EA Sports’ College Football 25 came out this month. We tested it against three Temple football players

EA Sports’ newest video game, NCAA College Football 25, has been the biggest buzz as the beginning of college football season draws closer. The game’s franchise, which went 11 years between the last edition of the game, NCAA College Football 14, features 133 FBS schools, with Temple among them.

For the first time in the game’s history, thanks to the NCAA allowing athletes to earn money from name, image, and likeness (NIL), players’ names are featured in the game — so long as they opt into the game. No longer are the days where the best players in college football, like Colorado’s Travis Hunter, are marked as No. 12 in the game, for example.

» READ MORE: Temple football coach Stan Drayton eager to ‘change the narrative’ of the Owls this season

Though the deluxe version of the game was made available in the late afternoon on July 15, the game was released worldwide on July 19, and to celebrate the occasion, Temple hosted a launch party. The Inquirer took on three Owls football players, playing them head-to-head, all while catching up on their football careers, getting their thoughts about being in College Football 25 and more as they approach fall camp in preparation for the 2024 season.

First up was running back Joquez Smith, entering his sophomore season with Temple. As a freshman, Smith was the team’s second-leading rusher (325 yards), and had his breakout game against Norfolk State with 142 yards on the ground and his first two touchdowns (one rushing, one receiving). To no surprise, the Owls were his team of choice, and I chose Rutgers as the opponent. The two teams have faced off in each of the last three years.

Smith, whose godfather is Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach and former Temple defensive back Todd Bowles, and says the pair text each other before their respective games, bumped himself to starting rusher as the game’s current depth chart has him as second-string, with a 77 overall rating. The 5-foot-8, 190-pound Tampa, Fla., native says that rating is “pretty accurate. Hopefully they upgrade it during this season.”

It wasn’t Smith’s first time playing the game. He had bought the deluxe version earlier in the week and chose to use the Road to Glory mode, which allows you to control a single player from their freshman season up until you’re draft eligible. And even though he was in the game already, the Owls were still his destination.

“I committed to Temple, I took the three-star route just like I did when I went to Temple [in real life],” Smith said in between plays on offense. “They had me as fourth-string and I worked myself all the way up to second-string, behind myself, on the game. I transferred to Central Michigan, they had me starting, then I transferred again back to Temple so I could start there.”

Being from Florida, Smith doesn’t get to go back home often. But he says he keeps in constant contact with his mom, Joann, daily, even to ensure he was up for morning practices, and he remains close with friends back home, including playing NCAA College Football 25 online against them.

The result: With three seconds left, I threw the game-winning 17-yard touchdown pass, missed the extra point, but held on to a 30-24 win. However, if the sophomore back plays like he did in our matchup, he should play a key role in the Owls’ offense this season.

From one game to the next, the Owls’ leading returning receiver from last season, Dante Wright, also happens to be the second-highest-rated player (80 overall) and fastest Temple player in the game. As opposed to Smith, who went to the running game early and often, Wright had plenty of intentions to air it out — specifically to himself — testing my Kennesaw State secondary, which had a long day. From the jump, this game was much more of a high-scoring shootout you’d expect of a video game like this.

“I was pleased with my rating,” Wright said as he watched his Owls leave the Lincoln Financial Field tunnel onto the field. “But I think it could be a little higher, I’m not going to lie.”

Wright has his own unique story of arriving at Temple. As a freshman at Colorado State, the native of Navarre, Fla. was named to the FWAA Freshman All-American and ESPN True Freshman All-American teams, bursting on the scene in the Mountain West with 1,019 scrimmage yards and six total touchdowns. After injuries and a coaching change lessened his playing time, he transferred to Temple after the 2022 season, and finished with the third-most receiving yards (507) for the Owls last season.

“Just having that belief factor from Coach [Stan] Drayton and just him wanting to me to come out here and play, gave a lot of confidence for me. … I think we also had a really good connection on my visit,” Wright recalled of his 2022 visit to North Broad.

Wright’s favorite route to run in real life is the post route, and he took advantage of his speed in the game, to give himself an early lead in the first quarter. During that first drive, he was shown as one of two Temple impact players and commented, “It’s kind of crazy. It’s something I don’t think I will get used to.”

» READ MORE: Meet Camren Boykin, a top quarterback in Virginia who recently pledged to play at Temple

Off the football field, Wright visited Rome in March for his Sports and Culture class. On the trip, Wright and other attendees made a blog post about their adventure for one particular day.

“Just seeing another part of the world — I’ve never been to Europe — so just having Temple being able to do that was a really good experience for me,” Wright said as his player was breaking free for another big gain (his Owls scored 43 points). “That was an experience I’ll never forget. … I like seeing the art, the sculptures. And the history because just seeing people back then be able to do like, all that artwork, it was crazy to see them do that.”

His mother, Stacy, has attended every game he’s played in at Temple and Colorado State. His first game was in the Denver Broncos’ stadium, and he relishes playing in the Linc, home of the Eagles and the Owls.

The result: Wright jumped out to an early double-digit lead, punctuated by a Hail Mary completion to himself before halftime to take a 28-26 lead. But just like Smith’s fate in the first game, I rallied my Owls of Kennesaw State to throw a touchdown pass with 12 seconds remaining to win, 50-43.

The name D.J. Woodbury might be familiar to this area, and if so, it’s because the now Temple linebacker was a big-time basketball standout at South Jersey’s Burlington City High School. Woodbury, who has a 74 overall rating, scored in double figures in 30 of his 31 games in his final season at Burlington City while averaging 19.3 points, before the COVID-19 pandemic effectively ended his team’s state title run. But he chose football and was recruited initially as a safety before transitioning to linebacker.

» READ MORE: Camden’s Fran Brown is ‘committed’ to making a splash in his first year at Syracuse

“I remember being in high school and coming to my first college football game and it was [at] Temple,” Woodbury recalled just as his video game version of the Owls entered Pasadena’s Rose Bowl stadium against the Orangemen. “I think it was 2019, it was Temple vs. Maryland and that game, just the energy we brought, the dog mentality Temple had, won me that day, it always felt like family from Day One. … It came down to weighing my options — everyone wants to make it to the NFL and NBA — but the numbers game, you got a 15-man roster [in the NBA], you got a 53-man roster [in the NFL].”

As opposed to the first two games, the Syracuse-Temple matchup (filled with plenty of Philly connections on both sides) was much more of a defensive battle. Woodbury, not only in the game but in real life, is helping replace NFL players in Jordan Magee and Yvandy Rigby, two of the Owls’ three leading tacklers last season. He had the trash talk to match his on-field menacing energy.

Woodbury enjoys “the realness the game brings, the atmosphere … it’s a childhood dream [being in the game]” when describing College Football 25′s gameplay. The Burlington City native has appeared in 26 games over four seasons with the Owls, though last season was cut short by an injury.

» READ MORE: How does Temple coach Stan Drayton relieve football stress? Family, fatherhood, and roller skating

The soon-to-be senior linebacker is a father to his 7-month-old son, Deuce, who he says “takes my breath away” whenever he talks about him.

“I talk about him so much. Every time I’m away from him, I think about him so much,” Woodbury said shortly before scoring his second touchdown our matchup. “It’s been an amazing process and almost got me more mature. … I can’t wait just to teach him life and teaching him sports. He finally started saying ’Dada’ — life is just getting better and better.”

The result: Though Woodbury got some help from his teammate, Wright, who returned two kickoffs for touchdowns, former St. Joseph’s Prep standout Kyle McCord and the Orange’s offense was too much down the stretch, as I completed the sweep by defeating Temple, 38-24.

The (real) Temple Owls will begin their season against Oklahoma on Aug. 30.