Handful of Plays Derail Otherwise Dominant Defensive Performance at Pitt

Greetings friends. After a night in damp, dour Heinz Field that made me hate caring so much, I'm in the Outer Banks. Thursday's game was an abysmal performance by an offensive group that was beset by penalties, erratic quarterback and offensive line play, a non-existent running game, and questionable play calls. The offensive questions are difficult to answer, and I need another look at the film to really understand what ails that unit. A quick bird's-eye analysis from the south end zone, any chance for the Hokies to win against Pitt without being able to run the ball was stymied by inconsistent quarterback play coupled with receivers who were struggling to get open. This was a game where Josh Stanford's absence from the program really hurt.

While the offensive film is confusing, the defensive film is crystal clear. For long stretches of the game, Bud Foster's defense played like a dominant unit. They overwhelmed Pitt at the line of scrimmage with numbers, movement, and quickness. Corey Marshall and Dadi Nicolas made plays in the backfield. Chuck Clark played a strong game in coverage and in run support.

Of course, there were a handful of breakdowns, and, in a scenario which is becoming painfully repetitive, those poor plays end in opponent points on the scoreboard. Some of that came from solid game planning by Pitt. Last season, Bud Foster handcuffed Pitt's running attack by slanting hard to the strong side and using Dadi Nicolas as a whip, usually aligned to the strong side. On the back side, the contain players could afford to be aggressive because former Pitt quarterback Tom Savage wasn't a threat on zone reads and bootlegs. The 2014 Panthers quarterback Chad Voytik is a much more effective runner, and Paul Chryst used that ability to throw off the Hokie defense early.

In order to take advantage of the Hokies aggressive front's effort to overwhelm James Conner at the point of attack, Voytik was featured early on a variety of counter plays and zone reads. The concept was simple. When Conner offset to one side of Voytik in the shotgun, the Hokies slanted hard to the opposite side to take away the likely running lane. Pitt took advantage of that over pursuit, first with an inside zone read with a whamming H-Back.

Before the snap, you can see nose tackle Corey Marshall shift from a one-technique (inside shoulder of the guard) down to an eagle weak (aligned on the left shoulder of the center). The Pitt H-Back pulls from the right side to the left, where Kyshoen Jarrett is playing a force technique. Ekanem is unblocked and crashes inside after Conner, so Voytik keeps. Jarrett goes up field as he should in force, which leaves Deon Clarke and Detrick Bonner to fill the hole. Clarke doesn't get square in the hole (which has been the one big weakness of both inside linebackers this season) and the blocker gets just enough of Clarke to turn his pads and give Voytik a running lane. That leaves Bonner as the alley player filling the inside lane due to the force call. He gets steamrolled by Voytik. While Bonner is an excellent coverage safety, his lack of physicality in run support stings on this play.

Inside zone read isn't anything new to the Hokie defense, but with Conner being such a focus, Voytik had opportunities to make plays with his legs.

Later on the same series, Foster again shows his commitment to overloading on Conner. Pitt aligns their strength heavy to the field, and the Hokies respond by aligning Marshall again as an eagled nose. After adjusting, at the snap the Hokies have five of their six box defenders to the right of the left guard. Pitt runs an inside zone read, this time without the pulling/whamming H-Back, and most of the defense bites on Conner.

The Hokies almost get lucky, as either Corey Marshall has a called loop stunt with Ekanem or freelances his way almost into Voytik's lap when he keeps. But Marshall (who is being held) can't prevent Voytik from getting the edge. Derek Di Nardo (who has been excellent most of this season in spot duty) gets eaten up by the tight end and Voytik gets a nice gain. Di Nardo earned the starting job, but from a matchup perspective, playing a bigger whip like Trimble or Van Dyke may have been a better choice as Derek had trouble getting off the blocks of the bigger Pitt blockers.

As the game went on, Bud Foster adjusted appropriately by having his back side defensive ends widen their alignment and slow play the dive. It worked well through the third quarter, with some notable highlights including Dadi Nicolas's earth shattering second quarter hit on Voytik which hurt me up in the upper deck. In the fourth quarter, Pitt adjusted by using Voytik on lead plays and using a shovel pass, but the Hokies kept Pitt off the scoreboard until a basic fundamental breakdown resulted in a huge run by Voytik.

The play in question, like the first play I highlighted above, was an inside zone read with a wham block. It also appears to be packaged with a pass option to Boyd, as Boyd swings to the sideline at the snap. Bud Foster actually has a perfect defense called; a corner blitz. Kendall Fuller comes off the corner and eats the kick-out block by the H-Back. Ekanem is the unblocked option man.

Ekanem, who has to bite inside on the dive because he has Fuller blitzing off the edge, has a chance to make a play and runs past Voytik. Jarrett is the unblocked free hitter. With Kendall blitzing he could have initial pass responsibility on Boyd, and that threat seems to trip him up just enough. He watches the play develop, and once he reads run he doesn't plug the alley. He should aggressively fill the gap between Fuller and Ekanem, and instead he not only fails to tackle Voytik, but he takes a strange hop to open himself up with his shoulders pointing at the goal posts, widening the hole for Voytik. This should at most be a 5-yard gain. But, with the evil ghost of Walt Harris-past looking on, Jarrett's snafu turns into perhaps a season salvaging run for the Panthers. I'm just not used to seeing Jarrett's run support fundamentals break down like this.

Failing to Execute Basic Technique

Unfortunately, Jarrett's failure to execute basic technique for his position was a theme that accompanied every big play Pitt put together. Basic gap fits were a major issue. Here, Pitt runs their variation of the "G Lead" play, pulling the play side guard while the tackle blocks down.

Foster's design works perfectly, as mike linebacker Chase Williams finds himself completely unblocked and right in the hole with Conner. Williams just plane misses the tackle. Again, the unblocked defender must make the play because the other defenders are either occupying different gaps or have coverage responsibility.

Later in the first half, the Hokies again have a perfectly executed defensive call against Conner that leaves Williams and Jarrett awaiting Conner in the hole.

Williams tries to go low on Conner, but doesn't even cause the big man to break stride. Then Jarrett, who has been one the Hokies top run defenders for the last year, gets plowed by Conner. This just is not good enough against a good running back by two senior leaders who are counted on for solid tackling.

I'm not intentionally focusing on Jarrett, but he was on the wrong end of many of Pitt's explosive plays. Pitt's first touchdown saw Jarrett not play proper leverage against Tyler Boyd. Pitt faced a third-and-long, and you figure that the Hokies will make someone other than Boyd win. While Kendall Fuller was aligned on Boyd in the slot, Foster has him double covered.

Boyd runs a vertical route from the slot. While it looks like Kendall Fuller is in man, look closely at his technique. Through the entire play, Fuller maintains outside leverage. His butt is to the near sideline and he stays one step outside of Boyd through his backpedal and coverage. This indicates that the Hokies were using the same "bracket coverage" that failed on the Georgia Tech fourth-and-15. With this technique, that means Jarrett, as the inside leverage defender, should've tracked Boyd through his inside shoulder.

If Boyd runs an out, comeback, post-corner, or corner route, Kendall will have him. Kendall is also looking at the quarterback, so he can peel off and try to intercept any throws in the general vicinity. Jarrett has to take away any throw to the inside, including an inside leverage vertical throw, a post, or a crossing route.

Jarrett is incredibly late, and I can't tell if Boyd subtly fakes the corner route, but Jarrett takes a wide angle like he thinks Boyd is heading to the corner. Jarrett has to let Fuller handle his assignment and play his own. By trying to help Fuller to the outside, Jarrett takes himself right out of the play.

Like I said, it wasn't all terrible for the Hokies, and we saw some young defensive players step up and show they could be difference-makers in the very near future. Chase Williams played well after some early struggles, but Andrew Motuapuaka was all around the football after he replaced Williams in the second half. Chuck Clark had his best game as a Hokie, as he was not beaten once in coverage and was a force in run support all night. While Jarrett and Bonner struggled filling the alley, this play from Clark really gets you amped up.

Pitt runs an inside zone with leading fullback to Conner on a third-and-one. Dadi Nicolas seems to miss the snap, and then bunny hops inside where he gets a bit blown up by the down blocking tackle. Deon Clarke runs up field, making the seal block by the tight end easy. That leaves Chuck Clark as the alley responsibility player, looking at a huge hole with a 250 pound stud running back and a leading fullback bearing down on him.

This play got me all kinds of amped, even though Conner got the first down. Clark rejects the block of the fullback, slides to the right, and even without forward momentum, Clark aggressively wrestles Conner to the ground. Bonner and Jarrett better take notes. Duke Johnson may not be 250 pounds, but he is much quicker and runs just as hard. Miami's offensive line has terrific leg drive and really dominated a pretty good Duke front. And Brad Kaaya, who was supposed to be a liability for the Hurricanes, is tied for the lead in the ACC for passing touchdowns (16) and is third most in yards per attempt (9.0). While the offense is the story this week, the defense will need to improve in order to defeat the Hurricanes.