This stat jumped out to me. Not sure how many plays we have run comparatively last year or in years before.
I find it amazing that we racked up 206 rushing yards. Watching the game it felt like we were pass heavy. I'm all for distributing the ball around as long as we continue to accumulate that amount of yardage.
On a side note, did anyone else feel like the offense wasn't as fast as talked about. Comparatively for me when I watch Oregon you can feel the speed of which they get on the line of scrimmage and get a play off. Today felt like we got back on the ball quick, but took a lot longer at the line of scrimmage
EDIT:
I pulled up the rushing stats for the game and 10 different people touched the ball to accumulate our total rushing yards. This will put a ton of pressure on opposing defenses since they will not be able to key in on one rusher. Here is the breakdown of touches:
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Comments
Comparing us to how other teams play yesterday, no we weren't that fast but I think we were at that stage yesterday of the kid taking the training wheels off and making it down to the end of our street without falling. Things picked up at the end, throws were made better, runs were going further and I think that is what we needed. I tried thinking how this would play out in the season. We are not one dimensional at all in my book and that is exciting!
I thought the running game was one area that really needed improvement. I'm sure French can provide all of the details, but the run blocking wasn't that great yesterday. I thought we would get big holes for the RBs to hit.
I did think that the perimeter blocking by WRs was good.
Part of that might be ball carrier. I don't think Sam can hit the holes quickly enough.
*bracing for impact*
Without even talking to French or reading his in-game tweets, I can tell you this: there was a noticeable, even glaring, difference in the run game when Teller was in for Pettit.
Actually, since Bucky is now a WR, I beg to differ. His blocking was lethargic, disinterested. He needs to pick up the pace and be more aggressive
Oregon got a reputation for going fast but Baylor has the most plays per game in 2015 at 85 per game followed by Texas Tech, TCU, Tulsa, and Boise State all in the lower 80's per game, Oregon was 19th in plays per game
Memphis ran 79 plays a game. 36 points yesterday was a good game, but hope we learn a lot from it. Evans was 20 of 32 passing, there were a few passes in there that we need to improve on and then its a great offense
Oregon has been going as that pace for a few years, I don't know that Fuente would want to burn it that fast, this year especially with some of our depth concerns.
I'm happy with a W. And happy we weren't a hot mess.
I dunno. A couple of our 3 and outs seemed really fast.
The offense felt fast to me. We actually had 89 plays, per hokiesports.com. I was curious to see how this compared to past seasons, so here is a breakdown of plays per game from 2011-2015 (to include the last "good" year + the decline + the Loeffler tenure). I separated the FCS game each year to compare performance more fairly.
2015: 72 plays per game (72, Furman)
2014: 74 ppg (73, W&M)
2013: 71 ppg (69, W. Carolina)
2012: 73 ppg (64, Austin Peay)
2011: 71 ppg (62, App St)
So, based on one data point, we're going much faster. Averaging over those five seasons, you get 72.2 ppg, and 89 is a 23% increase over that number overall, and a 31% increase over ppg in FCS match ups.
To follow up on this, if you consider average time of possession / average number of plays, you get:
2016: 23 sec/play
2015: 26
2014: 25
2013: 28
2012: 25
2011: 29
It will be interesting to see if this trend continues. 2016 is only one data point, so not much can be said about it, but it is somewhat different from past years.
I LIKE it.
Leg for making TOP relevant again.
Here's some more data from David Teel (Daily Press):
"Justin Fuente's coaching debut with the Hokies did bring a faster pace.
Tech ran 89 plays, 48 rushing and 41 passing. Only three times in the previous 25 season had the Hokies snapped the ball more often in regulation.
And just imagine the number Saturday had Tech not lost four fumbles, two by quarterback Jerod Evans, one by receiver Cam Phillips and one by Curtis Williams on a punt.
The Hokies' most regulation snaps since 1991: They had 95 in a 2012 victory over Virginia, 93 in a 1992 loss to U.Va., and 90 in a 1994 win at Southern Mississippi.
For the more analytical folks: Tech averaged one play for every 22.7 seconds of possession in Saturday's 36-13 win. That's faster than any of Fuente's four Memphis teams – the quickest was 23.0 seconds last year. That's faster than any of Frank Beamer's 29 Tech teams – the quickest was 24.1 seconds in 1988."
Link
I posted some of my thoughts on the open thread, but after sleeping on it, came up with others. No procedure or holding penalties for the offense. Nice to see us not shoot ourselves in the foot. And we weren't Oregon fast, but I saw us getting back to the LOS very quickly. Yes, there were the checks to the sideline, but even the audibles by Evans & Motley took place quickly. Wow, 89 plays. And I agree, 200 yds on the ground was a sneaky stat.
I think most of us expected a score like yesterday's OSU game, then had flashbacks of JMU only to see order restored and a Hokie win. It could have been better had we capitalized on all of the takeaways and one of LU's scores we basically gift-wrapped for them. I think Bitter predicted a score of 40-10, so it wasn't far off.
This was fun to watch, and should things improve incrementally, we should see a solid 1st season for the good guys and CJF. Glad we got through the game without injuries so let's get set for Bristol!!
Let's not forget we ran a victory formation in field goal range at the end. So it's not like Fuente was really trying to run up the score or anything
Actually felt like we spent most of the 4th quarter trying not to score. The fact that we had that many plays while noticeably running the play clock down for most of the 4th quarter is even more impressive.
Yes! Excellent point. It's sooo nice when the other team is the one getting all the false starts. I have to admit that I was starting to feel bad for their tackle who kept jumping.
It appeared that Vinny and their offending lineman were joking with each other about it, but it could have been Vinny talking smack!
I'd say we gift-wrapped both of their scores.....
While the stats will count against the defense, neither was on them.
That's 4.3 yds per carry against a pretty weak FCS team (translation: What would that look like against an App State defense?). It needs to be better to be ready for P5 competition. Lots of our inside runs got stuffed at the LOS. We need more OL push. We have to be able to get 3-4 yds in the trenches to go with the speed runs outside. Our run game was a bit one dimensional yesterday. I'm sure it'll be a high priority this week.
I'm happy with 458 total offensive yards. I'ts great the team didn't look past yesterday. I think we can win next Saturday, but there is work to do to be ready for UT.
2 words: Wyatt Teller
if only we had 5 of him...
That'd be a hell of a second team...
Lots of sideways yards though. Do those count for anything?
Something, something....hey, did anybody catch that Wyatt Teller guy??
Still can't figure that shit out. Run game vastly improved while he was in.
Our running game started to look pretty good with McMillan and McKenzie carrying the ball. Those 2 need to be our 2 deep at running back the rest of the way and leave Rogers to FB duties.
McKenzie looked good. Much better burst than he had in the Furman and Purdue games last year.
Before McKenzie got hurt 2 years ago he was by far the best RB on this team.
Yes, he did; appears to be 100% and I wasn't convinced we'd see that again.
I think he'll creep up the depth chart.
Anxious to get Marshawn back as well
I had to remind myself that we don't get Marshawn back until BC, sadly. I'm counting it down too because it will be interesting to see how the rotation looks and what roles they play.
5.5 ypc ain't bad!
I also noticed the lack of false start and delay of game penalties. What a relief. I did notice a few times I was looking for the replay on the board and team was lined up taking another snap before replay ever started. 200 yards rushing is nothing to sneeze at. I believe the difference between coaches is how we arrive at that total. We ran several sweeps and end arounds. Sam is not an every down back, but some of this to me was scheming. Was surprised that McMillan was on scrub duty with Motley. Shai made good use of his few carries. I think personnel groups were dictated to saving things for Bristol game. My 2 cents.
It definitely felt like we were saving things for next week.
Granted he caught the 2 TDs, but it felt like Bucky was underutilized, as well as McMillan.
The jet sweep motion that I have seen in overviews of the Memphis offense happened a few times, but certainly wasn't featured yesterday.
Didn't feel like we were running a lot of the misdirection, get the defense out of place, plays that Fuente's offense is known for. I look forward to reading French's breakdown of the offense.
If we were able to get the win like that yesterday and keep all of that under wraps for next week, then I am really excited for next Saturday (like I wasn't already)!!
I felt Bucky was being ignored on purpose, even after his first TD catch. He was on the field for a lot of snaps. After his second TD though, I knew his cover was blown. I'm glad he got the TDs. It was good to see Cam get several looks/touches. At times, with CJ Carroll and few others making plays, this often feels loaded and only limited by the ceiling of our QB. Glad Evans is starting.
Bucky isn't a great blocker. Lots of complaints about it in the game thread. Other then that he did a great job catching those touchdowns.
Its the curse of the #7 lining up wide. Can't block
lol..leg for you. Just toss him TDs!
That was interesting seeing how few penalties we had.
I remember lots of offensive false starts in the past and it got pretty
frustrating.
We will never be as fast as Oregon. We may be able to pick up the pace here and there and maybe sprint to their level but will never be that fast. Fuente is going to pace the offense to not tire out the defense over the course of the game. We are practicing and will plan to run clock when needed. We're likely going to look like UNC in that regard.
I think we will eventually get there. Memphis was faster then Oregon last year in the plays per second department.
We'll play lightyears faster and more efficient than we're used to, but we'll never really be that fast. But considering that we have one of the best defensive coaches in the country, that's purely by design. Fuente blazed it up at Memphis because he had to, because he knew his defense wouldn't really be able to keep up, so he knew his best chance to win any game was to make it a track race. That won't be the case at Tech. I mean, we'll have the ability to turn on the jets and step on a throat if we sense the opponent off balance, but we're going to protect our own defense as much as we can, especially with the lack of depth we are going to have at least for a few years.
We have a lot work needed on OL. Lot of yards left on the field. Evans did better than I expected. Liked our discipline.
What stood out to me in terms of speed was the the officiating and pace of play. I don't think I have ever been to a more frustrating game for stoppages in play. Granted that was partly because Liberty couldn't seem to figure out how offense worked for a while. Felt like every single play was reviewed and every opportunity went to a TV timeout.
Longest first quarter ever. It was ridiculous the amount of reviews that took place. Had to be some kinds of records set. Not to mention the false starts for Liberty. At one time the video board threw stat up as being 8 false starts and 8 for the season lol. The first half was incredibly long. First game I actually kept checking my watch.
I agree 100% BW.
This reminds me of something French said a while back when giving a first impression of Fuente's offense at Memphis. I'm paraphrasing here because I am too lazy to fine the exact quote, but basically while you're watching it, it doesn't feel like the offense is doing anything amazing. Then you look up at the scoreboard and they're up 30 points and have 500 yards. That's exactly what yesterday felt like to me. Obvious growing pains and some misfires, then the announcer says "And with that play, the Hokies are over 500 yards of offense." And I'm like, are you shitting me?
Definitely felt that way. I also think that they were working on some of those plays to basically see what we are made of.
For instance when Evans has a run play on and they drop a safety into the box for an 8 man look, against Liberty we are going to keep the play on and see what our Oline is made of. Next week we probably check out of it into a new play.
So my question to the reviewers over the next few days is how "vanilla" was the gameplay? I have no idea. It did seem to me that whatever the game plan was, it was effective, and they stuck to it even when the score was upside down. Like the Ole Miss game, you're thinking "this is close" or "this ain't good", then quietly a solid win emerges.
Defense- if that was vanilla, they executed their butts off, for sure.
French stated on twitter that the defense was "boring and good."
Check out @french60wasp's Tweet: https://twitter.com/french60wasp/status/772460665986572288?s=09
Also there are years of Buds tapes out there. What he is going to roll out on Saturday will probably be no surprise.
Scheme-wise, sure. We have new players on both sides of the ball without much film. Bud will throw a wrinkle or two. He knows better.
That's what Urban Meyer thought in 2014.
This is how I felt watching the Alabama game. It felt like Hurts was just fumbling the game away and then they won by 46. #envious
I think Fuente held back a bit on the game plan. Not much RPO but I think the TD pass to Phillips was one. Not sure Evans isn't better on the run than in the pocket.
Were there any QB carries on the inverted veer?
Surprisingly few touches for Bucky. Suspect that will change
Big drop off from Hughes at punter; and the distance between Ludwig and the 3 guys he hides behind looked pretty minimal at times.
Note to Motu...do not leave your feet when blitzing...ever.
To counter that, didn't see much in the way of punt returns. The focus may have been on placement and getting coverage down the field. That was the explanation when Hughes' numbers went south.
We'll know for sure when Ludwig causes his first fumble.
Personally I don't feel like Rogers and McMillian were utilized intelligently. Fuente and Co. used Rogers on a lot of jet sweeps and speed option plays when McMillian or a wide receiver should have been used. The running game got a lot better when McMillian was used for these types of plays and when Rogers was used for power running schemes.
Rewatching now, the utilization of Hodges, Rodgers, and Ford shifted when Liberty went up before half, the score to put us back up included Hodges on sweep action (bigger body to block) and inside power runs with Rodgers, and a Zone-read where Evans ripped that huge chunk with his feet. That series is what I think our O will look more like, and it really looked like we intetionally avoided it until it looked like our guys were deflating a little.
That last part, I agree completely. You don't want to throw the whole playbook at Liberty, but you can't save everything for Christmas, either.
At the game, we could tell when they slowed down/sped up by whether or not we got the H-O-K-I-E-S HOKIES! off after a first down. More often than not, the band didn't even get to finish their parts before the ball was hiked.
The whole of the SEZ cheered when we finally finished one!
I hear all this talk about how Rogers shouldn't be RB1 and "why isn't McMilllian getting more carries?"
then I look at the chart above and see that TMAC had twice as many carries as Rogers...I think this offense is going to work just fine.
I also think this offense is going to be sneaky. It's probably not going to look very impressive when watching it live but when you look up at the stats you realize "HOLY CRAP! We ran over 200 yards?!?!"
"Personnel Groupings" = Tennessee don't know what's comin'.
Offense wasn't as hurry up as I thought it would be.
Especially after watching the Ole Miss game, I realized this.
Wondering if at some point we'll go at that speed.
Definitely like how much we ran the ball and hope that balance
continues.
Fuente has said he designs his offense around the personnel he has. I wonder if what we saw at Liberty is more like our speed going forward.
He has also said he is not going to play fast for the sake of playing fast and hanging the defense out to dry. So anyone expecting a breakneck offense is going to be disappointed, but this is probably going to be normal outside of 2-minute situations. As I posted above, the game was faster than the norm by a few seconds per play. We'll have to see if it continues, but I think Fuente values steady downfield progress and clear communication rather than the old style of hurrying up to the line, checking the sideline, rushing a new play, and screwing it up.
Exactly, Ole Miss offense hung their Defense out. Even when they scored they were on the field for less than 2 game minutes at a time.
I don't remember one than one or two shifts after the initial formation was set. That alone increases tempo.
Interesting watching Ole Miss...they weren't hurrying up to run; they were hurrying to pass. Had the FSU secondary bumfuzzled...kind of like VT v. Tulsa.
This was actually one of the more disappointing stats for me... The numbers are padded by a couple of runs by Jerod Evans. We have GOT to be better running the ball, no excuse to no rack up a higher YPC against Liberty.
Fuente knew we were going to win the game and experimented with a few things to check on skill levels and to knock off some rust. That's why we did things, like a jet sweep with Rogers sweeping.
"Ok, boss. Whatever you say." There is method to the madness. Fuente wants these guys to do what they are told to do, follow instructions.
We knew going in, that some things were going to be weird. They were. Some things were not going to be working yet and there's lots of things to get all this newness to game speed.
And then there was the timing pass to the far corner to Hodges. That was a thing of beauty.
Key on that. That is the goal.
That's fine and all, but that is too much of a top-down analysis for me. Looking at the actually game tape shows that we were missing assignments, getting beat one-on-one, and going down easily to contact. All that stuff has nothing to do with experimenting and trying different things out, that is the nitty-gritty of it. And that stuff needs to change regardless of if the personnel being used.
Equals no procedure penalties or offensive brain farts.
I was happy at no going to the line and then all the heads turning to the sideline like lemmings.
I was just happy that of the eleventy pre-snap penalties the other day there wasn't a single one on us.
But yes, the lack of prairie dogging it out there was good, too