EA Sports College Football 25 predicts the 2024 season

For the first time in over a decade, EA Sports has released a college football video game. Whether you’re a die-hard Georgia Bulldogs fan looking to win a national championship, a grinder working their way through Dynasty Mode as a MAC coach or even Patrick Mahomes, “EA Sports College Football 25” is essentially Christmas in July for gamers and sports fans alike.

To commemorate such a landmark moment in gaming history, Yahoo Sports is adapting its extremely scientific ‘Madden’ simulation series for the college ranks. Here were the parameters:

• We simulated Year 1 of Dynasty Mode three separate times, immediately jumping to the “End of Season Recap” after selecting the random user-controlled team (Toledo, Nevada and Georgia)

• Quarters were set to 15 minutes

• Recruiting and other variables were set to “simple,” allowing for automated results

• There are no actual coaches in this game, so you won’t see any information about (even more fictional) hirings and firings

With that all laid out, here’s a look at 10 takeaways from the first-ever Yahoo Sports EA Sports College Football simulation.

Power conference champions

• Are we still calling them the Power Five? Big Four? Either way, only two teams won their respective conferences in all three simulations: Georgia (SEC) and Oregon State (Pac-12). Kansas State managed to take the Big 12 crown twice — we’ll hear from the Wildcats a little later, too — and the ACC (Clemson, FSU, Louisville) and Big Ten (Oregon, Ohio State, Indiana) had different winners each time. Most of these actually seem conceivable, with the Hoosiers being the lone exception.

Top 25 surprises

• The majority of the Top 25s at the end of each season were your who’s who of power football programs, but it’s worth calling out that Appalachian State and Texas State each made it twice, the latter even clinching a spot in the CFP in one of the simulations. In addition, Fresno State and Tulane finished 7th and 8th in the same simulated season, both making the CFP.

Speaking of the CFP…

• Aside from some of the surprises mentioned above, only two teams made the inaugural expanded CFP in all three simulations — Oregon and Oklahoma State. Beyond that, Georgia and Boise State each made it twice while Alabama and Texas only managed to secure a spot once. In perhaps the wonkiest and unlikeliest outcome of any sports video game simulation we have done (or will ever do), the SEC had zero teams make the CFP in the first version we ran.

• The Buffaloes are again going to be one of the most talked-about teams in all of college football this season, and if things go the way they did in two of the simulations, it’ll be deserved. Colorado’s best season saw it go 10-4, finishing as the No. 8 team in the country and even winning a game in the CFP. The Buffs’ worst season resulted in a 6-7 finish (13th in the Big 12). Either way, College Football 25 predicts improvement in the second season under Coach Prime.

What about the other conference newcomers?

Key games and rivalries

• Michigan vs. Washington, Week 6 (national championship rematch): The Wolverines came out on top in two of the three simulations, adding to what was a rough run for the Huskies.

• Oklahoma vs. Texas, Week 7 (Red River Rivalry): Sooners fans may not have much to celebrate in our simulations, but they did manage to win by double figures in all three run-throughs.

• Alabama vs Auburn, Week 14 (Iron Bowl): Alabama came out on top twice and their only loss was an 18-17 thriller in the first simulation we ran.

• Ohio State vs. Michigan, Week 14: All three games were decided by 10 or more points, with Ohio State coming out on top in two of the three meetings.

• USC vs. Notre Dame, Week 14: USC won twice, once in a 38-24 blowout and once in a 26-20 nail-biter. Notre Dame’s lone win was even tighter, a 24-21 affair.

• Army-Navy, Week 15: Navy swept Army here, winning all three games. The most surprising thing might be that the Midshipmen scored 31 in one of the contests.

Big names, bigger stats

• Quinn Ewers: The Texas QB managed to hold off Arch Manning for the entirety of the season in two of our three simulations. The third-year Longhorns star averaged 3,143 passing yards, 30 TDs and 11 INTs while completing 73% of his passes.

• Shedeur Sanders: Sanders shined in one of the simulated seasons, throwing for 4,120 yards, 41 TDs and completing 73% of his passes. In that simulation he finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting. Beyond that, Sanders had strong campaigns and if he’s able to come close to any of his stat lines, he should solidify himself as an early round draft pick next spring.

• Travis Hunter: For some reason in all three seasons, Hunter only registered stats as a wide receiver, so that’s what we’ll cover here. Hunter was very much a mixed bag, having one monster season (64 receptions, 1,233 yards, 17 TDs) and one rough one (37 receptions, 695 yards, 3 TDs). His average stat line seems reasonably attainable next season, though (55 receptions, 1,013 yards, 8 TDs).

• Dillon Gabriel: Gabriel is among the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy this year, and while he didn’t in any of our seasons, he did manage to have an impressive showing. Gabriel put together the best campaign of any of the QBs we tracked for the simulation, finishing with 4,965 yards and 45 TDs in Oregon’s best season (more on this in just a bit). Both of those marks would set or tie single-season passing records for the Ducks.

Heisman winner

• If Gabriel’s jaw-dropping statline couldn’t clinch a Heisman Trophy win, who did take home the hardware? In the first two simulations we ran, Ohio State transfer QB Will Howard joined the exclusive club, thanks in part to an impressive TD-INT ratio (42-4 and 44-7) and his accuracy (77% and 78% completion rate). In the third season, Georgia QB Carson Beck was the winner. In a surprising turn, Indiana transfer QB Kurtis Rourke had two top-five Heisman finishes in our simulations.

Other award winners

• There were a handful of consistencies we saw across the three simulations when it came to other NCAA awards. Among them were: Oklahoma State RB Ollie Gordon II winning the Doak Walker Award twice; Oscar Delp filling in for Brock Bowers nicely, winning the John Mackey Award in one season and finishing third in another; and Oregon DE Jordan Burch being consistently in the conversation as for the Chuck Bednarik and Ted Hendricks awards. (Note: EA Sports College Football 25 does not name all of the trophies)

So, who won it all?

• In our three simulated seasons, there were no repeat teams in the national championship game. Here were the games and outcomes:

When we look at Nick Bromberg’s way-too-early Top 25 from January, the only matchup here that has both teams represented is Oregon-Clemson, so by default, that seems like the most accurate national title prediction of our trio of sims. Congrats Ducks fans, you’re a virtual (pun intended) lock to win it all.