So, NCAA 25 finally dropped. Been waiting ages for this one, like everyone else. First thing I did, pretty much straight out of the box, wasn’t even jumping into a game. Nope. Had to dive right into the settings menu. Specifically, I was hunting for the option controls.
See, the option game, that’s my bread and butter. Or at least, I want it to be. If you can’t run the triple option smoothly, what’s the point, right? The default settings in these games… sometimes they just feel kinda floaty or unresponsive. Especially the pitch. That pitch mechanic is crucial.
Digging In
Found the controller settings easy enough. They laid it out pretty standard. But then I started looking at the specific options for running the option plays. You got sliders, button assignments, timing windows, stuff like that. Honestly, it felt a bit overwhelming at first glance. Looked kinda like the old setups but with some new labels I didn’t recognize immediately.
My main beef is always the pitch timing and control. When do you hold the button? When do you tap it? How sensitive is the damn thing? I remember in older games, sometimes you’d barely breathe on the button and the QB would just fling it wildly.
Trial and Error Time
So, I did what I always do. Fired up practice mode. Picked two teams, didn’t matter who, and just started running option plays. Over and over. Triple option left, triple option right, speed option, veer. You name it, I was running it.
- First few attempts? Disaster. QB kept it when I wanted to pitch.
- Then I’d pitch it straight into the defensive end crashing down.
- Or the pitch would be way too slow, sailing behind the running back.
Spent a good hour, maybe more, just in practice. Tweaking one setting, running ten plays. Didn’t feel right. Tweaked another setting, ran ten more. Changed the pitch button assignment completely at one point, thinking maybe my muscle memory was just shot. That didn’t help much either, just felt awkward.
It’s funny, you spend all this time just trying to get one specific part of the game feel right. Like tuning an old guitar. You pluck a string, sounds bad. Tighten it a bit, pluck again. Still off. Keep doing it until it sounds passable.
Getting Somewhere
Eventually, I landed on a setup that feels… manageable. It’s not perfect. Don’t think it’ll ever feel exactly like those classic PS2 era games, you know? Those felt second nature. This one still requires conscious thought, especially on the pitch read.
I dialed back the sensitivity for the pitch input quite a bit. Seemed like the default was registering phantom presses or something. Made the timing window feel a little more forgiving too, though I dunno if that setting actually does much. Maybe it’s placebo.
Point is, after a lot of fiddling, running the same damn play until my eyes glazed over, I got the option controls to a place where I don’t feel like throwing the controller immediately. It actually feels like I make the mistake now when the pitch goes wrong, not the game just doing random stuff. That’s progress, I guess.
If you’re big into running the option in NCAA 25, you gotta spend time in that settings menu. Don’t just roll with the default. Go into practice, run the plays, tweak things. What works for me might not work for you, but you definitely need to put in the reps messing with those sliders and buttons. Otherwise, you’ll just be blaming the game when your QB fumbles the pitch on a crucial 4th down.
