Coming off the success of EA Sports College Football 25, it’s important for EA to stick the landing on College Football 26 if they want to maintain the positive vibes around the franchise after its return iteration. Unfortunately for the developers of the game, the real world sport they are covering is itself going through a period of significant turbulence, from changes to how money is used in the sport to how national champions are decided.
Just one year after the debut of the new NCAA Playoff format, which saw five conference champions and seven at-large teams battling in a single-elimination bracket, there is already talk of changes, and the talks about what changes in particular remain contentious. For EA, this presents a challenge of how to release a game true not just to this year, but to future seasons in career modes.
What’s The Current State Of The NCAA Playoff?
As things stand, the NCAA transitioned to a 5+7 format last season, with the top five conference champions guaranteed spots in the field, and the top four conference champions guaranteed byes into the second round. Almost immediately, discussions arose about removing the guaranteed byes for champions, acknowledging that the concentration of power means the fourth-best champion is likely not the fourth-best team in the country. While many fans are fine with the idea of a title mattering, the teams most harmed by this format are also the most powerful.
What Is 5+11 And How Would It Work?
A move to a 5+11 format would solve the problem of bye allocation by removing them altogether. Upping the field to 16 brings it to a power of two, which means it can be cleanly built into a no-bye, single-elimination tournament. This would provide four more at-large spots, a move that would likely benefit the power conferences most likely to earn them, as well as potentially offer hope for the odd smaller conference power that loses a game that would otherwise have been disqualifying.
Why Are The Big Ten Balking?
As the conferences now possessing the vast majority of football powers, the Big Ten and SEC are largely in control of college football. While the SEC has backed the 5+11 push that is gaining momentum, the Big Ten is not yet ready to throw its hat in. They still favor an option that would see both major conferences guaranteed four spots, with the Conference Championship Game participants joined by two teams decided in play-in games among the conferences’ third- to sixth-placed teams.
A major sticking point among the Big Ten is the SEC’s eight-game conference schedule, which they share with the ACC, in contrast to the Big Ten’s nine-game schedule. Schools feel that the value of a challenging schedule has been significantly lessened by the expanded fields. While teams once sought to win their way into a 2- then 4-team championship system, teams now fear losing their way out, and an extra competitive conference match is seen as a disadvantage.
What Does This Mean For College Football 26?
With the landscape of the sport in flux, this can be a problem for games looking to give as faithful a representation of the real world as possible. While series like NBA 2K are offering players the chance to start their career modes across decades of real-world draft classes and league changes, the ability to accurately portray seasons beyond the current one is more challenging.
Developers may seek to provide solutions that enable players to maintain their seasons in-game as closely tied to the real-world product as possible. Since they cannot predict exactly what will occur, however, this is no easy task.
How Can EA Solve This Moving Forward?
The best option appears to be including multiple playoff modes in the game. This would allow players to choose the method of choosing the national champion each season to get the experience that the players want.
One place to look for inspiration could be the NBA 2K series, which offers a broad range of rule variations, covering everything from in-game rules and roster management rules to the overall structure of the league itself. At the end of the season, one or more rule changes may be approved by vote among all the franchises.
In College Football 26, a virtual representation of a rules committee could include options to make adjustments to the playoff system. This can be done in the form of a few pre-scripted structures to vote on, or in a more piecemeal approach, with players allowed to vote or force through changes to individual elements, such as the total number of teams, the number of conferences that receive bids, and bye structures. This not only lets players follow the real world more accurately but also helps keep career modes dynamic for players seeking new challenges.
What are your thoughts on the potential changes to the NCAA college football playoff and how do you think College Football 26 should respond? Will EA be ready to recreate reality or are we likely to see the rules chosen for this season as persistent across all career mode years?
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