During the 2024 campaign, Rally Cry’s mobile gaming truck has visited colleges nationwide for fans to compete in person on EA SPORTS™ College Football 25
At the last home game against the Florida Gators, Longhorns fans were treated to a unique game day experience. The Rally Cry Championship Tour appeared in Austin for the SEC clash. Over the last few months, Rally Cry’s mobile gaming truck has visited colleges nationwide for fans to compete in person on EA SPORTS™ College Football 25.
In its first year, the tour has included celebrity matches and allowed fans to compete for a custom championship trophy. For many, it’s an experience unlike any other.
“The program is a national tour with an online league association,” said Rally Cry CEO Adam Rosen. “We go to amazing matchups across the country. We are stationed right in the middle of tailgating right outside of the stadiums, hosting a featured matchup of the week.”
Prior to its stop in Austin, the tour also appeared at Hard Rock Stadium, Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, and the Duke’s Mayo Classic at Bank of America Stadium. Over the last few months, Rosen has seen various tailgating experiences and what makes college football unique.
“It’s been incredible in short,” said Rosen. “I think a lot of the tradition and fanfare around college football makes it the best sport in the world. It’s something that we respect and think we are adding a little more to the experience as well. It’s been cool to see that every campus is completely different.”
On Saturday, Rosen and his teammate saw what game day at Austin looks like. As the Longhorns rolled to another win, the atmosphere did not disappoint.
“It was really cool to be on Bevo Boulevard where the band enters, where Bevo enters, it’s just stepped in tradition,” said Rosen. “We really like that we were able to immerse ourselves in it and hopefully add to that tradition for future years.”
The afternoon featured matchups between Longhorns legends and well-known media members. That list includes former Longhorns Rod Babers and Fozzy Whittaker. On Texas Football Analyst CJ Vogel also made an appearance.
In December, the top four players will battle it out in front of thousands to determine a champion.
Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2023 and has been updated.
EA’s NCAA Football cover stars operated on a different principle for a while compared to the spotlight athletes in other sports games. NCAA rules forbade college athletes from appearing on the cover, so you nearly always saw an NFL rookie sporting their jersey from a few years previously – usually with at least one trophy or high recognition under their belt as well. EA wasn’t afraid to get a bit silly with the NCAA franchise either. At one point, the publisher honored the community’s voice and made a mascot the star of an NCAA game.
The franchise came to a messy end in 2014, as licensing issues and debates over the appropriate use of player likenesses brought EA’s college football days to a halt.
But now? We’re so back. Here’s a walk through 20 years of NCAA Football cover stars and a look at College Football 25.
Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thank you so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate you.
After having had College Football 25 take over my life for the last few weeks, I decided to give Madden a shot. I’ve been a sporadic Madden player over the years but figured I’d give it another shot since we finally got another college football video game, and it was awesome.
After playing it for four days straight, my feelings are mixed.
Don’t get it twisted — this isn’t a bad game! Anyone who has been a fan of Madden will love this one. There were plenty of redeemable qualities that kept me coming back.
The first thing that you should know about it is that this is not a copy-and-paste job with CFB 25. The two games are entirely different. Madden actually does a lot of things better than CFB 25, if I’m being honest.
The first thing I did was go into a Play Now game. I chose to replay the Eagles’ first preseason game against the Ravens.
Big mistake, guys. That defense is excellent. It destroyed me. But, honestly, I was in awe at how alive it felt. The defense kept shifting around pre-snap. It was like the players were communicating with one another. It felt like watching an honest NFL game, which was nice.
The playbooks were also unique. The Eagles offense was fun. It was filled with a ton of run-pass option plays with intricate route concepts for Jalen Hurts to cycle through. It was impressive.
What I really wanted to play was the game’s Superstar mode. I’d been glued to Road to Glory on CFB 25 since the game came out and wanted to continue my player’s career on Madden.
Things started off pretty well! My player transferred over neatly. He looked exactly like he did on CFB 25, which was nice.
Once your player loads in, you select an archetype. Since this was a quarterback, I had four choices: field general, scrambler, improviser and power runner. Ultimately, I built a custom improviser mix.
From there, you play the NFL Combine and do various drills to improve your player. There’s also a Combine interview you can take that impacts your draft standing, too.
The questions are super silly and easy if you pay attention to Madden and the NFL in the slightest bit. The questions aren’t about defensive coverages and how to attack them. Instead, they’re silly things like who won Kick Tac Toe at the Pro Bowl in 2023.
Pretty sure I still got this wrong, but whatever.
Ultimately, the Jets drafted me with the 11th pick in the first round. They do the whole draft thing, too, by the way. Robert Saleh called me to let me know the Jets were picking me. You also get to shake hands with Roger Goodell, which was nice.
But things got super weird, super fast. For some reason, New York traded Aaron Rodgers to the Rams after picking me, and, well, that didn’t make any sense mostly because my player kind of stinks.
This is what really irked me. You’d think that as a Heisman-winning quarterback who broke virtually every passing record at USC, I’d have been a pretty good prospect. But nope! He’s a 65 overall quarterback.
It felt like the work I did on CFB 25 kind of didn’t matter, which sucked. But the mode was still fun to play. I played the preseason and, after a few quick games, he’s already a 70 overall. It’s not hard to level up. You get skill points upon completion of “quests,” which are basically stat goals for the season. The progression system is also much better than CFB 25’s. It’s more granular, so you can improve individual “core” skills instead of broadly improving a swath of them without control.
The mode was a bit glitchy. I had to restart the game a few times to get some of the menus to work. It also just completely kicked me in the middle of a fourth quarter, which was irritating, but I still had fun with it.
The presentation was excellent. The commentators knew I won the Heisman, which was nice. They also gave me a sweet chyron, too.
I haven’t had much time to explore the rest of the game, but these two modes gave me a pretty good sampling on what to expect.
Ultimately, this game is good. If you like Madden or love football, you’ll have a good time playing it. It’s an immersive NFL experience that breathes a lot of life into the experience.
Me, personally? I think I’m going to slide back to CFB 25 for a sec. I miss those drums.
Harbaugh reportedly told Kap he had a coaching job waiting for him with the Chargers if he wanted it. The head coach reportedly offered Kaepernick that job back in January.
Now, it seems, it’s a bit too late to take it. Harbaugh told reporters that Kaepernick wouldn’t be coaching on the staff or playing on the team this year.
“I love Colin, but he’s not going to be on the coaching staff I set for this year, and he’s not going to be playing on the roster either,” he said.
That’s a reasonable position for Harbaugh, considering that the NFL season starts in a couple of weeks here. It’s a bit late to be adding names to the coaching staff.
It also seems he’s closing the window on Kaepernick playing for him, too, which is a bit disappointing. I guess Easton Stick is good enough? Whatever.
Maybe next year. We’ll see.
Ws > Records
(Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Angel Reese has done a lot of record breaking in her rookie WNBA season so far, but she’s more concerned with wins. That was made clear during her press conference after a rough loss to the Phoenix Mercury on Thursday.
“After a rough loss to the Phoenix Mercury Thursday, Angel was asked about breaking Sylvia Fowles’ franchise single-season rebounding record. And, while that’s really dope, it’s probably the last thing she wants to hear following a loss.
That’s something she’s said before — for example, after she broke the rookie double-double record — and it certainly wasn’t going to change on a night where the team mostly struggled without Chennedy Carter. As you might suspect, Angel rattled off an icy but blunt “I don’t wanna hear about no record” response to a reporter who asked.”
Record, schmecord. Angel is trying to make the playoffs.
Photo Friday: The cycle, baby!
(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
Weston Wilson got showered with sunflower seeds after becoming the first Phillies rookie to ever hit the cycle in a game.
The most recent update for EA Sports College Football 25 brought the Oregon Ducks new ‘Generation O’ uniforms to the game at long last.
When it came out that the Oregon Ducks were dropping a new line of uniforms in the same year EA Sports was releasing a new college football video game for the first time in a decade, football fans who grew up obsessing over jersey combinations felt a little giddy inside.
But when EA Sports College Football 25 came out, and the new “Generation O” uniforms were nowhere to be found, some fans might have felt a sense of panic.
No need to fret any longer.
[lawrence-related id=63738]
The latest update to CFB 25 contained a number of changes, including an influx of uniforms available for multiple teams. As a piece of the new game patch, Oregon’s “Fly Era,” “Gang Green,” and “Mighty Oregon” uniforms in the “Generation O” line have been added and are available to be mixed and matched.
There are still two more jersey sets to be revealed in the “Generation O” line, so one can believe that another update down the road will add a couple more additions that we don’t yet have.
For now, though, enjoy picking your Ducks and mixing and matching throwback uniforms with the new combinations available. Happy gaming.
Here is how the top Steelers rank in EA Sports Madden NFL 25.
EA Sports have trickled in all the launch ratings for Madden NFL 25 over the past week. Madden NFL 25 is set for a release date of August 16 and now we have a good look at how EA ranks the Pittsburgh Steelers in comparison to the rest of the NFL.
Spoiler: It’s not great. Only three Steelers ranked over 90 with EDGE T.J. Watt the highest with a 97.
Here is how the Top 12 Steelers stack up:
OLB T.J. Watt – 97
FS Minkah Fitzpatrick – 93
DE Cameron Heyward – 90
OLB Alex Highsmith – 89
MLB Patrick Queen – 85
WR George Pickens – 83
RB Najee Harris – 83
RB Jaylen Warren – 82
TE Pat Freiermuth – 82
K Chris Boswell – 81
G Isaac Seumalo – 81
CB Joey Porter Jr. – 81
Not having Watt as one of the rare 99-rated players came as something of a surprise and seeing fellow LB Alex Highsmith just 8 points below him was just as shocking.
The Steelers offense was fairly well represented and seeing Harris and Warren with just one point separating them really highlights just how good the Steelers run game can be.
Every year, EA Sports releases a brand-new update for their Madden NFL video game franchise. As the game gets closer to being released, the development team shares the overall ratings of players in the game.
On Friday, they dropped their top ten linebackers, and Saints fans found a familiar face on the list. The 35-year-old ranked as the third-best linebacker in the game.
Davis comes in with a 92 overall rating at launch, two higher than the previous year. He absolutely deserves it with the year he is coming off of. The Arkansas State product had one of his best seasons, tallying 121 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 11 quarterback hits, and 6.5 sacks.
His 92 overall rating will likely be the highest overall player for New Orleans. He joins teammates Tyran Mathieu and Cameron Jordan as top-10 overall players at their respective positions. The game’s worldwide release is set for Aug. 16, with premium preorders opening early access up on Aug. 13.
Almost every day after practice in training camp, the Washington Commanders’ social media team has a camera set up with a game for players as they enter the locker room.
With this week’s player ratings releases for Madden NFL 25, the Commanders’ game of choice on Friday was for the team to guess the Madden ratings of four different players.
The four players happen to be four of the team’s top stars: DT Jonathan Allen, WR Terry McLaurin, LB Bobby Wagner and RG Sam Cosmi.
It was fun for the players as Allen correctly guessed he was Player A.
Nearly everyone can agree that Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud was shafted in his Madden ranking heading into 2024.
C.J. Stroud wasn’t expected to do much in the NFL before the 2023 season. As the No. 2 overall pick out of Ohio State on a franchise that won 11 games in three combined seasons, expectations were markedly low heading into September.
Stroud never got that memo since he put together one of the best seasons in NFL history for a rookie en route to helping Houston secure its first division title in four years. Players even were dazzled by his heroics, ranking him No. 20 in the NFL’s Top 100 list.
Even NFL coaches, executives and scouts voted Stroud the seventh-best quarterback in the league entering the 2024 season despite only having one season under his belt.
The folks over at EA Sports still need to see more from the offensive rookie of the year before placing at the top-tier spot.
EA Madden 25 revealed its ratings for quarterbacks on Friday, with Stroud grading out as an 81 overall. That would place him not just outside the top 10, but nearly outside the top 15.
Stroud, who became the fifth rookie in league history to throw for 4,000 yards in their first season, was sandwiched between Detroit’s Jared Goff (82 overall) and Green Bay’s Jordan Love (81 overall).
It would be one thing to argue that Stroud’s inexperience warrants a lower ranking, but EA Sports listed San Francisco’s Brock Purdy as a top-10 passer. Few can insist that Purdy hasn’t shown promise since taking over in the Bay Area, but he’s also been blessed with arguably the league’s top defense and a cast of All-Pro weapons.
Entering Year 2, Stroud has one of those thanks to the additions of Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon and former All-Pro receiver Stefon Diggs, but remember that he made history with eight different offensive line combinations and a lackluster run game.
On top of that, the Texans’ defense was hit-or-miss most of the season, especially in the secondary. Twice last season, Stroud led comeback drives to secure victories and plant Houston at the top of the AFC South rankings.
The top 32 QBs in Madden NFL 25:
1) Patrick Mahomes: 99 2) Lamar Jackson: 98 3) Joe Burrow: 93 4) Josh Allen: 92 5) Dak Prescott: 90 6) Tua Tagovailoa: 88 7) Justin Herbert: 87 8) Jalen Hurts: 86 9) Brock Purdy: 85 10) Kirk Cousins: 84 11) Aaron Rodgers: 83 12) Matthew Stafford:…
Without Stroud, the Texans would have remained an underwhelming franchise with a lack of direction at the most essential position for success.
Could the same be said for the 49ers with Purdy, who graded out with an 85 overall ranking?
Could the same be said for Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts, who ranked eighth at 86 grade?
How about Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa or Dallas Dak Prescott, who each ranked in the top six with an 88 overall grade or higher?
Stroud, who didn’t play in Thursday’s 21-17 loss against the Chicago Bears in the Hall of Fame game, likely has other things on his mind as the Texans prepare for Week 1.
Fans, however, have ample time to complain about the egregious decision made by those who say, “It’s in the game.”
Lamb was a star in three seasons at OU, before his time with the Dallas Cowboys.
Former Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver [autotag]CeeDee Lamb[/autotag] is one of the best players at his position in the National Football League.
Since being drafted in 2020, he’s been spectacular for the Dallas Cowboys. He caught 135 passes for 1,749 yards and 12 touchdowns in a career-best season in 2023. EA Sports has rewarded the young wideout with a very high ranking in their new video game, Madden NFL 25.
The game releases worldwide August 16, but until then, EA Sports is rolling out their player rankings for different positions. On Monday, wide receivers and safeties had their overall ratings revealed, and Lamb fared very well with the evaluators, earning his highest career rating.
Lamb ranked third among all wide receivers, trailing only Tyreek Hill and Justin Jefferson. He was given a 96 overall rating. Lamb’s route running abilities were highlighted by the evaluators, as he earned 90-plus marks for short, medium, and deep route running.
Kicking off #Madden25 Ratings Week with the Top 10 Wide Receivers! 👑
Lamb was a three-year starter from 2017 to 2019 for the Sooners, slowly improving each year before becoming a star in his final season. He teamed with [autotag]Jalen Hurts[/autotag] to give OU one of the best QB-WR duos in all of college football. He caught 62 passes for 1,327 yards and a ridiculous 14 touchdowns in his final season at the collegiate level. Lamb won three straight conference championships and played in the [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag] each year of his college career.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions.You can also follow Aaron on X @AaronGelvin.
Have you experienced anything like this in the game?
College football fans have been all about EA Sports College Football 25, which was released this week. The reviews among fans have been glowing and rightfully so. But as hard as EA tried to perfect this video game, a few mistakes ended up slipping through the cracks.
A podcaster named Jason Kirk is among those who bought the game. He played one contest between Western Kentucky and Kennesaw State. When it was over, he noticed something unusual enough that he posted a screenshot to social media:
— Jason Kirk (buy my novel) (@JasonKirk_fyi) July 18, 2024
Yep, that’s the Notre Dame Leprechaun somehow celebrating a win with the Owls’ cheerleaders in Bowling Green. This apparently isn’t the only such instance because the replies to this tweet indicated that unrelated mascots were popping up in other games.
Chalk this up to a history of glitches in EA football games. One oldie but goodie popped up in Madden NFL 2007 (warning: NSFW language):
Sigh. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.
