Dear gamer, here’s everything that’s changed since the last EA Sports college football video game

A lot has happened in the 11 years since EA Sports last released a college football video game. To give you a true sense of just how much has changed, we crafted an email sent back in time to gamers and fans who had no idea what was in store when the next edition, EA Sports College Football 25, launched this week.

Hey gamer,

So, all we can say is you’re not gonna believe half of the things that have happened in college football while the world waited more than a decade for EA Sports to bring the college football video game back.

First off, they expanded the College Football Playoff from four teams to 12. Oh, and they’re paying the players, which means we don’t have to manually put players’ names in the game anymore because EA paid them at least $600 each to put their name, image and likeness in it.

Secondly, there’s this thing called the transfer portal where players can switch schools as many times as they want without having to sit out. The portal (free agency) and NIL (pay-for-play) were two things that pissed Nick Saban off as he retired from coaching to work on TV this year.

And this one is going to blow your mind: geography and rivalries mean nothing in conference alignment anymore. It’s all about TV money and the Pac-12 lagged behind, which is why Stanford and Cal are now in the ACC; Oregon, USC, UCLA and Washington are in the Big Ten; and Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and a Deion Sanders-coached Colorado team are in the Big 12.

There’s more — including Texas and Oklahoma leaving for the SEC — but you better sit down.

No discs needed

Let’s pick up where you left off in July 2013, with former Michigan star Denard “Shoelace” Robinson on the cover of NCAA Football 14.

Guess what? You don’t need to buy discs for video games anymore. You can just download it onto your PS5 or Xbox (Series S or X). Those systems — including the game itself —will cost you about as much as EA pays the college kids to put their names and faces in the game.

Aaron Donald was entering his fourth season at Pitt and went on to win the Outland Trophy, Nagurski Trophy and Bednarik Award by the end of the 2013 season. But he wasn’t even the highest-rated player on his team. Receiver Devin Street (88 rating) was.

Jameis Winston, then a redshirt freshman quarterback, led Florida State to the 2013 national title and won the Heisman Trophy, but wasn’t rated among the top 32 quarterbacks in the NCAA 14 game. It’s hard to fault EA Sports for not predicting the young passer would explode on the scene.

That won’t happen anymore, though, because EA is going to update player ratings as you go. Here’s a look at the top 100 players in the game. You’ll notice Coach Prime’s son, Shedeur Sanders, is the top-rated quarterback.

Conference realignment madness

Before we dive deeper, you should know where all the teams are now.

There were 126 FBS programs spread out over 10 conferences and seven independents, including Idaho, in the last video game. Well, bad news, but the Vandals moved down to the FCS level in 2018 and aren’t in the game anymore.

The new game has all 134 FBS teams including former FCS programs Appalachian State (Sun Belt), Georgia Southern (Sun Belt), Coastal Carolina (Sun Belt), James Madison (Sun Belt), Charlotte (American Athletic Conference), Jacksonville State (Conference USA), Liberty (Conference USA), Sam Houston (Conference USA) and Kennesaw State (Conference USA).

Back in 2013, the AAC had 10 teams; the ACC had 14 teams; the Big Ten had 12, including the Legends and Leaders Divisions (it got rid of them in 2014); the Big 12 had 10; Conference USA had 14; the MAC had 13; the Mountain West had 12; the Pac-12 had 12; the SEC had 14 and the Sun Belt had eight.

In all, we’ve had 46 schools switch conferences since the last video game and the Power 5 is now the Power 4 with the Pac-12 breaking apart, leaving Oregon State and Washington State behind.

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Among the Power 4, the Big Ten has 18 teams (including Maryland and Rutgers which joined in 2014) and the ACC has 17 teams (Louisville and SMU included). The SEC has 16 (Texas and Oklahoma included) and the Big 12 has 16 (BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF joined in 2023). The American (Army and Navy included) and Sun Belt have 14 schools each; the Mountain West and MAC have 12 and Conference USA has 10. Notre Dame, Connecticut and UMass are the independents.

Remember that TV money I mentioned?

One reason the Pac-12 fell apart was because it only paid its schools around $34 million last year. Most of the Big Ten schools in 2023 each made between $59-60 million while the SEC paid its schools $51 million, the Big 12 paid between $43-48 million and the ACC between $43-46 million.

Back in 2013, the power conferences were paying schools around $20 million apiece. By the time we hit 2029 and the TV deals are up for renewal again, the SEC and Big Ten will be paying schools close to $100 million with the Big 12 and ACC in the $50-plus million range.

Don’t get too comfortable with those conference alignments, though, because schools like Clemson and Florida State are fighting to get out of the ACC, and lower-tier conferences are looking to get into private equity to make up the money gap.

Skyrocketing coaching salaries

Conferences and players aren’t the only ones making more money. Coaches are, too, even though their names and faces are still not in the video game.

Remember when people were freaking out because Saban, Mack Brown and Bret Bielema were making more than $5 million a season back in 2013? There are 40 head coaches making that much or more now. Jimbo Fisher, who Texas A&M hired away from FSU four years after that national title, is getting paid $77 million to not coach the Aggies. Nobody gets paid more than Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, Saban’s ex-defensive coordinator at Bama, who led the Bulldogs to back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022. Smart is making $13 million per season.

Speaking of Bielema, things didn’t go so well in Arkansas. He went 29-34 before he got fired and the Razorbacks haven’t been able to get right since. Bielema is now coaching Illinois, where he’s 18-19 in three seasons.

Brown left Texas after the 2013 season. He spent a few years on TV before returning to North Carolina where he’s had two really good quarterbacks but hasn’t been able to win big.

Remember Tommy Tuberville? He left football for politics. He went 4-8 in his last season at Cincinnati in 2016 and became a senator in Alabama a couple of years ago.

There are only six coaches who are still at the same school they were back in 2013: Air Force’s Troy Calhoun, NC State’s Dave Doeren, Utah’s Kyle Whittingham, Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy, Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, Kentucky’s Mike Stoops and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney.

Programs on the rise

“Clemsoning” means an entirely different thing now: the refusal to use the transfer portal.

Only Alabama has won more games over the past 11 years than the Tigers. Swinney won two national championship rings and made it to the title game two other times. But he doesn’t like taking transfers.

Lane Kiffin has no problem doing that. The former USC coach who ended up at Ole Miss has turned the Rebels around. They’ve gone from having a losing record from 2000-12 (76-82) to finishing ranked in the AP Top 25 four times over the past decade. This year’s team is a legitimate Playoff contender.

SMU isn’t a loser anymore and the Mustangs cashed in their chips. They went 56-102 from 2000 to 2012, but have gone 68-67 since the start of the 2013 season and just joined the ACC.

San Diego State, meanwhile, flipped the script as a program but was unable to cash in. The Aztecs went from sputtering in the Mountain West (64-93 record from 2000 to 2012) to enjoying five double-digit win seasons (91-49) over the past decade. But they’re still in the Mountain West.

Remember how bad Duke was in football (31-122 from 2000 to 2012)? Between David Cutcliffe and Mike Elko, the Blue Devils have gone 73-66 over the past 11 years.

Army, Baylor, Memphis, Utah State, Washington and Western Kentucky have all stepped their games up in the win column, too.

Falling teams

Some programs have definitely taken a step back.

You know the show “The Biggest Loser?” They stopped making it in 2016 and decided to just start filming Nebraska football instead.

The Cornhuskers haven’t had a winning season since that show went off the air. But former Temple coach Matt Rhule might be on the verge of a breakthrough. He’s got this freshman quarterback named Dylan Raiola who everyone is excited about.

Virginia Tech has had a rough go of it too. The Hokies went from winning big with Frank Beamer to being just above average (76-64 since 2013). They’re on their second coach since Beamer retired.

Miami, Florida, USC and Auburn — all championship-winning teams in the video game — have all slipped back too.

West Virginia used to be so fun to play with in the game. The Mountaineers have been very mid over the last 11 years.

South Carolina, meanwhile, went from finishing fourth in the final AP poll in 2013 under Steve Spurrier to going 58-66 over the last 10 seasons with only one Top 25 finish (2022).

We’ve had several programs go from compiling winning records from 2000 to 2012 to becoming mostly losers. That includes Arkansas, Boston College, California, Connecticut, Georgia Tech, Hawaii, Maryland, Purdue, Rutgers, South Florida, Southern Miss, Texas Tech and Tulsa.

Do you feel caught up yet? I know it’s a lot to take in.

P.S. — I hope this helps you paint a picture of what the next 11 years are like. We don’t want to spoil too much more. But make sure you don’t miss the Alabama-Auburn game this November. It’s kick (six)ass.

(Photo: Candice Ward / USA Today)