Will Borger says college football 27 is already looking like a different game, and the biggest shift is practical: the Skills Trainer is back on the main menu while defensive pre-play inputs have been rearranged. That review landed on July 16, 2025, after he had spent about a day with the game.
“I’ve only been able to spend about a day with it at this point, so I’ve got a lot more College Football 27 to play before I’m ready to declare this thing a boom or a bust, but it seems like we’re shaping up for a promising – and very different – season so far,” Borger wrote. That is a cautious opening verdict, not a final grade.
Skills Trainer on the menu
The return of the Skills Trainer to the main menu changes where players start, not just what they learn. Instead of burying practice tools deeper in the flow, College Football 27 puts them in the first layer of the interface, which makes the training path easier to reach for players who want to learn the game before jumping into the rest of it.
For players of College Football, that setup matters because it reduces the friction between wanting help and finding it. Borger’s review frames the change as part of a broader move toward a more intuitive game, even while the series is still working through the gaps in its teaching tools.
Right stick, faster adjustments
D-line adjustments moved from the left D-pad to the right stick in College Football 27, part of a larger overhaul of many pre-play defensive inputs. Borger says the new system gets players what they want more quickly with fewer button presses, which is the kind of change that can make defensive setups feel less mechanical and more immediate.
That is a real usability shift, because control schemes decide how fast a player can react before the snap. When a routine adjustment sits on the right stick instead of a face-button cluster, the learning curve changes, and so does the amount of time spent wrestling the interface instead of the opponent.
College Football 26 as baseline
College Football 26 is described in the review as a very good college football video game but not a great one, which sets a high bar without pretending the series has already solved everything. College Football 27 is being measured against that standard while still asking players to relearn parts of the defensive system.
Borger also says Road to Glory and Dynasty still need meaningful changes, so the upgrade story is uneven. The game looks more promising early, but the teaching tools are still not fully where they need to be, which leaves the practical test in how quickly players can adapt once they are back in those modes.
Borger’s read is the right one for now: College Football 27 appears to be moving in the right direction, but the next question is whether the new menu layout and defense controls are part of a deeper overhaul or just the clearest signs of one.
