Oregon Football Missing from College Football 25 Gameplay Deep Dive

Several new gameplay mechanics were detailed in the College Football 25 Gameplay Deep Dive, none of which included Oregon.

Oregon Green Team offensive linebacker Teitum Tuioti breaks up a pass intended for White Team tight end Terrance Ferguson during the Oregon Ducks’ Spring Game Saturday, April 27. 2024 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. / Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA

EUGENE - In another show of disrespect towards Oregon Football, the Ducks were left out of the new Gameplay Deep Dive for EA Sports College Football 25. After the original game trailer showed only the Duck and a behind the scenes photo had an injured Oregon player, fans were likely expecting better representation in the next preview of the new game.

Unfortunately, this didn’t happen as there were no Oregon players to be seen in the Kirk Herbstreit narrated gameplay preview that came out this week. While this feels like a slight, one must press on. Today, we’ll review some of the new gameplay mechanics in College Football 25, despite the lack of an Oregon presence.

Oregon Green Team offensive linebacker Teitum Tuioti breaks up a pass intended for White Team tight end Terrance Ferguson during the Oregon Ducks’ Spring Game Saturday, April 27. 2024 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. / Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA

Wear & Tear System: Perhaps the biggest structural change to the new game comes in players now accumulating progressive wear and tear over the course of games and seasons. This is regionalized to specific areas of the body that affect different players and positions differently.

For example, a quarterback taking wear and tear to his throwing arm will result in a higher chance of arm and shoulder injuries as well as affect the player’s ability to pass accurately, even if the player is not actively injured.

This may not be one of the more fun features of this year’s College Football game, it is much more realistic than past injury systems.

Player Abilities: In what seems to be a bit of a copy-and-paste from EA Sports’ Madden game, players will now have individualized abilities that give them certain advantages over their base skillset.

Notable examples included Georgia running back Trevor Etienne Jr. 's “Side Step” ability which increases the effectiveness of his juke moves. Another was Michigan cornerback Will Johnson’s “Ballhawk” ability which allows him to take better angles on passes thrown his direction in the hope of grabbing more interceptions.

While this does feel like it was pulled directly from Madden, player abilities should give high-level players a clear advantage over their lower-rated counterparts and be a fun feature for fans of certain star players.

Home Field Advantage: The direct impact of a road environment on gameplay was one of fans’ favorite features from the old College Football game. The new installment will double down on this element as a crowd noise meter will have increasing effects on an offense’s ability to communicate and execute plays.

Each player will also have a composure statistic that affects how much or little they’re individually affected by crowd noise and stadium environment. This will likely improve over the course of a player’s career, giving an edge to more veteran players who’ve played in big environments before.

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While there are likely more new game features than were shown in the trailer, College Football 25 looks to be quite a bit different than NCAA Football 14. Despite disappointment at the lack of Oregon’s inclusion this latest video, I suspect fans will still find plenty of reasons to try out their Ducks on the sticks this summer.