Game Preview: Duke

Virginia Tech Hokies (6-1, 3-0) against Duke Blue Devils (5-2, 1-2)

Time: 3:32 PM
Date: Saturday, October 25, 2013
Place: Blacksburg, Virginia
Stadium: Lane Stadium (65,632)
TV: ESPNU
Radio: Virginia Tech IMG
Spread: Virginia Tech -13.5
Weather: 33-48 F, Partly Cloudy

The Skinny

By: Joe

Thank you Duke for beating the Hoos, again.

Players to Watch

By: French

Jamison Crowder (#3): Crowder is a 5-9 junior wide receiver and punt returner that serves as both Duke's most dependable first down generator and big play guy. Crowder leads the ACC in catches (56), receiving yards (731), punt return yardage (297) and punt return touchdowns (2) coming into Saturday's game. Most of his catches happen via screens, slants, or quick curls, but he can go deep and has an uncanny ability to get himself open with double moves. Here, the pocket breaks down after Crowder runs a skinny post.

01:14:11–01:14:20

Crowder works his way back to the sideline, then sits down in a hole between several UVa defenders and Boone hits him without a UVa defender making much of a play despite the limited space. Boone also targeted Crowder deep several times, and hit him once for a long gain against freshman corner Tim Smith.

Crowder also presents the first real return threat to the Virginia Tech punt team since the Alabama game. Crowder fields the punt and gets up field quickly, and then uses his terrific speed to take advantage of any breakdowns in the coverage lanes.

00:00:04–00:00:23

Jeremy Cash (#16): Jeremy Cash is a 6-2, 210-pound redshirt sophomore who plays the "strike" (wide side) safety position. Cash was highly recruited out of Florida, and played for Ohio State before transferring to Duke. Similar to a whip linebacker, Cash is not given gap responsibility. Instead, his primary task is to read the play and come forward in run support.

00:58:29–00:58:34

Time and again Saturday, you will see holes develop in the Duke front, and suddenly Cash will make the tackle for a minimal gain. He is an excellent run support football player. He will also be used as a blitzer and in coverage. Expect to hear his name often on Saturday.

Kenny Anunike (#84): Duke's defensive line rarely produces much pass rush, but when it does it is usually 5th year senior defensive end Kenny Anunike coming from the blind side. Anunike struggled with injuries throughout his career, but he has lead Duke in sacks the last two seasons and has the team lead again this season (4.0). He will be lined up against Jonathan McLaughlin, ao he has a significant edge in experience. Anunike's favorite move is to bull rush hard into the chest of the blocker, push the pocket, and then rip underneath the blocker's right arm to sack the quarterback. Here is a terrific example as Anunike ends UVa's hopes of a comeback with a sack on David Watford.

02:30:05–02:30:14

Here, he get's underneath heralded tackle Morgan Moses with a bull rush, and then rip techniques to the inside for the sack.

Braxton Deaver (#89): Crowder is Mr. Electricity, but 6-5 sophomore Braxton Deaver has emerged as a big play threat for the Blue Devils from his tight end/H-Back spot. He is tied for the team lead in touchdown receptions (4) after a two score performance against UVa. Both TDs came on play-action off of inverted veer/read option motion in the backfield. Let's take a look at the second touchdown, which combines Duke staples of the read option and post-wheel route combinations.

02:26:39–02:26:50

Deaver motions across the formation, as he would for a typical read option or inverted veer. At the snap, Deaver veer releases and heads to the left flat as wide receiver Max McCaffrey runs a post pattern. As Boone fakes the handoff, both UVa defenders jump McCaffrey. Deaver is wide open in the flat and Boone hits him with a strike in stride for an easy touchdown.

Personnel and Matchups against the Hurry Up

By: French

As I discussed earlier this week , Duke uses a spread offensive system that is focused on running the football. To date, Duke has run the ball on approximately 55% of its snaps (284 rushing attempts versus 233 passing attempts.) Since returning from injury, quarterback Anthony Boone has received most of the work, with fellow junior Brandon Connette coming in as a short yardage/goal line quarterback; and Cutcliffe utilizes running backs situationally throughout the game.

Matchups are critical. Duke will rotate personnel while playing a no huddle offense, which allows Duke to substitute players to exploit the Hokies, who have to stay in their nickel defense most of the game. Each Hokie defender must not only focus on assignments, but must be keenly aware of which Duke running back and quarterback is in the game on any particular down.

Anthony Boone is a very accurate passer who is most comfortable throwing screens and slants to the middle of the field. He does not have a big arm, but he has enough to hit his receivers in stride on double moves or wheel routes where he can loft the ball and hit an open receiver in stride. He does not have the arm to throw a deep out, especially to the wide side of the field. When Boone is in the game, he can operate the entire offense, but is most comfortable running read option, with a back diving to one side and the QB reading the back side end and keeping or handing off based on his movement. Boone can also run inverted veer, speed option, and is a threat on bootlegs off of zone run action from the pistol.

When Connette is in the game, the entire playbook is available, but most often he runs inverted veer or straight power (same offensive line action as inverted veer but no fake to the running back.) Still, the Hokie safeties and corners must account for the tight ends and receivers as Connette can fake off the veer action and throw the football.

In the backfield, Jela Duncan (64 attempts) is an effective slashing back with some power. Josh Snead (53 attempts) is the speed back, who can take a small hole and get to the second level quickly. Against UVa, Shaquille Powell (20 attempts) was used as the primary short yardage back, especially when Connette was not in the game. None are terrific after contact, but all three are very comfortable finding holes on the interior from the read option.

The Hokies challenge is to use the film time over the last couple of weeks to identify these tendencies and be aware of personnel as Cutcliffe sneaks them into the game. The Hokies will be in nickel most of the game, and need to be very aware of assignments in stopping the option game.

Duke's Coverage Flexibility

By: Mason

Everyone on the site has spent a lot of time talking about what is going wrong with the rushing attack the past couple of weeks. While it is absolutely justified to be worried about the ground game, I think we Hokie fans are glossing over the success Logan Thomas and his receivers have been enjoying recently. Without the production that the Frank Beamer has gotten from his aerial unit the Hokies would not be in position to control their own ACC Championship destiny. On Saturday, Logan Thomas will have another opportunity to prove to the NFL scouts that he is worthy of a draft pick.

Duke runs a 4-2-5 defense and does a decent job at mixing up their game plan to keep the offense off balance. The way that they line up initially often isn't the way that they'll be lined up by the time the ball is snapped. They like to move people around, especially the safeties, in order to create confusion among the offensive front. Not only does Duke like bringing a variety of rushers from different angles, but they like to mix up the coverages that they run behind their pass rush. Diagnosing what the Blue Devils are doing each play and finding the right guy to defeat that scheme will be no easy task for Thomas.

Looking at Duke's first defensive series against UVa, there's a good example of Duke mixing up their coverages to try and confuse the QB. On the first play, Duke lines up a safety over the slot receiver but rotates him over into the box just before the snap. This gives Duke decent numbers against the run on first down and allows them to defend a crossing route to the wide side of the field, but it does create some problems in the secondary against aggressive vertical routes.

00:00:39–00:00:52

Duke has one safety playing a deep zone down the middle of the field while the two corners and another safety play man coverage on the receivers, commonly called a Cover 1 Man defense. The idea is to force any routes towards the middle of the field where the corners can expect safety help. Loeffler will attempt to breakdown the coverage here the same way that UVa does, by threatening the secondary with three vertical routes and then breaking one route off in front of the safety but behind the linebacker.

Running a vertical route at the deep safety forces him to back peddle and get depth. When one of the other receivers breaks their vertical route off and runs an in or a dig route the cornerback suddenly has no safety help to rely on. The corner will find himself out leveraged and, unless he can make up for bad positioning with exceptional athleticism, won't be able to stop the completion. The only defense for this route combo against Cover 1 Man is to have a great pass rush that gets to the QB before the receivers have a chance to get upfield.

The Hokies have to be careful though. If Thomas misdiagnoses the defense it can easily turn into an interception. Duke, like most 4-2-5 defenses, will invert their coverage to try and bait the QB into an interception. On the same drive as the first play we looked at, UVa gets deeper into Blue Devil territory. Again it's first down, again UVa lines up with three WRs and again Duke lines a safety over top of the slot. This time though, after the snap, Duke runs a robber coverage rather than a deep zone with its safety. Keep an eye on the safety at the top of the screen, aligned towards the boundary.

00:06:12–00:06:20

That safety barely moved from the time the ball was snapped to when it was in the air. What Duke is hoping is that the offense will see the two deep safeties and assume it's Cover 1 Man again. If the offense tries the same tact as before (one deep route and one in route) then the "robber" will break on the route and get an interception.

Now this coverage isn't perfect either, as you can see that if both the slot and the wide receivers run vertical routes they will have one-on-one's and a chance for a big play. But these two plays (the Cover 1 Man and its counterpart, robber coverage) are a powerful combination. Anytime an offense has to think about what it's seeing from a defense, it runs the risk of allowing its head to tie up its feet. Speed kills in football and playing slow is suicide. If Thomas is hesitant in the pocket or the receivers are unable to decisively come out of their breaks because they're not sure what coverage they're seeing, Duke has a chance to stop the Hokie passing attack.

Attacking Dukes Defensive Playmakers

By: French

While Duke coaches will refer to their base defense as a 4-2-5 look, in actuality it is a 4-4-3 look with two hybrid safeties aligned slightly deeper than the two middle linebackers and outside eye of each offensive tackle. The "strike" safety (Jeremy Cash) aligns to the wide side of the field, perhaps a yard deeper than the normal whip alignment for Bud Foster. The rover Corbin McCarthy (#26) aligns at the same depth to the boundary side of the field. Behind that front 8, Duke aligns with two corners and a "bandit" safety playing deep middle.

Those outside linebacker/safeties will sometimes alter their alignment to a two deep position, but one of the two is always near the line of scrimmage. In this alignment, the defensive line attempts to attack the o-linemen, get under their pads, and then read and react holding their ground. The ends have contain. The inside linebackers have responsibility for the interior gaps and also take on offensive linemen. The two hybrid safeties are the "free hitters" in the system. The hybrids will look into the backfield, read the play, and fill the hole. Often, you will see holes open up, with one of the two safeties coming in late to make the tackle for a minimal game.

From this look, Duke isn't terrific at generating pass rush. Anunike will generate some push as a bull rusher, but on passing downs, Duke will either drop back into a soft zone, or they will bring delayed blitzes by one of the two hybrid safeties. Here, Duke fakes the blitz from one hybrid, and then their rover (who has aligned as a two deep safety against the extra receiver look from Virginia) comes on a safety blitz from deep in the secondary.

01:50:04–01:50:30

Against this look, teams have had success running the football. UVa was effective running read option with David Watford getting to the outside and Kevin Parks up the gut. Pitt's freshman running back James Conner racked up over 170 yards on off tackle plays against Duke. The Hokies will likely take a couple of approaches to attack the Blue Devils front.

1. I expect a healthy dose of Logan Thomas early and often. Duke's front is not particularly large and physical, and a healthy Thomas should be a good hammer against those safeties. Once those safeties are starting to bite inside (and getting a little beat up), the Hokies should be able to attack with the jet sweep and play-action. Kalvin Cline can have a big day against this alignment on waggles and bootlegs. However, if Duke's defensive coordinator sells out on stopping Thomas on read plays, Logan must be sharp with his reads. Big chunk yardage through J.C. Coleman could be available on the outside.
2. The Hokies had tremendous success running stretch plays last season against the 4-2-5 look, with Coleman having a career day highlighted by two long touchdown runs. If there was ever a day to reintroduce that bread and butter outside zone stretch, it's against this Duke defense. On film, both Duke defensive ends can be sealed inside, and neither inside linebacker is particularly mobile. A combination block by Cline and McLaughlin away from twins would leave Sam Rogers one on one with a corner. If Rogers can't win that battle, then the Hokies shouldn't win this football game. The way Duke uses the 4-2-5 alignment makes running inside challenging, but if they can seal the contain defensive end inside, it puts tremendous pressure on those hybrid safeties to take on blocks and make tackles in space. The Hokies need to come out and impose their will on this defense, and reestablishing the zone stretch as a go to play for 4 or 5 yards on first down will open up everything in the short passing game that Scot Loeffler has employed during this winning streak.

00:12:26–00:12:34

In order to have success attacking with the read option from the spread and the zone stretch, the slot receivers and tight ends must effectively close the space between themselves and the strike and rover safeties, then drive them across the hole. Blocking by skill position players will be critical. Early in the football game, expect Logan Thomas to hit Byrn and Cline on slant and out patterns where the receivers emulate a crack block and then pops back out to the flat. That should set up those crack backs and option stalks later in the game. I will be watching Cline very closely. He has proven to be a weapon in the passing game, but the Blue Devils present him with an opportunity to prove that he, not Ryan Malleck, can be the every down tight end next season.

What The Hokies Need To Do To Win

By: Mason

I feel like it's all anyone has said about the game for two weeks now, but I'd be remiss if I didn't bring it up at least once more. This Duke team is not the Duke of old. David Cutcliff has improved the squad practically every year he's been there and his steady approach is starting to get results. Not only are the Blue Devils a more talented team than in the past, but the athletes on the field all seem to be on the same page. I'm not sure how good this Duke program could become,but Cutcliff has managed to turn a laughingstock into a respectable team.

The offense executes very well and scores a lot of points despite a lack of truly explosive players on that side of the ball. Cutcliff is working his magic on his two new quarterbacks as both are making smart decisions with the ball. It's a rare thing for a dual quarterback system to be effective, but the Blue Devils seem to have found the proper formula to get the best out of both signal callers without all the drama a "quarterback controversy" normally brings. It's obvious that Duke throws the ball around a lot in practice because all of their wide receivers run good routes and catch the ball. Jamison Crowder is a legitimate play maker for them, he flashes good speed and is elusive when he gets the ball in his hands. Duke will line him up all over the formation to try and find the right matchups to exploit. The improvement on defense for Duke has been impressive this year. They are still undersized and their athletes will struggle to keep up with the better offenses in the ACC but they play sound football. Their 4-2-5 scheme can be unpredictable at times and they do a great job disguising their intentions pre-snap.

Despite the improvement of the Blue Devils, Virginia Tech should still win this game as they have the more talented team. The Hokies are poised to have a big second half of the season but they need to get off on the right foot. A convincing victory over a Duke team that is steadily building street cred would go a long way towards raising the national profile of Frank Beamer's squad. If the Hokies only manage to squeak out a win I doubt we'll see much movement in their national rank next week, regardless of how many teams ahead of them lose.

It goes without saying at this point that the running game needs to improve. A matchup against Duke could be just what the doctor ordered. Jeff Grimes made a great point on Tech Talk Live this week when he noted the lack of explosive plays on the ground for the offense. With the exception of the long runs by Edmunds against Bama and Mangus against Western Carolina the Hokies haven't been able to pick up chunks of yardage rushing the ball. A large part of that is due to the Hokies relying on Logan Thomas to rush the ball so often. Thomas is a big boy who can grind out first down after first down, but he's not a threat to house it.

With J.C. Coleman and the offensive line getting healthier, hopefully we'll see some explosiveness return to that portion of the offensive attack. We saw last year how much J.C. likes to play against Duke when he racked up his season high total ruhing against the Blue Devils. It will be interesting to see if the Hokies try to run the ball from under center this week or if they will stick to running from the spread, as has been the recent trend. If there was ever a time to get back under center and try to just pound the rock, it would be this week. The Duke defense is a little under sized and UVa had success getting good movement up front and running downhill. An improvement in that area of offense would also pay big dividends in the play-action game, as teams are starting to ignore the threat of a run when the Hokies line up under center and focus on stopping the pass.

When the Hokies do pass the ball, it'll be paramount that Thomas and his wide receivers are seeing the same things. Loeffler has a lot of sight adjustments in his route packages and if Thomas sees one thing but his receivers see another, the passing game could fall apart quickly. If they are able to diagnose the variety of coverages that Duke is throwing at them though, Loeffler will get them into positions to catch the ball down the field. Loeffler will try and attack the defense horizontally with his tried and true triangle"route combinations. Success in the short passing game could lead to opportunities down the field if Duke overreacts. The receivers have improved every game and now is no time to stop. They've done a much better job at holding on to the football when it comes their way, but for the offense to take the next step they need to improve at getting the ever valuable yards after catch.

The Duke run game could be a problem for the Hokies and defensive tackles Luther Maddy and Derrick Hopkins will have to continue their stellar play if Foster is going to shut it down. Regardless of how Foster decides to play the quarterback in the read-option game, if the big boys up front for Tech refuse to be blocked then there is nothing Duke will be able to do to get it going running the ball. The double teams that Duke throws at those two have to get movement, otherwise the Hokies linebacker duo of Tyler and Edwards will be free to run to the ball. The Hokies will need those two to get a good pass rush as well. Duke will throw the ball a lot and both of their QBs have good mobility. The defensive ends won't be able to rush upfield with reckless abandon without risking opening up a scrambling lane for Boone or Connette. If Tech gets a good push up the middle though, that pair won't have anywhere to escape to, and the Hokies should see their nation leading sack numbers improve.

Redshirt senior Antone Exum is finally returning to the field for the Hokies, and it appears that he may be in line to get the start. This is not a game where the Hokies can afford to have a rusty cornerback though. If Exum isn't ready to play at a high level, don't be surprised if he doesn't see much playing time despite Brandon Facyson's struggles with a concussion. If Facyson can't play and Exum struggles early, Torrian Gray may move Kyle Fuller over to the field corner position and play Donovan Riley at boundary.

Exum seems confident that he's ready to play though, and Bud Foster says that he believes him. Getting a healthy Antone Exum back gives the Hokies an embarrassment of riches at the cornerback position. Even while running a nickel package the majority of the time the Hokies aren't going to be able to get all the corners who deserve playing time on the field. Exum gives the Hokies a great physical presence at corner. He isn't afraid to come up in support of the run game and he likes to get his hands on the receiver when given the chance to play bump and run. Coach Gray will have even more flexibility to devise schemes to confuse opposing quarterbacks with. This Virginia Tech defense is truly special.

Virginia Tech can do itself a lot of favors this week against Duke. Coming off a bye week, the Hokies are healthier and have had a chance to reflect on what areas they need to improve on offensively. Virginia Tech should win this game, no doubt about it. If Virginia Tech plays to it's full potential and Duke does the same, the Hokies will win the game. However if Beamer's squad doesn't come ready to play and arrives flat, this Duke team is absolutely capable of ruining the Hokies recent rise in the polls. Nothing would be worse than spending a week making fun of UVa for losing to Duke, only to turn around and have the same thing happen to us.