Bitter Pills: Lessons Learned from a Crushing Defeat

Some days you are the hammer. Some days you are the nail. On Saturday, the Hokies were the board. The Hokies faced a perfect storm of an offense that utilized misdirection to completely counteract the Hokies "gap-scheme" defensively, coupled with a Clemson defensive line that completely manhandled the left side of the Hokies offensive line and their center all night. When VT did have time, their playmakers didn't make plays. It is easy to be upset with the final score, play calling, officiating, or whatever the gripe. I have tried very hard to remain calm and analytical both during and after the game.

The fact of the matter is that Clemson clearly had three weeks to prepare for Virginia Tech, and their gameplan was a 101 on how to take advantage of the Hokies weaknesses this year. Defensively, Clemson pressed the Hokie receivers, taking away the safety blanket bubble screens and 10 yard curls that allowed the Hokie offense to continue drives most of the year. Clemson also only kept 6 players inside the tackle box, DARING the Hokies to run between the tackles. Of course, the Hokie running attack (which barely got a sniff) focused on the outside, and on the rare occasion that a Hokie back went inside, Brandon Thompson kicked the living shit out of Jaymes Brooks, Michael Via, Andrew Miller, and Greg Nosal all night. You can't out scheme anyone when your center and both guards get manhandled.

In pass pro, the Hokie playmakers (outside of DJ Coles, who was outstanding all night) failed to get separation and make plays (coupled with O'Cainspring throwing repeatedly to David Wilson in the flat, where he either failed to make a catch or where he had no room.) Most of the time, separation didn't even matter because Andre Branch again created a ton of edge pressure. When Branch didn't get pressure, often Clemson got pressure from A gap stunts, where Andrew Miller's limited mobility exposed him as much as Beau Warren was exposed against Stanford. I applaud the Hokie senior offensive linemen who have been solid starters for the last couple of seasons, but this group was beaten up tonight. It isn't the classiest thing to do, but the bowl game should be used to determine which one of the highly talented (but not talented enough to see the field) core of young offensive linemen can contribute next year.

Defensively, I said in my game preview that the Hokies had to stop the run to take away the Clemson passing attack. Instead, Clemson used their misdirection to create down blocking angles all night, and the Hokies found themselves reading and guessing. That opened up play action, and with Hosley out and Fuller at whip, the Hokies didn't have the players to stay with Clemson's receivers when there was ZERO pass rush. Running the ball neutralizes the pass rush, and the Hokies playing from behind could not get enough pressure on Tajh Boyd. With the defensive line not controlling the gaps, the linebackers looked like they disappeared, but they were going to where they needed to go. Both Edwards and Tyler (and Exum and Whitley) could not get off blocks when Clemson's OL got to the second level. Once the run was established, the lack of pass rush left the Hokie db's on islands, and Clemson's wide receivers exposed the Hokie backups as average to poor tacklers in the open field. Some of the catches were scheme related (the quick "pop-passes" to the flat where Bonner and Hill were 15 yards deep were cover 3 coverages. Bonner and Hill were doing what the defensive call assigned them to do. Sadly, wrong call at the wrong time too often, especially when Bonner and Hill were not good enough to come up and tackle.) I was worried right off the bat when Antone Exum flew up to make several nice hits in the first quarter, but failed to wrap his arms, which allowed Clemson to scrape a few more yards.

When things got bad, the Hokies lost composure, and the guys who did were guys who are upper classmen and are expected to make plays. That was perhaps the most disappointing. I have read some of the twitter traffic that questioned the Hokie effort. I didn't see a lack of effort at all. I saw tremendous frustration that short circuited any chance at changed the momentum of the game that was the result of being beaten physically and schematically.

Two players stood out with quality production. I thought Logan Thomas played very well with very little help, despite the turnovers. His biggest struggle was in the zone read game, which Mike O'Cain abandoned before LT3 could get a rhythm. He also perhaps held the ball too long on some sacks, but I am almost certain that Hokie QB's since Druckenmiller have been instructed to hold the ball longer to try to make plays down field instead of throwing the ball away. DJ Coles also had an outstanding game, making several tough catches in traffic to go with his touchdown catch.

I can tell you, I hope the Hokies WR's coach voted for Koty Sensenbaugh for All-ACC, because not one of his top 2 WR's pissed a drop against Sensenbaugh all year.

So, all bitterness aside, every failure is an opportunity for improvement. What are the lessons learned for the Hokies coaching staff from this game?

1) Clemson will continue to present a huge matchup problem for the Hokies if the Hokies continue to run the gap defense. Much like Georgia Tech, the multiple ball fakes takes away the aggressiveness required to stunt into and then control the appropriate gaps by defensive linemen. The backers get exposed in space, resulting in big running plays. Meanwhile, the gap scheme will continue to give one back pro style, true spread, and zone blocking teams fits.

2) I still think this gap defense weakness gets corrected by having dominant athletes in the front seven on defense. The Hokies did not start one 4 star player on the front seven. It shows. Paging Trey Edmunds as your new whip linebacker, and perhaps the light will go on for McCray, Marshall, and Harley soon.

3) The Hokies will not be a true national championship contender until they can get the top offensive line recruits that they have finally started to get into the program: a) coached up b) into positions where they can succeed. Those top guys are required to get push against top notch defensive tackles and ends. Before the game, I spoke in depth with several folks who I regard as "insiders." Those folks indicated that Becton, Wang, Miller, and Via are all the locks to play, leaving one spot open for Gibson, Benedict (who will be the right guard if healthy), Painter (bust), Acree (bust), and Shuman. Either Rivals are idiots, or the Hokies staff can't coach up these talents, but I have been told from high authority that the coaching staff do not feel Painter or Acree will be contributors to the program. That is bad news for those of us who crave a dominant offensive line.

4) Last but not least, the lack of an offensive identity reared it's ugly head tonight. It has become very clear since 2004 that if you want to stop the Hokie offense, here is the blueprint:
A) have a great defensive line
B) blitz the inside gaps while using ends to contain
C) have the safeties play the run outside-in
D) effectively play press coverage.

If your team can do two of the four, the Hokies offense will struggle. Three of the four (Stanford, Alabama, Boise, Kansas, Miami-05, FSU-05, LSU, Clemson, UNC) and you beat VT. This staff has not found a solution to any of the four problems.

I am not sure what the Hokie gameplan was, but Clemson completely dictated how the Hokie offense was going to play. Instead of VT coming out and doing what they do well every game, the O'Cainspring spent most of the game trying to counter Clemson's look. It backfired. There were too many bad down and distance situations, and nobody in the Hokie offensive backfield got into any kind of rhythm. For better or worse, Clemson runs the same offense every week. Tech doesn't. Football is 90 percent muscle memory. When things get tough and the pressure is high, repetition and attention to detail wins games. Clemson had it. The Hokies didn't. Kudos to them. Hopefully we can punch them in the dick next season.

Signing off,
French