After doing some some reading in the Operation Sports and MaddenMania forums recently, I had a bit of an epiphany. Thanks in part to my revelation, my Michigan defense "clicked" into place and I absolutely demolished a computer controlled Wisconsin at The Big House, something which was not happening up until that time.

What did I do differently this time around?

I almost totally abandoned zone defenses, favoring man-to-man calls in their place.

From my recent experience at The Big House, your base defense in NCAA 09 should be a man-to-man play - preferably something with two safeties over the top each covering half the field.

I'm guessing this is why different people are getting different results with the defense in NCAA 09. Those of us who have seen CPU QBs throw for ridiculous completion percentages no doubt have been running a lot of zone coverage as I have been doing. Those who are running more man-to-man are probably seeing lower completion percentages from the AI quarterback. It seems as if man-to-man might be many people's answer to the almost automatic AI QB.

Why don't zones work? Because zone defenses just aren't that good.

Simply put the zone defenses in this game aren't that good. Most of the zone "bubbles" are two to three yards too deep -- especially for the linebackers.

So take a drag play in the middle of the field. That extra two to three yards the defenders play back basically doubles the cushion a WR has between him and the defender. So the receiver has more room to catch the ball and then move up field after he makes the catch. In years past he would have caught the ball and had a LB right in his face as the defenders were in better position in their zones.

Same for the flat zones. The LBs are a few yards up the field instead of right down on the line of scrimmage. And in the Cover 2, CBs are giving up a huge swath of field for the dump pass in the flats -- something the play is supposed to take away.

A linebacker making a stop like this takes a bit of creative playcalling in NCAA this year.

So let's look at a play from the AI QB point of view. To my knowledge the game does not try to replicate any kind of check-down system with these QBs. They might look at the primary then look at everybody else, but generally speaking the QB is just looking for somebody that is open to throw the ball to.

Enter the bad zones. If you're playing a ton of zone defense, the QB is dropping back three steps, seeing somebody open underneath and throwing the ball. Humans might not notice because they're looking elsewhere, or trying to get the ball down field knowing the dump off is there. The AI QB doesn't do this. All it notices is, "Open! Throw! Now!"

And if you've looked at the playbooks in this game, almost every passing play has some sort of short dink-and-dunk pattern. In real football this is a safety valve -- an "oh crap! I better throw or I'll be sacked" pattern, or an "everything down field is covered" pattern. But since the AI doesn't think like this, it becomes the, "that guy is open -- throw" pattern.

Mano-a-Mano

So as I mentioned, you need to play a lot more man-to-man coverage against the computer than you might be used to.

I was pretty hesitant to do this at first. Visions of Madden and NCAA's of years past were dancing in my head, when too often "man-to-man" was code for, "WR breaks a tackle and takes it to the house."

This year the man-to-man seems to be a lot better, and with two safeties over the top (if you are calling a Cover 2 for the safeties that is) there isn't a huge chance a guy will take off for a crazy gain. Plus with the change to how speed is done, your safeties and CBs should be able to run down HBs and TEs who posed issues in the past.

 A Sack?

Perhaps the best result of this change is coverage sacks and pressure on the QB. Since you are taking away the quick, underneath passes from the QB, you will find the QB stands in the pocket longer.

This means more sacks, more hurries, and more knockdowns. There should be a noticeable difference in how deep your D-line gets and how often you make the QB antsy in the pantsy. With the underneath stuff gone, it also means the QB also throws a bit deeper down field more often.

The QB Spy Zone Pass Coverage

Yes I know it sounds silly, and I can't take credit for this because I read about this play in a few places. If you take an MLB or OLB and hot route him to a QB Spy, he still stands right where all those short passes go and deters the computer from throwing there.

Try playing a Cover 2 with the MLB QB spied and note the difference that one little hot route makes. He slides a smidgen one way or the other, and perhaps most important, will jump all over the ball when its thrown.

You can also manually position this guy. If you want to give a bit more cushion underneath you can move him back a couple of yards and he will just hang in that area taking up space.

While I didn't see it, the drawback here in theory is if the QB takes off out of the pocket, the LB will follow him. So if you're playing a scrambler they could bolt to the outside, have the MLB move out of that area, then stop and throw the ball right where the MLB was standing. I'd be careful using this play against humans for this very reason.

Also make sure you're not taking this guy out of man coverage on somebody. Only do this in zone situations, or if the MLB is set to blitz. There are also a few QB Spy plays available that work great without you having to do a thing.

Zone's do give you plenty of options if a receiver catches the ball on the underneath routes.

One thing you need to make sure to do, is mix up your plays and personell. If you give the computer the same look repeatedly, it'll adjust and attack the holes.

The Cover 1 and Robber plays actually work for the first time in forever. Double teaming a wide out is a legit option again. Returning from Madden 2001/2002 on the PC is the "man blitz with bump coverage" -- very effective if used in the right situation.

And yes, you should still throw in some zone coverages. Zone blitzes are great because the D-line drops to where the LBs should be -- and it confuses the hell out of all involved. Depending on the down and situation, you might want to play a zone and LET the computer throw its dink and dunk.

Keep in mind you need to vary your defenses up against a good human player a lot more than against the CPU.

For instance it's third-and-ten or more and you know your opponent is passing. Drop into a Cover 3, Cover 4 or something similar, let your opponent have the 5 yards and then take the ball back via downs.

Keep in mind you need to vary your defenses up against a good human player a lot more than against the CPU. Humans will try and bomb the ball down field more often, and a smart one will see you playing heavy man and start doing things like criss-crossing receivers, sending guys in motion, moving players around to create mismatches, etc.

Hopefully with these tips you will be able to play a much better and much more well rounded defensive ballgame. While you will still have issues pop up while playing defense, you might now at least have a fighting chance when taking on the computer. What strategies are you using to try to slow down offenses in NCAA Football 09?