It is difficult to put into words the range of emotions that followed Virginia Tech's loss to Tennessee at the Battle of Bristol. The offensive scheme and play-calling had the Volunteers off balance up front. The defensive line was in the backfield on almost every play, and Butch Jones obliged Bud Foster by not feeding all-world running back Jalen Hurd. Everything seemed to indicate a trademark win for Justin Fuente early in his tenure.
The Hokies sprinted out to a 14-0 first quarter lead, and then the wheels fell completely off the wagon. A questionable illegal block below the waist penalty on Wyatt Teller, followed by a late snap that messed up the mesh point between Jerod Evans and C.J. Carroll produced a quick touchdown for Tennessee. From that point forward, Tennessee was able to keep the Hokies from sustaining drives and producing any kind of vertical passing attack. Fumbles and penalties gave the Volunteers short field after short field. Tech's defense, which was game most of the night, reverted back to an inability to stop quarterback and tailback power in the second quarter. After the defense regained its composure and gave the offense chances to get back into the game in the third quarter, breakdowns on zone reads put a Tech win out of reach.
The promise of Fuente's offensive system, and the stabilization of the defensive scheme is palatable. Unfortunately, Tech's maturity and composure was tested and the Hokies couldn't take advantage of opportunities to right the ship. And now a physical Boston College squad awaits Tech on Saturday. The Eagles' strong defense, coupled with Scot Loeffler's track record of strong game planning against his former employers, sets the table for a dangerous trap game.
The Offensive Scheme Works
The most encouraging sign from the Battle at Bristol is that, when executed properly, the running game scheme produces yards. Even without the best offensive line grouping on the field for much of the game, the Hokies were able to keep Tennessee off balance. Early in the game, the mix of quick throws, screens, and multiple run looks created gaping holes.
Fuente's scheme "cross-keys" the defense to mess up their reads. Here are two examples from early in the first quarter. The Hokies run a power sweep that Tennessee keys as an inside zone.
On this play, Sam Rogers is flexed out to the boundary. Bucky Hodges motions across to a wingback alignment. Watch Derek Barnett (No. 9), the defensive end to the boundary. He is keying right tackle Jonathan McLaughlin. McLaughlin zone steps inside, so the defensive end crashes in on what he believes will be an inside zone read. Hodges blocks down on the Barnett, sealing him inside very effectively. Boundary linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. (No. 34) also keys inside zone and steps forward to fill. When Travon McMillian bends outside, Kirkland runs right into a crack back block by Rogers. Kyle Chung pulls around to kick out. Unfortunately, he doesn't find outside linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin (No. 21). Reeves-Maybin slides behind Chung to trip up McMillian and prevent a big play.
The next time Tennessee sees similar run action, Fuente throws in a wrench into the Volunteers' defensive keys. This time, Hodges stays wide and Rogers is aligned as the H-Back. The Hokies show similar run action up front, with down blocks play side and the back-side guard pulling to kick out.
Rogers veer releases and is in position to seal the linebacker inside. Linebacker Colton Jumper (No. 53) keys it, and attempts to beat Rogers outside. With Jumper's momentum moving to the sidelines, Rogers cuts inside and slingshots past him into the secondary. Evans pulls the ball on the fake and hits Sam on a nice "Y-Dump" for a big gain.
Tennessee's confusion culminated with Travon McMillian's 69-yard touchdown run. The play looks like an inside zone that McMillian bounced outside. In actuality, it was a designed counter that looked to take advantage of how Tennessee overplayed the inside zone series.
Pittsburgh killed Bruce Taylor on a similarly designed play in the Hokies' 2012 loss at Heinz Field. The blocking zones to the right. The boundary defensive end reads the play and crashes hard to the inside. Yosh Nijman lets him get the inside position by putting his inside shoulder on the outside leg of the end. On a zone play, he would try to put his outside shoulder on the inside leg of the defensive end.
Behind Nijman, Justin Martin (No. 8) crashes inside from the corner to handle back-side contain. Isaiah Ford allows Martin to get inside position and then seals him inside. McMillian knows the play is designed to bounce outside, so he sells the inside dive and then makes an assertive cut to the outside.
A second look shows how completely the Volunteers are fooled, and also exhibits a huge missed opportunity. From this angle, observe strong safety Todd Kelly Jr. (No. 24) is completely focused on the inside zone breaking off right guard.
The missed opportunity is play-action. Watch this again. Imagine that Ford sinks inside and then instead of sealing, he would fade to the sideline. The Tennessee corners are so fixated on their run keys that play-action should have been wide open.
The Hokies had so much success on the ground that play-action chances should have been abound. Evans under threw Ford on the opening drive and it seemed like the Hokies never came back to it. With Ford's ability to get separation and Tech's well-executed run game, you would think more shots were open.
Overall, most TKPers nailed the offensive line evaluation. McLaughlin and Nijman had strong games. Augie Conte was much improved over Liberty, although he was speared in part because he stopped and was looking back at the pile before the whistle blew instead of finding someone to block. Chung struggled snapping and winning physical battles. Colt Pettit had some nice blocks; but to see Danny O'Brien — who Appalachian State had blocked one-on-one with their center most of the game — driving Pettit into the backfield repeatedly showed he isn't physically powerful enough yet to be a starting Power Five guard.
Tennessee Takes Away Pass Pro
Tennessee turned the tables when their defensive staff determined the Hokies could not beat them in pass pro. The Vols blitz changed the game. The interior of the offensive line broke down repeatedly, especially after Teller was benched, and the skill guys who blocked so well early on seemed to fall apart.
On this play, Fuente calls a packaged inside zone screen. Tennessee initially shows man coverage on the edge with two deep safeties. Kirkland Jr. (No. 34) is walked up on the LOS set to blitz between Conte and McLaughlin. After Evans lowers his head to take the snap, nickel Rashaan Gaulden (No. 7) blitzes from the slot, and safety Micah Abernathy (No. 22) goes man on the slot receiver.
Either Fuente didn't trust Evans to make throws in rhythm accurately against pressure, or he didn't feel like Evans would have time. When Tennessee got more aggressive and brought more defenders, the deep throws and screens that complemented the running game vanished.
Upon review of the film, the only fumble that was scheme related was the first one. Either the snap was late, or Carroll initiated his motion early. Those things will get cleaned up with more game experience. The other fumbles are correctable on an individual level, but are not a byproduct of all the fakes and mesh points associated with this scheme.
That said, skill position blocking is something that has to improve. Hodges (especially when lined up as a wingback) and Ford improved this week. Chris Cunningham had some good moments, as did Steven Peoples. That said, the skill position blocking broke down at some key moments, and in some cases perhaps the scheme is asking some players to do more than they are physically capable of right now.
On this critical third-and-one, there are two key breakdowns. The Hokies run a power play to the left. Cunningham and Rogers are tasked to double team Barnett (No. 9) — an All-SEC performer. Cam Phillips is assigned to seal Gaulden (No. 7) to the outside. Nijman is supposed to block down on the back-side linebacker.
Barnett splits Rogers and Cunningham to jam up the play. Phillips' technique is wrong. No matter how weak the block, he has to attack with his outside shoulder against the inside of the defender on an inside run. Phillips leads with his inside shoulder, and Galden easily slides off to make the tackle. Nijman completely misses Reeves-Maybin and he supports Galden to finish the play. This isn't anywhere near being good enough at such a big point in the game. Shortly after, Tennessee came right back to score on the deep touchdown pass to Josh Malone and any positive momentum from the first quarter vanished.
Defensive Bugaboos Creep Up Again
Against Tennessee, the defensive line at its best was a dynamic playmaking group that dominated up front. At their worst moments, outside the last drive of the second quarter, the d-line was gap sound and properly spilled plays to the linebackers and safeties. The corners held up except on two perfect throws and catches where the only thing Greg Stroman could have done was magically grow three inches. Mook Reynolds made countless plays as the free hitter and was solid when challenged in coverage.
Unfortunately, preseason concerns about the weaknesses in the defense were validated. Tremaine Edmunds (more often) and Andrew Motuapuaka (less often) were hesitant to fit into gaps. Edmunds looked uncomfortable keying plays in a normal backer alignment and Motuapuaka again struggled to make open field tackles. Terrell Edmunds and Chuck Clark both had some opportunities to tackle Hurd and Josh Dobbs in space and missed at some critical moments. Defensive end depth showed to be a problem.
Just like last season, the Hokies defended inside zone runs very well, but they were inconsistent against power blocked runs (power, counter, QB counter, QB lead draw).
Early, the Hokies defended the aforementioned bugaboo plays beautifully. On this play, Tennessee runs a counter off the right tackle.
Mihota comes off the edge and squeezes the pulling guard to spill Hurd outside. Tremaine Edmunds forces the play on the edge by taking on the pulling H-Back with his inside shoulder to keep outside leverage. The back has to turn into the alley, where Motuapuaka is filling properly. Motuapuaka puts Hurd on the ground. Terrell Edmunds and Clark are coming up in support, and Reynolds is on the back side accounting for Dobbs on a keeper. This is beautifully executed defense.
Despite all the chaos being created by the front-four, there were still some worrisome moments. Here is the same counter play, but this time it's run to field side, so Reynolds is aligned as the edge player.
Reynolds blitzes off the edge and forces the run inside. Mihota holds his ground, and Motuapuaka fits to force the back inside. This leaves Edmunds unblocked and alone with the running back. Hurd runs right through him. The defense is designed for Edmunds to make this tackle. He has to put Hurd on the ground.
As momentum shifted from the Hokies to the Vols, fundamentals to defending power blocking (squeezing the edge to minimize the gap between the force player and the defensive end, tackling in the alley) became more inconsistent.
On this play, Tennessee calls a QB power. The Volunteers block down on the play-side. The back-side guard pulls and seals Ekanem, who is crashing inside to match the inside step of the play-side tackle. The running back (Hurd) kicks out Edmunds.
Tremaine is way too soft taking on Hurd's trap block. He has to stick that right shoulder into Hurd and drive him inside. Ekanem is driven too far inside. The initial hole is larger than it should be.
Despite those errors, there are two unblocked defenders in the alley to tackle Dobbs. Motuapuaka comes from the inside and misses the tackle. Terrell Edmunds is filling the alley and takes a horrible angle. He should come from the outside in and attack Dobbs through his outside shoulder. Instead, Edmunds is too far inside. Dobbs slides away from Motuapuaka and Terrell Edmunds falls down trying to recover. This should be a minimal gain, and instead Tennessee gets a huge chunk play. East Carolina beat the Hokies to death with this play last season, and Duke, UNC, Boston College, Pitt, and East Carolina all have this play ready in their playbook.
Unlike last season, where East Carolina and Pitt continued to run power-based runs over and over again, the Hokies were able to get enough stops against Tennessee that they could have gotten back in the ball game. The defensive line is the key to that improvement. Ekanem shows the force technique against a kick out block perfectly on this QB power.
Ekanem attacks with pulling guard with his inside shoulder and then fights through the block to make Dobbs' hole smaller. This shrinks the space that Motuapuaka has to fill inside. Motuapuaka and Ekanem tie up Dobbs while the pursuit comes to help finish him off. This is beautifully played by Ekanem.
Interestingly, on this play the Hokies are running an odd front that isn't a Bear look. Woody Baron is playing a four-technique (inside eye of the left tackle). Nigel Williams is playing head up on the center in a nose tackle alignment. Mihota is aligned as a five-technique to the top of the screen. Ekanem is almost aligned like a Bear outside linebacker, with Edmunds and Motuapuaka in a normal alignment. Baron and Williams get terrific penetration on this play. I can't recall seeing this front from Bud before. Perhaps this adjustment will help against teams that utilize power plays from the spread.
Comments
Quick two questions: was the vertical passing game really and truly unavailable to use and what about quick inside slants? Thanks.
The hardest thing to see is downfield separation of receivers using the TV film. However, given the type of coverage and how badly Ford beat Sutton early, I would think getting open down field versus one on one coverage would not have been a problem. I don't think Fuente went after the Vols vertically because he either doesn't trust Evans with the down the field passing game OR he didn't think the OL would hold up to blitzes. There is plenty of evidence that both are relevant concerns.
BC will do the opposite- they are going to keep everything in front of them and force VT to score on 10+ play drives.
I agree, BC's defense probably does this in practice all the time, since it was definitely the best way to beat a Scot Loeffler offense.
I noted a play below where VT tried to utilize a fake bubble screen to hit Bucky in a 1v1 matchup deep. On the very next play VT comes out in the same alignment and UT shows the exact same defense. VT is able to take advantage of UT trying man coverage against Ford on the boundary for a quick slant for an 11-yard gain. On the very next play (3rd and 8) VT empties the backfield to try to throw for the first. Pettit gets his ass handed to him and the play blows up. *Evans does have a tendency to tuck the ball quickly and hasn't been great at extending the play and allowing receivers to get open.
Wish I could see what happens with Devin Wilson at the top of the screen, but he was isolated and VT wanted to take advantage of his height in the Red Zone.
The very next drive on 3rd and 2, VT goes with the same look as mentioned in the first play (Isaiah isolated w/ man coverage) and try the quick slant. Isaiah beats his man but ball is batted at the LOS. I noticed this also happened later in the game on an attempt to Phillips. Every time they ran the quick slant, it was open, just up to whether the ball got there or not (and Evans missed on the throw once).
UT gave VT the opportunity to beat them and dared them to throw in 1v1 matchups, but VT couldn't take advantage, and when they did, they were beaten by themselves with penalties or fumbles that killed drives.
Nice write-up. Only thing I disagree with are the "perfect passes" that beat Stroman. To me watching them back a few times Stroman was in great position but it seems like he is almost fighting TG's technique about playing the man and not the ball. Both balls I felt he could have made plays on but instead reverted back to trying to play the man, which were just better/bigger athletes than he is.
This looks like a perfectly placed pass to me:
When I watch high end DBs in the NFL, one of the things they are good at is the rake. And it starts with hand placement. Stohman's effort here is tremendous and French is right, of course, you can't coach height. But the way to defend the jump ball against a taller receiver is with great technique and hand placement. In this fantastic photo you can really see it.
As a defender on a jump ball, the place to get your hands and arms is inside the the receiver's arms. If Strohman's right arm goes in between the receivers arms his chances of unlodging the ball are much higher. It's all about leverage on the way down as the DB's body then becomes a wedge.
It's of course much easier said than done. Most DB coaches teach this skill but it takes incredible body control to pull it off. For shorter defenders though it is a powerful techniques on these kinds of jump balls. I have heard of NFL DBs studying martial arts to improve their hand fighting abilities.
As many problems as Hokie DB's have had defending the jump ball the last couple of years, maybe a little jujitsu training would be a good thing
Jujitsu? I'm going to learn jujitsu?
KungFu
Recommend Wing Chun instead. Don't think the refs will take too well to ground fighting
picture only shows it in that context. The WR had time to stop his route turn and come back to adjust for the ball. Perfectly placed on that route wouldn't make the WR have to adjust in that manner. That was also the better thrown of the 2 balls.
I agree with this. I also think that after Stroman missed it the 1st time they should've put someone else OR given Stroman assistance over the top (like with Clark).
Yeah, Stroman was in position to make a play on either of those TD passes........IF HE TURNS AROUND TO SEE THE DAMN BALL. Back in the day, that's called face-guarding and a pass interference penalty, so you matter as well take your chances, use your DB footwork, and turn towards the ball. Hell, you might get lucky and get an INT.
Inside leverage, trail. Hands go up, attack the hands. This is a taught technique that we have covered in detail. It is used because more often when you turn and track before the receiver puts his hands up, the receiver gets separation. While the Hokies have gotten beat using this technique, when you look at the macro the percentages for an incompletion are much higher with this technique versus turning to find the ball while trailing the receiver.
http://www.thekeyplay.com/virginia-tech-football/2015/06/9434/beating-bu...
From what I saw, against a bigger receiver, he has no chance of high-pointing the ball and beating the receiver to it. His only hope is to basically do what the Tennessee defender did to Ford on the underthrown Evans throw: catch the receiver coming down and rake the ball out. Unfortunately, in this case the receiver is simply too strong and already has a firm hold on a perfectly-placed ball. As French said, unless Stroman magically grows three inches, this play was over when the ball left Dobbs' hand.
I absolutely did not pick up on the alignment you mention in the last clip.
I'll have to keep an eye on that.
Bud is a Sneaky bastard, that's for sure.
First read done. Now to read two more times so I can understand everything. French you are a football genius, VT needs to add you to the staff as a quality control manager.
That 3 and 1 was particularly interesting. We get that and things could have been
a good bit easier. Too bad to see those unexecuted blocks.
The other thing was missed tackles. Seems like we were in good position
but couldn't come down with them.
Great write up as always French, lots of hope and promise. It will be interesting to see if the coaching staff can cut down on errors and get us through this season above .500
On that big chunk run (9th clip) Moto looked like he was trying to initiate a game of patty cake with the running back. Ugh.
Motu didn't come aggressive enough, for sure. But it's Edmunds2 that blows the play with his awful angle and taking out Motu.
I think you both are right
Teller needs to get his head right and he and Fuente need to come to terms. Teller was instrumental in the McMillian touchdown run, though on a lot of blocks, before even the PF calls, he seems to want to dive low, particularly on the smaller and weaker LBs when he doesn't need to.
Thanks French.
It appeared at least that Motu is getting himself into position better this year by not seeming to actually seek blockers like he was last season. If he can get into a little better form on his tackles, we might just have something there.
Tremaine has all the physical tools, and hopefully will hone the mental ones as the season progresses.
Lack of Pass Pro is the concern I was writing about on my deep threat post -- UT made an adjustment that we should count on other teams doing until we can show the legitimate threat to toss the ball downfield.
Yes, Fuente's scheme can beat that, but until the athletes' form catches up with the scheme, it's a big ask to try to score consistently with double-digit play drives.
I agree here. I believe it was pointed out a while back that this fanbase has been a little spoiled with the Mike position due to always having that upper-classman waiting to take over and fill in nicely. It only makes sense that Motu should be improving and I personally think we are actually seeing it so far. As you said, he needs to work on tackling... but this is not the first time we've seen poor tackling by the defense in general early in the season.
Motu looked better with all the fundamentals of the position than Edmunds did. He was more aggressive getting down hill (with the notable exception coming on the Dobbs 2nd Q QB draw TD) and was in good position more often. He has to put the guy on the ground. Edmunds isn't getting in on a ton of tackles because he is playing very tentatively. That is to be expected of a young player who is learning and thinking too much. BC is going to run power at Edmunds and Inside Zone at Motu the whole game, and use formation to dictate Bud's alignment as much as they can. Both will get tested big time this week.
In the regular passing game, Evans completed a handful of slants and two in routes where Phillips sat underneath the linebacker. On most of the pass pro plays, you see three guys half halfheartedly running routes and not looking for the ball, and one guy going 100% and looking for it. I know that is Fuente's offense, but (and I will be the first to say it here) these receivers fit and thrived in Loeffler's passing game design. The OL/QB just wasn't always up to snuff. Evans isn't Paxton Lynch, and so far we have not seen deep outs and back shoulder outs like Fuente used a ton on passing downs in Memphis.
I'm a little confused by the following
are you saying here that the receivers fit Loeffler's system better which is why 3 are running 50% and one is 100%? I was under the impression Fuente needed all receivers to be going 100% to fool the defense. The wording makes it sound like Feunte's offense runs 3 at 50% and 1 at 100%.
Loeffler's system was a complicated (possibly too complicated) system of interlocking routes that allowed different guys to get open at different times in sync with the quarterback going through a progression of reads. Fuente's system is designed to use formation and motion and deception to get one guy open, often quickly. All of the receivers who understand the offense know who the likely guy is pre-snap, based on the play and the defense they see; the key to Fuente's scheme is to keep the defense from knowing.
In the run game, yes. His pass game is mostly one route reads, which (especially given how he hasn't been able to rotate receivers) tends to see the other receivers half ass their routes.
Great write up as always. This is going to sound weird but IMO we're better than I thought we were going to be...even though I expected us to be 2-0 at this point. We're shooting ourselves in the face with an elephant gun with turnovers and penalties. Coaches and players need to fix this shit and let's go do the damn thing!
Well, that escalated quickly
It looked more like a T-Rex gun
I may be in the minority, but I'm growing a little tired of hearing Teller is our best OL. I don't doubt it, but if he is the best then he should be on the field permanently. Whatever is holding him back from locking down the #1 spot, it's preventing him from being the best!
"Most physically talented" is probably closer to right.
This is crucial. It isn't just about finding linemen who can block aggressively and with attitude anymore. Under this system, the OL is called on to block the right way to sell the play. The blocking sets the table to create the lanes and holes the ball carrier will use. If a lineman goes "off script," it can destroy a play.
The meltdown of the game made it a bit harder for me to diagnose the individual issues on the busted run plays in real time, but I was afraid that we were seeing a lot of Tremaine getting blocked out of plays and being tentative. These things don't mean he will always struggle with this, he is a new starter in a position where he has to key properly and quickly to make plays. Hopefully, he will improve as the season goes on instead of this developing into a bad habit.
That long run by Dobbs is when my stomach really starting turning. I didn't see how soft Edmunds took on Hurd's block and if he comes hard maybe it disrupts the play. What I did see though was Moto's poor attempt at tackling Dobbs; high and leading with his arms...personally I thought he should've went low against a guy that size. Reading this makes me realize how much we shot ourselves in the foot. Additionally, I'm with French as far as Stroman goes...having played D-Back I thought he covered those TD catches as well as anyone could, but not many can make up for that ball placement or size differential. Great write up!
As always, fantastic write-up, French. A few Pros and Cons I've been pondering after the past two games and after reading this excellent piece:
CONS
-I'm growing concerned that Cam Phillips is the second coming of Marcus Davis; both tremendous athletes that have all of the potential in the world but seem timid when it comes to blocking/ball security.
-Teller needs to fix whatever problems he has in a fucking hurry, or else this sporadic o-line play will be here for the rest of the season.
-As someone who played football for the majority of my younger years, I can tell when teams have strong player leadership from its captains/seniors and when teams don't. In the past two games, this team resembles the latter. Even Fuente mentioned at yesterday's BC week presser that there isn't enough vocal leadership on this team right now. That also must change in a hurry, or else we'll continue to fumblefuck up and down the field and give wins away for the next few months.
PROS
-There's an offense in Blacksburg. It may take longer than we all want to jell, but there's a fucking offense in Blacksburg.
-Ekanem is a manamal. He will take us far.
-I belive in Bud Foster and have no reason to doubt that our defense will (again) carry this team far.
I disagree with you on Phillips. I think he is an NFL caliber receiver. Strong route runner, good hands.
This offense is horribly suited for Phillips and we are seeing it hurt his productivity. He is an X, not a slot guy. He isn't a great blocker. And the offense doesn't design pass structure in a way for a receiver to work his way open after the QB goes through one or two progressions. Ford is a guy who can get himself open in a pro-style or these quick reads. Bucky has the height where he may get fewer touches, but he should be targeted vertically. Phillips isn't the best fit. I hope he sticks with it and gets better, but he is a damn good player in a different system.
Speaking of Hodges, any idea why we don't target him more often? I mean like all three years, I feel like we should be throwing to him 5-7 times a game
Do you think it would be better for Cam to spell Ford at X and find a better fit for slot (Carroll, etc.). I know that would suck for Cam to play less but if he is better at the same spot as Ford, maybe they keep each other fresh?
The caliber of receiver between Cam and the next guy up makes replacing him on a majority of snaps pretty irresponsible. Carroll is fun to root for, but Cam is a potential NFL receiver. Even in a less natural position, he is better than another option.
Cam Phillips is our best runner after the catch of all of our receivers. If he holds on to the ball, he's dynamic.
Yes, and spell Bucky. I'd also like to see more Henri Murphy (jet sweeps and quick outs) and Devine Deablo (damn good blocker) on run downs. I am sorry folks, Carroll has had some opportunities to make plays and it just isn't happening.
I've been thinking this too. In the past, both the offense and defense had strong leaders (Offense - almost always the QB, defense - Dadi, Kyle Fuller, Exum, Bruce, Cody, the list goes on and on). Jerod seems like he's not yet confident enough to take ownership of this role. As far as the Defense, I feel like Seth and Woody would be the ideal candidates, but it seems like they're use to following Dadi and Maddy, not leading.
Just another reminder that this team is still growing. I expected Jerod to build confidence as the season goes on, and I expect him to really own a leadership role next season.
Yeah. Philips may need to clean up the greasy fingers and brush up with blocking a tad, but he's way more consistent at blocking than Davis. Also, I don't remember Davis having as much of the fumble issue as Philips. My other complaint is that, they still seem to backpedal at times after a reception instead of just pushing fwd for the 1st down/fwd prog.
I remember waiting for someone on the Hokies sideline to get hyped or try and get into someone's face or something. Little emotion from what I could tell. Seemed a lot of guys tucked tail and hid. This was made even worse by the fact that they kept talking about the Vols third string QB and how he was impacting the game.
Definitely a concern.
Did you miss Mook getting a flag?
I was thinking for more than a play or two. It was pretty calm from what I could tell the majority of the game, or maybe that was because they kept panning over to the Vols sideline and showing how they were on the Hype train.
I think it was actually their 4th string QB. That should make us feel better...
Get the ball to Ford on that Rogers "Y-dump" play and he HOUSES it.
To be fair, Ford wouldn't be believable in that alignment. Put Bucky there- he is tailor made for it.
I wanted to see Ford and or Bucky on the fake screen- just a different twist from the wheel route against Liberty. It would have been open.
I agree, but my comment was geared towards the same alignment and same play. If Evans throws to Ford (whose defender vacated the route to help with the run) instead of Rogers, then he has a lot of room to run.
I think you missed the point that French was trying to make. If Ford aligns in the same position that Rogers did (one that appears to be a blocker for the run), then the defense will know that something is up and most likely will be a pass to Ford. In order for the play to work, the receiver (Rogers) needs to be a blocker multiple times and then catch the LB off guard with the play action.
Hence why French suggested that they try it with Bucky. He's physical enough to block in the interior that the defense won't be alerted that something is amiss.
You're missing the point craigerton is making. Look at the video again, the CB on Ford is in run support and the safety over the top is slowly sliding to Ford and giving him plenty of cushion. Ford is wide open on the play.
To the point, the play design was to Rogers. That's the first read and since he was open, the ball was thrown to him.
I'll concur that I misunderstood the part of where Ford is during the play. However, many here have stated that CJF's passing plays only have 1 designated receiver and the others are blockers and/or decoys.
So in retrospect, the only way for Ford to get the ball on this play is if he replaces the position Rogers is playing.
Therefore, I will only accept that I am 50% wrong. That's as high as I'm willing to go.
I've heard the talk that there's only one target in Fuente's pass plays, but that seems really implausible to me. If we're talking about a run/pass option play, then sure, I can buy one target. But there's no way a modern offense runs a designed passing play that only has one option for the quarterback. What if it blows the fuck up?
Also, we saw Evans check down against Tennessee, so doesn't that negate the idea of a single target?
One target may be a bit of a misnomer. Often it is one read between two receivers. However, a vast majority of the routes are one read and then it is a scramble drill. It was that way with Memphis too.
Its this kind of thing that makes for an effective, teachable, college offense.
To be fair, they tried to do the fake screen, and were able to isolate both Bucky and Isaiah. UT sends a blitz from the nickel spot on the field and roll one safety up for man coverage (watch him bite on the bubble fake) while the other rotates to deep centerfield. Bucky and Isaiah both get isolated into 1v1 matchups, the protection is just poorly executed to give Evans time to allow play to develop and make the throw.
An unfortunate problem this game. Many have claimed that VT didn't attempt to stretch field, but that is because UT was getting to Evans quickly, not allowing those routes to develop.
Beautiful analysis as always. Great example on the play where both Motu and Edmunds whiff on the tackle and Tennessee gets 10-12 yards. Perfect defensive call- two players right there to bring him down for no gain and they can't tackle. Also Trayvon Hill had Dobbs dead to rights for a huge loss/sack when the game was still in reach and Dobbs slipped away for a huge gain- tackling woes for years now- frustrating
On Hill missing- it was a twist stunt. Whoever the DT was should have had a better angle to contain Dobbs. Again, I am not trying to alleviate anything on Hill, but the kid has played one real game in almost two years on a huge stage. I am willing to be patient and see if Hill can grow and learn, just like Edmunds. I think everyone will have very positive feelings about both by the time their careers in Blacksburg come to an end.
Great write up as always. I am honestly just sick and tired of seeing Virginia Tech lay an egg on the national stage. I'm 100% behind Fuente but damn when are we going to step up in these national stage games.
Agreed. OSU 2014 was a rare treat, but more often than not, we are blowing it. And forget ever going to FedEx field again....
Aren't we scheduled to open the 2017 season vs WVU at FedEx?
Yes. It hadn't really registered to me that it was next year until my WVU fan in-laws (my wife's siblings all went to WVU) informed me that we were all going. Dealing with WVU fans AND playing at FedEx is like a special kind of Hokie hell.
Oh I meant forget ME going to FedEx field ever again for a hokie game (though who knows, I still may end up there for WVU)
Okay that makes sense now that I read it again. I'd like to go, but I was really unimpressed the one time I went to FedEx and stories of WVU fans make it even less appealing
I live 45 minutes away. I am not going anywhere near the WVU game.
Preach it.
Yeah, it hurt watching this after we started to fall apart. My thinking is that it's just game 2 in the Fuente era. His O scheme has a lot of moving parts and once it starts clicking, it'll look beautiful. Till then, growing pains should be expected but i still think we will have huge strides throughout ACC play
And the running game was electric early, and still good throughout the game. They just couldn't generate vertical plays and couldn't break out big plays in the run game. The penalties would then derail drives.
Correct me if I'm wrong but most of the plays that ended up as fumbles seemed to be pretty good chunk yardage plays. A lot of them seemed like they would have ended up with a first down or short yardage down at least. That's what kinda of struck me as we have something here, just gotta tighten up the screws a bit.
I'd stepped out of the room for the first drive of the 3rd Q and just saw it last night.
That would've been a nice spot to start building momentum again. It was a nice play
then that fumble.
McMillian- good run, got the ball punched out struggling for extra yards.
Phillips- first down reception, ball punched out struggling for extra yards.
Evans-Carroll- bad snap
Evans- snap over his head
Stroman- muffed punt trying to field a kick that is aiming to hit Curtis Williams.
Can we go ahead and count the 11-yard punt as another turnover?
that made me cry. That's my ideal punting scenario, assuming we recover, but NOOOOOO we have to let them recover what is essentially a muffed punt after it's bounced back hard toward our LOS.
What made me cry is where Tenn started all their drives. Majority was on the VT side and they rarely needed to make a true drive down the field to get points..ugh now I'm getting sad again
That was a nice way of the game telling us "You're completely screwed, it'll be like this all night"
I will say I'm very optimistic though. Our offense for the first time in a long time looks like it could be a problem for people. Let's hang on to the damn football eat up that weak ass Loeffler offense.
BC will be a very tough match up. Their defense is much more disciplined than Tennessee. We will need to win more physical battles and get some stuff in the passing game to win. Offensively, BC runs stuff that VT struggled against. Towles isn't as mobile as Dobbs. Hilliman is no Hurd. But, BC's OL is much better than Tennessee's.
Sounds like TOP would greatly help for us there.
Read this regarding time of possession: http://www.thekeyplay.com/virginia-tech-football/2016/08/12475/stats-wil....
Oh yeah. I was thinking in terms of keeping BC's defense on the field longer as to wear them down/out.
So basically the jig was up once Tennessee figured out the o-line couldn't handle blitzes. Wasn't the line supposed to be a strength this year?
remember, the interior OL in question was Pettit-Chung-Conte/Pfaff when they started bringing the heat. Add that to McMillian being the tailback most of the time (who isn't a great blocker) and film of Liberty messing up pass pro and it isn't particularly shocking. Evans didn't see much pressure with Teller in the game.
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The story of the game for me was field position (mostly because of the ridiculous fumbles). On drives where Tennessee started on their 33 or back they went: Punt, Punt, Punt, TD, Punt, Punt, Int, Punt. On drives where they started on their 42 yard line or closer they went: TD, FG, TD, Missed FG, TD, TD, TD. If we make people drive the field on us, I think our defense will be ok.
The turnovers killed me, but I'm tired of hearing people say we should expect to see growing pains. Like French said, only the first fumble can be attributed to the play that was called, the others we just need our players to be D-1 football players and hold on to the ball. I'm not putting that on coaches or the new scheme.
The areas that most concern me are special teams and penalties. Not only the mistakes on punts, but it looks like we are back to not going for the block, but also not blocking anyone for a return. What is the plan? And lack of focus penalties that seemed to dominate in the last few years of the Beamer reign look like they are as alive as ever.
Lastly, I am also 100% pro-Fuente, but his playing time decisions are confusing to me. I don't know how much better Chung looked during the week than Gallo, but he had an atrocious game. And with Petit, again like French pointed out, he just doesn't look ready to handle bigger rushers. I know Fuente has to set the tone and get people to buy in and respect his system, but some of his decisions in that regard looked more than a little questionable. We need our best people on the field.
Overall, I'm hopeful for our team, but I've also been saying that since Tyrod was here.
His playing time decisions- the 1's and 2's, especially the Oline, get exactly as many reps. He intends to keep us healthy and fresh to go tempo. Teller has some shit going on, but the other guys are young and they need those reps. The only decisions I would say were questionable at this point is allowing anyone at a skill position run at less 100%. The scheme opens certain guys, let their effort determine who gets the open looks.
Thanks for the review on that 3rd and 1 (Clip 16). I remember being excited we were under center and hoping the run would go to Teller's side, sure enough Teller got himself another pancake, if Nijman squared up on the Linebacker, Travon had a cutback lane to fall forward in and with some grass in front of him, even with Sam/Cam/Cunningham not making their blocks. It has been said many times many ways, but that was a D1 OL putting a D1 DL on their back on a short yardage run.
They should have just sneaked the ball off Teller.
They should have just sneaked the ball off Teller.
You can say that again.
And again.
Tell me about it.
BC defense is no joke. Harold Landry (DE #7) is a stud. Matt Milano (#28) is an incredibly mobile outside linebacker that moves around terrifically in space. And middle linebacker Connor Strachan leads the country in tackles for a loss in his first season replacing my personal nightmare Steven Daniels (who, if he played VT every week, would have been a first team All American.) They can ball, although the DTs are not as good without Conner Wujiack.
We need to steal the BC linebacker recruits. How many of them are now in the NFL?
Outside of Kuechly? I think he is the only one on a roster. Daniels was a bigger Vince Hall. Huge, great downhill LB. Didn't have the sideline to sideline speed to be an NFL starter.
I apologize. Josh Keyes is playing for Tampa and Kevin Pierre Lewis is playing for the Seahawks. I think both are back ups.
Herzlich?
New York Football Giants. Somehow.
Yeah, very impressive in Dublin. Big DL with good mobility. Tackling machine LB's. DB's didn't impress that much, but as you said, they'll play us in a shell and dare us to run the ball on the front 7.
I would like to see some tempo, see if we can get that big DL huffing/puffing some.
Yep. The O looked very Loeffler. Tons of motion and alignment for minimal return. It seemed to cause some inconsistency. Georgia Tech was very vulnerable on D but BC couldn't cash in despite looking like adults playing kids.
Hilliman is a horse, but he's not Hurd or Conner (or that guy BC had a few years ago....Williams?) It seems like we can bottle up Hilliman if our DL plays well. Towles looked like a guy, not a dude. I remember him at Kentucky, he can run a little and throw it a little but nothing to worry about. I would fear Wade running the QB counter package more than Towles (I won't be surprised if BC goes ECU game plan from last year and throws Wade at us). BC's receiving threats looked dreadful against GT. I would guess BC will need a ST's or D score to get to 20 on Saturday.
On O, if we can keep the tempo up and get the ball to the perimeter, we could score. I'm curious to see if McKenzie might be able to provide some between-the-tackles pile moving in the 2nd half. We were up 23-3 in the 4th last year on BC's D and won 26-10. Seems like it could be a similar score although both offenses are better than last year (BC had zero at QB by the time we played them last year, Towles isn't much but he's certainly better than Flutie).
{I thought GT looked turrible in that game, and I had GT as a preseason Coastal contender. I could see Vandy beating them this weekend.}
I know I'm crazy guys, but the sheer lack of offensive competence from a scheme/ planning point of view has me staring at the competence we've seen so far this year like, "We look like Chad Morris' first year at Clemson." And French making me feel like I'm seeing it all...wow we could be special again. Power teams are gonna give us fits, fix the blocking, fumbles (selfishness), and effort (selfishness), and we really could be something. Then again, Loeffler's system just needed him to prep his teams and play-call coherently to be special.
I hope Fuente gives the team some serious heck for the penalties and fumbles, but I hope he really builds them back up by pointing out all the positives, all the promise, all the potential. The team shouldn't be down on themselves after this game. They should be telling each other, "let's clean this stuff up, go execute play by play, and win a lot of football games."
I feel good about this season. We have the fewest weaknesses we've had in several years, and a lot of talent. If we can improve the linebacker play, the interior OL play, clean up some open field tackling and perimeter blocking techniques. We felt like we were close the last couple years with Lefty, but we're much closer now.
I'm looking forward to a solid win against BC!
And French, that was a great review, thank you.
Thank you. BC will tell us a ton about this team.
Great post. Feel the same way. Got hopes for this team!
Hey French, I'd like to get your opinion about the 15 yard Cunningham penalty in the 2nd qtr.
https://youtu.be/NoN4Fb7dG9k?t=4817
Cunningham releases to the LB #34 Kirkland and cuts him just below the waist about 3 yards beyond the LOS. To me, this looks like the exact same block that Teller made during the offensive series right before this one, where he was also flagged for 15.
https://youtu.be/NoN4Fb7dG9k?t=4218
Teller releases to the LB #21 Reeves-Maybin and cuts him just below the hips, again about 3 yards beyond the LOS.
Since this blocking below the waist problem isn't isolated to just one of our players, could this possibly be a coaching issue? Do you think that maybe our guys are being taught to block this way sometimes when they are out in space on these kinds of plays?
Just watched that penalty for the first time. That's a flag in high school.... and only in high school. No clue who threw that or why, because it's as clean as you can possibly get. Someone can feel free to correct me, but I'm at a loss here.
Exactly what I thought unless that's the new blocking below the waist interpretation, even so, the block started right at his waist
For football from the time I started organized full contact through the end of my college career, that was as perfectly executed veer release block on a speed option that you could ask for. If they changed the rules to make that illegal, than someone in the NCAA has a screw loose.
In high school, the current rule is someone on the line in the free-blocking zone (basically tight end to tight end, 2 yards deep each way) they can cut anyone else who is on the line at the snap until the ball gets outside the tight end (~5 yards from the center). They also added a rule this year that eliminated clipping (low block from behind) in the free-blocking zone, which had been legal until then, interestingly enough.
Thanks TechHokie13 for the response. I appreciate you taking the time to share your opinion. The penalty against Cunningham had a huge negative impact - wiped out a 19 yard gain plus an additional 15 yards for the personal foul penalty against the guy who hit Evans.
I'm peeved about two things.
In the first video, that looks like a pretty strong helmet to helmet hit on Evans that goes unnoticed.
In the second video, that flag come from a ref off screen, but the referee standing literally feet away saw no reason to throw it.
I'll respond to the second bit just because this is something that irks me constantly about all football fans (definitely not singling out chrlsVT here). I think the linesman throwing that is perfectly legit. Technically, the Umpire's keys are the center and two guards. However, he's turning around and as a general rule, unless you see the entire contact from start to finish, you can't flag it (you have to see a blocker engage low, since hitting high and sliding off is not a cut block). The linesman, on the other hand, has a crystal-clear view of that. Even though he's following the runner, that block is perfectly in his line of sight and he has every right to throw it. That one's on Wyatt (as was his first, but that's a different story) - just shove the guy in the shoulder or trust your teammate to get a hat on him.
I'm with you on the first point though. Definitely seen that flagged (and an ejection upheld) at some point this year.
Fair enough. I admittedly considered that as a possibility, but then immediately dismissed it in favor of heckling the guy who through the flag.
Thanks again for your responses TechHokie13. I still don't see why you think it's ok for Cunningham to block below the waist but not Teller. (and if you freeze frame the video at 1:20:22, you will clearly see Cunningham hitting Kirkland from below in between his legs OUCH!!!) Both guys are blocking the LB about 3 yards beyond the LOS. You say that Teller should just shove the guy in the shoulder, ... why shouldn't Cunningham do the same thing? There is absolutely no reason that Cunningham has to go low. Just trying to understand why it's ok for a TE to block like that but not an OG. I guess I am still trying to get an answer about whether this is a blocking technique that the coaches are teaching, or not.
It's the direction of the block. You can't block towards your own goal line, which typically means coming from behind a defender. Cunningham's block is fine because he's blocking forward. Wyatt is laying into a guy in the opposite direction.
VTGuitarMan with the assist.
Looks like Cunningham made a clean cut block to the front of the defender. No idea why that was flagged. Helmet to helmet hit on Evans by #7 was called, that was the personal foul on the defense that offset the penalty called on Cunningham. The foul on UT should've have been the only penalty on that play.
On Teller's play, he makes a legal cut block on the defender the first time (coming from the front / the side) then the defender gets up and Teller cut blocks him from the side / from the back, which is borderline in of itself, but more importantly cut blocks back toward his own end line after the ball carrier was far far outside the box, which is a new penalty for 2016. It's the same foul he was called for at the end of the 1st quarter, but that call was questionable because the ball carrier was arguably still in the tackle box when it happened.
Teller's 2nd penalty was deserved, Cunningham's was not.
Watching Cunningham's block, I don't know how else you're supposed to block someone.
Ahhh, very nice call about the 2nd block back toward his own end line. (regarding Teller's play) Thanks for the explanation Orion86. It makes sense now that his first block on that play was legit, just like Cunningham's block . I was just focused on Teller's initial contact on that play.
Disagree...Phillips skill set to me looks like he's better inside (if he can hold onto the ball in traffic) and less of a deep threat than Ford. He was our leading receiver in Bristol, so not sure what you mean about production unless you're just referencing blocking?