Virginia Tech Will Face Familiar Challenges Against Duke Saturday

Duke is a balanced, well coached football team that makes maximum use of the talent available to head coach David Cutcliffe. The Blue Devils excel at executing offensive and defensive concepts that have given the Hokies fits most of the season.

Active Safeties Key a Sound Defensive Scheme

Much like Boston College, Duke uses a 4-2-5 defensive look that features three safeties. The "free safety" and two corners often drop deep into a cover 3 shell, while strong safety type defenders like Jeremy Cash (No. 16) creep towards the line of scrimmage. Similar to the Hokies inverted cover 2, the two run support safeties create a late-developing eight-man front to stop the run, yet are not vulnerable to deep play-action down the seam because they flow to the short flats when they read pass. Sometimes Duke will mix it up and one corner will come up to defend the run and short flat while a second safety drops deep, but the Blue Devils are almost always in either some kind of man or three-deep zone.

The Duke defensive linemen are not spectacular at creating penetration, but they dutifully jam up the interior gaps, which allows Cash, ball-hawking rover DeVon Edwards (No. 27) and inside linebacker David Helton (No. 47) to be unblocked and make plays.

Cash is 6'2", 205 pounds and was a 2013 USA Today All-America second team selection. The striker (safety) flies all over the field. He has the athleticism to cover wide receivers from the slot (tied for the team lead with 2 interceptions). At the same time, he has a real knack for sneaking up to the line of scrimmage late and timing blitzes right when the quarterback snaps the ball.

While being a terrific pass defender, Cash is also second on the team in tackles (82) and tied for the lead in tackles for loss (5.0). The inverted cover 3 / three safeties scheme is perfectly designed for a player with his size, range and ability to read plays.

For the Virginia Tech offense, there are three keys to defeating this scheme. First, any attempt at establishing a running game must aggressively attack those safeties and force them to defeat blocks. The safeties generally align several yards wide of the defensive end and only a few yards from the line of scrimmage, so they flow from the outside to the inside. This alignment allows them to arrive to the play late from the backside on interior runs where it looks like there is a nicely developed hole. So instead, the Hokies must establish the outside zone play and force those safeties to come up and play contain.

Last season, the Hokies had early success attacking the edge with the zone stretch, as we see here.

As you can see here, the Hokies run the outside zone stretch at Cash (No. 16) as he sneaks up to the line of scrimmage. Sam Rogers (aligned as a wingback) has a perfect angle to drive Cash to the inside with Edmunds going outside. But, Rogers is very tentative and Edmunds makes the wrong cut. If Rogers gets some contact, or Edmunds gets to the outside (where the run is designed to go), there's plenty of space available with the corners playing deep on the outside. Even poorly executed, the run gains 6 yards.

But, for reasons I have never fully understood, last season Scot Loeffler abandoned the stretch play. When the offense forces those two safeties to support the run and take on blocks, it takes away their best edge. It also makes both edge safeties extremely vulnerable to play-action.

The second key to successfully attacking this defense is Michael Brewer's ability to throw deep in routes against shell cover 3. As you see here against Miami, when those edge defenders bite on the run, there is ample room in front of the deep shell coverage.

Watch cornerback Bryon Fields (No. 14) at the bottom of your screen. He has the short flat/edge run support responsibility on this play. Miami had some success running the football with Duke Johnson at this point. Right before the snap, you can see Fields abandoning the flat and move up into a run support/bootleg contain posture. Behind him, the Blue Devils are playing deep shell coverage. The Miami receiver settles in on an out pattern underneath the deep zone and with Fields getting sucked up inside. This is an easy throw and catch. Just like against Boston College, the Hokies should have some success on intermediate (7-15 yard) out and in patterns underneath the deep cover 3 shell, especially if they can establish the run.

If Cash and Edwards are not respecting the run, they can drop underneath those throws and force interceptions. The third key is protecting the football. Duke's defense has intercepted 10 passes this season. Duke defensive coordinator Jim Knowles alternates which defensive backs slide forward into those short underneath zones and varies their depth. Recognizing which DB is responsible for the deep coverage and which DB is flying up to the short flat is critical for a quarterback to avoid throwing interceptions. Several of Michael Brewer's most egregious interceptions have come when he didn't read a defensive coverage on a smash route properly and threw to the corner even though the short zone defender was dropping underneath it. Those errors are tailor-made for Duke's defensive scheme.

Taking Away the Middle of the Field Against Anthony Boone

Duke has a balanced hurry-up offensive attack that utilizes a read option driven running game. Duke features three strong young running backs—Shaquille Powell (No. 28), Josh Snead (No. 8), and Shaun Wilson (No. 29)—that get regular touches and average over 5 yards per carry. Just like last season, Duke uses a wildcat quarterback. Six-four, 215 pound sophomore QB Thomas Sirk (No .1) is not only a terrific power runner with a nose for the goal line, but also can throw the ball well if forced into duty. The Hokies not only have to defend the talented running backs and Sirk's rushing in short yardage, but Sirk also has thrown a "jump-pass" for a touchdown this season.

The Duke passing game features a variety of screens and quick slants as they look to get the football into the hands of the dynamic Jamison Crowder (No. 3). The diminutive Crowder, who doubles as the best punt returner in the ACC, can beat defenses over the top or make them look bad with his quickness on short passes. When Duke looks to stretch the defense, expect go routes off double moves and play action. Crowder isn't a physically imposing wide receiver, but he is terrific at finding the football (and getting away with pushing off).

The maestro behind the Duke offense is senior quarterback Anthony Boone. While Boone doesn't wow you with his measurables, he is deft at reading and faking out defenses in the option game. On this play he gets the defense end to bite on the give, then gashes Virginia inside on the inverted veer play.

I expect that Boone and the Blue Devils will target Ken Ekanem in the option game. Ekanem has been solid this season, with a few moments of brilliance sprinkled in. However, he struggled against Pitt and Boston College on some read option plays. He has shown a tendency to freeze rather than commit to his assignment (quarterback or dive). This is worrisome, as last season it was Ekanem who, on his first meaningful snap as a Hokie, was frozen inside on a fake outside zone quarterback counter when he had contain responsibility. This gave the Blue Devils their only touchdown on the day and the game winning score.

With the exception of his performance against the Hokies last season, Boone does a terrific job of managing the game and protecting the football. The Hokies had success against Boone by taking away the quick screen/short passes that Duke thrives on as well as the middle of the field. No Duke wide receiver averages more than 12.2 yards per catch. By forcing Boone, who throws a very pretty deep fade route but doesn't have great arm strength, to attempt to throw intermediate routes to the sidelines, Bud Foster was able to generate numerous opportunities for interceptions which were cashed in by then freshman Kendall Fuller. Boone still isn't comfortable with those intermediate throws that require velocity to beat a breaking defender, and many times those throws fall short of the target.

Often, he will have to roll to the sideline on these throws, which allows the defense to only defend half the field.

The Bottom Line

Are you worried yet? I have not even mentioned special teams, where Duke has perhaps the best punt returner (Crowder), kickoff returner (Edwards) and one of the two best kickers (Ross Martin) in the ACC. The Blue Devils have defeated two teams that have beaten the Hokies (Pitt and Georgia Tech) while losing a "not as close as it appears" decision to a bigger, more physical Miami team. For the Hokies to have any chance to win this game, they must control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football and force Anthony Boone to beat the defense with the drop back passing game. I am not sure if Bud Foster will try to match Fuller up on Crowder this season (he didn't last year), but whoever is covering Crowder must tackle well when defending screens. Offensively, the Hokies must protect the football, and they must find a way to get the edge in the running game, which hasn't been a strength of a banged up Marshawn Williams this season. Jerome Wright and Sam Rogers are not really made to attack the edge, and J.C. Coleman and Joel Caleb appear to have fallen out of the rotation. I am not sure where the yards will come from in the running game, but if the Hokies can't generate something on the edge, I fear it will be a long afternoon in Durham.