• NCAA Football 11: Team Specific Plays

    Each year, NCAA Football playbook designer Anthony White strives to make each team's playbook accurately represent their system and play style. While we saw NCAA Football 11 add a true no-huddle system and up-tempo play, what you may not know is how detailed some team playbooks really are.

    Leading up to the release of NCAA Football each year, Anthony adds in actual plays run by teams that can only be found in their specific playbooks. In recent years two game-defining unforgettable plays came from the FBS programs in Idaho - Boise State's Statue of Liberty play to defeat Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl and Idaho's 2-point conversion to win the 2009 Roady's Humanitarian Bowl over Bowling Green - and both of them can be found in NCAA Football 11.

    Thanks to playbook guru Anthony White, NCAA Football fans now have the full list of Team Specific Plays in NCAA Football 11. Are there any unique plays that your school is known for running and you would like to see in the game? Of the Team Specific Plays in the game, which ones are your favorites to use?

    Continue on to see the full list of Team Specific Plays in NCAA Football 11.



    Playbook Name Formation Name Set Name Play Name
    Akron Ace Spread Zips Bubble Draw
    Alabama Pistol Twin TE Slot Bama Power
    Arizona Ace Twin TE Slot PA Zona Spot
    Auburn Shotgun Split Slot PA Auburn
    Boise State Ace Bunch Statue
    Clemson Shotgun Twin TE Flex Tiger Screen
    Colorado Weak I Twins Colorado Sprint
    Duke Shotgun Bunch HB Str Durham
    Florida State Shotgun Bunch FSU Bunch
    Florida State Pistol 4WR Trio FSU Scat
    Florida State Shotgun Tight Noles Bench
    Florida State Shotgun Tight Noles WR Screen
    Hawaii Shotgun Trips Open Str Warrior Curl Corner
    Hawaii Shotgun Trips Open Warrior Curl Corner
    Hawaii Shotgun Trips Open Str Warrior Flood
    Hawaii Shotgun 5WR Trips Warrior Levels
    Hawaii Shotgun Trips Warrior Outs
    Hawaii Shotgun Trips Open Str Warrior Switch
    Hawaii Shotgun Trips Open Warriors Switch
    Idaho Ace Big Wing Vandal 2Pt
    Idaho Ace Trips Vandal Flood
    Idaho Ace Double Flex Vandal Smash
    Indiana Shotgun 5WR Flex Trio Hoosier Smash
    Indiana Shotgun 5WR Flex Trio IU Drag Shake
    Miami Ace Big Canes Bubble
    Miami Ace Big Flip Canes Cross
    Miami Strong I Normal Canes FB Screen
    Miami Ace Big Canes TE Post
    Miami I-Form Tackle Over PA Canes Cross
    Minnesota I-Form Normal PA Gopher
    NC State Shotgun Normal Y-Flex Wolfpack Drive
    North Carolina Ace Big Twins PA Heel Boot
    North Carolina Strong I Normal Heel Flood
    North Carolina Strong I Twins PA Heel Slide
    North Carolina Ace Bunch Tar Heel Flood
    North Carolina Ace Bunch Tar Heel Post
    North Carolina Ace Twin TE Slot Tar Heel Stick
    North Carolina Ace Slot UNC Post
    North Carolina Ace Twin TE Slot UNC WR Corner
    Northwestern Shotgun 5WR Trio Wildcat Flood
    Northwestern Shotgun 5WR Trio Wildcat Spot
    Ohio State Shotgun Normal Flex Wk Buckeye Smash
    Ohio State Shotgun Y-Trips Buckeye Sprintout
    Ole Miss Shotgun 4WR Trey Rebel Drag
    Purdue Shotgun Bunch TE Boiler Bunch
    Purdue Shotgun Bunch TE Boiler Mesh
    Run and Shoot Shotgun Spread Mustang
    Syracuse Shotgun Wing Trio Wk Cuse In
    Syracuse Shotgun Wing Trio Wk Cuse Middle
    TCU Shotgun Ace Twins Wk PA TCU Flood
    Texas A&M Shotgun Tight Slots Aggie
    Wake Forest I-Form Normal PA Deacon
    West Virginia Shotgun Y-Trips WVU HB Swing
    West Virginia Shotgun Y-Trips WVU Spacing
    West Virginia Shotgun Trips WVU Swing
    Comments 16 Comments
    1. steelerfan's Avatar
      steelerfan -
      The playbooks did get an upgrade in 11. Overall, I think they're done very well but there's always room for improvement.

      My biggest hopes for 12 would be that the defensive books will be overhauled (hopefully helping to balance the game and also improving CPU defensive playcalling in the process).

      It would be nice if a closer watch were kept on offseason coaching and personnel changes to ensure the highest level of accuracy in the scemes each team will be running in the coming year. There are several cases of teams who changed their schemes IRL but have 2009's RL scemes in the game. If that's something that can be patched then it's not quite as big initially, though I'd imagine that would be tough (or impossible) to patch (especially without fouling something else up).

      Lastly, and I know it's not Anthony's area, but there are still too many useless plays. Particularly option plays. Teams that are option heavy (even from the Spread) are never a threat to beat a human. The plays aren't executed well and the blocking is terrible. IRL, option teams are a major PITA for defenses, in the NCAA series they're virtually a Bye Week.
    1. Rudy's Avatar
      Rudy -
      I agree. The shotgun running game and the option particularly don't work as well and the cpu sucks at running them. Isn't there a way to tune these?

      I totally agree about the defensive playbooks. I'd love to have more control over the DL stunts. I'd also love to see an improvement in the 3-3-5 as well. There aren't enough zone plays that blitz a 4th or even a 5th player. I could say the same for man. I like to call the Cover 1 man (with two of the three LBs in zone) and hot route one of the zone LBs to blitz. They don't have any 1-2 man blitz packages out of that formation iirc.

      I'd also like to see more fake blitzes and perhaps more control over that. Would it be possible to hot route a LB to fake blitz? That would be cool.

      For me I'd rather see better cpu execution of plays and less plays overall than dumb cpu AI (running the option with slow QBs, poor execution of shotgun runs, etc) and lots of plays.
    1. JeffHCross's Avatar
      JeffHCross -
      Quote Originally Posted by steelerfan View Post
      My biggest hopes for 12 would be that the defensive books will be overhauled (hopefully helping to balance the game and also improving CPU defensive playcalling in the process).
      This. Oh, and this. And yes, this again.

      I don't think the shotgun running problems are problems with the plays themselves. For whatever reason, shotgun running just didn't get the boost this year that we expected it to from the enhanced blocking.

      I do think there needs to be some kind of "success factor" for CPU teams to call plays. Historically, though to a lesser extent this season, they call plays that just do not work, and they do so repeatedly. Most frustrating is that there are times where the CPU will straight-up gash me (most often on 3rd down or late in the game), yet for the majority of the game they've never had repeated success. Why are they so good at some points and so bad at others?
    1. CLW's Avatar
      CLW -
      I agree the offensive playbooks are pretty nice. However, the defensive playbooks need a major overhaul. Here is to hoping 120 ways to win next year include defensive specific playbooks/plays.
    1. morsdraconis's Avatar
      morsdraconis -
      Having been going through the playbooks for a formation audible project I've been working on, I have to disagree about the offensive playbooks being pretty nice. They're ok, at best. There are still so many formations that are incomplete (missing some type of outside run or basically ANY passing concepts at all) or the formation is broken because half of the formation is one lineup and the other one is another lineup, making formation audibles basically impossible to use without the other player knowing that you changed the play. I mean, when you have some formations that have the slot receiver taking a step back by just changing the play (no difference to the formation at all) there are some issues.

      That said, defensive playbooks are simply awful, but, sadly, I don't expect them to do anything to them anytime soon. These football games will always be offensive shootouts if the two players have any semblance of knowledge of how to run an offense.
    1. Rudy's Avatar
      Rudy -
      Forgive my ignorance but I'd like to see more read-option runs. It seems to me that all the Read Option/Zone Read runs are the QB running outside in one direction and the RB going outside in the other direction. I'd like to see some read option plays where the HB goes straight up the gut and the QB still heads in the same direction as the RB fake to the wide side. Also, some option runs with the QB designed to go straight up the middle and not outside after faking an outside handoff seem to be missing.
    1. JeffHCross's Avatar
      JeffHCross -
      I find it curious that BYU has the "BYU Split" formation, yet isn't listed on this list.
    1. Solidice's Avatar
      Solidice -
      Quote Originally Posted by JeffHCross View Post
      I find it curious that BYU has the "BYU Split" formation, yet isn't listed on this list.
      isn't the list more of specific plays rather than formations? BYU split is basically Shotgun Split Twins with the TE standing up about a yard off the tackle. I don't think any plays are specific to them(at least none are named after them that I can remember).

      Texas Tech has the 'Stick' play in Ace - Big. I haven't seen another playbook with it, although I haven't check them all. not really a team specific play since Tech doesn't even run that formation.
    1. JeffHCross's Avatar
      JeffHCross -
      Quote Originally Posted by Solidice View Post
      isn't the list more of specific plays rather than formations? BYU split is basically Shotgun Split Twins with the TE standing up about a yard off the tackle. I don't think any plays are specific to them(at least none are named after them that I can remember).
      Well, that was half of my point. I'm confused why they would have their own formation, yet not have anything team specific in it. I understand why that is with the Wildcat plays, but when it's an otherwise generic Shotgun formation ... that seemed strange.
    1. Gator3guy's Avatar
      Gator3guy -
      Quote Originally Posted by Rudy View Post
      Forgive my ignorance but I'd like to see more read-option runs. It seems to me that all the Read Option/Zone Read runs are the QB running outside in one direction and the RB going outside in the other direction. I'd like to see some read option plays where the HB goes straight up the gut and the QB still heads in the same direction as the RB fake to the wide side. Also, some option runs with the QB designed to go straight up the middle and not outside after faking an outside handoff seem to be missing.
      Agreed, they took a step in the right direction this year, but they still have a ways to go. The animation needs to be re-hauled. It's currently too slow and the play takes too long to develop. With guys like Denard Robinson, Taylor Martinez, and Cam Newton running the spread option to glory, this needs to be fixed for next year. I would love for someday to be able to run this offense against an opponent.
    1. AustinWolv's Avatar
      AustinWolv -
      To build upon that, Rudy is right. Need the midline read plays included.
    1. Rudy's Avatar
      Rudy -
      Michigan doesn't have any of those midline plays but the Oregon playbook does have a read option with the HB going up the gut out of the Offset formation. I'm going to have to try the Miss. St. playbook to see what that one offers.

      I agree with Gatorguy about the speed of the play. The zone read unfolds too slowly and it allows the DL to get off blocks too often and blow it up. The other option plays work pretty well imo but the read option is the worst one because of the delay. I wish they could tune the blocking to hold a little longer to make up for the delay.
    1. JeffHCross's Avatar
      JeffHCross -
      Quote Originally Posted by Rudy View Post
      allows the DL to get off blocks too often and blow it up.
      This is one of the few problems I see in the running game as a whole. It affects all aspects of the run, but particularly the Spread Option and the Triple Option games. Too many instances where the DL makes one move and blows up the play. Not enough leverage for the offensive line in run blocking.
    1. morsdraconis's Avatar
      morsdraconis -
      Quote Originally Posted by Rudy View Post
      Michigan doesn't have any of those midline plays but the Oregon playbook does have a read option with the HB going up the gut out of the Offset formation. I'm going to have to try the Miss. St. playbook to see what that one offers.
      I did a breakdown of it over at Utopia a few months back, but, basically, your best choices for the up the gut Read Option plays are these three playbooks:

      Miss State
      UL-Monroe (personally, my favorite and a real gem that not many people know about)
      Auburn
    1. Rudy's Avatar
      Rudy -
      I am going to have to try Miss State now. My RB is more power than speed. But it will have to wait until after the OSU game. I can't change playbooks this late when I'm 10-1 and ranked #3.
    1. AustinWolv's Avatar
      AustinWolv -
      I switched to the MISS ST playbook just within the past week and have played with it for a couple games. I think you'll like the power aspect a bit more, especially from the QB runs. There is a HB dive that is friggin' sweet out of one of the sets (I'd have to look) that often has a sweet cutback lane.