Man-to-Man Coverage The Key to Stopping the AI QB in NCAA 09

[capp34]

Re: Man-to-Man Coverage The Key to Stopping the AI QB in NCAA 09

All I know is covering dig routes is not possible even if you double a WR with a CB and a Safety. They simply don't play close enough on the WR to stop the catch.

Occasionally a LB will be in the right spot to jump up and knock it down, but thats your only hope

Take control of the defensive back while the ball is the air and either attempt a big hit or strip. I break up alot of plays this way.

[NoleFan]

Re: Man-to-Man Coverage The Key to Stopping the AI QB in NCAA 09

So I just finished a game...Kansas (me) @ Missouri

We won 17-16. I only called a zone play once the entire game. I mixed up Cover 0, Cover 1 and Cover 2 from the safeties with man underneath.

Chase Daniels went 18-31 for 202 YDS and 2 INT. I went 20-27 and tossed 2 TD and 2 INT. This was on default All-American. Mind you, I don't control anyone on defense and only make the throws for the QB on offense. Daniels' second pick was the best. They're down 17-16 on 4th & IN. I call a goalline blitz and he's passing out of the goalline set. My DB #16 gets the pick (his second of the game).

AWESOME!

[capp34]

Re: Man-to-Man Coverage The Key to Stopping the AI QB in NCAA 09

So I just finished a game...Kansas (me) @ Missouri

We won 17-16. I only called a zone play once the entire game. I mixed up Cover 0, Cover 1 and Cover 2 from the safeties with man underneath.

Chase Daniels went 18-31 for 202 YDS and 2 INT. I went 20-27 and tossed 2 TD and 2 INT. This was on default All-American. Mind you, I don't control anyone on defense and only make the throws for the QB on offense. Daniels' second pick was the best. They're down 17-16 on 4th & IN. I call a goalline blitz and he's passing out of the goalline set. My DB #16 gets the pick (his second of the game).

AWESOME!

So would you agree with article because I do.

[NoleFan]

Re: Man-to-Man Coverage The Key to Stopping the AI QB in NCAA 09

So would you agree with article because I do.

I definitely agree with the article. I forgot to mention that we sacked Mr. Daniels 6 times. This is a Kansas team that is rated in the 80s while the Missouri team is rated in the 90s.

[erich20012001]

wow, I've been using alot of Zone Blitzes with Tennessee's D, and it seems I still keep the pressure up and QB % down.

[J.R. Locke]

I always play an aggresive man to man and blitz package and in about 20 + games besides Tebow having a day where he was 21-27 for 300+ yards I have held most CPU QB's in check. My problem again is too many INT's!!!!

[haze56]

Re: Man-to-Man Coverage The Key to Stopping the AI QB in NCAA 09

How is it a work around? Shouldn't you expect the cpu to tear you up if you are playing in a soft zone and they are spreading the field? This is the kind of reasoning I don't get- I honestly think you guys never played football in your lives, let alone understand how defensive sets are called.

In high school our team would play an entire game in man to man if the opposing team was the type that loved to throw the ball around. We had speedy corners and linebackers, so we were able to do this. Looking back on it actually, I'm not sure we ever really relied on a zone heavy scheme- I'm not really sure of any team that really loves to play zone exclusively.

This game forces you to mix up coverages A LOT! You can't play man bump and run all game because they will eventually burn you deep. You can't play simple man all game because they will start running all over you or hit someone deep over the midde. You can't play in a qb spy all day because they will figure out a way to screw the players in the spy. You can't blitz all day because they will patch up the side you are going after (cpu uses slide protect too). Basically you need to mix things up a lot, and confuse the cpu.

The game has issues, but a lot of you are moaning and groaning like you expect everything you have used in past games to work this year. Just because you have been good at playing d in past football video games does not mean what you are doing is correct, or fundamentally sound in actual football. This game has the most realistic defensive recognition ai of any game I've played, and I think it's awesome that the cpu will pick me apart because I overused a zone, or blitzed a cb and got burned.

Again, the game has some issues, but for the most part if you follow this article and understand where it is coming from, you will be ok. I find it req=warding to play defense this year.

LMFAO. You know nothing about defense...So you're telling me a guy is going to stick with his man the whole game even though in spread offenses they crossing routes and slants? If you wanna make Texas Tech work for their TD's you play zone...Playing man is doing them a favor...It would be almost too easy..In a zone wr's can't pick cb's and it's harder for them to get open...Plus not every zone is the same...There's something called zone blitzes where defenders are coming from anywhere and defenders are dropping in coverage...You just never know...There's nothing complex about man to man at all...If you run a normal offense than man to man would be the best choice if you have the athletes...but playing man against a spread offense will lose you your job.

[RauBusinessND]

Out of everything that all of you have said, the one thing that is missing is simply this. When you have a player like Dorsey from LSU last year on your team, he doesn't dominate a game and get into the backfield like you see in reality. The whole goal of next gen is supposed to be reality. Now all I am saying is just look at he number of times you see a player give help from his blind-side in pass protection. In college, a player is well focused on just the player in front of him. Oh yes, and speed rushers should at least be able to put pressure on qb by themselves especially when going up against weaker players matching up. I am a person that likes to exploit match-ups and if the game doesn't promote that then what is the point in playing a alleged realistic game. I love NCAA Football, but this is not cool. What does it take to have a player at-least be a huge factor in a game from the defensive side. So, can any of you tell me why does the game allow under rated players to excel. Also, what happened to freshmen being discouraged at hostile environments? I thought that was an amazing feature that was simply unbelievable. Also, what happened to shading corners to play over or under based upon what you tell them to do?

[ehh]

Re: Man-to-Man Coverage The Key to Stopping the AI QB in NCAA 09

Hmm, maybe this is why I haven't see the Robo-QB like so many people have complained about. 80-90% of the time I run Cover-X man plays on defense. I started up my UConn dynasty yesterday and so far I'm 1-2, beating a fake 1-AA team, losing at Florida State 31-3 and at home to Michigan 23-17.

None of the games really felt that cheap especially in terms of the CPU passing. Even against Michigan's new spread-type Rich Rodriguez offense their QB wasn't too crazy against me.

Right now the only real beef I have with this game is the pursuit angles, the pass rush (esp since you can't really zone blitz) and the CPU players randomly going out of bounds when catching a ball in the flat with a ton of room to run.

It's too bad most people will have put this game on the shelf by the time Patch 2 comes out.

[likebuttababy11]

Re: Man-to-Man Coverage The Key to Stopping the AI QB in NCAA 09

2 Man under destroys the computer in this game.
I have been killing the computer on heisman and its just too damn easy since the computer QB never,ever goes deep,ok,what I do is pick the safety opposite where they have the TE positioned or if theyre in 3 wide sets,I'll pick the safety on the 1 WR side,then I'll B/R and as soon as they call hike,then beeline for the WR cutting across the field either on a drag or slant,its either a userpick or the QB will get sacked b/c he wont throw the ball,only time you have to watch is when the offense is close to a sideline,then you have to be the safety on the"open field side" b/c the RB will kill the LB guarding him.it seems the computer QB only throws to these patterns with an occasional rare pass to a curl(qb waits too long so its easy to stop)or a streak which I've seen maybe 1 time in every 4 games.Only time I have trouble with this defense is when the computer passes to the TE alot(wisconsin)still beat them good tho b/c the computer is too stupid to adapt.

[The Chef]

Re: Man-to-Man Coverage The Key to Stopping the AI QB in NCAA 09

I would do this but unfortunatly with Oregon our corners excel at zone and arent that great at man coverage so Im almost forced to run zone otherwise my corners are getting burned constantly. Im always mixing my zones, sending man, zone, zone blitzes, sending the house at times, running stunts, double teaming wide receivers and Im not having much success. I guess in the future I need to recruit corners that specialize in man to man.

[The Chef]

Re: Man-to-Man Coverage The Key to Stopping the AI QB in NCAA 09

Well I tried this, against my better judgement since my secondary isnt supposed to be any good at running man to man, and I actually had a lot more success which was nice to see. Now I did this against Washington, in season two, and they were missing their starting HB but I held them to 55% completion and I seemed to make a lot more plays on the ball instead of just getting lucky previously. The only thing that kinda concerns me, if my team isnt supposed to be good at man but plays light years better in man anyways, what the hell is the point of recruiting a specific style of player for your secondary? It doesnt seem to make a difference, not a single CB on my team is better at man then zone but their play on the field says otherwise. I will continue to do this since Im getting better results but it kinda takes away from the recruiting aspect on some ways.

[BlyGilmore]

Re: Man-to-Man Coverage The Key to Stopping the AI QB in NCAA 09

the problem pimping is IMO the zones are broken. you can have the greatest zone defender in the world but if he's out of position because the AI tells him he's supposed to stand out of position, it doesn't matter.

Also i'm not saying to never ever call a zone defense again. They work great in 3rd and Long situations. Having guys play zone behind man coverage is good. Robber zone defenses work very well. Zone blitzes are also a great tactic (since the DLs tend to occupy the quick pass lanes).

And if you augment some of the straight zone plays with the "QB Spy Zone" you'll have some success. For instance a Cover 2 is a lot more effective with the MLB spying in the middle.

[heavy_hitter]

Re: Man-to-Man Coverage The Key to Stopping the AI QB in NCAA 09

You can basically run one Man defense all game long against the CPU. Go to the 335 stack split defense and run Thunder Green. This defense is in the 4-3 and others as well. I use the 335 because I get 3 safeties on the field rather that can cover. All my LB's are blitzing every play so you don't have to worry about them being in coverage.

Bump coverage and pinch the linebackers. Use the free safety to cover the RB out of the backfield. You will and up with 4-6 picks every game if you are good at user picking. If not you will get alot of deflections and at least 2-3 picks a game. The QB doesn't scorch me with this defense, although in theory he should be able to.

Running a cover 2 man does no good.

[DJ]

Really interesting article. I'm holding out for the release of the 2nd patch before I purchase this game, but this does give me a lot of hope that if EA does in fact fix the zone coverages that this will play a good game of football.