College Football video game predicts Utah football stats, final record for 2025 season

In the days leading up to Week 1 of the college football season, Utah Utes on SI covered predictions and projections from several media outlets and personalities with regard to how the Utah football team will fare in the 2025 campaign.

Less than 72 hours away from the Utes kicking off the season against UCLA, it was time for EA Sports' College Football 26 video game to have a say.

The second installment of EA Sports' hit video game franchise returned earlier in the summer with even more pizazz than last year's version; from authentic gameday traditions and an enhanced home field advantage feature, to even real-life head coaches and their assistants being included for the first time in the series' history.

As someone with experience playing the older NCAA Football games, simulating and keeping track of stats, records and seasonal awards along the way seemed like a fun exercise at first. However, upon looking at how the Utes' roster was organized in the game, it turned more into a partial science experiment with multiple variables to consider and control.

Before jumping into the results of the simulation — which was, to say the least, underwhelming — some housekeeping and rules to consider:

Otto Tia is listed as a wide receiver in the game, and there's no way to change him to a tight end like the Utes did in real life.
Other depth charts were inaccurate; BYU had McCae Hillstead as its starting quarterback, while true freshman and real-life starter Bear Bachmeier was the team's fourth-stringer.
Injuries were turned off
Sliders were set to default, and auto-progression for players and coaches, as well as recruiting, were turned "on."

Normally this sort of project would be a hands-off situation, but because of Utah's depth chart conundrum, I took control of the Utes (as virtual Kyle Whittingham) and adjusted Tia from the "WR2" position on the depth chart to "WR3," hoping the game would move the 6-foot-4 senior with 86 speed to the slot at the very least and not on the outside opposite Tobias Merriweather.

It's hard to say how that slight tweak impacted the simulation, though wide receivers who weren't listed in the top three of Utah's depth chart were barely utilized in the simulation, making for some interesting results on the stat sheet at the end of the season.

In addition to Utah's record and stats, I also recorded the game's College Football Playoff bracket and final media poll, despite neither one having anything to do with Utah's final record. Why? To further illustrate that while the College Football 26 game is widely popular and a blast to play, the quality of its simulation can lead to some absolutely bizarre results that should be taken with a grain of salt, of course.

That all said, here's how College Football 26 predicted Utah's 2025 season will play out.

Utah football's 2025 season, according to EA Sports' College Football 26 video game

Week-by-week results

Week 1: UCLA 38, Utah 36 (OT)
Week 2: Utah 52, Cal Poly (FCS West) 21
Week 3: Utah 35, Wyoming 16
Week 4: No. 8 Texas Tech 35, Utah 16
Week 5: Utah 24, West Virginia 17
Week 7: Utah 23, No. 13 Arizona State 21
Week 8: No. 14 BYU 27, Utah 7
Week 9: Utah 31, Colorado 21
Week 10: Utah 44, Cincinnati 41 (OT)
Week 12: No. 15 Baylor 56, Utah 28
Week 13: No. 9 Kansas State 38, Utah 37
Week 14: Kansas 31, Utah 17
Friso Bowl: Utah 38, Memphis 21

Final record: 7-6

Despite the roadblocks of last season's disastrous campaign being pushed to the side the end results for the virtual Utes were quite similar to the ones the real-life team faced at the end of the 2024 campaign. Even without injuries playing a factor, the simulation had Utah finishing its regular season with a 6-6 record — one win better than its 5-7 mark a year ago — and tied for ninth place in the Big 12 standings.

There were a few close calls that could've completely changed Utah's season had the results been flipped, though no final score stood out quite like the 38-37 result against Kansas State. The Utes, sitting at 6-4 and in need of a win to keep their conference title hopes alive, led the Wildcats 34-21 entering the fourth quarter, before allowing Kansas State to rattle off 17 points over the final 12 minutes and snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat.

Not only would the Utes have positioned themselves better in the Big 12 race had they held on to victory against the Wildcats, they potentially would've altered the course of the College Football Playoff bracket as well.

First, a look at College Football 26's final Big 12 standings for 2025.

Final Big 12 standings

Baylor (10-2, 8-1)
Texas Tech (11-1, 8-1)
BYU (10-2, 8-1)
Kansas State (10-2, 8-2)
Arizona State (9-3, 6-3)
Colorado (8-4, 5-4)
Houston (8-4, 5-4)
Kansas (8-4, 5-4)
Utah (6-6, 4-5)
Cincinnati (6-6, 4-5)
Iowa State (6-6, 3-6)
UCF (5-7, 3-6)
Oklahoma State (3-9, 2-7)
Arizona (3-9, 2-8)
West Virginia (3-9, 1-8)
TCU (3-9, 1-8)

The Utes' schedule certainly didn't do them any favors in simulation; Utah had to face the top five teams in the league during the regular season, and all five wound up ranked in the final media poll.

Baylor, which finished atop the Big 12 standings, was left out of the College Football Playoff in favor of Texas Tech and Kansas State.

Had the Wildcats lost to the Utes in Week 13 instead, BYU or Arizona State probably could've made a more compelling case to be included in the 12-team playoff.

College Football Playoff bracket

1. Florida (11-2)
2. Penn State (11-2)
3. Georgia (10-2)
4. Oregon (11-2)
5. Vandy (11-2)
6. Ole Miss (10-2)
7. Clemson (10-2)
8. Texas Tech (12-1)
9. Texas (10-2)
10. Miami (11-2)
11. Kansas State (10-2)
12. Tulane (10-3)

National Championship

Texas 42, Kansas State 28

So, the Kansas State team that barely survived the 6-6 Utes wound up winning back-to-back postseason games as the No. 11 seed, advancing all the way to the National Championship game to face the Longhorns in an old-school Big 12 battle. Go figure.

Final "Media" Top 25

1. Texas (14-2)
2. Kansas State (13-3)
3. Penn State (12-3)
4. Oregon (12-3)
5. Florida (11-3)
6. Georgia (10-3)
7. Vanderbilt (12-3)
8. Ole Miss (10-3)
9. Miami (12-3)
10. Clemson (10-3)
11. Indiana (11-2)
12. Texas Tech (12-2)
13. Ohio State (10-3)
14. Arizona State (10-3)
15. Baylor (11-3)
16. BYU (10-3)
17. Oklahoma (9-4)
18. Duke (9-4)
19. James Madison (13-1)
20. Alabama (9-4)
21. Liberty (12-2)
22. Michigan (9-4)
23. Navy (11-2)
24. Tulane (10-4)
25. SMU (10-4)

The final "media" poll in EA's college football games has always turned out wacky, and this one was no exception. Because in real life, it's hard to imagine AP voters putting a 9-4 Duke team and a 13-1 James Madison squad ahead of a 9-4 Alabama team.

Also, the Big 12 had five teams ranked in the final media poll of 2025 — more than the ACC and as many as the Big Ten — and Utah played all five of them during the regular season.

Final team stats

Passing

Devon Dampier: 265/395 (67%), 21-5 TD-INT ratio, 3,199 passing yards

Rushing

Wayshawn Parker: 220 carries, 873 yards (4.0 YPC), 11 TDs, 1 fumble (765 snaps)
Devon Dampier: 221 carries, 656 rushing yards (3.0 YPC), 8 TDs
NaQuari Rogers: 30 carries, 67 yards (2.2 YPC), 5 TDs (162 snaps)
Bryce Duke: 10 carries, 24 yards (2.4 YPC), 1 TD (30 snaps)

Receiving

Creed Whittemore: 64 rec, 923 yards, 10 TDs (1,034 snaps)
Tobias Merriweather: 67 rec, 825 yards, 5 TDs (909 snaps)
Otto Tia: 53 rec, 742 yards, 2 TDs (734 snaps)
Dallen Bentley: 44 rec, 465 yards, 2 TDs (978 snaps)
Wayshawn Parker: 25 rec, 163 yards, 1 TD (765 snaps)
Drew Clemens: 6 rec, 45 yards (298 snaps)
Ryan Davis: 4 rec, 23 yards, (103 snaps)
NaQuari Rogers: 2 rec, 13 yards, TD (162 snaps)

Verdict

A light-hearted project for fun, or a science experiment gone wrong? This was probably a mix of both, given the constraints on editing players' positions and how they're utilized on the field. Playbooks have always served a large part in dictating a team's success in EA's video games — look no further than its Madden series for proof — though there's still a great sense of randomness to College Football 26 that makes it all the more enjoyable.