Passing in football games used to be an easy, if oversimplified, process; you hit the button for the player you’d like to pass to. If you held the button it was a bullet pass, if you tapped it, it was a lob. Football games have begun adding complexity and strategy to this mechanic, giving players more control over success and failure.

College Football 26might have refined this mechanic the most to-date, with multiple passing modes that give you a lot of control over how your passing game works, and how much individual influence you want over every single aspect of your throw.

The passing type options in College Football 26.

There are four passing modes in CFB 26:

There are also some settings below these that influence certain aspects of passing as well.

Classing Passing

Classic passing is the simplest, and the only option that was present in older games. Youpress the button that corresponds with your target, with a long-press for a bullet pass and a short press for a lob pass.

Your accuracy in this mode is almost entirely dependent on your Quarterback’s accuracy ratings.

A receiver catches a football on the right side of the field in College Football 26.

Placement

This is the same as Classic passing, with the added abilitycontrol the placement of the pass within a certain radius of the receiver. Lob passes are going to have a wider radius than a bullet pass, and deeper passes will have a wider radius than shorter passes.

Accuracy around where you choose to place the ball is still going to bedependent on your QB’s accuracy rating, but this gives you a lot of options for things like throwing back-shoulder throws, leading a receiver toward the sideline, and fitting your pass into smaller windows.

A receiver catches the ball near the right hashmark in College Football 26.

This can also backfire, as a poorly-placed pass can lead what would otherwise be an easy reception into an incompletion or an interception.

Placement And Accuracy

Placement and Accuracy keep the placement aspect of the last scheme, butadds a timing component, indicated by a bar over the Receiver. The longer you hold their icon, the more the bar is going to fill. You want to keep this bar out of the extreme ranges in most situations to keep it from being an inaccurate pass.

This passing style generally gives you the most control over your throw, but it has a lot of moving parts to keep in mind in a short period of time.

A receiver runs toward a ball near the left hashmark in College Football 26.

Revamped

Revamped passing is most similar to the Classic passing style, with an important distinction. This also has a bar that appears over a Receiver, andthis bar controls the throwing arc, power, and accuracy of the throw.(Though your QB’s rating has a play in this, as well.)

Keep this bar in the blue range, and the throw is usually going to be as accurate as it can be, particularly for QB’s with higher ratings. Push this into the red zone, and there’s a much higher chance of being an inaccurate pass.

A receiver catches a ball on a drag route in College Football 26.

This does not give you quite as much control over the pass as Placement does, but it will save you from yourself in situations where you would have misplaced the ball. It’s also a better indication of your QB’s actual attributes, as opposed to your personal skill level, making this a good one to use for Dynasty mode.

Which Passing Style Should You Choose?

The passing style that you choose isgoing to be dependent on what you’re looking to get out of the game. Each one is going to make a particular aspect shine, and be better for certain situations.

The Classic passing is going to be the most familiar to people, and the easiest to use. You can still have some extra control if you use the Passing Lead Increase setting, but you can’t sabotage a pass too terribly with this.

Placement/Placement and Accuracy give you the most personal control over the ball, and have the least amount of influence when it comes to QB attributes. Most of your success or failure is going to be in your hands, and this might be best when playing online, not when role-playing a team in Dynasty.

Revamped passing offers a nice mix of player ratings and personal control. At the end of the day, you and your QB both share responsibility for each pass, making this a good choice for playing a mode where the fun is trying to build success with a team that might not be top-of-the-class.