Inside The Panthers

Pitt Panthers Featured in New EA Sports Gameplay

The Pitt Panthers featured in the new EA Sports College Football 25 Gameplay video, which shows new features in the upcoming game.

Dominic Campbell

EA Sports College Football 25 Pitt Football
EA Sports College Football 25 Pitt Football /

PITTSBURGH-- The Pitt Panthers were featured once again in the new EA Sports College Football 25 video game, as the brand released new game play features that will come out in the upcoming game.

The video showed the turnover dunk celebration that they put in the trailer for the game, a staple of Pitt defensive celebrations in the recent era of head coach Pat Narduzzi.

They also showed team ratings for particular programs, including Pitt. It had them with 90 overall, 85 offense and 90 defense rating facing ACC foe Boston College, who have ratings of 74 overall, 73 offense and 68 defense.

While some fans were stunned by the ratings, especially after a poor 3-9 record last season, EA Sports added, "Player and Team Ratings Shown are not final and subject to change."

The gameplay trailer unveiled new features in gameplay that previous editions of the game didn't have. This includes wear and tear, which dictates how a player will play after suffering or taking a big hit.

This new feature makes the player take more strategic decisions when it comes to keeping players in or taking them out to prevent furthe and serious injury.

EA Sports also included mental and physical player abilities that separate the best players from inexperienced first-years even more than before.

The stadium pulse, which makes it difficult for the player to go into raucous away environments and succeed, is also back in this game. Some issues a player on the road will face includes squiggly lines for player routes and the inability to call audibles at times.

Players will also have the option to select from a number of playbooks from across the country and even create a custom one to fit their needs.

EA Sports also revamped the passing mechanics to make it more realistic for the player. Other new features includes a kicking meter, changing hot routes and moving players around on defense to make better plays.

Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team also put up a photo of some Pitt gameplay, but this did not show up in the trailer.

The EA Sports College Football video game will likely serve as one of the biggest games of the year. It is the first college football video game to come out since 2013, ending an 11-year hiatus. 

Bill Walsh College Football was the first college football video game and it came out in 1993. The legendary head coach of Stanford and the San Francisco 49ers served as the cover for the first two editions and then College Football USA 96/97 would feature as the next two.

The NCAA started to brand the video game in 1997 with NCAA College Football 98 and would continue to do so through 2013 with NCAA College Football 14. All FBS teams then came into the video game, but with the NCAA branding, so too did official bowl games and awards like the Heisman, Biletnikoff and others. 

The game had different modes that people could play, like dynasty mode, ultimate team in later editions and Road to Glory, which allowed players to play as themselves and become a star.

NCAA College Football came out on a number of consoles, including Wii, PlayStation, XBOX, GameCube, Windows and more. This new edition will come out for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Pitt even had a player grace the cover, as Biletnikoff winner Larry Fitzgerald was the cover on NCAA College Football 2005.

The reason for the hiatus of a college football video game came when the NCAA, Electronic Arts and the use of college athletes' likenesses all came together. 

Disputes included some conferences backing out of the game, the NCAA continuing to argue the amateur status of student-athletes, and a lack of understanding of how to pay college athletes, which forced EA to choose to shelve the game for the foreseeable future.

NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) allows student-athletes to profit off of themselves, which made it easier for EA to figure out how to make a new college football game.

Student-athletes also have the ability to truly play as themselves. Previous editions didn't have names of the players or any descriptions. They will now have their own pictures, names and more for the game.

NIL will pay student-athletes around $600 for participating and the game for free, which costs around $70. 

Electronic Arts has worked with One Team Partners, who work with NIL rights and CLC, the country’s top college trademark licensing company, allowing more 15,000 current student-athletes to make merchandise deals, and now, a video game deal too. 

With the last game selling around 1.5 million copies, expect a much higher number than that this summer, with the game coming out on July 19. 

Make sure you bookmark Inside the Panthers for the latest news, exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage, and more! 

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Dominic Campbell

DOMINIC CAMPBELL

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