In Lieu of a Film Review of the Defense...

Hey everyone. I apologize, however due to some unplanned family concerns, I was not able to write a film review of VT's excellent defensive performance against UNC. I have had the opportunity to watch the tape briefly, and because sometimes the kids take so much criticism of their performance when things are going badly, I thought it would be incredibly unfair to not give them credit when they play well. Without the benefit of doing a detailed X's and O's, here are some brief thoughts:

1) Ken Ekanem has been named a captain this week for a reason. Ever since Pitt chose to test Ekanem repeatedly, his game has improved significantly. He was strong at the point of attack and wasn't moved past his gap fit against UNC, an issue that plagued both Ekanem and Dadi Nicolas earlier in the year. Ekanem was going head to head against an outstanding young left tackle in Bentley Spain. Ekanem used tremendous speed while still having the strength to turn the corner and get back to the QB. He also should have drawn close to a half dozen holding calls, many of which (looking at the Williams incomplete that was close to being a fumble) were about as obvious as you can get. Ekanem is going to be the leader of the defense next season if he chooses to return... and should be primed for a big year.

2) A healthy Corey Marshall made a huge difference on the inside. Marshall played with great leverage to prevent being blocked down and was able to cross the face of those downblocks to make some huge plays. Both he and Luther Maddy were so sound shutting down the inside gaps that it kept blockers away from Motuapuaka all day.

3) Andrew Motuapuaka had his best game of the season. He was aggressive and played with a heavy shoulder on the inside. He made two tremendous plays on the goalline stand after the blocked punt. He will be tested against UVA because they love to throw the football to their running backs. He has a great game to build off of. Deon Clarke and Anthony Shegog were also excellent, and before he was hurt Facyson made some tremendous plays coming up to support the run.

Again, thanks to Mason for reviewing this week's film. If you guys are students, and you run into players, pat them on the shoulder and give them some encouragement. They played a real gutsy football game on Saturday. It wasn't UNC imploding out there. VT, especially those defensive kids, really got after them. The offensive execution failures early were just too much to overcome against such an explosive offense.