Some College Football Defense Do's & Don'ts

[Collegefbfan]

So, I never played football and just started watching it in 1999. So, in all of my playing NCAA football video games, I never came close to one-tenth mastering the defense part of the game. In all of my research, I just now found out to not base align and press when playing zone. It takes secondary out of place. I would have never known that. You have any other do's and don'ts for playing defense?

[SilverBullet19]

DO

-use the strafe feature to line up a tackle, it helps avoid over pursuit

-cover the QB on read options as a user

-On true options, angle your pursuit right in front of the QB. It triggers him to pitch and if you angle it right you'll be right on the path to tackle the RB for a loss

-Against option teams like Army, Navy and GT, don't be afraid to blitz the safeties. It helps load the box against the run

-try to strip the ball when there are other defenders to clean up if you miss the tackle

DON'T

-Don't let your safety line up on a man across the field from him or against a receiver in man coverage. Keep them on TE or RB's, and make sure they're not trying to cover from across formation (for example, your FS assigned to a man on the SS side of the field). If you're in this situation, either flip the play or audible to zone coverage

-Only "guess play" on 3rd and long (guess "pass," obviously). Otherwise, the risk is far greater than the reward

-Don't bring more than 6 rushers on a blitz, ESPECIALLY on 3rd and long... the screen will burn you bad. Only way around this is to user control a man to cover the RB, and you better not miss the tackle

-Never blitz a DB from the wide side of the field

-Don't run man-to-man without at least some sort of help over the top, whether it's 2 deep or just 1 over the top... have SOMETHING there

-Don't use the hit stick too much, it can lead to broken tackles. I've missed many would be 3 yard losses going for the showy hit



That's all that comes to mind for now. I hope it helps!

[Collegefbfan]

Hey SilverBullet... thanks. Can you or someone else that might want to share how to strafe? What's the button process and which player is best to do it with?
Many thanks again.

[Von Dozier]

Quote: Originally Posted by SilverBullet19

-Only "guess play" on 3rd and long (guess "pass," obviously). Otherwise, the risk is far greater than the reward -Don't bring more than 6 rushers on a blitz, ESPECIALLY on 3rd and long... the screen will burn you bad. Only way around this is to user control a man to cover the RB, and you better not miss the tackle

-I remember a long time ago someone anecdotally saying that the "guess play" feature when guessing a pass can actually hurt your defense more than help it. I've never really used it since then. Does it work fine for you?

-I ALWAYS make sure to cover the flats on 3rd and longs, and guess the direction they're screening by which side the RB is lined up on (lined up left, going left, right, going right). Of course, not every team does this though. People like to chalk that up to slider craziness or something, but it's simply the way that team is wired to call plays from its playbook. Not every team does it, so me preparing for it can also burn me.

[SilverBullet19]

Quote: Originally Posted by Collegefbfan

Hey SilverBullet... thanks. Can you or someone else that might want to share how to strafe? What's the button process and which player is best to do it with? Many thanks again.

I can’t think of which button it is because it’s so instinctual at this point lol. I THINK it’s L2 or R1-2? It should be in the controls section if you look it up in the menu.

What it basically does is square you to the line, and you shuffle one way or another. That way if the runner cuts back, you just shuffle back instead of over pursuing. Try it out in practice.

Quote: Originally Posted by Von Dozier

-I remember a long time ago someone anecdotally saying that the "guess play" feature when guessing a pass can actually hurt your defense more than help it. I've never really used it since then. Does it work fine for you? -I ALWAYS make sure to cover the flats on 3rd and longs, and guess the direction they're screening by which side the RB is lined up on (lined up left, going left, right, going right). Of course, not every team does this though. People like to chalk that up to slider craziness or something, but it's simply the way that team is wired to call plays from its playbook. Not every team does it, so me preparing for it can also burn me.

Personally I’ve only ever used it on 3rd and long to guess pass. It seems to bump the pass rush a bit to get pressure, not sure how much it actually does for coverage.

I’ve been burned a lot on anything other than a blatantly obvious passing down. If you guess pass on a run, you’re screwed. If you guess run wrong (because it’s left/middle/right), you’re toast. So in that sense, it does hurt you more than help.

I agree with the idea of covering the flats, a very good point



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[muchacho]

Strafe is your left trigger/back button. It does wonders to help you. Sprint is your enemy, unless you see an opening or are chasing someone.


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[xToXiCxSAVAGEx]

Let the cpu make the first movement. The game knows what the CPU is doing better than you do right off the bat. That being said, there's always certain exceptions. I always play MLB unless the option is burning me.

On third and long, the CPU runs four verts or RB screens like 75% of the time.

Learning what each coverage's strengths and weaknesses is important as well. When you know how to beat your own defense and figure out some of the patterns your opponent is displaying, you can start calling plays/audibles based on the looks you're getting versus what down and distance.

Defense is broken in NCAA a lot of the times. CPU pass offense is often overpowered and the run game is underpowered. Accept losing and the fact that you might get beat in the pass game. Accept that the opponent is trying to beat you just like you're trying to beat them. It'll make losing easier and make winning feel sweeter.


Okay, now that I've finished rambling, here are some tips.

Cover 2 is designed to stop short passes. It leaves corner routes and seam routes exposed.

Cover 3 is designed to stop deep passes. It often leaves underneath open.

Cover 4 is designed to stop deep passes and corners but leaves underneath open. Cover 4 can work when your opponent is third and long.

Man is designed for pressure. It's got the biggest risk vs. reward. If you have good corners, you can press and get pressure, but you can also get burned badly.

Ultimately what you do is based on how good you are at recognizing patterns.

[osubucki6]

While I have some people here...how does everyone stop Stick? I don’t have the CPU run screens and 4 beers on me a ton (4 verts hardly ever). Instead they’ll come out in trips and I know instantly it’ll be stick. Even though I know what the play is I can’t stop it because I can’t user defend two outs on one side of the field and a slant in the middle and my zones do basically nothing for me. In Madden it’s easy because you can quick adjust players into hard flats. In NCAA you have to click over to them to put them in flat zones, and you have to get lucky to not get quickhiked while on your CB AND for them to actually play the out routes at the same time. For me, it’s kryptonite along with the option.