OS Reviews: Penn State In College Football 25

After more than a decade, it’s back.

EA Sports’ College Football 25 was officially released Friday, though folks were able to purchase the game as soon as Monday, July 15. After 11 years without a college football video game, fans were able to suit up as their favorite teams once again.

Our staffers bought into the hype and have spent the last several days dominating the college football landscape as digital Nittany Lions. Whether they loved playing in Beaver Stadium or beating Ohio State, here’s how they found the newest EA Sports game.

Aidan Conrad

My expectations of CFB 25 were sky-high and somehow they were met. The first thing I did after selecting Penn State as my favorite team was to match up vs. Washington for a night game in Beaver Stadium. My friend and I muted each other for the entirety of the game to get a feel for the in-game experience. The presentation and attention to detail to Penn State, and all other schools, are truly remarkable. Everything from the walk out with fans chanting, “We Are Penn State,” to the lion roar after first downs felt as real as a video game can get. Penn State was lucky enough to have EA license two familiar stadium sounds, Kernkraft 400 and Mo Bamba.

Playing on the road at Penn State is significantly more difficult than if you were to play a smaller program. The noise of the crowd is amplified, the screen and routes of the receivers shake, and at times the button of who you want to throw to doesn’t appear on the screen. In the past, I never felt the need to wear headphones while playing a sports video game, but with CFB 25 I feel as if you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t. It may be recency bias, but I think this is one of the best sports games ever created.

Fernando Martinez

College Football 25 was worth the wait. This video game lived up to the hype and has been so much fun to play. EA Sports did an excellent job recreating the atmosphere at Beaver Stadium, and playing as Penn State at Beaver Stadium brought back so many amazing memories that I’ve had there. Zombie Nation, Mo Bamba, the We Are chant, the Nittany Lion, and so much more were in the game (just wished that Sweet Caroline was, too). This has gotten me more excited to go back to Beaver Stadium this fall.

As for the game, it has been so much fun, especially in Dynasty mode and Road to Glory. These modes have taken me into what it’s like to be the coach or player for Penn State. It has shown me what it’s like as a coach to recruit players or as a college athlete to manage so many things in your life, like your GPA and NIL deals, which have been very fun challenges for me (beating Ohio State was so enjoyable). The only thing I’ll admit is that throwing and kicking field goals under the hardest difficulty has been very hard for me and something that will require time to get used to as a player.

Forget Madden, College Football 25 is the game to play.

Dillon Williams

Penn State in CFB 25 is very fun to use! The game captures the magic of Beaver Stadium extremely well and it makes me so excited to go back in real life. Whether it’s the chants, the crowd, or the Nittany Lion, it’s all presented in an authentic way.

In terms of the team’s playbook, I wish they had more running formations available. Penn State is extremely ground and pound and yet I feel like there aren’t enough run plays that represent that. On the flip side, I love the defensive playbook. When I play with Penn State online, the defense shows up consistently and I think that’s a great representation.

Overall, I think that CFB 25 got the Penn State experience right. I’m going to enjoy spending my time playing dynasty mode and bringing this team to the promised land!

Brendan Wagner

So far within its first week, CFB 25 a great game. Seeing childhood hobbies come back now that I am almost graduating college is a fun moment to have. Graphics are amazing, players run and move smoothly, and the creation options for playbooks and teams are almost unlimited. My only knock would be the game having no true soundtrack. While the drum loops are reminiscent of previous games, I feel adding an assortment of songs will improve the game during time spent on menu screens.

Ben Rosenbaum

I have absolutely loved playing as Penn State in College Football 25 so far. Football itself is like a chess game, a game played both on the field and in the mind. I feel that the game does an excellent job at incorporating both challenging elements as you take the reins of both sides of the ball, acting as not only the play caller but also as the player themselves. I love the fan element included in College Football 25 as well, a completely new addition not featured in EA’s NFL equivalent game, Madden. Penn State offers such a unique football experience because of the pride, tradition, and enthusiasm that revolves around the Nittany Lions, and I believe that the game does a great job of including those same values through the game. It includes not only Beaver Stadium’s thundering noise but also that heart-racing feeling we get from the sport in real life during close situations. When playing as Penn State’s defense on third down, you can feel the energy in Beaver Stadium throughout the game, just like in real life. EA did a great job at making sure that facing the Nittany Lions both on the field and through the noise is a challenge, just like in reality.

CJ Doebler

To be honest, I’ve been knee-deep in my rebuild of Stanford and, besides my first game back, haven’t played as Penn State. When I heard we were doing this article, though, I decided to schedule the Nittany Lions the first week in my second season in Dynasty mode.

I marched my Holiday Bowl champion Cardinal into Beaver Stadium and discovered my true freshman quarterback wasn’t ready for the bright lights of Beaver Stadium. Like Michigan last year, I completely gave up on throwing the ball and ran to a two-touchdown victory.

After all the hype over the details included in the new iteration of the College Football franchise, the game delivered. It’s tough to play on the road in this game, and Beaver Stadium is one of the toughest. After 11 years, it was nice to see the cyber blue and white again.

Mitch Corcoran

Wow, this game lives up to the hype. After 10-plus years of waiting, I’m glad to announce that we are so back.

The very first thing I did was play Ohio State in the White Out game and the game’s presentation was so awesome. Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit on the call reminded me of the days when the Big Ten was on ABC and hearing Mo Bamba and Kernkraft 400 almost every play was electric. However, the honeymoon period quickly ended with anger after I gave up a quick touchdown on the first possession of the game. The frustration compounded itself when Drew Allar led the offense onto the field, and I proceeded to throw a pick-six on the first snap. I quit.

Nonetheless, the presentation was phenomenal, and I was very impressed with everything. Much better than Madden. 9.5/10.