Bulls fans who play the EA Sports College Football 26 game may be in for a pleasant surprise. The video game company’s American Athletic Conference team ratings have USF tied with Tulane for the top spot.
The Bulls and Tulane share overall team ratings of 78, which is roughly the same as the Fighting Jordon Hudsons, also known as North Carolina, and the same as Minnesota.
There is worse company to be in.
Hey, take your wins where you can get them.
Absolutely beautiful 😍pic.twitter.com/rDSJCfDrjw
— Is EA Sports College Football 26 Out (@IsItOutEa) July 7, 2025
The video game has Memphis and UTSA right behind USF and Tulane. It also has the Bulls just four points behind opening opponent Boise State. They are not as close to Florida and Miami.
The game makers break down the individual players on each roster as well. Those are determined by factors that include their 2024 performance, squad depth, and future potential. The game also takes a player’s speed, strength, and agility into account.
It gets pretty interesting here.
For instance, it’s no surprise that Byrum Brown is USF’s top-rated quarterback by several points. He has an 83 rating, which means the game makers believe he is very good.
But you know who the game has backing up Brown?
True freshman Locklan Hewlett, that’s who. He has a 72 rating, three points better than Bryce Archie, who took over and started the rest of the season after Brown was injured at Tulane.
Since Hewlett played at St. Augustine High last year, there’s no 2024 performance on which to rate him. So, EA Sports probably used Hewlett’s future potential when establishing his rating.
Or maybe they saw that Hewlett completed 13-of-14 passes for 110 yards and three touchdowns in USF’s spring game.
“Lock is better than I thought, in terms of one football knowledge and of football awareness, but he's like (offensive coordinator) Coach (Joel) Gordon said it the other day, trying to describe him,” Bulls coach Alex Golesh said during the spring.
“He's a little baller, like he's pushing and pushing and pushing. He's gotten better every single day. It's been really, really fun to watch him.”
This is the second year the video game series is back. It was discontinued after the 2013 season, thanks in part to the Ed O’Bannon lawsuit against the NCAA and EA Sports. He argued that both entities were profiting off former athletes’ Name, Likeness, and Image while restricting players from doing the same.
EA Sports settled the lawsuit, and a ruling against the NCAA led to the financial changes we see today in college athletics.
For what it’s worth, last year’s game picked Memphis and Tulane as the top two AAC teams, with USF third.
Eventual conference champion Army was chosen 13th out of the AAC’s 14 teams.
What does all this mean for the actual on-field product? Not much, although you can take it as another indicator that USF is gaining respect.
There are worse things.
Oh, and there’s this.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal simulated the season and the game even named its Heisman Trophy winner.
Guess who?
It was Byrum Brown.