The new EA Sports College Football game that’s set to be released later this month hasn’t been very kind to the Tennessee Vols so far.
First, there was EA Sports failing to include Neyland Stadium among the top 10 toughest places to play in college football (but they somehow ranked Bryant-Denny Stadium at No. 2).
Worse than that, though, was EA Sports’ ranking of the top 25 offenses in the game — Tennessee, inexplicably, wasn’t in the top 25.
Just absolutely laughable (Tennessee had the No. 1 offense in the nation two seasons ago and they have an average offensive ranking of No. 15 during the Josh Heupel era).
There’s a chance it could get worse for Vols fans.
It was revealed this week that Texas Longhorns redshirt freshman backup quarterback Arch Manning, who has thrown five passes in his collegiate career, has an overall rating of 87 in the game.
If Tennessee starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava has a lower rating than Manning, Vols fans might boycott the new EA Sports College Football game.
And based on what we’ve seen so far in these ranking reveals, it wouldn’t be a surprise if that’s exactly what happens (the fact that Tennessee isn’t a top 25 offense in the game would suggest that their starting quarterback won’t have a high rating).
Iamaleava was the MVP of the Citrus Bowl in January after accounting for four touchdowns against Iowa (which had one of the best defenses in college football last season). And he was the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2023 recruiting class (per On3). There is zero justification for Iamaleava to be rated lower than Manning (and that’s nothing against Manning — he looked great in the Texas spring game and there’s a solid chance he lives up the hype).
Maybe EA Sports will get it right. But based on what we’ve seen so far, I wouldn’t count on it.
