I find A&M defense to be terrible in the 4 man front but have shut people down online in the 3-4

Whenever I need a big play I just run the speed option. Moss is really hard to stop in the game. Hopefully that translates to real life.

passing is very hard. I need to try different passing types I think. I am using revamp passing now.

I found this helpful, along with the mini-games.

https://www.operationsports.com/ea-sports-college-football-25-rpo-explainer-guide/

Playbook navigation is not something I'm used to. I feel like I'm running out of play clock every time trying to find a decent play to run.

Did you play all the games?

RAM700BA said:

---

Playbook navigation is not something I'm used to. I feel like I'm running out of play clock every time trying to find a decent play to run.

---

I don't try to get too creative, I set my playbook to ol'miss spread. Then I go over to the formations and run 85 to 90% of my plays out of the pistol. The only thing I change up a lot is double TE, bunch formation, or spread. But if you're having trouble selecting plays I would narrow it down to a formation and then start working from there.

If you aren't sure what formation I would suggest the pistol (which I'm partial to) as it allow you to a lot of run and PA variety to both sides of the field that can kill opposing defenses.

Also, quick hint when you select your plays, take notice of the red route as that should be your 1st read, then when you get into formation hold down left trigger to see again what button a receiver is for the routes.

Aggie_Boomin 21 said:

---

Did you play all the games?

---

Only the big games, so maybe 6 or 7 in season, championship, and then all of the playoffs.

The Arkansas game helped a ton and was absolutely a beat down of epic proportions, no clue what it was about their offense but they could do nothing against my defense. 80-0 beat down, 15 sacks, 2 defensive TDs and 2 safety's. Hell I think I had a rare punt return for a TD in there too. LOL

Also another note, I only play as Scourton (in standard four d-line in a three point stance) or Shemar Stewart (who I have as a hybrid DT/DE) in dime formation when Scourton stands up. I found that I tend to screw up coverages when I play with anyone in the back 7. So I've focused mostly on my pass rush and collapsing the pocket to allow the computer to make the play.

IrishAg said:

---

I will say, the most realistic thing in this game is...

I had a DE (Howell) win the Heisman, d-lineman of the year, Lombardi trophy winner, and defensive player of the year. All of defensive stats were beyond a little crazy



And I didn't get a single 1st team All American on defense LOL

---

I typically play a 4-3 base defense and control Howell.
I absolutely shred with him. I'm 5 weeks into the season and he's been SEC DEF POW three times.

Anyone struggling with the graphics of the game?

Playing on Series X on 4K tv and visuals seem a bit dark and fuzzy. Have turned brightness up in settings

Other games on Series X look great on same tv

Is the A&M-Arkansas game played at Jerryworld in the game?

It is.

Do y'all mess with the sliders at all? I'm Old Army lol so I play on Varsity and currently I am using revamped passing and the Aggies playbook. I tried that setting at first and did ok, changed the settings based on some comments here to placement and accuracy passing and another couple of tweaks and used Ole Miss playbook and did way worse so I switched back to the original settings and did a LOT better with it. But do y'all leave most of the gameplay settings alone or change anything?

In my first season, A&M was the only undefeated team and ended up third in the polls. tu went 5-7. Ou got the last playoff spot. That would be the absolute nightmare scenario for the longhorns. They may burn down the campus and start over.

I am not trying to be mean, but have you ever played NCAA football or another video game? You are asking the most basic questions and I am not sure you have an understanding of how college football works.

Things depend on the game mode you are playing, but if you want to play with a South Carolina player, you have to use South Carolina. You can play Notre Dame by setting up a quick game or you can play a dynasty with A&M and it will be the first game of the season.

Transfer portal?

Wut.

Technically you can get him out of the transfer portal at the end of your first season in a dynasty. No idea how likely that would be though.

IrishAg said:

---

I will say, the most realistic thing in this game is...

I had a DE (Howell) win the Heisman, d-lineman of the year, Lombardi trophy winner, and defensive player of the year. All of defensive stats were beyond a little crazy



And I didn't get a single 1st team All American on defense LOL

---

what difficulty? those are crazy stats

CAR96 said:

---

Transfer portal?

---

If the computer intelligence of him decides to enter the transfer portal at the and of your first dynasty season you could try and sign him... if that's what you mean?

For those who have played....live up to the hype? Graphics aside, is dynasty mode better than in NCAA 14? How does NIL and the transfer portal recruiting feel while playing?

I kept it at thy default level and haven't bumped it up yet.

DonHenley said:

---

For those who have played....live up to the hype? Graphics aside, is dynasty mode better than in NCAA 14? How does NIL and the transfer portal recruiting feel while playing?

---

Recruiting seems tough so far, even with some of the skills/abilities upgraded on my coaching tree. There's a little steeper learning curve than some past iterations. I haven't gotten to end of the season for transfer portal yet

IrishAg said:

---

Russ Dalrymple said:

---

I find A&M defense to be terrible in the 4 man front but have shut people down online in the 3-4

---

What defense are you running?

I"m running a 4-2-5 on default difficulty (for the first season on my dynasty) and the d-line has dominated everyone I've played. To the point that Howell won the Heisman as a DE.

---

This was using the default playbook in Road to CFP online which was mixture of 4-3/3-4

Struggled in 4-3 but once I went to 3-4 and started leveraging people's formations, I started shutting people down.

I'm not a fan of not being able to edit rosters. I understand it's because of NIL. But with rosters changing drastically every year (now more than ever), what's to stop EA from charging full price for a roster update and slapping CFB '26 on the cover?

MW03 said:

---

I'm getting cooked repeatedly. The only thing I can chalk it up to is the extra decade on my cognition since I moved on to FIFA and stopped playing Madden with any kind of regularity. The pre-snap adjustments alone are ridiculous. On passing plays, there's a hundred things to monitor, and you get about 2.5 seconds to make a decision (especially if you're playing with A&M).

I recognize that I am just flat out bad at this game right now. I'm just hoping I stick to it, improve, and learn how to play it all. Right now I'm just staving off rage quits.....against the computer.

---

Dude, I'm in your exact same situation. I have seriously been questioning whether or not I'm just too old for video games.

I've played several exhibition games and spent some time practicing plays in training mode. Watched some YouTube vids that had some tips (especially for defense). But, man, I'm struggling. And I'm playing on Varsity.

One thing that bothers me a bit... I think they've over-complicated things too much. For example, custom stems at the line of scrimmage seems like something no team actually does in real life. I just don't think Weigman makes a pre-snap read and then tells Moose to do a 13 yard out route instead of a 5 yard out route. Heck, I think you can do ridiculously long out routes (or any type of route) of like 40 or 50 + yards. I know I don't have to use custom stems, but why are they there? Nobody is doing a custom stem at the LOS. Again, stuff like that indicates that they've overcomplicated things.

I'm still having a blast playing the game.

I love the complexity of the game now. It's there if you want to use it or ignore it. I really think this games passing system means I need to learn better how to actually read a defense and make pre snap judgements.

In the past the game got so boring because the exact same plays worked every game vs every team essentially. I could play a whole season with roughly 5 plays on offense and win. This feels more complex if you want it to be.

I'm having a great time with the run game and the added control over your players. If you let off sprint you can really weave through defenses.

They also did a good job making AI defenders better at pursuit angles. In the last edition, you could get past so many open field defenders with setting up poor pursuit angles.

I'd say that I agree that the complexity is a plus and that it's me that's the problem. The larger issue is that I don't have huge swaths of time to devote to getting better. I'm lucky to get two hours of gaming a week.

As to RingOfFives comment, I made my peace with that on first-person shooters. I tried COD when I got a PS5, and I just don't have it anymore. The young bucks living on there have blown way past me. I stick to solo games and co-ops (like HD2) when I want to shoot things these days.

DonHenley said:

---

For those who have played....live up to the hype? Graphics aside, is dynasty mode better than in NCAA 14? How does NIL and the transfer portal recruiting feel while playing?

---

Dynasty mode is fun. Whether you like it more or not than 14 will come down to personal preference, nothing objective I think. There's some ways I think it's better, some ways it's worse, but overall I'd say an improvement for me mainly because of the cfp, transfer portal recruiting, and while the recruiting still has some cheesy bits, it's not as bad as all the unrecruited high rated prospects in 14. The sim engine does suck and is probably the worst part of the game right now, really hope they get this fixed but I'm not too optimistic unfortunately. Way too many unrealistic upsets that lead to some real head scratchers making the playoff and weird end of year player stats.

NIL isn't really in the game, schools just have a rating for "brand exposure" or something like that, similar to the various letter grade school ratings for things in 14. Transfer portal is solid in my opinion.

IrishAg said:

---

RAM700BA said:

---

Playbook navigation is not something I'm used to. I feel like I'm running out of play clock every time trying to find a decent play to run.

---

I don't try to get too creative, I set my playbook to ol'miss spread. Then I go over to the formations and run 85 to 90% of my plays out of the pistol. The only thing I change up a lot is double TE, bunch formation, or spread. But if you're having trouble selecting plays I would narrow it down to a formation and then start working from there.

If you aren't sure what formation I would suggest the pistol (which I'm partial to) as it allow you to a lot of run and PA variety to both sides of the field that can kill opposing defenses.

Also, quick hint when you select your plays, take notice of the red route as that should be your 1st read, then when you get into formation hold down left trigger to see again what button a receiver is for the routes.

---

I was playing an exhibition after downloading and using A&M's playbook. I was desperately trying to find a 4 wide single back set so I could just set the routes my self.

RingOfive said:

---

MW03 said:

---

I'm getting cooked repeatedly. The only thing I can chalk it up to is the extra decade on my cognition since I moved on to FIFA and stopped playing Madden with any kind of regularity. The pre-snap adjustments alone are ridiculous. On passing plays, there's a hundred things to monitor, and you get about 2.5 seconds to make a decision (especially if you're playing with A&M).

I recognize that I am just flat out bad at this game right now. I'm just hoping I stick to it, improve, and learn how to play it all. Right now I'm just staving off rage quits.....against the computer.

---

Dude, I'm in your exact same situation. I have seriously been questioning whether or not I'm just too old for video games.

I've played several exhibition games and spent some time practicing plays in training mode. Watched some YouTube vids that had some tips (especially for defense). But, man, I'm struggling. And I'm playing on Varsity.

One thing that bothers me a bit... I think they've over-complicated things too much. For example, custom stems at the line of scrimmage seems like something no team actually does in real life. I just don't think Weigman makes a pre-snap read and then tells Moose to do a 13 yard out route instead of a 5 yard out route. Heck, I think you can do ridiculously long out routes (or any type of route) of like 40 or 50 + yards. I know I don't have to use custom stems, but why are they there? Nobody is doing a custom stem at the LOS. Again, stuff like that indicates that they've overcomplicated things.

I'm still having a blast playing the game.

---

Real offenses and real football teams 100% to that. Especially at the highest level with the best talent. What exactly do you think qb's are pointing at and tapping and saying cadences for?

This isn't 1962 where it's just down set hike to the center