College Football 26 is officially out and the team has been taking in all the community feedback. With so many new players jumping in, they’re starting to tackle some of the early gameplay topics that have been popping up. It’s still early but they wanted to get ahead of a few things right away.
A few players have run into a rare issue where they can’t snap the ball on field goal attempts. The team found it only happens when using a left-footed kicker and the kick is about to be blocked. That’ll be fixed in a future update.
A few players have also run into a rare issue where the ball won’t snap like it should on regular plays. The team looked into it and found it can happen when you’re at the line of scrimmage and press RT/R2 along with Up on the right stick, then release both at the same time. If you do get stuck in that situation, tapping B or Circle a few times or trying another pass protection adjustment with LB or L1 has worked as a temporary fix. The team is aware of it and working to get it sorted out as a top priority.
Stiff arms have also sparked some conversation and the team is gathering more data to get a better sense of how effective they really are. They want all ball carrier moves to feel good and be useful, but also fair. For players looking to slow down stiff arms, flicking the right stick down will trigger a “Cut Stick” that takes out the runner’s legs. It’s already in the game, so they’re encouraging folks to try it out and see how it plays out as they continue gathering data.
The stiff arm in CFB26 is unreal
— CFB Kings (@CFBKings) July 11, 2025
(via @Kuhlio10) pic.twitter.com/m0vKd8f0sj
Pass protection got a big revamp in College Football 26, and the team wanted to highlight a few important things to keep in mind with how it all works currently.
- Authenticity: All pass plays now come set up with unique pass protections on a per play basis. If you’re calling plays and feeling like your line is sliding to a side without you doing any inputs, that is intended. That is how pass protection would be set by default for that specific play call. Lets roll through some examples:
- Under Center: Set to base protection by default.
- Gun: ‘Empty’ protection if all pass eligible targets are out on a route.
- HB on a Check & Release: Default is set to half-slide away from HB
- PA Pass: Half-slide away from play fake
- Responsiveness: Protection on the Fly
- Protection on the Fly lets you quickly set your pass pro with a flick of the right-stick. Flick left once for a half-slide left and double flick left for a full slide.
- Control: Un-Target Defender
- With our pass protection mechanics, you can also just flick up on the right-stick to un-target a defender. Why would you ever do this? It’ll allow you to strategically leave a defender unblocked that’s optimal for your play call vs the formation front. Maybe you’re playing against another user and they’re mugging the gap or maybe you find a gnarly screen play and don’t want your line to chip a specific player. After all, you are the shot caller of your pass protection scheme.
Take Z Spot out of Gun Doubles Y Off as an example. It’s a 2×2 formation with the halfback on a swing route. Even if you block the HB, the protection stays set to ‘Empty’ by default, so depending on the defensive look or how the game’s going, it might be worth adjusting your protection.
You can always hit L1 or LB to bring up pass protection and switch to base protection, which should feel familiar if you played last year since that was usually the default. It’s a good idea to double-check your protection using Coach Cam (R2/RT) before snapping.
