The Melancholy of Inconsistency and Desperation, a Review of the Hokies' 20-30 Loss to Miami

When I think back to halftime of the Ohio State game, I vividly recall the promise of the 2015 season. The Hokies led the defending national champions even though the defense was struggling and the offense had left points on the field. Perhaps, the team I saw on paper in August would equate with the on-the-field product. An All-American defensive line group and secondary would cover up the weakness at linebacker. Scot Loeffler finally had talented players after holding together some semblance of an offense with chicken wire and misdirection for two seasons.

Fast forward a mere 7 weeks, and I find myself spending a windy Sunday morning in the Outer Banks watching the Hokies play Miami. As I watch clip after clip, I can't reconcile my halftime emotions with my eyes telling my brain that, at key moments, a mediocre Miami team is better than my Hokies.

On Saturday, Travon McMillian ran the ball with authority in between the tackles. After gashing the Hurricanes time and time again, the same Travon McMillian had the football stripped on an ill-conceived counter play. He didn't receive an offensive touch the rest of the fourth quarter. The offensive line mashed the Hurricanes in the run game, yet was overpowered by edge speed in pass protection. Brenden Motley was sharp for most of the first half, but he threw two abysmal interceptions in the second. For the first time all season, the defensive line looked dominant against the run. The same dominant defensive line couldn't sustain any pass rush. The secondary maintained tight coverage and was excellent in run support. The same secondary couldn't stop a slant route, and even when in perfect coverage lost 50/50 plays to bigger, more talented Miami receivers. Even the coaching was uneven. There was Frank Beamer's decision to kick a 51-yard field goal on 4th-and-9 down 13-20 in the middle of the third quarter, but then decide to go for a first down after a 5-yard Hurricanes' penalty put the Hokies more comfortably in Joey Slye's range. Beamer followed up the failed fourth down attempt by punting on a 4th-and-1 from his own 42 when trailing by 10. It is easy to second guess each of those decisions. When things are going well, those decisions pan out. When things are going badly, you end up losing in front of 60,000 empty seats in (insert stupid sponsor name) stadium.

The McMillian Show

The most positive takeaway from Saturday is that redshirt freshman Travon McMillian proved that he could be an explosive, every down running back who can run in between the tackles. For the first time since the Purdue game, Loeffler's game plan heavily emphasized the inside running game. McMillian proved he has the vision and explosiveness to take advantage of holes created by the offensive line on the inside.

When Loeffler arrived from Auburn, he and Jeff Grimes brought a zone running scheme to Blacksburg that depended on the running back's ability to attack the line of scrimmage, plant his outside leg, and cut sharply into a bubble created by the defense's lateral movement. Even when the running game has worked since Loeffler's arrival in 2013, the effectiveness of it has been more the byproduct of the offensive line creating huge holes than the running back's ability to exploit those holes.

Against Miami, McMillian didn't always get huge gaping holes. Instead he correctly read the defensive bubble and then displayed the necessary cutback ability and explosiveness to exploit those small seams. Here is an example. The Hokies align with the strength to the right and run an inside zone back to the left.

Ryan Malleck cuts off the back side defensive end. Augie Conte and Wade Hansen get about two yards of push on the three-technique defensive tackle. Eric Gallo gets just a little bit of lateral movement on the nose tackle. There is a small bubble for McMillian to run into between the double team and Gallo.

There is a problem though. The right inside linebacker for Miami should be blocked by either Hansen or Conte sliding off the double team. Neither disengages, so McMillian is left to deal with the linebacker in the hole. Time and time again over the last few seasons, a Hokie running back would have slide to his right, right into the unblocked linebacker's lap. McMillian takes a different tact. He cuts right off Gallo's block, gives a very subtle shoulder lean to his right to freeze the linebacker on the right side of the double team, and then cuts sharply back to his left. This is called setting up a block. McMillian essentially uses his movement to freeze the linebacker and shield him with Hansen and Conte's double team.

McMillian isn't finished. Miami safety Deon Bush (No. 2) comes up in run support. McMillian dead legs him then breaks away to the left. Miami corner Artie Burns (No. 1, ably blocked by Isaiah Ford) makes contact with McMillian at the 43-yard-line. Instead of getting tackled, McMillian drags the corner all the way to the 32 yard line. This is a big boy run.

I was thrilled to see Loeffler using the pistol and running McMillian in between the tackles. Being good in between the tackles isn't necessarily a function of being big and powerful. Darren Evans was much more comfortable on stretch plays, while the much smaller Ryan Williams was more explosive cutting back against the grain on inside zones. McMillian doesn't jump cut like Williams. However, McMillian does have Williams' vision and downhill explosiveness to get to the second level quickly.

On this next play, the Hokies run an inside zone from the pistol. McMillian is heading downhill at the snap. Wyatt Teller does a terrific job of scooping the Miami nose tackle. Gallo and Conte reach block the play side linebacker, and Conte rolls off the double team to pick up the back side pursuit. McLaughlin gets lateral movement on the play side defensive end. This is pretty well blocked. The challenge for the Hokies here is the free safety. Watch closely as the free safety flies into the box as McMillian gets the football from Motley.

McMillian is one-on-one with the safety in the hole. Tech's running backs from 2012-14 get tackled for a three-yard gain by the safety in the bubble between Conte and McLaughlin. McMillian runs right through the safety and then finishes a nine-yard gain with a big thump against two other Miami secondary players.

These clips represent more the norm than the exception from Saturday. Despite this, McMillian only got 16 carries on the day. Some of that was a byproduct of Miami's time of possession and Motley's turnovers. However, McMillian didn't get a single carry after an oddly-designed counter run backfired badly at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

I don't even know where to begin with this play. The Hokies run a fake quarterback counter. The right side of the offensive line blocks down. Teller and Malleck pull and lead up in front of Michael Brewer. Nijman cuts off penetration on the back side. The design and execution makes it look like Brewer should be keeping the football.

Instead, Brewer hands off to McMillian. I don't understand the logic here. 1) McMillian has had success running right at Miami all game long. 2) The design removes blockers away from the intended path of the football by pulling Malleck and Teller. If that's done to influence Miami's linebackers to scrape away from McMillian, it ignores that Brewer is in the game and the Hurricanes know that he isn't a running threat with a recently mended collarbone. 3) Nijman is blocking passively to prevent a crashing defensive end from getting inside. This allows the defensive end a free pass up field on the outside, which is exactly where McMillian has to go on this play. Either the play design is a total mess, or Nijman should be aggressively reach-blocking that defensive end. The defensive end wrecks McMillian before he can secure the handoff. McMillian fumbles. The Hokies recover and we don't see McMillian touch the football for the rest of the evening. Frankly, even if this is an execution error by Nijman, this was an ill-timed play call with absolutely terrible design, especially given the personnel grouping with Brewer at quarterback.

It didn't help matters that the Hokies struggled with pass protection against edge speed. Miami was able to get pressure with four rushers. Usually, the three down linemen rushed along with one of the two Hurricane outside linebackers. The Hokies didn't bust their protections. More often than not, when Motley received pressure, it was the result of Wade Hansen and/or Jonathan McLaughlin being overwhelmed by edge speed.

On this play, Hansen over sets to compensate for the speed of Al-Quadin Muhammad off the edge.

In other words, Hansen tried to rush outside and in the process he lost technique. In this case, Hansen got too far outside and stands too upright. As result, he lost his low center of gravity and balance.

Hansen's momentum is moving backwards and doesn't get his hands up. Muhammad punches with his right hand at Hansen's left shoulder. If a defensive lineman initiates contact with the pass blocker first, the defensive lineman can dictate leverage. A pass blocker always wants to punch first and then slide. Muhammad gets Hansen off balance and drives him back into Motley's lap. This just isn't good enough from Hansen. Both he and McLaughlin struggled against speed rushes all day long.

Defensive Malaise

As confounding as the Hokies' offense was, the defense sent me on more of an emotional roller coaster ride. Up front, the Hokies were dominant against the Miami running game. The Hokies' d-line used their speed to get penetration at the point of attack. When the Hurricanes were able to effectively double team the Hokie defensive linemen, those defensive linemen stood up to the double teams to allow the linebackers and alley players to make the tackle in support. The system was working beautifully.

Yet, the same defensive line group couldn't get consistent pressure on Brad Kayaa (who I feel will be a first round NFL draft pick) with four. The Hokies were solid from an assignment perspective in the secondary. Yet, without pressure, Kayaa was able to put the football in positions where his receivers had matchup advantages.

Kayaa led Joseph Yearby, who slid right behind Andrew Motuapuaka on a circle route, out of the backfield perfectly on Miami's opening scoring drive.

Herb Waters outmuscled Terrell Edmunds for a jump ball to lead to Miami's touchdown before the half.

And Perhaps Kayaa's best throw of the day was a pinpoint strike to Rashawn Scott against outstanding coverage to close the first half.

The Hokies are in a dime defense and are using a leverage zone. At the bottom of the screen, if a receiver breaks to the outside, Brandon Facyson will jump the route. If a receiver breaks to the inside, Anthony Shegog with take him with inside leverage technique. The Hurricanes run a quick out from the slot and a deep in by Scott on the outside. Facyson jumps the quick out, and Shegog is in perfect position against the deep in route. If you freeze the clip just before the ball hits Scott in the hands, you will see that every Miami receiver is well covered. Shegog has his body in between Scott and the football. You can't ask for better coverage, especially from the backup whip linebacker against one of the best receivers in the ACC.

Kayaa only has one option. Because Shegog played inside leverage, he has his back to Kayaa. Kayaa knows that it is unlikely that Shegog can get his head around quickly to intercept a pass. Kayaa throws a high, leading pass that Scott can adjust to. Shegog can't get his head around quickly enough and Scott makes the play. This is NFL execution against excellent college defense. Miami is just plain better on this play.

That basically sums up the day on defense. The Hurricanes were able to beat the Hokies on slants and occasionally win those 50/50 passes on the outside. The Hokies' defense put Miami into third-and-long situations with excellent run defense, and then couldn't get off the field. The absences of Kendall Fuller and C.J. Reavis are becoming felt. Inexperience in the secondary (even though it is worth noting that Mook Reynolds was outstanding on Saturday and it seems like quarterbacks are going out of their way not to target him in the passing game) make it much tougher to run the robber zones that made the Hokies secondary so dangerous in 2006-2010.

I think I was most troubled by a seeming lack of enthusiasm on defense Saturday. The Hokies did lots of good things, especially in the running game. Even when I saw Luther Maddy blow up an inside zone, or Dadi Nicolas pressure Kayaa into an incompletion, there was very little celebration. Guys got up off the ground and got lined back up for the next play. It was surreal.

That carried over to the on the field performance as the game moved along. After Motley's third turnover, the defensive pursuit seemed to lag. This play summed up my frustration.

The Hurricanes are driving to ice the game. They run an inside zone to the right. Nigel Williams blows up a down block and gets penetration. Motuapuaka scrapes and wraps up the Hurricanes running back with some help by Ronny Vandyke for a one-yard gain. This is a really nice play.

Then, I watch the play again. Woody Baron and Dadi Nicolas are on their behinds. Adonis Alexander and Facyson are scraping across in support, yet I wouldn't call it flying to the football. And, most infuriatingly, Deon Clarke has completely quit on the play and is walking towards the football with his hands by his side. That isn't Hokie football or Lunchpail Defense.

This Saturday, a solid Duke team comes to Blacksburg. The Hokies responded with a big win over Duke in Durham last season after three straight losses. If the Hokies don't deliver a similarly inspired effort this week, the Frank Beamer era may be setting over the Blue Ridge.