Breaking down Northwestern in College Football 26
EA Sports made a landmark move in the sports gaming industry with the long-awaited return of College Football 25, and now they’ve released their follow-up effort with College Football 26. The premium edition released July 7, with the standard edition set to open on July 10.
Whether you’ve already been in the virtual facility, embodying the intersection between world-class academics and athletics, or waiting to get your copy, WildcatReport is here to break down how Northwestern looks and plays in this year’s edition of the game.
What’s new: Head coach David Braun is in the game! Coaches this year could opt to have their name, image and likeness portrayed in the game, just like the players, and a couple members of the Wildcat staff took EA up on it.
Braun has a C+ prestige grade as a head coach, and starts as a Level 35 Master Motivator. This type of coach has bonuses for offseason development and in-season player XP. For context, the top-ranked head coaches are Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney at 80, and Ohio State’s Ryan Day is in third at 72. (I guess the developers still want to see if he can beat Michigan.)
A word of warning for dynasty players: if you use an existing head coach, even a young one like Braun, starting at Level 35 makes it hard to consistently level up and add attributes. You’ll typically only get one upgrade per season.
Offensive coordinator Zach Lujan is also in the game this year, and EA cut him no slack for his Year 1 struggles. He starts with a D+ grade. The generic defensive coordinator stand-in for Tim McGarigle is even lower with a D grade.
I don’t have a full technical readout on what’s different in the gameplay year-to-year, but one realistic change that I really like is that recruiting costs to schedule visits are now variable. Last year, a visit always cost 40 “hours” of your recruiting time. This year, a player from Chicago might cost just 10, where a player from Texas or Georgia might be 20. If you’re really stretching out to California or to South Florida, then it sometimes runs all the way back up to 40.
What Northwestern looks like: The headline here is that the Wildcats are still playing at the old Ryan Field. This was the plan from the beginning during production of the 25 game, and they stuck to it for 26, declining to animate the temporary lakeside Martin Stadium as they prepare to set up the new Ryan Field for 27.
The attention to detail remains great in and around the stadium; it feels surreal to see the current construction site in its old glory. Players run out of the tunnel, tapping the Trust Yourself sign as the band plays on the field. How many Wildcat faithful are there will be up to you, as it fluctuates based on team success.
In terms of uniforms, it’s a similar offering as last year. It took an update or two for the Gothics to arrive in 25, but they are here from the jump in 26 as teams have eight uniform presets, up from six. The jerseys and pants have four options: purple, white, black and Gothic. The helmet options are listed below:
| Base Color | Features |
| Purple | White N, white facemask |
| Purple | White N, black facemask |
| Purple | White script, white facemask |
| White | Purple N, white facemask |
| White | Purple script, white facemask |
| Black | Gothic N, black facemask |
| Black | Purple N, black facemask |
Northwestern has three rivals in the game: Illinois, Michigan and Notre Dame. Illinois has the Land of Lincoln Trophy, or “The Hat”; Notre Dame has a generic rivalry logo and listing as the Battle for the Shillelagh, which was awarded to the winner of the game until the early 1970s; and Michigan has the model for the George Jewett Trophy. Unfortunately, it is still listed as the Michigan/Northwestern Rivalry; maybe both teams need to win the trophy before it can get named correctly.
Another potential hiccup? Last season’s starting quarterback, Jack Lausch, is featured on the team’s home page. As he pursues a potential baseball career this summer with the Williamsport Crosscutters in the MLB Draft League and may wind up getting drafted, there’s uncertainty if he’ll still be playing football this fall. Even if he does, he will almost certainly be the backup to Preston Stone.
How Northwestern ranks: The Wildcats start with a base rating of a 78 overall, tied for 14th in the Big Ten with Minnesota and UCLA, ahead of Maryland and Purdue.
Some good news for Wildcat fans right off the bat is that left tackle Caleb Tiernan got his flowers with a 91 rating, tied with Oregon’s Isaiah World for third-best at that position. He trails only Alabama’s Kadyn Proctor (94) and Colorado’s Jordan Seaton (92).
In a classic Northwestern twist, the fourth-best player on the roster is a computer-generated punter named Alex Falk. EA will generate a few different players to fill roster gaps as people opt out of their role in the game. But it’s bizarre to see the Wildcats gifted an imaginary punter tied for the seventh-best rating at the position in the game, especially when they have a capable real-life candidate in Luke Akers, who agreed to be in the game.
Still, Wildcat fans have a few very fun players to play with. The game is very high on Cam Porter with an 87 overall, Stone has a cannon for an arm, and Aidan Hubbard and Anto Saka form a dangerous pass-rushing duo.
How the program ranks: The Dynasty game mode is the crown jewel of the college football gaming landscape, and early on Northwestern seems very similar in it to last year. Many of the grades are variable, like playing style, proximity to home and playing time.
Below are the grades for a local four-star running back. My personal playing style is a mix of power run and spread option, so these are about as optimal grades as you’ll get in a first season at Northwestern.
I can’t vouch for how long it takes to increase some of the grades in the long term, but it’s definitely possible to be aggressive on the recruiting trail early. Frankly, one of the things I’m hoping for in future updates or in future iterations of the game is adjustable recruiting difficulty. Maybe it’s my winning personality that’s the difference, but it’s unrealistic to be able to get a five-star and a trio of four-stars in a first season at Northwestern.
There’s no explicit representation of a team’s NIL/revenue share budget, but I think that’s something that could be on the horizon for the next edition of the game as high school recruits in the real-life Class of 2026 openly agree to future contracts.
Who’s in the game: One of the trickier parts of CFB 26, even in the NIL world, is that some players will opt out of their appearance in the game, or will transfer too late to be swapped in for the default roster. Most of the transfers should be ironed out by preseason roster updates, and many are on the team already.
Center Talan Chandler, linebacker Jack Sadowsky V and defensive back Dillon Tatum are all on the roster, and a few incoming freshmen made it in: defensive end Jonah Hayes, defensive tackle Mason Mayne, linebacker Josh Veldman and safety Jonathan Stevens Jr.
Quarterback Gavin Frakes is yet to be added, and there are a couple stragglers still on roster from last year’s game: running back Jake Arthurs and offensive lineman Braeden Edwards. Edwards transferred to Liberty this offseason, and Arthurs graduated out of the program.
Due to opt outs or roster limit decisions (each team only has 85 players in the game, despite the 105+ on the team in real life), the virtual Wildcats have the funniest possible problem: tight end depth. Seven of the 10 tight ends on next year’s roster are not in the game.
Here’s the list of players we expect on NU in 2025 that are not on roster in the game:
| Name | Position |
| Evan Beerntsen | OL |
| Jace Borcherding | OL |
| Idrys Cotton | OL |
| Tate Crane | WR |
| Miles Crutchley | LB |
| Terrion Curry-Hicks | CB |
| Fred Davis | CB |
| Marquet Dorsey | CB |
| Niki Dugandzic | P |
| Henry Fioriglio | DL |
| Gavin Frakes | QB |
| Carson Grove | WR |
| Henry Helms | K |
| Ronny Johnson | RB |
| Alijah Jones | DB |
| Tanner Jumpp | DL |
| Tyler Kielmeyer | TE |
| Albert Kunickis | RB |
| Noah LaPorte | TE |
| Landon Lauter | DL |
| Jalen Lewis | DB |
| JJ Lewis | DB |
| Alex Lines | TE |
| Jack Oyola | DB |
| Michael O’Connell | OL |
| Caden O’Rourke | DE |
| Chris Petrucci | TE |
| Robby Preckel | TE |
| Liam Reardon | LS |
| Troy Regovich | DL |
| Marcus Romain | QB |
| Payton Roth | LB |
| Cam Russell | WR |
| Patrick Schaller | TE |
| Braxton Strong | DL |
| Jack Trautmann | DL |
| Logan Uihlein | DL |
| Blake Van Buren | TE |
| Sean Winton | QB |
| Hayden Wright | OL |
How the team plays: Without Evan Beerntsen, and Alex Lines and another handful of tight ends, some of the critical offensive depth is sapped. Stone can sling the rock, but wide receivers Griffin Wilde (75), Frank Covey IV (74) and Chase Farrell (72) can struggle to get open on higher difficulties. Similarly without Beerntsen, the offensive line to the right of Tiernan can’t always buy you the time to work through your progressions.
Still, Farrell has a 94 for speed, and change-of-pace back Joseph Himon II isn’t far off at a 92 speed. You can definitely find ways to get things going in the quick-passing game or outside run on higher difficulties. The defense plays misses the player Fred Davis II could potentially be at corner, but otherwise plays best as a unit, solid across the board.
I’m sure there will be updates and tinkering in the coming weeks or months, but those are my early thoughts on the opening edition of College Football 26.
The game isn’t perfect, but it has a few good details and improvements on 25, to the point that it still feels like an oasis in the desert after so many years without EA College Football.
