplay. Two new deep dives have come out over the past two days. It started with presentation updates that included new pregame rituals, such as Florida State running out with Osceola planting a flaming spear. It also showed off a host of new mascots, highlighted by the insane edible mascots from the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
Next came the big one: a deep dive into the popular Dynasty mode and Team Builder features, as well as the new list of toughest places to play. The new College Football Playoff format will be included, as will a multitude of new player and coach features. Player wear and tear? Protected opponents? Transfer portal? It’s all here, and Orlando-based EA Sports has promised improved versions of features from last year’s massive release. Let’s dive in:
Watch College Football 26 deep dive
Here’s Kirk Herbstreit with a quick breakdown of what’s new in Dynasty mode for College Football 26. The latest trailer for the video game dropped Tuesday morning, June 24.
The video focuses on the changes to coach and player archetypes, the transfer portal and recruiting, and the return of the trophy room. Here’s a closer look at what’s new in College Football 26:
Dynasty mode changes in College Football 26
The popular Dynasty mode is seeing plenty of adjustments for CFB 26. Here’s a rundown:
Mascots in College Football 26 include Pop-Tarts Bowl mascots
CFB 26 will include 36 new team mascots, including Rocky the Bull from South Florida. Perhaps even bigger: The wild Pop-Tarts Bowl mascots have been confirmed for bowl season. Hopefully the postgame tradition of the winning team devouring the mascot will be included, too.
Also new this year are new pregame runout traditions that will be elevated for primetime games. Light and drone shows will be part of it, and if you created a player in Road to Glory mode, you’ll get a first-person view of running out onto the field. The changes include runout traditions that include Osceola and Renegade planting a flaming spear at midfield for FSU home games. Marching band formations will also be included in the pregame ceremonies.
It also includes more turnover and touchdown traditions, plus more than 1,700 new heads for fans in the stands.
College Football 26 Team Builder changes
Team Builder was one of the most popular features of College Football 25, and EA Sports said it has now taken it off beta and is going full steam ahead. Most importantly, players can import their created teams from CFB 25 into this year’s game. That means if you made Florida A&M last year, you can carry that design over to CFB 26.
Here’s a rundown of other changes to the feature:
Create-a-player also saw several updates:
Player progression in College Football 26 Dynasty mode
Here’s an overview of the changes to player progression in CFB 26:
College Football 26 player positions and archetypes
There are several changes for how players are labeled in CFB 26:
CFB 26 will include 59 player archetypes, each with its own set of physical attributes. Some positions will have multiple unique archetypes. Campus Huddle lays out the differences between the seven wide receiver types.
College Football 26 coach changes
One of EA Sports’ biggest additions in CFB 26 is the addition of more than 300 real-life coaches, which includes head coaches and coordinators that include their own playbooks and archetypes. Players can improve these coaches’ attributes and hire coordinators and recruiters to fill out their staff in Dynasty mode. Or they can create their own coach with their own unique look, and if they want to make a coach with a mullet who wears muscle shirts and shorts on gameday, they can!
The level cap has been increased from 50 to 100, meaning coaches won’t max out in their progression too early in Dynasty mode, and how they progress depends on one of three base archetypes:
Jumping between those archetypes will be harder this year, but improving your coach’s ranking from Recruiter to Elite Recruiter will be easier. However, having an assistant who is already a master of one of those other traits will help unlock those archetypes. If you earn the Program Builder archetype, your coach will be able to retain top-tier coordinators longer and increase the caliber of assistants they can hire in the Coach Carousel. Meanwhile, the CEO archetype will let you double the amount of recruits who can visit in a week.
Transfer portal in College Football 26
The transfer portal in College Football 25 saw a fair share of bugs, something EA Sports said it’s addressed for CFB 26. The Dynasty deep dive said the portal will consistently have 2,000 players in it, while the video said up to 3,500 players could be available.
Dealbreakers for each player have been restructured, with Conference Prestige added as another factor. If those conditions aren’t met, the player will more likely choose to leave elsewhere after the season. Here’s a look at what’s new in the transfer portal:
Recruiting in College Football 26
High school players closer to your college will now be easier — or at least cheaper — to recruit. When scouting players, you can now see their similar attributes lined up in a consistent order, a change from College Football 25. If your coach has the Mind Reader status, he can now see their Development Trait through scouting instead of a campus visit.
Recruiting Battles are new as well, with higher thresholds triggered for one final push to win the recruit over from a rival. The My School grades are changing too, with fewer teams receiving higher grades and more teams rated in the middle and lower tiers. If your grades don’t much up with a recruit’s interests, you can use Sway to add a second or even third ideal pitch. “For example,” the Campus Huddle reads, “if the two pitches share two motivations, your odds are much higher than if they only share one — and that difference is now clearly reflected in the UI.”
Team Needs are easier to see, and it’s easier to track your biggest targets.
College Football 26 release date, price
College Football 26 will have its wide release Thursday, July 10. Early access will be available for those who pre-order the Deluxe Edition or MVP Bundle on Monday, July 7. The Standard Edition will cost $69.99, the Deluxe Edition costs $99.99, and the MVP Bundle, which includes the Deluxe Edition of both CFB 26 and Madden 26, is $149.99.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: College Football 26 shows off new Dynasty, Road to Glory features, Pop-Tarts Bowl mascot
Reporting by Dan Rorabaugh, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
