'A Love Letter to College Football' - Scott O'Gallagher Talks CFB 26 Journey, NIL, Trophy Room, QB AI & More

We caught up with Scott O'Gallagher, Design Director for College Football 26, for an exclusive Q&A discussing his journey back to EA Sports, the process behind reviving the college football franchise, and the biggest changes coming to CFB 26. The following conversation was edited for length and clarity. ⤵️

With the clock ticking down before College Football 26 releases on July 10, Scott O'Gallagher can feel the pressure.

As a former college athlete, he lives for these moments - and he knows how to put in the work. After shattering records with last year's release, he and the rest of the EA Sports development team have already dropped nearly 50,000 words across five deep dives breaking down every aspect of what could become the most successful sports video game of all time later this month.

But there's still work to do, and O'Gallagher isn't wasting a second. Less than two weeks before worldwide launch, the game's design director is spending his nights in the film room - scouting various Twitch streams of last year's title for exploits, bugs, or anything else that could keep his team from reaching pay dirt this year.

"I've got like 10 pages of notes right here just from a guy that I was watching a couple days ago," he tells Sportsbook Review in an exclusive interview last Friday. "Just the things you've got to fix, how things look, how things should feel, why are we allowing this behavior - those are all the things you have to game plan around, no different than when you were playing."

It's that level of competitive obsession that fueled College Football 25's meteoric rise last year as the best-selling sports video game of all time - an honor previously held by NBA 2K21, the last title O'Gallagher worked on with the 2K franchise before returning to EA Sports five years ago.

This year, he's leading the "four-minute offense" for the industry's newest and most successful AAA sports franchise. You can see the gameplay motto featured in those aforementioned deep dives, and you can hear the passion in his voice as he praises his team's methodical approach to this year's release.

You can hear it in the halls of the EA Tiburon studio in Orlando, too, where O'Gallagher readily reminds his fellow developers of what's at stake as they look to build upon the greatest debut in sports gaming history.

"I know we want to be super aspirational, and we should be," he says, "but we cannot forget - we got the lead, let's put the game away. Let's score the ball."

The result is a series of changes that should excite even those who poured hundreds (or thousands) of hours into last year's release. From new features like dynamic subs, defensive stunts and twists, reworked QB logic, and physics-based tackling to the addition of more than 300 new coaches and 2,800 new plays, O'Gallagher and his team are intent on running up the score after a historic opening drive.

"You cannot play '25 after you've played '26," he says. "Top to bottom, I think everything's there."

We spoke with O'Gallagher for an hour in a wide-ranging conversation about his journey to the sports gaming mountaintop, the features he's most excited for in CFB 26, the cultural impact of the franchise, and more.

1. 🏆 'Building a Program' - How College Football 26 Was Born
2. 🎮 'This is Their Game' - How the Community Shaped College Football 26
3. 🏈 'A Cultural Phenomenon' - How College Football 26 is Changing the Sport

🏆 'Building a Program' - How College Football 26 Was Born

SBR: The last two games that you've worked on have broken all-time records - what's the secret sauce? What do you think it is about your involvement that has helped those games reach those heights?

Scott O'Gallagher: I appreciate that. I don't know. I think it's just ... every player is someone's favorite player and every team is someone's favorite team. When you walk into Autzen Stadium, it's got that certain feel to it. It's got a lighting to it, it's got the smell to it. And it's like, "Well, how can we really get that across in the digital gridiron?" When you look at YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, if you're not up to point on any of this stuff, you're gonna get hit and rightfully so. And so really just bringing out the stories of Saturday and really bringing that to life, I think that was the No. 1 thing that we did.

And when I was in the basketball space, it was the same thing. Let's just make sure that we are authentic as possible from every pick-and-roll defense to team-specific defenses and all that. And then taking that similar approach here, the team has been great and it's been focused on just making football. And that was it. It was like, "This is the college experience you want."

That's easier said than done, right? That's what people are always clamoring for, that's what sports gamers want. It's easier said than done to get that right.

Without question. And when we came out in '25, it was the first game that had real player names in it, so it's another level of expectation and authenticity that has to be hit. So it's definitely not easy. But you just build it no different than you're building a program: the standard is the standard, and there are expectations you're going to have when you pick up the game, and we've got to make sure to do the best we can. You're not going to please everybody, so you have to stay grounded. And thankfully what we're making is a replication of what we see on Saturday.

How has your experience as a former college athlete shaped the tone for this game? And likewise, how many former athletes do you have on staff, and how does that influence the production of what we see on the field?

That's a great question. It is the reason I feel I've been successful in this industry. I am looking to hire more former athletes. I think there's things that athletes go through - people see the beauty, being on TV and the money and stuff like that, but to be a college athlete, we know what that is, right? That's 6 a.m. workouts, getting to class on time, "on time" is late everywhere you go. There's a disciplinary factor and a work ethic that comes with it. We have some great people in here that are non-athletes, but there's definitely been some success in the building.

I look at guys like Clint Oldenburg and Ken Boatright - both have NFL experience. We're always leveraging our college and pro experience, just having to get it out of the mud or on days when you don't feel like working, you go ahead and you've got to do it. This has a different challenge because it's mentally exhausting, and we're in that crunch period now where you're pulling all-nighters, but you're doing it out of the love for the game. It doesn't feel like a job. It never has.

This year's game introduces more than 300 real coaches with authentic playbooks, play-calling tendencies, career stats, and coaching archetypes. What were some of the biggest roadblocks you faced in making that happen? And was it always the plan to execute that in Year 2?

Year 2 was definitely the plan to go after the coaches. When you look at our real-time coaching engine, which debuted in '25 as an adaptive engine, we wanted it to have more coaching personality to it. We have this huge investment in playbooks. So it was more or less about tying that together. Because these coaches are the face of the program, much different than the NFL. When you think of Clemson, you think of Dabo Swinney. When you think of Penn State, you think of James Franklin. They are the program.

The roadblocks there, it was just how many we would get. You want to get (Texas head coach) Steve Sarkisian and those guys. And then I figured once we got them, scheme-wise that wouldn't be a problem because we've had a pretty good track record thus far. I think people saw what we did in '25 - this was not a copy and paste of Madden. This was a thorough look at innovating in the American football space digitally. And then our attention to detail, that was the best part about '25. And if you've played '26, there's no way you can play '25.

Which coaches and programs have been the most receptive to the CFB team and to helping you represent not only the game of football but also their team and their program?

There's definitely been a lot. I would look at Florida and Florida State here locally. No. 1 in my experience has been Alabama. I was down there a few weeks ago, and they are probably the most impressive from top to bottom on how they do things - from how players interact with one another, the standard being the standard. All the schools have been awesome that we've worked with, but Alabama for me personally was really top-tier.

For those teams and staffs that do pose more of a challenge with access, how do you ensure that you still satisfy that fan base with the appropriate level of detail and authenticity that is so important to what you do?

We have an outstanding relationship with Pro Football Focus. They've been exceptional. And our playbook team - guys like Thomas Fleming, who we brought over from the College Football Revamped crew, and Larry Richart, who was Danny Wuerffel's backup on that national championship Florida team in 1996. I mean, you'll see, when you play '26 and you see what Delaware has - one of the two new additions to the 136 FBS teams - it's impressive. You're looking at hours and hours of film and then looking at what we have from PFF and working with them.

That's how we make sure that we hit on the idea that every team is somebody's favorite team. We introduced 2,800 new plays, 45 new formations, but that is the motto. Somewhere, there's a passionate Delaware fan that's probably going to play 25 seasons of our game. And so that's how you've got to do it, in our opinion. You have certain coaches that are a little older and not as keen or into the digital space, so they won't be as forthcoming with information, and that's OK. We get it. But then you have others that have said, "Hey, we want our playbook in there," because their players are playing the game. They're playing the hell out of it. I was talking with (Alabama receiver) Ryan Williams the other day, and he's playing '25 every day.

There are areas that we're going to improve on going forward, too, especially when it comes to updating terminology and things of that nature. But if I'm a coach, there's no doubt I want my playbook in there.

🎮 'This is Their Game' - How the Community Shaped College Football 26

Speaking of playbooks: I'm really fascinated by the inclusion of the new "gadget" position this year along with formation subs, which was a popular community request. How do you balance giving that power to the player without creating a new meta that breaks the realism and immersion you work so hard to build?

The first thing that we try to do is say, "OK, here's a real-life play that we have. Why can't we stop it?" Kurt Benkert, former NFL quarterback, has been outstanding. I picked his brain two years ago on his experience as a college quarterback, his time with Green Bay, and we just went over everything. And then you get it in the right hands - and we've got some brilliant engineers - and we try to incorporate it all because you're always dying on the hill of balance.

It all starts from the ball out, so you're looking at the trenches. Why is he getting so much time? Are sheds done correctly? And then you start coming up with features. I talk with a lot of offensive and defensive coordinators throughout the country, and you're trying to pick their brain on all different types of things. And the goal is if (USC head coach) Lincoln Riley runs something on Saturday, we get it into the game as quickly as we can, and we're not worried about the other metas - because there will always be a meta, especially when you're introducing new mechanics.

Look at wear and tear, as an example. That is not an injury system; that's a balancing mechanic, right? Whether it's abusing the run every single play with halfback dive, or it's quick slants, or it's the quarterback scrambling. Before, you would have a video game problem and you would fix it with a video game solution. And the video game solution might be, "Well, let's just turn fumbles up." That's not the right solution. So we're changing things to be: fix the football problem with the football solution. And that's where wear and tear came in.

While not the biggest new addition, Trophy Room was such a highly requested feature missing from last year's game. How did your team tackle that this year to meet the demand for it, given the role that it plays in building that mythos around the game and each individual program that you take such pride in?

I'm glad you called that out; I can tell you're a purist of the game. If you ask the dynasty guys, they want to do even more with it. But the big thing you hear in the gaming industry is "peacocking" and players being able to show off what they've been able to accomplish by saying, "Hey look, I've taken Kennesaw State to the national title. These are my Heisman Trophy winners."

We've always said that "this is their game" - like literally, this is what we'll say internally. "Don't forget that this is their game, we're building it for them." So after every game, we'll look at player feedback and decide where everything fits in our feature list. This studio does a really good job of that, to be honest. We have our Game Changers program and we're bringing in guys from the community constantly, and they're letting us have it. Some are more aggressive than others, but it definitely helps. But Trophy Room was definitely in there. "Let me swag out a little bit and show you what I've accomplished in my career."

What's the best community suggestion that found its way into this year's game?

I have never been asked that question, that's a really good one. I would look at something like custom zones. You heard a lot of people ask, "If you can custom stem a route, why can't I change my zone?" The new safety alignment options were community-pushed. I think there's more we want to do in that space. But we're allowing you to change your safety depth - you can bring them in the box, you can put them 30 yards back, you can have them in that flat alignment look like Brent Venables has at Oklahoma. You can do a lot of different things there.

We've made some changes to the hot route tree that are definitely community-led. Balancing of things is community-led for the most part. Knockout tuning for guys catching in traffic ... we're always trying to get a pulse. And we have so many different users, so we're trying to look at the data and everything.

Are there features that you know aren't possible or at least aren't nearly as simple as the most vocal community members might think?

Oh, there are definitely some that are out there. There are some constantly popping up on wishlists that we're looking at actively trying to attack but that are definitely not as easy as one would think.

What is one feature that you weren't able to get into this year's game that you're optimistic about getting into next year's release?

We actually got a lot of what we were trying to get into this one. I could tell you the other way: in '25, dynamic subs almost got shipped. We really wanted that with the wear and tear system coming in to be able to sub in and out easily. Stunts and twists was on the cutting room floor in '25 and then found its way into '26. If you read my Twitter replies, it was like, "Don't screw it up." You heard all that garbage. But I get the tone. What they were saying is, "We like what's on the field. Polish this stuff." They didn't want us to come out with a brand-new thing. So when we introduced physics-based tackling this year, people reacted in that way. "Why did you guys do this?" Once they've played it, they get it. Because if it wasn't good enough, we wouldn't have shipped it.

I coined it the "four-minute offense" - we scored last year with '25, we're going to come in and really knock out all the fundamental football features that we need to. We looked at AI QB progression that needed to get rewritten so you don't have FCS Southwest going 25-for-27 for 320 yards and four touchdowns, right? "No eyes, no picks," so DBs weren't pulling off Willie Mays no-look interceptions. We got block steering in. We could put that time into other features, right? But for the core of the game, we've got to keep building ball out. It's a lot of the same thing with dynasty from how the screens are working, how things interact, the depth in recruiting. It costs more when you're trying to recruit a kid from California when you're a school in Florida.

So we're like, "Man, this game is so much better than '25." It's all of these little things. It doesn't have all the sexy headliners as wear and tear, confidence and composure, revamped passing - all these new ones we introduced in '25. But it's substantially different. All those little nuances provide so much depth, and we had to do it. That's what the fans wanted. I look at wishlists and think we probably hit at an 85-90% rate on gameplay. That does not mean it's perfect, but it's a substantial leap.

🏈 'A Cultural Phenomenon' - How College Football 26 is Changing the Sport

You mentioned wanting to solve football problems with football solutions. Do you feel that applies outside of the game, too, in the ways you've seen people utilize what you've put out there?

I see it a lot with high school coaches. You have coaches out here in the Florida area who are heavy players of our game, looking at different things like how we did shells to disguise coverages and trying to translate this thing to add even more plays into their playbook. I'm seeing a lot of that. And then with the college coaches, these guys are like, "We want our whole playbook in here, how do we go about doing that?" And at the same time, they're asking questions. "Why does the safety do this here? Why does this guy do this? He needs to be doing this." It's a two-way street.

In what ways are college coaches embracing this game as a recruiting tool for their program, especially those leaning in and giving you access?

Meeting with the different coaches, they know how big it is with their players, right? The game is in the locker room, they want to be in the game in that sense. So we definitely have heard that. When it comes to recruiting, I think you see that with the 300-plus coaches that came on board. If someone wasn't in the game, if I'm a recruit, I'd be saying, "Hey Coach, why aren't you in?" They're definitely playing it, they're definitely pushing it.

And then my goal for us, and I think a lot of our team's goal, is that this has to be the love letter to college football. Same with Madden. It's got to be the love letter to NFL Sunday and college football Saturday, and we're definitely making strides to get there.

We're obviously living through the "NIL era" of college sports, and now athletes can be paid directly by their schools. What sort of challenges has that presented for your team in trying to represent the modern realities of college football within the game?

I don't know where it's going to go. These things are constantly changing. We want to stay ahead, but I can tell you we're looking at making changes and then a rule changes. At the end of the day, you don't get a full 12 months to make these games. You've got people taking time off, resting - there's a lot that goes into it. You've really got to be direct in how you are going to invest resources. But at the same time, you don't want to be behind the trends, either.

Hopefully we're trending in the right direction and basically making the same thing that you see on Saturdays. But that goalpost keeps moving, and we still have fundamental things that we want to take care both in terms of gameplay and game modes. So until we get more or less concrete direction on potentially where this can go, we're going to keep investing in those areas.

You mentioned AI progression earlier. What role has AI, especially some of the newer technologies we've seen, played in the game's development and the studio's workflow as a whole?

Oh, a massive role. Obviously AI and what is going on in that space is the way of the future, both in our everyday lives and even now in work. You look at what we're doing with data-driven play-calling in Madden, and you're seeing a lot of that with Coach Speak and the different machine learning models that are out there. It's incredible. I've been in the AI space my entire 15-year career, so I get it. When I first got in the industry working here at EA, we were working with Synergy Sports, which is the No. 1 analytic tool in the NBA. You saw then what AI could do for decision-making and accurately depicting what you were seeing behaviorally on the court, and now you're seeing what it can do for us.

When it comes to AI progressions, you'll see what the quarterback behavior looks like this year: a 65-rated guy kind of stares down the barrel of one receiver, gets off one and doesn't know what to do, wants to run, where that guy with a higher 90-plus awareness may get to his fourth read. It really helps us differentiate that in the game, and with the advancements of AI in the world and in everyday use, I think that's where everything is going.

When you look back on this time at the end of your career, what do you think you'll be most proud of as it relates to your role with this game?

I'm most proud of the people. It sounds cliche or corny, but it's true. Coming back after nearly a decade away and then the trust that they allowed me to try to help shape the creative vision - along with many other brilliant people - and "letting me cook" in that realm, as the kids would say.

I'll look back at the great group of people that we got to do this with. Because it's hard, man. When games make a lot of money, people want to put their hands in the cookie jar. We had great leadership from the top down, and they really trusted me. Even though I was recruited to play football (in college), I was working on the basketball space for a while. And it was like, "Hey, this thing is going to have a lot of eyes on it." And you felt that pressure, but you welcomed it at the same time.

We started off really small and slowly built up, so to see where it's gone has been unbelievable. It's been a cultural phenomenon, and we've really enjoyed it.

You can follow Scott O'Gallagher on Twitter/X @ScottOGallagher for more information about College Football 26 and Madden NFL 26. You can also pre-order the EA Sports MVP Bundle to play both games three days early.

📜 Learn more about College Football 26

• Gameplay Deep Dive
• Presentation Deep Dive
• Dynasty & Team Builder Deep Dive
• Ultimate Team & Online H2H Deep Dive
• Road to Glory Deep Dive

👉 READ MORE: I Played CFB 25 for 24 Straight Hours: It was as Glorious as it was Humbling