EA Sports College Football 25 pays homage to the legendary Mike Leach
![Oct 8, 2022; Starkville, Mississippi, USA;Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Mike Leach stands on the sidelines during the second quarter of the game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports Oct 8, 2022; Starkville, Mississippi, USA;Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Mike Leach stands on the sidelines during the second quarter of the game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3185,h_1791,x_113,y_268/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/296/01j2rn8m46zzfbweggfz.jpg)
After over a decade of waiting, college football fans and gaming fans in general finally have a new college football video game to play. EA Sports College Football 25 officially releases to the public this week.
To generate excitement for the release of the game, prominent gamers, athletes, and internet personalities were granted early access to College Football 25 to stream gameplay over the weekend and give the public a taste of what's in store.
And through those previews, we learned of a fun feature that honors a coaching legend.
Mike Leach's Air Raid offense featured in EA Sports College Football 25
One of the best parts of both the old and new college football video games is the unique offenses available to play with. And while former Mississippi State head coach and offensive innovator Mike Leach is, sadly, no longer with us, his legendary Air Raid attack is alive and well in College Football 25.
Every play in the Air Raid offense in CFB 25 is named how it would’ve been called in Mike Leach’s offense 🥹 pic.twitter.com/I8v35Zj49c
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) July 13, 2024
For those who played NCAA Football, you know that Air Raid playbooks aren't new to the game. Plenty of teams in the old series ran Air Raid style offenses featuring lots of classic Air Raid plays. But those plays didn't use Mike Leach's terminology, instead having generic names.
The name of the play shown above "H Move 92 PST DBL WHL" is the exactly how Mike Leach would've called that play in real life. And based on that, it appears that many of Leach's actual plays are in the game. While the original series had Air Raid plays, they were rarely run the same way The Pirate would've in his offense.
For fans that want to run the true Mike Leach Air Raid in College Football 25, they'll be able to.
It's a wonderful move by the developers at EA to pay homage to Mike Leach and his influence over the game of football. I cannot wait to break out his playbook once the game releases and bring the true Air Raid back to college football.