Virginia Tech's Offensive Identity

Frank Beamer said before the season started that he wanted the program that he made nationally relevant to regain its reputation as a tough team. After an offseason of staff changes and a spring and summer of intense practices, it's clear through five games that the team Beamer runs out on the field every week is as tough as any in the country.

For the Hokies to go out and win this game is very impressive, and to win it by holding Georgia Tech to 129 rushing yards is downright ridiculous. That's an absurd number. Even more absurd is the short week the Hokies had to get ready for this brutal matchup. Four days? That's just not enough time. Not enough time to get prepared for the most unique offense Tech will face all season, not enough time to get everyone healthy again after a surprisingly tough game against Marshall, not enough time for Logan Thomas to even take a single practice snap.

Not many people were picking the Hokies to win this matchup. Why would they? The offense has looked less than inspiring as it worked it's way through an identity crisis and the defense was set up for failure by facing Paul Johnson on a short week. This Frank Beamer team is too tough to ever be counted out though, and the players all rallied around two solid game plans by their coaches and fought their way to a well-deserved victory.

Finding An Identity

Coming into ACC play, I had a lot of question about what Loeffler's vision for the offense truly was. At times he seemed committed to running from under center and at others it appeared he wanted to throw the ball all over the field. I assumed that Loeffler had a plan for the offense and was moving it in a specific direction but it wasn't clear what style of offense he was envisioning. Well, on Thursday night, Tech not only found itself on top of the leaderboard in the ACC Coastal Division but also found an offensive identity.

Loeffler's offense will be built on the biggest weapon the team has week in and week out, Logan Thomas rushing from the spread formation. If defenses load up the box to stop the rushing attack from the spread, then Logan will be asked to throw short, high percentage throws to mismatches caused by personnel groupings (running backs, tight ends, and fullbacks split out wide). Plays from under center will be used if defenses are overmatched up front or if they overreact to Loeffler placing RB's on the perimeter by bringing extra secondary players onto the field.

Logan Thomas: All In

Scott Loeffler officially placed all of his eggs in Logan Thomas' basket on Thursday night. His game plan made clear that Thomas was going to be the featured weapon for the rest of the season. Logan was asked to do everything against the Yellow Jackets, and he responded with one of the best games of his career after being too hurt to practice and having just a short week to recover from the game against Marshall.

When Loeffler got hired, I suspected that he was going to use Logan Thomas's gift as a powerful inside runner frequently throughout the season. I was surprised when, through the first 3 games of the season, Thomas wasn't running the inverted veer (the perfect play for a large rushing QB). I refused to believe that Loeffler didn't have the play in his playbook and instead assumed that he was holding back from using those plays in order to keep Thomas healthy and prevent ACC defenses from getting too much tape on what he wanted to do. While maintaining radio silence on the inverted veer, Loeffler spent every week focusing on a different portion of his playbook. Western Carolina wasn't quite talented enough to stop even the most basic of plays, so Loeffler used that game to work on his base plays from under center and from shotgun. Eastern Carolina received a healthy dose of five wide, featuring running backs, tight ends, and fullbacks split out wide. Last week, Marshall saw hardly zero five wide but saw a ton of pistol. Out of that Pistol Logan Thomas ran the veer read early and often. He did run the inverted veer a few times, just enough to whet my appetite for it.

Thursday night though, Loeffler showed he was going all in with the inverted veer this season. Using the exact play design I wrote about earlier this summer, Thomas was sent crashing into Georgia Tech's line again and again and again. Once Virginia Tech got inside the 10-yard-line on their second touchdown drive, it was all Logan Thomas.

00:05:57–00:06:14

On two straight plays, Virginia Tech threatened the edge with it's best perimeter runner (J.C. Coleman) and then had it's best interior runner (Logan Thomas) crash through the line behind a pulling Caleb Farris. Touchdown Tech!

Georgia Tech never brought enough defenders into the box to stop the run on the first play. They seemed ill prepared to face the inverted veer here, as they were playing with two deep safeties. The only way Logan wasn't going to pick up good yardage here was if he tripped over his own feet.

On the next play, Thomas barrels his way into the endzone behind some great blocking up front. Running Logan Thomas in the inverted veer is the best way to use him. It is a low risk play that puts the offensive linemen in a position to get favorable angles on their blocks and maximizes Logan's skill set. Now opposing defensive coordinators will be obsessing over how to stop this short yardage machine, so the Hokies will have to find ways to put some window dressing on the inverted veer to keep it effective.

Running Back Versatility

Looking at the roster, Loeffler, Grimes, and Shane Beamer had a challenge coming into the season. They had a number of running backs who were capable of contributing right away, but they all had different skill sets. Edmunds and Caleb show good power in between the tackles, while Mangus and Coleman are more valuable when in space. The three had to find a way to get these playmakers into the game without tipping their hand to the defense about what was coming next. Their solution does a good job of keeping the opposition guessing and also helps to solve another issue the team faces, lack of depth at the wide receiver position.

Loeffler has the luxury of having three running backs with WR experience. Coleman, Mangus, and Caleb have all spent time lined up out wide. Combined with Sam Rogers and Kalvin Cline (who both have proven to be good blockers and receivers) Loeffler has the ability to bring in a traditional "power" personnel grouping but still line up in a spread formation. A linebacker isn't going to be able to cover a healthy J.C. Coleman or Chris Mangus on a route but the defensive coordinator can't risk bringing in a cornerback to do the job because Tech could still use this grouping to run the ball, either from under center or with the IV.

00:04:41–00:04:44

This play doesn't seem like much because it isn't terribly successful, but it is a good example of how Loeffler will line his RB's up in unconventional ways to create running angles and personnel mismatches. We see Tech line up in the pistol, with Edmunds as the primary back, Sam Rodgers lined up in a H-Back spot, and Coleman lined up as a wide receiver then gets motioned across the face of the formation right before the snap. This is a designed hand off to Trey Edmunds and the Georgia Tech front-seven had it defended well, but if you watch the top of the screen you can see the bind it puts the two-deep safety defense in.

When Logan fakes a handoff to Coleman, the field safety has to drop into the box and the corner has to drop back into a deep-third zone. Byrn is in a good position to make a block on the safety, sealing the inside and allowing Coleman to attack the sideline. The only player in position to stop Coleman is a cornerback who is already retreating into a deep zone, and even if he recovers to challenge Coleman he has to make a tackle in space against a talented runner.

We'll see this defense again against teams that want to force the Hokies to march all the way down the field. With two deep safeties, the Hokies should absolutely be running the ball on 1st-and-10 (the defense doesn't have enough defenders in the box to counter all the blockers and potential ball carriers) and will have more effectiveness when Coleman is healthy.

Later on we see Coleman and Edmunds again in the game with Sam Rogers, but this time Logan is in the shotgun instead of the pistol. From here, Logan could IV to his right with Edmunds receiving the handoff or Logan can IV to his left by motioning Coleman across the formation.

00:07:58–00:08:02

Loeffler tries a play action here and Georgia Tech defends it very well. Even though the play resulted in an incompletion, we can see how difficult it is for the defense to diagnose where the play is going pre-snap. Edmunds and Coleman can attack either flank and Logan can attack up the middle.

While the Hokies will build their offense around the threat of the QB run doesnt mean that Loeffler wants Logan Thomas to lead the team in carries every week. Edmunds wasnt effective and didnt look like he did earlier in the season. Whatever injury he picked up in the Marshall game was still clearly affecting him, and the coaches limited his carries. Georgia Tech also took away the handoff on the inverted veer by stretching their defensive ends horizontally down the line, which contributed to J.C. not having a single carry all game. Coleman did play a lot of snaps however. In my opinion, that means the coaches didn't think his ankle was 100 percent yet, but they wanted to get him in the game to use as a decoy and they probably just wanted to get him game reps. Once Edmunds and Coleman are trusted to hold up under the physical strain of a full workload in an ACC game, opposing defenses will have to plan for a three headed rushing attack. Mix in the handful of looks Mangus and Caleb deserve, and its going to be a nightmare to game plan for this rushing attack.

The Jacks Of All Trades

When Loeffler said he likes using tight ends and H-Backs, he wasn't joking. You'll be hard pressed to find many plays where the Hokies didn't have one of those two in there. They both bring something to the table the other lacks (Rogers is trusted to carry the ball on the occasional FB dive from the pistol and Cline is a better threat down the field) and they both play similarly vital roles. Rogers and Cline are frequently asked to block defensive ends on Tech's inverted veer plays. Cline does a great job sealing his man away from the middle of the field on Thomas's touchdown run. We all know how tough Rogers is, but I've been pleasantly surprised by the willingness Cline shows to get dirty in the run game.

00:08:02–00:08:11

Cline does an excellent, excellent job on this play. He knows pre snap he's going to have to take on the 270-pound senior defensive tackle. Cline is giving up four years of college football experience and, according to HokieSports.com, 30 pounds. Still, he doesn't shy away from the contact and attacks the defensive end. Cline ends up on the ground, but by then Thomas is well on his way to a huge gain. Cline didn't get a pancake but he brought his lunch pail to work, did his job, and the team picked up good yardage. He and Rogers are both true freshmen and I am looking forward to watching them continue their growth and development in Loeffler's offense.

Linebackers On Wide Receivers

The biggest benefit to spreading the field with running backs and tight ends is the matchup of linebackers with wide receivers. Willie Byrn, as the usual slot receiver, has been the lucky recipient of most of those mismatches so far this season and that continued on Thursday night.

Georgia Tech dropped into a zone almost every time the Hokies went five-wide. When going five-wide, Loeffler likes to put his RB all the way on the outside. This alignment forces a linebacker to account for a WR across the middle, a speed mismatch Logan attacked for good yardage. With the threat of an inverted veer, Georgia Tech would keep two linebackers in the game at all times. Logan would key off of those two linebackers and make his throwing decision based off their movements.

00:05:03–00:05:11

Here, the linebacker to the field drops down the middle to cover Kalvin Cline's vertical route. This space is attacked by Byrn's crossing route. The second linebacker has no shot of covering the quicker Byrn and Logan makes the correct read to drop it off underneath.

Later, he spreads Joel Caleb out wide and reads the linebacker's reaction to D.J. Coles' vertical route. When the linebacker gets depth, Knowles drops in behind him into the vacated space and gets a nice yards after the catch.

00:05:50–00:05:57

Who We Are

This offense isn't going to try and be explosive by airing the ball out down the field. Instead, it'll focus on forcing the defense to defend against a powerful dual threat quarterback. From there, it'll use a wide array of formations to create favorable blocking angles for its running backs and coverage mismatches for its wide receivers. If a defense isn't capable of defending against the run from under center Loeffler will happily use that portion of his playbook, but he won't hesitate to run spread almost exclusively when necessary. Now, don't get it twisted, I'm not saying the Hokies won't have explosive plays on offense. There will be times when the other team is sick of seeing eight yard completion after eight yard completion. They will start to creep up and start jumping those routes. When that happens, Logan and his receivers need to capitalize with double moves.

00:21:48–00:21:56

Loeffler is going to be asking a lot of Logan Thomas. When teams don't respect his feet by placing the appropriate amount of hats in the box, Thomas will be asked to carry over 20 times a game. When teams play two deep safeties and attempt to keep everything in front of them, Logan will need to keep the offense on schedule by making quick decisions and accurate throws to the open receivers. When teams decide to challenge Tech's young receivers, Logan will have to hang in the pocket so they can break free and then he'll have to hit them with the football in stride. At times Logan is still struggling with his mechanics when under pressure, but he seems to be getting better and better every game. If the improvement continues, then Logan is poised to have a strong second half of the season.

This defense is good enough to win plenty of games for the Hokies this season. The offense doesn't need to go score 40 points a game to contend for the Coastal Division. With that in mind, Loeffler running a ball-control offense makes the most sense. He can maximize the offensive talent he has with this game plan, and he can maximize the value of a great defense. By picking up first downs and holding onto the football, Loeffler will let his defense rest. When Foster's unit takes the field, they'll be even deadlier... which should help Loeffler's group get better field position. See how one hand washes the other? The offense sets up the defense, and the defense sets up the offense. BeamerBall.