I shared in any of your possible angst Saturday as the Hokies stumbled through a 14-0 first half lead against the FCS Furman Paladins. At live speed, worries over Brenden Motley's long-term viability as a quarterback seemed palatable as he failed to convert third-and-intermediate opportunities in the passing game. Defensively, the Hokies struggled to keep Furman off the edge, and tackling again appeared to be an issue. At halftime, more than a vocal minority of fans were having serious doubts about the Hokies beginning the ACC schedule with a winning record.
In the second half, the lights came on offensively. Scot Loeffler found a rhythm using more option and play-action oriented play calling that seemed to make Motley much more comfortable. His receivers found large holes in Furman's secondary, and outside of one overthrow to Isaiah Ford down the right sideline Motley was accurate. Defensively it was still a roller coaster. The d-line had a bounce back game highlighted by an amazing series by DT Woody Baron where he forced a fumble, had a tackle for a loss, and ended the series with a sack. Secondary coverage was excellent. Brandon Facyson and Kendall Fuller each broke up several passes. Despite many examples of strong play, Bud Foster's defense struggled to keep a plodding Furman team from getting to the edge, and counter action again exposed the Tech linebackers' inability to squeeze trap blocks.
Interestingly, after re-watching the game, I was much more positive about the Hokies and their immediate future. The coaching staff seemed to use this game as more of a full speed scrimmage than a seriously game planned opponent. Loeffler's structure of the passing game in the first half seemed much more designed around trying to get Motley up to speed on the timing and progressions of the drop back passing game that suited Michael Brewer. Defensively, Foster used some defensive formations that I can't recall the Hokies deploying in recent history. Some of those formations (or errors in alignment that produced those odd formations) appeared to be responsible for some of the Hokies' inability to keep the Paladins from attacking the edge. They could have also been red herrings—alignments that Foster wanted future opponents to have on film and prepare for, but has no intention of using.
The Good, the Bad, and the Inexplicable on Defense
In Labor Day's rematch against Ohio State, the Hokies didn't look as fast, aggressive, or physical as in the first encounter with the Buckeyes. This week, I hoped to see a dominant effort. The scoreboard indicated that the defense did their job, however Furman's ability to extend drives, especially running the football, left a nervous feeling in my stomach.
There were some real positives in the game for the defense. The defensive line dominated the interior and pressured Furman quarterback Reese Hannon (who passed for a school record 365 yards against a good Coastal Carolina team) into a miserable day. The Hokies man-to-man and zone coverage was excellent. The defense forced turnovers that gave the offense wiggle room as they struggled to find their legs.
The secondary played much more outside leverage this week, even from press alignments. Outside leverage allows the coverage man to look in at the quarterback and jump routes. Early, outside leverage baited Hannon into a bad throw that opened the scoring for the Hokies.
Furman runs triple slants from a trips formation to the field. Kendall Fuller blitzes from the boundary along with Deon Clarke from a base backer alignment. Brandon Facyson plays a deep third to the field side. Greg Stroman plays outside leverage on the wide receiver. Free safety Chuck Clark plays outside leverage on the middle receiver. Adonis Alexander is deep aligned in centerfield as the rover.
Given Alexander's distance from the inside slot receiver, the quarterback reads that mike linebacker Andrew Motuapuaka will sit inside under the inside slant route. Alexander closes quickly, and Motuapuaka tracks the quarterback's eyes to move under the second slant. The quarterback gets baited by the outside leverage of Chuck Clark. Clark seemingly gives the receiver a free release inside. For the quarterback, the free release means throw the ball. Motuapuaka comes underneath the route and snags the interception for the touchdown. However, as good a play as this by Motuapuaka, Clark completely beat the receiver on the break. If Motuapuaka doesn't intercept this, there is a good chance Clark might.
Rover Adonis Alexander is a name to watch. Desmond Frye was on the field for the opening snap, however Alexander got most of the work on passing downs and certainly was noticeable. Alexander intercepted a deflected pass for his first interception as a Hokie, and a questionable call negated Alexander's first forced and recovered fumble. I was particularly impressed with Alexander's press coverage on the inside receiver to the boundary.
Alexander is aligned in press coverage against the Furman tight end to the top of your screen.
Alexander is incredibly physical with the tight end and prevents him from getting any kind of quick free release to the inside. By the time the tight end has cleared the five-yard contact zone, the quarterback has made the unwise decision to challenge Kendall Fuller on the boundary. Fuller defends the pass, and at the end of the play you can see Chuck Clark coming to support Fuller's outside leverage with inside leverage deep help. I could have highlighted several plays that showcased Alexander stymying the interior receivers for Furman. Alexander has range and man coverage ability that I have not seen in a rover for some time. Watching his technique, I saw flashes of Jimmy Williams. Alexander's future could eventually be at the boundary corner spot.
The Hokies' front-seven pressured Hannon and controlled the interior running game throughout most of the contest. Furman was most successful moving the ball running speed option along with counter trey. The success of the speed option baffled me. As I have written many times before, every defensive call features an assigned edge and alley player to each side of the defense, coupled with a force-spill call. If the assigned edge player and alley player execute the call properly, an unblocked defender should find themselves alone in space with the run blocker.
Foster used a strange defensive alignment against a specific Furman formation that created a numerical advantage for Furman back to the field side. Furman lined up with two tight ends to the boundary side, the running back offset to the boundary side next to the quarterback, and twin recievers to the field.
Foster responded by having Kendall Fuller and Brandon Facyson cover the twins man-to-man while running a variation of the Bear that I'm not accustomed to seeing. This version has the backer aligned as the edge player to the boundary side (the backer played to the field against Ohio State). The whip is tucked on the line of scrimmage inside of the strong side offensive tackle. Frye is in at rover and aligns just behind Clarke. Even free safety Chuck Clark is on the boundary side of the field. This leaves only Nigel Williams (the three-technique d-tackle), Motuapuaka (mike linebacker), and defensive end Vinny Mihota to the wide side of the field. That means Furman has six defenders to the strong side, and only three defenders to the field side. Furman attacks them with a speed option.
Vinny Mihota is unblocked on the speed option. Furman has three blockers now to account for Motuapuaka and Williams. If you apply the force/spill concept, Mihota is spilling the play wide, however there is no alley player to his side of the field to take the pitch man. Motuapuaka gets sucked into the line of scrimmage, which gives the right offensive tackle a chance to cut block him. Motuapuaka has to know the call. if Mihota has the quarterback on a spill call, Motuapuaka has to give ground and get flat down the line to support pitch. Clark also takes a bad angle. Instead of running straight to the sideline, he angles towards the line of scrimmage. He ends up leapfrogging the same blocker that cut Motuapuaka. The lack of support on the edge gives the back wide open space to run until Clark recovers and Facyson sheds his block to make the tackle.
I thought perhaps there was an alignment error, however the next time Furman came out in that formation, Tech used the same alignment. Once again Furman ran a variation of speed option to the field side, and again the Hokies didn't have an alley player in place to defend the play.
This time, Ken Ekanem slow played the pitch and then tried to scramble back outside to get to the pitch man. Motuapuaka again took a step forward and got bumped before getting on his horse to the sideline. This is a shorter gain because Clark runs flat down the line to intercept the back after around a five-yard gain. Clark plays this much better, however it begs the question—is Clark aligned incorrectly, or was Foster just showing an odd defensive look that future opponents will be forced to game plan against even though it may not factor into his plans? I doubt Clark would be aligned incorrectly against the same formation twice in a row.
My biggest concern regarding the defense is linebacker play. Last week, Motuapuaka struggled in space. His play improved this week, especially in between the tackles, however seeing Motuapuaka getting cut on option plays caused me great angst when thinking about the looming matchup with Georgia Tech.
Deon Clarke and Ronny Vandyke both had some forgettable moments. Vandyke played less against Furman than against Ohio State as Foster used more four-man defensive fronts and a nickel. When Vandyke was in the game, he botched some force/spill assignments that allowed Furman to get on the edge.
On this play, Furman runs a toss sweep. I believe that Vandyke has a force call, meaning he must contain the running back and force him back to the inside.
The tackle pulls and manages to get outside of Vandyke and seal him inside. I think this is a force call because free safety Chuck Clark is the alley player, and his first step when he sees pitch is to the inside, not the sideline. If Vandyke indeed had a force call, he would turn the running back inside, and Clark would run straight downhill (just like his first step indicates) to fill the alley. Clark stops when he sees Vandyke get sealed inside and then tries to recover by running flat to the boundary. If I am correct, this is a textbook example of how the edge defender must correctly execute the force/spill call or he will put the alley player out of position.
If I am wrong and Vandyke has a spill call, then Clark makes the mistake by stepping straight ahead against the pitch. That is a possibility (without being in the film room it is tough to be sure), however I think it is unlikely because Vandyke takes on the pulling tackle with his inside shoulder initially to keep outside leverage. That indicates that he is trying to force the play, however when the tackle gains some momentum, Vandyke makes the mistake of jumping inside to try and get off the block. The big positive on this play is Motuapuaka. He scrapes and stays off blocks and makes a nice tackle in space.
Deon Clarke had some moments when he too struggled to shed the block of a pulling lineman. Furman's most successful play in the second half was a standard counter trey. From an I formation, Furman's back side tackle pulls to the play side and kicks out the first opposite colored jersey that shows. The fullback simulates an isolation/sprint draw play by diving into the space abandoned by the pulling tackle to cut off back side pursuit. The running back steps the same direction as the fullback, then takes a counter step and follows the tackle, where a hole usually opens up play side off-tackle. A similar concept was a staple of our offense at Emory & Henry, where I knew it as "56 Draw."
Luther Maddy blows up the middle, knocking the pulling tackle off course. Clarke is all alone, one-on-one with the Furman running back in the hole. The back bounces outside and Clarke doesn't even get a hand on him. Nicolas had the force correctly executed and Maddy blew things up inside. The defense is executed perfectly to leave Clarke alone with the back. He has to make this play. Worse for the Hokies is that this play saw Furman use some cut blocks to devastating effectiveness. Motuapuaka dodges a cut block on his right side and gets cut down on his left side. He left the game and didn't return. Ken Ekanem also got nicked on the play, and fell into Maddy awkwardly as well. Initial reports are that Motuapuaka and Ekanem are not seriously hurt. Thank goodness.
On another counter Clarke was kicked out by the pulling tackle. He has to play with a heavier shoulder to stick the tackle in the hole rather than running around the block and widening the hole.
Next week, Purdue presents a stiffer test for the Hokies' defense. Purdue uses counter action that demands players play their responsibilities correctly without losing their aggressiveness. Purdue QB Austin Appleby is a threat to run and loves to throw and run off of inside zone action. His legs forces the edge players on the back side of zone reads to stay honest and account for the quarterback. The Hokies will use the long week to make any corrections on alignment errors and I have a feeling that tackling and taking on trap blocks will be points of emphasis during individual work and in the linebacker meeting room.
Making Motley Comfortable: Inverted Veer and Play-Action Structure
I am going to go a little out of my comfort zone this week. Normally, the first thing that I review during my Sunday cram sessions is the offensive line play. This week, I watched four offensive series and only noted one significant error from the offensive line group. The down five were aggressive, dominated a smallish Furman front, and stayed on their blocks with tremendous footwork. This is a group that is doing a much better job of staying engaged with blockers and maintaining leg drive than recent renditions of the Virginia Tech offensive line. Of the blemishes, on occasion an offensive lineman failed to get square on a defender at the second level, which will happen from time to time. On one play, I was disappointed to see Yosh Nijman cut block right off the snap on an outside zone. Against Ohio State he scooped a much bigger and quicker defensive tackle and then cut him as the defensive tackle rolled off the block. This is easily correctable. The game plan was relatively simple with very little pin and pull blocking, and the starting group executed well. The second team group opened up huge holes for Travon McMillian, Shai McKenzie, Dwayne Lawson, and Chris Durkin.
The storyline of this game was Brenden Motley acclimating to being QB1. Loeffler threw him in the fire early. Tech opened the game using the same three-step drop passing triangle passing concept that Michael Brewer thrived in. On Tech's first offensive play of the football game, the Hokies ran a smash route concept (quick curl by Hodges designed to draw up the corner and a corner route by Ford) to the field side, with double in routes to the boundary.
The corner stays glued to Hodges, so after a small shoulder fake to freeze the safety Motley moves to his second progression in Ford. Ford breaks outside under the deep safety. Right here I see Motley's lack of confidence. Ford is open and the ball should be arriving as Ford takes his first or second step to the outside. Instead, Motley pats the ball (you would assume because he is worried about the safety). At this moment, the football needs to be releasing from Motley's hand.
Instead, Motley does not start his throwing motion until Ford has taken three strides to the outside. At this point, the safety knows Ford is committed to the corner route, and the safety closes accordingly. After Ford leaves the picture (around stride 6), Motley releases the football. This is way too late. The safety has plenty of time to close and deflect the pass. This is very likely an easy interception against a good safety. If Motley doesn't feel confident that a receiver is open, he should look to run or move through his progressions. As you watch the clip, Cam Phillips (progression 4) breaks open on a crossing route in front of the safety. Motley has to either commit to Ford when he breaks outside or move into the next progression. Motley is about two counts behind here.
Furman also deserves some credit. Against the standard pro-passing concepts used by Loeffler, the Paladins covered well.
Despite some of the early offensive struggles, Motley looked much more comfortable selling read option fakes than he did against Ohio State. Motley played in a Wing-T system at Christiansburg HS where hiding the ball in the mesh point is a critical factor in confusing the defense. In most of Motley's game and scrimmage action, he has been most effective using those ball fakes and then going where the defense isn't. Against Ohio State, Motley's mesh fakes were shoddy. His quarterback keepers looked like they were straight quarterback runs all the way (making them easy to defend), and the secondary didn't bite on play-action off those read plays. Motley has to use that important skill in order to maximize his effectiveness as a starter.
Motley was significantly improved with his ball handling against Furman. Here is a terrific example. The Hokies run a simple outside zone read with Motley and J.C. Coleman. The Furman defensive end is unblocked. Motley puts the ball into the stomach of Coleman and reads the defensive end. If the end crashes, Motley keeps and runs to the outside. If the end stays wide, Coleman gets the ball.
The key is hiding the football so the end thinks that the back has it. Motley sells this beautifully. The end crashes hard to the inside after Coleman, and Motley scampers for a nice gain.
For the most part, the Hokies ran the ball effectively. However, for some of the rare case where they were held to a short gain, I found that the running back and o-line had little culpability. The play structure, specifically oddly designed package plays, allowed for unblocked defenders in the box that couldn't be accounted for by the offensive line.
Here is an example of an inside zone read packaged with a wide receiver screen to the right side.
Coleman aligns to the left of Motley, while the receiver screen is set up to the right side. When Motley creates the mesh point with Coleman, he is facing left, and can't see the receiver on the screen. The nickel defender who is responsible for the screen quickly recognizes that the screen is not a threat, and he attacks the dive. The offensive line opens up a huge hole, however there is the unblocked nickel right in the hole to tackle Coleman. Meanwhile, the receiver is standing off to the right with nothing to do. I am not sure if this is an alignment error with Motley, Coleman, or another issue altogether.
As the game progressed, Loeffler started to incorporate more play-action and vertical routes into the passing game. Motley was much more comfortable throwing off of run action. Play-action off zone reads and inverted veer-jet sweep run action generated big play after big play. Those big chunk plays are critical when an offense starts to struggle sustaining drives due to a lack of ability to convert third downs with the intermediate passing game.
One play in particular got Motley going in the right direction. The Hokies showed a jet sweep and used Ryan Malleck to wham block the back side defensive end. The wham block is critical because it allowed Tech's offensive line to zone block play side and trigger the defense's zone run keys while still accounting for anything off the end of the line.
Hodges gets inside leverage on the safety and is decisive coming out of the fake. This is an easy throw and catch. Additionally, the Hokies have showcased a slant/post threat that was almost entirely absent with Michael Brewer running the offense.
On this play, the Hokies show a jet sweep and pull Parker Osterloh to sell the power / inverted veer.
This time Cline runs the post. On the outside, Phillips reads a deep cover 3 and settles down underneath the corner. Motley reads the same defense and decisively hits Phillips. Motley looks nothing like the rattled quarterback from Monday night.
Many folks have asked me what I thought of Dwayne Lawson's performance. I think you can see the upside in the true freshman signal caller. Loeffler's deployment of Lawson as a Wild Turkey QB seemed a bit misguided, as it became pretty apparent that Lawson was going to run a quarterback counter every time he rotated in. If Lawson is going to be the No. 2 behind Motley until Brewer returns, I think Loeffler has to give him a more diverse offensive package in order for Lawson to be effective. If he doesn't grasp at least as much offense as Motley did as a backup last season, burning Lawson's redshirt may have been the wrong course of action.
Lawson was tentative on those early rushing attempts. When Durkin and Lawson rotated on the last touchdown series, Durkin was much more assertive running the football, including one nice play where he received a bad snap and still created a mesh point with the running back that fooled the defensive end.
On the series prior to the last touchdown, Lawson got an opportunity to work more with the regular offensive playbook. After getting the team into field goal position, Lawson had three consecutive throws where he made the correct read (including a very nice read on a deep in route on third down). However, all three throws hit the turf in front of the receiver. Lawson completed a nice out route to Kevin Asante later that showed his arm strength. However, for Lawson to be a serious challenger to Motley, he has to be more accurate in the drop back passing game. I would have liked to have seen Loeffler give Durkin a chance to throw the ball off play-action, especially given how effective he was in the running game. I guess we will have to wait a few weeks to see if Durkin's progressions and accuracy have improved enough since the spring for him to make this a three-horse race for the quarterback position.
Purdue will be much more aggressive against read option runs than Furman, so play-action will give the Hokies' playmakers an opportunity to get behind the defense. Motley showed poise in a learning experience against Furman in those situations. On Saturday against the Boilermakers, he will be asked to make quicker decisions and beat tighter coverage, especially over the top.
Comments
My only complaint with Motley is the same I had for MV5 and early-career TT...
BUCKLE YOUR COW-SUCKING CHINSTRAP AND PUT IN YOUR GORRAM MOUTHGUARD!!!!
Edit: french, once again, thanks for another excellent breakdown that will help me become upset at miniscule details that my wife and the rest of my family will not see. I appreciate your hard work and it always makes me wish I'd at least tried out for my high school's football team that at the end of my career there had only a single blemish on a pristine totally defeated record.
Hooray for Firefly but boo for them taking it off the air... For the most random comment of the evening.
Awesome article as usual French!
My two cents on that Bear alignment... I don't think it's an alignment error. When offenses double up TE's, Foster walks that Whip onto the line of scrimmage to allow his Backer to maintain the edge to the boundary without giving a huge bubble to the offensive line along the front. It also allows the Whip to read a pulling tackle and chase him down the line to fill in behind him, something we saw the Whip do against OSU.
The Whip and Rover have man responsibilities for the two tight ends. The running back coverage responsibilities are shared by the Backer, Mike, and End depending on which area of the field the running back leaks out. The free safety is a free hitter/post-defender. He gets a run read, he's gap filling. He gets a pass read, he's back pedaling and helping on any routes by the WR's breaking across the field.
Against the speed option it doesn't matter if Foster wants to slow play it or attack the QB (I prefer forcing the QB to keep), the Mike has to stay clean. The playside 3 tech has to do a better job of slowing down the playside tackle by getting off the ball quicker and Moto has to read speed option quicker and avoid getting sucked into the LOS, giving the Tackle the angle to make the block.
Love the graphics french! Excellent write-up
Excellent work as always French, I am really curious to see how we develop over the next two games before we head into conference play...
I saw Bucky limping noticeably in the 3rd quarter. Is he OK?
Great Write-up.
The D-line giving up big runs is bugging me. The Offense running repeatedly into the teeth of the defense multiple times doesn't make sense to me as well. I know you need to mix it up and wear them down, but we do that far too often to my taste. That creates long 3rd downs we don't need. Our 1st half 3rd down conversion rate was 2 for 8. Yuuch!!
Goforth said it's a quad contusion or something. Said none of the players that left have serious injuries.
http://www.thekeyplay.com/virginia-tech-football/2015/09/10267/virginia-...
Great write up. I agree that I think it was more of a scrimmage for the team than a serious gameplan on both sides of the ball. We saw a lot more of the number 2's up front on the DL than I thought we would have that early in the game. Glad they were able to get everyone needed reps and still come out with a good win. A lot of other teams struggled with FCS opponents on Saturday.
True. But most teams don't have the obscene depth we have at DT either.
I'm m really curious to hear how our backup DE's did.
I agree. I didn't feel that I saw Dadi and Ken that much. I expected to see them in the backfield all day long.
neither of them look very good. ken looks hurt to me not sure what's going on. Hopefully they'll pick it up soon because the clips of them in the fall were encouraging, but it's not translating.
French,
What are your thoughts on Alexander getting the majority of the reps at Rover moving forward? I know you are high on his coverage abilities and had some doubts with this gap filling responsibilities, but Frye has either missed or been out of position several times in a very small sample already.
I love Alexander's range and coverage ability. We thought, based on his size and how he was utilized in run support near the LOS in high school that run support would be a strength, however so far it seems like the coaches are asking Clark to play much more of an alley responsibility role than Frye or Alexander. I can't remember a play where Alexander was making a tackle in the alley in a normal force-spill situation. Until we see it, I just don't know. What seems to be a possibility is that Foster trusts Alexander more in coverage than Frye at this point, as Alexander has gotten most of the 3rd down and long work.
It is important to note how a down and distance driven platoon can be a negative, in that such a platoon encourages offenses to go against tendency (which can mess up the other defenders.) For example, Ohio State's deep TD to Braxton Miller on a running down (first and ten.) Frye was in the game, and Ohio State ran the call because they had a good idea that they would get the matchup they wanted deep.
That and two defenders went with Elliott into the flat, right?
yes, but even if one defender sinks on Campbell, Frye is still one on one with Miller. He just doesn't have the other route to bait him forward. After seeing Frye vs Jones in the Alabama game, any match up of a really good receiver against Frye is a bit of a mismatch.
Am I right in thinking that a package play is the extreme version of a read? But instead of deciding whether to hand the ball off or keep it based on a read, the QB is reading the defense whether to run a zone read or a play action pass? If that's the case, in the above example of there being unblocked defenders on the run, did Motley make the wrong read on the package play and should have instead committed to the passing option?
Also wanted to add, one of my favorite parts of the clip of Bucky's big gain was seeing Cam Phillips come in looking to make a downfield block. Burden is changing the culture of the receivers, and it seems Cam has really bought into it. He had some stumbles, with what may or may not have been a ticky-tack offensive PI call (fricking ESPN3 cameramen), but that just tells me he's trying. And ALL our receivers are running backs once they have the ball, looking to make defenders miss and pick up as much YAC as they can. Excellent to see.
Think of it as an old-school triple option, with the screen or the quick skinny post off the dive fake being "the pitch man."
So would it be right to say Motley made the wrong read on the runs that resulted in negligible gain you mentioned above?
Actually, I think he messed up the call. When he gets signals from the sideline, he has to translate them to the rest of the team. Motley may have called the formation of the receivers correctly (twins right, Y left) however perhaps he made a mistake with the rest of the call. The RB and the OL executed the call correctly. However, with Motley unable to see the screen and Ford (also executing the call properly) not blocking by running the screen, there was an unblocked defender. In today's age of sideline signals and those dopey signs, it probably happens way more often than we think.
You saw the micd up with Loeffler, it probably takes years to understand what he's saying at a five star level. It's a premiere.
Why the hell won't they just allow the QB helmet radio like the NFL and be done with it?
The more I watch it, the more convinced I am that Coleman lined up wrong. If Motley had been looking to his right he would have seen the nickel defender was approximately 1/4 mile from Phillips, and the field corner was way deep on Ford. If he had thrown the screen pass, Phillips would still be running.
That is my guess. However Motley tells Coleman where to align with his call. So Motley may have gotten the signal wrong. With all the sideline nonsense getting plays in, it probably happens way more than we think
The line movement off the snap seems to agree with Motley and JC's alignment in the backfield.
So maybe CP lined up on the wrong side...
I think everyone lined up the way Motley called for them to. I think Motley got mixed up with the call from the sideline. Again, given how signals are sent in these days, it probably happens 5-10 times a game and we never notice.
42-3? Virginia Tech gave Furman quite a paladin.
[lights sparklers on Vespa's handlebars, beeps horn, speeds away]
To be fair to Frye, Alexander wasn't exactly having to cover Braxton Miller on Saturday.
But I'm really excited about Alexander's upside, and at some point this year I think he'll become the starter.
Moto's play has me very, very worried about Georgia Tech. Here at TKP, we all have a thorough understanding of how much the play of our Mike can be the difference between a dominating performance against the run and a 300+ yard debacle (Thanks French). Jack Tyler and Chase Williams played GT exceptionally the past few years but Moto is light years from their block shedding, play recognition, and positioning.
On the Bear Front Alignment, per Kevin's Post-Game Notebook...
Enjoyed your write up as always!
Any chance the "weird bear alignment," was to cover up Motu's weakness in gap-filling and attacking...giving him a chance to scrape and contain? Seems like those are his two biggest weaknesses, maybe Bud's scheming to cover up one of them with the Dline?
Given their ability to get to the edge with the option, that isn't one of his strengths either.
That's what I said....lol
I read it as Gap filling and attacking are the 2 weaknesses, not gap filling and scraping. My bad haha
perhaps. I would think that it exposed his speed. When you look at the alignment closely, from the center to the right, there are only two defenders (Mihota and Williams-not including your corners who are in man and can't come up in run support. Motu is even shaded to the strong side. That leaves Williams and Mihota in a really bad spot, with Motu and Clark having a long long long way to go. If this wasn't just some junk formation that Foster put out there against a weak opponent just to mess with future opponents, I have to think that either Clark or Motu are aligned incorrectly. The fact that it happened several times is more difficult to reconcile.
I think if we don't see improved play by Motu by the time ACC play comes around we have something to worry about.
I don't know if there is anyone else that Bud can put in there cause Motu is the best he has. It may just be a case of mea culpa. (i think i used that right)
Hopefully he we are able to drop a lot of points on teams if he stays the starter and doesn't improve. We'll need to outscore GT if that's the case. they are the one team where the Mike position will get us killed.
yes, hopefully indeed. We've been hoping this for the last decade. We haven't really seen it yet, certainly not consistently. 42 points on an FCS team during a tune-up game isn't earth shattering but, for this team at least, it's encouraging. I think we'll have a much better idea what kind of offense this team will have after the ECU game. At that point, if we can't put at least 35 points on ECU then I'd be seriously concerned about GT regardless of Motu's status. GT is going to score points on teams this year. We better be able to reciprocate.
I think he can play a very odd Bear front without the MLB, and let the ROV or FS call the D, where we alig with 3 DTs, the two ends, and either the 2 OLBs or nickel personnel with the better OLB. Put the DL on the OL, the LBs behind the DTs...GT could pull out of their tradictional alignment to cause issues, but the same way Urban Meyer is an arrogant system coach, Paul Johnson is an arrogant system coach. Force the QB to throw all day and PJ will have a tantrum instead of coaching.
I don't think you could force CPJ to throw all day if you had a gun to his head.
I don't either, but if you stuff the middle full of Dts, the edge with DEs and OLBs...what else has he got? QB dance?
The thing about the option, is there is 1 less defender they need to block. I haven't done any film on GT but I am guessing they often have 2 guys unblocked that they read for their "triple option". It gives them a numerical advantage on paper. Throw in the motion presnap and you put an extra blocker on one side while the defender has to run across the formation to try and make a stop before they get 3-4 yards.
I agree, but the defenders to do the work are available...the Rover and FS...we can force him to pass...if we want to...but at what cost? I wonder if Fuller an Fayscon can cover the huge receivers PJ always recruits in man...if so, tough running.
Yeah, I'm down with 3 DT vs GT. We have a lot of those guys. Motu out, 5 DB and Deon Clarke. Boom!
Been really busy lately so might have been mentioned already but I noticed Tremaine Edmunds in at H-back on goal line for Trey Edmunds touchdown. French do you know if this is just goal line set or something that might be permanent in the future?
I saw that too. My guess is that they just want an explosive athlete out there to find someone in the wrong-colored jersey and remove him from the play.
I am not sure. Bucky Hodges was hurt at that point and the only other TE dressed I believe was Jack Willenbrock. It could have been a one time thing. I believe Joe is writing something up on one Edmunds blocking for another Edmunds.
Does Hansen coming out after the first two drives solidify Nijmans place as our LT?
It might not solidify it - Nijman got whipped pretty good on a couple plays - but it's definitely still up in the air. Seems to be similar to the Farris/Teller situation last year. One has all the athleticism you want, but the other actually knows what the heck is going on. Keep in mind that Nijman is still only about 270 too. He's going to struggle against more powerful rushers, just like Hansen will struggle against speed rushers. So if I was taking a crack at the depth chart, it'd probably read Nijman 1a, Hansen 1b at this point.
I think Hansen will start right up until they struggle with a pass rush. At that moment (especially with Brewer out) they need the more mobile pass protection and Nijman (as he did against Ohio State) will get more work.
Hey French,
What'd you think of Huelskamp's play while he was in for the injured AM54? Watching him live, he looked OK, but his size seems to be a liability.
He sure stuck his nose in there, and Furman didn't get to the edge as much. I don't know if that is Huelskamp or adjustments by the D that attributed for the change (at that point, the score was out of hand and I was focused on the 2nd defensive line group of Mihota-Williams/Sobczak-Baron-Dooley (that played really well.) I will take another look when I get a chance later this week!
Man, I was so impressed with the 2nd line. Wow. I said it before and I'm saying it again, for as good as this line is (dadi - maddy - marshall - ekanem) there is a straight up monster lurking just beneath in Mihota - Williams/Sobczak - Baron/Settle - Dooley/Hill. They have more size and what looks like sneaky, sneaky speed.
2nd group DTs are really good. None of the DEs have been impressive thus far this season including the first teamers.
None of the defensive ends period have been very productive so far this season.
Um...didn't he just say that?
I thought I did.
I reject your reality and substitute my own
You did... that was my way of agreeing with you after my third plane ride in 48 hours.
Did Mook and Terrell Edmunds get significant PT? I liked what I had seen from both of them in scrimmages and against aOSU but I haven't heard anything about either of them against Furman. I was at the Oregon/MSU game this weekend so sadly I missed the real game in Blacksburg. Also, did Der'woun Greene come in with Adonis on 3rd downs this game like they did against aOSU?
Mook laid a guy out on a punt return so that was pretty cool. I didn't notice him in the secondary as much but I also wasn't looking.
I didn't notice Mook in the game, although he probably got work at the end. Edmunds did not play defensive snaps until the last series or two. It was Facyson, Fuller, and Stroman all the way until the score was out of hand.
Does anyone else feel like we should try to find a place for all four QB's in the offense like how we ran LT at tight end? Adds more weapons to offense, maybe add a ripple to Wild Turkey with all of them? Durkin looked like Sam Rodgers taught him how to run with the ball, full steam and down hill. Purdue could be a good opponent to try more of this I suppose?
Short answer, no. We put LT at TE and threw the fade once but we have a 6'7" TE already so putting Lawson there would be pointless. Groom them as QBs and don't waste any of their time at other positions unless they will really be playing that position in the future. We have weapons around the QBs for a change so it is better to let them do their things. The only change we might see is Durkin at H back next year if they think Jackson is a better QB but that is still unlikely.
Agree with pretty much everything here. However LT lined up at WR, not TE vs Wake.
The real question, when will they start playing Sam Rogers at MLB and have him go both ways?
I'm expecting something wacky like that for GT. Rogers or Marshall or Alexander or someone at mike LB.
even if they just have Rogers practice with the LBs to demonstrate toughness, get after it-ness, and that "I'm coming to take your lunch money and there's nothing you can do about it" attitude, it's a win