As you have probably heard for about 3 years, the beloved NCAA football game was coming back. At the time, no one knew when. After an 11-year hiatus, players all around the globe got to put the controllers back in their hands and load up EA CFB25 on their consoles.
For my blog today, I will being giving my thoughts, excitements, and more on the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. I will go over the in-game atmosphere, roster reviews, and my thoughts on the gameplay.
LA Tech's In-Game Atmosphere:
If you follow my twitter/X, @SSN_LA_TECH, I posted a video of Louisiana Tech's game entrance that will play every time Tech has a home game. In the first few scenes, it shows the players walking up to the Band of Pride tunnel, and then cuts to fans holding up the bulldog hand signal. This is a very cool and small detail that was added for Tech. Then it shows the players running behind the male cheerleaders with the flags through the band tunnel, this is also another irl game entrance tradition you can see at football games.
A few things were missing that a lot of Tech fans express their opinions on my twitter/x feed. There is no Ruston fire bell or Champ, the mascot, running with the team. Two pivotal traditions that make Tech games iconic and special. If you look past all of that, I am very grateful, and so are many others, that the game is back and will take not having those traditions featured in the game so we can play the video game.
If you go into replay mode and look around the surroundings, you can see Thomas Assembly Center (TAC), and the Jim Mize Track and Field behind the West concourse. Also, far out in the distance, you can see the Tech Drive rail road bridge.
While you are playing the game, you can hear Tech fans chant "We Are... Bulldogs!" While this feature is not very loud in the game, but you can hear it. You can also hear the Band of Pride plays song they usually play at Tech games. Example: Neck. Yes, the band played Neck. You can also hear the fans on kickoffs go "oooooooh boom" but there is no "sic em dogs, woof woof woof woof" to follow.
Roster Review:
LA Tech overall is sitting at 78 after finishing 3 seasons in row 3-9. In my opinion, this is not a bad rating if you look at the last 3-4 years. The offensive rating is a 77 and the defensive rating is a 80. Now for player rating. Tech has 6 players with 80+ overall rating. This list inlcudes:
LG SR(RS) Bert Hale - 86ovr
FS SO Michael Richard - 81ovr
LE JR(RS) J'Dan Burnett - 81ovr
C SR Zarian McGill - 81ovr
CB SR(RS) Cedric Woods - 80ovr
MLB SR(RS) Zach Zimos - 80ovr
Sitting right outside of 80ovr at a 79ovr is Marquis Crosby, HB, and Mykol Clark, RE. Do I think Tech is missing a few 80ovrs? Yes I do, because we have great players that should be ranked higher due to their personal talents and abilities, however, due to lack of recent team success, their overalls fall lower than they should. These overalls stay consistent with the Play Now feature, but they will fluctuate in the Dynasty and Road to Glory game modes.
Game play:
I have not played a football video game in years. I hated playing Madden, because of the mechanics and thoroughly enjoyed NCAA14 mechanics better. I can tell you that the mechanics of EA CFB25 are nothing of Madden. The running, the jukes, quick cuts, and overall movement is miles ahead of Madden and the old NCAA14 (granted, this came out 11 years ago so it gets a pass). The new pass feature makes it where you have to be skillful at passing and have to be able to read defenders and know where you receivers are going to be open. The more you hold the pass button, the ball will be more on the dot but can be less accurate if you hold it for too long. If you tap the pass button, you will throw a slow lob pass. I love this new feature because it adds a new level of skill you have to learn to play the game.
The juking is lowkey, very OP (overpowered). I simple spin move can get you past 3-4 defenders and onto a TD. The side juke, truck, and back juke are not animated base like Madden so you can quickly get out of those movements if you want to run in a different direction.
One more feature I love is the pass rushing. If you are controlling a D-Linemen and you pass rush, you can use your Right Analog Stick to swim move and fight your way past the O-Line. From the few games I have played so far, I have gotten multiple sacks or tackles for loss (TFL) by using the RS.
Final thoughts:
I rate this game...
100/10
While I had high expectations for this game, this game blew through those expectations and still left me in awe. The attention to detail of players, teams, stadiums, traditions, game play, music, and more, is insane. I genuinely do not know how other sport games like Madde, NBA2K and etc. can top this. And the answer is simple... they can't,
Thank you for taking time out of your day for reading my first SSN Louisiana Tech blog. I hope you enjoy it and continue to support. Follow me on twitter/X @SSN_LA_TECH. You can find all the quick news, content and more regarding all LA Tech sports. Soon, I will release preseason preview for the volleyball, soccer, and football team so stay tuned and give us a follow on here. Once again, thank you for reading and hoped you enjoyed, GO DOGS! #barklouder #HBTD
- SSN Louisiana Tech
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