NCAA Next 26 - Official Release v16.0

NCAA Next 26 is now officially released! This marks a significant huge step in the modding of this classic Playstation 2 game.

New Features for NEXT 26

General League Updates

136 Team Full FBS League with 2026 Conference Realignment
2025 Start Year
2025 Player Rosters & Coaches, Heisman and Pre-Season All-Americans
10 Additional Bowl Games Added to Post-Season, along with the College Football Playoff Rule Changes
Added a new team-developed College Football Playoff ranking system that should bias towards wins, losses, and strength of schedule and reduces conference prestige bias that results in teams with many losses in the Top 10
Added Medical Redshirting (automatic) into the mod!
Added Patriot League to FCS
Increased Stadium Count
Updated Stadiums for Coastal Carolina, and other teams
Updated Coaches with career stats (new feature!) and hot seat performance values based on real-life
Updated every coach with realistic coaching playbook, schemes, and pass ratios
Updated scheduling system to prioritize conference scheduling matchups of dissimilar conf prestige (i.e. Power 4 vs Group 6 games)
Fully removed 1A/1AA designations and converted to FBS/FCS naming
Added option for Notre Dame as an Independent team with an ACC hybrid schedule
Updated Team Overall / Team Rating System

Recruiting Updates

Updated Recruiting Database
Revised Fullback Recruiting archetypes
New Names Database with 22,000 First and 22,000 Last Names File Added. There are over 24.1 Million Unique name combinations now possible!
Added an additional layer of recruit randomization during off-season
Re-Rate In-Season Recruits in off-season
Removed 1-Star Recruits (moved to 2-Star)
Fullbacks, Kickers and Punters max out at 3-Stars
Updated Walk-On Database with improved appearance and gear selection
Removed Transfers re-joining original team from scoring system in Transfer Portal feature
Removes the ability for Athletes to become fullbacks

Gameplay Updates

New formation sets: Shotgun Wide Spread, Wide Slot and Duo
Updated all playbook AI settings
4 Impact Players by Default
Updated In-Game Scorebug with record displayed in dynasty mode
Added a feature to choose the best position for the "Athlete" role during recruiting/position change phase
Updated every player's physical model shapes utilizing an updated and improved body shape algorithm
Improved Sim Stats now include updates to Defense Sim Stats

Graphical Updates

Athlon Sports Magazine Pre-Season Ranking List & Graphics
Updated Uniform Expansion to add Kennesaw State
Upscaled Player and Coach face graphics
Upscaled Mascots!
Updated Sideline camera crew textures
Updates to every team-specific scorebug
Fixed network broadcast logos for Playoff Bowl games (e.g. Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl, etc.)
Hard Rock Stadium for Miami & Orange Bowl
Upscaled/Updated In-Game Composure Textures
Updated UI Textures in most menus
Updated On3 Rivals logo and in-season recruiting board
1367 Unique Uniforms total!
Uniform Updates: Boston College, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Florida State, Hawai'i, Kennesaw State, Louisiana, Michigan, Old Dominion, Wyoming
Updated Fields: FAU, Kansas, Ohio State, Oregon, Miami, Missouri State

General Updates

New player rating system! This rating system rates players from 40-99 with no gaps. In the original game, there were only 32 unique ratings between players, that were translated into a 40-99 system. In this new update, there is now a full 60 values that represent the 40-99 spectrum.
Updated Player Overall Rating System & UI Display! Player Overall rating system to improve normal distribution, recruiting diversity, and player growth built with AI
New Music Soundtrack
New Main Menu video! We cracked the video codec!
Removed Mascot Games from Main Menu
Added Save Warnings to prevent crashes
Fixed Loading Screens
Allows up to 6 Create-A-School teams
User Interface/Menu updates utilizing new-in house compression tools to full revamp the game menu layouts
Updated database capacity sizes to reduce memory issues and increase capabilities for future (including the 40-99 system)
Rename T, G, C to OT, OG, OC in menu screens
Finally fixed the Play by Play team name calling of "newly created" FBS teams in this mod (e.g. Liberty, UTSA, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Old Dominion, South Alabama, Georgia State, Kennesaw State, etc). They will no longer be called "Air Force" but by their team name!
Updated School Names: California, East Carolina, Florida Intl, Hawai'i, Louisiana, Miami (OH), Middle Tennessee, Missouri State, Sam Houston, UConn