Saturday's loss to East Carolina has been a difficult pill to swallow, and hot takes like "the Hokies not being ready to play" and "Tech overlooking the Pirates" are flying around. Football is a game of matchups and scheme. The Pirates had the physical prowess to take advantage of the vulnerable components of the Hokies defense and offense, and the Hokie offensive and defensive scheme didn't adjust to compensate. Yes, there were flaws in execution. Michael Brewer's inaccuracy contributed to the ineffectiveness of the offense. Ignore the interceptions and focus on missed opportunities downfield early in the game as well as passes that forced receivers to break stride. The receivers dropped too many balls. The offensive line did not have a good day and seemed to botch several protection calls. The Pirates won the field position battle via the punt game. The Hokie secondary did not tackle well, and the big plays downfield seemed to happen with more frequency than I can recall since the Insight Bowl game against Aaron Rodgers. But that schematic vulnerability and losing one-on-one matchups seemed to be most mitigating factor the Hokies downfall, not a lack of effort or overlooking an opponent.
The Vulnerability of the Double Eagle \ Bear Look
Defensively, every talking head is looking at how the Hokies gave up numerous deep completions against press-man coverage. Foster's defense has morphed significantly as offenses have changed, but ultimately no defense can't defend the entire field if the opposing offense can put the ball into the exposed areas. Foster took a risk by using some of the same Double Eagle \ Bear front that the Hokies had success with against the Buckeyes (which at the time I referred to as a "50 Stack") along with other five-man fronts with Deon Clarke coming off the edge. Foster gambled that he could generate enough pressure that Shane Carden wouldn't be able to make accurate throws on low percentage vertical routes. Foster's gambled like that before, and most of the time he's won, but as teams learn to exploit the vulnerable area in any defense Bud has been forced to adjust.
In the 1990's Foster's eight-man fronts stymied the two-back offenses that were the norm in college football, but his safety-linebacker hybrids at the rover and whip positions at that time struggled as teams transitioned to offenses that could put three or four good receivers on the field. Around 2004, Foster started to play his rover more as a second deep safety, and the whip position slowly morphed from a linebacker into more of a safety/nickel. While the Hokies were known for their man coverage, more and more Foster started to use a variety of zone looks (inverted cover 2, robber, and quarters coverage) and as result, the Hokies started forcing more interceptions as game changing plays instead of sacks and tackles for a loss.
However, that took away Foster's numerical advantage in the box. Opponents started to have more success running the football, and by the time Clemson had decimated the Hokies in the ACC title game using a run-oriented spread look, Foster adjusted again. Since that 2011 title game, Foster started using more and more 8-man front looks, culminating with the absolute beat down of the Ohio State running game using the "Double Eagle \ Bear Look" look last week.
Against Ohio State the "Double Eagle \ Bear" was vulnerable to deep throws, but the Buckeyes' weakness was the drop back passing game. Ohio State had countless opportunities to make big plays on vertical routes up the seams. While OSU QB J.T. Barrett was sacked repeatedly, numerous times he put the ball on the hands of his big slot receivers. They just didn't hold on to the football.
Foster stuck with the Double Eagle \ Bear and other defensive alignments without a safety deep early against the Pirates. Unlike Ohio State, East Carolina's receivers were more accustomed to adjusting to the football and making plays against man coverage. Quick, outside release go routes as part of the normal "post-wheel" combination and four verticals package are staples of ECU's Air Raid offense. Moreover, the Pirates made two adjustments to really punish the Hokies for using press man, especially without a safety in center field.
The first was the use of fade and slant routes built off of the two techniques used to get off the line of scrimmage against man coverage. The Hokie press defenders played an inside leverage technique, meaning that they aligned a step inside the receiver in an effort to make it difficult for any Pirate receiver to run an easy slant route. Instead, it forces the receiver to go outside, which is a longer, lower percentage throw for the quarterback. The Pirates obliged the Hokies by releasing their receivers to the outside on go routes. Without a safety to come across and make a play, quarterback Shane Carden could release the ball quickly, get plenty of air underneath it, and to give his receiver a huge advantage of just focusing on the ball while the defender has to track both the ball and the receiver. The Pirates hit two of those jump balls against Brandon Facyson early (note no free safety help).
Once Facyson was beaten to the outside, his natural instinct to prevent it from happening again caused him to not play his assignment, which was to stay inside the receiver and prevent any kind of slant, post, or square in route. On the second touchdown, Facyson jumped outside to prevent the outside release, and the receiver beat him to the post.
Note how Facyson lines up inside of the receiver and doesn't have any immediate help to the inside. Meanwhile, Bonner lines heads up on his receiver, and when the slot WR runs the slant, Bonner lets him get an inside release because he has Chuck Clark right there waiting on the receiver. Because of this bust by Facyson, who still doesn't look healthy and who was much more effective in zone coverage last season, Donovan Riley took over for several series, but he too was also beaten on a fade route, and he struggled against ECU wide receiver screens and pick plays, culminating in the 3rd touchdown where Riley inadvertently "picked" Chuck Clark.
The second adjustment by the Pirates didn't result in as many points, but it made an huge impact throughout the game. Normally in their Air Raid, the Pirates play their smaller, quick possession receivers like Justin Hardy in the slots. But, with so much press-man coverage and so many plays without a centerfield safety, the Pirates increased their advantage by moving 6-3, 220 Cam Worthy and 6-2, 206 Trevon Brown into the slots and running the go routes against Chuck Clark, Detrick Bonner, and Kyshoen Jarrett. All three are better than average safeties covering man-to-man, but without deep help and having to cover both the man and the ball, the ECU receivers presented a mismatch. To keep the corners out of dropping off to help, the Pirates deployed the same route combination to both sides, where the slot executed an outside release fade route, while the widest receiver or "split end" faked a hard outside release and then cut back to the middle of the field on a curl route or a cross. The corner has to stay with the short crossing route, leaving the nickel or rover alone with the fade route.
ECU's first touchdown to Bryce Williams was the same route and it worked against man coverage right on the goal line. Even with a deep safety, the double vertical routes from the slot almost ensure one of the two slot players will get one-on-one coverage. The quarterback can read which way the free safety is leaning and then throw to the other side. As long as Foster played five men on the line of scrimmage with Williams as the spy linebacker and man coverage, East Carolina was always going to have one of the fade routes single covered. If Carden didn't feel like he had a good down field matchup, he could always come back to the short cross by the split ends, as the Hokie corners didn't have any help to the inside. It was a devastating combination against man coverage that seemed to be employed almost every snap.
Almost every big play generated by the Pirates came on some variation of this play concept. and it only stopped working when the Pirates stopped going to it. While Foster used more of a single deep safety as the game progressed, he never seemed to try any disguised zone looks to bait an interception. I kept waiting for it, and it just didn't happen. I am not sure if that means he doesn't believe he can generate pass rush with his front-four without blitzing, making man coverage or quarters coverage necessary, but Ken Ekanem sure looked dang good rushing the passer on Saturday. I would have liked to see him try, especially during the last drive of the game.
In the fourth quarter, the Pirates really keyed in on attacking Jarrett with this combination route concept. Jarrett is covering the slot at the bottom of the screen.
As you can see, BOTH slot receivers run vertical routes with outside releases. The free safety (Clark) freezes in the middle and can't get over to help Jarrett. Jarrett needs to cover Worthy and find the ball without losing track of him. He throws his hands when Worthy looks for the football. Against Ohio State, Jarrett gets a piece of the ball or the Buckeye receiver drops the ball. Here, Worthy uses the height mismatch (6-3 vs. 6-0) to his advantage and makes a great play. Then, on the same drive, here is the exact same play, this time with the throw going to Bonner on the field side. This play results in a pass interference call.
The first pass of the final Pirate drive almost looks like a replay of the clip above against Jarrett. It is the same formation, the same route, and the same coverage (press with a single center field deep safety. Sadly, it was the same result, an acrobatic Worthy catch and run to put the Pirates in field goal range. Next thing you know, the Pirates are in the end zone and the Hokie Nation is left to wonder how it happened. Simply, East Carolina identified the weakness in the Hokie coverage. Cam Worthy was good enough to exploit it. Offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley kept going to it. Period.
Offensive Line Woes and Missed Opportunities to Make Adjustments
Last year's ECU film review focused heavily on how huge, 6-1, 353 pound nose tackle Terry Williams dominated the Hokie interior. While Williams was only scheduled to play 15 or 20 plays in Saturday's matchup according to his coaches, he was the dominant factor in jamming up the interior of the Hokies. It was easy to see that Caleb Farris, David Wang, and Augie Conte were struggling to handle Williams, who is surprisingly quick for such a large man, while being asked to block him one on one. Farris, who dealt with a shoulder issue in fall camp, sometimes struggled to get his hands on Williams, and Williams repeated slide off blocks to make plays. What baffled me was the failure to make an adjustment by doubling Williams and getting some push on him in the middle. Also, the running backs didn't always help their linemen with the correct cut.
Let's take a look at this inside zone play in the second quarter. Augie Conte is scooping Williams on the back side, while Farris and Wang are executing a combination zone block on the left defensive tackle and the middle linebacker.
The initial steps are solid, but when Shai McKenzie plants to make his cut, the play breaks down. Farris peels off in perfect position to seal the linebacker inside. McKenzie, who should be reading Farris as his key, makes the incorrect read. If he goes outside, the linebacker is blocked. By cutting inside, Farris is out of position and the linebacker is unblocked.
The linebacker now has McKenzie one-on-one in the hole. It isn't an ideal scenario, but you hope that your big back can get some forward push. But, Terry Williams suddenly makes a spectacular play. He is moving to his right with Conte driving him. Conte is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, Hokie on the team, but Williams stops his momentum and clubs Conte with his left arm. Conte goes past Williams and Williams comes back inside to help mash McKenzie. McKenzie is talented enough to perhaps run over the linebacker, but Williams and the linebacker are just too much. Conte did everything right, but this is a pure Superman play by Williams. I am not sure a double team would have helped. As a former guard, I may have nightmares about Williams after watching this clip several times.
When ECU used Williams as a true nose, it amazed me how many times the scheme forced Farris to block Williams one on one. Time and again, Williams got his hands into Farris's body before Farris could get his hands up from the snap, leaving Farris with very little ability to regain any leverage using his hands. Let's take a look as the Hokies run an inside zone from the I formation at the end of the third quarter.
Farris gets driven deep into the path of the ball carrier. Sam Rogers and Bucky Hodges are both disrupted in their path to block the blitzing linebackers play side. Somehow, either the linebacker or Rogers gets both Conte and McLaughlin's legs from behind, stopping them dead in the hole. They collapse in the hole, and Farris gets pushed back into Marshawn Williams' lap. Luckily for the Hokies, Williams bounces a little outside and gets the first down with a great effort on this dumpster-fire of a play. I am not sure if Farris was supposed to get help from a guard, or perhaps Rogers needed to take the gap between Conte and Farris, meaning he should have sledgehammered Williams. But I do know that in a short yardage play against a legitimate stud nose tackle, you can't leave your center to block one-on-one. Very few centers are going to win this battle without some kind of chip from a guard or the back.
The Hokies also struggled in pass protection, where ECU also found ways to isolate Farris in space. The Pirates had a great deal of success sending blitzes or stunts where decoy pass rushers went outside, leaving Farris on an island inside. Here is an example from the first quarter.
The left and right defensive tackles both slant hard to their left. The right defensive tackle, draws Farris inside, and ECU's left defensive end loops back to the inside and blasts through the hole vacated by Farris. Farris isn't quick enough to recover back to the inside.
However, without being in the film room with Coach Searels, it is hard to determine if this Farris execution error or if someone else made a mistake in the protection. The center calls the pass protection. In a cup protection, Farris would need to stay in the middle and hand off the defensive tackle to Conte. But, Farris, Conte, and McLaughlin all block the gap to their right, meaning that Farris could have called a right protection. Yet, David Wang blocks the gap to his left, and when nobody comes, he chips out on Gibson's man. If the protection was called to the right, Wang would need to defend his inside gap, not his outside gap. If protection right was the call and Wang executed it properly, he would have been right there to pick up the end on the stunt. Again, without knowing the line call, it is difficult to determine the cause of the breakdown, but it certainly is troubling to see a veteran group struggle with what should be a simple stunt by a four pass rushers.
At the same time, Coach Loeffler could have adjusted to help his struggling line with some of those matchups. With the line struggling, I kept expecting to see Loeffler keep his backs in or at least have them chip the pass rushers as they leaked out of the backfield. But time and time again, I saw the Hokie running backs check for a blitz and go into their pass route without chipping a defender. On back to back series, I saw both Marshawn Williams and Sam Rogers pass up clear opportunities where they were delaying out of the backfield and had a terrific angle to help out their center, but neither time did they chip before going into the pattern, as seen here.
We have a three-man front, and ECU brings an outside linebacker to create a four man rush.
Wang takes the outside gap then moves to help Gibson, leaving Farris one-on-one with Terry Williams and Conte one-on-one with the defensive tackle. Both ECU defenders beat Conte and Farris with beautiful spin moves, and I am sure neither Hokies are happy with their effort here. But, watch Marshawn Williams. He steps up into the pocket to check for a blitz, and he has a great angle to at least get a shoulder into Terry Williams. Instead, he bypasses Williams and goes out into a safety valve position. It doesn't appear that his route is part of a combination that gets another receiver downfield open, and by the time Williams turns around to receive a pass, Brewer is on the ground.
It is easy to blame Williams at first glance, but in the third quarter, both he and Sam Rogers bypassed the chip block on several important passing downs. Without knowing for sure, and given that both were going into the route in the face of pressure, I have to assume that they were part of the pattern and instructed not to help the offensive line. If that was the case, I disagree with the strategy. Brewer had already been rattled earlier in the game on several big hits, and his accuracy and velocity seemed to have suffered after the wear and tear of the Ohio State game and East Carolina's continued hits. If Brewer is the guy behind center, he has to stay upright to have a chance. More importantly, the offensive line has to protect Brewer better against a four-man rush. I am not sure if this is a residual side effect from Coach Searels' effort to Hanz and Franz the group, but I was worried that some of the linemen would struggle with movement as result of the additional mass. To compound matters, there hasn't been much added push up front to make up for it. At the same time, picking up stunts was a weak point against Boston College and East Carolina last season. If the coaches don't want Brewer to give way to Leal with injuries, then the staff needs to get the pass protection and communication better this week. Perhaps it starts with Laurence Gibson and Jonathan McLaughlin back to their original positions from last year. Neither look comfortable right now. As for Farris and Wang, I am not sure if perhaps a position flip will help there, or perhaps Wyatt Teller should get more work, but nobody can argue that the Hokies got as much push as they should have in the running game over the first three weeks of the season, and those kinds of communication breakdowns against a four-man rush don't look very good for a veteran group. Finally, sometimes the other guy is just better, and Terry Williams was just better, regardless of scheme or effort, than the Hokie front on Saturday.
We are all frustrated as a fan base, but it is lazy and plain wrong to blame this loss on a hangover effect from Ohio State. As South Carolina showed Saturday, East Carolina is a big boy football program with offensive and defensive systems and players that were tailor made to exploit the Hokies' weaknesses.
On the bright side, in the face of mountains of adversity, the guys who are going to be the leaders for this young team when they mature made some big strides on Saturday. Cam Phillips and Isaiah Ford stepped up and made huge plays after having some drops and alignment errors. Ken Ekanem had a superstar caliber day coming off the edge, even when the Hokies didn't blitz. Facyson played well after struggling so much in the first quarter. Marshawn Williams had some runs which showed how effective he can be when he is allowed to get downhill. Chase Williams and Deon Clarke were very good. And Brewer, who had about as bad a start as you could imagine, came back to give the Hokies a chance to win. Now, Georgia Tech and their "death by a thousand cuts" come to Lane Stadium. For the Hokie defense, it is the fourth completely different offensive system they have faced, and the Yellow Jackets will make those same defensive backs who struggled with tackling make a ton of one on one tackles on the edge. Plus, the Yellow Jackets love running outside release fades by their slot or "B-backs". On offense, the Hokies face another pair of big defensive tackles. It will be very interesting to see how Coach Loeffler and Coach Foster can adjust so the Yellow Jackets can't exploit some of the weaknesses in the Hokie scheme this week.
Comments
Thank you, I can't see all that stuff at game speed from the stands.
I can't really see what French sees at game speed period... really, if I'm honest, I have to watch the slow replays about 3 times to see what French is trying to teach us.
Thanks for your work, French.
I'll start with this:
But thanks, French, for rationalizing what happened out there. This part made me wonder something:
Do you think this was related to Corey Marshall being unable to play? As in, Foster was not confident in generating pass rush with the backups? I'm wondering just how big of an effect Marshall has on the overall game plan.
So.....what you're saying is that we got beat?
Great analysis and impressive game plan/execution by ECU's staff and players.
I'm just mystified by the apparent lack of adjustments from our side.
Not knowing anything, it was frustrating to see the same results time and time again: aggressive pass rush that always seemed to be a second late against a veteran QB throwing into one on one coverage.
On that film of the 4th qtr play with Jarrett defending, Carden takes a one-step hop from the shot-gun and chucks a rainbow before the receiver is even 5 yds from the line of scrimmage! There is no way a pass rush can get to the guy!
Slightly OT, but did we have a really bad punt on Saturday? I saw AJ Hughes tweet last night that they were on the "C'mon man" segment before MNF last night, but I didn't catch the segment and don't remember the play.
We AND ECU were highlighted as how not to down a punt: Our play where we could have downed it on the 1, and then ECU's play where they could have as well.
If was funny, not really a bad thing, IMO.
AJ hasn't had a great season punting if you look at distance, but we haven't seen any big returns. It could be that cFB has him doing directional punting and it is working.
Against ECU there was a punt in the 2nd half which VT had a chance to down inside the five and several players misplayed the ball.
oh yeah, I do remember that. I was thinking we had one blocked or just kicked it really short or something.
Just keep that going through the UNC game. Switzer is the best punt returner we have seen since........um......
My bigger problem looking at the film on that punt was that it appeared Hughes put the ball to the wrong side. We had a ton of players down there but they were to the top (left side) while the ball was punted into the lower corner (right side of field) which makes me think there was some miscommunication on which way the ball was going. Still should have downed it inside the five regardless.
ECU is an underrated team. If the Hokies learn from it & end up with only one loss, that would be a successful season.
I certainly agree...
The sad part about all these highlights are the 2-3 hokie dline/lb in the backfield ready to sack carden and he just throws it up like a prayer. With a ball hawking safety jarrett is laying the boom or intercepting these I think.
I just threw up in my mouth after the first highlight, bad memories.
I am SO tired of hearing we "overlooked" ECU. With our history of close games I don't buy that for a second. What we saw against ECU is the unfortunate byproduct of Foster's adjustment to be able to defend a spread option offense. Defending Clemson begat this loss, if you will.
My question is, would it be impossible to fluctuate between the "new" double eagle and Bud's old base nickel from game to game? Seems like we now have proof positive that the double eagle won't hold against vertical passing attacks unless we can rattle the QB. For every Clemson we defend, there's an FSU waiting behind them. We need to be able to flip that switch on defense, considering we face both typed of a offense in our own conference.
This isn't a rhetorical question. Would it be too much to ask to switch between the two base Ds from game to game? Too much for the various positions to keep straight on D? And was the clusterfuck if substitution penalties on the last drive because we were attempting to make such a shift and all the personnel were caught with their pants down? Have wondered that since witnessing that spectacular meltdown.
I think a big part of being able to switch between the two base D's is having a healthy D! (yes a healthy wang is always a good thing)
Both our DT's are injured to some extent, this was the first real game where we saw what Bane Ekanem can do now he just needs to be consistent.
Agreed, Maddy again didn't generate much push inside. I really don't think his knee is right. He looks belabored just walking around in between plays.
They said last night that he is questionable for GT. Maddy, Marshall, Dadi, Facyson are all hurt on D. Malleck, Cline, Farris, and probably Brewer all hurt on O. Gonna be a long year...starting to look like Georgia did last year
Sit Farris, slide Wang, bring in Teller.
With a spot of luck, Kline comes back okayish to rest Malleck.
FWIW, I don't think Brewer is so much hurt as just beat the hell up. Just needs to be left standing after the pass and hopefully he will mend.
I think we can lose to ANY team on our schedule if we play like we did Saturday. I am not taking anything away from ECU though, because they kicked us in the mouth and we couldn't recover, but still, if we play like that, how are we supposed to win 5 more games to make it to a bowl? Saturday was a real wake up call for people who thought this program turned a corner after the past 2 years.
Even the staff and the players talked about being not ready to play at the press conference yesterday. I just don't buy it. After watching the film and listening to them, it sounds like players trying to rationalize what happened and the coaches trying to keep confidence raised. "Nobody can beat you if you do what we ask you to do." Confidence is such a critical part of the game, but when you have two good plans and two sets of kids that are giving 100%, the last divide is size, strength, speed, and ability. And, on Saturday, Cam Worthy, Shane Carden, and Terry Williams were good enough to beat us. Bud could have blitzed less, but zone may have exposed the Hokies to the slants, posts, and screens, and worse, the running game. Loeffler could have used more max protect, but who knows if two and receiver routes get open. All we know is that with the scheme that was being used, ECU was uniquely positioned with those athletes to beat it.
My biggest worry coming out of the game was tackling by our secondary. The corners, Bonner, Jarrett, and Clark are going to be attacked again and again on the edge by Georgia Tech, and they have to put people on the ground. It didn't happen far to often against ECU. I think we see the Bear look again, because Georgia Tech likes to throw the ball more this season from their base offense (it looks like they have abandoned the shotgun.) The Yellow Jackets have struggled against two FCS teams and Tulane, but their offense has been good.
If we don't move the ball on their defense... well, my confidence will be diminished. Georgia Southern made their defense look really bad.
Thanks for the great analysis, as always, French. I haven't had a chance to watch any GT this year: can you describe their passing attack? If we play press-man coverage with no safety help for a third week, are we more likely to see the results we saw from Barrett or Carden?
Yess, what is this GiT passing you speak of?
They have passed for almost as many touchdowns as we have.
It is mostly play action. They drop back trailing, I expect something that looked like the 4th quarter vs tOSU. But, they have big wideouts, and they love running go routes from the slots by their "B-backs." Sound familiar?
Well, I remember a couple of receivers named Johnson and Thomas who played in white and gold a few years ago. The other day, a GT fan messaged me, "Smelter and Waller give GT an offensive depth they've lacked since Bebe went to Denver." Are they that scary this year?
Sound like what you're saying is that recruiting (for both programs) prior to 2013 is the reason ECU was uniquely positioned to beat VT. Maybe even regardless of scheme?
I kinda don't buy that they were prepared for ECU. Seemed to me like they were still enjoying the osu moment towards the end of the week. It's not that they didn't take ECU seriously, but it just seems like the coaches didn't become the disciplinarians they needed to become to get everyone's buy-in to 24 hour rule that Brewer keeps mentioning. It's not an unforgivable sin, it just is what it is.
Offensively, if you have a 350 lb. door stop wrecking your o-line, why not go hurry-up and run him all over the field without letting him sub-out? Make him puke and put him on the sidelines huffing oxygen? Maybe I missed it but I don't recall using the tempo that we saw against W&M, or even OSU?
EDIT: And don't forget that Loeffler's wife had a baby Monday afternoon and Foster spent the entire week hearing about how he was the best DC in college football from SportsCenter on down. No matter who you are, those things are bound to impact your focus as a coach. Unless you're an emotionless cyborg.
All the screens and east-west runs were designed to do exactly that. Williams never got gassed because ECU used him strategically.
Right, he would always sub-out on 3rd down. But wouldn't the no-huddle/hurry up have prevented him from subbing out?
Let's also keep in mind the physical hangover a game like Ohio St can have. I don't buy for a second that the team wasn't prepared. They just looked to me like they were beat the hell up, which explains thebetter play as the game went along.
OSU was super-physical. They were no-doubt beat up - Brewer especially I think.
Thank you.
If the Hokies had won Saturday we would all be celebrating Ken Ekanem's coming out party. That kid definitely had a monster day.
French, you disappoint me. In your critique of the game, I thought you would've at least included one clip of the equipment room unveiling the Evel Knievel Bad Voo Doo Helmets, as they were the main reason the Hokies lost.
My wife said the same thing....about the helmets
I still saw a lot of fight in our team, even when everything seemed to be going against them. This is a quality that LT3 never seemed to get enough credit for.
Terry Williams was one of the most dominating NTs I've seen us face since we last faced Suh in 2009. It is clear that our offensive line still has a ways to go, before we can have QBs sit in the pocket. I don't like it, but it's apparent for the time being at least, that Brewer will often need to roll out and remain mobile. In time, I believe our OLine will see marked improvement. But I will continue to believe it the capabilities of the duel threat QB, as opposed to the traditional pocket Passer.
Great analysis, French, and Go Hokies, beat git!
One of my absolute favorite Tyrod memories was watching him beat that boy named Suh for a whole game. Every time Suh rushed Tyrod eluded him and every time he stood at the line with his hands up Tyrod threw the ball around him. Just a beautiful performance against a one-man defense.
Man, how many times did Tyrod need to use his wheels that game? I remember the Huskers yelling "Suuuuuuuuh!" from their section every time he broke through our line. Thankfully, our defense held them only to FGs.
I am troubled by your final paragraph. You basically said "When they run, they are going to attack our weakness of DB tackling. When they pass, they are going to run the play we've proven not to be able to defense, and when we have the ball they are going to have two of the guy we've been proven not to be able to block on their DL."
Trying to think happy thoughts here, but man...
same here, this game makes me even more worried because everything ECU did this past week really exposed us. It's not like we had a bad day , no no no it really showed the BluePrint to how to beat VT. Granted we had some unlukcy plays, juice almost broke 2 long td runs, drops all over the field, Brewer looked rough (took huge hits early).
However looking at what GT does well and what we have consistently showed what we do bad makes me worried for Saturday. Does Bud use kendall the same way he used kyle last year? Is this the game that Van Dyke comes in and plays like a beast?
Yes and no. It's similar to our D against OSU. Sure we showed how we did it, but how many other teams have 1) the personnel and 2) the play calling to run the same system? How many other teams will have the combo of WR size and hands coupled with a verteran QB and system to get the ball out before pressure? I said this in another thread by ECUs WRs were better than OSUs and might be the best group we see all year.
The other point is that Bud won't be stagnant either. He will see where we were exposed and he will figure out a way to combat it.
I have the feeling the kid recruited to be an option QB will not have the same touch and accuracy as the kid recruited to run an air raid attack.
The past couple of games I have been getting so pissed off at the DBs not turning around and locating the ball to either make the interception or break up the pass. The only who who had kept turning around is Kendall (Fuller genes obviously). After reading this I understand why they are no longer turning around to make the play. Like French said I think we play very well in zone coverage, especially Facyson when he has the ability to locate the ball and make a break on the player/ball. Obviously we've played 3 different types of offenses which are more of an anomaly. After GT the rest of the teams (sans UNC) run a pro style offense and we will see the base defense coming back to a mix of zone and man. ECU game is over, learn from it and prepare for this match-up with the triple option from GT.
Thanks French, as usual you have made it easier to understand the why of what happened. It's no less painful but at least I know more about what happened.
I too wonder how much difference Corey Marshall might have made in our being able to get to Carden more often.
Definitely need to protect Brewer better this week and get our run game going.
I mean, they had a bunch of sacks and a bunch of pressure. Those fade routes are quick throws. Unless Marshall beats the guard clean, I doubt he would have made a huge difference.
You mentioned Farris being hurt in camp...he is still hurting. Saturday, he was favoring his left shoulder a lot...often with his arm limp at his side. That can't help his effectiveness. Also, C. Clark is going to really be a liability this week as he struggles making tackles more than any other player.
I would actually say the opposite about him. He did really good defending the option here against OSU.
00:06:40–00:06:50
Yep, that was the good play (still not great form). I have also seen him badly miss several tackles each of the first 3 weeks.....which one do you think is the anomaly?
I'm not too worried about GT following the ECU game plan. They've got a run-first mentality, and play a lot like OSU do. Bud's got them pretty well figured out, and I like how he attacked their scheme last year. What I expect on defense is: Stop the dive by sending 2 guys up the middle every play. Guard the pitch man so the QB has to keep. Scrape the LBs over to take the QB and rally to the football. Play man coverage on the back end and don't let 'em slip past, because the QB will have the football 2/3 of the time. Make 'em earn their way down field 4 yards at a time on QB keepers.
I'm most excited to see our offense put up some points on the bad GT defense and get them behind early, which will force their offense to pass in the second half to get back into the game.
Go Hokies!
The only problem is that 4 yards every play equals 1st downs every three plays...
it sure does. but that isn't sustainable for a whole game when their QB repeatedly gets crushed.
I agree. I'm eager to see what our O can do against their D. They have allowed a lot of points this year and have played close games against teams you would have thought they could have beaten comfortably. I'm pretty certain Bud always practices in the spring and fall camp for GT to get the guys more familiar with it and I think the game plan for OSU will help in that respect. If we can pound their QB over and over as he is forced to keep it and then make them play catch up it will be a good afternoon. Hopefully our running game gets going this weekend.
Man, it's gonna be tough stopping GiT without Kyle Fuller playing whip. Open-field tackling will have to be on point. Also, any news on Corey Marshall?
I think this loss was a confluence of several factors, not the least of which is that ECU is a lot better than national media wonks will admit. I agree with French, a good many of the problems we saw Saturday were the exploitation of matchups. One thing that nobody has mentioned with regard to the lack of offensive adjustments is that you have an OC that just had a new baby last week. I know how brain-dead I was for the first week after both of my kids were born, I wonder how much that might have played into the issues on Saturday. I heard Shane last night on TTL talking about how Loeffler is a different animal when it comes to getting sleep, but a new kid can definitely throw you for a loop.
I'm perplexed by Williams. Can he really be as dominant as everyone is saying? I'm not just taking a cheap shot here- he is legitimately extremely obese. How can someone so overweight be an impact player at this level of football? You really can't be that mobile when your knees touch your belly in a normal 3 point stance. Again, I'm just stating facts, not trying to make fun.
The NFL only seems to have a handful of guys his weight, and they are generally much taller and they haven't been that successful overall.
B/c the guy had fresh legs, tremedous get-off (look at the clips above he is out of his stance before any other d-lineman on ecu), an array of pass rush moves, and is just a good football player. Its not like they were asking him to run a mile, he was in their to create havoc in a 5 yard by 5 yard window and boy did he do that.
Agreed, and he is only to get better and better and will also probably be in better shape every year. Just because he doesn't necessarily look the part doesn't mean he isn't a good player.
Um did you watch the game? Have you watched Vince Wilfork, Gilbert Brown, Ted Washington, etc?
He's Derrick Hopkins plus about 60lbs., he was a wrecking crew against us last year, unbelievable he's that agile & that heavy, one hell of a player, just ask Caleb.
Terrific player. NFL teams always double nose tackles. I would have liked to have seen Caleb get more help.
Could'nt figure that out either. He sure could have used a little bit, that guy is something else!
Caleb has been a warrior for VT, and perhaps was their best lineman last season. I am not sure if he is hurting, but it shows the faith the staff have in him that he was trusted with so many one on one situations. But, with the way the game was progressing, I would have liked to have seen him get some help.
Also, he had some real nice blocks on the handful of solid Marshawn Williams runs.
I was really impressed with a spin move that was highlighted on one of the replays. Incredibly quick for a man that big. He's an absolute load at NT, and I was surprised that we didn't give Farris more help. Or roll Brewer out of the pocket a little more. Seemed like we didn't do as much of that as we did against OSU. Maybe Brewer was more banged up than we thought and just wasn't mobile enough?
the only problem with a roll out is that it takes away a significant portion of the field and makes the pass easier to defend. Case in point was the interception on the goal line. Brewer only had one place to go besides throw it out of bounds, and because the corner knew he wasn't running, he dropped out of his short zone up and under the deep comeback route. Easy INT.
I hear you, but there were certainly several successful roll outs against OSU. I understand though that EZU runs a different defense than OSU, so maybe that played into as well? At any rate, thanks for all the great posts and lessons every week French!
Williams is a senior right? We don't have to play against him or Carden again hopefully.
Almost every big play generated by the Pirates came on some variation of this play concept. and it only stopped working when the Pirates stopped going to it.
Exactly what I was thinking the entire 2nd half of this game. And the Brian Griese kept saying the same thing. It was like they went into "don't lose" mode and took their foot off the gas pedal. I didn't really appear like Bud made any huge adjustments to stop them, they just went away from what was working. And when they needed to score, they simply went back to it, stormed right down the field, and scored. (It didn't help that we kicked the ball out of bounds to give them the ball on the 35...) as French said, I really just think we were beaten because of a perfect storm of the right scheme with the right athletes against a defense that was ineffective. And I do believe we're banged up with a very shallow bench. Let's hope that this year's group can execute Bud's defense against GT like last year's, or it could be another long afternoon in Blacksburg.
Wait...Brian Greise said something lucid? I agree with everything else you typed, but that part is just crazy talk
Shocking - I know. But he was also calling for us to run double move routes with our receivers well before we actually did it. Our last two scores came off of just that. So I guess he's not completely worthless...
Awesome analysis French. I made a big mistake of going to ESPN VT page and the video started with freakin Heather Dinich... Why in the heck is she on camera now. She has to be one of the most annoying people I have ever seen. I get so frustrated at her perspective on anything but mostly just because of her bias against VPI.
It's been said already, but dad gum, this is quality analysis...
Any thoughts on why we didn't play quarters or some sort of cover 2 scheme? I was thinking mid last week that we'd see less press man Saturday because of the danger of Carden's arm. On paper, quarters seems like it could counter that simple cross/fade switch play. Is quarters too complicated to implement without extensive practice time?
french, how do you feel about the performance of our offensive line this year? I remember you being hyped about the improvement in technique last year when Grimes was the OL coach, but do you see similar improvement/development in our current offensive line?
I have been putting this off. I really didn't want to relive this game. Reading and watching the video show how little of a difference there is between successful plays and negative plays. This still stings, but helps explain some things. Hopefully they execute against GiT.
I've been wondering about this since JGlock was first moved. Seems like he did well at left tackle last year. Why do think Coach Searles made the switch?
You gotta love this part of the country; where the ladies know their football.
My mother was the same way. One of her fondest memories was bumping into Sonny Jergusen outside the drug store in our small town of Montross, Virginia. She introduced herself, he petted our dog, and she was on cloud nine. I was about five at the time and just remember it was A BIG DEAL. Never did find out what he was doing in Montross, though.
Curious why we didn't try to cut block Williams? He obviously couldn't be blocked normally, at least 1v1.