One of the biggest questions floating around the Operation Sports community pertaining to College Football 26 is the impact of the XP sliders on Dynasty mode. Which is understandable, considering that CFB 26 is both one of the most popular sports games on the market and because XP sliders are the true secret sauce to giving long-form offline modes their lasting ability. Just earlier today, we published Funkycorm’s XP sliders for Madden 26, which is one of the most popular community releases of the year. So, the question is, how much do XP sliders matter in College Football 26 Dynasty mode?
OPSports veteran DetroitStyle did some research, and these were his findings.
XP Sliders In College Football 26 Don’t Make Much Of A Difference
According to DetroitStyle, XP sliders in CFB 26 Dynasty mode “do next to nothing” when it comes to changing the overall ratings distributions across positions. Whether set at 0 or 100 — or anywhere in between — the number of 80+ or 90+ overall players stays within the same range.
As a key reminder, XP sliders don’t affect offseason training either. If you’re using auto progression, you’re not going to see a meaningful impact on how players develop, regardless of your XP settings.
The general takeaway seems to be this: Don’t sweat the XP sliders too much. They’re not a game changer in long-term balance, or so the research says.
Transfer Sliders Are The True Difference Maker
Where things really shift is with the transfer portal. The higher you set the transfer chance and max transfers, the weaker the bottom half of the league becomes. Lower transfers, on the other hand, create a more competitive landscape by keeping depth spread out instead of concentrated at the top.
For example, with transfer chance maxed out and 20 transfers allowed, you end up with:
- 17 teams with 90+ OVR
- 39 teams stuck in the 70s
- 55 teams in the 60s
Dialing back transfers to a 50/50 chance still produces fewer elite teams at the top and more balance in the middle. YouTuber Popboy recently came to a similar conclusion and offered his solution here.
Quality Transfers Don’t Scale
Interestingly, maxing out transfers doesn’t suddenly flood the portal with 5-star talent. Across every test done by DetroitStyle, only 0-5 five-star players moved per cycle, alongside 50-200 four-stars. What you get instead are way more two and three-star clogging up the portal.
This matters because, as Detroit points out, the CPU is bad at actually signing these transfers. Many mid and low-tier players either vanish from the game or end up reappearing as walk-ons the next season.
DetroitStyle’s Recommended Settings
Based on Detroit’s testing, here’s the sweet spot for realistic balance and competitiveness:
- Max Transfers: 5
- Transfer Chance: 100
- XP%: 100
This setup caps transfer chaos, keeps lower-tier teams from being gutted, and still ensures top programs contribute a handful of four and five-star players to the portal. You can expect around 600-700 total transfers, with around 150 of them being four-star players.
If you want more chaos and don’t mind a weaker bottom half, you can push the max transfers to 10. But be warned that it leads to a significant number of players disappearing from the ecosystem.
