This is illustrated by a momentum meter on the score graphic at the top (or bottom, in the case of the Xbox 360 version) of the screen.

Campus Legend, for the most part, runs on the same system as its predecessor, Race for the Heisman.

One creates a player, goes to a football camp, performs in drills, and is awarded a scholarship to play for a Division I-A program.

Also added is an NCAA progress report, where players can check their GPA, athletic goals, attribute point bonuses, and popularity; a computer to check rankings anywhere from the Heisman watch to All-Americans to the coaches' and AP polls; a closet to edit appearance, gear, and attribute points; and a school magazine chronicling headlines from the player's team.

The morning event is always classes (with the exception of the midterm and final exams), and is automatically simulated (unless it's an aforementioned test).

The evening event gives the player a choice of studying (a pop-up on the screen that gives the answer to a potential exam question), meeting with a tutor (a two-night event where one receives a five-question quiz to improve his GPA), participating in a position drill (a two-night event where the player takes part in one of his position's four specific drills from camp to earn attribute points), or participating in a campus social activity, which boosts popularity.

However, the game featured several mini-games of its own such as bowling, where the player is put at the 20-yard line of the opponent's end zone and a touchdown is considered a strike and if a touchdown scored on a second-down play is a spare, as in bowling.

The Xbox version of the game is the most critically successful, receiving an 87.8% on GameRankings.