College Football 25 Patch Adds Mass Subs, Roster Update Includes Tons of New Players

With the college football season now upon us, EA graced us with a new patch this morning and multiple roster updates that include many new players and number changes. The full patch notes will be included at the end of this article, but let’s dive in to some of the big changes.

The biggest changes for dynasty mode fans are the addition of Mass Subs and additional player editing for non-NIL players — with some of the usual caveats still in place. Those caveats include no number editing and no skin color changes. However, you can edit the ratings, equipment, and so on now.

Here is the general list of things you can edit on non-NIL players now:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Position
• Ratings
• Attributes
• Apparel
• Appearance is only Height, Weight, Arm Size, and Thighs

With the real players, you can still only change their gear. Do not expect to be able to edit numbers this year — it’s not a bug. Also if you get into updating rosters a lot in dynasty mode, remember you can only sort by 300 players at once, so it’s not going to show you every player at a position when you go to the National tab. You’ll need to go team by team (the 300 player cap is just in dynasty mode for some reason).

With Mass Subs, this is available for dynasty mode not Play Now. On top of that, be aware that the game will not take Redshirt status into account, so the game will put your Redshirted players into the game if they’re high enough in the depth chart that they would go in after a Mass Subs change. You can also use Mass Subs to put your starters all back into the game.

Other dynasty mode improvements include tweaks to Super Sim so you see lower completion percentages for QBs. Some of the unlisted changes that folks have found so far in dynasty mode include Hawaii now being fixed so potential recruits from Hawaii have A+ Proximity to Home for the Dealbreaker at Hawaii. There is likely more that we’ll find throughout the day.

There does seem to be a visual bug that was introduced with recruiting. We’re not getting those weekly recruiting updates anymore after simulating to the next week. So you’re not being notified about players cutting down their list to Top 8/5, and also it seems we’re not being notified when recruits commit to our schools with those little pop-up Committed screens. The recruiting itself is fine, you’re just not getting that visual feedback.

Other existing bugs that were not touched include some of the usual weirdness around the Coaching Carousel job offers system and not being able to create protected rivalries when using custom conferences.

The Toughest Places to Play rankings were also updated. There’s no easy way to check these in the menu, so you have to go into home games to see the rankings. LSU now tops the rankings. Two bugs were also introduced with this list so we have multiple teams at two of the rankings.

There were actually two roster updates this morning (or at least I was able to update mine twice), and you might not be aware that you might have to manually update these if you don’t do much with online modes.

Here is how you do that:

Go to Create and Share tab –> click Rosters –> and click Update Rosters

We’re on the forums trying to figure out all the additions, but some of the teams that got a sizable number of updates include Miami, Texas, and USC. The number of “major” players still missing is down to under 10 I would say, and so it’s likely that anyone not in the game by now chose to avoid being in the game or forgot to hand in their paperwork. That said, roster updates are going to continue throughout the year.

Some of the visual goodies added in this patch include various jerseys, including Tennessee’s Smokey Grays:

We also got at least one promised stadium update as fans are now on The Hill for UVA:

On the gameplay front, the most noticeable change might end up being the changes to the Coaching Suggestions during games. This could make the AI use more of their playbook — and maybe you as well if you use Coach Suggestions. However, these changes, in addition to the added formations that were included with some team playbooks, may be messing with your existing custom playbooks. We don’t have enough feedback yet to really know, but I would monitor that if you’re using a custom playbook.

Still, this could be a big change, and it’s maybe also a hope for Madden 25 if the system works the same way because right now the pass-run ratios in that game are all out of whack in franchise mode because the CPU teams don’t select enough run plays.

The Switch Stick now has a “delay” option. This is a big change because now you might not accidentally try to Hit Stick or something else wacky when trying to pump up the crowd or get some pre-play adjustments in before the snap.

Until this patch, the option pitch read key coaching adjustment was reversed in your Coaching Adjustments menu, so setting it to play the QB would play the pitch man and setting it to play the pitch man would play the QB. This is now fixed.

The pass block slider also got tuned so you should see more differences when using that now for both the CPU and Human player. This might be the most realistic pass blocking in general maybe ever in an EA football game (a relatively low bar to clear, to be fair), but some are really struggling to deal with needing to step up into the pocket, make line adjustments, and all that, so this should be a useful change.

It does not look like pursuit angles were touched, so that’s likely to remain one of the worst aspects of gameplay, and I’m not sure if EA will be able to solve that problem with a patch anyway.

Lastly, trick plays should not be as effective when you use Pass Commit, and screens look like they have been tweaked so the defensive linemen are more aware a screen is happening. Screens are weird in general because they’re too effective when you get the pass off (especially HB screens), but they’re basically unusable in Coach Mode, and the pass is very hard to get off with many of them (including slip screens) in general. In other words, you usually get sacked/get no yards or get a big chunk play, so we’ll monitor this change and see if the balance is better now.

For Road to the CFP fans out there, the tiers got a lot of needed work. After EA changed from three tiers to five, there were quite a few teams in questionable tiers. I’m not sure if the rankings are perfect now, but teams like Penn State and Tennessee jumped from Tier 3 to Tier 2, and a team like Michigan dropped from Tier 1 down to Tier 2 as well.

Below you can find the full patch notes from EA.

Full College Football 25 Patch Notes

GAMEPLAY

• New Switch Stick Delay option is available. This will be found in your game options menu. The options include:
  • No Delay
  • Slight Delay
  • Large Delay
  • Disable Switch Stick
• Fixed an issue where players would receive a Speed Boost when using Custom Stems and Smart Routing.
  • Dev Note: We will be working on an additional fix slated for the next title update which will result in further balancing. 
• Increased the responsiveness of the pass block slider for users and CPU. 
• Fixed an issue where defenders could slip through double teams without the appropriate animation.
• General CPU play call and coach suggestion tuning across all modes.
  • Dev Note: We will monitor feedback on this and make necessary changes in future title updates.
• Decreased the times the CPU calls jet touch pass.
• Increased the effectiveness of Pass Committing vs Trick Plays.
• Increased the risk of Run Committing from Man Coverage.
• Fixed an issue where players could continue to spin when using a conservative ball carrier coach adjustment.
• Adjusted the AI Logic to significantly reduce the chances of receiving a roughing the kicker penalty on punts and field goals.
• Increased the chance for Defensive Linemen to sniff out HB Screen plays
• Added 11 new formations to teams’ playbooks including:
  • Singleback Wing Slot Over (Uconn, Charlotte)
  • Pistol Ace Double Wing (Ball State)
  • Pistol Doubles Y Off Stack (Florida, Louisville, Illinois)
  • Pistol Trips Over Y Off (Cincinnati)
  • Pistol Full House Twins Over (NMSU, UNLV, Option, Spread Option)
  • Pistol Strong Tight (Liberty, Louisville, UTEP, Rice, Kennesaw State)
  • Pistol Bunch Open (Missouri)
  • Pistol Ace Heavy Overload (Ball state)
  • Pistol Wing Slot Over (Florida, Texas A&M, Michigan, Kennesaw State)
  • Pistol Weak Slot Over (Texas A&M, Cincinnati)
  • Pistol Strong Trips Over (Florida, Multiple, Cincinnati)
• Added new Jet Sweep series plays under center for Utah, Bowling Green, Kentucky
• Added more formations and plays to multiple teams’ playbooks, specifically empty and short-yardage formations (will continue through future title updates)
• Changed default personnel for Liberty’s pistol formations to have 2 HBs instead of an HB and a TE/FB

DYNASTY

• Enabled the ability to edit ratings for non NIL players and recruits.
• Further Super Sim tuning to reduce completion percentages across the country, especially limiting quarterbacks completing more than 70% of their passes.
• Introduced new AI Super Sim timing logic for in-game simming. Play time will now scale to the selected quarter length.
  • Dev Note: This applies to Super Sim – Normal and Super Sim – Fast settings
• Enabled Mass Subs for Online and Offline Dynasty games when playing against the AI. You will be able to sub in either your entire 2nd unit (if your starters are in) or your entire starting group (if your 2nd unit is in). 
• Further tuning of Awards systems. 
• Fixed an issue with the Stat Display for Returner of the Year.
• Updated data for Kent State and Oklahoma State Coaching Staff
  • Dev Note: You will be required to start a new Dynasty for the updated staff.
• Fixed an issue where the Broken Vertebrae injury was incorrectly labeled as a Strained Back.

COLLEGE ULTIMATE TEAM

• Player Upgrade & Refund animations are no longer misaligned.
• Fixed an issue that was causing Milestone Progress to display incorrectly. You would see two different milestone totals at times depending on where in the Challenge Sequence you viewed.
• Fixed an issue that was causing the filter drop down for ‘My Rank’ and ‘Top 100’ to remain on the screen after navigating away in Solo Battles.
• Fixed a navigation issue on the Live Events tab that was giving users error messages after selecting ‘Objectives.
• When viewing Team Chemistry on the Upgrade Tab of the Single Item Viewer, the required coin amount to unlock the Chem will be displayed. Previously, the amount was only shown on the confirmation popup.
• Fixed an issue with Sets that gave users server errors after trying to add an Item Set.
• ‘Open Next Pack’ is now available during the Fantasy Pack Flow. Hopefully it’s a little quicker to open up some of those rewards from Season 1.
• Cleaned up truncated text on various screens.

ROAD TO GLORY MODE

• Gave players the ability to audible regardless of what position you are in when lined up on the field.
• Re-tuned starting attributes for all HB archetypes, which includes an increase to speed, agility, change of direction, and stamina (to lower the times you get pulled from the game after a big run)
• Re-tuned starting attributes for all CB archetypes, which includes an increase to speed, stamina, acceleration, and agility

PRESENTATION AND UI UPDATES

• Introducing new uniforms for Arkansas State, UAB, Western Kentucky, Louisiana Monroe, Tennessee, ECU, West Virginia, UMass, Charlotte, Ohio State (jersey swoosh will only turn diamond when in playoff games), Colorado State, Minnesota
• Updated uniform pieces for 2024 season: Charlotte, Cal, Tulsa, Miami (OH)
• Included New NIL Players for multiple teams.

ROAD TO CFP

• Additional Tier Rebalancing to reflect the 5 Tier format.

Season 2 is here!

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