To find glory in the College Football 26 field, you need to master its controls. Learning the ins and outs of offense and defense controls is crucial for dominating the field, whether in online play or against the CPU.
Our College Football 26 controls guide will help you take your game to the next level, making it easier to find success on Dynasty mode, Road to Glory, or the highly competitive College Ultimate Team mode.
College Football 26 Controls Guide
The College Football 26 controls are comprised of two categories, defense and offense, both equally important to find success in the game.
In the defense and offense categories, we have a total of 10 sub-categories, five for defense and offense. Each sub-category addresses an important part of the game, with some being more straightforward to master than others.
Our College Football 26 controls guide will explain what each sub-category refers to, how they impact the game, and the fastest and easiest way to master those controls.
Total understanding of the game controls is extremely important to become a true elite College Football 26 player, both online and offline. It makes the game more enjoyable to play, and if you are a natural-born competitor, it can help you reach the goals you have set for yourself in College Football 26.
College Football 26 Defense Controls
As the saying goes, "defense wins championships", and that's also true in College Football 26, regardless of the mode you play. If you can't hold your own on defense, then you will struggle a lot.
Being able to read your opponent's play, perform perfect time-based tackles, beat the OL to force a sack or a bad throw, and stop the running game on its tracks. This is what mastering the defense controls will allow you to do.
It can significantly help you on Ultimate Team, especially if you don't have an amazing defensive lineup, and make your job of building a College Football powerhouse in Dynasty mode much easier, as defense is the pillar of a successful football team.
As mentioned above, there are six defense sub-categories, which are: preplay, defensive engaged, defensive pursuit, defensive coverage, and blocking.
It's fundamental that you master all of them, as they complement each other, and all play a big role in the success of your defensive strategy.
Preplay Controls
In College Football 26, the pre-play controls allow you to change your defensive formation and can audibles, giving you the tools to quickly adapt to your opponents' offense.
Pre-play controls also let you call timeouts, switch players, see the hot route, check your defensive coverage, player abilities, lock into a specific player, and much more.
Defensive Engaged Controls
Command | Xbox | PlayStation |
|---|---|---|
Effort/Block Steer | RT | R2 |
Swat | Y | â–³ |
Switch Player | B | O |
Disengage | A | X |
Rip | Right Stick up | Right Stick up |
Bull Rush | Right Stick up and down | Right Stick up and down |
Club/Swim | Right Stick left and right | Right Stick left and right |
These are the controls you use when the ball has been snapped, and you want to switch players, contain to see where the QB might throw the ball, and attempt to swat or intercept a pass.
Defensive Pursuit Controls
Command | Xbox | PlayStation |
|---|---|---|
Defensive Crossover | LT | L2 |
Defensive Assist | LB | L1 |
Sprint | RT | R2 |
Strip Ball | RB | R1 |
Aggressive / Dive Tackle | X | â—» |
Switch Player | B | O |
Conservative Tackle | A | X |
Hit Stick | Right Stick up | Right Stick up |
Cut Stick | Right Stick down | Right Stick down |
Bull Rush | Right Stick flick | Right Stick flick |
While all defensive controls are important, the Defensive Pursuit controls might be the most important ones. They are the ones that allow you to tackle players in many different ways, sprint towards a receiver, strip the ball, and also rush the quarterback.
Defensive Coverage Controls
Command | Xbox | PlayStation |
|---|---|---|
Strafe | LT | L2 |
Defensive Assist | LB | L1 |
Switch Player | B | O |
Player Movement | Left Stick | Left Stick |
Press/Chuck Receiver | A + Left Stick | X + Left Stick |
Directional Player Switch | Right Stick (Flick) | Right Stick (Flick) |
The Defensive Coverage controls allow you to change your players' position in the field before the ball is snapped. After the snap, they let you move your players to cover passing routes, close running gaps, and make it harder for receivers to get separation from defenders.
Blocking Controls
Command | Xbox | PlayStation |
|---|---|---|
Player Movement/Block on Collision | Left Stick | Left Stick |
Switch Player | B | O |
Agressive Impact Block | Right Stick Up | Right Stick Up |
Agressive Cut Block | Right Stick down | Right Stick down |
As the name indicates, these controls allow you to block players in the line of scrimmage, which is crucial to stop the running game.
College Football 26 Offense Controls
While defense is incredibly important, it's impossible to win games without putting points on the scoreboard. You need to be able to score touchdowns, passing or running ones, as well as hitting field goals, in a consistent way.
If you are a master of the offense, like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, you will win plenty of games. In matches where your defensive play is not great, and might even be hurting you, a fantastic offense might just do the trick.
But to become one of the most brilliant offensive minds in College Football 26, or just get the ball to the end zone with consistency, you need to master the five offensive controls: ball carrier, passing, preplay, ball-in-the-air, and player locker receiver.
Ballcarrier Controls
Establishing the running game is a crucial part of College Football 26, and real-life football as well. This will open more passing options for you and make it harder for opponents to predict your next play.
Mastering the running games ensures you aren't a one-dimensional offensive player, which is very important. A great running game will make it easier to capture important first downs and massively improve your ability to convert on game-changing fourth downs.
The controls you can see above will help you run the football down your opponents' throats and score plenty of points in the process.
Passing Controls
Command | Xbox | PlayStation |
|---|---|---|
Free Form on Placement | LT | L2 |
High Pass Modifier | LB | L1 |
Scramble | Left Stick + RT | Left Stick + R2 |
Reiceiver 5 | RB | R1 |
Receiver 4 | Y | â–³ |
Receiver 3 | x |
â—» |
Receiver 2 | B |
O |
Receiver 1 | A | X |
Playmaker | Right Stick | Right Stick |
Throw Ball Away | Right Stick (press) | R3 |
Passing becomes more and more relevant with each passing year, as more teams have a bigger emphasis on the passing game than on the running game.
Hitting your receivers with a perfectly placed pass, deceiving opponents with a pump fake that is enough for your defender to get open, and performing a bullet pass to your wide-open TE to convert on a massive first down. All of this becomes second nature once you master the passing controls.
The passing controls allow you to choose the receiver you want to target, if you want to throw the ball way to avoid a sack, and if you want to scramble outside the pocket to give more time for your receivers to get open.
Preplay Controls
Preplay controls allow you to adjust your offense before the snap by calling a different play, changing receivers' routes, adjusting quarterback pass protection, seeing the hot route, and more.
Mastering these controls is crucial, as adjustments before the snap are very important and can be the difference between a massive play and an interception. Checking the defense formation and taking into account their recent play calls is important when making adjustments before the snap.
Ball in Air Controls
Command | Xbox | PlayStation |
|---|---|---|
Sprint | RT
| R2 |
Strafe | LT |
L2 |
Spectacular Catch Modifyer (Offense) | LB | L1 |
Agressive Catch (Offense) | Y | â–³ |
Ball Hawk (Defense) | Y | â–³ |
Rac (Offense) | X | â—» |
Swat (Defense) | X | â—» |
Siwtch Player | B | O |
Possession Catch (Offense) | A | X |
Play Receiver (defense) | A | X |
You can call these the catching controls, as they allow you to select the type of catch you want to make while the ball is in the air.
While the Ball in Air controls are on the offense sub-categories, they can also be used on defense, to swat passes, intercept passes, and make it harder for receivers to make the catch.
Player Locker Receiver Controls
Command | Xbox | PlayStation |
|---|---|---|
Individual Play-Art | LT | L2 |
Foofite | Hold LT | Hold L2 |
Cut Moves | LT + LS | L2 + LS |
Quick Cuts | LT + RT + LS | L2 + R2 + LS |
Player Lock | Left Stick (press two times) | Left Stick (press two times) |
Route Running/Move Player | Left Stick | Left Stick |
Call for Ball | A | X |
Hop | Right Stick UP + UP
Right Stick Left + Up
Right Stick Right | |
On The Line Change Up | Right Stick flick | Right Stick flick |
On The Line Foot Fire | Right Stick Hold | Right Stick Hold |
These controls allow you to lock into one of your defenders, and focus on the receiver he his marking. It can be great to stop a red-hot receiver, but it takes away control over the other players, and it limits your defensive impact.
In certain situations, it can be game-changing, but if used too much, opponents will notice it and abuse it by starting to target other players.
This is everything you need to know about the College Football 26 controls. We hope this guide answered all of your questions about the controls, and wish you good luck on the College Football field.
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