EA Sports College Football 26 Adds Several Massive Gameplay Updates

EA Sports College Football 26 is due out later this summer on July 9th (July 7th if you pre-order the deluxe edition), which means the developers are finally starting to really rev up the hype cycle. Today, EA released the full gameplay deep dive, and it’s showing off a few game-changing updates that should impact every game you play in College Football 26. The developers aren’t reinventing the wheel, but veteran fans will be very pleased with the changes.

The most important addition is Dynamic Subs. In previous versions of the game, you had to head into the menu during gameplay to sub players in and out. In College Football 26, you can make your subs from the field thanks to the new Dynamic Sub system. We got to try this at the recent hands-on preview in Orlando, and it does cut down on time in the menu. Giving you the ability to change out players in the middle of the play is one of the smartest quality-of-life changes EA has made to one of its sports games in a few years.

Of course, that’s not the only thing that’s changing in College Football 26. The popular Wear and Tear system from CFB 25 is being expanded to iron out bugs and use the new subbing mechanics to make in-game decision-making even more important. The developers are also giving Dynasty fans even more control over how much Wear and Tear affects their team. Want to make a big hit hurt more? Need to curtail the feature to keep your star players on the field? You can do both and much more this year.

EA Sports has also gone through and introduced several new archetypes. There are ten new ones this year, which means a few new offensive and defensive abilities. Keeping with the idea of making players and teams feel different, this year’s version includes more than 300 real-life coaches, each tailored to their real-world counterparts. That means updated and expanded playbooks and fresh concepts to keep opposing teams on their heels.

RELATED: EA Sports College Football 26 Fixes Fans Biggest Complaints

For example, College Football 26 is bringing the Swinging Gate variants Penn State made popular in 2024, including the ability to go with dual-quarterback packages. It’s not just the big boys being represented, though. Rice fans will get to dive into the Pistol Wingback for option goodness, and Western Kentucky runs the Power I Hulk. And in a collaboration with the Madden team, stunts and twists are finally here on defense! That’ll give you even more control over your defensive pressure.

This is, of course, only a small selection of all the changes coming to College Football 26. If you want to dive deep into all the specifics, be sure to check out the developer blog on the official site. It is 42 pages of updates and fixes, giving you plenty to pore over while you wait for CFB 26 to drop next month. Thankfully, we’ll also probably get a few more deep dives over the next few weeks, giving fans a closer look at modes like Dynasty, Road to Glory, and Ultimate Team.