College Football 26 - Closed Beta Details

Hey College Football fans!

Welcome back to the Campus Huddle, your news for everything related to EA SPORTS™ College Football 26 straight from the development team. Today, we’ll be sharing everything you need to know about the College Football 26 Closed Beta.*

The focus for the upcoming technical test this weekend is ​specifically for us to receive feedback on Cross-Play for Online Dynasty, server stability, and Gameplay feedback via Road to the College Football Playoff. 

Keep in mind: This Tech Test is limited in scope and does not represent the final version of College Football 26. For example, coach likeness, player likeness, ratings, and playbooks are not final. 

Before we get started with everything else that you need to know, let's take another look at the official reveal trailer!

The College Football 26 Closed Beta will be available to play this weekend only so don't miss out on your chance to play:

• Start: Friday, June 6th at 11:00 A.M. EST 
• End: Sunday, June 8th at 11:59 P.M. EDT 

What Is Included In The College Football 26 Closed Beta

• Online Dynasty (Cross-Play is Optional) 
• Road To The College Football Playoffs (H2H) 

Dynasty Progress

For our Dynasty players, any progress made in Online Dynasty Mode will be reset after the College Football 26 Closed Beta.

Playbooks

Playbooks in the closed beta are not final, and could be updated prior to World Wide Launch. The team can’t wait to share the Gameplay and Dynasty Deep Dives with the FULL feature details later this month. 

Rules About The College Football 26 Closed Beta

College Football 26 Closed Beta is available on PS5™ and Xbox Series X|S consoles. You must be 18+ and in the U.S. or Canada to participate.

When participating in the confidential College Football 26 Closed Beta, you must refrain from recording, streaming and/or capturing any portion of the closed beta. 

You also must not post videos, thoughts, discussions, screenshots or stream the closed beta on social media or the Internet. Doing so will result in removal from the closed beta as well as potential enforcement on all College Football accounts.

Feedback On The College Football 26 Closed Beta - EA Forums

We wanted to share a few best practices to keep in mind when coming across issues or giving feedback in general. Please keep in mind the more detailed information you can provide when reporting issues, the better our team can address them. 

Below are some questions to think about when reporting an issue or providing feedback:

• What platform are you playing on?
• What platform are you playing against?
• Where specifically did you see the issue? 

The following details are extremely important:

• Game Mode
• Game Style
• Game Difficulty
• Teams Used
• Playbook Used
• Play Call - If a specific play is not applicable, what kind of playcall are you seeing? (e.g. Screen, Play Action, Outside Run, Inside Run, etc.)
• Any adjustments used during the play?
• If applicable, what buttons did you press?
• Were you doing anything specific in-game? Is this a repeatable issue?
• What did you do prior to identifying an issue?
• What game settings are you using? Did you change any settings at any point?
• Have you seen the issue before?
• Where specifically did you see this issue?

The Dynasty team is interested in hearing what you have to say about the following changes to Dynasty Mode:

• Coach progression, coach skills location, progression system. 
• Polls Playoff entries.
• Does the addition of the trophy room encourage you to play as other teams?
• Protected opponents feedback 
• Dynamic Deal Breakers & Dynamic Traits, do you feel the impact of the changes?
• Location based visits, do those impact your targeting decisions? 
• Do you use sway more than last year now because of understanding how it works?
• Wear and Tear Settings, how does that impact your players and your decisions around who to use? 
• Feedback about how Crossplay is working for you?

The Road to The College Football Playoffs team would like to hear from you about: 

• Homefield Advantage, how impactful is it to you and what your thoughts are on it. 
• How do you feel about the new progression system? Rankings earned per game. 

Please be sure to submit all feedback on the new EA Forums website.

How To Download The College Football 26 Closed Beta

For those selected, you will have received an invite email with your redemption code. To download the College Football 26 Closed Beta to your system, please follow the instructions below:

To download on Playstation:

• Use your existing Sony Entertainment Network account on PSN™.
• Select the PlayStation®Store icon on the system home screen.
• Select Redeem Codes at the bottom of the menu on the PlayStation®Store.
• Enter the code and get ready to play.

To download on Xbox: 

• Go to Games under Store.
• Select Use a Code. 
• Sign in if prompted.
• Select or enter the 25-character code and get ready to play.

College Football 26 Closed Beta Known Issues

Below is a list of issues the team is already aware of and has addressed for future updates. 

Gameplay Known Issues:

• Coverage
  • Outside Deep Zone Match Defenders are sometimes taking unintentional missteps giving up deep ball passes.
  • Issue with our China Call logic causing the outside deep zone not to drop back.
  • 2-Man Under defenders will sometimes move towards the LOS taking themselves out of position to play deep passes.
  • Users attempting to select a DB covering a Streak route are sometimes getting switched to the Safety instead of the CB running with the Streak.
  • The “Show 2” Coverage Shell does not work when attempting to use it on a Single High defense.
• QB & Passing
  • When attempting to Playmaker a receiver up the field, you sometimes get an unintended Truck move.
  • Sometimes attempting to throw on the cut on an outside breaking route is off target even when the QB rolled an accurate pass.
• Catching
  • We have some catch holes when throwing to the back of a receiver on a Flat or a short out route.
  • User controlled defenders have a low catch chance when running up the field attempting an interception.
• Pass Rush
  • Some Stunts & Twists selections from the Stunts & Twists menu are not playing out on the field.
  • Pass Rushers will sometimes attempt Defender Pass Rush Skill moves after the QB has already started scrambling out of the pocket.
  • Offensive Linemen are sometimes incorrectly turning their backs to defenders resulting in defenders coming in unblocked.
• Offensive AI
  • AI teams in the redzone often throw short of the endzone on 3rd & 4th Downs.
  • AI teams attempt 50+ yard field goals in heavy snow games.
  • Data-Driven Playcalling is recommending the same play too frequently.
• Mini Games
  • Game sometimes crashes at the end of the Pocket Presence or when progressing into Trench Battle

Online Dynasty Known Issues:

• Final supersim tuning not in place, will result in non representative final stats.
• Coaching carousel tuning not final - not representative of final product coach movement
• Player transfer portal tuning not final - final version has more movement + new playing time logic implemented.
• Not all player notifications and full screen takeovers are present in the beta.

Presentation known issues: 

• No highlights at halftime/postgame.
• Wipe timing issues.
• Some blocked cameras.
• Multiple clipping issues during runouts.

Note: The Player Ratings throughout the College Football 26 Closed Beta have been scrambled/randomized and are not final.

Community Frequently Asked Questions

Q: IF I DIDN’T RECEIVE AN EMAIL WITH AN INVITATION TO THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL 26 CLOSED BETA, WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO GET IN AND PLAY?

A: This beta is designed for our most dedicated players who spent countless hours in College Football 25 who can provide us the best quality feedback about this Tech Test.

Q: HOW DO I ACCESS THE FORUMS TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK?

A: Players will be able to access the forums after they have first downloaded the beta and opened it using their EA ID, and then by following the link provided in your invite email. 

Q: IS CROSS-PLATFORM FUNCTIONALITY AVAILABLE FOR THE College Football 26 CLOSED BETA?

A: You will have the opportunity to use crossplay features. Crossplay will be automatically enabled when entering the closed beta. To disable cross-play, Playstation users can disable the feature in their College Football 26 settings. Xbox Users will have to disable crossplay from their console settings outside of College Football 26.

For those who try out the Closed Beta this year, thank you for your participation and we look forward to your feedback on the EA Forums! 

-EA Sports College Football 26 Development Team

*Requires persistent internet connection, EA Account, acceptance of (i) Pre-release Feedback Agreement (Closed), (ii) EA's User Agreement (terms.ea.com), and (iii) EA's Privacy & Cookie Policy (privacy.ea.com), installation of EA app (ea.com/ea-app) (for PC users), and, for console users, applicable platform accounts or subscriptions (sold separately). Must be 18+. Gameplay progress, progression, characters, character data and/or any other value or status indicators achieved in the College Football 26 Closed Beta will not transfer to College Football 26 main game. College Football 26 Closed Beta is pre-release software, may contain errors/defects and is provided “as is” without any express or implied warranty.

College Football 26 launches worldwide on July 10, 2025. Pre-order the Deluxe Edition** or the EA SPORTS™ MVP Bundle† and play 3 days early. Conditions and restrictions apply. See disclaimers for details. Stay in the conversation by following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Answers HQ.

**Conditions & restrictions apply. See ea.com/games/ea-sports-college-football/college-football-26/game-disclaimers for details.

†Conditions & restrictions apply. See https://www.ea.com/games/madden-nfl/madden-nfl-26/game-disclaimers for details.