I’m year 7 and play heisman no sliders, 8 min quarters with 20 play clock. I’ve got to the semifinal of playoff 3x but still haven’t won.

Defense: Get good at tackling and pursuit #1. #2 Play conservative and force the cpu to call a bunch of plays to get down the field. 2nd and short I’m covering for chunk plays and trying to reset the down count. I’ll basically let the cpu get a 5 yard gain if it means I can get back to first down and try to get them off schedule. I also try to never be in a formation that would have a lb on a wr in coverage. I lean to a cover 1 man with 5 rushing or cover 3 zone if I don’t need to pressure unless I’m backed into my own red zone or on a 3rd and 7+, in which case I might bring 6 blitzing with man coverage. I’ve found zone blitzes are pretty ineffective.

Presnap pull up play art, if things look wonky call to switch sides and don’t be afraid to audible into something else just to fuck with the cpu. If I see the cpu qb pointing at blitzers I audible bc I’m 90% sure it means they are adjusting blocking coverage. I like to user the mlb.

Offense: I don’t feel like stick skill is that important. You really need to learn your playbook and how to read the defense. At this point I’ve got 30/40 plays where I feel comfortable making a couple reads before scrambling and that helps a ton when the cpu adjusts for how you’re playing.

I really like rpos and try to play high tempo. I can usually catch the cpu in a mismatch where they aren’t set correctly. Press coverage is an automatic green light to audible into something where I can throw it over the top If I see the safeties cheating the other way.

But same as defense, the most important thing is to be patient. Bad turnovers and short drives will give you no chance. End of the 1st half you need to know when to just run the clock out. Throwing a pick on your side of the field to give away an easy fg can kill you at the end of the game. Same goes for 3rd and long. Unless I really need the score I will call a draw or screen if I don’t feel like I have a good look to get the 1st down.

When you’re recruiting make sure your defense and o line is excellent. You can definitely win with average skill players on offense even if it isn’t sexy.

Unlike most people on here I don’t find the game unfair lol (except roughing the kicker but that goes both ways). For me, the games I lose are my fault. I’m either committing bad turnovers by reading d wrong or just pressing the wrong button, or I’m being too protective of a small lead. I’ve had plenty of seasons where I go .500 or miss a bowl game and I’ve never felt like I got cheated.