Which series preceded EA Sports College Football in the franchise's overall count?

The series that preceded EA Sports College Football was NCAA Football.

EA’s college-football franchise began under earlier names, including Bill Walsh College Football and College Football USA, before adopting the NCAA Football branding in 1997. The NCAA name continued through the long-running simulation series, whose final pre-revival installment was NCAA Football 14 in 2013.

After an 11-year hiatus, EA returned to the subject with EA Sports College Football 25 in 2024. The change in branding reflected licensing and legal circumstances surrounding the NCAA name, college athletes’ likenesses, and the broader use of player identity in sports games. The newer series is therefore a continuation of the same EA college-football lineage rather than an unrelated franchise.

The chronology can be confusing because NCAA Football was itself not the original title. Bill Walsh College Football launched the series in 1993, while NCAA Football became its best-known name for the pre-hiatus era. College Hoops was a basketball series, NFL Street focused on professional-style arcade football, and Madden NFL is EA’s separate professional-football franchise.