10 Best College Football 25 Plays, Ranked

Picking the right play in College Football 25 can make or break the game. With a multitude of unique playbooks and even more plays, knowing which one to go for can be confusing. Do you chance it by sprinting down the sides, or is taking a more calculated approach the correct play? These are all questions we’ll answer in today’s article.

We’ll be going over the top 10 plays in College Football 25, breaking down when to use each one, and how to execute it to perfection. This guide will help serve as a basis for a variety of playbooks until you’re able to adapt on the fly and pick the ideal play for each scenario. So, let’s take a look at the best plays to call in College Football 25.

RPO Read Y Flat

Starting, we have the RPO Read Y Flat. This play is a Run-Pass-Option, meaning you can either hand off the ball for a sprint play or pass it to a receiver in the flat. This depends on what the opposing defender decides to do. If your QB sees him coming forward, you’ll want to pass the ball. However, if the defender hangs back anticipating a pass, hand the ball off for a run play.

This play gives you a lot of leeway to dictate the play. You can keep opponents on their toes and make it difficult for them to predict what you’re doing. However, you will need a QB with good awareness and a strong arm to pass under pressure. If you fumble the ball at the line of scrimmage or pass it to a pressured receiver, the play will fall through.

If you have trouble reading the opposition quickly but still want to run the RPO Read Y Flat play, try to mix the hand off and pass. Switch it up every other play to make it harder for your opponents to defend.

Playbooks: Kentucky, UConn, New Mexico State, Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Washington State

Branch Return

Next, we have the Branch Return play. This play focuses more on having multiple receivers open to beat man or zone coverages. If you think the defense is going heavy on marking your receivers, you can always pass cut through to dodge defenders. If they’re trying to cover the entire field, you can run through the flat for some easy yards.

Let’s break it down for simplicity. When calling the Branch Return play, you’ll have 4 receivers open. The first is your vertical receiver. His job is to grab the ball and run straight through. This position will rarely be left undefended, but if your opponent is playing zone coverage, this route will gain you the most yards. You have the return route where a receiver will fake running into the flat but cut through the middle. This works well in confusing the opponent’s defenders.

Branch Return also gives you a corner and drag route to opt into. Drag is the safest choice for gaining a few yards. The QB hands the ball off to the nearest receiver, who will try to gain as much distance as possible. On the other hand, Corner can be used when the defense is heavy in the center, leaving the flat exposed. If you have a fast receiver, they can make it work.

Playbooks: Georgia, Boise State

Jet Touch Pass

The Jet Touch Pass is one of the easiest plays in this list, and also one of the most common. Since it’s easy to execute, it can be found in the majority of playbooks in College Football 25.

In Jet Touch Pass, your fastest receiver runs in a straight line, perpendicular to the QB. As soon as the QB snaps, the receiver passes in front of the QB to snatch up the ball. The receiver runs to the other side of the field to gain as many yards as possible.

Once the receiver has the ball in hand, you should try to cut as many defenders as you can. He should be able to trail a few defenders, as the defense marked him for the opposite side of the field. This is a good counter to blitz plays where the defense rushes you as soon as you snap the ball.

Playbooks: Multiple

PA Verticals

If you’re not a fan of running plays, PA Verticals is the perfect play for you. This play relies heavily on faking a hand off to the tight end while actually waiting for your receivers to go deep. Once they’re in the clear, send a high pass over the entire defense to gain some massive yards. A high-risk, high-reward play for sure.

Here’s how it works. On the snap, you’ll want to input a hand-off but cancel midway. The opposition will prepare itself for a run play while you draw back slightly, buying time. 3 of your receivers run deep towards the goal and spread out. Now you have three different places to pass, depending on who’s open.

If you’re not able to fake the running play, pass the ball to the tight end. If the defense focuses on your wide receivers, your tight end should be able to run free without much pressure. Your QB will need strong throwing capabilities to pull this off, so check that beforehand.

Playbooks: Georgia, Minnesota, Syracuse, Wyoming

HB Direct Snap

The HB Direct Snap is another play that relies on deception to overwhelm your opponent. The name gives away the play: on the snap, the ball is passed directly to the halfback, bypassing the QB. Now, how does this benefit you?

As soon as the snap happens, the ball is passed to the HB. He can now choose to run straight through or fall back into a pass to an open wide receiver. The defense is perplexed for a few seconds since the QB is the one who starts the play. This should give you some free time to run downfield with your HB.

Make sure you’re not overusing this play since your opponent will catch on. Intersperse it between other plays to catch your opponent off guard.

Playbooks: Arizona, Cincinnati, Texas, UCLA, Kansas State, Northwestern

Y-Sail

We’re done with deception, now it’s back to your normal, consistent pass plays. Y-Sail is an amazing play to get the hang of, being super simple to execute properly. The idea behind this play is to spread the defense thin.

On break, your TE will run deep into the defense, curving slightly to the flat to pull away from central defenders. You’ll have a wide receiver who runs a vertical route to draw attention away from other receivers. Finally, a slot receiver stays nearby towards the flat in case the play falls through.

Once everyone’s in position, you can choose who to pass to. If your TE and WR are both covered, make a short pass to the SR. But if you see either of them open, pass it to them to gain a good amount of yards. You will need to buy time for receivers running deep, so if the defense is blitzing you, just pass it to the SR.

Playbooks: Rice, Rutgers, Bowling Green, Akron, Buffalo, Colorado State.

Curl Flat

Curl Flat is an interesting play that might take a bit of time to learn initially. While multiple teams use it in their offensive playbook, the passing motions are a bit confusing at first. The main aim of this play is to spread out the defense horizontally while your receivers cut towards the opposite side.

Here’s how it works. You’ll have five receivers going forward, two of which run deep and into the flat. The third receiver will run slightly into the flat before cutting into the middle, right behind the defense. Your last two receivers run to the opposite end, one going a vertical route while the other goes short into the flat.

This helps counter zone defense quite well since they’ll need defenders on every receiver, or else risk losing major yards. The receiver who curls inside towards the middle becomes a threat since every other receiver is running wide. 

Playbooks: Florida Atlantic, Texas, Wisconsin, Virginia, UAB.

RPO Read Screen

We’ve got another RPO play on the list, the RPO Read Screen. Similar to the RPO Read Y Flat, you’ll need quick decision-making to pull this off perfectly. The way it works is that receivers are already set up on both sides in this play. You have a Bunch on one side, and a WR on the other.

On break, you have several options. If you want to opt for a pass, you can pass to the Bunch if they outnumber the defensive backs. However, if your WR isn’t covered, you could make a pass play towards the other side. But what if both sides are heavily covered, such as zone defense? Then you make the handoff.

If you see your receivers aren’t open, that means the middle is probably open. Hand off the ball to your TE and easily gain some yards without any defensive pressure. Your read needs to be good, though, since if you take too long, your QB might fumble the ball.

Playbooks: Arizona, Oklahoma, Florida International, Texas State, UTEP, Utah State, Tennessee, etc.

PA Fork

We covered PA Verticals before this, so it’s easy to think of PA Fork as another variation. In PA Fork, you need to make the fake ball handoff to draw the defense towards you. Your QB will fall back a bit until your receivers can get into position. The difference between Verticals and Fork is that, here, your receivers will run in a forked direction.

After the snap, one receiver moves forward and cuts towards the middle on a horizontal route. The other receivers move vertically, but fork either right or left. This helps break man coverage as players moving around and crossing each other confuse the defense. At this point, you can choose whichever receiver is free to pass the ball.

This play isn’t top-of-the-line, primarily because you can’t use it too often. It also relies on you reading the defense beforehand to know which receivers will be free. However, if you’re able to clear the ball across the opposition’s first line, you can get nice yardage.

Playbooks: Arkansas State, Houston, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nevada, Tampa, LSU, etc.

Dagger

Our final play for today is the Dagger play in College Football 25. Dagger is very straightforward; every receiver runs different routes to lose man coverage. But then why is it successful? That’s because none of these routes are vertical, except one. The zig-zag in each route makes it difficult for the opposition to mark your receivers, allowing your receivers to get extra yardage.

The main aim of this play is to create pockets of offense in the opposition’s defense. With two receivers forking inside towards the middle, you’ll be able to trail defenders after them. While that’s going on, you have two receivers running wide, one alongside the flat while the other cuts deep inwards. With receivers forking at every turn, you’re bound to have one open receiver.

If they focus more on zone control, your last option can be the vertical receiver. Lob the ball over the defense’s head for an easy touchdown. To keep this play fresh, switch up the sides every so often so your opponent doesn’t anticipate it.

Playbooks: Boise State, Georgia