College Football 25: A Look at Offensive Playbooks

Millions have their hands on one of the most anticipated video games in history with the release of EA Sports College Football 25. The offensive playbooks are diverse, with more than 150 team and individual playbooks. Here is a breakdown of the 10 types of offense in the game.

Air Raid

From Hal Mumme to June Jones, the Air Raid offense is now known for putting up a lot of yards and points. Most of the playbook is passing plays, but I don't think you can't run from this formation. You have to be able to read defenses like an accurate quarterback and understand the box. You can audible to a run play or use quick-read short passes to extend the run.

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The key to the Air Raid's success is having a lot of wide receivers, an accurate quarterback and a shifty running back. Utilizing plays like a shallow cross and all slants will pressure the defense. This playbook is suitable for moving down the field quickly through a quick passing game. Teams like the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, the USC Trojans, Oklahoma Sooners and the SMU Mustangs.

Multiple formations can make this a quarterback-friendly offense with quick reads and simplified play calling, and with the number of weapons you can put on the field, this playbook is overwhelming for the defensive players to stop.

Multiple

This playbook combines schemes to allow the offense to utilize what your team is good at. You can attack the field from various formations, such as spreading the field with four or five receivers or utilizing full backs and tight ends to propel the run game.

The problem with multiple playbooks is that it's hard for the defense to scout what the offense is about to do. On the other hand, it could show that your offense is just mediocre at a lot of things and not great at one.

This playbook will give you countless options, and depending on your team, if they have the talent to run the playbook to the fullest, it could be a problem for people. You can also access fantastic running formations like Pistol and the Wishbone. The Charolett 49ers are a team people are using to build their dynasty, and they utilize multiple playbooks, so it could make recruiting more challenging or more enjoyable.

Option

Old school football at its core right here. The military academies are known to run this offense almost exclusively. The Army Black Nights, Air Force Falcons and the Navy Midshipmen focus on fundamental football and assignments to perfection. In the heyday of the options, teams like Oklahoma and Nebraska bullied their way through the Big 8 conference with their execution of the option.

With a revamped pitch mechanic in the game this year, if you understand and know how to run the option, it could give players a headache on defense. With people already complaining about tackling and using the fake pitch to juke someone as you roll, the triple option would frustrate everyone, and they would move their defense up, and then you hit them with a pop pass.

Pistol

When Chris Ault made this offense famous in Nevada, utilizing a hybrid Shotgun and single-back formation, it started a craze for offensive coaches, just like every innovation that puts pressure on and exposes defenses.

The Pistol still gives you the schematic advantages of the Shotgun. Still, in return, it provides your quarterback a chance to make reads downfield and let the running back gain momentum like a traditional I formation offense. This formation will work well with a skilled dual-threat quarterback, so be sure you look for that in recruiting.

Power Spread

This playbook spreads the defense while still focusing on an excellent running game. This will make you versatile and effective in both run and pass. The multitude of screens and quick passes will keep the defense on its toes and allow you to create mismatches. If you are a smaller school, you can utilize blacking with smaller offensive linemen, with the calls relying on blocking on angles.

The good thing about the power spread is that it is a challenging and physical spread in a finesse-spread world. Most people playing would like the Power Spread to be adaptable, with formations and tempo to stress the defense.

College football heavy hitters like the Ohio State Buckeyes, Oregon Ducks and the Clemson Tigers are the teams you would want.Using one of those teams in Dynasty will ensure getting some of the top offensive talent available in recruiting.

Pro Style

This offense is more complex than most college football. It requires a balanced offensive line, a quarterback with good decision-making skills and a running back who can take it between the tackles.

Teams that run this offense want to exploit a team's weaknesses; for example, if a team has a weak defensive line, the Pro Style will likely utilize tight ends to give them an advantage in running the ball. On the flip side, if a team has a solid line, you can spread them with multiple wide receivers.

Formations like Ace are single-back formations on which you can run multiple variations depending on your talent and situation. The quarterback is under center and can make play action work in your favor.

Run and Shoot

This famous play style is known for using wide receiver motion and routes depending on the defensive alignment. This play style is a one-back or empty set with the quarterback needing to make accurate and smart passes.

The Run and Shoot will have many option routes for revivers, so the better you read defenses in gameplay, the better you will succeed in the passing attack. This is a complex and challenging offer to run for the quarterback as they have to be able to predict where the receivers will break off their routes depending on their options.

Running the ball is not just thrown away—depending on the splits and the box, having more defensive backs in the game than linebackers could be an advantage. Follow your blocks and you should be able to run effectively with this playbook. Ace, Pistol and Shotgun are your bread and butter, so learn the plays that put you in the best position to create new opportunities.

Spread Option

This offense will use schemes from the pass-heavy Run and Shoot with three or more wide receivers and utilize the isolation principle that you will see in option offenses. The Spread Option can spread the defense horizontally

The Spread Option can keep the defense guessing while allowing you to rack up many yards and points. Georgia Tech implemented the Spread Option after Paul Johnson's Flexbone Triple Option left the field. Zone reading and playing actions will get this offense humming, and with all the motion it will be hard for defensive players to keep up.

The playbook will give you multiple sets out of Pistol, Shotgun and even Wildcat formations. Today's game of football is all about mismatches, and that is what the Spread Option likes to create.

Spread

This playbook can use various formations and schemes from the Air Raid, Spread Option and Pro Style offensive concepts. Formational, in the game, the playbook is predominantly out of the Shotgun. You can line up Goal Line and Wildcat formations to add wrinkles or get short yardage pickups.

With 19 formation sets just out of the Shotgun, everyone will be able to find plays that accentuate their talent and help make it hard for defenses to stop them. You will make the defense cover the entire field from sideline to sideline with multiple wide receivers and have the split past the numbers.

With the Spread, you can use down-the-field passing to open up vertical seams for the running game to take over, so you are essentially softening the box by making the defense go with quicker defensive backs, replacing linebackers.

Veer and Shoot

Are you looking to force your online opponent to beg for a friendly quit in the first quarter? Then the Veer and Shoot is your playbook. Created by Art Briles, the Veer and Shoot stretch the defenses horizontally through massive splits and create one-on-one matchups.

If you like running the ball gap, zone running schemes should give you high-yardage gains in this offense. This offense is a zone killer and will make the defense go to a more man-to-man style defense, allowing you to pick out your target to exploit.

If you want to play with a Veer and Shoot team, Ole Miss and TCU are among the more prominent Power Four schools that utilize this offense. If you want to build a team in a dynasty, you can always go with the South Florida Bulls. Alex Golesh brought the Veer and Shoot from Tennessee, and with the recruiting pipeline in South Florida, it won't be long until they are beating top teams.

Final Thoughts on Playbooks

As someone who played every version of this game from its inception until 2014, when it was taken from us, I can say that it is fun, frustrating and beautiful. The EA team will figure out patches and glitches, but the good thing is that EA Sports did not fumble the bag on this one.

If you are one of the people complaining about the game, really watch college football this season. You will see that this is one of the truest simulation sports games out there. The game is now made for offense the days of Alabama and LSU 9-6 in overtime are gone. The bar has been raised and the offensive minds have the power.

You can create a playbook by sampling multiple formation sets from multiple teams to fit what you like to run. You will have to recruit in Dynasty Mode to fit what you run. Enjoy the game, talk smack in the game, but just be happy we have a college football video game back.