i played the demo without reading any reviews here, at all, then played the demo some more AFTER reading some of the responses here...

from a "coaching" standpoint...

OFFENSE
* blocking obviously is great
* little glitchy on a few of the options (i expect this to be fixed in retail)
* passing game is more realistic as far as bullet vs lob and the accuracy that comes along with them
* good explosion from the RB's when you do hit speed burst once you find the hole

DEFENSE
* on PS3 i can get great pressure with 4-5 (havent had the problem some have had here)
* only time i see a problem with deep coverage is when my DB's face a vertical route inside and a corner route on the outside
* good flow to run plays to give good support, and i PURPOSELY scrambled my butt off with pryor and saw no problems with pursuit

there are tons of other things i saw, but i do think some DAI will need to be tuned pretty seriously so that FS's in that cover 3 situation will flow to help out so that CB's dont sit on someone having to pick from a 1 on 2 situation... im assuming some awareness tweaking could fix this problem easily...

i think the speed/acceleration is spot on, and does not/will not "rule" in NCAA 11, its all fluid, and for the FIRST TIME the game/field feels "crowded" during the play as it does in real life in college ball... that crowded feeling FINALLY comes from a great balance of GOOD BLOCKING mixed with GOOD penetration... the blitz now scrapes correctly when the blitzer recognizes run away from him...

man coverage (with time) still tends to give up the meshes and crosses a tad too easy, but the whole reason for those routes exist for these coverages anyways, so really no complaints... and they can be covered easily if you switch and cut in front of the route, but you better be sure otherwise its automatic 6 for CPU (and eventually user)... but the corner routes vs man are much better covered...

i did see the locomotion REALLY take over on defense when i TRIED to turbo blitz, which from what i can tell is completely out now... i tried, and tried, and tried, and tried, and tried to get a rocket catch off on a deep vertical, but being the demo, im not sure if its just removed altogether or animations out, or just left out or what... but i couldnt even come close to ANYTHING that looked like a rocket catch like you could still do from last year... on the deep ball you really have to have a step on someone, and with saying that the DB's do better vs the pump fake than in NCAA 10...

the near to true life midline out of the pistol in the MIZZOU book is nifty, cant wait to use it with a real option/mobile QB though, as i cant tell if its the slower QB, the glitchy option delay thats in the demo, or if its just going to be a wasted play b/c it wont animate correctly, but i do like the idea in theory... along with a lot of the changes in the books, even on plays that were in last year, being able to run some of this stuff is just awesome with great blocking... even if im only gaining maybe 3 yards... still nice...

the speed option from ACE BIG doesnt work like it did in NCAA 10, you can still read it, but the automatic 4-6 yards doesnt happen anymore... i do like how they actually account for the DE on load options, forcing you to read the first LB/OLB/SS thats forcing the alley... GREAT STUFF THERE!!! (big thumbs up from a coaching stand point) the pitch is a tad off on timing, as i find myself sometimes hitting it 2-3 sometimes 4 times before it will actually pitch the ball... aggravating... really sucks...

back to defensive coverage on zones though, i LOVE that the underneath guys dont "hug" to people crossing their zones like they do in NCAA 10, no LB has eyes in the back of his head... so i dont see why they would have eyes in the back of their head on the game... i never liked the whole running backwards and sideways while you sat still in the pocket to only sit right in front of someone on a deep curl that they never "saw" the whole play...

the one thing that sums everything up for me on the NCAA 11 demo is this... "PLAY CALLING"

those zones will be exploited if they are stretched correctly, man will be beat without a good blitz to accompany it... the run game will actually help you with setting up the PAP, so now we can actually open the game up from the offensive side... on the defensive side though, a needed tweak to the awareness will help out with some of this deep ball conversation... but if you are going to blitz, again, PLAY CALLING, YOU BETTER BRING NUMBERS... blitzing 6-7 on NCAA 11 demo with the FIXED blocking, is like sending 4-5 on NCAA 10 game...

i am EXTREMELY satisfied with the demo, as its only a demo, and i have absolutely no concerns, especially with the way they have responded so far in the builds to our feedback, and with the talk about certain things now, they will follow suit and tweak as we see needed to ensure the best game play experience...

"E"