Chris Jacobs is an active participant in the gaming community. An admin at Utopia College Sports, he is also a member of numerous gaming websites under his screen name 'cdj.' A huge college sports fan, he spends a lot of time playing NCAA Football and NCAA Basketball, but also enjoys all types of video games. To keep up with cdj, follow him at twitter.com/cdj80

In this week's blog, we will cover some defensive terminology for relative newcomers to the NCAA Football franchise.  With NCAA Football 11 seeing the return of Formation Subs, understanding the coverage schemes will help all players learn what type of players to recruit and place into each specific formation.  In addition, learning the strengths and weaknesses of each coverage shell will help improve your play-calling on each side of the ball.

Today we will look at 'coverage shells' which refer to the responsibility and assignments for defensive backs.  Most exist in all base formations.  For example, you won't see any Cover 4 in 4-4 as there are only three defensive backs in that formation.  (You can audible/hot route to a Cover 4, but the fourth defensive back will be a linebacker and perhaps highly exploitable.)

Cover 0

This is a man-to-man alignment with each defensive back lined up against one receiver.  It is helpful when calling for blitzes as players can drop off of their assignment to go after the quarterback.  With a Cover 0, there is no safety back on the play so if a receiver beats his defender, there will be no help deep to break up the play or make a touchdown-saving tackle.

Cover 1

In this alignment, all defensive backs are lined up in man-to-man coverage on a receiver except for one.  Typically a safety, this player will be in zone coverage, guarding the middle of the field.  The biggest challenge with a Cover 1 is that the safety must cover a wide area of the field.  Offenses may counter a Cover 1 by having the two outside receivers go deep.  If they can get past their defenders who are in man coverage, the safety must decide which receiver to help cover.  This will leave one-on-one coverage on the other side of the field.

Cover 2

In a Cover 2 scheme, the free safety and strong safety play in deep pass coverage, each covering one half of the field.  A 'Cover 2 Man' defense means the other defensive backs and linebackers will be matched up one on one defensively.  'Cover 2 Zone' has the other defensive backs and linebackers dropping back into zone coverage.

One variation and a very common defensive scheme is the 'Tampa 2.'  In this scheme, another player (usually a linebacker) will drop into a zone in the middle of the field.

In a Cover 2, the cornerbacks are able to defend against the run, short passes, and deep passes knowing that they have help over the top from the two safeties.  Offenses will attack a Cover 2 between the safeties.  If the safeties move towards the sidelines to help cover fast wideouts, a tight end on a post route forces one of the safeties into making a quick decision.  Should he cover the middle of the field or help cover the wide receiver on the outside?

Cover 3

The Cover 3 has three players in zone coverage deep, the free safety and two cornerbacks.  The strong safety can then play more like a linebacker by moving closer to the line of scrimmage and go into pass coverage or blitz the quarterback.

A Cover 3 is susceptible to short outside passes as the cornerbacks are dropping into zone coverage. 

Cover 4

A Cover 4 utilizes four defensive backs in pass coverage, each guarding one-fourth of the deep zone.  This coverage is very effective versus deep passes and is utilized as a prevent defense at the end of a half or game.

When utilizing the Cover 4, your defense is very susceptible to the run and short pass, but has the goal of minimizing big plays and hoping the clock runs out before surrendering a score.

Conclusion

Hopefully learning about coverage shell terminology will help you to learn more about what type of defensive backs to recruit in order to fit your preferred system (and use in Formation Subs in NCAA Football 11), the advantages of each defense, and also its weakness - so you know how to attack this defense when playing your next foe.

Is there any football terminology that you are unsure of the meaning or would like to see it explained in NCAA Football?  If so, please leave a note in the comments!  Thanks for reading.

Interested in becoming an EA SPORTS Game Changer? Check out http://bit.ly/bdfJEB for more information! 

Damon Peterson is a veteran of the sports gaming community. He loves any sport in the virtual world and also the real thing. He has been active in the online community for many years and currently works on TheSportsGameGuy bringing up to date sports gaming news and thoughts to the community. Along with being involved with the active EA community Damon has also been awarded an Xbox MVP award the last three years and you can find him with the Gamertag MPDamon. Follow Damon on Twitter MPDamon

Kevin Harley is one of the most active members of the EA SPORTS Community. Kevin runs The Sports Game Guy with Damon Peterson. Kevin also serves as a Moderator on the EA SPORTS forums and can be found under his forum name Kev5890. For those of you on Twitter, you can follow and interact with Kevin under his Twitter name: @Kev5890

The Battle of the Sports Game Guy is a weekly matchup between The Sports Game Guy site admins Damon Peterson and Kevin Harley. Each week an EA SPORTS game will be played between the two eventually crowning a champ of the best overall Sports Gamer. After the matchup a full game HD video plus their thoughts will be posted. The games played can be strongly influenced by feedback from the community.

Damon's Take:

Going into this matchup I knew I had pulled an upset with our Madden Arcade Matchup and knew that Kevin had been playing more NBA LIVE than I getting ready for this matchup. The one problem I thought we may have was deciding on teams as we are both Chicago Bulls fans but Kevin informed me he was going to run with the Denver Nuggets. I knew going in that Carmelo Anthony was going to be tough to stop.

Kevin came out gunning as I knew he would draining a 3 at the start and then extending the lead to 7-0 before I even knew what hit me. I couldn't find an answer in the first half and the lead kept extending and I got more and more frustrated to the point that midway through the 3rd quarter I thought the game was pretty much over but all of a sudden in the 4th a few things happened that went my way and my focus came back. I decided to focus on defense and try to use Luol Deng to get some easy buckets driving to the basket.

As I pulled closer and closer in the 4th I started to get the feeling that I could pull this off and I knew Kevin was feeling the same way I was in the first 3/4's of the game (That nothing was going his way). A few key misses and some great offensive rebounding by my Bulls I was in the lead for the first time in the game with about a minute to go in the game. With another stop and a bucket I had a three point lead. I really thought at this point Kev should have fouled to give himself a little more time to cut into the lead with a possible missed free throw. He played good defense though and my shot missed giving him a chance to tie the game but it was a very long shot that missed its mark. Great game Kevin!

Let us know what you thought on the game and if you're an NBA LIVE player please give us your feedback on what went wrong and what went right throughout the game. Why did I fall in such a hole and how did Kev blow the lead in the 4th?

Kevin's Take:
Welcome back to the Battle of the Sports Game Guys! Damon and I didn't post a blog last week because of our difficult schedules. This week we are back and we played a great game of NBA LIVE 10.

Damon and I have only played NBA LIVE 10 once or twice against each other. Coming into this game I felt the most confident I have during the whole series.

The story of this game was definitely the shift of power during the 4th quarter. I ended up dominating most of the game but Damon owned the 4th quarter. As you can see in the video everyone went cold. I had a couple of open shots with Anthony and Billups, but nothing went in!

I had an opportunity to get the game into overtime but luck wasn't on my side. Unfortunately I can't seem to get a win, but I am sure I will win sooner or later!

Please make a suggestion for what game Damon and I should play next! I was thinking either FIFA 10 or NCAA Basketball 10.

Interested in becoming an EA SPORTS Game Changer? Check out http://bit.ly/bdfJEB for more information! 

Chris Jacobs is an active participant in the gaming community. An admin at ncaaStrategies.com, he is also a member of numerous gaming websites under his screen name 'cdj.' A huge college sports fan, he spends a lot of time playing NCAA Football and NCAA Basketball, but also enjoys all types of video games. To keep up with cdj, follow him at twitter.com/cdj80

In what I like to call the 'offseason' - the period of time where we get info on the next version of NCAA Football but are still playing the previous version - it is a good time to work on some specific aspects of the game that can be carried over to the next iteration.  One such area is passing routes & timing. In this blog, we will look at some of the keys to the passing game and for newcomers to the franchise; learn the terminology for passing routes.

Just like a quarterback in the offseason, working with receivers and perfecting the proper time to pass the pass on each route is pivotal in establishing an aerial attack.  Hitting a receiver in stride can be the difference between a completion and an interception, or the difference between a short-gain and a touchdown.

In order to work on the timing, I go into Practice Mode (Offense Only) and select different plays focusing on the routes I want to work on.

The two main keys to keep in mind:

- Try to hit the receiver in stride, meaning you may need to lead the ball with directional passing.  Hold/move the left stick in the direction you want the ball to go, typically slightly ahead of the receiver on most routes.  If your receiver has to stop, jump, or wait for the ball, you lose a valuable opportunity for yards after the catch.  On some routes, you may want to hold down the pass button to fire a quick pass. 

- On some routes (such as a comeback route), you will ideally want to pass the ball before the receiver has turned around.  Once you get the timing of the route down pat, the ball will hit his hands as soon as he turns around.  If the receiver has to stand and wait for the ball, that likely means a defender is standing and waiting for the ball as well.

Let's take a video look at some routes to learn the terminology.  For those new to NCAA Football, these may be terms you've seen on message boards and were unsure what they meant. 

Here is an excellent resource from The Football Times that I recommend to players of all levels to read and perhaps print out as a handy reference guide. 

This has been a crash course on the basics of the passing game.  If you have any questions or personal tips on how to improve the passing game, please leave them in the comments!

Interested in becoming an EA SPORTS Game Changer? Check out http://bit.ly/bdfJEB for more information! 

In just over a month since the launch of the EA SPORTS Game Changers program, we've received an unbelievable amount of applications from the community, and we thank you for your interest in making the EA SPORTS Community the best that it can be. Today we'd like to announce that 7 more community members have been added to the EA SPORTS Game Changers group, bringing the total number to 16.

While these guys are new to the EA SPORTS Game Changers program, they are long time members of the community that many of you already know. Here are their bios:

Raymond Goode aka Shopmaster is an avid gamer and a Madden Addict in every sense of the word. Shopmaster has been involved and active in the online community since 2003 and runs MyMaddenPad.com; a community dedicated to all Madden Ballers. He is also the Commissioner of a very unique league called Madden Wars (maddenwars.com) and has been running multiple seasons since 2003. You may have seen Shopmaster on Madden Nation Season 1. Shopmaster is a SIM baller by nature but understands the mindset of tourney ballers. You can keep up with Shopmaster on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Shopmaster

Dave Schultz is a life-long gamer and has been playing sports titles on Nintendo systems since 1988 (NES Ice Hockey anyone?). His main focus for the past few years, however, has been on the Tiger Woods PGA Tour series for the Wii. Dave began playing TW in 2008, and began writing about it in 2009, when online play was introduced and the community began to grow. He is a founding member of the WiiGA online league, where he currently serves as admin, and he is an active member of the EA TW forums, where he serves as moderator. Dave also owns the TW help site http://tigerwoodspgatour.com where he and some of the game's very best write help articles and post video tutorials to help out new and experienced Wii players with their games. You can find Dave playing online and on the forums under the name NoChinDeluxe, and you can feel free to send him messages with questions or comments at nochindeluxe@tigerwoodspgatour.com.

Steve Boraske is a huge hockey, football, and baseball fan who has been playing sports video games for as long as he can remember. His favorite EA SPORTS series is NHL, where he mostly plays versus as his Philadelphia Flyers and OTP with friends from home; however, he is also an active member of a Madden NFL 10 online franchise (Eagles), and likes playing FIFA 10 (Chelsea) against his school buddies as well. When he's not guiding his virtual teams on the ice, field, or pitch, Steve can be seen frequently on the EA SPORTS forums, where he serves as a moderator under the tag "LuGer33," and primarily works on the NHL, Madden, and EA SPORTS MMA message boards. Steve has also played ice hockey as a goalie for over a decade, most recently for his university club team at the ACHA Division II level. Contact him on Twitter (@LuGer33) or on the forums if you ever want to chat.

Tim Scott is a longtime gamer and self-confessed Tiger Woods golf fanatic. He has played EA Golf games since PGA TOUR Golf for the Sega Genesis. Tim has participated in at least 11 EA Sports beta tests including PGA TOUR Gold, TW99 through TW Online. Tim was the winner of the October 1999 EA Sports Internet TOUR in Las Vegas taking home $10,000. He has been a TW Forum Moderator since TW 2000 for PC. Beginning with the 2002 version of TW for PC, he was contracted by EA SPORTS to deliver website previews of upcoming TW games as well as deliver digital photography and videography from 6 of the courses that have appeared in all versions of TW PGA TOUR. Tim also conducted competitive analyses of other games for EA's Tiger Dev Teams for TW2002/2003. Tim has attended 3 Tiger Woods Community Day events at Tiburon Studios in Florida as well as a number of special events at EA Redwood Shores in the past.

Justin Patel is a well-known gamer amongst the Tiger Woods PGA Tour community on the PS3. Under the gamertag HANDSWARD, Justin has won many online events including prize events sponsored by Taylor Made, EA Sports, Upper Deck, ***'s Sporting Goods, and The Golf Channel. He has also attended a Tiger Woods Community Day event Tiburon Studios in Orlando, FL. He has always tried to help people improve their game. If you need any help with the game just message HANDSWARD on the EA Forums.

Michael Amspaugh is a 20 year old student at Ball State University. He has been playing the Tiger Woods series since 2003 and has been playing it online since 2005.  Michael has been a member of numerous leagues over the years and is currently a tournament director for the Tiger Woods golf series at The Games Village.  He has been found on the Live Tournament leaderboards almost every day of the week and also has around 2,000 online peer to peer games completed in 2010.   Michael has also attended the Tiger Woods Community Day at EA Tiburon for the Tiger Woods 2011 video game.  Michael loves contributing to the online community and giving tips and tricks to those who are in need.  You can add him on his PSN ID: cccgolfer08 or even follow him on his new twitter account @cccgolfer08

Brian "MOMOwheeler" Wilcox is a life-long gaming enthusiast and an advocate for friendly and ethical online gaming.  In 2003 he launched one of the first and most widely recognized forum communities dedicated to the Tiger Woods series, The Games Village.  In the years that followed Brian has made a huge splash in the Tiger Woods gaming community by hosting hundreds of online tournaments, has also appeared on G4TV, and was most recently a participant in the 2010 EA SPORTS Community Days for the Tiger Woods franchise.  Apart from his roll as an online gaming ambassador, Brian spends his days as an Operations & Applications Engineer and his nights playing Disc Golf and APA Pool.  Swing by The Games Village and give him a shout; whether it be for gaming advice, searching out a tournament, or just to say HI, the MOMOwheeler is always eager to chat it up with fellow ethical and friendly online gaming fanatics.

We also what to emphasize to those of you who applied and did not make it this time to continue to do what you've been doing in the community, and stay in constant contact with us. Continue to send us examples of the work that you are doing in the community to gamechangers@ea.com and make sure that we are aware of why you are an asset to the community. The EA SPORTS Game Changers program is going to continue to grow, so there will be numerous opportunities over the coming months to become a Game Changer. As a reminder, here's what you need to do to apply:

For those of you who are interested in becoming an EA SPORTS Game Changer, send your responses to the following questions along with your name in the community to gamechangers@ea.com for immediate consideration.

1.      Why do you want to be an EA SPORTS Game Changer?

2.      What would the EA SPORTS Game Changers program gain from having you as a member?

3.      What would the EA SPORTS Community gain from having you as a member of the EA SPORTS Game Changers program?

4.      What EA SPORTS games do you currently play?

5.      Is there anything else that you'd like us to consider when reviewing your application?

Thanks again to everyone who has applied, and congratulations to the newest EA SPORTS Game Changers.

Chris Jacobs is an active participant in the gaming community. An admin at ncaaStrategies.com, he is also a member of numerous gaming websites under his screen name 'cdj.' A huge college sports fan, he spends a lot of time playing NCAA Football and NCAA Basketball, but also enjoys all types of video games. To keep up with cdj, follow him at twitter.com/cdj80

The game-planning feature in NCAA Football 10 is a pretty powerful weapon with plenty of risk and reward. While it may be tempting to set all of the settings to 'Aggressive,' these items should primarily be used in specific situations and not for long periods of time.



The following are brief explanations of what each aspect does for the Defensive Game-Planning options and when you should change them.

Big Hits

Aggressive - Set to Aggressive, defenders will routinely go for big hits, leading to more fumbles and wearing down the opponent. However, it will also result in more missed tackles and big plays for your foe. This is best used when trailing late and needing a turnover.

Conservative - This will lead to fewer attempts at big hits which in turn means there will be less fumbles forced, however your defense will have less missed tackles. Use this setting if your team is missing a lot of tackles or if you are trying to hold onto a lead.

Strip Ball

Aggressive - This setting will have your defenders attempting to strong arm the ball on every tackle attempt, leading to more fumbles forced. It will also result in an increased number of facemask penalties. I recommend using this setting when trailing late and needing a turnover or randomly when the opponent has the ball deep in their own territory. This way, should you receive a facemask penalty; it will not put them into scoring position.

Conservative - The Conservative setting will see few (if any) facemask calls being made against your team; however there will also be fewer attempts at stripping the ball loose. This setting is best-used when trying to cut down on penalties or when holding onto a lead.

Zone Coverage

Aggressive - When set to Aggressive, you will see cornerbacks and safeties come up on the ball more in all zone defenses, contesting passes. While you will be in on more plays, there is a greater chance of getting beat deep. Again, this is another setting best used when trailing late. Also use this setting when your foe is in the red zone. You are less likely to get beat deep when there is limited space, so have your defenders tighter when foes are inside your 20-yard line.

Conservative - This setting will have your defensive backs drop back more on coverage to ensure they are not beat deep. This is best used when leading late in each half or on obvious passing situations, such as third down and long.

Defensive Line

Aggressive - By having your defensive line set to aggressive, the computer will attempt to Jump the Snap for you. This will help put pressure on the quarterback and increase penetration in the backfield. The drawback is that you are more likely to be called for an off-sides penalty.

Conservative - With this setting, your defensive line will not attempt to Jump the Snap unless controlled manually. This will also cut back on off-sides penalties by the CPU-controlled players.

Pass Defense

Aggressive - If you want your defensive backs to be more aggressive in going after interceptions, this is the setting for you. However, the drawback is that they will also give up more catches and yards should they miss on getting to the ball in time. This setting is best used when you trail and need to get the ball back late in the game.

Conservative - If you prefer a 'bend, but don't break' style of defense, this setting is for you. Defensive backs will find themselves in position to go for a swat rather than an interception that may move them out of position. This is also best suited if you are trying to protect a lead.

Option Defense

Play QB - This option works best when facing a human player whom you know prefers to use his mobile quarterback on the option - so much so that they are nearly predictable. If you run a defense where you manually control a defender on the pitch man, this setting will help the CPU defenders keep an eye on the QB.

Play Pitch Man - The opposite of the above setting, this is best used if you know your foe relies on the pitch man in his offensive attack. If you are playing against the computer and find yourself always in position to manually stop the quarterback on the option, using this game-planning setting will help the CPU step-up to key on the running back.

Conclusion

As you can see, each item in the Game-Planning feature is relatively high risk or reward, so use them for specific situations and not the entire the game.

In the comments below, post what type of defensive scheme you run and what settings you prefer to use!

Interested in becoming an EA SPORTS Game Changer? Check out http://bit.ly/bdfJEB for more information!