http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/4/6/11332816/virginia-tech...
Ian Boyd always writes good stuff and this is no exception.
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http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/4/6/11332816/virginia-tech...
Ian Boyd always writes good stuff and this is no exception.
Comments
Thats a really good article.
I had never thought about that, but that was a really good take. We have pieces that a traditional spread offense wouldnt have that Fuente can maybe build on, that isnt necessarily happening anywhere else. Fuente is going to build a new amp, and hes about to turn it up to 11.
Yeah... And on those rare occasions things clicked under Loeffler, our offense was very good. The problem is, it rarely ever clicked.
If Fuente can take our personnel and get the most out of them, we have all the potential to be a legitimate title contender in short order. It really just depends on how quickly that can happen.
At least Loeffler already had the offense moving in the right direction, philosophy and personnel-wise.
With the mention of Loeffler, what's the news out of Boston? Anyone keeping tabs on him?
Edit: In answer to my own question: Loeffler at BC
One paragraph sticks out which highlights the difference between Loeffler's style and Fuente's,
Between stopping and redoing team reps to get plays and drills exactly right, or the extra time spent on the field after practice with the quarterback corps, it's all about the basics.
It might be safe to say that initially at least we are not going to see much hurry up from BC.
i'm sure their offense will improve marginally. Last year it was worse than ours ever was. Loeffler is no offensive genius but he's not Mike London levels of bad at his job. I expect BC to be competitive mostly due to their defense. I doubt if they blow anyone's doors off though.
I think their offense will be better than expected. Last time Addazio and Loeffler were together they did pretty well at Temple with a power running game. Given that BC seems to always have a good OL, I expect them to look competent on offense and try to grind games out.
they also had an NFL-level talented running back playing against mostly mid-major talent the last time addazio and loeffler teamed up...i expect them to be better than last year, largely because it can't get much worse; competent relative to the rest of FBS football is a bit of a stretch i imagine
If there's one thing VT fans should know it's that you can win a lot if you team up a great defense with a power running game that milks the clock and grinds down the opposition.
Hit the nail Ryan the head there. Suggs to admit it, but we've been Jonesin' for a solid run game for a Wil(son). One that puts up a McMillian yards a game.
Needs to be Taylor made for the quarterback, of course, and one that doesn't Marcus as losers.
BC was in a talent lull last year after Tyler Murphy left with his 1100+ yards rushing from the QB spot. The starting RB from 2014, Jon Hilliman, put up a very solid 860 yards rushing and 13 TD's to complement Murphy.
Hilliman got hurt in the fourth game (after a 24-119 performance vs. NIll.). Starting QB Darius Wade got hurt in game 3 against FSU. The Flutie/Fadule show started after that, to predictably disastrous results.
BC was left with two immobile QB's who can't pass and a slew of underperforming tailbacks. Things got bad in a hurry, culminating in a 79 yard game (total offense!) against Louisville.
This year, they will get Hilliman back + Wade + Patrick Towles, a transfer QB from Kentucky that is a good runner (somewhat similar to Murphy, but a better passer). Towles started 20+ games in a row for Kentucky but lost his starting spot late last season, probably because he threw for 9TD's and 14 Int's. As mentioned previously, Loeffler+Addazio has been successful in the past, probably because Addazio has a stronger voice to veto Loeffler when his playcalling gets ADHD.
I really don't expect they will have much "new system" issues with Loeffler this year. It's Addazio's offense, Loeffler will just be given the wheel to steer much like a 10 year old kid in the farm truck in the back pasture.
BC dropped to 276 ypg last year from the 360-380 range in previous Addazio years. That's the same range VT lived in under Loeffler. My expectation is a return to those levels.
They also had Bernard Pierce when their offense was motoring...and when it wasnt rolling, they didnt have Bernard Pierce, soooo I dont know, clearly, weve seen flashes where our offense has done well under Loeffler, but weve always had an offense that critics categorized as 'anemic', Loeffler didnt really change that perception much.
Edit: too slow, but I agree with you they really cant get worse, they were so bad last year they hurt their team on offense, they would have probably fared better running the clock down kneeling the ball every down and punting...
Loeffler's offense at VT suffered from below par OL performance. Given that BC always seems to have a pretty solid OL, I would expect BC's offense to do ok.
I get chills thinking about that...
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No mention of Bronco, nice subtle jab.
We were doing so well until you brought him up! /s
??? It takes a brave man to pose that as a question. A better question would be if we can find a third receiver who can block, run routes and catch. We could always trot a tailback out for a real power look and line them up wide if we had to.
It will be interesting to see if we trot out any freshman at WR this year. I like to hope that Deablo will be able to make an impact.
Not so sure if we lined up Shai out there instead of Sam that we'd get the better, or even the same, benefit. Sam will dominate as a blocker out there, and if he can run a few more routes than he already can, then he'll only make himself (and us) that much more dominant.
If there's one thing not to worry about it's Sam learning how to do something that will help this team win.
Sam Rogers, the unlikely likely, breaking down stereotypes - and to all you college coaches who missed the boat on him, and that's about all of you, go watch Rudy and choke on your popcorn, a movie I absolutely think is the most stupid movie ever made. (Rant over!)
Play it again, Sam!
While I really dislike Notre Dame, Rudy isn't even close to the most stupid movie ever made. Sappy, yep. Syrupy, even, yep. But the most stupid ever made? I say no.
Take it back! Cheesy yes, but it will always be in my top 5 of inspirational movies. Oh the soundtrack is so good for this too. I used to listen to it before job interviews.
I can run through walls after this part.
You're the most stupid movie ever made and Rudy is the best ever.
Straight from the horse's mouth.
Hot
Hey, Sarah...why the long face?
Despite opinions on a film, which I do understand, on what is cheesy, sappy, happy, or stupid, a horse always deserves another leg, especially for calling me a movie, even if it's stupid.
From personal experience the whole thing regarding walk-ons is a sore spot with me - one which I really should get over. That said, Sam Rogers deserved an opportunity out of high school to play Division I football. It's hard to understand why so many missed the ball on him. Did he go to the wrong high school, have the wrong coach, was too short, too slow, too weak, have the wrong color hair and too many freckles, was himself stupid and had no clue what to do on a football field, or everybody was in on the gag so that one day we could have a truly inspiring movie called Sam? I'm an older guy now and this Mr. Rogers inspires me to be something better than I am. This Rudy guy, on the other hand, was just taking up space. Maybe some player, somewhere did not get his shot at Notre Dame because he was there. We can never know. I relate more to that other Hoosier state movie, Breaking Away.
It's absolutely no lie that Rogers>Rudy. It's not even close. Not even fair.
I was suggesting a back instead of a receiver, not instead of Sam, if that 3rd received does not step up. We have a lot of talent a tailback to frequently use a formation that does not feature one. I am not sure which tailback would be best have running comeback route as shown though.
Wow never seen Sam Rogers get talked about that much in a national article like that... glad to see it. I was seeing the argument he was laying out about passing getting so hyped when it hit me, he didn't even mention our star at RB! All aboard the hype train!
This article just got me super pumped for one of French's breakdowns.
I always worry about leaning heavily on the QB run. Why have a support staff (WRs, RBs, TEs, FBs) only to use them as a distraction and beat the snot out of your decision maker every game. Not only make him mentally tired, but physically beat him too. I get it is a numbers game and the QB is an unaccounted for runner, but I don't like it. I like it even less when the QB has a history of ACL injuries.
I think there is a difference between "leaning heavily" on the QB run and using it effectively to keep the defense honest. I think in 2012 Loeffler "leaned heavily" on LT3. I don't think Fuente "leans heavily" on his QBs. Andy Dalton was used on QB runs on occasion but he spent most of his time handing off or throwing the ball. I think the same could be said of Paxton Lynch.
I wasn't aware that all of Fuente's QBs have had histories with ACL injuries. Nor was I aware that all 5 of VT's current QBs have histories with ACL injuries. I don't really see the point of that comment, TBH. All it does is imply that you expect Evans to win the starting job which isn't guaranteed.
I understand what you're saying, I just don't agree that Fuente leans heavily on the QB run. He uses it to open up options offensively but I don't think any of his QBs have been work-horse type backs. Perhaps you and I just have a different definition of "leaning heavily" on the QB run. Maybe you just want a QB like Manning who is a statue and would never be a real threat in the running game?
QB rushes as a percent of total rushing attempts under Fuente are not as prevelant as we've seen. Its been somewhere between Michael Brewer and Logan Thomas (that's a joke because that's like saying it's somewhere between 0 and 100%). But in honesty running backs in his offense have gotten the vast majority of attempts. I'm pretty sure sacks still count as rushing attempts for a QB, so if you factor that in, they rush even less comparatively to the Running backs.
I agree, Loeffler "leaned heavily" on LT3 which is where my concern for the QBs originated. That same concern for the QBs well-being carries over to Fuente's offense. Certainty, whether Fuente actually "leans heavily" on QB keepers is up for debate. I feel that every time I read about Fuente's offense the QB option to keep is mentioned which implies, to me, that QB keeping is critical to him. Critical doesn't mean frequent, but there is always a potential for it to increase when it is an important part of your offense.
I didn't say ALL of Fuente's QBs have histories with ACL injuries nor did I say ALL 5 of VT's current QBs have histories with ACL injuries. Frankly, I think all of that is not critical to what I was saying. I still don't like the idea of a QB getting hit a lot, period, but dislike it even more so if the QB has an injury history.
I didn't realize I implied that I expect Evans to win the starting job, that wasn't my intention. Especially since whoever wins the starting job is irrelevant to disliking 'frequent' QB keeps. Since it was brought it up, I do feel that Evans will win the job. Sure, the 'politically correct' thing to say is the job is Motleys to lose but I feel it is in actuality Evans' job to lose. I don't have facts or the "proof" to back up my feelings; my feelings are simply based on my perception of the situation.
Now I'm not some super genius football guy so I don't know whose offense Fuente's most resembles. I'm just throwing a random spattering of teams out there. However, based on the random selections below, I would agree with you that Fuente's 2015 offense did NOT lean heavily on the QB run.
In 2015:
-Memphis QB was third in carries at 87, behind 155 and 91 carries.
-VT QBs Motley (88) and Brewer (37) combined for 125 carries. Motley was second in carries behind McMillian (200).
-Houston QB lead the team with 198 carries, the second had 185.
-GT QB was the leader with 145 carries. The second was 93 carries.
-Oregon QBs Adams (83) and Lockie (34) combined for 117 carries. Adams was second in carries behind the leader with 283 carries.
-Stanford QB was second with 85 carries, the leader had 337.
Thanks for the research - interesting. I have interest in the how much tho run the QB thing, because I'm undecided. It works, which is good, but can get a key player hurt (see Baylor), but would he have been as key a player if he did not run it? Foster has been known to make the option QB keep it early in the game and get some good licks in on him to break the offense down later in the game, almost like the Syracuse Ball zone and the looks for 3 in the first half, which has appealed to me, but we have still been hurt by the QB run. Motley keeps too often, but our offense has been its best when we had a running QB threat, even though we did not often option the ball. I think Fuente recruits big QB's because running it is part of his offense, so hopefully that will make them less likely to get hurt. I'll likely arm chair coach the QB option this year before making the decision on liking it or not.
Well I had a nice long response typed up and then the intern went down. I'm now on mobile. Basically, I don't think it's fair for us to express concerns about how Fuente runs the offense until we see it. He's been known to mold the offense to the available talent. VT has lots of talent at rb. I expect most of the running game to go thru that position.
Hah. Nice catch. I'm leaving it for posterity
Oh Bill.....
Is that Monica? That's by far the best pic I've ever seen of her.
Sounds like a damn good place to work.
Edit: Dammit Hokie_x3_Hi coming in earlier with a better response!
Things I love:
1. That headline: Virginia Tech's gonna try to score points now
2. Evans' Film
3. Rogers + Bucky + Ford + Phillips + TMac on the field
4. What looks like at least 8 quality OLineman
yeah, we should try to score some points now.
Yes.... if only Sam Rogers could learn
how to run a route....
"Excellent SB Nation article". Rarely hear that...
Boyd and Bill Connelly are tremendous college football writers.
Yep. SBNation is fine if you just follow the good writers.
I stand corrected. Solid article
Regarding this season
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