While the Pac-12 fiasco has been going on for a few years, the conference has finally closed a deal that solidifies its future in College Football. The Texas State Bobcats are set to join the Pac-12 for the 2026-27 season. This is huge, as the Pac-12 now includes 8 football schools, meeting the NCAA minimum for an FBS conference.
On the other side, though, this is a disaster for EA. With EA Sports College Football 26 set to launch on July 10, squeezing in the newly built Pac-12 will be difficult, to say the least. So, where does EA go from here? From the fall of Pac-12 to the development of CFB ‘26, we’ve got it all here.
Pac-12 Rebuilding Phase Explained
If you follow College Football, you already know what the Pac-12 went through in the last few years. If you don’t, we have an article explaining the events. However, for the sake of context, let’s briefly recap the rebuilding phase.
Once called the “Conference of Champions,” the Pac-12 boasted top-notch talent for a century. Unfortunately, though, it all changed when the 12 schools in the conference decided to leave for better deals and coverage. The conference went from 12 schools to just two, almost dismantling in the process. Since then, they’ve been trying to rebuild by adding new schools.
After the initial disbanding, only Oregon and Washington were left in the league. However, over the last two years, the Pac-12 has added Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, San Diego State, and Utah State. Since Gonzaga doesn’t sponsor football, they still needed an 8th team to be recognized as an official FBS conference. To complete that minimum requirement, they added Texas State.
So, with the Pac-12, or more realistically, Pac-8, completing its rebuilding phase, what does it mean for EA Sports College Football 26?
Will Texas State Be in the Pac-12 for College Football 26?
The short answer is that it’s unlikely. See, development for sports games like College Football or Madden starts a year prior. This means that while the entire Pac-12 fiasco was going on, the game’s development was already underway. With the position of the Pac-12 remaining uncertain and EA not wanting to delay the launch, they announced that the game would release on July 10 to keep the fans hooked.
Now, with CFB 26 launching in less than two weeks, and Pac-12 still adding new schools, even the addition of the conference itself is unlikely. There’s so much from licensing to media that EA has to sort out before including them in the game. And even if EA has sorted all that out, and the Pac-12 is included in the game, it most likely will not feature Texas State, at least for the launch version. Since the news of Texas State joining the Pac-12 is so fresh, it’s almost impossible to include them so close to the release.
It’s guaranteed that College Football 26 will need a patch, where either the conference is added, or if the conference was already a part of the game, then the teams in it are updated. All in all, it’s a messy situation for EA, which is unfortunate, since the Pac-12 is a huge part of College Football. If EA decides to ditch the conference altogether, we’ll just have to resort to creating custom conferences and schedules. But let’s hope that they pull through on their promise of maximum realism and give us the real Pac-12.
