Well, another loss and another Sunday spent clearing my head outdoors before settling down to watch film. This week, I tried cross country skiing for the first time; it was actually quite a lot of fun, but I digress. When I sat down and tried to figure out what happened versus Wake Forest, I didn't even bother watching Foster's defense. The clear culprit was the Hokies' offense, and it was an all encompassing failure. I think Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler got it right when he said, "You name it, we didn't do it," To be fair, J.C. Coleman had a very good game, and I liked what I saw from Brenden Motley running the Wild Turkey. Outside of those individual performances, and a few other highlights, we had a very lackluster performance across the board.
I'm going to start off with what I think was the most disappointing play of the game, a third-and-five from the first overtime.
Any idea what I think is the most displeasing aspect of this play? If you said Michael Brewer (VT - No. 12) not throwing it to Bucky Hodges (VT - No. 7) right away, then you get a point for trying, but that's not the most correct answer. While Brewer may have been able to fit a pass in there, the defender had Hodges pretty well covered, so I don't mind Brewer not forcing it and looking for a better option. What troubles me the most is how we were unable to execute a simple WR pick. Executing this pick correctly could have won the game for us. Keeping in mind everything else that had occurred leading up to this point, we were still in a great position to win it in OT. A hefty dose of Coleman picked up a first down, then two more J.C. runs netted 5 yards which set up the third-and-five. Loeffler called a nice rollout for Brewer to his throwing (right) side. The plan here was to hit Hodges in the flat and have him stroll on in to the end zone. That absolutely should have happened. Isaiah Ford (VT - No. 1, top of the screen) was in a great position to set a legal pick on Hodges' defender and whiffed. He did nothing to alter the path of Ryan Janvion (WF - No. 22).
At the very least, Ford could've run his sit route to force Janvion more downfield in coverage. That way, we would have at least got the first down and maybe still scored. Maybe Ford hesitated thinking he would be called for offensive pass interference? I don't know, but receivers practice this all the time, the coaches teach it, and it's not illegal if you do it correctly. This is a huge miss for our offense here, because we could have ended the game on this play. I think I watched this play 20 times thinking what might have been.
Nevertheless, let's get to the rest of the film. I first want to highlight two bad balls by Brewer. Look, I understand that poor throws happen. Hell, my only pass in anything resembling a game situation (2009 spring game) needed one hop to make it to the receiver on a 5-yard out. Sometimes the ball doesn't release well. Unfortunately, Brewer had his fair share of those this game. With these two throws though, what I really want to point out is why they are bad throws, outside of just not being completions.
During our first drive of the game, we had moved the ball nicely to Wake's 36-yard-line. On first down, we had a WR screen with a missed block for no-gain and followed it up with an incomplete pass underneath on second down. On third-and-10 from a twin receiver set to the top and bottom of the screen we ran a switch route for Hodges.
Brewer tries to look off the safety with limited success, but Hodges gets a good jump off the ball and appears to gain a step on his man. I think Hodges ran a good enough route to where, if Brewer drops this pass between Hodges and the sideline, neither defender could affect the play. However, the pass is underthrown and more importantly, thrown to the inside of the field where the defense is better positioned. Hodges is forced to slow down to try and make a play on the ball. Simply put, this ball has to go between Hodges and the sideline, so that only Hodges can catch it. As a side note, when you see that second/third view it almost appears as if Hodges is more worried about the pick than making the catch, so he tries to bat the ball downward? If so, that is certainly a clear indication that the ball is not thrown in a great place.
The second throw happened in the second half, in which Brewer did not have a good start. Our first drive had 3 really poorly thrown balls, two were short passes over the heads of the receivers, and one was an underthrown comeback route. In this clip, we see another poorly thrown ball by Brewer to Carlis Parker (VT - No. 16).
If this ball is thrown more to the outside, and higher up on Parker's frame, the corner has no opportunity to make a play. However, the ball is slightly behind, giving room for the CB to defend the pass. Small misses like this really haunted Brewer throughout this game. Parker may have been able to help Brewer out by coming back to the ball, but it appears his route is more of a speed out to the sideline instead of working back to the quarterback.
Much of what determines where Brewer might throw the ball is based on his pre-snap read. By reading the defense before he snaps the ball, Brewer already has an idea in his head of what routes should be open / which side of the field to work. On this play, I'd like to see a better pre-snap read from Brewer.
Wake is in cover 6, meaning they have cover 4 to the field (each covering one quarter of the bottom half of the screen), and a cover 2 safety on the backside (covering the back side half of the field). Our receivers on the bottom of the screen run a deep switch route into the soft quarters coverage (tough to find an opening there). The third receiver from the bottom, Ryan Malleck (VT - No. 88) clears out over the middle of the field. Ford drags across from the top of the screen and is wide open almost immediately for the underneath completion. It appears Brewer tries to work the deep routes first. I think Brewer, pre-snap, should recognize that the switch routes into deep quarter coverage will probably not be open, because they have two deep defenders and a linebacker to cover underneath. Therefore, when the ball is snapped his eyes should go directly to the inside linebacker on the wide side of the field. If he runs with Malleck, Brewer has the underneath completion to Ford. If the linebacker jumps Ford's route, Malleck should be open for the quick hitter over the middle. Especially on a first down play, I think the first read should be the TE/drag combo not the home run. Plus, getting rid of this ball quickly probably means the holding call never occurs.
Outside of a sub-par day throwing the ball, I think there were a couple of occasions where Brewer and his receivers were not quite on the same page, or some mistakes happened between them that you shouldn't see this late in the season.
Something is off between what Brewer is thinking and what Byrn (VT - No. 82) runs. Brewer throws this ball early (not because of pressure, it seems more due to timing), but Byrn is not in position to catch the ball. Byrn appears to get out of his break cleanly enough, so maybe Brewer is expecting more of a speed cut (similar to what Malleck runs from the slot at the top of the screen) rather than a sharp cut? Either way, the timing is off, the throw is off target, and we are forced to punt. When Brewer got to the sideline after that play, it appeared he spoke with wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead, further convincing me something went awry between QB and WR.
The next clip is the swing-pass-lateral-turnover in the middle of the 4th quarter.
First, Cam Phillips (VT - No. 18) whiffs on his block. Second, both Brewer and Hodges need to do their part to make sure this ball is a forward throw. The spatial relationship between QB and WR here has to enable a forward pass. I bet the pressing defender caught Brewer's eye, if only slightly, factoring in to where Brewer placed the ball. Even so, you cannot afford to have this be a backwards lateral.
Wake's secondary defenders were very quick to break on the ball throughout the game, making it tough for our WRs to get to their blocks. On this next play, the announcers give praise to the Wake d-line for disrupting the blocking scheme, but really the play is made by Kevin Johnson (WF - No. 9).
Phillips is lined up to the top of the screen and is responsible for blocking Johnson on this counter run. Johnson charges as soon as he reads the handoff, Phillips takes a bad angle and doesn't make the block. Phillips does get credit for at least moving on to the next guy after his miss, but his miss leads to Malleck having to choose who to block between Brandon Chubb (WF - No. 48) and Johnson. Malleck engages Johnson well, but Chubb is free to make the tackle. It's a good play by Wake's defense, coupled with poor blocking by VT.
The reason I gave Phillips props for moving on from his missed block earlier is because you see the opposite here.
On this inside zone read to Sam Rogers (VT - No 45), David Wang (VT - No, 76) turns to chase after defender that passes by him. I'm very surprised to see this from our redshirt senior leader. Wang is a smart kid and has been around this team for a while. He should know that it's never going to help to chase after someone that's already by you. Coaches will always prefer you move on find someone else to go block. I'm not even convinced it's really a bad miss, and it does not affect the play in the backfield. What does affect the play though, is Wang standing in the hole with no one to block. If he keeps moving forward, and picks up the next defender to show, Rogers easily gains the first down. Missed blocks certainly hurt, but hesitation and indecision is much more frustrating.
Later in the game, more indecision by Wang really hurt us. To start off the 4th quarter (including the last play of the 3rd quarter) we looked like we going to put something together. Coleman had a nice scramble down the sideline, and Brewer had some good completions on a dig route to Hodges and a swing pass to Malleck. Once we crossed midfield, we found ourselves in 3rd-and-a-manageable-5. Out of a tight formation, Wake was in man coverage against our crossing routes underneath, which very well could have resulted in a completion and third down conversion. However, our protection was unable to keep Wake's rush from getting to Brewer.
Wake rushes 6, and we have 6 in protection. The blitzer times it well, putting Wang in a bind. I think instead of picking a guy and blocking him, Wang tries to stiff arm and slow both defenders. This doesn't work, both get through and Rogers is left with two men to block. We could argue that Rogers should have picked up the blitzer with more momentum, but I think Rogers was fine here. I'd like to see Wang commit to one defender instead, knowing he has Rogers behind him. This was a critical third down that we needed to convert to keep the drive alive.
Before I finish this review on a positive note, I want to briefly touch on the play calling. One thing I noticed during the game is that we had a lot of plays where we'd have jet motion across the formation right as we snapped the ball. I think we've gotten too focused on making every play look like every other play, with similar fakes/action across the board. Meaning, we have jet sweeps on a lot of our plays, with the idea that we could be running/passing on every play. Sure play fakes are good, but like a lot of people have pointed out, this cutesy type of play calling can get complex and ends up taking players away from moving downfield. If we're going to include that jet sweep action, why not do it more with the Wild Turkey and Motley? At least the threat of Motley running will force defenses to defend it differently than if Brewer runs it.
Anyway, when I first saw this next play on film, I was quite baffled. Our first down play got blown up in the backfield, so we were sitting at second-and-16. Brewer gets sacked, but I'm going to chalk it up as a coverage sack, even though its more of a "this play had no chance" sack.
Let's look at the options Brewer had to throw to. Option 1: WR split to the bottom of the screen (I can't tell the number, maybe it's Ford). He runs either a go route into a soft zone coverage, or maybe breaks it off into a comeback/out. Either way it's a long / tough throw for Brewer. Option 2: Phillips in the slot running the dig route to the opposite side of the formation into a web of 5 Wake Forest defenders. Option 3: The swing route off the jet sweep action 6 yards behind the line of scrimmage covered by the linebacker. Nothing here is a good option; I just don't understand this play design. The jet sweep is designed to pull a defender, so that can't be expected to be a open throw, and the two other receivers aren't even running routes that compliment each other. My hope was that Phillips just ran the wrong route. Brewer wasn't given anything to work with here, all he really could have done different was to sail the ball over the head of his swing route for an incomplete pass rather than a sack.
However, later on in the game, we see the exact same play again. This time though, Wake is in man coverage, so instead of the dig route (this time run by Parker) running into coverage, he's actually somewhat open. Brewer opts for the 1-on-1 ball to Phillips instead. Not a terrible decision, but it's also not something that has proven itself very effective for us over the year.
Seeing this play again tells me that when Loeffler called it before, it was executed as designed, but he was expecting man coverage. This also tells me that either he or Brewer should recognize this and call a timeout to change the play rather than find ourselves in third and, as Jesse Palmer says, California.
The next play is a good example of what I am talking about when I say complementary routes. We have a somewhat similar setup as before. Malleck and Rogers staying in to block, a jet sweep swing route by Ford, and 2 WRs running routes downfield (Hodges and Phillips). This time, you'll see the routes by Ford, Hodges and Phillips all act to help each other out.
First, Phillips clears out down the field, giving space for Hodges to drag across to the sideline. The jet sweep swing by Ford pulls Wake Forest corner (No. 11?) upfield enough to give Brewer room to drop a nice ball in behind him to Hodges. The end zone view gives you an idea of how small that window is, and how much having the swing route there to occupy the CB is what allows that pass to be completed.
This was a heavily negative review, so let's end with something more positive. I'd like to commend Willie Byrn on the great route he runs in this play. Coming out of the slot to the top of the screen, he runs a very nice shake route, meaning he sets up in one spot in front of the defender, gives a quick shake and moves across the field. Matching up Byrn with a LB underneath works well in our favor. Actually I really like how this play set up for us, with twins to either side, and Wake setting up in Cover 4 (4 high safeties, each responsible for a deep quarter of the field). This coverage allows for more opening underneath, and for a great run after the catch by Byrn.
This game was truly a total offensive collapse. I don't expect everything to be corrected in the short week versus Virginia, I just hope enough is fixed to help us keep the streak alive. Have a great Thanksgiving everybody!
Comments
A lot to digest here.
Thanks.
I thought it was appropriate with Thanksgiving coming up? har har
Wow, and I thought this was way too in the weeds to get gobbled so fast.
A lot of indigestion here.
THANKS, JBEYER
What concerns me about the 'little misses' you keep mentioning about Brewer (and did such a wonderful job of demonstrating) is that these are the same things that kind of plagued Logan while he was here. I'm wondering if these guys aren't getting the necessary coaching to know when and how to place the ball on given routes, which in and of itself is just as important as the route running themselves. Getting the ball to the player is one thing, but getting the ball to the player where we have the best chance at making a catch and continuing forward progress is something I haven't seen out of our QBs in a while. Is this something that is stressed in practice?
It's a valid question. I would think it's something that they may go over in practice, but really you can't teach it or train it unless its a game situation. For all we know, every throw in practice is on point, and then in the game things are just a bit different. Hopefully it's something they talk about when they go over the film. I think it's more just something you feel out as a player, something that should just develop naturally.
Hard to coach ball placement. You can coach a QB to throw to the outside shoulder, but not all QBs have the touch or the presence of mind to be able to do that in game.
Considering Logan said he learned more in 3 months with Loeffler than he did in 4 years with O'Cain (sorry, Jeff if that's a touchy subject for you), I rather doubt Loeffler isn't a good enough coach to fix that. I think the bigger issue is just the lack of quality practice time he's had with both players. He had Logan for a spring, during which he basically had to completely re-teach basic mechanics and Brewer showed up in the fall and had to get right in and learn the offense. Ball placement is a really tricky thing to try to teach, and my best guess is that there just hasn't been enough practice time to get the little things hammered out yet.
TechHokie13, I've seen you defending (for lack of better term) Lefty in other threads. Just curious, are you of the belief that he should stick around and not be fired?
I am, at least for one more year. And here's why. The biggest issues are up front, and that is the single hardest position group to rebuild. We've got a good starting spot with Teller and young guys like Gallo, but that was never going to be a quick fix.
For the most part (and this is gonna sound really strange coming off of the Wake debacle), I've been happy with the decisions he's made in-game, or could at least see why he would make them. He's very diligent in his preparation in terms of seeing what he's likely to see in any given situation and trying to set his players up to take advantage of his opponent's tendencies. In large part, he plays a "Moneyball" approach. He might get beat on any given play, but he's gonna play the percentages and more often than not, his playcall beats the DC's.
He's taken a lot of heat for the "lack of identity" of the offense, which irks me more than a little. His job is to win games, and he's doing everything he can to make that happen. Given that we don't have a great line or healthy backs, it'd be ridiculous to expect him to establish an identity of pounding the football no matter what. Again, he plays the numbers. That's why we see so many screens for example - 3 offensive players should beat 2 defenders. Last year was the Logan Thomas show, and the true rebuild started this year. He's still working to bring talent into the program (seriously, no one on that line outside of Teller starts for another ACC team. I'm not sure any outside of Gibson were even recruited by another ACC team) and develop that talent. No senior has been responsible for a touchdown this season - that says a lot to me. Our top 5 playmakers this year are freshmen, and 2 of them are out for the year. I've said it repeatedly, you can overcome youth, a lack of talent, or injuries, but not all 3 at the same time. That alone should be justification for at least one more year.
In short, I've seen him work with nothing and produce results in spurts ('13 Miami, OSU, Bama was a great gameplan, most of UNC come to mind). Now that more pieces are being put in place (or learning their place - see Bucky's route running), I would expect to see a significant uptick in offensive production, starting next year. If we continue to see this level of struggle-bussing in '15, it's time for change. Right now, you're just punishing a guy for not being able to extinguish a dumpster fire with a squirt gun.
Very valid points.
Best pro-Loeffler response written so far.
I'm a bit conflicted. I totally agreed... until the WF game. Like you said, we're using TE's for the first time ever. Lefty seems to be recruiting well. He clearly has a high football IQ but, I'm not sure he can transfer his football knowledge to our players, which is afterall, what a coach must do.
My concern is that he calls plays (stealing Andy Bitter's words here) too idealistically. At times, he calls plays that our players have not made consistently in game situations. I don't know what a coach should do here; run your plays until they work/your players figure it out (an identity) or do you change/simplify/add to your playbook (make adjustments)? I realize there is a balance (see Bud Foster), but I think it is a delicate balance, and not always easy to find (especially with our current healthy talent).
He has gotten screwed with talent/injuries/depth, I'm not sure any OC could have done significantly better with the same talent. Our OL has had three coaches in three years - not good for development. But I don't think that our talent is so little that we can't move past the ball past the 50 against Wake.
Assuming the rumors of locker room turmoil are false (makes me sick to even remotely acknowledge these #sources), we look decent in the next (hopefully) two games, and we real in a decent recruiting class, I'm not opposed to giving Lefty one more year. If any of the above don't happen, or we get hit hard by offensive attrition, I think lefty might have to go. At that point, it might make sense to cut our losses.
Edit: I realize that improvement in any sport often looks far more like the stock market than a positive linear equation. It's tough to know when to sell and when to buy.
Agreed. I refuse to listen/read about speculation of coaching changes. It's just too counter productive to our season. We have a TON of injuries, we're playing A LOT of freshmen, we've got a first year starting QB, etc. Any OC would struggle with that formula.
great post TH13! and TLs for everyone in this sub-thread for an enjoyable read this AM. thanks.
I'll jump in and say that I don't think he should be fired after this season.
But if Brewer starts game 1 next year my opinion shifts dramatically and immediately.
There's a story about an IBM executive who makes a bad decision and costs the company $4,000,000. The next day the boss calls him into the office and tells him what he did wrong. The young exec says, "Well, I can see why you have to fire me." And the boss says, "Fire you!?!? I just spent $4 million training you!"
I am sick and tired of Brewer as QB. But if the problem is lack of quality snaps, and he's the only guy who's been getting them all year, aren't we throwing all that away if we give someone else the ball next year? Would Ford or Durkin or Motley be as good after a few weeks in the spring as Brewer is now? I'm asking because I don't know.
Same thing goes for Loeffler, Searles, and S Beamer. I am completely dissatisfied with their performance to this point. But if we keep changing O-line coaches every year, or OCs every two years, is anything ever going to get better?
This is a textbook example of sunk costs. The best QB should start next year.
I have no doubt the best QB will start next year, but Brewer's also seen a whole lot more the past 9 games than he did in the OSU game. You call it sunk cost, I call it on-the-job experience.
Brewer, after 0 weeks of Spring Ball and a month or so of fall practice is better than Brewer of right now. He has regressed something awful this year. The guy we saw playing in those first few games had so much more confidence and poise to his game than the guy back there now.
nailed it. I remember after the OSU game having confidence in our offense's ability to score. That went in the dumpster pretty quickly along with Brewer's confidence and all those injuries.
To be fair, he also wasn't ending up on his backside after every. single. dropback.
This is an EXCELLENT post. I suppose I'm still living in the world as I wished it were instead of the one I'm actually in.
I never thought we should have gone for a transfer QB with the two we signed (Ford and Durkin), so seeing Brewer come in was disappointing to me (this is totally agnostic to the man, I just didn't like the transfer idea). At the beginning of the year, I was pretty happy with Brewer. Obviously. But a few games into the year, after he began to regress, I thought we should rip the redshirt off of the guy who was most ready and throw him into the fire.
Your point about quality snaps only going to him is so totally on point. We're spending a lot to train him, and since he's getting the training, he's the best we've got. But if I were training someone and they stopped progressing, and they only had a limited time left, I'd write off the cost of that training as a mistake in judgement on my part and start over. You're right, we'd be throwing away the training we have done. But if we keep trying to train him until the end of next year, then what did we get out of it anyway? Loeffler has a long history of being a QB coach, and not a long history of being an OC. Give him some freshmen and let him mold them. It won't be a quick fix.
As for coaching changes, I'm ok with everyone we have now, even though I'm in agreement that their performance has been underwhelming. I would have preferred to have been able to keep Grimes, but that ship has sailed. Which is why I think we should not fire Loeffler until at least the end of the 2016 season. At the end of that season, I think if we fire Loeffler, we fire Beamer, too.
I don't understand why everyone felt better off with grimes. I know the line play is not as good or at least not improved upon as last year but, that line had andrew miller, benedict, and rotated shuman. I would think we would be singing a completely different tune this year with those guys in the mix. But injuries and attrition is a part of CFB. Methinks, Grimes saw this on the wall and was like "I need to make the right long-term move for me and my family"
Methinks Grimes got a quarter million dollar raise to move closer to his family and take a higher profile job.
If this team is this bad for two more years there will be no need to fire Beamer.
After reading French's review and the commentary about the Haney post on Loeffler, I wonder how much leeway Brewer has to adjust at the line of scrimmage. There was one play in particular, I believe in the 4th quarter, though I'm not exactly sure, where we had 3rd and 2 or 3, and it appeared that a lone wide receiver to one side was in man-to-man. It would seem that a quick check into a quick slant or something similar would be appropriate, but I don't recall seeing Brewer change much of anything at the line recently. Jeff, does it seem like Brewer has any leverage to change something at the line? And should he?
There was another play in the game (have no idea when it was) when Wake lined up with a complete unblocked rusher on the right side of the line. The play was a play action pass with the runner going left. By the time the play action was completed, the rusher crushed Brewer for a sack. I don't know if that was a blown assignment, a blown read, or what, but that is not the kind of play any offense should be allowing. We should have audibled out of whatever we were doing and made sure that, should that guy have rushed, there would have been someone there to block.
I know Loeffler has said he uses a lot of package plays. Don't package plays significantly reduce the number of audibles/looks to the sideline because they have multiple options built into them?
I don't think Brewer has much, if any flexibility to change the play at the LOS. To be fair, I don't think its nearly as common in college as what you see in the NFL. That being said, you will have some play calls known as "check with me". Meaning, they may call 3 plays in the huddle (generally a run to either side and a pass), go up to the LOS, dummy the snap and see how the defense reacts. Alternatively, you'll see offenses do the same dummy snap count, then look to the sideline to get the call. I haven't really seen a whole lot of that this year from us though. Sure it can be helpful, but it also multiplies the complexity of the offense, and can lead to a lot of confusion/pre-snap penalties. Both are things we have enough of already.
Is that what we saw last year where Logan would rush to the line of scrimmage, get set, them look to the sideline? I remember a lot of ire about why it took so long to get a play called
Yep. Basically in the huddle they'll call a formation with no actual play tagged to it. They'll simulate a snap to see what the defense does, then look to the sideline for the signal. In that time, the OC will decide the play and relay it down to the signalers, who relay it in the the QB/WRs. Sometimes the delay there is not on the QB, but more on the play call /communication. It can be really frustrating when you see false starts in these situations, because the players on the field don't actually have a play to run before its signaled in. So they false start without knowing what they should be doing.
Question.. Why do teams like TCU/Baylor do soo well on offense with this uptempo/air-raid whatever you want to call it? They seem to do what you say above call 3 plays dummy then OC picks the right play/player to get the ball in his hands. and boom it works.
Could you see VT post Beamer ever going with the TCU/Boylor style? We have the Defense to complement it IMO.
The difference with Baylor, I haven't watched much of TCU to know, is that they have the most unbelievably fasts WRs in the country. Most of their offensive success comes from the fact that, which the Oklahoma game emphasized, the corners that line up against them HAVE to give them a 10+ yard cushion. If they get any closer the WRs will burn past them over the top (which also requires a qb that can throw a good deep ball ie. not Brewer). So Baylor literally just kept running 7 yard turn arounds to their receivers and Oklahoma could do nothing to stop it, and when they tried to press they got burned.
Tech has some skilled receivers, but not the burners at Baylor
Problem with Big XII spread offenses is that their QB's perform poorly in the pros. They rarely have to read defenses.
I think that the more quick scoring you do, the more your D has to defend. TCU used to be very good defensively. Top-10 yearly. The more spread they became the less effective their defense was. Now they just try to outscore everyone.
TCU is ranked 8th in Defensive FEI (12th in 2013) this year and 15th in Defensive S&P+ (13th in 2013).
Football Outsiders
Good knowledge.
Thanks.
Yea, I don't buy this at all. Of course a defense will give up more points if the opposing offense sees more possessions.
Because they are committed to offensive execution, the way we are committed to defense.
When a program decides to install the spread, run or pass based, it takes over. It assimilates everything. Like the Borg. Practices are now gear around perfection of offensive execution and speed.
I'm gonna assume you didn't run many option plays during your time at Tech, but ask the question anyway as a film reviewer: Should Brewer have kept the ball more on read looks? I know sometimes it's a called handoff, and not a true option, but it seemed like he had daylight several times but never kept the ball
Lucky enough for you, my tenure in high school was almost strictly option offense. Therefore, GT week was always my favorite running the scout team. It's hard to say that he should be pulling the ball more or not. Let's be honest, it's not his forte, and he probably doesn't get very excited about pulling the ball to run. Most of the time during this game, I think he made the correct reads, although as you pointed out it's hard to for us to know if its a true read or a handoff. I do know that, one time when he correctly pulled the ball, the DE was fast enough to run with the handoff then circle back to tackle Brewer in the backfield. Defenses have respected his ability to pull it occasionally, and he has made some great runs at certain times, but I don't think the read option is going to be one of his strengths.
Well shame on me. Thanks!
Strong work Jeff!
This is me:
Great write up!
Hey Jeff, love your work and very grateful to see you post here!
One thing that has baffled me in the past and I don't understand. We've had a stellar/top tier defense almost every year for 10+ years and our offense is always at the lower end of the rankings. Does the 1st team Defense ever practice against the 1st team Offense, during the season?
If the offense and defense actually go head to head during the season, I would think playing mediocre defenses would seem like a cake walk during game time. Or am I completely off on my assumptions?
I guess what I'm getting at is, wouldn't it seem like Foster could act as a "criminal informant" type, in the fact that he can recognize the offensive weaknesses and identify what can be exploited?
That's a good point, and one that I've wondered myself. We know that Bud is great at pinpointing the weaknesses of offenses AND with drawing up ways to exploit them. I feel like he should be able to tell our offense what opposing defenses are likely to do so our offense can fix issues and come up with counters to likely defensive schemes.
I wonder if Bud ever shared with Stiney the keys the offense was giving making the predictability ver easy for Clemson to eat our lunch. Twice in one season. Jeff???
Bud runs a unique defense that very few other teams run...So how he would stop our offense and how another defense would stop our offense could be entirely different.
Exactly. It'd be like asking why Georgia Tech can't stop the run (currently the 108th-ranked rushing S&P+ defense) when they "face an offense that runs it so well in practice every day." Completely different style they're trying to attack week-to-week.
Its a very very good question. Unless things have changed, you definitely do have 3-5 periods (depending on the day of the week) where 1st team O goes against 1st team D. You have it for just inside run game, skeleton passing, and full team. So they certainly have reps against each other in practice. While I don't know for sure, I'd really like to think that the coaching staff isn't segregated Offense/Defense and they don't talk across the hall. You've got to think they try to help each other out, although they may specialize one position or another, they all know football. Now, why hasn't that translated into better offense over the years? Who knows. Having the right scheme and knowing how someone may attack you is one thing. Executing it play after play is another. Plus, the other team is thinking all week what you may expect, and dialing up ways to hide it. It's a big game of chess, with plenty back and forth between coaches, even during the game.
I've wondered if it's a bit more difficult for an OC to scheme what an offenses reaction will be to his plays because Bud plays such a unique defense.
He's not able to check reactions of a normal defense because Bud's team will react differently. The offensive players don't see on Saturday what they see in practice.
The only thing I can surmise of our football season is that NOBODY on the football team is reading The Key Play.
This needs to change SO WE DON'T LOSE TO UVA!
On the fumble lateral why is bucky moving backwards...I know the player is unblocked but his first step is lateral/backwards even before the block could be set.
The idea there is for the receiver to get a little depth before running upfield. This allows him to be moving forward when he catches it (in theory) without the QB having to risk a throw closer to the LoS (and therefore closer to any defender that beat the block or jumps the route).
What is sad is it is a real team effort in mediocrity. Bad blocking. Indecision. Bad communication. Poor timing. Bad play calling. Poor form. Missed assignments. It just keeps coming and coming every week, with no improvement. Such mistakes should not be happening this late in the season.
Thanks for the review of the 3rd and 5 in overtime. I thought I remembered that correctly and now seeing it again I know the coverage was much closer. When I saw it live, I thought there was more separation.
IF only the legal pick had been made.
Wake17 - Reading from right to left:
Malleck and Rogers double-team a DE who isn't rushing
Hansen gets a bad first step, then recovers and blocks well
Farris, and Wang double-team a DT who beats them both and gets the sack
Teller stands there for a while wondering what to do, then helps out Gibson
Gibson gets beaten badly, but then makes up for it by holding until Teller gets there to help
It basically came down to two eligible receivers holding hands with one defender, two tackles blocking badly, and the center and both guards getting beaten by one rusher. I'm not sure whether to blame Loeffler, Searles, Grimes (for leaving) or Newsome (we always blame Newsome), or the players. I guess there's enough blame to go around.
I have a question in reference to the wake24 clip (to anyone who has an opinion, not only Jeff), does any else think that instead of Ford/Philips blocking on a screen pass for Bucky, that maybe use the bigger receiver to block and pass to the smaller, more nimble receiver? Seems like Ford or Philips either one have a greater chance of juking a defender, and Bucky or Malleck would be better suited as a blocker
This. The teams that get the best results with these screens get the ball in the hands of a burner with great speed. We seem to have it backwards. I think Bucky and/or Malleck should be blocking for Parker or Newsome.
Can't argue with you there. It's a very valid point. Some of it is driven by matchups, depending on how the defense plays it. You could have a big and slow (relative sense) guy trying to block a small and fast corner, or the other way around. Certainly a trade-off to either, but an important thing to point out nonetheless.
Marshall and Boise St. now in top 25. Nuff said. Analyze all you want.
The more film breakdowns I read, and the more slo-mo plays I watch, the more I look forward to Eric Gallo playing Center. Not questioning his effort but Wang is the most passive, slow to read/react OL I think I've ever seen. Gallo has to be an improvement once he gets another year in the weightroom. On that play where Rogers is stopped short of the first, Wang almost blocks OUR ball carrier. At least he can snap the ball pretty well. But I can see UVA blitzing the A gaps all game long and sacking Brewer 8 times.