Creating A Scheme

[Collegefbfan]

Now, that the college football regular season is over (it keeps me busy with my computer poll, message boards, writing articles, etc.) I am diving back into this game like a dumpster full of lead off a cliff.

I am wondering if anyone has gone the "create a scheme" path. I am not even sure what that really means, especially in the video game world. Enlighten me.

[GOIRISH65]

I feel like I have. I wanted to run an old school offense like Tom Osbourne Nebraska and Lou holtz at Notre Dame. Power ISO Counter Toss (I use stretch and duo too) and some triple and power options. Mostly under center I formation. However the options work better out of pistol. So I have I pro, slot, tight, wing and goaline and then several pistol strong sets. One shotgun for 2 min drill. Works pretty good aside from the stupid pitch glitch that gets me once a game. It’s frustrating but cool in that I can’t seem to win much year one or two when I take over bc I don’t have the right guys. Have to recruit tub blockers on the line and lots of fb te types. Find a scrambler w option king who can hit some passes. I recruit power and agile linemen and move them where I want them. Possession TEs and sometimes blocking TEs. I do like deep threat WR bc they seem to come with speed and when you ram the ball all day it’s nice to have a big play somewhere.

[Collegefbfan]

Yeah, I feel like my custom playbook is all over the place. I really cut it down a lot the other night. All these plays I was never gonna use. I am more of a run first, be safe with the ball until I have to pass on 3rd downs. I use a lot of underneath crosses and dump off passes to keep the sticks moving. Once I have a decent lead, I will open the downfield passing playbook just to get better at it. However, I am not sure if I would call this a scheme.

[jello1717]

I run a spread option scheme on offense. My playbook is huge (469 plays across 44 sets) but they’re still thematically related. Except for my 1 power I set that I use on the goal line everything is from SG. It has personnel spanning the spectrum from 22 and 13 to 01 and 00 and I have similar plays in most sets so I can run similar stuff just from different formations.

It’s a run heavy scheme so there’s lots of designed HB runs of all kinds of flavors. It has lots of power runs like inside zones, dives/isos, power Os, bases, traps, and punches. It has fewer outside runs as I prefer to stay between the tackles, (if I’m running outside it’s usually speed or triple options) but for a change of pace it has some outside zones, sweeps, and counters. It also has its share of QB zones, blasts, powers, and draws as well as my QB usually has the 2nd most carries each game.

As a spread option pb, obviously it’s full of options of every flavor, and I run them all. Read options, inverted veers, midline option, speed options, load options, triple options, WR motion options, etc, etc.

I generally pass as a change of pace and on 3rd and medium +. I like bubbles and tunnel screens, and when I’m throwing further downfield, it’s usually stuff with drags, ins, outs, and curls. It’s rare for me to pass for more than 10 yards downfield.

[shooter135]

Quote: Originally Posted by jello1717

I run a spread option scheme on offense. My playbook is huge (469 plays across 44 sets) but they’re still thematically related. Except for my 1 power I set that I use on the goal line everything is from SG. It has personnel spanning the spectrum from 22 and 13 to 01 and 00 and I have similar plays in most sets so I can run similar stuff just from different formations. It’s a run heavy scheme so there’s lots of designed HB runs of all kinds of flavors. It has lots of power runs like inside zones, dives/isos, power Os, bases, traps, and punches. It has fewer outside runs as I prefer to stay between the tackles, (if I’m running outside it’s usually speed or triple options) but for a change of pace it has some outside zones, sweeps, and counters. It also has its share of QB zones, blasts, powers, and draws as well as my QB usually has the 2nd most carries each game. As a spread option pb, obviously it’s full of options of every flavor, and I run them all. Read options, inverted veers, midline option, speed options, load options, triple options, WR motion options, etc, etc. I generally pass as a change of pace and on 3rd and medium +. I like bubbles and tunnel screens, and when I’m throwing further downfield, it’s usually stuff with drags, ins, outs, and curls. It’s rare for me to pass for more than 10 yards downfield.

I’m running something similar but still in the playbook creating stage. I’m having some success with empty formations and motioning the RB in. What are some of your base formations?

[DonkeyJote]

I was interested in doing something like this, basically trying to recreate Oregon's real life scheme (it's a lot more multiple than the one in game; they do a decent amount of pistol and singleback irl, while also occasionally using a fullback).

But the jumbled mess of the playbook is hard to deal with for me. But even more importantly, it screws up defensive audibles on the base playbooks there, and the defensive and special teams playbooks being off is even worse for me. It's just too much for me.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

[jello1717]

Quote: Originally Posted by shooter135

I’m running something similar but still in the playbook creating stage. I’m having some success with empty formations and motioning the RB in. What are some of your base formations?

I’m diverse enough that I don’t know that I’d say I have base formations. Over the span of 2 games I certainly use every one of my 44 formations at least once. Some of my favorites though are:

11:
Doubles offset - lotsa orbit motions
Slot left/slot right/slot right wk/slot left wk - these are my favorite power running 11 formations
F twins over - all presnap motion with tons of variations from QB keepers to HB runs to touch pass and HB screen
Spread y-slot/Trey open - these have the TE in the slot and are my pass heavy 11 formations

10:
spread/Trey 4WR - these are my pass heavy 10s
Spread offset/trips/trips offset - these are my run heavy/ very option heavy 10s

12:
Slot left stack - love EVERYTHING about this
Have 3 other 12s that’re all very average, but I still use them a lot

21:
LOVE me some triple options and 21 is my favorite personnel for it
Split is great
Split twins is awesome and has no WRs on 1 side, so it makes for amazing triple option pitches
Split y offset has triple options to both the left and right, so it’s a great balanced set
Duo over has borderline broken plays so I don’t use it much, but it’s a cool formation

13:
Wing tight/wing tight Z - both are awesome heavy personnel, run focused formations. Trotting 3 TEs out there and smashing the defense in the teeth really makes me feel like a Michigan football coach

20:
Duo slot open - not broken like the 21 duo, but still cool plays in it
Split offset/split slot offset - tons of option plays in these

22:
Split tight - like the 13 formations, this feels like smash mouth football and can do triple option going left or right without any personnel moving when audibling

[PDuncanOSU]

Quote: Originally Posted by Collegefbfan

Yeah, I feel like my custom playbook is all over the place. I really cut it down a lot the other night. All these plays I was never gonna use. I am more of a run first, be safe with the ball until I have to pass on 3rd downs. I use a lot of underneath crosses and dump off passes to keep the sticks moving. Once I have a decent lead, I will open the downfield passing playbook just to get better at it. However, I am not sure if I would call this a scheme.

You say you're "run first." What type of run concepts do you like? Power? Inside zone? Stretch or outside zone? Counter?

To really set up a "scheme" I suggest picking a couple of these concepts that you really like. Let's start with Power. You can run it from 21 personnel I-form or 11 personnel shotgun and any formation in between. Most power run plays will be for your RB but you could also run QB power or run it with a read element. Running the same concept for different players, out of multiple personnel, and different formations keeps things simple for you on offense but looks complicated to the defense. Then start to add constraints to those plays and place these as your audibles. This could be playaction passes or a weak side run. So you have the base concept you want to run, you can run it out of multiple looks, and you have audibles to go to if the defense overcommits.

Now do the same thing for whatever pass concept you like. You said you use a lot of underneath crosses. Look at the Drive concept. It starts with a shallow cross, normally with a deep-in behind it. It can be run from 5-wide spread sets, bunch sets, 2 TEs, 3 TEs, etc with always the same read by the QB. Then for each pass play be able to audible to a pass play that attacks a different area of the field, a draw and a screen.

Then do the same thing for another run concept and another pass concept and so on. The total number of concepts you use can be up to you, as well as the number of versions of those concepts.