College Football 25 Playbook Guide

Preface

Thank you for buying this playbook guide. The amount of work put into this guide and its contents is insane. I hope this provides you with as much info as possible so you can enjoy this game even more. Make sure you use the Table of Contents along with the “Scroll to Top” button in the bottom right as this guide is huge. This is an evergrowing guide so more content and value will be added to it over time.

Lastly, out of respect for all the hard work put into this, I simply ask you do not share this guide with anyone. Thank you so much!

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Files

Below are all the files I have for CFB 25 so far. This folder comes from the Vault. Here, you can view and download all playbooks and cheat sheets. These will be helpful as you navigate the rest of this guide.

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Play Database

I have to mention this site: CFB.fan. They have a great play database where you can search playbooks and plays. I use it all the time, and you should too.

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Tier Lists

These lists can help you decide which playbooks to use.

Team Playbooks by Style

EA labeled most of these correctly, but I moved some around so they make more sense like the Cal playbook.

I Form Plays

Pistol Plays

Singleback Plays

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Tables & Charts

Team Playbooks by Style

Use this info with caution. Some team playbooks are assigned to a certain style in Dynasty Mode but don’t really reflect that scheme. For example on offense, Cal’s playbook is supposedly Veer & Shoot but I mostly see Spread Option concepts, hardly any VnS flare. Assigned defensive playbooks may be different in Practice Mode compared to Dynasty Mode. Hopefully EA will patch all of this.

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Formations & Sets

Use these tables to see which playbooks have the most of certain types of formations and sets for offense and defense.

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Playbooks & Schemes

There are over 150 offensive and defensive playbooks in CFB 25. It can be hard to figure out which playbook has what. Between all the files & info above and everything below, this task won’t be as daunting. It’s best to look at playbooks as schemes, playbook styles if you will. This section will be organized as such. For example, if you want to learn more about the Veer & Shoot offense, go to that section to find whatever I have on that scheme. 

A word of caution, expect 99% of what I have below geared towards offense. That’s what I love the most and know more about. However, I do have cheat sheets for all nine main defensive playbooks in the game. See the Files section above.

And as I mentioned earlier about playbook styles, just because EA labels a playbook a certain style, doesn’t mean it’s correct. The so-called Cal Veer & Shoot playbook is actually more Spread Option based so expect that one to be covered in the Spread Option section. Also, expect to see some playbooks under multiple schemes.

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Air Raid

One of my favorite schemes, the Air Raid is the West Coast offense but from Gun formations while using more wide receivers. That’s it. The scheme was derived from the West Coast by Hal Mumme and the late Mike Leach. They wanted a simplified passing attack with more spread elements in mind.

This is a passing offense so the main passing concepts I would focus on are Mesh, Slot/Y Cross, Smash, Shallow Cross, Stick, Verticals, and basic screens. You can keep your run game simple by focusing on Inside Zone, Outside Zone, Draw, and Read Option if you’re QB can handle it. The Air Raid playbooks have a ton of other stuff in them, but initially sticking to the concepts above will get you started.

The Air Raid playbooks in this game offer a wide variety of ways to use the main concepts I just mentioned. I suggest you watch my Air Raid Playbook Breakdown first before watching the individual playbook videos. I do not have videos on every Air Raid playbook, but there should be enough here to get a great idea of what they are all about.

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Multiple

Playbooks labeled “multiple” in this game are very much that. They have a little bit of everything. Some playbooks may look Spread with mostly Gun formations but might be called Pistol. Either way, these playbooks provide a little variety in what you want to accomplish offensively so pay special attention to the videos below to get an idea of what some of them contain.

The best way to look at these are playbooks that will look either Spread or Pro Style, maybe a mix of both, with perhaps some Option and Pistol too, maybe 🤣. I will have some of these videos in other scheme sections too which will help. “Multiple” is such a broad term as you can make these playbooks whatever you want them to be, but these videos will help clarify some of them at least.

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Option

EA keeps it simple in what they define as an Option playbook so I will stick with that too. These playbooks mainly focus on old-school option schemes. The Flexbone offense will be a main theme here. The cool thing is what few playbooks are listed as Option will have other types of option concepts too. Air Force, Army, Navy, and the Option Alternate playbook are the only playbooks labeled as such. I suggest you watch the summary video first then the individual playbook videos after that. 

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Pistol

Playbooks under the Pistol name may not be what you think they are. Yes, there are plenty of Pistol formations and plays in the game, but any playbooks labeled as such may have just as many Gun formations. The Pistol Alternate and Kennesaw State playbooks are the closest pure Pistol playbooks in the game if all you want is Pistol. The other playbooks still have plenty of Pistol stuff to enjoy.

I always view the Pistol offense as a Pro Style attack. The only difference is you’re moving the QB away from the Center a few yards. Most of the Pistol plays have that Pro feel with tons of basic runs and play action. Thankfully, there are plenty of option, jet sweeps, and RPOs to go around too. You can run whatever you want from Pistol which is why you see many Multiple playbooks with Pistol formations in them. At any rate, the videos below should help you figure out the type of Pistol playbook you need.

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Pro Style

When I think Pro Style, I think about my QB under center, running the ball, play action off of those runs, and a wide variety of dropbacks to boot. NFL offenses obviously come to mind. Most of the Pro Style playbooks labeled by EA fit that narrative, but there are some that have mostly Gun formations which makes them look more Spread like Georgia and Texas.

Regardless, if you need more under-center formations or none at all, being able to run the ball, play action, screens, RPOs, and just have a great modern attack, look no further than these playbooks. Definitely watch the “By the Numbers” video first as it provides a great summary of all Pro Style playbooks before diving into each one separately.

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Run and Shoot

The good ole Run and Shoot, one of my favorite passing attacks. The RNS has been around for such a long time. Going 4-wide and throwing deep to a bunch of option routes is what this scheme is all about. The one caveat to the RNS are option routes in general. Option routes are not the easiest things to use. You hope that option route in the slot will run a Post against Cover 2, but that is not always a guarantee.

Thankfully, you do not need to use plays with option routes as there are many RNS pass plays with basic/classic routes in them. There are not many RNS playbooks in the game. the RNS Alternate, Hawaii, Colorado, and San Jose State carry the most RNS formations and plays. Watch the WR video first and the rest of the other playbooks will make more sense.

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Spread

Prehaps the most popular scheme in the game is the Spread. Most of these playbooks will have mostly Gun formations. However, when it comes to concepts, it can be all over the place. Run heavy, pass happy, option, and everything in between can be found here. What makes it more compelling is that many of the playbooks under the previous schemes we have covered could be considered Spread as well. There are so many playbooks that center around Gun formations so don’t feel like the ones below and listed in the tables above are all that’s available.

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Spread Option

For those who need a ton of option concepts from Spread/Gun sets, this is the best collection of playbooks for that. Yes, practically every playbook in the game that has Gun formations will have at least one Read Option. The playbooks below will go to the extreme, especially with Triple Option plays. Some of these playbooks are labeled oddly like Cal and NC State. They might labeled Veer and Shoot & Air Raid, but they are nothing close to those.

I would watch the summary video first and then dive into the individual playbooks after that. You will be surprised at what you will find in some of them. I also included my Urban Meyer custom playbook, the man who made Spread Option popular. Don’t forget, many of the Option playbooks mentioned above have some Spread Option concepts too.

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Veer and Shoot

Do you need more balance in your Run and Shoot offense? Do you want to go as fast as possible? Do you want to spread out the defense to the fullest with Wide formations? The Veer and Shoot has all of this and has become a trendy offense in the last ten years. Art Briles created the offense and dominated with it at Baylor. Now, several teams either run the full scheme like Tennessee are use parts of it like Ole Miss.

Some people have a hard time with the camera when using this scheme due to how wide the formations are and not being able to see everything. Using the Coach Cam or one of the broader camera angles fixes that. Either way, there are plenty of VNS playbooks to choose from. Most carry the core formations and concepts regardless.

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Custom Playbooks

In-game playbooks are great. They’re set up and ready to use out of the gate. But sometimes you need certain things in your playbook that no default playbook has. This is where custom playbooks come in. Use this feature to create the exact playbook you want. EA did a decent job with this feature although it’s missing a few basic things like not allowing us to reorder our formations and plays. Hopefully this will be fixed in the next game. Watch my custom playbook guide first. Maybe some of my own custom playbooks have exactly what you need.

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Summary

I want to end this guide with a list of my favorite playbooks based on variety of formations, concepts, play types, etc. It’s not always easy finding oddball schemes among the 150+ playbooks in this game so hopefully this list will help. Below that are all my summary videos.

• Best Modern Pro – Michigan
• Favorite Air Raid – Air Raid Alternate
• Favorite One Back – Utah
• Favorite Pro Style – Michigan State
• Most Jet Sweeps – Kentucky, Washington
• Most Motion – Georgia
• Most RPOs – Texas
• Simple Run and Shoot – Colorado
• Slow Mesh RPOs – Wake Forest
• Split Backs (West Coast) – UNLV
• Worst Playbook – Spread Alternate