I feel like the option timing is broken this year. It's especially broken when you are under center. If you try running veer triple option, there is absolutely no time to make an actual read and you can not pull with the QB consistently.
I have even felt the rpo reads are way too quick this year.
I've continued to play the game running the under-center triple option against various defenses. It's not just the improper play design of some of the plays (from an assignment/blocking point of view), but the very controls themselves make it impossible to execute the play with any consistency. For example, to pull the ball from the dive back with any semblance of consistency, I must press and release "A" before fully reading the Read-Key. Even then I end up handing the ball off an annoying number of times because the controls just don't seem to respond properly.
Assuming that I do manage to pull the ball while essentially guessing the right read, I find that the controls are once again incredibly sluggish on the pitch (even if I simply tap the "LB" button). I've noticed that even on the "quick pitch", the animation does not release the ball until well after I have released the "LB" button. That means if the pitch key crashes hard on the QB, I frequently cannot get the pitch off EVEN IF I tap and release the "LB" button before contact. And if you actually hold the LB button to make a "more accurate pitch"? Well...good luck on that! The animation is so slow (and the computer anticipates your action so well) that nearby defenders will be able to cover both you and the pitch man...frequently obliterating any chance of success (even against bad defenses).
There needs to be a serious revisiting and upgrade of this offensive system. Despite recent trends in football, the game is highly cyclical. Simply ignoring this system because the current game has been overshadowed by the flag-footballers isn't cool. You don't need to buff the flexbone to make it unrealistically good, but at least have the blocking assignments, fullback(B-back) running tracks, and triple-option controls set to competent level.
The mesh is awful and the pitch relations are too close. A lot of times they end up as a pass.
There are several issues with the standard, under-center triple option. For starters, the B-back (fullback) does not run the right track. In NCAA 27 his path is ran between the center and guard. To make matters worse, the blocking assignments in the A (and B-gaps) are not accurate either. In NCAA 27, the guard solo blocks the DT over him in a 4-3 defense. In the case of a 3-man defensive-front, the guard does not double-team the nose, but either fans out to the DT outside him (or goes for a linebacker). The bottom line is that the standard triple option reads the first defensive lineman OUTSIDE the playside guard, while double-teaming (or combo-blocking) any defensive lineman over the guard (or inside him).
So, in a nutshell, NCAA 27 forces the QB to read a solo-BLOCKED defender (sometimes TWO solo-BLOCKED defenders) in the A-gap when making the dive read. This is anti-thetical to philosophy of the play, because 1) you should only read an unblocked defender, and 2) the offense cannot reasonably guarantee that the defensive lineman inside of the read-key is neutralized via a double-team (combo) block. The QB is basically just guessing as to when he should hand off. as he cannot possibly read this mess with any consistency. In many cases the defensive lineman over the guard can simply blow up the mesh between the QB and fullback (effectively tackling both). In real life, this defensive lineman would be the target of a double-team (combo block), thus making it almost impossible for this to happen.
And don't even get me started on the pitch-key issues...
As much as the option is a part of college football, you'd think they would make sure they got it right, but it's been garbage since the game came back.
