It was more enjoyable to watch the film this week after two gut-wrenching Sunday's in a row. After a shaky start, the Hokies benefited from several Miami special teams turnovers and the running game finally complimented the ever-improving passing attack. Also, some of the burden of picking up short yardage was lifted off Logan Thomas' shoulders, and you saw the result. A huge part of Saturday's success can't be documented with X's and O's. Some might say that Virginia Tech benefited by some lucky bounces, but A.J. Hughes stuck his head in on a bigger, stronger, and faster player to knock the first ball loose. Derek DiNardo chased down the Artie Burns to strip the ball from behind. Kalvin Cline punched the Stanford fumble away from a Miami defender so D.J. Coles could dive on the loose ball. Demitri Knowles hustled after the play to be in position to recover the Byrn fumble in the end zone. Trey Edmunds made several Hurricanes miss on a critical third down conversion when he was dead to rights on a pass in the flat. These were all effort plays. The Hokies offense outworked the Hurricanes defense.
Additionally, the film also told the story of Scot Loeffler's best game as an offensive coordinator at Virginia Tech. For the first time, we saw Loeffler's terrific passing game structure complemented by a running game that didn't require Logan Thomas battering himself into the line twenty times a game. The three elements of successful offensive football: great play designs, called at the right time with the correct personnel grouping, and executed effectively were all on display in Miami. Early on, Loeffler called plays that forced Miami to defend the entire football field instead of keying on a small area. Once Miami started to defend the entire field, both the inverted veer and the zone stretch series opened up. Loeffler used unique personnel groupings and formations that Miami had not seen to get his best skill position blockers on defensive backs in short yardage, and he even used players who have essentially been forgotten since the Alabama game to help improve blocking at the goal line.
Most importantly, Loeffler showed trust in his young players. Trey Edmunds and J.C. Coleman were given opportunities to carry the football. The offensive line was given an opportunity to stretch and then drive a quality Miami defensive front. D.J. Coles finally got more work and had one of the best blocking games by a Hokie receiver ever. Josh Stanford made SportsCenter by running through tackle after tackle for a huge touchdown. We saw that the Hokie offense can be dominant with Logan Thomas playing as a game manager rather than Superman, and we saw that he is a much better player when other players are effective. As result, Thomas was outstanding. He was accurate, assertive, and when he faced pressure, he made good decisions.
Forcing the Hurricanes to Defend the Entire Field
The Hokies were fortunate that the offense responded so positively, because it could have gone the wrong way quickly. On the Hurricane's second offensive play, Detrick Bonner failed to secure a gap fit on a tunnel screen, offering minimal resistance to massive tackle Seantrel Henderson, and Miami broke a huge touchdown. The offense then imploded with penalties, and the Hurricanes broke a big punt return. Everything was going the Hurricanes way, until A.J. Hughes made a big brass balls play to force a fumble that changed the game.
After the fumble, Loeffler's game plan started to unfold. D.J. Coles made two big catches off bootlegs, and Trey Edmunds finished the drive with an easy touchdown run that I will highlight later. Another fumbled kickoff, and again Loeffler used bootleg action to set up the drive.
On first down, the Hokies ran an inside zone with J.C. Coleman to the left. Sam Rogers aligned on the right side and crossed behind the formation to cut off back side pursuit.
00:05:22–00:05:39
On the next play, Loeffler used the exact same blocking action, but Thomas faked the handoff and Rogers leaked out the flat wide open. Thomas threw a nice easy pass that Rogers could catch in stride, and Rogers made a terrific run after the catch for a big play. This was the third big gain for the Hokies on some form of bootleg, and for the rest of the game the Hurricanes safeties and linebackers were slow in pursuit as they looked to defend the bootlegs.
The success of those early bootleg passes completely threw the Hurricanes defense off balance, and as the game progressed, the Hokies base running game had success as result of their confusion coupled with some outstanding blocking. Following the Miami punting kneel down, Virginia Tech had the ball at the Hurricanes' 17-yard-line. Loeffler turned back the clock to the spring and called the zone stretch. Unlike Duke and BC (where the Hokies ran to trips away from Kalvin Cline), Loeffler called for the stretch to go behind Cline. Cline effectively sealed the defensive end inside, and McLaughlin goes to the second level looking for somebody to block.
00:06:24–00:06:31
Duke and BC's safeties were very aggressive because there was not a threat on any counter action by the Hokies, but after completing three bootlegs off similar run action to Coles, Coles again, and Sam Rogers, Miami's safeties are much slower to come up in run support. Let's freeze the play.
Safety Rayshawn Jenkins is circled. He is unaccounted for in the blocking scheme, but instead of flying forward, he tracks Logan Thomas on his bootleg fake. He goes out of the frame at the 6:27 mark and despite it CLEARLY being an Edmunds run he doesn't come back into frame until the 6:29 run when Edmunds is 8 yards down field. In games where the Hokies have struggled to run the football, that safety is the guy who has been making the run stops against Virginia Tech. The bootleg action fooled him. As they have in past games, the Hokie offensive line eats up the front seven, and the Hokies get a big run.
Now, the defensive end just got sealed inside by a down block, allowing a big run on the edge. Loeffler recognizes this and calls an inside zone on the next play.
00:06:31–00:06:38
I have discussed the key technique on the inside zone all season. The tackle on the play side must take a flat lateral step to the outside and influence the defensive end to "widen out" with him. That creates a seam back to the inside. On the inside, the guard and center must initially double team the defensive tackle, and then the uncovered lineman (in this case left guard Caleb Farris) must slide off the double team and pick up the scraping linebacker. On this play, McLaughlin, Farris, and Wang execute their blocks perfectly, and Edmunds hits the hole with authority.
Note Anthony Chickillo is aligned approximately two yards outside of the hash mark at the snap. McLaughlin takes a flat, lateral step towards the sideline, and Chickillo goes with him. By the time Edmunds makes his cut, Chickillo is almost to the sideline without ever shedding McLaughlin's block. The previous play set up the block for McLaughlin, and by using proper fundamentals selling the stretch action, Chickillo bit hook, line, and sinker.
It gets even better when you watch things unfold on the inside. Farris and Wang double the defensive tackle. Farris gets just enough push to allow Wang to get proper leverage on the tackle, and then Farris explodes off his double team and destroys the scrapping linebacker. This block is an absolute thing of beauty. In seasons past where the Hokies tried to use a zone blocking scheme, their biggest problem was developing the timing on when to release double teams and effectively block linebackers. Farris did a textbook job of timing his release and catching the linebacker squarely. The entire offensive line did an outstanding job of taking the proper initial step, getting good head placement, and then maintaining leg drive and finishing blocks in a dominant fashion. Good scheme, plus the right personnel, plus proper execution results in a third easy touchdown for Edmunds, who finishes the play with authority as a big power back should.
Putting Players in Position to Succeed on the Goal Line
Both the Hokies struggles in the running game and in goal line situations have been well documented. Against the Hurricanes, Scot Loeffler broke several tendencies and used some new personnel groupings to finally break through and have success in short yardage. First, let's take a quick look at the Hokies first touchdown run.
After several nice gains on misdirection oriented bootleg passes, the Hokies find themselves in first-and-goal from the 10-yard-line. The Hokies align in their standard alignment for running their bread and butter run play; inverted veer. Or do they? A second scan of the alignment reveals an interesting wrinkle. Darius Redman is aligned as the tight end to the right side. Sam Rogers is aligned as the H-Back, and Edmunds is flexed to the right of Logan Thomas, indicating to the defense that if the Hokies run inverted veer, the play will attack the left side. Note to the strong side, instead of Byrn, Knowles, or Stanford, D.J. Coles is aligned as the slot receiver and Kalvin Cline is spread out wide. This gives Tech their three largest, best blocking receivers out in front of the play if Logan Thomas gives to Edmunds on the sweep.
00:03:01–00:03:09
Miami chose to run a relatively balanced alignment, with five defenders to the boundary/weak side and six to the strong side. This alignment indicates that Miami doesn't regard Edmunds as much of a threat. The Hokies run the play out of a normal inverted veer action, and the Hurricane defensive end crashes the quarterback dive (which makes sense given how much Logan Thomas keeps on goal line downs.) The safety who isn't accounted for with a blocker also focuses on Thomas. This leaves 3 defenders against 3 Hokie blockers and Edmunds.
Thomas makes the correct read (and given the formation and personnel, it is possible that this was a sweep handoff all the way), Coles and Cline both get effective blocks, Sam Rogers pancakes Perryman (Miami's leading tackler) and Edmunds has an easy touchdown.
Personnel changes also impacted the second Edmunds touchdown. Unlike against Duke, Loeffler used Edmunds and little-used Zack McCray in his goal line set. On the play, Loeffler goes back to his success at Auburn and calls for an inside zone with a fullback lead. At the snap, each blocker executes a zone step to the right side, picking up the first defender to attempt to shoot the gap. On the play side, the zone blocks are designed to force the defenders to stretch to the sideline, creating seams on the interior. The fullback (on this play, defensive tackle Derrick Hopkins reprises his role from the Duke game) attacks an area, not a specific defender. The fullback attacks a soft spot or "bubble" rather than a particular defender, and the back follows him into the hole.
00:04:02–00:04:09
The critical blocks on the play come on the back side. Because of the stretch to the sideline, those seams are created, but that also means that the defensive line is pursuing from the back side, and they have an angle to crumple the seams by beating the scoop block. The two toughest blocks against this particular front belong to center David Wang and former persona non grata, tight end Zack McCray. Wang must prevent the one-technique defensive tackle from crossing his face without the help of a double team. McCray must scoop the back side defensive end, which will allow Caleb Farris and Jonathan McLaughlin to double team the three-technique tackle and drive him back into the pursuit angle of the linebacker. Let's freeze frame the shot moments after the snap.
Wang has an outstanding block on the interior, not only getting his head on the right side of the nose tackle but also driving the tackle a yard into the end zone. This creates the bubble for Hopkins to lead into. McLaughlin and Farris double team the three-technique. Note, Farris has his head on the inside of the tackle and has his butt between the defender and the bubble. Finally, closely note McCray's head position. His head is inside of the defensive end in perfect position to execute a proper scoop block. As you restart the play, Hopkins plows into the bubble on the interior, helping Wang maintain his push. McLaughlin and Farris push the three-technique backwards into the path of the pursuit coming from the linebackers. McCray maintains inside out leverage on the end, keeps his legs driving, and right at the whistle finishes the block with a knock down. It is an impressive effort for a player that seemed to have lost out an opportunity to be a contributor this season.
Loeffler finally found offensive balance by getting the right personnel on the field, using all the core plays in unison, and getting outstanding execution from his players. The Hokies essentially iced the game on four consecutive strong plays by Edmunds in the fourth quarter. The first was a critical third down play where Edmunds made several Canes whiff for an important conversion. Edmunds followed that with three strong runs in a row on a stretch play, an inverted veer sweep, and finally a touchdown on an inside zone cutting off a terrific Zack McCray block.
00:17:31–00:17:57
The design in the passing game has always been terrific. Against the Hurricanes, the running game came alive because Loeffler gave his linemen, running backs, and skill position guys an opportunity to execute and then helped them by forcing the Hurricanes to defend the entire field through the use of bootlegs and counter action. He also utilized new personnel packages that helped get critical blocks at the point of attack, and it didn't hurt that Logan Thomas played a terrific football game behind great blocking and the Hokies got some lucky bounces along the way.
Maryland travels to Lane Stadium this week. The Terrapins have not recovered since a brutal beating at the hands of Florida State. If the Hokies can limit big plays on defense and execute a similar offensive game plan, the Hokies should close out the home schedule with a win. More importantly, for the first time we saw what the future of the Hokie offense should look like. This is a positive first step that featured all elements of the scheme working effectively. Now, they need to sustain week in and week out.
Comments
OUT WITH THE NEGATIVITY! IN WITH THE TURKEY LEGS!
Thanks to French and Mason, people actually thought I was some sort of football guru. I would break down and explain what just happened after each play, the formation, the blocking scheme, etc. I just sat there in my hooded poncho at the game like some sort of hokie jedi master.
Goodness this cracked me up
My god that gif is simply glorious. Thank you for that.
The film for this week should win an Oscar.
That is f-king beautiful! Thank you.
What's not to love? In addition to the good execution, the Hokies played hard. The bounces going VT's way were the result of players hustling to the ball and playing there nuts off.
Few other comments:
1. On the Trey Edmunds long 3rd-down conversion from the flat, Wille Byrn came flying across the field from his slot position and provided an effective shield block that helped Trey spring loose. Huge effort play there by Willie...
2. On the Josh Stanford long 3rd-down conversion, Trey Edmunds did the exact same thing. He came flying across the field with bad intentions, whiffed, but provided enough of a shield block to help Josh get loose. Later on that Standford TD same play, Willie Byrn leveled a Cane DB along the sideline. Swag.
It's these types of hustle and effort plays that I loved on Saturday. It's these types of plays that require mental toughness, and I'm glad the team bounced back and demonstrated that toughness after 2 tough losses in a row.
That was actually Meyer on Edmunds' 3rd-down conversion. Which I love because guys like Meyer and McCray, who are not getting many reps, are still taking care of business.
The way the receivers blocked was a thing of beauty.
Great write-up, French. Amazing what happens when Loeffler takes you and Mason's advice...
Hats off to Wang - he's proven himself to be a warrior.
Had to do a double-take there to make sure I was reading a Wang post without any innuendo.
He played his nuts off, stole the nuts of the DT across from him, then played those off too. I can't wait for Saturday to see if our OLine continues to play at this level.
You BEAT me to it, sir.
Quit jerking around
Yea just give me like 5 more mins...almost done...
Downvote for this...aw cum on y'all!
People seem to be of the opinion that this is reddit and that you have to either upvote or downvote things. No moving along with your day.
I see what you did there you sick freak - Turkey Leg
He was opening holes like a true Wang.
Wang hats?
How much $$
Free if you pick them up at Schiffert
COTY
Is it one-size-fits-all?
It's great to not only see the play calling make sense, but the line to execute it properly. Let's keep it up and finish the season strong!
That was a great write up. Effort was so key as you pointed out, bro. Go Hokies!
I spent much of the game wondering where the heck has this running game been all year - and realizing that the duh U will not miss playing against LT3.
That pancake by Sam Rogers is beautiful
The thing is, the offensive line has run blocked well most of the season. Miami, for whatever reason, played a very tentative deep safety alignment most of the game, and yet they were still out of position on those early bootlegs. When the safety started covering the bootleg threat, then there wasn't an extra defender to make the tackles.
Watching the Duke and BC films, it was so frustrating to watch 6 blockers kick the ass of 6 defenders, but the 7th guy ALWAYS seemed to make the tackle. Loeffler's game plan eliminated the seventh guy, and VIOLA, solid runs. Edmunds YPC is actually misleading because his touchdown runs actually dragged down the average. On every carry but one, he either got 6+ yards or would have had he not run into the end zone.
Coleman played well as well, but Edmunds should have received more work. While everyone else was celebrating during the long 4th quarter drive that ended with the 4th and 1 fail on the goal line, I was so frustrated when Coleman ran out of bounds twice and stopped the clock, and then he didn't get that 4th and 1 with a decent hole. If this game didn't CLEARLY demonstrate that Edmunds is the guy, I am not sure what else he can do to show you.
I saw that live, and noted.
I agree. I'm not sure if Frank was trying to teach Coleman something (again) by giving him the opportunity with big payoff when he was given the 4th and 1 or not. It's the "One of these things is not like the other" children's game.
It's an itch I'm impelled to scratch in figuring that one out.
I wonder if Wang has an itch that needs to scratched
I think he just wanted to get JC confidence. Edmunds got every goal line carry and 4 TD's. Also JC was doing a good job of holding on to the ball and working for extra yards. Sometimes you just have to stay with what's working and that drive JC was doing a good job. JC going out of bounds was fine by me kept Miami players from trying to strip him. And if I am not mistaken one of those plays was an outside sweep that he tried to turn the corner and get in for 6
My guess is that it was simply a case of it being Coleman's turn in the RB rotation for that series. When Billy Hite was at VT, he would typically run his #1 RB for two series, and then his #2 RB for a series to give the #1 guy a rest. It seems to me that maybe Shane is doing the same thing, or at least he was on Saturday night. (Incidentally, it's Shane, as RB coach, who makes the decision on which RB is in the game, not Frank.)
Then again, given that Edmonds already had 4 TDs by that point, maybe he just wanted to see if he could get JC one as well. After all, the game was already over.
And, my ONLY criticism of Logan, was on that drive. He repeatedly snapped the ball with 12-15 seconds left on the play clock. The game probably should have ended on that drive. It didn't burn them against the U, but it could in a tighter situation.
French bringing the French. Nice work.
Except he spelled it "viola."
But I'll give him a pass because of the other Hokie goodness he diagrammed for us.
I didn't even catch that. Dyslexia, it'll get after ya.
Miami has always played that two deep zone aka tampa two for the most part b/c their players are supposed to be better then yours.
muhaha
Agreed that Edmunds outplayed Coleman.
I kept telling my wife how important it was for Coleman to stay in bounds during the last possession. "So why isn't he doing it" she asked.
Because he's not very good.
The kid plays his nuts off though. It's just that Trey also plays his nuts off, and has more ability. But I have all sorts of love for JC. He honestly played the best I've seen him play this weekend.
Coleman has a little bit more burst that Edmunds IMO and is a nice compliment to Edmunds. We need both those guys full speed and it's not uncommon to give Edmunds a breather and let Coleman in for a series or two to keep them both fresh. I mean, look what happened yo.
On the 4th an 1, I wouldn't have minded them putting in Caleb to try and get that if they weren't going to use Edmunds
We need to find a way to get Caleb some meaningful touches or he's going to be be gonzo.
I always thought he'd make a great safety......
absolutely phenomenal. Excited to see where the rest of the season takes us. This is a huge turning point for our team and we can be headed to the ACCCG and pull another upset special with Jameis "Squinston" throwing multiple pics. He didn't look to good against Miami until the 2nd half
Another excellent write-up, French. I have been hoping for more misdirection in our offense for years now and so I was very happy to see it so prominently on display Saturday night, especially since it worked so well. As you say, a few well-executed misdirection plays will make opposing safeties and LBs just a step slower in reacting to their keys when the ball is snapped, and that can be the difference between a successful play and an unsuccessful one.
Also, I was very happy to see that Coach Loeffler took your advice and didn't rely so exclusively on the read option with Logan Thomas as the primary ball carrier in this game. Both JC Coleman and Trey Edmonds turned in excellent performances in response to the opportunities they were given.
I loved seeing a healthy Coles running well after the catch and leveling DBs when blocking. That one pass play where he dragged defenders for another 25 yards after the catch was fantastic! Dude was on fire!
Agreed.
Interestingly enough, DJ Coles might actually have a decent shot as an NFL TE. 6'4", 240 and already a better-than-average blocker.
Nice breakdown. I have a hard time diagnosing the play while I'm watching, so these posts are invaluable for giving me the opportunity to see what we're actually doing.
I do have a semi-offtopic question though. On Miami's first long touchdown run, I was sure that Henderson should have been called for holding/block in the back on Bonner. The play starts at 1:15 on Billdozer's video, and at 1:17 you can see that he gets one hand on the front of Bonner's shoulder but Henderson applies most of his drive through the hand on Bonner's back. I'm a little shaky on what exactly constitutes holding, but was this a missed call or just a good block? It seemed a little prominent to be missed if it was holding.
Also, some of the camera angles we are given are less than ideal for following the blocking intricacies you are pointing out. Is there any realistic possibility of getting the all-22 film during the offseason? I know it is distributed among schools, so theoretically there wouldn't be any problems making it generally available. However, it doesn't appear that anyone actually does that.
Def a block in the back but the only thing I saw that might have helped the non-call was bonner was moving in that direction with his back towards the run. Was he blocked yes but it was weird looking, he was trying to pirouette back to play and got blocked out. Also down the field there was another clip
On the Bonner play, I thought contact started on the shoulder for Bonner and then slid to the back. It is the initial contact point that determines if there is a penalty.
That being said, if you are Bonner, you have to put up some resistance to Henderson. Just holding his position for a moment would have resulted in Coley cutting back, and then Tyler or Kyle Fuller coming across from the other side have a chance to make the play. It wasn't the only play where Bonner did not do a good job on his gap fit, and Foster noticed it. As the game wore on, we started to see Der'Woun Greene getting some snaps in place of Bonner.
The reality is, Bonner is still a corner playing free safety. It is a great fit when playing a spread team where offenses are going to try to get a receiver matched up with the free safety, but it doesn't work so well when you are playing a power running team and you are counting on that safety for run support near the line of scrimmage.
Was Greene playing FS with Bonner out of the game? I saw Greene playing FS with Bonner playing Nickel late in the game.
First series of the 2nd half I thought Greene was in for Bonner, and then when Miami went into the shotgun Bonner came in for Trimble.
As crazy of a task as ball control became in the early part of that game, I'd love to give kudos to Coles and Knowles for their awareness and jumping on those fumbles on those 2 plays in the redzone. Love seeing the running game work, and LT's ability to convert some crazy 3rd downs.
I also kept saying after Florida State whacked Miami they weakened to a tropical depression. After losing that bad too us I'd say they aren't even a named storm.
Heck, even the Storm left long ago...
Glad he's at UCF ( go knights), cause he's a pretty damn good running back. Very similar running style to the Johnson that's out for Miami
Thanks for the awesome write up. Seems to me everyone is playing with more awareness and intent. We by and large have good kids on this team. Having them play together, purposefully and I think this offense will be fun to watch. If this team could get healthy and continue progressing, would love to see an ACC Championship game against a worthy opponent. I know it seems a bit of a long shot, but we might give them a run for their money. Too bad the winner wouldn't get to play Alabama!
Really think the program is headed in the right direction. A year from now everyone will have more experience in the system and I think will be playing more cohesively with more emotion not letting their head tie up their feet. I'm sure he's worried about injuries, putting his backfield back together, but I have to imagine that Bud is ecstatic, giddy even about this offensive performance.
Our defense did a great job in stopping the run, all game. With Miami's sheer speed and physical talent, we were very fortunate that except for a few big plays, they couldn't drive down the field and score.
I was snot bubbling the whole time I was reading!
Also, we can't discount how much the phsycohology damage was done to Miami's special teams after two turnovers on punt returns. They started to play almost too safe after that. Kudos to AJ Hughes for starting the frenzy.
WE HAVE A RUNNING GAME: THIS CALLS FOR CELEBRATION!!!!!
I agree with all said and don't want to spoil the party.
But...um...why just now with these designs from Loeffler? I saw more bootleg, more under-center, and more everything-other-than-shotgun-read-option run looks than I've seen all year. It was great, but it also made me wonder what we could've done to Duke or BC with some of that.
Its a fair point, but also if our offense had executed properly the plays what were called (which includes avoiding turnovers), we'd be singing a different tune. Second guessing play calling is easy, but we have to keep in mind sometimes the problem is execution.
And that is a fair point as well (look at us being all civil!)
But I really don't think that's the case here. I've been wondering where the under-center looks have been all year, especially given how Loeffler has emphatically underlined the need for his offense to start from under center. And as french pointed out in the beginning of the article, we consistently saw the Duke and BC defenses running a seventh man into a play to blow it up repeatedly, with (me now, not french) the fake sweep looks being our repeated attempt to neutralize that. I did some screenshots on another board after BC showing how the D just simply did not move off their spots at all because of that action, not a single flinch towards the fake. So it was great to see some true bootleg looks early on to keep that safety at bay all night.
based on limited film review it looked to me like Logan sold fakes a lot better in this game than in some previous games as well. I don't think that hurts, as our play action and bootleg action has been pretty weak for as long as i can remember.
For whatever reason, he felt like going with this gameplan on Saturday. Whether that was trying to have LT get hit less, 3 more weeks of practice in a new system with young players, or some type of epiphany, we will likely never know.
My hunch is the middle one...I know Loeffler is new, but programatically, Frank seems to run the kind of shop where you show it on the practice field every day the same before you get to do it on Saturday.
My thoughts exactly.
I think Loeffler saw what previous teams did. Short crossing routes for big plays and straight up runs Wake ran crossing routes all day and picked up big plays, UNC ran crossing routes and so did GT. The biggest thing was our defense made them 1 dimensional, we stopped the run.
I also would like to believe that Gibson played where he should, he made a lot of good blocks. The whole OL stepped up after the last 2 weeks and played very well.
Those plays have always been there (note my film reviews lamenting the lack of bootlegs against East Carolina and Marshall) but Loeffler has not trusted his tailbacks to make the plays. You can't run bootleg if the stretch play isn't viable, and this week proved that you can't run the stretch play unless the bootleg is viable.
I ran a wing-t offense in high school, and the bread and butter play was the buck sweep or "38 series." It featured four plays that all used identical back field action. The only thing that changed was the pulling linemen and who got the ball. The tailback ran a sweep. The fullback ran a trap. There was a built in reverse. The quarterback bootlegged away from the sweep.
In order for every play to be as dangerous as possible, you had to at least show all the other plays. The trap burned the linebacker for over pursuit on the sweep (and the trap was the most likely big play.) The reverse and the bootleg made sure that the back side defenders stayed at home, and the sweep (which was the meat and potatoes play) got your stead 4-5 yard gains. If the defense started cheating, you could burn them. That is good offense.
The Hokies have inside zones, outside zones, zones with a rocket motion that acts as a reverse, and bootlegs. Each compliments the other. Until Saturday night, we have not seen a game where all four were used in the same game. You ask why? Loeffler isn't an idiot. I have to say it is that he didn't trust his skill guys to execute. Saturday, he found his comfort level and the kids responded. And, Miami pretty much did everything wrong in their scheme to stop the Hokies, which was strange given that they had two weeks of film showing how to fluster Thomas.
Thx french, nicely put explanation. Was thinking it had to be something similar, as I find it unproductive to begin an inquiry by assuming that highly paid professionals are incompetent (though, sadly, sometimes they are).
I was worried my question would be taken as a rhetorical venting, when in fact it's straight up serious - we haven't been showing the full complement of pieces it takes to make this offense work, and it was clear from how some relatively mediocre defenses made plays on us the last couple weeks. So, thanks again for the response.
You can't run the stretch play if the TE and OT's can seal the edge. Your examples demonstrated vast improvementon that block this week. Maybe we are seeing more comfort with Cline and McLaughlin?
(I've thought for a while that Malleck's loss was by far the biggest we have had this year. It's probably cost us a game, maybe two. It's been hidden because Cline is an excellent pass catcher...but his blocking is a work in progress. And, no Malleck also changed who we had in for our goalline package.)
I have watched the progression of this and of that either installed or progressed while we scratch our head and say, "Why is Thomas getting all this work?"
I really do think this is the scheduled implementation of the scheme. Everything was scheduled with the hope that at the Miami game we would be able to execute all the various installed pieces and win enough games in the meantime, leaning on The Defense and Thomas along with whoever showed up as a playmaker.
The thing is, because we couldn't run counters and all the things to make the various pieces work. In the meantime, we run as many options and let Thomas see if he can work with the limited schematic tools in place.
It worked to an extent. Leaning on Thomas so much generated errors. It also generated wins. Alabama loss was expected. Errors lost Duke and BC. But, everyone came together when the tools were all pulled out of the box and used. Because all the tools were used, execution was actually easier.
Like French says, each piece keeps the defense from cheating.
I'm just curious if the coaches pointed to a spot on the calendar with their bony fingers and said here, this it eh critical game, it must be right here at the Miami game. Try to win every game before that with as many pieces have been taught at that point, not before, except the Alabama game.
ah, musings, nothing to back it up.
Thank French, again nice analysis.
I think this is a good time to state how much I like the new hires by Beamer. Every week, you've seen the offensive line and receivers get better. Even the QB. Although Logan has been inconsistent, you can see he's progressed so far from the 2012 days. All around, all 3 position coaches have been great.
Loeffler is only in his 3rd year as OC, and I wonder how long it took some of the great offensive minds to get to that elite level. Was Chip Kelley a great play caller in his first couple of years? Or did he have some off games in which he used to learn and get better? Will Loeffler become an elite OC? I guess we'll see. But with the ability of VT's position coaches, I am confident the offense will get better each and every year. Sprinkle in some playmakers in the backfield and on the edge with recruiting, then I think VT's offense will become perennial top 30 offense.
I always like to see Aaron Moorehead and Logan interacting...in life I'm a big fan of cross-discipline collaboration and training, and it's good to see these guys doing it as well on the field so visibly and so often.
I think part of that is because Moorehead is the go-between for Loeffler in the box and LT on the field.
In and of itself, it's a brilliant idea to have the WR coach as the relay between the QB and the box. There's so much potential for in-game tweaks and improvements between the QB and receivers when that's the case. If LT can look Moorehead and say, "Hey, here's what I'm seeing," then we can adapt on the fly.
I like the way it's set up. I think I'm going to really like Moorehead as a coach too. The receivers are playing lightyears better than they were at the beginning of the season. I think he's really turned that group around!
Indeed. I love what Moorehead has done, and he was considered a pretty risky hire because he doesn't have much experience. What Grimes has done with the patchwork line has been pretty impressive, too. They've performed very well this season, as French has noted, and certainly better than I expected.
indeed, you are probably right that he is the go-between but then I like that even more because the organization is designed efficiently.
I'm not so sure it's a good comparison of Loeffler to Kelly. Kelly inherited a top-10 offense when he moved from New Hampshire to Oregon for the 2007 season, whereas SL inherited a dumpster fire, one year after he inherited a dumpster fire soaked with gasoline.
A look at Oregon's "Total offense" rankings (I know not the best method, but still a decent enough look) from 2005 to 2011:
05: 18
06: 9
07: 10
08: 7
09: 33
10: 1
11: 4
Best offensive line execution in 2 years.
I watched TE14's TD on the shotgun sweep like 20 times.
Tracy Howard (Miami #3) wanted NO part of Edmunds on that one.
Nice write up..great film study..looking forward to the team building on this game.
great work french ... and i agree with you on a few things ... we all love JC and there are definitely moments when he should be in there getting work, keeping the D on their toes ... but 3rd and short, 4th and 1 ... those are not the times. i'll give the dude props .. he took some hits and kept on getting up and rolling. it was nice to see a 1st and goal from the 9 and think to yourself -- no way we can get in without throwing -- and be proved wrong.
French as always great write up, I only see a fraction of this stuff when watching the game. It was an awesome game to watch - great effort, great play calling and great execution, but the technical explanations make it even sweeter. Thanx!!! Now lets see if we can build on this and finish strong. GO HOKIES!!!
its great to be able to read these and not have to be frustrated by what we did. great job french. i hope we can keep this momentum on the offensive side for the rest of the year
On the 4th video, the Miami DB is really lobbying for a holding call...how close do you guys think Coles was to getting whistled?
VERY. As in, I think it was probably a hold. But I'm no football rules expert. So maybe others can weigh in.
I mainly felt compelled to give you my take because I'm quick to blame the refs and wonder 'what if' when I feel they've missed a call that went against us - especially for points as that one did. So this is my attempt at avoiding hypocrisy. You do have to wonder though... what if they hadn't called that motion penalty against Coles in the Duke game that took 7 off the board? Would we have won? And would we have won if that touchdown came off the board against Miami for a hold? I mean, we obviously won by more than 7, but you never know how things would change the whole trajectory of a game.
But anyway, it's all a part of the game (ref mistakes), so you just have to find a way to win regardless of what happens...
Live, I thought we were gonna get pushed back 10 right there. The thing that I think keeps the flag in the ref's pocket is (assuming he was looking there) DJ's left hand coming off as the guy starts turning. Up to that point, it definitely looks like Coles is pushing him downfield/to the side (whether or not that's reality is debatable). Had DJ kept his hands on him and the ref had seen the defender trying to pull away, that would've been an easy holding call. Good job by DJ.
SO GOOD!!! No lets hope Miami bounces back and we finish out like this for the next two games. I just want us back in the ACCCG again. If we were to get there and play like Saturday we have a chance.
Thanks, French. Well done as always.
During the entire game I said to myself over and over, I can't wait to see what TKP has to say about this Offensive dominance.
It's been an exciting week. Lets take it to the Terps!!
Long time lurker, first time poster. Thanks French for the continued excellent analysis. It is only through the lens of your analysis that I can appreciate the value in hiring Loefflera and the new staff. You also talked me off the ledge as I watched the dumpster fire that was the 2012 season.
The simple fact that VT has an offensive system with some logic (and the death of the d**n bubble screen) is progress. It is also impressive that the new staff has taken several linemen that we wrote off a year ago mixed in new linemen and turned them into a dependable unit. I can't wait to see this system improve and evolve over the next several years as new players cycle in and the become experienced in the system. I think that will only lead to more recruits wanting to play in the system, which in turn will further improve the offense.
It is hard to explain what happened with BC & Duke. I chalk it up to Loeffler experimenting and just not having a perfect day at work. If I had to be perfect on the job every day I'd be shown the door by 9 am. But I'm awesome at drinking coffee, checking email and catching up on TKP, so I'd definitely make it an hour even on my worst day.
Just a comment on the darn bubble screen (that's what you typed, right?), we've gotten quite a few very nice gains off of that play. Case in point: Byrn going for 11 off of a BEAUTIFUL block by DJ Coles this past Saturday. When you get good blocking from other WRs, a well-placed ball, and a receiver who can get upfield, the bubble screen can extremely effective.
Plus calling it only once or twice a game. Instead of 6 times a half.
Wang's been hanging about, but now is starting to fully come around.
I get out the whiskey, pour myself a drink, put the DVR on re-play and then walk my way through all the amazing explanations from French. I hope all of us realize (and appreciate) how much time and effort he spends on teaching us more about this game (and team) that we all love so much. Thanks French, I tip both my glass (18 year old Macallan) and my hat to ya. Thanks for the great work!
Sam Rogers pancake dot gif
I feel like this post should have used all caps.
The subtleties of football; not only does Rogers get the block, but Edmunds sets up the block by threatening the defenders inside shoulder and then bouncing outside. #52 loses his balance trying to cross Rogers face. I wish I could say that was intentional by Edmunds but in reality he bounces because the freeze fake by Logan didn't hold up the linebacker coming from the middle.
Also, DAT BLOCK BY COLES.
I'm still getting used to this rule that says WR's can block. Why haven't we used it before?
And wasn't Cline taking care of business just slightly off-camera?
Coles block was probably a hold (hell his arms are basically grabbing both sides of the DB) but thank god the effort is there this season. Cline's block wasn't perfect either but he drew the defender into the end zone and got in his way long enough for Edmunds to reach the end zone.
It wasn't as bad as hold as two the right tackle pulled on Gayle that didn't get called. Henderson had the him wrapped up with a handful of jersey ON HIS BACK and no call.
I don't think that was much of a hold, and if so, maybe gets called 1 out of 10 times.
Defender's jersey is green.
Grass is green.
Sam still Smash hurricane into lawn.
I don't know about certain hobbits... but this Sam doesn't just drop eves, he drops an entire house.
There are lots of dick jokes in this thread, but in all seriousness, both Caleb Farris and David Wang have been vastly improved all season. Yes, they finally got to the edge this game, but the footwork has been there all season with only the East Carolina game really being a poor effort. Nobody is harder on offensive line play than I am, but they have been so much better than the group over the last couple of years fundamentally coupled with great effort. Don't buy into the narrative about the offensive line struggling this year. It isn't true.
I agree. Nobody was HARDER on them.
Nothing warms a writer's heart more than the knowledge that his analysis resulted in 85 dick metaphors!
sometimes things have to be measured different ways
Like the performance of our Wang?
I think he's just finally using all that aggression on the field instead of to play COD. Can you imagine going through your whole life being call "Little Wang"? It would make you very angry too.
Never seen a Wang measured by height before. Or weight for that matter.
French, your write ups and analysis are light years ahead of the rest of the stuff out there. I feel like their writing and analysis is so flaccid.
Also these write-ups are like a good Budweiser, always fills me up and never let's me down.
Fat finger down vote, my apologies. Someone help me out?
EDIT: I wanted to make another Wang joke but my clumsiness ruined the mood and I just couldn't get it in.
Don't think that could have been put more eloquently. I think you just found them a new sponsor.
Thanks. Also nice pull with the Men At Work gif.
Your write ups really give the other journalists the shaft.
I just wish the Hokie's Wang could have gotten the ball at some point and not been denied his pussy touchdown.
One of the few drives I got to see live and when I saw the touchdown replay, I saw him "widen out" the DE. All I could think was, this is exactly what french was talking about. What a well executed block. Now that they gave the RBs enough touches last week, lets hope they build on that and one of them gets over 100 yards.