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We simulated the 2024 season on EA Sports College Football 25. Wait, WHO won the title?

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We simulated the 2024 season on EA Sports College Football 25. Wait, WHO won the title?

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Fast forward to January 2025. The North Carolina Tar Heels are your national champions, Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders is your Heisman Trophy winner, and the Memphis Tigers were in the College Football Playoff.

Could it happen?

Hang with us.

We simulated the 2024 season using dynasty mode on EA Sports’ College Football 25 video game. Those who pre-ordered the deluxe edition could access the ultra-hyped title at 4 p.m. Monday. After an 11-year hiatus, the standard edition of the game officially drops Friday.

Before we dive into the results, a few quick notes. We used the default rosters and sliders, kept injuries on, selected varsity difficulty and did not play any games.

Here is how the simulation went:

National champion: North Carolina

Oh, yes! The Tar Heels came off an 8-5 season in 2023 and took a title-sized jump in 2024.

After they lost first-round quarterback Drake Maye to the NFL, Texas A&M transfer Max Johnson stepped right in and delivered the goods. He passed for 4,450 yards and 45 touchdowns.

North Carolina kicked off the season 4-3 in its first seven games before rattling off nine consecutive victories. As part of that run, it defeated Miami in the ACC Championship to lock up the third seed in the CFP.

After a round-of-12 bye, the Tar Heels smoked No. 9 USC 52-38 in the quarterfinals, snuck by No. 2 Ole Miss 24-21 in the semifinals and tackled defending champ Michigan 34-31 in the finals.

They finished the year 13-3.

Wow.

College Football Playoff bracket and results

Did the virtual committee get this one right? Man. We would’ve paid to scroll through X (formerly Twitter) if this was the final 12.

  1. Oregon (12-1 entering CFP, won Big Ten title)
  2. Ole Miss (11-2, won SEC title)
  3. North Carolina (10-3, won ACC title)
  4. Colorado (10-3, won Big 12 title)
  5. Notre Dame (10-2)
  6. Ohio State (10-2)
  7. Georgia (10-2)
  8. Alabama (10-2)
  9. Michigan (9-4)
  10. Texas A&M (9-3)
  11. USC (8-4)
  12. Memphis (11-2)

First round

  • Notre Dame beat Memphis 38-28
  • USC beat Ohio State 38-37
  • Georgia beat Texas A&M 42-39
  • Michigan beat Alabama 37-34

Quarterfinals

  • Michigan beat Oregon 20-19
  • Ole Miss beat Georgia 35-32
  • North Carolina beat USC 52-38
  • Colorado beat Notre Dame 31-13

Semifinals

  • Michigan beat Colorado 37-19
  • North Carolina beat Ole Miss 24-21

Finals

  • North Carolina beat Michigan 34-31

Takeaways? 

Memphis nabs the non-Power Four invitation by winning the American Athletic Conference. Colorado completes the rebuild. Blue Bloods and recruiting/portal aces litter the rest of the field.

Almost all of the games were good, too. Of the 11 contests, seven were decided by three points or fewer.

Heisman winner: Shedeur Sanders

Not a surprise, given the Buffaloes’ signal-caller ties Georgia’s Carson Beck as the highest-rated quarterback in the game (93 overall).

In this universe, all five Heisman finalists play quarterback. Sanders earned the award over Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard and Virginia Tech’s Kyron Drones.

Sanders put up 4,431 yards and 43 touchdowns through the air. He completed 71% of his passes while giving away only five interceptions. He also contributed 514 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground.

First-Team All-Americans

  • QB: Shedeur Sanders, Colorado
  • HB: Donovan Edwards, Michigan
  • HB: Ollie Gordon II, Oklahoma State
  • WR: Dorian Singer, Utah
  • WR: Will Sheppard, Colorado
  • WR: Chris Bell, Louisville
  • TE: Bryson Nesbit, North Carolina
  • LT: Will Campbell, LSU
  • LG: Clay Webb, Jacksonville State
  • C: Jonah Monheim, USC
  • RG: Tate Ratledge, Georgia
  • RT: Jonah Savaiinaea, Arizona
  • LE: Jack Sawyer, Ohio State
  • RE: James Pearce Jr., Tennessee
  • DT: Mason Graham, Michigan
  • DT: Walter Nolen, Ole Miss
  • LOLB: Mykel Wiliams, Georgia
  • MLB: Jay Higgins, Iowa
  • ROLB: Barrett Carter, Clemson
  • CB: Will Johnson, MIchigan
  • CB: Benjamin Morrison, Notre Dame
  • FS: Caleb Downs, Ohio State
  • SS: Jonas Sanker, Virginia
  • K: Graham Nicholson, Alabama
  • P: Mark Vassett, Colorado

UCF: Running back RJ Harvey pleased with EA College Football 25 rating, looking forward to Big 12 season

National records

This is kind of surprising for a video game. No national records for an individual game, season or career were broken in Year 1.

Maybe in Year 2.

Likelihood this happens in real life

Do we go 0.1% to be safe? 

No. Zero chance this is exactly how the real fall goes.

But, hey, this exercise featured a video game. The shocks and the Cinderellas make it fun.

And after 11 years since the last college football video game hit stores, fun is the focus.

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