EA Sports releases College Football 26, the next installment of the popular video game that smashed sales records after its triumphant return last year, in just a few weeks. As such, they're putting out plenty of promotional content to hype the game right now.
Arizona State has been a bit of a constant in it all, with both Kenny Dillingham and Sam Leavitt appearing on the cover of the deluxe edition. However, EA Sports just showed massive disrespect to the Sun Devils with their list of the 25 toughest places to play.
NEW: EA Sports College Football 26 Top 25 toughest places to play🎮https://t.co/36KX4yDXzv pic.twitter.com/e1EqWCKY9P
— On3 (@On3sports) June 24, 2025
The Sun Devils didn't even make the list despite the fact that they went undefeated at home this past year. That included wins over two different ranked teams, one of which (Utah) is listed as the 20th toughest place to play. Arizona State also beat Oklahoma State, listed here as the 23rd toughest place to play, in Stillwater by a final score of 42-21.
In fact, Oklahoma State and Utah account for the only two Big 12 teams on this list. The Cowboys were 2-4 at home last year, with one of those wins coming against an FCS opponent, while Utah was also 2-4 at home.
The Sun Devils, on the other hand, were 6-0 in Mountain America Stadium despite being the underdog for all but one of those contests. They even upset BYU, which opened up their path to the Big 12 title game and the College Football Playoff, and resulted in the now-infamous double field storming.
Their earlier win over Utah also saw Kenny Dillingham crowdsurf with fans.
— wow that was crazy (@CowardlyDoggo) October 12, 2024
The moment immediately went viral, and set the stage for Arizona State to become college football's darling the rest of the year. That all happened at Mountain America Stadium, where the Sun Devils were unbeatable just a year after going 3-9.
To not even include Arizona State as one of the toughest places to play right now shows utter disrespect to the passionate fans who made it all happen during last year's magical run, and who will no doubt be even louder this year as the Sun Devils look to repeat as Big 12 champs.