There are many issues plaguing college football, and the consequences are being felt in locker rooms across the country.
NOTHING? You bet.
Transfer portal? Certainly.
Social networks? Maybe
But the main culprit behind the locker room dissension isn’t who you might think, according to an FBS head coach.
Southern Miss Charles Huff, who spent the last four seasons as head coach of the Marshall Thundering Herd, opened his doors to the American Football Coaches Association in Charlotte. And in doing so, he revealed to his fellow coaches that the biggest problem in his locker room in Huntington, West Virginia, was actually a video game.
The long-awaited release of the first college football video game in a decade, College Football 25brought the players to accept being included in the game for a lump sum of $600. The game continued become the best-selling sports video game of all time.
But the root of the dissension had little to do with money. It had everything to do with the game’s ratings.
Huff, according to Brandon Marcello of CBS and 247Sports, has seen his players complain about their grades. Some even came to his office, not to talk about work or how they could improve, but to air their grievances over the arbitrary ratings EA Sports gave them.
Coach Charles Huff told AFCA coaches that the biggest problem he encountered last season in the locker room wasn’t NIL or social media. No, these were players complaining about their rating on College Football 25. Some even came to his office to complain about their “low” rating.
– Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) January 13, 2025
That’s a legitimate concern, given that Group of Five schools like Marshall aren’t exactly the crème de la crème of the game. Often, if you’re looking to rebuild a program in “Dynasty” mode, you’re looking at schools like Marshall or Temple or even Sam Houston State and turning them into college football royalty.
This might be fun for you, me and Scott Van Peltbut the players don’t care about that – they care about their grades. What if New York Jets owner Woody Johnson reportedly voided trades due to Madden ratingsit’s not that far-fetched to see a draft pick be voided because of a College Football 25 rating.
So for those who think the NIL agreements will mark the end of locker room harmony as we know it, it may well be a game-changing video game note.
