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A new EA Sports College Football 26 Deep Dive today, sharing new details on Road To Glory (RTG) and all the improvements it will be receiving this year. From an improved Weekly Agenda, to a new Coach Happiness system, there's a lot to go over. That's not to mention the High School experience that comes packaged with it all. Without further ado, let's take a look.
Everything new in Road To Glory – College Football 26
College Football 26 Road To Glory technically has three big phases. The first starts in High School, so make sure to learn about how your early days will impact your college experience.
Firstly, any scholarship bonuses you took during your High School days take effect when you enter college. So you'll have a bit of a head start when your experience begins.
Weekly Agenda
Overall, your Weekly Agenda remains relatively similar to College Football 25. Generally, you need to manage your schedule, practice, and encounter weekly events that shape who you are as a player. In order to climb the depth chart or remain a starter, you must balance the following things:
- Academics
- Health
- Practice
- Off-Field Activities
- Your Brand
First and foremost comes Academics. If your grades suck, you won't be able to play. Secondly, your health is also important. Wear & Tear returns to CFB 26, and maintaining your health is key to playing football.
But you'll also need to practice to earn XP, while different off-field activities may come your way. These may be opportunities to increase your academics or your brand, or perhaps build some coach trust.
Coach Trust once again remains the single-most important thing in developing your player. The more your coach trusts you, the more control you unlock over the team. It won't be easy balancing everything above, but satisfying your coach should be your #1 priority.
College Football 26 RTG's Weekly Agenda now provides:
- Five energy points on short weeks
- Six Energy Points on regular weeks
- Seven Energy Points on bye weeks
Additionally, the developers rebalanced each meter, which adjust based on your decisions. Furthermore, the developers added even more off-field scenarios that will impact your career to some degree.
Season & Career Health Explained – College Football 26
EA Sports already revealed the big changes coming to Wear & Tear this year to College Football 26. Road To Glory is no different, as you'll need to manage your season and career health pools. Learn more about those from one of the latest deep dives on Gameplay.
NIL Deals
Name, Image, and Likeness continues to play a role in your college career. CFB 26 provides over 35 new NIL deals, with rebalanced payouts that can now pay out in skill points.
Now, pursuing brand deals actually rewards your player's skills. And the best part about it is that you won't need to practice and put Wear & Tear on your body. Of course, you'll still need to balance everything else, but a little time on brand awareness never hurts.
Scenarios & Dilemmas Explained
Just like in High School, you'll face various Dilemmas & Scenarios in College Football 26 RTG.
Scenarios are based on decisions you make and how you spend time off the field. Overall, these scenarios act as risk-reward opportunities for you to earn boosts. But if you're caught, or the scenario fails, you'll suffer the consequences.
But Scenarios impact your Coach Trust, as well as Coach Happiness. The latter provides another method for a coach to evaluate you. EA Sports confirmed that they're adding more dilemmas and interactions to make each playthrough feel unique.
Coach Trust, Coach Happiness & Position Battles
EA Sports has expanded the Coach Trust system in College Football 26. Beyond winning a position battle, a higher coach trust leads to the following:
- Play Swaps
- Increased number of plays to choose from
- Audibles
- Hot Routes
- QB Protections (Offense Only)
- Defensive Adjustments (Defense Only)
Good performances and off-field behavior leads to higher coach trust levels. And if you're a backup, you can initiate a position battle.
Position Battles in RTG work a bit differently now. The score for each battle scales with the position you're fighting for. Therefore, earning the starting job should be the most difficult position battle of all.
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Coach Happiness, works a bit differently. This short-term system reflects how your coach feels about you on a week-to-week basis. Like Coach Trust, playing well and behaving well of the field increases your happiness with them. Increased Coach Happiness leads to increased Coach Trust gains.
The four main factors that affect Coach Happiness include:
- Game Performance
- Meters
- Scenarios
- Practice
Overall, the system gets your coach more involved with your experience, making Road To Glory feel a bit more immersive.
Gameplay – College Football 26 Road To Glory
When it comes to Gameday, College Football 26 brings a few new things to look at.
Firstly, the developers added new Road To Glory camera options. These extra options allow players a bit more convenience in finding the camera angle that works for them.
Additionally, you'll now run out of the tunnels with your teammate. As a RTG player, you'll walk out to the field, watching the fans and all the traditions from your player's POV. Some schools come with unique intros, making RTG worth trying out multiple times.
Again, Wear & Tear plays a big role in terms of gameplay. Manage your player's health and avoid big hits if possible to stay on the field. You can recover off the field, but it'll take away from your health pool.
In terms of presentation, your efforts will be celebrated throughout your career. Fans will hold signs with you name on them, or have your name painted onto their chest.
As you start to cook and your player becomes him, the environment will begin to react to you. You’ll see fans holding signs with your name on them. Some will even have your name painted across their chests.
College Football 26 RTG features a Per Play Grading System which tracks your performance after each play. Coach Happiness plays a role in how high your grade is at the start of a game.
As expected, play well to earn a better grade, all of which helps your development as a player down the road. But if you play poorly, you could be benched.
Your grade also determines the following gains or losses:
- Followers
- Player XP
- Coach Trust
- Coach Happiness
Player Progression
EA Sports reworked the player progression system in CFB 26 RTG to make it more smooth and fun for players. This includes rebalanced upgrade costs at each level.
Through Gameplay, Training, and now, NIL Deals, your player can progress and become better every week. But unlike Dynasty players, you do not receive any progression during the offseason.
As mentioned in the Gameplay Deep Dive, you have access to new abilities. Furthermore, the developers updated you unlock physical ability tiers. Additionally, there's now a new tier for abilities called Heisman, which make you absolutely overpowered.
Trophy Room & Import To Madden 26
As mentioned in the Dynasty Deep Dive, the Trophy Room makes its way to RTG. You can see every rivalry game win, Bowl Game win, Conference Title, National Championship, award, and so much more from here. Overall, this serves as the hub to all of your RTG accomplishments.
Fill out your trophy room with every big win to celebrate all of your accomplishments.
In addition to the trophy room comes the College Football History tab. As mentioned in previous deep dives, this allows you to check a curated archive of College Football bowl winners, record holders, award winners, and much more. Over time, you may see your own name in this page.
Furthermore, CFB 26 adds 14 new awards to up the authenticity of the game. Overall, there's no shortage of stat tracking within the game.
Lastly, when your career comes to an end, you can do one of two things:
- Retire
- Import Character to Madden 26
Players who own College Football 26 and Madden 26 may see their RTG enter Madden 26's Superstar mode. Madden 26 also features new improvements for Superstar for players to check out this year.
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