Run Concepts To Avoid In NCAA Football 06

While I firmly believe that NCAA Football 06 is the best of the entire series, the game is no different than any other football game in the fact that you will find broken plays.

All video games are flawed in one way or another and when dealing with football simulation, broken plays are usually the easiest so called “glitches” to spot.

And believe it or not, there are a handful of concepts in 06 that simply do not work.

But that’s ok though. Thankfully there are more than enough run concepts in this game that you forget about the bad ones pretty easily.

Over time, I will break down particular run concepts that I love in greater detail. I have technically already covered the HB Slam in a previous post.

I want to bring your attention the run plays that for almost 10 years, no matter how hard I try, I can’t use successfully for one reason or another.

After reading this, you will be able to shuffle through your formations pretty quickly and pass over the ones on this list that will be of little use to you.

Shotgun HB Draws

None of the draw plays from the shotgun sets work well enough for you to fool with.

It takes too long for your HB to get the ball from your QB and by the time he gets the ball, all of the defensive linemen and the LBs are ready to pounce on you like shown above.

Another issue with the draw okay is that while your QB has the ball, all of your passing icons are shown, including the HB icon.

His icon gets in the way of seeing possibly which hole to go through.

Toss Plays

Simply put, your OLine’s blocking assignments are terrible on all toss concepts.

The biggest reason for this is that linemen are too slow and they never go up field to block anybody.

Thankfully, in a future post, I will explain my version of the HB Toss and how effective and realistic it is to use.

Counter Plays

Again, your OLine doesn’t block correctly. In a normal counter play, one of your guards pulls and block for you. There is a problem with this though.

Notice on this counter play my QB has already turned towards the HB, but look at my left guard. He is still in a 3-point stance.

He should have already been running past the center by now “pulling” for my HB.

I will say this about the counter: you can have some (I said some) success with the Counter play if you have a fullback in the game.

There are no guarantees with it though. You are still at the mercy of your linemen doing their job correctly.

HB Reads

Don’t confuse this with the PA Read from the Gun. This is an under-center play.

Look at how your OLine is blocking on an angle, almost like zone blocking.

Stay away from these plays as your line will let most, if not all, defenders pass through like shown above.

Conclusion

Notice any reoccurring themes with these concepts?

All of these require your offensive lineman to do some serious or strange movement.

In 06, offensive linemen are just too slow to correctly follow their assignments.

Mobile offensive linemen are near impossible recruit. You may be able to recruit one who can run a 4.9, but it will not improve your “pulling” concepts that much.

Also notice that I did not mention any option plays, which is a good thing. Thankfully 99% of them work well when you know the little nuances of each one.

And yes, there are plenty of good run concepts for all of you Spread aficionados to tinker with.

All in all, the good concepts far outweigh the few bad ones in NCAA 06.

Aside from draw plays, stick to run concepts that have basic, head-on, man blocking like this one and your chances of successfully running the ball will improve greatly.