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College Football 26 Passing Plays and Strategies

Offense Guide

passing plays situation average result special setup playbook found in
PA Scissors Against Cover 3; most explosive one-play touchdown play Big gain; shreds Cover 3 Streak both wide receivers on left; motion delay post route toward sideline UCF (Gun Tight Open), Alabama
PA Verticals Against Cover 2, Cover 3, or Cover 4 Big gain or touchdown every single time Against Cover 2: Put Y on a streak; Against Cover 3/4: Put TE on a corner route Gun Bunch Tight End
Motion Wide Post Beats virtually every defense; effective against Cover 2/3/4 and Man One-play touchdown; big gain Trips on wide side; RB on a streak; uses cheat motion to the right Gun Trips Tight End Flex
PA Reed Effective bomb against Cover 3 and Cover 2 zones Easy touchdown; dominates man Bunch to wide side; if Cover 3, streak middle bunch receiver; add corner route for Cover 2 Bunch Offset
Deep Flood Against Cover 3 (One-play bomb) One-play touchdown; big play TE on corner route stemmed down; inside slot receiver on a streak; triangle receiver stemmed down Oregon Ducks (Gun Trio Y Flex)
Motion PA Flood Against Cover 4 Drop One-play touchdown Position on right hashmark; hot route outside receiver to 'Post Sit' UCF (Doubles Offset Weak)
All Go Cover 2 bomb; opponent has two deep safeties and corners 5 yards off line One-play score; big play Trips must be to the wide side of the field; middle trips receiver splits safeties Penn State (Why Off Trips), UCLA (Gun Bunch Quads Open)
Choice Stick Nod Against Cover 0 (Nickel 24 double mug mid blitz zero/Dime 23 over Storm) Touchdown; beats press man coverage Motion TE from slot on right toward the left; RB on a streak Gun Empty Base Flex
Shot Fade Cross Deep threat; particularly effective against Cover 2 One-play touchdown; big yardage Streak inside slot receiver; drag TE; flat-route the RB Pittsburgh Steelers (Tight Doubles)
Pistol Empty Trips Sprint Out Return Red Zone, Goal Line, 2-Point conversion Touchdown / 10 yards QB rollout (left for LH QBs); first read Zig route; second read Backside Dig; otherwise run QB sweep Air Force
Dash Halfback Flat Screen Field side or boundary (dual threat QB recommended) 10-20 yards or Touchdown Designed rollout; hold sprint to move outside; follow blockers Tulane
Dash Flood When Dash Wheel is covered 10+ yards or Touchdown Designed rollout; corner route from slot; tight end stays in to block Boise State, South Alabama, UCLA, Virginia
Dash Corner Up Against corner blitzes 15 yards or Touchdown Designed rollout; corner route breaks into 'up' route; dump to HB if edge is blitzed UTEP
Motion Mesh Post Against any Zone Coverage; also works against Man Explosive plays; big gains Trips to wide side; outside receiver on short side put on a streak; use cheap motion wheel Miami (Trips Y Slot)
Dash Wheel Attacking downfield on the move 5-yard dump off to TD Designed rollout; set feet (flick left stick opposite way) before throwing deep wheel route App State, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Marshall, San Jose State, West Virginia
Y Sail Multi-layered route for short to medium gains; beats all defenses 15-20 yard gain TE to wide side; drag slot receiver on non-TE side Doubles Flex Y Off Close
Clearout SE Out Swiss army knife for any offense; likely to be one of the most utilized in the game Long pass options and short tosses RB receiver on a streak; B receiver on a custom stem all the way down to a max corner route UCLA
Crossers (Shotgun Trips) Against Zone or Man coverage First Down / Big play with speed Read #1 receiver on crossing route; wait for him to clear; check deep posts if crossers are usered Miami
Slot Fade (Shotgun Bunch Quads Offset) Against safety coverage / Linebacker mismatches 10 yards to First Down Read Shock route (deep) first, then Tight End Post, then Drag; optional: move HB outside on streak Alabama, Oregon
Dash Slot Over Against pressure or poor offensive line First down or catch and run Designed rollout; running back on slide route is hot read; slot receiver runs over route Kansas, West Virginia
Streak X Shallow (Run and Shoot) Man coverage / Building off Crossers look 5-10 yards on Drag / Big gain on X route Take deeper drop; Slot man crosses then turns up field; Lead X route to the left Hawaii, Run and Shoot, San Jose State, Utah State
Motion Wheel (Shotgun Spread) Taking deep shots Big gain / Back pylon Touchdown Read wheel route (Gallagher); use air to push to back pylon; Zig route is hot read/checkdown Sam Houston State
Halfback Swing Screen Short yardage situation or stuck in the Red Zone Easy walk in touchdown Wait for blocks to set up UCLA (Gun Y Off Trips)
Single Back Ace Double Wing (Play Name Not Specified) Against Man Coverage; opponent spamming man defense Demolishes defense; unpressable routes First read is mini crosser; second is regular crosser; third is back end in route Not in source
Added March 07, 2026