EA Sports College Football (formerly known as Bill Walsh College Football, College Football USA and NCAA Football) is an American football video game series developed by EA Sports in which players control and compete against current Division I FBS college teams. It serves as a college football counterpart to the Madden NFL series. The series began in 1993 with the release of Bill Walsh College Football. EA eventually acquired the licensing rights to the NCAA name and officially rechristened the series with the release of NCAA Football 98.

In July 2013, the NCAA announced that it would not renew its licensing contract with Electronic Arts because of an ongoing legal dispute regarding the use of player likenesses in the games. However, this contract only covered the use of the NCAA name and related logos, not those of individual schools and conferences, which are negotiated individually or through the Collegiate Licensing Company. The CLC concurrently announced that it would extend its existing licensing deal with EA through 2017, ensuring that EA Sports could continue the series without the NCAA branding and EA made plans to continue the series under the old College Football name. However, the series was placed on hiatus in September 2013, following three major conferences pulling their trademark licenses from EA, and uncertainties surrounding the results of lawsuits involving the use of player likenesses in-game.

In February 2021, Electronic Arts announced that the series would be returning for next-gen platforms no earlier than summer 2023. During an interview with ESPN.com in November 2022, an EA Sports executive revealed that the game would be released in mid-2024 "because of the enormous undertaking of creating the game from scratch".

Following the commercial success of the franchise's revival, EA Sports announced the continued annualization of the series. According to industry reports in January 2026, the series saw a 20 percent increase in active users compared to the previous year.

Yearly releases (1993–2014, 2024–present)

Bill Walsh College Football

Bill Walsh College Football was released in June 1993 on 4th generation video game consoles, such as the Sega Genesis.

Bill Walsh College Football featured the top 24 college football teams from 1992 and 24 of the all-time greatest teams since 1978. While no actual players were named and no official team logos used, colleges were listed by city and players identified by number. Play modes include exhibition, playoffs, and all-time playoffs. Sixty-eight classic college plays were available, including the triple option, student body, and wishbone.

Other options and features include automatic or manual-pass catch mode, audible, reverse angle replay, onside kicks, four weather conditions (fair, windy, rain, and snow), three different quarter lengths (5, 10, and 15 minutes), and a hurry-up offense.

The Bill Walsh endorsement was meant to parallel John Madden's endorsement of Madden NFL; Walsh at the time was head coach of the Stanford Cardinal football team.

Bill Walsh College Football '95

Bill Walsh College Football '95 was the second installment of the college football franchise and the first to have a year.

The game featured 36 Division I-A teams, a windowless passing mode, customizable seasons from one to sixteen weeks, and complete statistical tracking throughout the season. Players could choose either a playoff system or bowl games with fictional names: Maple Bowl, Palm Bowl, Pecan Bowl, and Redwood Bowl.

Bill Walsh College Football 95 also provided 36 new plays and formations including the Wishbone, Veer, Tee Offense, and 4-4 D.

College Football USA 96

The series was renamed College Football USA 96, and was the first version to feature all (108 at the time) Division l-A teams. It was also the first in the series to feature real bowl games (Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, and Rose). Players could play an entire 11-game season (or shorter if desired) before advancing to one of the bowl games.

There were 400 plays from which to choose, and a new passing mode allowed players to select from five receivers on every play. Other new features and options included the following: four-player mode, three different game lengths, substitutions, injuries, audible, fake snaps, spins, hurdles, dives, blocked kicks, interceptions, and laterals

College Football USA 97

College Football USA 97 was the fourth installment of the series. While the game was published for the Genesis by EA Sports as usual, the Super NES version was instead published by THQ. The game featured University of Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier on the cover.

NCAA Football 98

NCAA Football 98 was released in 1997. The game featured University of Florida quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel on the cover.

NCAA Football 99

NCAA Football 99 was the sixth edition of the game. The game featured University of Michigan cornerback and Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson on the cover. Its tagline read Desire+Pride=Victory!.

The game featured all 112 Division I-A teams at the time and also featured 3D, polygon-rendered players for the first time in the franchise's history. Additional features included the ability to create players, edit player names, sixty fight songs and crowd chants. Over eighty historical teams were added to the game, as well. The Heisman Memorial Trophy replaces the 'EA Sports MVP" trophy and other awards are given out. Recruiting is simple and done in a serpentine draft system. The Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and Sugar Bowl are now playable, and the other Bowls played have EA Sports as the sponsor. Created players from this game can be imported to the title Madden NFL 99. It featured no commentary by booth announcers; instead a PA announcer provides the commentary. Unlike the current games in this franchise, NCAA 99 featured an optional 16 team playoff at the end of the season in dynasty mode.

NCAA Football 2000

NCAA Football 2000, released only for the PlayStation, featured University of Texas running back and Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams on the cover.

The game included all 114 Division I-A schools and 26 from Division I-AA. It also featured new 3D polygon-rendered players, which are fully displayed in multiple camera angles during gameplay.

Other notable additions include coaching tips, 23 bowls (up from four), the ability to edit new plays, and the official Heisman Trophy award.

NCAA Football 2001

NCAA Football 2001, released only for the PlayStation, featured University of Alabama running back Shaun Alexander on the cover.

This version included Create-a-player, Create-a-school, Custom League (up to eight teams, double round-robin, plus playoff), Custom Tournament (up to 16 teams, double elimination), as well as fully customizable Season/Dynasty schedules. This was also the final installment which offered a playoff at the end of the season in dynasty mode (24 teams).

NCAA Football 2002

NCAA Football 2002, released only for the PlayStation 2, featured Florida State quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke on the cover.

This was the first version released for PlayStation 2; it lacked features (such as Custom League, Custom Tournament, and Create-a-school) that were present in the previous year's PlayStation edition.

The game featured a new Campus Cards rewards system, which allowed players to unlock special features in the game such as historical teams or special stadiums. It was also the first entry in the season to rank the top 25 teams in the nation.

NCAA Football 2003

NCAA Football 2003, released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, featured University of Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington on the cover.

New features in this version included over 200 licensed fight songs, 3D cheerleaders and 144 different schools.

Dynasty mode was enhanced with the ability to redshirt a player and schedule non-conference games before each season. Trophies and awards, modeled after real-life college football awards, was another feature new to this version. Players could win trophies by playing games and could add them to a personal collection which is shown off in a trophy room. These awards include the Heisman, Coach of the Year and Bowl-specific trophies. The game featured 23 different rivalry trophies that were created to represent their real-life counterparts.

Create-A-School mode returned in this edition of the game after being absent from the previous year. The game also featured a customizable interface for the first time. Player could choose their favorite teams and the game interface would be based around the team's fight song, mascot, logos and school colors.

NCAA Football 2004

NCAA Football 2004, released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, featured University of Southern California quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer on the cover.

This edition featured the return of gameplay modes seen in previous versions such as Dynasty Mode.

The College Classics mode was introduced in this version and allowed players to replay classic games in college football history. New tackling animations and more realistic zone defenses were also included.

NCAA Football 2005

NCAA Football 2005, the last game in the series to have the full year on the cover and released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, featured University of Pittsburgh wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald on the cover.

This version introduced more fan interaction in the game. The home team's defense can incite the crowd to make noise, making it difficult for the offense to hear the quarterback's audibles. This feature, dubbed "home field advantage", allowed stadium influence and energy to swing a game's momentum if strong enough. The game ranked the "Top 25 Toughest Places to Play", which included famous stadiums such as Florida's "Swamp" and LSU's "Death Valley", where this feature would be felt more strongly.

The new "Match-Up Stick" feature allowed players to match up more experienced and skilled players on younger, less-talented ones to exploit matchup problems.

All Division I-A schools were included in the game along with more than 70 I-AA schools. Signature fan celebrations, such as the "Gator Chomp" and "Texas Hook 'Em Horns" were included.

NCAA Football 06

NCAA Football 06 has features that include the Dynasty mode, wherein the player act as a team's head coach, both on and off the field. Aside from weekly games, the player also controls recruiting freshman for the next year's season; new to the 2006 version is in-season recruiting.

Another new feature in the 2006 game is the Race for the Heisman mode, in which the player takes on the role of a single player attempting to win the Heisman Trophy. Race for the Heisman begins with the user selecting which position they want their character to be. The player then completes a workout for college scouts and you are offered scholarships to three different schools. The quality of football programs that offer scholarships depends on how well the player did in the workout. The player can either choose to accept one of the scholarships or walk on at any Division I school. After selecting what school to play for the player is automatically placed in the starting line up. Year after year the player's attributes increase depending on the previous seasons performance with the ultimate goal of winning the Heisman Trophy.

Desmond Howard, a Heisman-winning player from the University of Michigan, is on the cover. This is a slight break in tradition as the NCAA Football series traditionally featured an NFL rookie on the cover of the game, with an action shot of him wearing his college jersey from the previous year. The game was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

NCAA Football 07