We’ve made it, folks. On Friday – or Tuesday, for those of us who pre-ordered – EA College Football franchise returns after a decade-long hiatus. The overwhelming favorite game mode has to be Dynasty, a mode creators promised to put forth maximal effort into. In the previous edition, I was a Road to Glory guy (you’ll never guess where “Road to CFB” inspiration came from…). But with so much hype, excitement, and the evolution of the recruiting landscape, I’ll be firing up Dynasty from Day 1.
Discourse sparked all over social media surrounding which school is the best to play with. High-profile content creators are going to great lengths to pick their first Dynasty team. I was pitched an idea by Travis Burson (also hat tip for letting me know about the radio spot on this homepage) to join the discussion. Which program would be the best to rebuild with?
Everyone’s definition differs, but I think “best,” for me, is defined by:
- Cool facilities & an aesthetically-pleasing stadium
- Real-life recruiting and resources
- Program potential (location, history, etc.)
- A creative offensive and/or defensive scheme
A few more rules here: (1) The team must have had a losing record in 2023, (2) I’m not picking from traditional powers, even if they went sub-.500 (i.e. Florida and Nebraska), and (3) I’m choosing from stadiums I’ve been to.
Alright, let’s take a look.
Quick & Easy Rebuilds
Colorado Buffaloes
I imagine having an adult in the room would turn Colorado into a Big 12 powerhouse rather quickly. The university fully backs the football program, having built a $177M facility in 2016 and pouring millions more into Folsom Field upgrades as we speak. Boulder is one of the premier college towns and Denver, a premier U.S. city. The Buffs have a winning history, capturing a National Championship in 1990.
Folsom Field has been at the forefront of EA’s marketing with the game, featuring Travis Hunter on the cover and Colorado in the sights & sounds deep dive. It’s for good reason – few venues in sports have the backdrop afforded at Colorado.
For at least 2024, you get to play with one of the country’s top quarterbacks in Sheduer Sanders and plenty of offensive weapons. Building a culture of high-flying football in mile-high likely wouldn’t be that difficult. It would also be a lot of fun.
Plus, who doesn’t like the annual snow game in Boulder?
- Biggest advantages: Facilities, location, athletics branding, transfer portal, charismatic coach
- Biggest disadvantages: Media circus, unserious coaching staff
East Carolina Pirates
East Carolina offers the closest game day equivalent to the SEC you’ll find among Group of Five schools. Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is the largest among Go5s that have their own venue (and not a shared NFL facility). Rowdy Dowdy seats 50,000 Rowdy fans and the team has full school support. Against regional rivals like NC State, ECU packs its stadium, sometimes to dangerous levels.
Greenville, North Carolina – though off the beaten path a bit – is a wonderful college town located roughly halfway between the Research Triangle (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) and the Outer Banks. It also sits in a recruiting hotbed, close enough to DelMarVa and Georgia to pull in some really good talent consistently (did someone say Chris Johnson?).
You get to rock some of college football’s coolest uniform combos and sport a unique mascot, the Pirate. Stripe the stadium out and pull off some Power Conference opponents for years. The ceiling is really high for ECU in the right hands.
- Biggest advantages: Facilities, recruiting hotbed, program potential
- Biggest disadvantages: Location, standard offensive scheme
Colorado State Rams
Few Group of Five programs spend on football like Colorado State, if any. They play in new-ish and beautiful Canvas Stadium, situated in the great college town of Fort Collins. It cost $220M to built Canvas Stadium and the surrounding athletic facilities – the most expensive build in the Go5. The spend is visibly evident, too. From a recruiting standpoint, it’d be hard to turn down Colorado State.
The Rams also feature some cool uniforms (and some not-as-cool ones). Their color combination is pleasing and easy to mash up for some cool uniform combos. If you’re going to play good, you have to look good.
A fan of the Air Raid? Only four teams threw the football more often last season than Colorado State. In 2024, they feature a quarterback not afraid to take risks (Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi) and one of the country’s very best receivers (Tory Horton). The foundation for a great program is there, even one at the level of Boise State, but incompetent coaching and a poor defense has kept them from fully achieving greatness.
- Biggest advantages: Facilities, school buy-in, college town, recruiting
- Biggest disadvantages: Coaching, historical underachiever
Tougher Jobs
BYU Cougars
Why wouldn’t you want to play all your home games in college football’s most scenic stadium? Provo, Utah, is a destination and located close enough to a major metro in Salt Lake City. Of course, some challenges come with that, particularly Utah’s… uh… reputation in regards to things college students like to do. But that hasn’t stopped BYU from being a national contender before.
A rocky transition to the Big 12 is another challenge for those who pick BYU. In Year 1, the Cougars fell to just 5-7 and now deal with four new Power programs coming into the league. The good news: Kalani Sitake has kept a stable coaching staff and program at BYU for eight years. As the manager of your Dynasty, not having to worry about coaching turnover is a good thing.
Recruiting isn’t BYU’s strong suit, but they’ve pulled some notable transfers recently. Mostly this is a play to enjoy scenic LaVell Edwards and some pleasing uniform combinations.
- Biggest advantages: Location, scenic, coaching continuity
- Biggest disadvantages: Transition to Power Conference, recruiting
Minnesota Golden Gophers
In my personal opinion, Minnesota has among the best combination of athletic branding, school colors, and uniforms in the country. Huntington Bank Stadium is the Big Ten’s newest and third newest among Power Conference schools. One of the school’s best recruiting tools is its charismatic head coach, P.J. Fleck. Player development has recently been Minnesota’s strong suit, too.
If you’re a fan of snow football games, then Minneapolis is an attractive place for you. Unfortunately, it’s less attractive to recruits, particularly from hotbed southern states like Florida and Texas. You’ll have to break out some more stops to recruit effectively, since Minnesota historically (a) does not win lots of football games nor (b) produce high NFL draft picks.
But if you’re a Dynasty player that plays the games manually (I do!), then you might play a decade-plus without choosing the same uniform combination. You also have some exciting pieces like QB Max Brosmer and RB Darius Taylor for your first two seasons.
- Biggest advantages: Facilities, athletics branding, recruiting, charismatic coach
- Biggest disadvantages: Location, mediocre record last 100 years
Arizona State Sun Devils
Arizona State should be a perennial winner. At the very least, they should be an interesting 10+ win team every five years or so. But it hasn’t been. And to me, that speaks potential. ASU boasts one of the best campuses in the nation and has among the highest student attendances. Tempe is a terrific college town conveniently located right next to a major metro, Phoenix.
Recruiting historically has been a strong suit, thanks to iconic facilities like Sun Devil Stadium (now Mountain America Stadium). The school colors, Sun Devil mascot, logo, and uniquely-Arizona branding makes ASU an attractive place to recruit to.
Taking over the Sun Devils in Dynasty means you have to deal with losing stars to the transfer portal (see: Jaden Rashada) and with patching over multiple school troubles (see: Herm Edwards). Navigating the move to the Big 12 could also prove tricky. But the program potential is there. Looking to run a fun offense, Kenny Dillingham brings Oregon-esque concepts to ASU and they heavily featured a Wildcat package with RB Cam Skattebo.
- Biggest advantages: Facilities, campus, athletics branding
- Biggest disadvantages: Troubled history, transfer portal, new conference
Playing On Hard Mode
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
Louisiana Tech’s playbook should be a lot of fun to use in CFB25. Maybe not with the current Bulldogs roster, but the tempo Air Raid is a lot of fun. In terms of Conference USA, Louisiana Tech has some of the better facilities. At this level, you’re competing against your own league and area teams; LA Tech competes with CUSA, Arkansas State, Louisiana, Rice, Tulsa, and ULM. Could be worse!
Unfortunately, this is a tough place to recruit to. Louisiana Tech lacks a winning history – outside of a stretch under Skip Holtz – and Ruston isn’t winning any awards for Best College Town nor most scenic city. But the talent you do pull to this team could be a lot of fun. You just have to do it with limited school funding; Louisiana Tech falls outside the top 100 in athletics spending and behind multiple FCS teams.
But, as Holtz showed from 2014-19, games can be won here and that’s sustainable. Getting to play Conference USA matchups on Tuesdays and Wednesdays is a fun wrinkle, too.
- Biggest advantages: Offensive scheme, facilities
- Biggest disadvantages: Location, college town, recruiting, tradition, historical mediocre
UTEP Miners
UTEP faces lots of the same challenges as Louisiana Tech playing in Conference USA. However, they have two added benefits of (a) playing in one of college football’s most scenic and iconic stadiums and (b) hiring a charismatic head coach in Scotty Walden. From the minute he stepped on campus, Walden has shown his buy-in to everything UTEP – even showing up shirtless and painted to multiple other athletic events.
Walden brings a high-octane offensive system he ran at Austin Peay. QB Cade McConnell was electric for his first snaps last year, gunning an 80-yard touchdown on his first snap against FIU in October. The next pass, he launched a 50-yard bomb downfield. The point is, you have a gunslinger QB and a pass-happy coach to start 2024.
However, it’s hard to recruit to El Paso. While safe and a great city to visit on vacation, it’s far removed from the rest of the country. You’ll be grinding to keep UTEP on top, as they have an all-time losing record (344-581-18).
- Biggest advantages: Facilities, scenic, offensive scheme, charismatic coach
- Biggest disadvantages: Recruiting, location, tradition, historical loser
Arkansas State Red Wolves
If you’re looking for a real challenge in Dynasty, but a rewarding one, fire up Arkansas State. Its stadium offers waterfalls – a feature confirmed to be in the game – and some pretty scenic additions. The Red Wolves also roster some fun players like QB Jaylen Raynor and some big-play receivers. At its best, Arkansas State’s offense was capable of putting up 77 points.
Head coach Butch Jones is a reputable name that has SEC experience, a leg up in recruiting. Each year under Jones, the Red Wolves improved. Taking over the team on the upswing could produce some fun results.
However, you have a lot of hurdles here – Jonesboro and northeast Arkansas don’t classify as destinations and this is often emphasized by departures in the transfer portal. Getting top players will be nearly impossible. But if finding diamonds in the rough is your specialty, that could reap some serious rewards.
- Biggest advantages: Offensive scheme, charismatic coach, facilities
- Biggest disadvantages: Location, recruiting, transfer portal, historical loser, college town
Fun Exceptions To The Rules
The following three schools I haven’t been to and did not have a losing season in 2023.
- Jacksonville State Gamecocks: An exciting offense and successful transition to the FBS. Conference USA is a league ripe for the taking long-term… if you can dethrone Liberty.
- Coastal Carolina Chanticleers: Obvious reasons here. Historically a fun offense, has made some noise since joining the FBS, and iconic teal turf. Also located in a recruiting hotbed.
- Air Force Falcons: If you’re going to choose one of the Service Academies, why not Air Force? You have one of the nation’s top coaches in Troy Calhoun, a beautiful and recently-renovated facility, and the triple option.
Looking for more EA College Football 25 content? I’ll be posting plenty on Twitter. Want to see more? Let me know!