How to Choose the Best Pipelines for You in College Football 25

Licensed college football video games are back, baby, and we’re having a blast (with weird controls and all) EA Sports College Football 25.Continuation NCAA Football 14the game introduced many features, including the fascinating Pipeline system.

The pipeline system, available in Dynasty mode, helps the game better replicate college football recruiting. You may be wondering what are the pipelines AND how to choose the best pipelines IN EA Sports College Football 25. You’ve come to the right place.

What are pipelines?

Pipelines are states or regions that a school or coach has additional familiarity with. Mechanically, this means that recruits from your school or coaches’ pipeline regions are more likely to be interested in your school.

This is meant to mimic real-life recruiting, where high school athletes are often (but not always!) more likely to be interested in schools in or near their home state than in moving far away from home. Even that is factored into the game—for some recruits, proximity to home is a priority (or even a deciding factor); for others, it’s not as significant. But the pipeline will facilitate you get in.

Some states are divided into multiple pipelines, and some are combined into a single pipeline. For example, the extremely talented states of California, Georgia, Florida, and Texas are divided into multiple pipelines (e.g., “Central Florida,” “South Georgia”), while the less talented states are combined into multiple state regions, such as “Big Sky” and “Pacific Northwest.”

Schools operate on a ranking system for their pipelines, ranging from one (weakest) to five (strongest). Each school has a pipeline level based on how well they have historically recruited that region. These pipeline levels for schools are locked and will not change when you save the file, but you can change your coach’s pipeline through the “Edit Coach” menu.

What is the best process for my team?

When you create a coach in Dynasty Mode, you choose a pipeline for that coach. This is a descriptive representation of the coach’s professional background—where did they gain experience before taking the position? Where do they have the most contact with high school coaches? Mechanically, it’s a way to choose the region where you want to have an advantage in recruiting.

For example, I have a Dynasty Mode file from Maryland, where I went to school. I chose the Tidewater pipeline as my coach because it covers the region Maryland is located in and generally likes to recruit (there is no official explanation of what “Tidewater” covers, but since Maryland, DC, Virginia, and Delaware are not pipeline options, I think it’s unthreatening to assume that’s what Tidewater means here). My goal with this write-up is to eventually dominate the Tidewater region of Maryland and get the best recruits there year after year.

Photo: EA Tiburon/Electronic Arts via Polygon

But for a New Mexico dynasty, a school I don’t plan on staying at forever, the Texas or California pipeline may make more sense than the New Mexico pipeline. Both of those states are close enough to New Mexico that I would still be cheerful with the close-to-home rating and hopefully it would allow me to get a few overlooked recruits from those crowded areas.

Schools also tend to favor coaches whose potential aligns with theirs, so if you start your career at a one-star school but ultimately want to land a job at Alabama, consider Alabama as your potential.

What are the best pipelines?

Again, it’s best to consider this in the context of your school and the goals you have for your transcript file. This is a subjective choice, not an objective one.and it’s generally better to choose an area that makes sense in the context of your school and your save file, rather than simply choosing the region with the most save data.

But maybe you’re training at a school that can get almost any recruit it wants, like Alabama or Georgia. With so many options to choose from, which one should you prioritize?

Various Florida, Texas, Georgia and California pipelines are mighty starting points – everyone will have a lot of talent available in each class. Besides, Louisiana and Metro Atlanta there are other talent-rich options worth considering.

Photo: EA Tiburon/Electronic Arts via Polygon

Each pipeline region not only has a certain level of skilled talent assigned to it, but also type high-quality talent associated with the region. We don’t know every single one of them, but here are some examples from EA deep diving in dynasty mode:

For example, Southern California is known for producing great quarterback talent, while East Texas consistently produces some of the best wide receivers in the country. However, we didn’t stop there. We wanted to dig deeper to make sure we captured the authenticity of the high school talent. Yes, East Texas is known for producing great receivers, but more specifically, they are known for how large and physical their receivers are. As a result, you’ll see bigger and more physical receivers coming out of East Texas, while South Florida will produce incredibly brisk deep threat receivers who have less size.

In compact, the answer is “it depends on what you want.” Are you looking primarily for a QB? Southern California is the way to go. Want to dominate your school’s region? Take your pick.

One of the joys of college football is that you are who you are and you can set your own goals — and the pipeline system is another way to enhance that experience.

More College Football 25 guides, check out our beginner’s guide or learn how to make the perfect touch pass.