EA Sports College Football 25 RPO Explainer Guide

[NinjaGigolo]

Whether you've played Madden in the last couple years or this is your first football game...

Written By: Chase Becotte

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[lostnite66]

Re: RPO

I couldn’t do it right, either. Gonna try to figure it out in practice mode.

[SlyBelle]

Re: RPO

Yep me, too, struggle with option plays too my brain and stick skills just not good enough to make these quick decisions. I know game just released, but was there any pre release videos that had tutorials on these plays?

[Momoney168]

Re: RPO

How in the world do you run an RPO in this thing? I guess I’m dense, because I can’t seem to do what I want with the ball

If it’s the same as Madden the run is automatic. If you want to pass instead you have to press it right after the snap.

[ChaseB]

Re: How Do You Properly Do RPOs?

It depends on the RPO type in terms of how much time/options you might have, but ultimately you're going to automatically hand it off in most instances if you don't press a receiver button in time.

You can delay it on some of them by tapping X (I tap it multiple times) and it will keep the ball in the RB's belly longer. Stuff like "Walk Alerts" I think are a usual catch all for those instances.

Something like just straight up "RPO Alert" you won't have same amount of time to delay.

Looking on the play arts themselves, obviously ones with longer routes are more likely to be ones you can delay as well (though there are exceptions).

[WillieAshburn]

Re: How Do You Properly Do RPOs?

For PS5, tap the X button prior to the handoff and the QB will keep the ball. You can then choose to run, throw, etc.

[jello1717]

Re: How Do You Properly Do RPOs?

On a related note…

I hadn’t played a football game since NCAA14 til last week when I downloaded a free Madden24 from Gamepass to try to prepare me for playing CFB25.

In Madden there is a skills trainer which is basically a tutorial that teaches you how to do most things in the game (i.e. running RPOs, read options, throw bullet passes or touch passes, throw it high or low, etc, etc). For someone new to next gen football games it was really, REALLY helpful. I looked for that in CFB25, but couldn’t find anything like it. There are a bunch of mini games, but it didn’t seem to be helpful.

TLDR: Is there a tutorial like mode in CFB25 similar to the skills trainer in Madden?

[Lelo34]

Re: How Do You Properly Do RPOs?

On a related note…

I hadn’t played a football game since NCAA14 til last week when I downloaded a free Madden24 from Gamepass to try to prepare me for playing CFB25.

In Madden there is a skills trainer which is basically a tutorial that teaches you how to do most things in the game (i.e. running RPOs, read options, throw bullet passes or touch passes, throw it high or low, etc, etc). For someone new to next gen football games it was really, REALLY helpful. I looked for that in CFB25, but couldn’t find anything like it. There are a bunch of mini games, but it didn’t seem to be helpful.

TLDR: Is there a tutorial like mode in CFB25 similar to the skills trainer in Madden?

Yeah there is. It's set up like a test where you're aiming for bronze, silver or gold, but it's really a trainer.

[jello1717]

How Do You Properly Do RPOs?

Yeah there is. It's set up like a test where you're aiming for bronze, silver or gold, but it's really a trainer.

Where is it? All I could find were the mini games. I tried pocket presence, target passing, and pitch party, but none of those tell you how to do anything. I.e. pitch party just says “pitch it to your teammates” but doesn’t explain how to do the 2 types of pitches or the fake pitch.

[bpac55]

Re: How Do You Properly Do RPOs?

I wish the control for the QB/dive interaction was switched. I feel like if I want the FB to get the ball, I should hold the button in rather than release it.

I mean I guess in real life, yea if the FB takes the ball, the QB releases it for him so in a sense, you would release the button. But from a video game standpoint, if just feels backwards and adds an extra bit of chaos with the controls.

[Newlegacy]

Re: How Do You Properly Do RPOs?

On a related note…

I hadn’t played a football game since NCAA14 til last week when I downloaded a free Madden24 from Gamepass to try to prepare me for playing CFB25.

In Madden there is a skills trainer which is basically a tutorial that teaches you how to do most things in the game (i.e. running RPOs, read options, throw bullet passes or touch passes, throw it high or low, etc, etc). For someone new to next gen football games it was really, REALLY helpful. I looked for that in CFB25, but couldn’t find anything like it. There are a bunch of mini games, but it didn’t seem to be helpful.

TLDR: Is there a tutorial like mode in CFB25 similar to the skills trainer in Madden?

ultimate team

[Danish ram]

Re: How Do You Properly Do RPOs?

I cant punt, hitting the meter right in the middle and a beautiful precise punt of 20-30 yards occurs
Every time
How do you add power?

[Hooe]

Re: How Do You Properly Do RPOs?

I wish the control for the QB/dive interaction was switched. I feel like if I want the FB to get the ball, I should hold the button in rather than release it.

EA Sports very intentionally swapped the controls this year to make the button press on option plays correspond to the QB pulling the ball away from the running back. The default no-button action is now a handoff, matching that of standard running plays.

On paper it makes plenty of sense to align options with standard runs and to make the button press correspond to an action performed by the ball-carrier. We just have... god knows how many years of muscle memory to unlearn from it being the opposite lol.

[bpac55]

Re: How Do You Properly Do RPOs?

I cant punt, hitting the meter right in the middle and a beautiful precise punt of 20-30 yards occurs
Every time
How do you add power?

Took me an entire game to figure it out. when you hit the button right in the middle, you need to hold it down, not tap. The bar will light up and you need to time the power as well.

[jello1717]

Re: How Do You Properly Do RPOs?

EA Sports very intentionally swapped the controls this year to make the button press on option plays correspond to the QB pulling the ball away from the running back. The default no-button action is now a handoff, matching that of standard running plays.



On paper it makes plenty of sense to align options with standard runs and to make the button press correspond to an action performed by the ball-carrier. We just have... god knows how many years of muscle memory to unlearn from it being the opposite lol.

I don’t think it’s so much that it matches with standard run plays. I think it’s so that it matches with RPOs, which is terrific IMO. Even though I need to relearn it, having the same button actions for read options as you do for RPOs is a great thing.