Designing a game plan to stop the Hokies offense must be a nightmare. Scott Loeffler's unit has shown so many different formations, personnel groupings, and schemes that it's impossible for a defensive coordinator to know what's going to happen on any given play. A tight end, fullback, and running back all come in to the game? The Hokies can line up with five wide, or in a diamond pistol formation, or under center. Loeffler said he wanted to run a multiple offense, well there's no doubt that he's established multiple ways to move the ball. He's also played a crucial role in helping Frank Beamer add five more wins to his already impressive career total.
Everyone knows that Frank Beamer (and Loeffler and Grimes) want to run the ball. For the past decade every defensive coordinator that rolled into Blacksburg to oppose Tech had one goal, stop the run at whatever cost. Almost any success Virginia Tech has had rushing the ball this season has been from a spread formation, so it shouldn't be a surprise that UNC focused on stopping the run from the pistol and shotgun early. What was a little surprising though was the game plan Loeffler had to defeat that tactic.
Breaking Tendencies
00:03:43–00:03:51
Logan Thomas set the tone for the day early by hitting Willie Byrn on this play-action pass. Watch the bottom of the screen, where Virginia Tech's two wide receivers are lined up. The two cornerbacks see the fake Inverted Veer and immediately step up field, allowing the receivers to run past them. This leaves one safety to cover two receivers, and when he takes the deeper of the two routes Thomas hits Byrn for the first down.
Why was this play so successful though? Why did the cornerbacks bite so hard? This is a play structure that Tech has used in the past, and this is the first time I recall Logan Thomas throwing out of it. Here is Virginia Tech running out of this formation against Georgia Tech.
00:17:35–00:17:41
For a defense, these two plays look absolutely identical right up until Logan pulls his arm back and throws the ball. The personnel on the field are the same, the alignment is the same, the pre-snap motion is the same, even the ball fake to Coleman is the same. This really puts the defense in a bind. If they don't attack the run then Loeffler is content to nickel and dime his way down the field, running down the clock and the Hokies defense gets to stay nice and fresh. If they do attack the run, they have to hope that Thomas doesn't carve them up. Lately, that's a bet that defenses have been losing.
This play worked not only because it was something that the Hokies hadn't show before from that formation, but because so much of what the Hokies do now in the rushing game is based on the threat of a QB keeper. Take a look at the three plays prior to the completion to Byrn.
00:03:22–00:03:43
The first play is what looks to be a designed sweep to Coleman, although it could very easily be turned into a QB dive behind the pulling Andrew Miller. The next two plays are QB keepers up the middle, with the third one going for a first down. When a team is having success running the football on you, it's very hard to stay disciplined. This isn't the last time that Tech would find a player open after faking an Inverted Veer.
00:04:57–00:05:06
After getting beat the last time, UNC switches up the run responsibilities on the Inverted Veer from this formation. Instead of having the cornerbacks come up in run support, they drop a safety into the box. This still leaves Stanford in single coverage and he runs an excellent route to get open down the field. Thomas steps up in the pocket and delivers a frozen rope right to Stanford.
00:05:30–00:05:36
Everyone's favorite fullback Sam Rogers was open on a delayed route here, although Thomas just misses him. Hopefully by now you can see why I was clamoring for the Inverted Veer to be a staple of this offense early in the season. It places such a strain on the middle and the edge of the defense that, eventually, something is bound to break. Loeffler will have to continue adding new wrinkles as the season progresses to stay ahead of the competition, but so far he's done a good job at keeping defenses off balance and in check.
More Formation Adjustments
Let's take a closer look at that Coleman run from earlier. This is another great example of how Loeffler is using different plays out of the same formation to make it difficult for defenses to game plan.
Tech lines up with Sam Rogers, Coleman, and Edmunds all in the backfield. Now based on their skill sets, if one of those three is going to get an Inverted Veer hand off, it's going to be Coleman. UNC did their due diligence and knows this to be the case, so they take a linebacker and put him on the edge of the formation opposite of J.iC. The linebacker is in a good position here to either make a tackle on JC or force him to take a wider angle to the sideline, allowing his teammates to chase Coleman down.
Loeffler takes note of this alignment and has a counter in store for UNC. In fact he seems quite excited to use it, as it is the very first play he calls on the next drive.
00:04:43–00:04:50
The Hokies line up in the diamond formation again, and again UNC spreads a linebacker out wide to the opposite side of the formation. This time, rather than trying to block the well positioned linebacker on a sweep Loeffler runs away from him. Rogers and Edmunds lead block on the opposite side of the line that UNC was expecting a sweep and now the defense is out numbered at the point of attack. The play isn't a big gainer but it does pick up seven yards and puts the Tech in a 2nd-and-short.
This isn't the first time a team has run this type of counter when a defense over reacts to a potential sweep play. Percy Harvin had a lot of success at Florida getting to the edge and turning up field. It wasn't long before defenses were predicting which way he'd run based on his alignment. Urban Meyer, the spread rushing guru, punished those defenses with this clever counter.
00:00:00–00:00:33
Loeffler spent some time at Florida while Urban Meyer was there. So far it seems as if a large portion of the QB running game has come straight out of Tim Tebow's playbook, and why not? Tebow may be the greatest power running QB of all time, and Logan Thomas has a similar rushing style.
UNC's run defense
UNC has a lot of talent on defense and their coaches get paid too, so it's not surprising that by the time the second quarter rolled around they already had a good game plan to defend both the Inverted Veer and this Coleman Counter.
00:05:54–00:06:02
UNC still has the linebacker on the edge of the perimeter opposite of Coleman, but the two linebackers are now mirroring Rogers and Edmunds. When they see Rogers and Edmunds head the opposite way of Coleman, they stay at home and are there to make the play when Coleman cuts back. Obviously the next progression for Loeffler would be to run a zone play away from the outside linebacker, since the strategy of defending against a sweep leaves the defense outnumbered in the box. I never did see them try to run a zone play from the diamond formation though. Not sure if Loeffler wanted to leave it for another day or if he didn't trust his offensive line to make the blocks, but if defenses are going to leave only six in the box against this formation the Hokies need to be able to base block this.
Too Much Inverted Veer?
UNC had a good game plan against the Inverted Veer all game long and Logan Thomas wasn't ever able to really get going. While UNC didn't hesitate to drop extra defenders into the box, the real reason that they had so much success against it is because of the way they were keying off on the running backs position in the backfield.
00:15:39–00:15:46
The UNC defense knows that on an Inverted Veer, the running back will come across the face of the quarterback to get the hand off. On Saturday, time and again they would base the strength of their defensive formation off of the location of the running back. UNC can now force Thomas to keep the ball by getting their defensive up the field in a hurry to cut off any potential hand offs to the running back.
Having an opponent react this strongly to a single play is a good thing because it opens up the possibility to attack them in other areas. I wrote above how the Hokies attacked this defense through the air, but what about on the ground? The Hokies can't just give up on the run every time an opposing team drops a safety in the box, or else teams will start bluffing by having a safety start in the box and then drop out into coverage.
My personal choice would be to use the speed option away from the dropped safety. If you look at the way UNC set up their defense and then cut the formation in half, you'll see four defenders to Logan's right and three to his left. Attacking the left side of the formation (away from that extra defender) would allow the Hokies to leave the defensive end unblocked. If he takes Logan, then pitch it to the running back. If he takes the running back, Logan heads up field. The Inverted Veer and speed option are perfect compliments to each other because it prevents a defense from overloading one side of the formation based on the running backs alignment.
At the end of the day, Virginia Tech isn't going to see its rushing numbers increase until the offensive line is more consistent. Too many times the big guys up front either aren't getting any movement when they hit a defender. Maybe this offensive line isn't capable of pushing defenders all over the field. Maybe it's time to start changing our expectations of what this line will be able to accomplish on the ground. After all, there are plenty of offensive linemen who aren't starting in the NFL for reasons other than a lack of "want to".
I'm not ready to give up on the front-five though. We all saw the push that they got against Alabama and I think that this unit is capable of doing some really good things. They've already shown to be effective in pass protection. Once the lightbulb comes on for them in the ground game this offense could be very good. The only thing holding it back is a consistent push on running plays.
D.J. Coles: Red Zone Connoisseur
We've talked about how Loeffler has used different formations and motions to disguise his rushing plays but there was one play that really caught my eye down in the red zone Saturday. It was D.J. Coles's second touchdown of the day, and it was about as easy as they come. The Paperboy starts to the top of the formation and motions towards the middle to give the Hokies a tight bunch. When the ball is snapped Coles heads toward the pylon and is wide open to catch Logan's toss and walks in for the score. Easy money.
00:11:17–00:11:25
This play looks awfully familiar... oh that's because we saw it go for a touchdown two weeks ago! Remember Marshall? Paperboy catching the tipped pass for the game tying score?
00:21:02–00:21:08
Down in the red zone the Hokies run the same route package that they did vs Marshall and were able to disguise it by starting out in a different formation. In the Marshall game, Byrn was located to Logan's left and then motioned all the way across the formation before running the route to the pylon. Against UNC, the Hokies start with all three receivers to Logan's left and then motion Byrn down. Coles, the intended target, never moved until he started his route. By waiting until the last moment to bunch his wide receivers, Loeffler didn't give the defense any advance notice about what was coming. The Tar Heels secondary was in no position to make a play and this time D.J. Coles ran the route to the perfect depth and Logan threw it with the perfect velocity.
Keep Improving
The Hokies have come a long way on offense over the first six games of the season. Every game they've looked better than the last. Now that ACC play is in full swing, the Hokies true offensive identity is starting to take shape. Defenses will be kept off balance all year by Loeffler's unpredictable play calling and formation usage. Logan Thomas has had two good games in a row throwing the football, and his wide receivers are becoming more reliable. If the Hokies can stabilize their offensive line and get a more consistent push up front, they will be in great shape to get to the ACC Championship Game. Oh, and with the recent commitment of four-star defensive tackle Ricky Walker the Hokies recruiting class got even stronger. There's something special going on in Blacksburg.
Comments
Great breakdown! So damn excited to see how this team develops this season and in future seasons as we start recruiting for our new system.
I agree that there's reason to be cautiously optimistic about the O-line this year. They way they played Bama showed me that Grimes can get maximum effort and technique out of this group. I wonder how many of those guys are hurt worse than they are letting on, which may be the reason for bad snaps and missed blocks.
Thanks for the breakdown. I am very happy with all three of our new coaches. Loeffler's playcalling has been good to great from game to game as he and the offense are figuring out what their strengths and weakness are.
not being an X's and O's guy, I find the obvious respect that you and the other TKP gurus have in your writing about the new staff very refreshing. "There's something special going on in Blacksburg." - indeed.
great breakdown, thanks for your hardwork
For an OC who won 3 games last year, Loeffler is where he belongs. The effectiveness of the diamond makes wonder what could of been when we had 3 studs on the roster in '10 (RmfW, Wilson and Evans).
We do have three 4-star athletes at the RB position right now
True, but the difference is each of those three had one of the three playing an entire year as feature back in front of them. Also size is a big factor too--I thought Holmes and Edmunds are more feature back size while Coleman, and Mangus are shifty open space guys (Can't recall caleb's size). Finally, Hokies were supposed to have Drew Harris and would have been feature back last year and this year too-but academics killed his hopes. Due to the combination of size, inexperience at RB and inexperience at OL (or just poor play) the RB's have had a tough time. As offensive recruiting gets better, look for the Offense to make significant improvements, which brings me to my next point:
The one thing I have always loved about my Hokies is that they always improve with each game--last year was the first year I can recall, not seeing consistent improvement and always wondering what Hokies team was going to come out. This is a team that comes out looking to improve on the last week, and I love it.
Caleb is actually close to Edmunds, size-wise.
You're right about improving week-by-week though. Every week several of us lament how, for some reason or other, Loeffler doesn't run much at all out of singleback or I-formation. Yet as I recall, each week he's done it a bit more, to pretty good success. Can't wait until he really does release the hounds. Miami, perhaps?
True.
But Williams and Evans were two of the most natural running backs I've ever seen. Having a package where both were legitimate threats to rush would have been amazing. Can you imagine Loeffler running this diamond formation with Tyrod, Williams, Evans, and Wilson?
And Coales and Boykin lined out wide?
I always said to the Stiney defenders after the 2010 season saying he should get another chance. That if it took Williams, Wilson, Evans, Tyrod, Coale, Boykin, and a good O-Line to crack the top 30 in offense; he doesn't deserve a 8th chance.
"Designing a game plan to stop the Hokies offense must be a nightmare." Heh heh, let's not get carried away. Against UNC we had three sustained TD drives, all in the first half. We end up stopping ourselves a great deal, and we saw that on display in the second half.
Yah, I chuckled at that as well. We might have a true multiple offense, but I don't think too many D coordinators are losing sleep over us. Trying to stop a balanced attack is what probably stresses them the most. Until we can run and pass efficiently in the same game, we're not scaring anyone. In only 2 games this season have the Hokies passed and rushed for more than 100 yards in the same game.
And yet we've only lost 1 game. We're not one-dimensional. They are taking away one aspect of our game, we respond by using the other and beating them. I'm certain that if a team were to give up on the run and prevent the pass, you would see a more successful running game.
I believe we've lost one game this year because we one of the best defenses in the country. East Carolina, Marshall and Georgia Tech could have easily went the other way without an extraordinary effort by our D.
An offense that scares people doesn't have one aspect of the game taken from them. Georgia, Texas A&M, Oregon have balanced attacks. They rush and pass for +100 in every game they play.
Fwiw - I like where Loeffler is going. We're just not scaring anyone yet.
In my opinion, there's a difference between being balanced and being one of the best. For instance, GT is a one dimension team. Without a running game, it's very unlikely that they will win. Balanced means you can win through the air or on the ground if a team decides to sell out to stop the other one. I think that's where we fall. Being one of the best means you can win through the air AND on the ground. You will get your yards either way and the other team can't stop you because you're better than them. That's where the teams you mentioned fall.
I could not disagree more, as I will discuss in my film review tomorrow. Mason has nailed this.
I think that with d-coordinators thinking that VT is committed to running the ball at all costs and therefore, think they're doing something by stopping it plays right into Lefty's hands. He's handing the defense enough junk running plays to open up our passing game (which is impressing me thoroughly). This is a VERY effective use of Multiple principles!
There's a difference between opposing defensive coaches scheming on paper to stop our offense, and their players executing. Point being, Loeffler's approach isn't straight forward, and there are many wrinkles and contingencies to account for; subtleties opposing coaches need to prep their players on. That's different than defensive players making plays against the offense.
Well Bud Foster is on our side, so it's a nightmare for everyone else.
There have been offenses at tech that were a lot easier to design a game plan against, even if they were more productive then this one. If I have a team full of future nfl stars, no matter how simple my offensive scheme is I'll move the ball
Offensive scheme and offensive execution aren't the same thing. Loeffler and grimes can't go block and catch for their players
So are we failing to execute because we have too many schemes?
This seems to be the connection between the "It's really hard to gameplan against such a multiple scheme" and "It's not hard to stop this offense because they aren't executing consistently."
It doesn't matter how many schemes there are. Even if its just one scheme it still needs to be executed well by the players. By having multiple looks it causes DC's to shortchange their defensive planning against us. Typically you only have 1 or at max 2 weeks to gameplan against an opposing team. With multiple schemes you just don't have enough time to plan and teach your players how to play against it.
The beauty of Lefty's planning is that if one scheme gets shut down it moves into one that works. I still believe he focused on running the ball in the 2nd half because we were up on points and he wanted the team to have more game experience run blocking. It was a completely different look from the 1rst half.
So, basically, you believe Loeffler is even using revenge games for practice in a way?
I think he uses everything as practice.
Is he related to Sam Rogers?
Sam Rogers uses everything. Period.
While on a sex-spree in a Tijuana whorehouse, Sam Rogers used a live cougar as a condom.
The bodycount was fourteen Mexican whores and one cougar.
In Tijuana, they refer to this as "The Night of the Sodomizing Cougar-Man."
Sam Rogers refers to it as "last Thursday."
(Whole joke stolen from Ace of Spades HQ's classic "Best of Cool Facts About Dick Cheney".)
aaand right over the edge of the cliff
I don't understand. The multiple schemes is difficult to defend because of the limited practice time. Our guys have the same limited practice time. Isn't learning multiple schemes harder because of the time constraint?
This goes back to French's discussions last bowl season until Loeffler was hired about doing one thing well.
Right now, we don't do one thing well. Jack of all trades, etc, etc. Wouldn't we be better off with 1/3 the formations and 3x the execution practice? That's simplifying it, it's not a linear progression, but seemingly we are spending ____ amount of hours putting in _____ formations where we could be putting in more hours honing fewer formations. No?
The key here is that while we are running multiple different plays, many come out of the exact same formation or base play. I believe Loeffler stressed placing the building blocks in so that you can add advanced things on top of them. That's why Spring Game and even some of the Fall scrimmages were so vanilla. You have to have the foundation in place to build upon for success. The difference between this year and last year is that last year, we ran many different plays but mostly out of different formations and with few counters or alterations to the base play. French or Mason can correct me if I'm wrong, but Loeffler has been using the offense to show one play and get the defense to bite on it only to go a different way. While we may not do one thing well, we are developing bread and butter plays that will get us consistent yardage. And positive yards are better than all the bubble screens and double passes in the world.
There's an old rule in firearms training that applies in this situation: "Action always beats reaction." Simply put, if you decide to shoot first, your bullet is going to hit something first, hopefully your target.
The brilliance of Lefty's scheme is that he and the offense know where they are going each play, but the defense does not because, while the small number of base formations looks the same, the direction of the play changes depending on which option Lefty chooses to employ, therefore keeping the defense guessing and making them pay for being over-aggressive. Simply put, the offense's action is going to defeat the defense's reaction if the defense is unable to guess correctly which direction the offense is going. Our number of formations is not all that complex I believe, it is the options that Lefty uses from those formations that are complex. Our running game struggles will improve as recruiting improves, as younger guys mature, and as the schemes are learned. The problem is not the OC or the play-calling, it is execution and experience that are needed, and when they arrive, they will make the VT offense much more lethal in the seasons to come. I'm no football guru, but I know a little bit about gunfights (secondhand thankfully), and having the element of surprise along with sound training is going to get you a victory nearly every time. That seems to be Lefty's goal, keep the D guessing and hit them where they guess wrong. Just my 2 cents worth, let's see what French has to say tomorrow.
This is the age old debate in college football, the question of adding more schemes or focusing on execution. There are diminishing returns on both ends of the spectrum (Only have one play? doesn't matter how well you execute it, defenses will stop it. Have a billion plays? If your players haven't practiced them it doesn't matter what you call they won't work).
Coaches like Frank Beamer, who rely on a strong defense, prefer multiple offenses because if they are ahead they can run the clock out and if they are behind they can throw to catch up. No other offense will give you the balance that a pro-style offense will.
Not necessarily. It's up to the coaches to find the balance. The Hokies could spend every minute of every practice working on the Inverted Veer, that doesn't mean it will go for a touchdown every drive. Eventually the other team will stop it. Complexity is needed in modern football, especially when you occasionally run into teams with better athletes.
Good response, thanks.
Well, if you qualify your comment with 'at Tech,' sure, we are a lot harder to scheme against than we were before. But you know, in the scheme of schemes, I'd say Oregon's and Baylor's schemes, for instance, keep DCs up at night. When we are hanging 40-50 on the opposition using our current scheme, ours will too.
Well those offenses are harder to scheme against simply because they have better athletes. I'd take our guys over anybody simply because they choose to be a Hokie, but Tech doesn't have a De'anthony Thomas on the team.
Those teams also have had years to recruit exactly the type of players they want for those offenses. As far as I know, Loeffler doesn't have a single athlete on this team that he handpicked for this squad.
I believe Kalvin Cline was picked by Loeffler... a May addition to the recruiting class. This is nitpicking though. Your overall point absolutely remains - we will have to wait (a while) to see what a Loeffler offense looks like stocked with 'his' guys...
Ah yes, I think you're right. I was pumped at that pick up at the time, and think Cline could play in the NFL if he improves every year he's at Tech. He is exactly the type of versatile TE that pro-spread offenses are looking for.
This.
It will be fun watching the recruiting and seeing the new staff get 'their' players.
That being said, it's also fun but eye-opening to see them change positions, formations, etc to get the most out of what they have currently, AND be successful.
To me, so far, that has been the impressive thing about this staff.
Give it a few years and I think Loefflers offense will be averaging in 30+ points and low turnovers per game. Logan has been the obvious strength this year, and he certainly had a few things to fix from last years performance. The new coaches have been dealt a bad hand with injuries, inexperience and personnel not recruited for their schemes. Case-in-point, when was the last time you saw so many freshmen starting? Rogers, Kline, McLaughlin, Edmonds, Stanford, to name a few, with others getting significant minutes.
Good stuff. What's your thoughts on the RB's? Who is best suited for this scheme? Who is exceeding expectations and vice versa?
I would like to see more Joel Caleb. He's a very good athlete who could pose real matchup problems with other teams. I would really like to see a package with Caleb and Mangus lined up on opposite sides of the QB as Wide Receivers, and either Edmunds or Coleman lined up as RB. Caleb is too athletic to be spending this much time on the bench.
Yes he struggles in pass protection so far... so don't use him in pass protection. Send him on routes. Motion him across the formation on hand offs. Use him in the diamond on a sweep or as a lead blocker on a CB. Get him in the game, somehow.
is he having difficulty learning the playbook too perhaps? During the UNC game, true freshman Jerome Wright (6'2" 220, about the same as Caleb) seemed to be getting touches as what I would have envisioned Caleb as getting as a receiving H-Back coming out of the backfield. He is newish to the position too I believe as I remember him being moved to FB for a while before we found Sam the Hulk Rodgers.
Wright is only listed as having 2 catches, but they must have been on big downs as it seemed like he was getting more touches during the game that I would have thought Caleb would be getting if he could.
Whether or not Caleb is having difficulty learning the playbook doesn't matter, IMO. When you have an athlete like Joel Caleb, you need to get him the ball. Period.
If he doesn't know enough or isn't familiar enough with the duties of a running back, that's fine. That doesn't mean that he is useless though. Put in a couple of plays that feature him, either a simple screen or a simple hand off or an option pitch... something.
He's as close as you can get to a professional football player without getting a weekly pay check. And I believe he was a high school quarterback. He's not too dense to pick up a couple of plays installed in a Thursday practice.
I understand that Loeffler is trying to install his offense and has other things he wants to work on. That's fine. But I think Caleb is a special player who other teams don't have to factor into their game plan. That needn't be the case.
miami?
I agree, I was just trying to think of an explanation as to why he wasnt getting touches. Itll be interesting to see what happens going forward with how Loeffler uses him
From recalling Ryan Williams' redshirt year, "he who does not pass-protect does not play."
Might the diamond pistol formation be something that we can utilize with three good running backs? Or, will we need to have a fullback in that formation? I know Sam Rogers might have something to say about it.
on a somewhat unrelated note, i forgot how fast percy havin was in college, made that 80 yard td look like it was from about 20 yards out
Yet another 757 guy that got away...
Percy Harvin was INSANE in High School. Its too bad that he didn't want to stay in state.
There was a rumor at Florida that Harvin was homesick after his freshman year and considered transferring to VT. I think we could have found a few plays for him whether he was new to the playbook or not.
yeah, that was a shocking reminder.
Dear Hokies,
Maybe get a first down in the the third quarter and we'll stay and watch it.
Love,
Captain Fairweather
Paper Airplane Airforce
You forgot to use sarcastica font. But your sarcasm is duly noted. Please stop downvoting folks, this is comedy.
In addition to the Sarcastica font, perhaps this comment should also be read with airliner noise in the background, over a scratchy aircraft intercom.
Whoever downvoted this just had the sarcasm go right over their head like a paper airplane.
Wow. No doubt.
lol yeah no joke!!
A) It was probably a fat finger, and there's still no way to correct those
B) Can people stop whining about downvotes? Seriously? Please?
Thousand turkey legs, congrats.
Stomping my way back up the big board after a 3-month hiatus ^_^
I think I can only go down at this point. I'll never catch wisec4g and GuitarMan is charging.
You're a horse, so I think you have a leg up on charging :)
yeah i'm with you ep, there's a lot more people on the boards than there used to be. there's gonna be downvotes. life goes on.
I was really just going for a public service announcement identifying sarcastic comedy to those who are "comedy impaired." Was not really complaining about the downvote cuz you are correct, there are a lot of new folks on TKP and the occasional downvote is inevitable, just trying to educate the masses.
Yeah, and I was being silly too with my comment.
This multiple offense actually looks coherent unlike the ones last decade. I really would like to see us try the Power-I though against opponents that struggle against the run.
I think we will.
UNC is the very definition of an opponent that struggles against the run.
Great analysis as always. Thanks!
I wonder how long it will be until someone tries to stop our passing game, and tries to make us beat them on the ground? Hopefully, if/when that happens, we'll be up to the task.
I remember Loeffler saying that the game-tying TD to the Paper Boy was supposed to be a walk-in. He didn't run his route flat enough on the TD vs Marshall which is probably why it almost got picked. I'm sure that they went over that in practice and Coles got the route right.
It's amazing to see what happens when the players buy into the system -- I think Loeffler's found a home here.
Awesome article again. It's clear from that video how important having great athletes is as well. I had forgotten how fast Harvin was. Watching him in those two plays -one by the time he got past the line of scrimmage he was up to top speed and gone. No offense to anyone we have, but those are 7 yard gains with our personnel.
The best thing I'm seeing from Loeffler is the fact that he seems to have a solid counter for every play an opposing defense stops. He doesn't continue to beat his head against a brick wall trying to make a play work that even a 2-yr-old can predict. Additionally, he's taking whatever opposing defenses give us - and lately, opposing defenses have been giving us the pass and LT has been making them pay. I look forward to the ACC opponent who tries to stop the pass - should be entertaining!
Thanks for the well-written analysis!
"Mulitple offense" makes me cringe as much as the phrase "passes defensed".
Play on playa
Great Breakdown, once again. Thanks.
There are 2 things that seem to be currently missing from this offense that would bring it to an elite level:
1. Consistent O-line
2. Game-changing playmaker on the perimeter
If VT can improve those two facets via recruiting, then this offense will be humming in a few years.
I really appreciate the insight that you and french give the whole fan base, but I keep wondering......are those other teams researching this data to form a game plan against us? Are we our own spygate?
I promise you, any football team with a Division 3 budget will be able to produce a better scouting report in a day then I will over the course of a week.
But then again...
that's so not right!
Yah, Guitarman. That is completely inaccurate! Shame on you.
This better reflects London as a coach:
Caption: Coach, the play is over there!
And ML's response would be "Leave me alone, I gotta see how many time outs we have left!"
I love how the "Sabred" V is whooooshing...... Right into the ditch of sub-mediocrity.
Bye-bye V
He doesn't even notice... Still confused by the formation
other teams shouldn't have to.....they're getting paid a lot of money and spending a lot of time during the week doing exactly what french and mason do...but more in depth. If they need to come here and see the breakdowns that are done by fans in their free time that means they have much bigger problems to worry about and they wouldn't beat us anyway.
On TTL, good ol' Stiney said he wisely chose not to get on Twitter, until no longer OC. I can appreciate the self-deprecating humor, and even more his loyalty to the program,
Stiney has always seemed like a really nice guy...and I never disliked him as a person...but damn...he wasn't cut out to be a coordinator
Part of me wonders if Stiney will ever move on from Tech, and if he does how will his time working with Loeffler change the way he game plans.
I never had much of a problem with any specific play that Stinespring would draw up. It was always the way those plays never gelled together to become greater then the sum of their parts. Every play that Loeffler runs is more effective because he has a counter for however the defense defends it. That didn't seem to be the case for Stinespring's offense.
Oh, and Loeffler definitely has a NFL style passing attack. His route combinations are pretty solid. Stinespring's passing game wasn't as difficult to stop.
So you're saying... using a well designed screen pass repeatedly all game is not a good game plan?
only to set up the Double Pass
Has anyone stopped to consider that Loeffler might be part of Stiney's on the job training program?
I really hope that was a joke.
Not sure if that was a joke or not as there was no sarcastica font, but it did make me LOL with a nervous chuckle. +1
I couldn't stop laughing for a minute when I heard him say that, it was great.
Brandon Facyson really doesn't sound like or conduct himself as a freshman. Amazing.
He's one of the most well-spoken players I can remember having.
Which is probably why he doesn't play like one
Mason thanks for the excellent write up.
This may not be a very popular opinion, but here goes.
I think Stinespring had the right idea for two or three years before the arrival of Loeffler and Company, in implementing the pro-style/multiple offense scheme. The problem was, I think, he didn't have a solid understanding of how to properly implement the scheme and teach it. I thought that Loeffler would get rid of the pistol, for example, but was stunned to find him still using it, but adding his own flair to the pistol.
Second, keeping Curt Newsome was the dumbest decision Beamer made when mounting evidences pointed to Newsome as an incompetent coach, and that was a detriment to Stinespring. I'm going to use Wang for an example because this year Wang is 10x better than last year Wang who seem to have been coached to bunny hop out of his stance instead of exploding out of his stance. Plus, his transition to being a center as a long-time bunny hopping guard was a gutsy move on Grimes' part which is paying dividends. If there was ever a TKP Most Improved Award, Wang would win in a landslide.
Then lets talk about Logan. The Logan of 2011 had Danny Coale (sniff, sniff I miss him), Jarrett Boykin, Chris Drager (#DRAGERBOMB), David Wilson, and a senior dominated offensive line. The Logan of 2012 was a disaster. Poor coaching (I refuse to blame it on George Whitfield because his record seem to indicate otherwise) by O'Cain and a confusing, illogical play calling led to numerous of breakdowns. This year, we are seeing the Logan that some analysts thought he was before 2012. So far, not one ESPN's experts are anointing him as a top ten quarterbacks. That might be advantageous because the current crops of NFL super quarterbacks have been drafted in later rounds and turned out to be elite. I'm not saying Thomas may become elite by any means, but I think he could blossom under the right system and coaching.
So, I think Stiney had the right idea, just was really, really bad at scheming and making in-game adjustments.
Yeah that sounds about right. A lot of Hokies fans have this deep rooted disdain for stinespring and were beside themselves when he was still on staff. IMHO stiney is valuable in his own right but he just wasn't cut out to be a coordinator. O'Cain, Newsome, and Sherman were the real weak links in the staff. Logan didn't know what progressions were. That's on O'Cain. Receivers didn't know how to block. That's on Sherman. O line was way under developed. That's on Newsome. Stiney was (rightfully so) held responsible for their shortcomings and he should have done something about it and never did. But I think Beamer made the right call by keeping him on staff in a position he can handle.
Anyone that wants to be apart of the football program as bad as Stinespring has said he wants to be involved deserves a second chance.
Absolutely. By all accounts, Stiney is a great guy and an excellent recruiter - and judging by some of his comments since his stint as OC, able to take criticism in stride and make light of it. The situation he was thrust into just wasn't his forte, but thankfully Beamer knows what's best for this program. The new coaches have really impressed me so far and I think Stiney deserves a ton of credit for swallowing his pride to still be a part of the team.