This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/Honestly_ on 2024-05-14 13:00:17+00:00.
With the EA Sports College Football 25 cover being released this Thursday, I thought it would be interesting to look back at all covers — and not just the EA covers, but the athletes featured on covers of rival games by Sony, Sega, and other competitors.
Competition is a good thing. Putting these in chronological order takes me back to the era where there were options (I bought my first game in the '90s, and played a lot of 2k2).
If you count the 2 players that are identifiable off of “College Football USA 96” there have been 36 cover athletes across 34 editions of college football games (plus an active coach, mascot, two band members, and an unidentified player)
This post is going to look cleaner in “old” view. You can swap the “www” with “old” in the URL or just click here.
| Year | Publisher | Game Title (image) | Cover Athlete (wiki) | Heisman? | Formats | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | EA Sports | Bill Walsh College Football | STAN Coach Bill Walsh | N/A | Sega Genesis, SNES, Sega CD | No licenses so generic names/logos |
| 1994 | EA Sports | Bill Walsh College Football '95 | STAN Coach Bill Walsh | N/A | Sega Genesis | Schools licensed now |
| 1994 | Mindscape | NCAA Football | NCAA Logo over generic players | N/A | Sega Genesis, SNES | |
| 1994 | Sega Sports | College Football’s National Championship | ND Notre Dame Stadium | N/A | Sega Genesis | |
| 1995 | EA Sports | College Football USA 96 | KSU¦MICH¦FSU¦WIS¦USC “Generic” photos* | No | Sega Genesis | see below* |
| 1995 | Sega Sports | College Football’s National Championship II | COL Folsom Field | No | Sega Genesis | |
| 1996 | EA Sports | College Football USA 97 | NEB QB Tommie Frazier | No | Sega Genesis, SNES | 1st true cover athlete |
| 1996 | Sony | NCAA Football Gamebreaker | OSU RB Eddie George | HEISMAN! | PS1 | 1st Heisman winner on cover |
| 1997 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 98 | FLA QB Danny Wuerffel | HEISMAN! | PS1, PC | |
| 1997 | Sony | NCAA Gamebreaker 98 | FSU RB Warrick Dunn | No | PS1 | |
| 1998 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 99 | MICH CB Charles Woodson | HEISMAN! | PS1, PC | 1st of 2 defensive players ever |
| 1998 | Sony | NCAA GameBreaker 99 | NEB QB Scott Frost | No | PS1 | 1st future head coach |
| 1999 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 2000 | TEX RB Ricky Williams | HEISMAN! | PS1 | |
| 1999 | Sony | NCAA GameBreaker 2000 | UCLA QB Cade McNown | No | PS1 | |
| 2000 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 2001 | ALA RB Shaun Alexander | No | PS1 | |
| 2000 | Sony | NCAA GameBreaker 2001 | WIS RB Ron Dayne | HEISMAN! | PS1, PS2 | 1st 6th generation console game |
| 2001 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 2002 | FSU QB Chris Weinke | HEISMAN! | PS2 | |
| 2001 | Sega Sports | NCAA College Football 2K2 | PUR QB Drew Brees | No | DC | |
| 2002 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 2003 | ORE QB Joey Harrington | No | PS2, GC, Xbox | |
| 2002 | Sony | NCAA GameBreaker 2003 | MIA RB Clinton Portis | No | PS2 | [Sony skipped 2002] |
| 2002 | Sega Sports | NCAA College Football 2K3 | NEB QB Eric Crouch | HEISMAN! | PS2, GC, Xbox | |
| 2003 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 2004 | USC QB Carson Palmer | HEISMAN! | PS2, GC, Xbox, N-Gage | 1st handheld on Nokia’s disastrous system |
| 2003 | Sony | NCAA GameBreaker 2004 | PSU RB Larry Johnson | No | PS2 | |
| 2004 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 2005 | PITT WR Larry Fitzgerald | No | PS2, GC, Xbox | |
| 2005 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 06 | MICH WR Desmond Howard | PS2, Xbox | 1991’s Heisman | |
| 2006 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 07 | USC RB Reggie Bush | HEISMAN! | PS2, Xbox, 360, PSP | |
| 2007 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 08 | BOISE QB Jared Zabransky | No | 360, PS3, PS2, Xbox | |
| 2007 | Aspyr | Black College Football: BCFX: The Xperience | Generic player, cheerleader, drum major | No | PC, 360 (2009) | HBCU teams |
| 2008 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 09 | CAL WR DeSean Jackson | No | PS2 | Multi-cover |
| 2008 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 09 | BC QB Matt Ryan | No | PS3 | Multi-cover |
| 2008 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 09 | WVU FB Owen Schmitt | No | PSP | Multi-cover |
| 2008 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 09 | MSU mascot Sparty | No | Wii | Multi-cover |
| 2008 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 09 | ARK RB Darren McFadden | No | 360 | Multi-cover |
| 2009 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 10 | TEX LB Brian Orakpo | No | PS2 | Multi-cover; 2 of 2 defenders |
| 2009 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 10 | UTAH QB Brian Johnson | No | PS3 | Multi-cover |
| 2009 | EA Sports | NCAA Football 10 | USC QB Mark Sanchez | No | PSP | Multi-cover |
| 2009 | EA Sports | **[NCAA Football 10… |
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