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NCAA Football 09 Passing Strategy: Part 2

04:26 PM - August 1, 2008 by RaychelSnr

Wil McCombs is back today to wrap up his NCAA Football 09 passing strategy series. Today, McCombs takes a look at how to read defenses and make decisions based off of reads. You will be guided through four plays and how to go about reading the defense and how to make throwing decisions based off of those reads. Check out the article, NCAA Football 09 Passing Strategy: Part 2.

Quote:


	"A couple of you noted the relative ease of passing the ball in NCAA 09. I agree, especially when 09 is placed side by side to its predecessor, NCAA 08. The wide-open game play has rendered CPU-controlled defenses useless against the aerial attack. However, the inspiration for these strategy articles was drawn from facing human opponents, an activity that will likely increase for all of us with the inclusion of online dynasty mode. Human opponents, although often simplistic in defensive playcalling, are much more astute at recognizing patterns in your game. By manually placing a linebacker or safety in your favorite throwing lanes, a living, breathing opponent can be quite successful at thwarting your typical passing attack."

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Member Comments

# 1 janglar @ 08/01/08 04:55 PM

Passing defense for 09. Roll dice, read tarot cards, align the stars, join the psychic friends network. I can defend the throwing lanes and the initial routes well using linebackers or safeties with press coverage and short zones, but since the pass rush is slower than a 7 year b*tch, the receiver eventually gets open. And the biggest punk s**t ever is the ability to drop the QB back 15 or 20 yards and consistantly make a completion for a first down

# 2 mva5580 @ 08/01/08 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by janglar


	Passing defense for 09. Roll dice, read tarot cards, align the stars, join the psychic friends network. I can defend the throwing lanes and the initial routes well using linebackers or safeties with press coverage and short zones, but since the pass rush is slower than a 7 year btch, the receiver eventually gets open. And the biggest punk s*t ever is the ability to drop the QB back 15 or 20 yards and consistantly make a completion for a first down

Amen. Yes you can attempt to make adjustments on defense to off-set some of these things, but if you're playing against someone who has half a brain, that means they're also making adjustments and just start picking the other side of the field, another player, or whatever.

This game is so unbelievably lop-sided towards the offense, it's terrible. The only thing that stops the offense in this game is a blatant, bad mistake. Because most everything is either a completion or interception. And anyone even half way competent can dink and dunk the ball all the way down the field with minimal effort.

I could easily, easily score a TD on 99% of my possessions if I really wanted to. But I feel too much like I'm cheating the game (and my opponent) so I try not to pass to the HB much, or the TE, or the short WR passes. Because they are ALWAYS open. You could have a 12 play drive down the field for a TD almost every single possession without fail if you really wanted to.

The game has some positives but the defensive side of the ball is just not good.

# 3 BlackRome @ 08/01/08 08:43 PM

I returned mine yesterday. I don't have time to wait for them to adjust the sliders for online play. Madden will be out in 2 weeks. I'll wait. How could anyone give this game a good rating. Umm. Rob.

# 4 cbc72 @ 08/01/08 10:43 PM

Thank you. There are some good tips in there, things I had not picked up on and some observations that verify what I have seen as well.

I particularly like waiting for the HB to get into the flat on the Flanker dig route.

Though I agree with the other posts that unless I challenge myself to play "real" football, these passing routes can be used to exploit the AI (I only play offline). I attempt more downfield throws, knowing they are not automatic like the short crossing routes or HB in the flat routes. I will also run the ball often on first down, even though the AI seems to favor stopping the run on first down and passing on first down is easier than on 2nd or 3rd downs.

So, in essence, I handicap my play calling as some of the others are doing to get more realistic games against the CPU.

# 5 PaperLantern @ 08/02/08 02:11 AM

Todd Reesing cover boy!

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NCAA Football 09 Passing Strategy: Part 2