EA Sports dropped the cover art for the College Football 26 videogame today, and while most of the spotlight went to Alabama’s Ryan Williams and Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith, a sly detail on the deluxe edition caught Colorado fans’ eyes.
Tucked into the crowd of college football die-hards on the cover is one Nebraska fan who is holding up a custom license plate that reads: “BEAT CU.”
That’s it. That’s the Buffs entire representation on this year’s game.
No Julian "JuJu" Lewis. No Ralphie logo. Not even Coach Prime. Just a red-clad Nebraska fan holding a sign and still desperately and annoyingly obsessed with their foe's to the west.
Look, we know how deep the Colorado-Nebraska rivalry runs. It’s one of the nastiest, pettiest, and most passionate rivalries in college football. The two schools can be 0-12 and 1-11, and they’d still sell out a game if the other is on the schedule.
So, EA deciding to sneak that “BEAT CU” sign into its deluxe cover art, it wasn’t just a creative Easter egg—it was a digital shot across the western plains.
It’s wild how fast things can change. Just last year, Travis Hunter was the guy on the cover of College Football 25. He was coming off one of the most hyped seasons in Buffs history, a two-way Heisman contender, the face of a program that had just exploded onto the national scene under Coach Prime.
EA embraced it all. Colorado was the main character.
Now? Not even a sliver of Coach Prime makes it into the cover. And while coaches like Marcus Freeman, Dan Lanning, and Kirby Smart are getting the nod in this year’s release, Deion Sanders is noticeably absent.
Now, unless this is like a contract issue, similar to Bill Belichick being Chad Masters all those years on Madden, it's insane not to add Coach Prime on this year's cover.
For a guy who’s arguably the most talked-about coach in college football—EA, definitely fumbled this one.
However, that “BEAT CU” plate says more than EA probably intended. It’s a reminder that no matter where the Buffs land in preseason rankings or national cover art, they still command attention.
And it's nice to know the rivalry is still alive. Nebraska just can't seem to get us out of their heads.
We may not be on the cover this year, but we’re still in the conversation. We'll take it.
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