College Football 26 Dynasty mode upgrades, plus BYU just did it again

New York Times

5 days ago

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Today in college football news, it's the 10th birthday of the greatest pop album ever, 'Emotion' by Carly Rae Jepsen. I might prefer 'Dedicated Side B,' though.
Absolutely, it's time to lead the newsletter with the video game again. (Though if you're not into the video game, there's other stuff below. And to be fair, it's June.)
Moments ago, EA Sports released the second 'deep dive' video previewing the upcoming followup to the record-setting College Football 25, this time highlighting new features in Dynasty mode — aka the team-management mode, aka the mode in which some of us will once again spend 99 percent of our time with this game.
Meanwhile, Chris Vannini and David Ubben, who've spent a good bit of time with the July 10 release, just discussed some of their favorite new Dynasty features …
David: 'We're underrating how much having real coaches (more than 300 head coaches and coordinators) will add a new element to the game as a whole and, specifically, Dynasty mode. When you create a coach, it often feels like you're stepping into a fantasy version of college football. Adding player names helped make it more real, and coaches will make it even more so.'
… and their hopes for further improvement:
Chris: 'There will finally be protected opponents. You can select one or two in a conference. This was announced for last year but pulled at the last minute. … I still miss the ability to take control of games not involving your team.'
I'm most interested in what appears to be improved recruiting (like a busier transfer portal and my team's position needs appearing right up top, rather than on a separate screen) and the series regaining some historical record-keeping (the return of your own Trophy Room, along with an ever-updating list of national champions from 1869 onward, which some of us are carefully scrutinizing by comparing to the champs crowned in 2017 by the Colley Matrix and in 1984 by the University of Alabama).
Also, when I read this sentence by Robby Kalland at CBS, I literally fist-pumped:
'Pro Potential got a tweak so it doesn't just evaluate the talent you have on the roster at present, but factors in your draft results for the past four seasons.'
No longer will my Colorado State Rams or FIU Panthers be punished for going a year without a draft pick in between first-round Biletnikoff winners.
(A correction: Last week, I described mass substitutions as being 'absent' from last year's edition. It was absent at launch, when I put in the far majority of my hours, but was patched in a bit later. Still, this year's game looks like it has better lineup management.)
🧑‍🌾 'In some crazy way, I enjoy all the crazy stuff that's going on the last couple of years here with our game and the landscape and all that. It's almost like a challenge.'
😺 Half a year after BYU gained a nationally televised commitment from No. 1 men's basketball recruit AJ Dybantsa, the Cougars moments ago did it again with five-star Ryder Lyons, who'd been the top uncommitted 2026 QB.
📖 The SEC has quite a bit of QB hype this year. One more name to add: Texas A&M's Marcel Reed, as Ralph Russo explains.
💰 Last week, Wisconsin sued Miami, alleging NIL-related tampering. I agree with the story's top commenter: 'They should allow players to switch schools during halftime.'
💎 Sunday, LSU won its eighth men's College World Series title, though the primary excitement was Coastal Carolina's manager and first-base coach being ejected almost immediately for what seemed like very normal levels of baseball yelling. In a championship elimination game!
As the Zombie Pac-12 continues to rebuild its media profile (more CBS, along with ESPN and The Almighty CW, as detailed in a new story by Vannini), it also still needs to add one more team in order to count as an NCAA football conference. Having said that, I think the Pac-12 should just stick at seven. What's the NCAA gonna do about it? Exist?
Still, let's say the Pac-12 follows the rules. Currently, Texas State is the clear favorite, with its school president even teasing an image of beavers (as in, Oregon State's mascot) in the Bobcats' San Marcos River.
Okay, if that happens, then what? Why, here's Vannini yet again:
'The Sun Belt would likely move quickly and replace Texas State with Louisiana Tech, Western Kentucky or Middle Tennessee from Conference USA, according to a person briefed on the Sun Belt's thinking. CUSA is set to expand this year to 12 schools by adding Delaware and Missouri State from the Football Championship Subdivision. If the league did lose a school and try to backfill, it wouldn't be able to add another FCS program until 2027 at the earliest because of the FCS-FBS transition process.'
Oh, fun fact: TXST actually wouldn't be the Pac-12's easternmost member. Lest we forget the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, an affiliate member for wrestling. Conference champs, in fact.
All hail Little Rock, the Pac-12's only Trojans. Email me at [e-mail] with thoughts on which team even further east should join the Pac-12.
Last week's most-clicked: Lots of you clicked this story about former NFL players chuckling at tabloid star Bill Belichick, you haters!