Why should anyone run the option in NCAA 10?

[stylee]

yeah, you would think that the warp and eyes in back of head needed to be fixed for other reasons too...

If there's something that makes it impossible that underlies the rest of the game, it's something that needs to be fixed anyway, right?

And when they were shifting to this-gen, maybe should have been thought of as really really priority?

thanks for the thoughts, guys

[rhombic21]

Yeah, I agree that this is an area that EA continues to whiff on pretty big time. It's really frustrating too, because for all the lip service that they give about wanting the two products (Madden and NCAA) to be distinct from each other, they completely drop the ball on the one aspect of college football that is most clearly different from the NFL -- the prevalence of various option schemes (all of which require that the OL intentionally leave one defender unblocked in order to get a double team/numbers advantage elsewhere).

If any of these option offenses (spread option, old-school I formation option, flexbone option) are successful on the game, it will only be because they have somehow messed up the defensive AI. I have a feeling that in the past they have purposely left holes in the defensive AI specifically to make the option workable, and I wouldn't be surprised if they do so again. On last-gen, the problem was that the dive part of the option would essentially work really well regardless of lineman ratings because the DTs would never get off their block or play the gaps correctly, unless the defense pinched down or blitzed defenders into the interior gaps, which essentially had the effect of the OL intentionally leaving the end unblocked to double team inside (in order to stop it, the DL would have to pinch down, which would allow the play to go outside of him fairly easily). So in that case, you could run option, but it was really more of a pre-snap decision than a post-snap one. On the current generation, they seem to have primarily addressed it by making it possible to get off incredibly late pitches.

[jsquigg]

Unfortunately, EA forgets that football is decided in the trenches and they focus on the glitz and glamor of superstar players. Another disappointment. Football is 11 vs. 11! I shouldn't be playing playground football this far into next gen. Your posts are always great stylee. EA should hire you personally to oversee the option for 11, and I'm as serious as sin when I say that.

[stylee]

Much appreciated, jsquigg.
There's a bunch of other guys on here who understand the option well too - rhombic*, steebu, etc. - who I wish EA could hire.

I harp on the option so much, although I try to talk about other stuff too, because, like coachchris, I've played in and coached option offenses and find them beautiful.
That's a strange adjective to use for football but I think it fits well.

It really is a very team-oriented style and is actually very diverse -

Nebraska's old I-Option, which was rarely a true triple option. the "triple" look they gave was generally built off the fullback trap, which became a fake in the option.

Florida, WVU, Michigan, Wofford etc. shotgun spread

Nevada Pistol - veer and load options

Oklahoma wishbone

Navy/GTech/et al Flexbone

etc



*
They really need to offer rhombic a contract. He's passionate about the game AND understands it very well. That's pretty much 1 and 1a in importance in my mind.

[sportyguyfl31]

option football, and play action off of it, is the single hardest offense to defend in college football. That has never changed.


would love to see it represented acurately on of these years.

[KG]

I always thought the option in NCAA was cheese. It's far to easy to make the perfect pitch while being wrapped up.

[nstod]

I actually wonder if EA makes it this way on purpose. In all reality, I would bet that at least 95% of NCAA's gamer base doesn't really know how to run a triple option. I would bet that the vast majority of the time, if they run the triple, they don't give it to the FB, and just run it as more of a "delayed" option, if you will.

So, if EA starts leaving a DT or DE unblocked, the vast majority of EA's gamer base (not us, mind you) would think it is "broken", because they were getting tackled right after the mesh with the FB. Yes, it sucks for us, but it wouldn't surprise me one bit if this was intentional.

[sportyguyfl31]

Quote: Originally Posted by nstod

I actually wonder if EA makes it this way on purpose. In all reality, I would bet that at least 95% of NCAA's gamer base doesn't really know how to run a triple option. I would bet that the vast majority of the time, if they run the triple, they don't give it to the FB, and just run it as more of a "delayed" option, if you will. So, if EA starts leaving a DT or DE unblocked, the vast majority of EA's gamer base (not us, mind you) would think it is "broken", because they were getting tackled right after the mesh with the FB. Yes, it sucks for us, but it wouldn't surprise me one bit if this was intentional.

Wouldnt shock me in the least. Ive always been of the believe that outside of bugs and glitches..which will always happen in programing, if the core of the game plays a certain way, its exactly the way the developers intended it to play.


Take the "wide open gameplay" of last year. I dont believe that the overpowered impact of fast offensive players was a accident. That is what they wanted, and that is what they made happen.