EA Sports College Football 25: Best and Worst Teams in the Game

EA Sports College Football 25 is almost here (or here depending on your situation), which means it’s a good time to look at the best and worst teams in the game. Hey, just because we don’t have the actual NCAA national rankings yet doesn’t mean that the EA Sports College Football 25 developers aren’t going to take a stab at rating the schools that made it into the game.

So far as that goes, please note that these rankings are based on schools’ overall in-game rankings. We’re also utilizing a top 15 and bottom 15 cutoff point, with some teams being left off each respective list despite boasting similar ratings. So far as that goes, please note that teams that are relatively similar in ratings will often be relatively competitive with each other. However, the difference between top-ranked teams and bottom-ranked teams is significantly greater than it is in the Madden NFL games.

Best EA Sports College Football 25 Teams

1. Georgia: 95 OVR – OFF 94, DEF 94

2. Ohio State: 93 OVR – OFF 94, DEF 96

3. Oregon: 93 OVR – OFF 89, DEF 90

4. Alabama: 92 OVR – OFF 91, DEF 90

5. Texas: 92 OVR – OFF 89, DEF 90

6. Clemson: 90 OVR – OFF 87, DEF 90

7. Notre Dame: 90 OVR – OFF 85, DEF 90

8. LSU: 90 OVR – OFF 88, DEF 87

9. Penn State: 88 OVR – OFF 87, DEF 88

10. Utah: 88 OVR – OFF 87, DEF 88

11. Michigan: 88 OVR – OFF 89, DEF 94

12. Florida State: 88 OVR – OFF 88, DEF 82

13. Miami: 88 OVR – OFF 88, DEF 82

14. Texas A&M: 88 OVR – OFF 87, DEF 84

15. Ole Miss: 88 OVR – OFF 87, DEF 84

Georgia is, by far, the best overall team in EA Sports College Football 25. That shouldn’t be a surprise. Georgia is the consensus favorite heading into the season, and that seemingly minor two-point gap between them and the top of the pack feels like a statement. They’re not the unstoppable world-beaters we saw in some previous NCAA Football games, but they are undeniably a tough team.

So far as surprises go, Ole Miss is ranked notably lower than some experts rank the real-life version of that team. The fact that Ole Miss isn’t even ranked in the top 25 defensive teams seems to have sealed their fate towards the bottom of the top of the overall power rankings. Missouri and Tennessee are probably the biggest top 15 snubs. Missouri’s 78 defense score (yikes) undoubtedly impacted their OVR fate. Tennesse, meanwhile, boasts more than respectable individual scores (OFF 82, DEF 82) but is stuck with an 83 rating: lower than Missouri. Nobody said there was a science to these things

Of course, some of the legacy power schools seem to be getting a slight benefit of the doubt in this game. That’s likely due to the “trust” legacy programs are typically afforded in the real-life version of these rankings as well. You also have to suspect that the developers were inclined to prominently feature some of the NCAA’s biggest names in this version of the game. That may help explain why LSU and Miami received such arguably generous overall ratings. 

Just outside the top 15 lies one of the biggest ratings surprises in the game: Colorado at 87 OVR rating. Maybe the developers have a lot of faith in that program’s chances to bounce back from a rather notable collapse towards the back half of last season, though that seems to be another case of a high-profile team being given a slight edge. 

Regardless, Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, Alabama, and Texas are clearly at the top of the pack.

Worst EA Sports College Football 25 Teams

1. Ball State Cardinals: 68 OVR – OFF 66, DEF 66

2. Louisiana Monroe Warhawks: 69 OVR – OFF 64, DEF 62

3. UMass Minutemen: 69 OVR – OFF 69, DEF 70

4. UTEP Miners: 69 OVR – OFF 64, DEF 64

5. Vanderbilt Commodores: 71 OVR – OFF 71, DEF 67

6. Air Force Falcons: 71 OVR – OFF 66, DEF 64

7. Kennesaw State Owls: 71 OVR – OFF 60, DEF 70

8. Northern Illinois Huskies: 72 OVR – OFF 70, DEF 68

9. Eastern Michigan Eagles: 72 OVR – OFF 70, DEF 68

10. Buffalo Bulls: 73 OVR – OFF 70, DEF 70

11. Akron Zips: 73 OVR – OFF 70, DEF 70

12. Ohio Bobcats: 73 OVR – OFF 70, DEF 70

13. Temple Owls: 73 OVR – OFF 67, DEF 66

14. Army Black Knights: 73 OVR – OFF 69, DEF 69

15. New Mexico Lobos: 73 OVR – OFF 70, DEF 70

On the surface, there aren’t too many surprises in this list of the worst teams in EA College Football 25. That “honor” is typically reserved for smaller schools in smaller conferences or seriously outmatched programs in larger conferences. Even then, we tend to see more of the former, with the latter teams getting a slight overall bump (with the notable exception of poor Vanderbilt). 

However, the longer you look at the individual rankings, the less they make sense. For instance, the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks should be the worst overall team in the game based on individual offensive and defensive ratings. However, Ball State technically has the worst overall rating. Similarly, the UTEP minors should seemingly be ranked way below UMass or even Ball State. However, they are sitting at 69 OVR for…reasons? For that matter, it’s odd that there isn’t a single team ranked 70 OVR in the game given how much competition there is around that general rating area. 

So far as that goes, it again seems clear that a team like Army and Air Force seems to be getting a slight bump due to the name recognition of those programs and, perhaps, the natural assumption such programs will ultimately fare a bit better relative to their respective conferences. Again, the bigger takeaway is likely that these ratings are, as they have long been, somewhat arbitrary and prone to inconsistencies.