College Football is returning to the world of console gaming. Created by EA Sports, ‘EA Sports College Football’ is expected to debut on next-gen consoles soon. This will end the 9-year hiatus since former Michigan QB Denard Robinson graced the cover of NCAA 14. The news of the games return has caused rejoicing in the college football fandom and in the sports gaming community. Though there is a lot of excitement in its return, there’s also a lot of worries about it.  

NCAA 14 is heralded as one of the last great sports games. An in-depth dynasty mode with easy to grasp recruiting, a famous Road to Glory mode that has helped many a kid fulfil their dreams of playing college football, and a teambuilder mode to create custom teams. You could even add a teambuilder high school to your Road to glory (I myself was a star running back for GP when I first started playing the game in 3rd grade)  

The game debuted during a high point during sports games. Madden was performing well as the ultimate team mode began to grow, and NBA2K14 is one of the more popular 2K games of all time.  

As time has passed, the growth of said ultimate team modes has vastly deteriorated the quality of games. Many games focus on the moneymaking game mode, whether it be Madden Ultimate Team, FIFA FUT (Football Ultimate Team), or NBA2K’s MyTeam. Most games now contain lackluster career and franchise modes, as most effort is placed into the revenue generating game modes. Madden especially has famously been riddled with bugs and bad gameplay engines in recent years that have left fans dissatisfied with the series. 

This is what has left fans worried about the return of the NCAA series. The possibility of the game being a simple Madden reskin with the famous game modes being lackluster and an emphasis on the ultimate team game mode has led to skepticism in the community. Many have said that if the game disappoints, they will opt to stay with NCAA 14 or the modded version, College Football Revamped, which has up-to-date uniforms, rosters and even graphics packages to represent the current ESPN scorebug.  

Though there is skepticism about the game, there is also a lot of optimism. Members of the same team that created the CFB Revamped mod are supposedly working on the development of the new game, meaning that their high-quality work will hopefully carry over to the next-gen games.  

Then past editions are held near and dear to the hearts of many GP students.

“I loved NCAA 14 on my Xbox. Because the game didn’t have the actual rosters, I had to create them myself. I love the Oregon Ducks, so I always used them because Marcus Mariota was a total cheat code,” sophomore John Allison said. “Honestly such a fun game with great customization. It’s a shame that we haven’t gotten a new one in the last 7 years. I’m definitely gonna buy the new one when it comes out, no question about it,” senior Ethan Laghaeian said. Sophomore Angus Van Valey has deep running memories of the game, staying up late playing dynasty mode and playing tournaments with his friends. “NCAA 14 has always been a game to come back to and play mascot mashup from time to time. It’s honestly better than any of the Madden games ever,” Van Valey said. 

“NCAA 14 was amazing. The soundtrack is memorable, playing dynasty games with Western Kentucky, creating a team of me and all my friends who play football at recess, doing road to glory saves and just pouring hours into the game. It’s 9 years old and still better than Madden,” said sophomore Jake Watson. 

Though there is concern that the game will be a flop, many people are holding out hope that it will be on par with the titles of old that brought memories to many students here at GP.