Analyzing Virginia Tech Offensive Coordinator Scot Loeffler's Game Plan Against Ohio State

Virginia Tech fans have a lot to process after Monday night's loss to Ohio State. Losing to the defending champs was certainly disappointing but there was a lot to like about how the Hokies performed. The team fought back valiantly after falling behind by a couple of touchdowns. Even though the final score wasn't pretty (although losing by 18 to the best team in the country isn't the blowout that some people are making it out to be) Frank Beamer's squad just might have given Ohio State the biggest scare of their season.

Scott Loeffler had an impressive game plan on Monday, one that was likely to be the blueprint for the remainder of the season. Loeffler used multiple tight ends and backs in spread formations to draw linebackers out of the box. Ohio State utilized two safeties in an attempt to avoid having those linebackers get beat deep in the pass game. These two factors (linebackers cover slot receivers and OSU's two safety formation) gave Loeffler the numerical advantage up front to run the ball in between the tackles.

Success On The Ground

Here we see OSU using two safeties who are located far away from the line of scrimmage at the time of the snap as well as a linebacker aligned away from the box over the slot receiver. This leaves OSU with just six defenders in the box to stop the run against Virginia Tech's six blockers (five offensive linemen and one tight end). Loeffler has lots of different ways he can run the ball here and he goes with the zone read on the backside defensive end, resulting in a first down.

What excites me most about the offense on Monday wasn't that Loeffler spread the field in order to run the ball, that's a tactic Loeffler has employed for two years now. The reason I am optimistic has nothing to do with the number of defenders, it has to do with the execution of the blockers. There have been lots of instances over the past few years when the offense should have been able to run the ball against a defense and couldn't because of poor execution. French wrote a great article on the improved offensive line play, and it gives me hope for the rest of the season. If we are finally back to the point where we can expect the offensive line can start creating holes in the run game, then defenses will have a much tougher time game planning for Tech than they have the past few years.

Loeffler can't just sit back and expect his offensive line to do all the heavy lifting though. He has to help them out by mixing up the way he is blocking those interior rushing plays. Even if the defense won't be surprised by the rushing strategy, Loeffler can still surprise them with the tactics he uses.

Same strategy as the first play we looked at (spread to run) but using a different tactic (different formation and different blocking scheme). Brewer is again reading an unblocked defensive end, but this time it's a veer play instead of a zone read. Nijman releases to the outside of the defensive end and picks off the outside linebacker while Teller blocks the middle linebacker as JC Coleman picks up nine yards. My only critique on this play is that it would have been nice to see Mclaughlin be more aggressive and attack the boundary corner, the player who ended up making the first hit on J.C.

This is another play that Loeffler can use to cut backside defensive ends who are chasing down the play from behind while also creating a nice cutback line for his backs. This play also keeps the defense honest because if the H-back runs past the defensive end instead of blocking him, the offense has a nice play-action play.

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In order to stay ahead of the defense, Loeffler can't just switch up blocking schemes. What if Ohio State figures their defensive line isn't going to stop the run game by itself and decides to give them some help? Loeffler knows that a late and unexpected run blitz by one of those safeties could result in a poor run that stalls a drive. What's his solution for defenses who align one way and trick him into calling a run play right before they switch into another (less favorable) formation? Tempo. When Loeffler gets a certain look from a defense that he thinks he can exploit in the run game, he will kick the offense's tempo into high gear. He wants the offense lined up and running a play before the defense has a chance to all get on the same page and communicate a new play call from the defensive coordinator.

Remember that veer play we showed earlier? On the very next play, Loeffler had his offense rush to the line of scrimmage in the same formation as before and they snapped the ball and ran the same play for the second down in a row.

The defensive end recognized the play from the snap before and knew it was going to Coleman, but because all of his teammates were out of position to help him J.C. still managed to fight for enough yardage to pick up a first down.

The Passing Game

Virginia Tech found success running the ball against Ohio State's high safeties, but Loeffler didn't want to get too predictable. Loeffler managed to keep the defense on its heels by attacking the middle of the defense in the pass game just like he did on the ground. Using his triangle route combination to clear out the linebackers, Loeffler could get a tight end open in front of the deep safety.

Malleck has an outside linebacker aligned over top of him before the snap. With safety help to the middle of the field, the linebacker plays with outside leverage and concedes the middle of the field. Cam Phillips and Bucky Hodges both run out breaking routes to draw their defenders away from Malleck's route, and the middle linebacker has to choose between covering the middle of the field or following Sam Rogers towards the sideline. He sticks with his assignment and follows Rogers, opening up the throwing window.

This is one of Loeffler's favorite pass plays against a base 4-3 defense because it's impossible for the defense to cover every route. Brewer's read is the safety aligned to the bottom of the screen, the one aligned over top of Bucky. If that safety attacks Bucky's out route then Malleck will be open. If that safety instead drops into a robber coverage in the middle of the field, Bucky has the size and the route leverage to get open against that linebacker.

Brewer was in complete control of the passing game before his injury. He was making the right reads and was decisive with the football. The talk of Brewer's progression over the summer looked justified. Here is another example of him quickly diagnosing a defense's coverage and quickly throwing an accurate ball to a teammate.

As soon as Brewer sees the safeties are dropping into a single high look, he knows that Ford is going to be in single coverage at the bottom of the screen. Brewer trusts his teammate to beat his man to the inside and puts the ball where only Ford can get to it. This is a perfect example of the type of west coast passing system Loeffler wants to run and it was encouraging to see the team execute it against a very good opponent on third and long. Tech desperately needed Ford to improve against tight coverage this offseason and it looks like he has.

Here is another example of Ford beating man coverage.

With two receivers aligned to the top of the screen, it looks like Tech is poised to run double slants. Bucky runs a slant route from the slot and Ford fakes a slant right as Brewer pump fakes. The double slant look as well as the pump fake freezes the outside corner back, giving Ford just enough space to motor past him. A holding call ended up calling this play back but it still hinted at the offense's improved odds at beating tight man coverage moving forward.

Furman And Beyond

The offense looked like it was more capable of scoring points in the first half against Ohio State than it has in a while. Virginia Tech averaged just 365 yards per game last year. With Brewer at the helm, Tech's offense had just over 200 yards in the first half on Monday night. Now this is an admittedly small sample size but Tech did gain those 200 yards against arguably the toughest defense that they will face all season. The offense started sputtering once Brewer got hurt though, leaving Hokie Nation wondering if Loeffler can continue to move the ball without his starting quarterback in the game.

Brewer has some mobility but for the most part he is a pocket passer. He can pick up a first down every now and then when the defense ignores him as a runner, but for the most part he isn't going to burn a defense with his feet. The three other scholarship quarterbacks on the team are all much bigger threats on the ground than Brewer is. Motley, the appointed replacement, is a legitimate threat to rip off long touchdown run if the defense isn't careful. Loeffler will need to use this skill as leverage to improve the rushing attack if he is going to keep the offense together in Brewer's absence.

The offensive line's dramatic improvement in run blocking is the biggest reason I still have hope for the offense in 2015. Last season Ohio State was able to stuff Virginia Tech's rushing attack without dedicating any extra defenders to the cause. That wasn't the case this year. Ohio State wasn't able to physically dominate the box. The offensive line won most of their one-on-one battles in the run game and created the holes necessary for the running backs to pick up positive yardage.

The offense can't be content with picking up four or five yards when the defense doesn't stack the box though. In order to replace the passing efficiency Brewer delivered, the offense will have to start really punishing defenses who concede the run. This offense can't just be competent in the run game, it has to be explosive. Having a dual threat quarterback will help with explosive runs, but someone in the running back room needs to start bringing the juice. Once defenses overcommit to stop the running back before he gets going, then Loeffler can go to the drawing board and have some fun getting guys open down the field in the pass game again.