EA Sports College Football: 25 Tips for Beginners Before You Get Started

EA Sports College Football 25 has brought college football back to the virtual world for the first time in more than 10 years, and that means even the most seasoned NCAA veterans might have a little rust to shake off.

To help you get off to a good start, here are some of our top picks: EA Sports College Football 25 Tips for beginners so you can keep this in mind when you're starting out, whether you're jumping into your first big dynasty or collecting the best cards possible in Ultimate Team.

Choose your favorite team

When you first start College Football 25The game will then ask you to select your favorite team. While this will primarily affect the appearance of the main menu and the school you start the game at on the team selection screen, it also has an advantage in Ultimate Team.

To get started in Ultimate Team, the game will generate a new squad for you that includes several players from your favorite team. While this may make it seem like you should pick the best squad you can, all of them will result in a squad with a total score of 65, and you'll quickly replace the players you get from it. So don't think about this too much; just pick your favorite team and don't worry too much about the Ultimate Team squad it will provide you with.

Start with some Ultimate Team challenges first

Image: EA Tiburon/Electronic Arts

If you're a virtual college football veteran, you're probably eager to jump right into your first dynasty. But College Football 25 It has a lot of changes from the previous version of the game, and the easiest way to get a handle on those changes is through the Ultimate Team Challenges, even if you don't plan on spending much time in the mode overall.

More specifically, you should do the Ultimate Team 101 challenges as soon as you start the game. They'll feel a bit basic, but they'll help you get used to the new passing mechanics, the newly redesigned option plays (which use a different control scheme than before), and the new kicking mechanics.

Find your perfect playbook

College Football 25 There are over 100 unique playbooks and 10 different offensive schemes, which can make choosing which one you want to use a little overwhelming. Fortunately, Ultimate Team challenges are back to being decisive with Offensive and Defensive Scheme Testing Challenges.

These challenges are designed to give you an idea of ​​each layout, from Air Raid to Spread Option, and also show you which teams use each one. This should give you a solid foundation for your first few games and is a perfect starting point to start experimenting.

Dive into some games

All this preparation and planning is great, but in the end, the point of this game is to play it, and that's a great way to learn, too. Play a few games with your favorite school, and once you get the hang of things, change things up and experiment with other NCAA playbooks and stars.

Experiment with the Switch Stick

Image: EA Tiburon/Electronic Arts

One of College Football 25The new feature is called the Switch Stick, which lets you switch players in the defensive secondary with more precision than the one-button switches in previous games. This may not seem like much, but it can actually make a big difference, for example, if you're trying to switch to a safety to cut a route instead of a cornerback who's already in coverage.

But to take full advantage of the Switch Stick's potential, you'll need to experiment with it quite a bit. The best way to do that is to just play a few matches, but you'll probably commit some embarrassing touchdowns while experimenting, so it's best to save those for Play Now.

Start Dynasty Mode with a Rehearsal

Dynasty mode is really the star of College Football 25with all sorts of new additions to the formula that made it great over a decade ago. But with all these new features, the mode is now even more complicated, and there’s a lot to shuffle through the menus. After all, if your goal is to build a Group of Five conference from scratch all the way to the College Football Playoffs, the last thing you need is to lose a five-star recruit because you hit the wrong button in a menu.

That's why we think you should build a trial dynasty before you actually go for it. Start with a school you don't care too much about so that you won't mind making mistakes. You could even start with a powerful, existing school—that way, you'll get a feel for what it's like to get recruits and have some leverage before you go into hard mode and try to build Old Dominion into a top-notch program.

Play as many single battles as you can

Image: EA Tiburon/Electronic Arts

(Editor's note: Ultimate Team isn't necessarily for everyone. So if you're primarily interested in Road to Glory and Dynasty modes, you shouldn't worry about these next tips – they're just for Ultimate Team players.

Single Player Battles in Ultimate Team is a mode that pits you against another player's Ultimate Team squad. The twist is that it's played by the computer, not the player who created it. Each single player battle gives you more rewards than a normal match against the AI, like single player season matches, for example.

Solo Battles are technically community events that last for about four days each. During that time, everyone plays against the same user-created rosters. New matchups appear each morning, and you can play four of them a day. Each match gives you a Battle Score based on difficulty, how well you played, and whether or not you won. At the end of each four-day event, the scores will be tallied, a leaderboard will be created with the top players, and everyone will receive special rewards based on their performance.

Check in on the sets

Sets are an Ultimate Team mechanic that allows you to turn multiple lower-rated players into a single player with a higher overall rating. You won't need to worry too much about this at first, but as you improve your team, be sure to check the Sets menu to see if you can turn any of your old, unwanted players into significant upgrades.

Buy the Ultimate Team Daily Recruitment Pack

You can purchase a new pack of recruits at a reduced price every day. The packs only contain low-rated players, but for only 100 UT, it's worth acquiring them every day to complete your first sets.