EA Sports College Football 25: Sights, Sounds, Traditions Deep Dive

College football fans and video gamers everywhere are anxiously awaiting the release of EA Sports’ College Football 25 after a full decade since the game’s last release.

The game promises to give fans a completely new, next-generation feel, as EA Sports has poured countless hours into revamping the franchise to ensure its return produces as much bang for the buck as possible.

Thanks to EA Sports providing a unique early glimpse at the product, On3 can shed some light on some of the new features coming to the game. Let’s take a look at some of the major elements coming our way on July 19.

Traditions

What would a college football video game be if it didn’t feature the countless traditions that the sport has spawned over the decades? EA Sports figures to include numerous traditions as part of its relaunch, with a variety of tangible things contributing to the feel of a game that knows its roots — the heart and passion of college football.

Among the traditions that will be included are unique runouts onto the field, mascots that are true to form, turnover traditions that have made playing defense all the rage and more. You can check out more exact specifics further down this article.

Runouts

EA Sports has put special attention into getting the runouts to the field just right. That included the construction of a ramp for stunt actors, to help replicate Clemson‘s run down the hill. It also included a replica of the Notre Dame stairs where the “Play Like A Champion” Sign hangs. It included a video foray to the Swamp to get the exact measurements of the alligator head players tap on their way to the field.

All of that should make for a scintillating start to games. And though the bulk of fans’ focus will be on gameplay, it’s little things like that that contribute to the overall feel of the game that won’t go overlooked.

Mascots

While runouts only happen once or twice per game, fans typically see their school’s mascot quite a bit during your traditional broadcast. With that in mind, EA Sports set out to provide fans with a very realistic view of the mascots in-game.

The game will feature 40 team mascots and 10 real animals that represent schools. Some cool details EA Sports put in? Ralphie from Colorado will grow and age over time, while Boomer and Sooner for Oklahoma have the OU logo painted on their hooves.

Turnover Traditions

Along with all the classic school traditions, EA Sports will have some new school celebrations in the game. Miami popularized the turnover chain years ago and spawned a whole new form of celebration. College Football 25 has taken notice.

Among the things EA Sports is teasing in the game are things like Pittsburgh‘s turnover basketball hoop, Colorado’s turnover throne, Oregon State‘s turnover chainsaw and more. Suffice it to say, if your school has stuck to a consistent turnover tradition in the last couple years there’s a good shot it’ll show up in the game.

Favorite Uniforms

The threads in college football are something thousands of fans are invested in on a personal level, as everyone wants to see their favorite team rocking their favorite jerseys. EA Sports will have them all, because the organization created a brand new tool to help its designers achieve maximal results.

The game designers were given a brand new toolset that allowed artists and designers to build uniforms in real time, seeing their work directly in-engine. That made it possible to create different uniform style options for all 134 teams.

Crowd Noise

When it comes to putting in the work, EA Sports did not skimp on this game. That extends to the level of detail the crew put in when it came to capturing the essence of many college football games: the roar of the crowd.

EA Sports worked with ESPN over the last two seasons to capture in-stadium audio, giving it as close to a real-life feel as it can get. In particular, the organization noted that it was at some of the game’s biggest moments, like the overtime game between Alabama and LSU in 2022. Replicating that kind of audio in game will be a treat.

Fight Song

EA Sports went to great lengths to reproduce schools’ fight songs and various other accompaniments that play during games. They utilized a group of musicians in a recording studio in Nashville to recreate many of the most popular jingles for each team.

Among the ones that will appear in the game are “Go Gators,” “Roll Tide Roll,” “Dies Irae” and “Mars.” The game will feature over 180 school band songs and drum grooves, including all 134 fight songs. The entire process to create the in-game music took 11 days, with three different groupings of musical players taking part.

Hand Signals

If there’s anything that gets fans riled up in college football it’s the improper use of hand signals. An ill-timed Gator chomp by an opponent or a Horns Down can light a fuse for a team and bring a new level of energy to the game. Well, fear not. College Football 25 will have those types of hand signals in the game. Among some of the examples that EA Sports provided are the Miami ‘U,’ the NC State ‘Wolfpack,’ the SMU ‘Pony Ears,’ the Oregon ‘O,’ the Texas A&M ‘Gig ‘Em,’ and more. Hand signals can be thrown up pregame or in heated moments after big plays like first downs or touchdowns.

• Wisconsin’s “W” 
• The Miami “U” 
• Nebraska “Bones” 
• Duke “Bull City” 
• NC State “Wolfpack” 
• East Carolina “Finger Hook” 
• SMU “Pony Ears” 
• Kansas State “ WC / Wildcat” 
• TCU “Go Frogs” 
• Rutgers “Chop” 
• North Texas “Eagle Claw” 
• Rice “Owl Wings” 
• UTEP “Picks Up” 
• UTSA “Shaka Y” 
• New Mexico State “Guns Up” 
• Ball State “Chirp” 
• Northern Illinois “Go Huskies” 
• Oregon “O” 
• Washington “Dubs Up”
• Texas A&M “Gig Em” 
• Louisiana “UL” 
• South Alabama “J-Hand” 
• Texas State “”Eat ‘Em Up, Cats” and “The Heart of Texas State” 
• Sam Houston “Claw” 
• Plus Many More

Chants

Not far behind hand signals are the chants that often break out during games, spurring on the home team. EA Sports has a huge library of chants, with more than 220 unique chants included in this year’s game. Like the hand signals, you’ll hear chants after big plays or between quarters, whatever circumstance calls for it. Some of the chants that will be featured in the game are Auburn‘s ‘War Eagle,’ Missouri‘s ‘MIZ-ZOU,’ the ‘S-E-C, S-E-C’ chant, and Texas‘ ‘Texas! Fight!’ But there will be hundreds of others, too.

• Texas – Texas! Fight! 
• TCU – RIFF RAM 
• Auburn – WARRRRRRRRR EAGLE! HEY! 
• Missouri – MIZ!! ZOU!! 
• Minnesota – SKI U MAH! SKI U MAH! SKI U MAH! 
• Kansas – ROCK CHALK!!! JAYHAWK!!! 
• Army: The Rocket and GO ARMY! BEAT NAVY! 
• Liberty – MOVE THE CHAINS! 
• Texas State – TEXAS!! STATE!! 
• Southern Miss – NASTY BUNCH! NASTY BUNCH! NAAAASTY BUNCH!
• Ball State – CHIRP! CHIRP! CHIRP! 
• Georgia Southern – WHOSE HOUSE!? OUR HOUSE!! 
• APP State – APP!!! STATE!!! 
• East Carolina – PURPLE!! GOLD!! 
• SMU – SMU! SMU! SMU!
• SEC Schools – S-E-C! S-E-C! S-E-C! S-E-C! 
• Plus, many, many more

Celebrations

Finally, EA Sports has put in a huge amount of celebrations into the game. From player celebrations to trophy celebrations, College Football 25 will have it all and it will be as close to realistic as possible. EA Sports assured itself of that.

The team went to the trouble of creating true-to-life replica trophies of all the major bowls, then went into a motion capture studio with the replicas to get a true representation of the weight and grip of the actual trophies. That should make for some excellent footage when you finally finish your first season and hoist a trophy after whatever bowl you make. July 19 can’t get here soon enough.