The North Carolina Tar Heels' spread offense is one that the Hokies desperately want to keep off the field. The only question is how they plan to make that happen.
Sure, it would probably help if Bud Foster's defense were able to force some quick three-and-outs and eliminate its tendency to allow big plays.
But the Hokies' offense might have as much to do with the effort to keep Marquise Williams and company on the bench as Foster's bunch.
"We're going to have to control the ball," said offensive line coach Stacy Searels. "They are a high octane offense. The longer we can stay on the field, be efficient, moving the sticks and scoring points, the better we'll be."
Searels is right that the Tar Heels are at their best when they're moving at a rapid pace. In each of their wins, against San Diego State and Liberty, they've lost the time of possession battle, yet put up 31 and 56 points respectively.
So even though, like the Hokies, UNC has suffered two disappointing losses already, the offense is still gearing up to do what it can to keep the Heels on defense.
"We've seen they take pride in how fast this offense runs and they've shown by their past games that they can score," said guard David Wang. "Even though the outcome hasn't always gone in their favor, we've seen them put yards up, we've seen them stop the run, we've seen them score as well, so we need to keep them off the field and score as much as possible."
However, the Hokies had a similar objective heading into last year's game against Larry Fedora's squad, and they couldn't quite make it happen.
Tech came away with a 27-17 win in Lane, but the offense didn't exactly dominate with a punishing ground game.
"They kicked our butts last year physically, so we've got to be better about it," said running backs coach Shane Beamer.
It's hard to believe, but the Hokies managed to win the game while managing a paltry 48 yards in the run game, all against a UNC defense that finished 83rd in the country in run yards allowed in 2013.
"We've definitely been shown the stats from last year and we want to change that," Wang said.
But, much like last year, Beamer thinks the Heels have been better against the run than the stats might show.
"I can remember all the talk, East Carolina, I think they had 600-something yards on them last year the week before, then they came into Blacksburg after hearing this talk about how bad they are on defense and they kicked our butts," Beamer said. "They've got a lot of guys on that defense that we recruited and we'd love to have on our football team right now. They've got good players."
Beamer's memory is sharp. Tech had interest in three starting UNC defenders, including linebacker Travis Hughes, cornerback Brian Walker and safety Tim Scott, and ECU did indeed hang 603 yards on the Heels in 2013.
UNC had similar troubles against the Pirates in their meeting two weeks ago. allowing a whopping 789 yards of offense, including an astounding 343 yards on the ground.
When you take away that horrendous effort, they're only allowing about 127 rushing yards per game. That bumps them from being the 92nd ranked run defense to the mid 40s in the category, so it's easy to see why Shane is concerned about a seemingly soft defense.
"It's basically the same defense they had last year minus a couple guys here and there," Beamer said. "They're still talented, their backs are against the wall, so if our guys are expecting anything less than a four quarter battle, it will be a rude awakening."
But if UNC's backs are against the wall in ACC Coastal, the Hokies are right there alongside them, and have the advantage of coming off their finest rushing performance of the season.
Western Michigan may not be a great team, but throwing up 308 yards rushing against any opponent shows that the running game is making some progress.
"I think we called two running plays in the second half (against the Broncos). So it was cool that they knew what was coming and they weren't able to stop it," Beamer said. "Now we have to continue to build on it."
Part of the improvement can be attributed to increased physicality on the offensive line.
"A lot of those runs by the running backs were easy because we had so much movement up front," Beamer said. "We were pushing guys sideways, pushing guys five yards downfield and that was awesome to see. Stacy and I have talked about it, we've talked about it with (offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler), when we get the running game going, it gets those guys confident."
Wang agrees that the simplicity of the running game gave the line confidence last weekend.
"Once we get into a rhythm with something, we know what we're doing, we're comfortable, we fire off the ball and run full speed," Wang said.
But with Shai McKenzie going out for the year with an ACL tear, things just got a whole lot more complicated for the running game.
Marshawn Williams should become the team's featured back, but if the Hokies want to succeed at battering the Heels on the ground, they'll likely need another RB to step up. Trey Edmunds thinks he's ready to be that guy.
"I definitely think I can (carry the load) and I'm definitely able to, health-wise, I'm definitely able to," Edmunds said.
The staff has slowly eased him back into the swing of things by largely relegating him to special teams and pass protection up to this point, but Edmunds thinks he's successfully made the case that's he's ready for an expanded role.
"It was just a matter of time, coming up to the coaches and telling them that I'm ready," Edmunds said. "Because that's what I think they were waiting on, you know? Just for them to see me in practice again and for me to tell them myself, it's like 'hey, the guy really is ready.' I think we both have that understanding now."
Edmunds only has five carries on the year, so it's tough to predict how he'll respond to suddenly becoming a major part of the offense once more. Yet the redshirt sophomore says he's not intimidated by the challenge in the slightest.
"I'm not worried because it's what I did last year," Edmunds said. "I'm just getting back to my old self, having fun and playing the game I love."
Comments
I'm ready for a good, long, look at Caleb this week. He's made the most of his limited chances, and I bet he is itching to show everybody what he's got going on.
I hope they give him a full series, minimum, where he is the man, not just pop him in here and there.
I hope we are so far ahead he can play the entire fourth quarter with Leal.
I hope they are so far ahead the Hokies put David Wang in at QB for the 4th qtr.
And he tosses a touchdown pass to himself and punts it?
Yessir.
Question is whether Shane and Loeffler are going to give Caleb any carries.
If we're up by 3-4 scores in the 4th quarter then yeah, you'll see Caleb. But I don't see anyone but Williams & Edmunds getting more than a couple of carries in prime time.
My worries (barring injury) is that 10-12 carries are going to go to JCC, WR's, and Sam Rogers during the prime time of the game. I only have real issues with one of those options.
I worry we are running the jet sweep a little too much, our production with it seems to go down game by game.
Sounds like we have learned from our struggles both this year and last, hopefully this is the game we finally stop trying to smoke at the gas station.
It shouldn't be as dangerous as everyone makes it out to be, but every time we light up at the pump, some crazy male models always seem ready to engage in a gasoline fight (looking at you Gouviea-Winslow v Boise State) and blow our chances at a road trip sky high.
This was the statement I think was most telling.
Was the blocking scheme too complex too quick? Are the guys playing in the heads too much and need to just concentrate on blocking technique? Because there was some real nice run blocking in the second half.
I listened to Stacy's post practice video and he said they changed from a man block scheme to a zone block scheme. Both him and Lefty noticed they were moving/stunting/creating havoc with their front 4 which left the lb free to make the play. At halftime the decision was to leave one of the lineman free/chip block him and get into the second level to make some holes.
With that said it is refreshing to know that they were able to see what positional michigan did and come up with a plan to help gain yards. I for one am not smart enough/can see what's going on blocking wise right away to figure out what we need to do..but after french's review and re watching the game it looks like the zone scheme allowed us to make huge holes/cutback lanes for the RB's.
Juice said there were plenty of holes in the 2nd half it was just a matter of picking the best one and hitting it hard with Wang blocking.
Most people have a hard time hitting holes when they are being Wang blocked so it's impressive that Juice is still finding a way to do it
Sorry, you lobbed that one over the plate for me.
Same here.
but he said there were many holes... not just 1
The things I want to say in response are NSFW
It just comes down to knowing how to use your Wang properly.
Isn't "Wang Blocking" what they call that situation when your with the hot girl, and her annoying cat lady neighbor shows up with the vacation slide show?
What you're describing sounds like serendipity.
You have an ingenious, dirty mind, its catchy!
Upvote for the positive attitude, but apparently you've never met annoying cat lady neighbor.
I don't know whether the O-line is better at zone blocking than man blocking, but I'm willing to bet they're better at doing one thing consistently than doing two things back-and-forth. I would like to see Lefty call a consistent running attack (either zone or man) with a consistent back (not rotating) until we get something going. Once we have as steady attack we can rely on (and their D starts making adjustments to stop it), then it's time to mix it up.
Parks and Rec quotes/gifs/memes/anything to do with Ron Swanson, always get a leg. Keep em coming
I'd be happy if we could throw up 789 yards of offense on UNC.
Who wouldn't?
It's just not going to happen for a whole lot of reasons.
I'll be happy if we put up 30 offensive points on them, get at least 400 yards of production, and win time of possession.
I'll be satisfied with a win, but I really won't be happy unless I see our offense do what it should be capable of doing against a bad defense.
The thing about the UNC D is that it is most susceptible against the pass. Should we trust Brewer enough to attack them there, or do we come out and try to continue our ground attack that worked so well the 2nd half of last weeks game?
We are going to have to. The reason ECU had so many yards rushing is UNC was desperately trying to stop the pass on every down.
So what UNC desperately tried to stop... they failed at?
Correct. Their secondary is crap.
Totally agree, only thing to add is NO Interceptions please. GO HOKIES!!!
If we could consistently put up 400 - 450 yards of offense per game, that would make a lot of people happy.
This is a good chance to redeem ourselves against a reportedly 'sub-par' defense- we blew it against GT, which we all knew did not have a stellar defense.
Despite all our troubles this year, we've done just that actually.
As I was researching the stats for this article, I found our yards per game ranking:
http://www.cfbstats.com/2014/leader/national/team/offense/split01/catego...
They're averaging 421 yards per game, good for 66th nationally. That's nearly 100 yards better per game than the offense in 2013. So sure, there remain some big problems with when they're getting those yards (and when they aren't) but there has been some progress.
Thanks for researching - I knew we had to be around upper 300's and close to 400.
Assuming this is referring to the turnovers and inopportune penalties - these are kinks that we'll get worked out. Thanks Alex!
Don't last year's stats include all twelve games, though, while this year's include two cupcakes and two should-have-been-cupcakes? I'm not concerned that the raw numbers are low, I'm concerned that we didn't do what we should have done against four of our first five opponents.
Honestly, I'd be happy if we threw up half of that total.
I'm not happy when I throw up at all.
Try eating more Skittles.
But who wants to look like a My Little Pony on LSD when they are puking?
<400 against UNC isn't good. We should be > 450 this week.
Sadly in today's college football <400 generally means you lose the game.
EDIT: Ignore that last comment...looked at wrong numbers.
...
Does anyone else remember the good 'ol days when we'd put up 178 yards of total offense and win by 18?
Ah, memories...
Michael Brewer passed for 178 last week and we won by 18....
Oh sh*t I just pulled that number out of nowhere. Maybe it was just stuck in my head...
So you're saying you threw those numbers out there on the run on a treadmill?
Indeed.
I hope we don't just rotate RBs every possession like Shane mentioned. I want to see someone get hot and then we use him primarily while rotating in just to give him rest or for situational reasons.
At this point, I'll just be happy to get out of there with a W!
Just win the game and continue showing life while doing so.
Even with Brewer getting picked off way more often that we'd like and a defense that is giving up big plays at an alarming clip, we still have an offense that has been keeping us in games. Against a truly horrible defense like Carolina's, we should be able to march the ball at will and put up some easy points.
And to a point, I disagree with the notion of keeping their offense off the field by slowing down the game when we have the ball. Our defense should be good enough to get their offense off the field every time they have the ball. Establishing the run would be nice, but dammit, we should be eyeing a huge offensive output this game. We have the offense to hang 50 on these guys, it would be awesome if we unleashed it.
I am going to be disappointed if we don't hang at least 45 on UNC. I think we are also going to need to in order to win the game.
I hope you're wrong because history shows we're in deep kimchi if that's the case. The last time VT won a game in which the opponent scored 40+ points was 1993 against Rutgers, which VT won 49-42.
Everyone is talking about the run game last week.....I dont mean to burst anyone's bubble, but it was Western Michigan.....
Well aware of that. The fact that most of it came in the second half and from calling the same 2 running plays when they knew Lefty was gonna call them is what gives the team confidence. I don't think we run over everybody every week but at least we are taking steps towards that direction right?
Tightends and WR have an excellent opportunity to have a huge impact both on the passing game , but also blocking the overly aggressive UNC defenders. If the offense executes, VT can get some early scores as UNC tries to hard to make an impact. Equally UNC will go after Foster's D over the top. Time for the ball hawks of DBU to show up and steal a few from the tar heels offense. UNC is a powder keg ready to implode not explode. Just needs a catalyst Let's Go....Hokies!!!
We will be passing to set up the run this week. UNC defense is incomplete, so you take whatever they give you.
0 chance we will run run run and run some more. The last thing we want to do is go 3-out and give a fast paced UNC offense the ball to score in 2 minutes
I hope you are right, but if I had to coach against our O, I would make Brewer prove he can throw it to hokie players. After Brewer scorches their stacked box, they will adjust and we can then pound them with Juice. Short passing game will also act as an extension of the run to keep their O off the field. Hitting Rogers in the flat as suggested below sounds great to me.
I look for Sam Rogers to play a role in the passing game this week. SDSU sent their FB into the flat against UNC and he gobbled up yards. The staff has to have made note of that.
The mindset that controlling the ball and time of possession is key to winning this game worries me greatly. I simply do not believe that to be true, as the article even points out that UNC lost the time of possession battle in both of their wins. The most important thing for our offense, outside of limiting turnovers, is to put up points when they have the ball (increase our points per possession). Making more big plays is the easiest way to increase our points per possession, but if we can score points while controlling the ball and driving the field that's obviously great as well.
On the other side, UNC's offense thrives by using big plays to put up points, which our defense has been susceptible to this season, rather than using long, methodical drives that eat up clock. I believe moreso than "keeping their offense off the field," the defense needs to prevent big plays and essentially "force their offense to stay on the field" in order score. If UNC is able to get a few scores from big plays while our offense is forced to maintain long drives to come away with points, the time of possession battle isn't going to matter.
boom leg for sure.
TOP is a silly game. It means 0 in terms of who wins. In terms of helping our chances of winning the game it means a lot. I think there is more to controlling the game/understanding the situation than TOP. If UNC goes 3-out maybe some hurry up/pace wouldn't be bad.
I made a big stink about the end of the first half of the WMU game, but I agree with you 100%. That was a situation where driving the field AND eating the clock was called for. But that situation may or may not present itself this Saturday. As a rule I don't care about TOP. It's a situational thing.
That said, however, I want to see the Hokies come out running the ball, and continue running the ball until UNC has no choice but to stack the box. Then start mixing in play-action passes so Brewer can throw the ball without a DE in his face. Yes, UNC has a really bad secondary, but they have a pretty bad run defense, too. The Hokies need to get some live reps running the ball against a defense that is better than WMU but not as good as our other Coastal opponents, so they will have confidence in the run the rest of the season.
Agreed. TOP usually comes as a by product of doing other things well but doesn't necessarily have to be the goal
Let's see, they beat SDSU and Liberty. I'm not hanging my hat on that too much. I understand your point, but please understand mine: Good teams have an identity (and yes the ability to adapt) and can force their will on their opponent every game. Our freshman need to learn this. Period.
I agree with what you're saying from a fundamental standpoint and think that an identity should be established in spring practice, August camp, and against cupcakes opponents... but I don't think a conference game when your back is against the wall is a good time to be hard-headed about your identity.
Good teams might have an identity, but better teams find ways to win even if that identity isn't working. This team needs to find a way to win, like they did at Ohio State. If we have success controlling the clock and running the ball, I'm all for it. However, I don't want us stubbornly trying to assert the running game in the 3rd quarter and continuously pounding the rock if we aren't putting points on the board doing it.
This is what I wanted to say but you have said it all for me.
?
UNC has struggled as much as we have to be explosive this year, especially in that win against SDSU. They one that game because of a 100-yard pick six and another interception in the end zone at the end of the game. They've hit on a couple of big ones, but they're #84 in the country in plays of 20+ yard plays. They thrive off of turnovers; I think that's the key to the game more than any until the UVA game.
That being said, I still think that they hit on 5 or so of those big plays. Hopefully we tackle well and don't let that beat us.
I wasn't speaking to specific games this year really, but I think Marquise Williams is prone to some poor decisions and potentially turnovers over the course of a game, which are more likely to occur when they are forced to drive the whole field. On the other hand, Williams has the ability to use his legs to buy time and gain yards, which can lead to big plays. UNC still strikes me as more boom-or-bust than the average team (that kinda goes for offense, defense, and special teams).
Im looking forward to seeing Trey back in there. The loss of Shai really hurts, but if we can get back what Trey did for us in the second half of last season, I don't think our run game will skip a beat.
Big thing is stopping UNC's spread offense. With Facyson (most likely) out for this game, we will probaby have to go deeper in our DB depth. UNC might of given up 70 points to ECU but they also put up twice as much as we did against them. Defense is key here. I think if we can hold them to 21 points or less, we win, anything more, I will be a little worried. GO HOKIES!
Teller repeatedly drives his man 5yds back and when chip blocking does so effectively while getting to the second level to hit someone else. Put him in and let him turn into the monster he's destined to be, sooner rather than later.