Adding Play Action: PA Power O

Play Action Fakes in NCAA 12

Play Action passing was broken in previous versions of the game, but was a major improvement EA made to the franchise with NCAA 12.  Play Action still works in NCAA 13, but it appears to have been toned down and now defenses will cover the middle attacking route better.  Still good, just not as automatic a play now.

This is the play action pass that is linked to and set up by the core Power O rushing play from the base I formation.  The first thing that you need to know about play action passing in NCAA 12 is that every single play action fake in the game is one of two types: A fakes or B fakes, using the terminology from the Top Gun QB Academy.

The A Fake is the full play action fake that most people think of:

An A fake is one where you want to do the best job fooling the defense. The A fake is the one where you want to get the back tackled; you want it to be a great fake (Figure 7-1). You want this action to appear identical to the run in every way until the last tenth of a second...

As he then moves to the faking back, the ball will stay at that level.  The quarterback will locate the faking back and should look at the back’s midsection – the area where he must place the football. He will then extend the ball with both hands to the back so that it is directly in front of him, clearly showing an exchange is imminent.

Now, as the ball is being pulled back to the quarterback’s body with the off hand, the arm normally used to give the ball to the running back must be allowed to swing away, as it would if the quarterback had actually given the ball to the faking back. At the same time, the quarterback will take a peak at the back of that hand as his arm swings away in the same direction as the running back; this completes the fake.

The B Fake is a quick move that is a bit more than a token fake, but is only used in NCAA 12 on rollout PA fakes:

The B fake is a little different in that you still want to deceive the defense, but you are a little less concerned with hiding the ball for a sustained time period. You want to show the ball to the defense and bait them into flowing to where they think the play is going, then peel off and go the other way (Figure 7-3)...

A good example of this would be a play where you want the defense to think you are running an outside stretch play to one side of the field, and then reverse out of that, and throw to the other side of the field (Figure 7-4).

That type of fake is used on the paired play action PA Comeback Slide, which is a play action pass set up by a strong side RB Stretch play.  The run play goes strongside, but the pass play has the main action flowing to the weakside.

The third type of play action described by Top Gun is the C Fake, which is a really quick flash of the ball to make a particular defender hesitate and open a passing lane briefly.  This is the token play fake that you sometimes see good quarterbacks using on quick passes.

The reason you want to know about this is because the A Fake and B Fake play action involve the QB turning his back to the defense and executing a full handoff motion - this is very time consuming, and requires the QB to pull the ball back and set to throw.  If the defense is blitzing in NCAA, the defensive linemen and blitzers do not react to the play fakes at all - you will get sacked because there is no time to even throw the ball away or pull it down to run.  The animation for the play action simply takes too long.  Therefore, if you think the defense is blitzing, audible out of a play action pass immediately.

That said, let's consider PA Power O, one of the most reliable medium distance pass plays you can run against anything other than a blitz.

Opening up the Tight End

Dennis Hamby, a high school coach from California, wrote an article in the December 1997 Coach and Athletic Director magazine that describes exactly the PA Power O play in NCAA 12.  Nearly every element is identical:

1.  A full play fake with the tailback.

Because we used the fullback as a receiver in the Power Pass, the end man on the line was left unblocked. This defender had to either tackle the tailback or be blocked by him. In either case, a good play-fake made the tailback's job easier.

The tailback can be used to run the flat route, which, as in the ran play, makes the fullback responsible for blocking the defensive perimeter. This adjustment can alter the play significantly, however, as sound play-action will compromise the tailback's ability to get into his route cleanly.

2. FB runs a decoy route to hold the flat coverage.

The second crucial clement to the play's success is the spacing among the three play-side receivers. The fullback must occupy the flat coverage. He must clear the line cleanly and run a flat route at exactly five yards.

If the route is run short, the flat defender can void the zone and elevate to the "out" being run on top of the fullback by the tight end. If the fullback's route is run at more than five yards, the flat zone will never be threatened and the defender can simply stay on top and effectively take away both the fullback and the tight end.

Though the fullback is rarely thrown to with Power Pass, his importance cannot be overemphasized and he should be "coached up" for taking pride in doing exactly what is expected of him.

3.  The playside Flanker goes vertical to hold the deep coverage.

The widest play-side receiver runs a "go" or "fade" route to occupy the deep outside coverage. There is nothing spectacular about the route. The wide receiver must get a clean release and pressure deep and outside. Like the fullback, the flanker rarely receives the ball, but again, pride in execution makes the play effective.

4.  The backside SE comes across the field to hold the centerfielder.

The single backside receiver runs a basic post route. A "throwback" is an effective way to get the ball to this player against a safety who tends to vacate the middle third with the run fake or who does not "squeeze the post". A "throwback" route should attack the backside zone more quickly than the receiver's standard post route.

Now look at the play diagram:



5.  The other three routes are all designed to get the TE open along the frontside sideline, which will be essentially 100% of the throws on this play.

The tight end is the primary receiver on the Power Pass. He makes his initial move as if blocking the run play, but getting into his route is the principal concern. He must never bury his head or get tied up with the defensive lineman. He must step inside for a count or two, as if doubling with the tackle; release, working to regain his width immediately, and drive up field eight to 10 yards.

At that point, the tight end breaks to the outside, and looks for a hole in the zone to sit in and runs away from any LB covering him in man to man. 

This is very close to the hole in Cover 2 that Ron Jaworski identified to Tim Layden in Blood, Sweat, and Chalk on p.180:  "'There's a sweet spot against the Tampa Two,' Jaworski said in 2006, 'Eighteen or 19 yards on the sideline.  But any less than 18, 19 yards, and the receiver is still jammed; and, any more, and the receiver is in the hospital because the safety came over to hit him.  And it takes a great throw.'"  That is basically the same spot your TE is running into, using the FB to hold the CB and the FL to hold the S if the defense is in Cover 2, breaking open away from the LB as he exits that underneath zone.

EA actually put up a video of this that didn't suck:



Waiting for the TE to Break Open

Now for some shots of this in action.  Here are two examples from the Poinsettia Bowl at the end of the first season as Hawaii on Heisman against Air Force.  The first play is I Right PA Power O versus 3-4 Cover 3:



Against this defense, we have the TE getting ridden up the field by the SILB in front of him until he reaches zone depth.  At that point, when the TE breaks to the sideline, the LB is passing responsibility out of his zone, but there won't be anyone left to pick up the TE: the SOLB is in the flat taking away the FB while the LCB is dropping to his deep zone with the FL.  All of the SILB's outside help is occupied by the flooding of that side of the field with three routes:



At the play fake execution, you can see the coverage dropping and no extra blizters - the routes are allowed to develop and right now the player's eyes move to the TE to see when he gets open.  The SILB is on him, so we need to wait for him to make his break and get separation:



Following the A fake, the quarterback pulls the ball down and turns to look.  The safety playing the deep middle third of the field is held by the crossing route - if he moves up to the TE, the backside crossing route is open for a touchdown.  The correct play by the safety is to stay relatively deep to make sure he doesn't surrender the TD.  That leaves the TE open on the sideline with a clear throwing lane to the receiver for an easy 15-20 yard pickup.





Remember that hole in Cover 2?  Here we have Cover 2 out of a 3-4 alignment:



In the next picture, you see the same TE breaking to the outside in front of the deep outside guy running with the flanker.  The MLB is stuck in the center of the field against the crossing route, and the deep backside safety is also stuck taking that away.  Meanwhile on the frontside, the SILB is too shallow and outside while the RCB is pinned in the flat by the FB arrow route.