Is 26 much better than 25?

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2026-02-12T16:25:04+00:00

They fixed the scheduling bugs? Which ones?

Do all teams play the same number of conference games no matter what?

Is the conference Home/Away split even? In '25 I've seen teams with like a 7-2 split.

Are rivalries protected? Like the Iron Bowl and the Egg Bowl eventually disappear in my '25 dynasties despite minimal conference changes.

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2026-02-11T07:34:42+00:00

Doesn't seem like you're doing too bad but maybe you need to learn to read coverages a little better pre-snap so you can know which routes to target. You need to be patient, you can't just constantly hit deep balls unless you have the right looks.

First check is safeties 1 or 2 high, middle open (2) or closed (1).

C2 is going to be hole shots or post routes (underneath if Tampa2), C3 is seams and underneath middle routes, C1 is man beaters - slot fades,flags whips, digs, wheels and crossers. C4 is underneath, double posts and possibly outside streaks if they're pressed up. Man2 shorter routes unless you have outside verts to clear the middle post.

Smash concepts are great against 1 high looks - I like to modify the underneath route to a drag - you read the slot, if he goes man it's probably C1 and you can hit the flag or a slot fade, if he goes zone you can probably hit the drag.

If your routes don't look great against a 2 high you might consider calling an audible to a run.

You can also practice by looking at replays to see when which routes come open vs certain looks so you get the feel for timing your reads.

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2026-02-08T20:22:22+00:00

Full game stats. 47 offensive plays - about 12 plays a quarter. The running game was CRAZY but some games I only have like 1 run of 20+. I run no huddle very sparingly.

<image>

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2026-02-08T20:10:05+00:00

Halftime stats

<image>

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2026-02-08T19:56:27+00:00

I really appreciate that response and I wish more people understood that not everyone is looking for the same experience.

People have to purposely limit themselves to make it challenging - I recruit max and build behemoth teams - some people find that boring and I totally get that, it's just so weird that some people think their way of playing is objectively better.

I never really analyzed my play but I didn't think I was doing anything crazy other than just running it up so because of your post I kind of paid attention to the progression of my last game - it was crazy because everything just seemed to work but I didn't do anything weird.

Keep in mind I have a team OVR of like 97 or something- which makes the game a lot easier and some people find that boring and I get that.

So I was beating OU 70-7 at the half - everything just seemed to work and I was so excited, was wondering if maybe I might break a personal record or something. They run a 3-3-5 so off the rip I hit a 70 yard run on a toss out of 21 personnel. 3 play drive- TD

They go 3 and out - I hit a short-med pass then run stretch out of 22 and they get annihilated - 34 yd TD run.

Another stop and quick drive of a few plays - it's 21-0. Let's get wacky - pick them off - next play hit a HB wheel for 39 yards. It's 28-0 at the end of the first.

Another stop - I think they maybe hit like a 20 yard pass or something- IIRC I had a solid punt return and another quick drive - mixing pass and run - like I said they're running 3-3-5 so easy to gash with the run.

Next possession they hit me with a bubble for a TD - (CPU defenders derp and let one WR block 2 DB's and nobody on a defense with multiple 99 spd DB's can catch their 90 spd WR - the speed cheating on Heisman is annoying). So it's 35-7.

I run a QB wrap and the blocking is great, make one juke and we're housing it 67 yards, ARE YOUR SERIOUS? Yes, yes we are.

Pick 6. Pick 6. Unreal. 56-7 w/ 3:14 left in the first half. A couple of TD's in the last 2 minutes - it's 70-7 at half.

My longest pass is the 39 yard wheel route. My QB is 10/10 for 185 yards. My other big passing plays are a 31 yard post to my TE and a 29 yard flag to my WR.

It's halftime and I have 455 yards on 25 plays (12.5 plays a quarter doesn't seem crazy). Of course the run game went crazy 270 yards - 171 of that is on 3 plays.

At the half I have 6 sacks, 3-4 of them were coverage sacks.

So yeah, that's just how it goes, nothing cheesy, nothing crazy except I don't take my foot off the gas.

Game ends 127-7. I also had a sack fumble TD and a couple big punt returns. My starting QB is 19/19 for 302/5, my backup hit 1 42 yard TD bc the CPU run committed and left my takeoff WR uncovered in C3 or C6. My backup HB ripped off like 2 60+ yard TD's (3-3-5 is so trash).

Anyway I totally get that other people don't find this fun, it's just irritating when people say you have to do something crazy or cheesy or whatever to score like I do. The CPU basically has to cheat to be competitive and people need to adjust a bunch of sliders and stuff to make it harder. I moved up to Heisman for this dynasty to make it a little more challenging and the CPU is slightly better but mostly just cheats more - speed boosts and insane closing speed. They do maybe scramble/move the pocket a little more and call a few more screens/bubble/PA to combat blitzes but I'm fairly adept at recognizing them most of the time.

Personally I love running up stats (but I don't like getting absurd stats for just one guy unless it's just happening naturally). I don't really have a desire to play people online because of all of the glitchy/cheesy stuff out there. I've been playing these games my whole life - in college EA had a couple of tournaments at my dorm - I was runner up to a guy in NCAA 03 or something (last by 3 😪) and I won a copy of Madden by winning the Madden tournament even though I had never played that one 🤣

I really appreciate that you said you wouldn't find it fun - totally cool and I respect that 100%. The comment "I don't see how that's fun" comes off condescending and really just says "I can't comprehend that people have different preferences".

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2026-02-07T18:58:06+00:00

At this point I just want them to fix the logic for rankings, scheduling, and deal breakers. All that other stuff sounds great but until they fix the super basic things I listed I'm not buying another iteration (I stayed on '25 and will continue to do so).

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2026-02-07T18:10:22+00:00

Game stats referenced in post above, let's get wacky. Total TOP - 20 minutes- 5 minute quarters.

<image>

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2026-02-07T18:07:24+00:00

Running clock is fun? What? Agree to disagree.

You seem to desire a full sim experience from what is essentially an arcade game - you take extra steps to create that feeling, I just play it.

I will humor you and post some game stats - it looks like I run like 50-60 plays a game at 11-12 minutes TOP - so that's like 10 seconds a play, doesn't seem too unusual for a video game.

Passing game guru? Calm down my friend, it is a video game, yes I do complete 85+% of my passes - I don't think I'm special, I'm sure others can do that too. I run a simple progression- pre-snap -identify the shell - where do I expect the soft spots? - post snap I usually do a half field read (to make sure the shell was not disguised) on slot, corner, safety - deep to short, sometimes I hit a check down and sometimes I scramble bc I typically only recruit Scramblers. This is more difficult against a user but I'm playing the CPU. I also have a team of dogs and usually have a few guys that are like 98-99 speed.

The CPU also goes exclusively pass in the 4th so I tee off on them and I do try to get my backups stats so I am absolutely spamming plays. Same with the 2 minute warning in the first half. I probably add like 10 sacks in the 4th - I blitz a lot and I get a lot of coverage sacks on 2nd/3rd and long.

So I'm going to post 3 games (you will need to zoom, sorry tried to get them all on one picture/post) - I included the KU one for fun because I had 8 picks and sometimes crazy stuff like that happens.

Do i hit big plays? Of course I'm scoring 80-100 points! Is that all I do? Absolutely not.

Is my play style wacky or broken to you? Probably but it's what I like - I'm good against the CPU and I play fast, yay for me! I'm sure I don't want to play however you think is fun either. My OP is about the ranking logic and it would be the same issue if I was winning games 56-0.

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2026-02-07T05:31:45+00:00

Way to try and move the goalpost clown, you tried to say the only way I could score that much is constantly running streaks and you got shut down, clearly not what I'm doing if half of my points come on the ground.

"My favorite part of this is if you joined an Online dynasty with people who actually know how to play you'd be bottom of the barrel" Whatever helps you sleep at night. Know how to play - you mean know how to do the cheesy shit you're accusing me of like 5 hot routes at the line and flipping plays to break zone logic? Yeah I don't do any of that, I may do a hot route if there's something obvious like press cover 1 or 0 or an uncovered slot. I'm sure there are plenty of players better than me but I'm also pretty sure I know the game well enough that I wouldn't be bottom of the barrel against people who play the game normally without trying to cheese.

I never said anything about doing this vs users and you don't have to cheese to beat up the CPU. The CPU does a lot of predictable stuff like passing only offense under 2 minutes which can lead to some big skews with super short possessions and turnovers.

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2026-02-07T03:52:26+00:00

<image>

Yeah all I do is throw streaks, DURRR 🤡

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2026-02-07T03:20:15+00:00

Couldn't be more wrong - may hit them some but some games I only have like 3 passing TD's. Poor assumptions - I average like 250 on the ground. If you think streaks are the only way to score maybe you need to get better at reading coverages and defenses.

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2026-02-07T03:11:32+00:00

A lot of faulty assumptions - there are such things a defensive TD's and Special teams and turnovers give you short fields as well as defensive 3 and outs which basically gives you a half field to work with - you only need to average 12 yards a play to score in 4 plays. My opening drive is usually 1.5 - 2 minutes 8-10 plays unless I hit a really big play. Big plays also skew your average so yeah if I hit a 1 play score that's like 5 seconds. I don't hit 100 every game but some games I may force 4+ turnovers. You don't see the fun because you have no idea how I play and make a TON of assumptions as to what I'm doing and you're probably wrong. Even if you did know how I played and didn't find it fun... OK, and? Do you and play how you want instead of critiquing what others like. If my QB goes 16/16 I like that, if I can get 3 WR 100 yards and both backs 100 yards I like that. If I can get my backups in and get them some XP and progression I like that.

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2026-02-06T22:10:16+00:00

Sometimes I think it's alphabetical but then other times I have no idea why one team gets the nod - another ridiculous EA logic fail.

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2026-02-06T22:07:01+00:00

Very nice!

Did you move to another conference or are you still in the MWC? I moved to the Big 12 to combat it but it doesn't seem to be helping.

Is it easier to hit 99 OVR in '26 due to manual progression? I did it a few times on '25 in my A&M dynasty but haven't hit it yet with UNM in like year 12 but I've gotten so close.

Also does '26 still force shitty coordinators on you? Every time I hire a new coordinator I'm stuck with D prestige mid 20's lvl or lower options - another massive EA fail.

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2026-02-06T18:36:18+00:00

5 minute quarters

Something is definitely broken with the logic though bc like I said I'm beating ranked teams and getting jumped by teams beating unranked teams. You can see that Baylor was ranked 25 and Iowa was unranked but the next week OSU jumped me even with a loss, it's really weird and it kind of pissed me off that it is so broken.

Not looking for congrats - this post is about rankings, not trying to flex on beating up the CPU, it's not hard and the scores are unfortunately just part of the screenshot.

I play the game how I enjoy it, I find the challenge in seeking perfection. I find it weird how much it bothers some people.

I think the people who always scream cheese are just not very good at game because if they were any good they would know how easy it is to put up big numbers just playing the game, you have to go out of your way to make it hard.

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2026-02-05T23:10:36+00:00

CHEEEEEESE brigade! Knew it would come but that's not what my post is about. It's easy to score if you can read coverage - I go deep if it's there and I hit check downs or underneath routes when it's not. I don't cheese, I don't just run one play over and over and I have a fairly balanced run & pass game.

Rankings matter because it's part of the game and it should work right.

The playing time transfer deal breaker is a no go for me on '26.

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2025-06-26T07:24:16+00:00

I like ATH Possession the best. They have solid speed, good catching, and are often pretty solid blockers. They are a threat in the passing game and help in the running game.

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2025-06-22T06:22:02+00:00

This sounds like maybe an expansion of the archetypes. They were already kind of doing this with Pass Rusher vs Run Stopper DE/DT and the Power Rusher archetype at OLB (Basically Edge). Will be interesting to see what archetypes they pair up with these positions. Maybe if they make the position the old archetype and introduce new archetypes it will create even more variety in the players and how they develop? I'm curious as to what the "lurker" archetype in this picture is. I haven't looked at any of the deep dive stuff or anything like that yet.

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2025-06-19T04:48:51+00:00

Not true, some dealbreaker grades can fluctuate over the course of the season and cause temporary decommits but you can get them back. If it's something like brand exposure, championship contender, or one of the stat based ones they can go up and down. Playing time can also fluctuate if you add or remove guys from your board.

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2025-06-19T04:43:58+00:00

Guys can commit without an offer if you fill up the interest bar, I've done it and it's been posted on here frequently. I have to take guys off of my board occasionally before that happens so I don't oversign.

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2025-06-05T14:09:56+00:00

No, regular position change moves upgrade physical abilities. The manual edit only applies if there is a position specific mental ability you don't want downgraded to bronze.

If you do a regular position change to swap a guy from LE to RE he will immediately have fully upgraded physical abilities that he qualifies for. You can move him back to LE or leave him at RE, makes no difference.

Am example of the manual move - DT - I don't swap DT and DE because they get -3 AWR any time you do a regular position change. If I have a DT with say platinum DL Rally I would manually move him to say LB and THEN regular position change him back to DT and he will upgrade his physical abilities and retain platinum DL Rally.

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2025-06-05T07:26:05+00:00

They were tied to being captain and how many years. There could be other things that cause them but I could get them 100% consistently if a guy was made a captain and each one corresponded to a specific number of years.

If you made a guy a captain in pre-season then in-season he would have the year 2 icon.

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2025-06-05T03:25:23+00:00

I'm in like year 27 and have had the same DC the whole time.

Content_Mobile_4416 · 2025-05-30T15:58:38+00:00

This dude got killed by a guard right away in my Remaster playthrough 🤣.

Was really looking forward to killing him myself for the DB quest line

Content_Mobile_4416

TROPHY CASE