Film Analysis: the Highs and Lows of Virginia Tech's 36-13 Win Over Liberty

The Justin Fuente era began in the way many Hokie fans expected. Virginia Tech defeated a game Liberty squad behind a throwback defensive performance and explosive vertical passes from new QB Jerod Evans. Although, the process and execution were far from smooth. Turnovers on special teams, and fumbles by Evans and Cam Phillips gifted the Flames a brief first half lead. Evans was replaced by Brenden Motley after a second turnover (22 seconds before the fourth quarter began), and the offensive line and skill position players were plagued by poor blocking for chunks of the game. The potential is there. There is also a ton of improvement that will be needed in practice this week if Tech hopes to handle the talented Tennessee Volunteers.

Vanilla Defense Still Dominates

There is a checklist for Bud Foster's defense that fans should use to evaluate his group on a game to game basis. The 2015 defense was plagued by poor gap discipline, didn't get off the field on third down, and was prone to giving up big plays.

Admittedly, the litmus test on Saturday wasn't daunting. Liberty started a new quarterback and didn't look particularly threatening most of the day. Still, the defense dominated every facet of the game, and remember, the Hokies' defense struggled at times last season against FCS opponent Furman. The Hokie defense forced three interceptions and held the Flames to 2 of 15 on third down.

All four defensive tackles jammed up double teams and ripped off blocks to make tackles. Ken Ekanem and Tremaine Edmunds prevented the option game from breaking outside. Andrew Motuapuaka had some moments when he could have filled more aggressively. However, I can't recall Motuapuaka missing any tackles. The safeties and Mook Reynolds were very solid in their role filling the alley. Greg Stroman showed playmaking ability with two interceptions as Foster's experiment of not using a true boundary and field corner passed its initial test.

Perhaps most exciting was how the Hokies controlled the game defensively with an incredibly vanilla game plan. There were a few slants and blitzes mixed in, and behind those blitzes the secondary mostly played either man free, or man to man with a bracket leverage zone on one receiver. There was very little zone for Tennessee to scout.

The Picasso moment for Foster was Terrell Edmunds' second quarter interception. The play featured two techniques highlighted recently in this column: 1) A robber coverage using leverage technique, and 2) a Vinny Mihota stunt that cleared a rush lane for a blitzing linebacker.

To start, let's look at the pass rush design. Tech's defensive line slants hard to the right. Ken Ekanem loops around the left side of the offensive line to pressure that side. Mihota draws the right tackle's attention to the inside and Tremaine Edmunds comes free off the corner. Edmunds and Ekanem's pressure only allows the quarterback to throw to his pre-snap read — the skinny post to the slot receiver.

Why is the post the quarterback's first read? Terrell Edmunds aligns well over to the boundary side and Chuck Clark looks like he has one-on-one press coverage against the slot to the field side. Clark aligns in an outside leverage position. With no safety in the middle of the field, a skinny post should be wide open.

The trap is set. As the quarterback's eyes move down to take the snap, Edmunds starts to bail to the middle of the field. He is the inside leverage help for Clark. The quarterback faces quick pressure and throws to his pre-snap read, and Edmunds is there to take the ball away from the "open" receiver. This is textbook Bud Foster design. Edmunds and Clark do a terrific job executing the scheme without tipping off the quarterback.

Mihota looked pretty good coming off the edge when needed as well.

Mihota is aligned wide, and gets a great first step on the right tackle. He turns the corner and uses a rip move and comes in under Stephon Masha's throwing arm. The throw is too far inside and Greg Stroman gets his first of two interceptions. It is a good start.

Hokies Have Interior Offensive Line Woes

A gigantic microscope was on redshirt sophomore Colt Pettit as he stepped into Wyatt Teller's left guard spot against the Flames. Pettit delivered a shaky performance. He appeared confused by some of Liberty's stunts in pass protection and got very little movement in the running game.

On this play, the Hokies run a little kick out power play off right tackle. Right guard Augie Conte pulls to kick out the blitzing safety, and Pettit pulls to lead up on the corner. Bucky Hodges is supposed to crack down on the inside linebacker and Steven Peoples is supposed to block down on the standing defensive end.

This play quickly turns into a dumpster fire. The corner jukes Pettit leaving the young guard on his belly. Peoples gets terrific initial contact, but the defensive end ultimately sheds him and recovers to step into the hole. Hodges barely gets halfway through the first word of "Patty Cake" before the linebacker shrugs him off and joins in on tackling party that Sam Rogers is hosting. The poor guard play and weak blocking by the skill position Hokies were omnipresent through most of the first half.

Pettit wasn't the only interior lineman that struggled. Augie Conte's lethargic performance gave me pause on several occasions. For much of the game, Conte reverted to his old habit of driving his feet into the ground and bench pressing the defender. When the defender has active feet, like Liberty's JaRon Greene (No. 76), they will slide off those "bench press blocks."

Three plays highlight the difference in guard play. The first is an interesting variation on the old lead draw. The Hokies use a little pin and pull block between the guard and the center. The quarterback shows pass and then wraps the ball back to the tailback on the delay. Conte pulls and squares nicely on the linebacker.

However, instead of running through the defender, Conte plants both feet into the ground and throws his hands like he is trying to bench press the linebacker. The linebacker keeps his feet moving and gives a little ground. Conte ends up on his knees, and the linebacker finishes the tackle on Sam Rogers.

On the next clip, Pettit pulls and hits the linebacker on the same type of play. Pettit keeps his feet moving and stays engaged with the linebacker.

Conte has a nice initial turn out block on the three-technique defensive tackle, but again his feet die and the DT trips Travon McMillian from behind.

When Teller entered the game (with Braxton Pfaff replacing Conte) the run game suddenly got going. It was no accident.

On this play, the Hokies run a power lead off of left guard.

Teller drives the defensive tackle almost to the opposite hash mark. Pfaff delivers a nice block to trap the inside linebacker. Again, the Hokies are one block away. Steven Peoples couldn't turn-out the defensive end.

Virginia Tech's Poor Skill Position Blocking Can't Continue

As I noted in my review of Fuente's offenses at Memphis, the tremendous blocking from skill position players was critical in the Tigers' ability to stretch the field horizontally. Against the Flames, the skill position blocking by the Hokies was at best tepid. Some of that can be attributed to a lack of experience in the scheme at a full game tempo. That said, there were some plays that featured ghastly efforts on the edge. I suspect Steven Peoples, Chris Cunningham, Sam Rogers, and all three receivers will receive a tongue lashing at different moments during their film study this week.

On this play, the Hokies run a jet sweep to Henry Murphy. There are three potential defenders with the leverage to hem Murphy: the outside linebacker, the free safety, and the corner. The Hokies have Rogers (tailback), Chris Cunningham (tight end), and Peoples (H-Back) to account for those three defenders.

Peoples stretches to reach the corner and drives him off effectively. Cunningham veer releases and squares like he is going to block the outside linebacker. Cunningham inexplicably lets the linebacker go and releases to the free safety. At this point, Rogers has to block the outside linebacker. Instead, Rogers also runs past him and runs into Cunningham and the safety. The outside linebacker has the angle on Murphy and trips him up for a minimal gain. Tennessee and athletic OLB Jalen Reeves-Maybin won't be so forgiving.

Fuente uses packaged quick wide receiver screens as a tool to stretch the defense horizontally. Off those looks, the inside zone and play-action should open up. Hodges blocking screens could be at best described as lackluster. At the end of the first quarter and again in the second, Fuente threw a quick screen where Hodges was supposed to aggressively block the corner.

Both times, Hodges tepidly moved into an option stalk posture and then stopped his feet and waiting on the defender to come to him. Hodges is supposed to pin the corner to the inside.

Hodges moves forward two yards and then stops his feet, even though the corner is five yards off the line of scrimmage. This allows the corner the space to work back to the outside. This play, if blocked properly, isn't a game breaker. Phillips would likely pick up around 4-5 yards, but instead of third-and-ten, the Hokies would have a more manageable third-and-five.

Hodges blocking aggressively and making the screen effective has bigger benefits for the team and himself. The screen game widens the safeties, which opens up the interior for inside zones. More significantly for Hodges, establishing the screen game causes the safeties to bite up on the screen action. Even without the screen game working, Hodges was able to slip behind the safety and Jerod Evans hit him with his prettiest pass of the day.

On this play, Hodges lines up in the slot, and the Hokies show a bubble screen look where Cam Phillips slips to the inside and Hodges kicks out the corner. Hodges flashes at the corner and then turns hard up field for the wheel route. To his credit, the safety doesn't bite too hard, but he can't defend a perfect touch throw by Evans. Imagine how much more open this wheel route off screen action would be if the screen game is consistently effective.

Inexperience can lead to confusion, and confusion leads to hesitancy. Uneven play should be expected until the players have more experience in the scheme at game speed. If younger players like Murphy, Divine Deablo, Eric Kumah, and Chris Durkin want to see the field more, the quickest avenue will be to have a great week of blocking. Based on all the film I watched of Memphis, Fuente won't tolerate this kind of blocking long if he has other options that will be more effective.

Shai McKenzie Makes His Case For Carries

Surprisingly, a name I heard rarely mentioned during fall camp delivered a strong case for having more of an offensive role against Tennessee. Shai McKenzie wasn't expected to make much of an impact after continued knee trouble ended his season last year. McKenzie had an opportunity to get some tailback work in the third quarter, and he delivered several positive plays that jumped off the screen. McKenzie caught two passes including one that kept a drive alive on third down. He looked smooth and explosive on a handful of carries, including this nice cut and spin move off of a Wyatt Teller block.

McKenzie also delivered the one thing that was absent from the tailback spot most of the game- a decent block. Here, Cam Phillips gets the ball on a jet sweep. McKenzie doesn't take a great path to get the angle on the edge defender. However, when he makes contact with the defender, McKenzie keeps his feet moving and ends up driving the defender into the ground.

When you compare McKenzie to McMillian on a similar jet sweep with Bucky Hodges, you can see why McKenzie may see a little more action next week.

To his credit, McMillian got the message. His nice block on the edge sprung C.J. Carroll for a long run on a jet sweep in the fourth quarter. On the same drive, Cunningham had a nice block on a speed option to McMillan. There is significant room for improvement, and it starts with one nice block.

It is Bristol Week

Many Hokies were excited when the Volunteers needed overtime put away a really solid Appalachian State squad. Saturday's erratic offensive effort probably reined in some of that enthusiasm. The Vols appear to be very vulnerable to misdirection, and the Mountaineers were able to block the Tennessee defensive tackles without double teaming. At the same time, the Tennessee secondary is excellent. Fuente won't be able to dial up Isaiah Ford on a half-dozen back shoulder fades to bail out poor execution in other facets of the offense.

It is often said that a team improves the most between week one and week two. The Hokies need to find a way to get better inside and on the edge offensively. If Virginia Tech can, it will allow Ford and Hodges opportunities for explosive plays that could make the difference between a win and a loss in Thunder Valley.