College Football Video Game '25

[ulukinatme]

Anybody paid enough attention to know how the "WR" and "Slot WR" depth chart positions interact with eachother?

Do I use the main "WR" spot to set the overall pecking order, then use the "Slot WR" spot to establish who is inside if it's three-wide (or more)?

For example, if I put Greathouse as the #2 WR at the normal depth chart spot, but then set him as the slot WR, will he shift inside when I use a 3WR formation, but be the 2nd outside WR in all other formations?

It seems to go by the same logic as Madden. You've got your normal WR depth chart on the 5th tab or whatever, but whoever you want to always be in the Slot spot goes in the SlotWR tab at the end of the depth chart. That will overwrite whoever is 3rd in your Depth Chart (Unless it's the same person). I'm guessing this comes into play once you're running 4 or 5 WRs.

I haven't done the testing, but if Greathouse is your #2 on the Depth Chart, and you have him set as the Slot, I'm guessing he does slide inside and whoever is your #3 Wr will take his spot on the outside. I don't know for sure because I always manually set my #3 WR to be my Slot Receiver too.

 

[ulukinatme]

the commentary (more so how its interjected in games) is terrible. EA fumbled the ball on that big time

It is kinda bad. If you get 3 scores up on an opponent Reece will say "And the pummeling begins," and he'll say it again and again for every score after.

I normally can't stand Reece and Palmer, I like Pollock. You can barely hear Palmer half the time, he sounds kinda muffled. When I can hear him his comments are stupid. Pollock doesn't seem to have a lot of lines, but his stuff is decent. I will say that Reece brings good energy for the big plays and marque games, but he still annoys me.

Fowler, on the other hand...his performance was lacking biiiiig time imo. Had him announcing the National Championship game and he brought no excitement to the biggest game of the year, just absolutely lifeless. There's a very noticeable energy loss from Reece down to Fowler. Herbie does fine, his performance is solid. He probably has the best voice among the 5 guys in the booth.

 

[ulukinatme]

If you want Denbrock's offense it's the LSU playbook.

I took a look at this last night and unfortunately I don't think LSU's playbook is much different from ND's playbook for this year.

ND's playbook this year is almost all Spread, something like 179 plays and 20 something formations. Along with that there's one Strong I formation with a handful of plays, a few Pistol formations with a dozen or so plays, and that's about it.

LSU's playbook is almost identical, except the few Pistol and Strong I formations are replaced with more Spread. So, instead of 179 Spread plays it's like 197 and no other formation options.

I'm thinking of making a Custom Playbook going forward. Honestly, some of the best run plays I've found in ND's playbook were in the Pistol formation, so switching to LSU's playbook would lose those. A lot of the run plays in the Spread go no where. I feel like the Read Option stuff is broken, it's not nearly as effective as it was in NCAA '14. In the Spread almost all the run plays are either Read Option or Inside/Outside Zone, which aren't much better. If your blockers are head and shoulders above the competition they may work fine, but in my experience against two similar strength teams I'm not getting holes opened consistently with either Read Option nor Zone run plays. I found Trap plays fairly effective in the last Madden, along with some Off Tackle plays, I might try to incorporate those more.

The RPO plays seem to work correctly too if you make the right call. Surprisingly I've gotten some great gains on the Bubble Screens if you read the defender correctly, and the same goes for the Slants. This is true whether you're passing or running, the RPO logic seems to behave correctly for the most part and you can burn the CPU.

 

[dublinirish]

Arizona's is the most fun default playbook IMO

 

[BeauBenken]

I took a look at this last night and unfortunately I don't think LSU's playbook is much different from ND's playbook for this year.

ND's playbook this year is almost all Spread, something like 179 plays and 20 something formations. Along with that there's one Strong I formation with a handful of plays, a few Pistol formations with a dozen or so plays, and that's about it.

LSU's playbook is almost identical, except the few Pistol and Strong I formations are replaced with more Spread. So, instead of 179 Spread plays it's like 197 and no other formation options.

I'm thinking of making a Custom Playbook going forward. Honestly, some of the best run plays I've found in ND's playbook were in the Pistol formation, so switching to LSU's playbook would lose those. A lot of the run plays in the Spread go no where. I feel like the Read Option stuff is broken, it's not nearly as effective as it was in NCAA '14. In the Spread almost all the run plays are either Read Option or Inside/Outside Zone, which aren't much better. If your blockers are head and shoulders above the competition they may work fine, but in my experience against two similar strength teams I'm not getting holes opened consistently with either Read Option nor Zone run plays. I found Trap plays fairly effective in the last Madden, along with some Off Tackle plays, I might try to incorporate those more.

The RPO plays seem to work correctly too if you make the right call. Surprisingly I've gotten some great gains on the Bubble Screens if you read the defender correctly, and the same goes for the Slants. This is true whether you're passing or running, the RPO logic seems to behave correctly for the most part and you can burn the CPU.

I'm slowly building up my custom playbook. Maybe one of the best ways to help navigate the clunky play call menu is to trim the fat. Hate that I can't set my custom playbook as my default in dynasty though. Have to change it every game.

RPO is a bit cheesy. It's either boon or bane. If you make the right read, it can be super easy. Read it wrong on a bubble and it's a free six to the other team though.

 

[ulukinatme]

I'm curious how the Player Types come into play when it comes to Playbooks. It's another obvious carryover from Madden, but in Madden there's a whole Scheme Fit section where you can see how well your Roster makeup is compatible with your Scheme/Playbook. There's no place where you can check to see how your Roster fits your current Playbook from what I've seen. It makes me wonder if it even matters what type of player you're recruiting.

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

It is kinda bad. If you get 3 scores up on an opponent Reece will say "And the pummeling begins," and he'll say it again and again for every score after.

I normally can't stand Reece and Palmer, I like Pollock. You can barely hear Palmer half the time, he sounds kinda muffled. When I can hear him his comments are stupid. Pollock doesn't seem to have a lot of lines, but his stuff is decent. I will say that Reece brings good energy for the big plays and marque games, but he still annoys me.

Fowler, on the other hand...his performance was lacking biiiiig time imo. Had him announcing the National Championship game and he brought no excitement to the biggest game of the year, just absolutely lifeless. There's a very noticeable energy loss from Reece down to Fowler. Herbie does fine, his performance is solid. He probably has the best voice among the 5 guys in the booth.

I hadn’t even noticed there were 5 announcers.

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

“Multiple” playbook isn’t perfect, but I’ve been enjoying it. Traditional I formation, pistol, a lot of options and routes out of the shotgun.
The WR middle screen and TE screen are both awesome when you pull them off. PPG has jumped dramatically since switching to it.

I’m ready for AA setting. Been rolling top 5 teams on the road on Varsity.

 

[ulukinatme]

I hadn’t even noticed there were 5 announcers.

Not all at once, but it depends on the setting/game.

If it's Ball St. vs. Buffalo, you get Reece/Pollock/Palmer
If it's OSU vs. Michigan you get Fowler/Herbie.
Sadly, I'm not sure which team sucks less at this point. They both have their positives/negatives. I guess it's nice there's options at least.

 

[IrishSpartan]

Arizona has the best playbook

 

[ulukinatme]

Arizona has the best playbook

That's the consensus I've heard from you, @dublinirish, and my neighbor. I'm going to try it tonight.

 

[IrishSpartan]

That's the consensus I've heard from you, @dublinirish, and my neighbor. I'm going to try it tonight.

That for offense and use 355 tight on d. It will make your life so much easier

 

[GowerND11]

I took the LSU playbook, and then built a custom playbook off it. Added a few more shotgun formations, another pistol, and am thinking of adding some under center options as well.

The schedule visit glitch/programming is bad. I hate that if you don’t schedule a visit the first week a guy has his top 5 you are locked out from ever scheduling a visit.

I’ve also noticed the problem that used to come up in older games when calling man defense. Your defender stays on his side of the field so when the ball is snapped he has to run across the formation to get to the receiver he is covering. I haven’t found anything yet for pre snap alignment. If anyone knows of what to do I would love to know!

 

[IrishSpartan]

I took the LSU playbook, and then built a custom playbook off it. Added a few more shotgun formations, another pistol, and am thinking of adding some under center options as well.

The schedule visit glitch/programming is bad. I hate that if you don’t schedule a visit the first week a guy has his top 5 you are locked out from ever scheduling a visit.

I’ve also noticed the problem that used to come up in older games when calling man defense. Your defender stays on his side of the field so when the ball is snapped he has to run across the formation to get to the receiver he is covering. I haven’t found anything yet for pre snap alignment. If anyone knows of what to do I would love to know!

For the alignment it should auto flip if you kept it on. But triangle or y is you coverage matchups. Just by calling a press will align them

 

[GowerND11]

For the alignment it should auto flip if you kept it on. But triangle or y is you coverage matchups. Just by calling a press will align them

I do have auto flip on, but I still saw a few times when a team was in trips my dimeback didn’t go over. I’ll have to do the press coverage trick thanks

 

[SDIrishFan]

One bug I noticed while playing against my son… I handed off to Love off right tackle, was about 10 yards past the line of scrimmage, accidentally hit the pitch button, he pitched it back to the QB who was 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Wtf?

 

[Terry Jillery]

I dont like that I have to move Greathouse up the depth chart every game.

 

[IrishSpartan]

I dont like that I have to move Greathouse up the depth chart every game.

Just fix it in you roster in the menus

 

[BeauBenken]

One bug I noticed while playing against my son… I handed off to Love off right tackle, was about 10 yards past the line of scrimmage, accidentally hit the pitch button, he pitched it back to the QB who was 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Wtf?

Tried to celebrate running into the end zone (L2+R2+X) and hit the L1 button a yard from the end zone. Ball was launched 15 yards back and picked up by the defense. lol

 

[Terry Jillery]

My 9-1 team is now currently ranked #1. I lost a close one to ATM.

 

[BeauBenken]

Just won my second NC at Memphis in year 3 of my dynasty. Kicked the shit out of Ohio State 42-17. I'm holding out here for the ND job if it's ever offered. Might have to up to Heisman level.

 

[arrowryan]

Just won my second NC at Memphis in year 3 of my dynasty. Kicked the shit out of Ohio State 42-17. I'm holding out here for the ND job if it's ever offered. Might have to up to Heisman level.

Geez you’re better than me. I’m struggling at Georgia Southern

 

[BeauBenken]

Geez you’re better than me. I’m struggling at Georgia Southern

Well correction. I thought I was on All-American. I started it on All-American and when I checked it was on Varsity (after season 1 at BSU). Went back in and changed it to All-American for season 2. Just went to switch it to Heisman and it was set to Varsity. WTF is going on here? Why isn't it staying on the All-American setting?

 

[GowerND11]

Well correction. I thought I was on All-American. I started it on All-American and when I checked it was on Varsity (after season 1 at BSU). Went back in and changed it to All-American for season 2. Just went to switch it to Heisman and it was set to Varsity. WTF is going on here? Why isn't it staying on the All-American setting?

I think you have to press start to save the changed in settings, not the back button. I think.

 

[BeauBenken]

So I just tested it. When I exit Dynasty mode and go back to it from the main page, the setting remains on All-American.

When I close the game, open it back up and go to Dynasty? It's back on Varsity.

Edit: I even tried this after hitting start after changing the settings. It has gone back to Varsity. I cannot get it to stay on the new settings.... This is concerning.

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

I can’t get my edited depth chart to stay either.

 

[BeauBenken]

So I just tested it. When I exit Dynasty mode and go back to it from the main page, the setting remains on All-American.

When I close the game, open it back up and go to Dynasty? It's back on Varsity.

Edit: I even tried this after hitting start after changing the settings. It has gone back to Varsity. I cannot get it to stay on the new settings.... This is concerning.

Finally got it to stay but only after changing my profile settings to All-American outside of the dynasty. I'm guessing every time you open the game, that takes precedent over any other gameplay settings you have...but that's problematic to say the least. Will it do this when playing with others in a dynasty? What if I want different dynasties on different gameplay levels? Needed to be patched with yesterdays patch.

 

[BeauBenken]

And explain this one, I just won my second title in my second year as a HC and my coach prestige dropped from an A+ to an A- apparently.

Glorious cherry on top of feeling like I cheated the system because my damn difficulty settings weren't actually saving or applying. I have read of other people say that even when they change the league settings to a higher difficulty when they look at the settings in game it has dropped and they cannot change it in game.

 

[ulukinatme]

I took the LSU playbook, and then built a custom playbook off it. Added a few more shotgun formations, another pistol, and am thinking of adding some under center options as well.

The schedule visit glitch/programming is bad. I hate that if you don’t schedule a visit the first week a guy has his top 5 you are locked out from ever scheduling a visit.

I’ve also noticed the problem that used to come up in older games when calling man defense. Your defender stays on his side of the field so when the ball is snapped he has to run across the formation to get to the receiver he is covering. I haven’t found anything yet for pre snap alignment. If anyone knows of what to do I would love to know!

Yeah, there's definitely some glitchy stuff going on with scheduling visits. I've also noticed during the Off Season recruiting that the computer is scheduling visits for Weeks 5 and even 6...despite the fact there's only 4 weeks of Off Season recruiting. The computer cheats!

Just won my second NC at Memphis in year 3 of my dynasty. Kicked the shit out of Ohio State 42-17. I'm holding out here for the ND job if it's ever offered. Might have to up to Heisman level.

I had something crazy happen my first season. I had Notre Dame as my alma mater, and first Dynasty season ND absolutely TANKED. With this year's schedule, which we know is rather favorable, they went 3-9. I shit you not. I checked to see if the entire offense got injured, but there were no major injuries. No idea what happened, but my buddy from WV noticed that the Mountaineers also tanked on his Dynasty first season. While their team isn't as powerful as ND's is this year, they too lost a ton of cupcake games that they shouldn't have lost. I'm wondering if there's some kind of logic in place for your Alma Mater to occasionally tank so it allows the job to open up for you? Second season ND did just fine,. for what it's worth. Steve Angeli wound up as QB and was on the Heisman list along with Faison (I would have started Carr personally, he was only ranked 1 point less Overall).

Well correction. I thought I was on All-American. I started it on All-American and when I checked it was on Varsity (after season 1 at BSU). Went back in and changed it to All-American for season 2. Just went to switch it to Heisman and it was set to Varsity. WTF is going on here? Why isn't it staying on the All-American setting?

This happened to me too. I started on AA, thought I was playing on AA, and it reverted to Varsity at some point. It's done that twice to me. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll give that a shot.

 

[ulukinatme]

I talked about some Recruiting strategy before, but I just learned about something else that people started suggesting online and posters should probably know about.

I mentioned that I've had up and down success with Sway as a function, but there's another function of it that I had not considered. If you've used it you know that, if successful, it can add an additional Ideal Pitch for your school. This adds additional green checkmarks for a recruit. It tends to work better if the new Ideal Pitch you're suggesting has at least one green checkmark already included, although it's not always 100% (I've had a new Ideal Pitch Sway fail 3 weeks straight before when the new pitch already had 2 green checkmarks FYI).

That said, if you are successful in creating a new Ideal Pitch for a recruit, and your coaches have enough points in Recruiting that you can spend 60 hours on a recruit each week, this can allow you to use both a Hard Sell AND a Soft Sell in the same week for a maximum OP pitch. Normally you wouldn't be able to do such a thing because you can't use the same Ideal Pitch for both Hard Sell and Soft Sell, but by getting a successful Sway early in recruiting you can really ramp up the influence.