Recent Comments
Great breakdown and analysis of our offensive woes. Unfortunately, I'm not convinced Stinespring has the intimate knowledge of any single offense necessary to implement the necessary changes. When we take a crash course on new offenses every year and try to integrate them into our own, it scares the shit out of me. I have no problem with us talking concepts with different coaches, but we shouldn't be installing whole schemes just to run some a few plays from a new, bastardized set.
That is excellent. Note that the Vince Young touchdown came out of a regular spread, not the pistol. While on the actual touchdown was a run/pass option on a straight dropback, but the counter read was their primary running play and Young ran it repeatedly all that year. The running back moved across the QB's face just like the power lead that Logan used last year, but the unblocked man is the backside defensive end. I SCREAMED for the Hokies to add exactly that play all last year as a counter to the lead play. Out of the spread, Logan can still have his momentum going forward, and that may give him the extra burst he wouldn't have from a dead standstill.
The best example I have seen recently is the touchdown run that the Arkansas State QB scored against the Hokies this year. The DE had dive, and they optioned the whip (JWG.) JWG froze inside, and the QB beat him to the line.
The pistol, spread, singlewing, prostyle or whatever. An offense that does not operate within a series of plays will only grab bag its play calling. A series is a set of plays that start with one "bread and butter" play that the offense has so perfected, the OC will call it from any down & distance at any point on the field(think Packer Sweep). I will use the unbalanced line single wing for an example because of its simplicity. The UBLSW was invented by Pop Warner for one reason: Run the ball strong-side off-tackle by creating conflict between the defensive end and the defensive tackle. This gap is the weakest point of any defense and has been since the rule changes of 1906. The single wing coach will hammer, over and over, the off-tackle hole until the defense over adjusts to the play. The defense will now have become unprincipaled in its response to an overwhelming number of blockers in the D-gap. Counters, traps, sweeps, and playaction now become available to the offense. The defense now has to adjust again back to playing principled football or it will give huge chunks of yards.. Right back to off-tackle goes the offense! The idea is to force an overreaction from the defense, and then exploit it. If Frank and Stiney commit to running the Pistol as a series, success will be theirs. However, using it as a gimmick or a change-up to what they do now, will only waste precious amounts of practice time, imo.
turns the corner in a pistol formation, who does he get to truck first?
I have any better indication as how this will play out but I believe keeping the RB for the dive while allowing Logan the option for the edge plays into keeping the QB from going head to head with linemen or backers. We've seen variations wherein LT has gone up the gut free of contact to simply have to bulldoze the safety. With him going to the outside it seems as French said to cause hesitation at the mesh point. however, if you recall Vince young playing in the National Title game vs USC he had the option and burned the edge for that last minute TD. Now, LT may not be as athletic but taking the corner for 4,5,6, etc extra yards running out of bounds gets short yardage and keeps the QB safe matching him against the secondary. This may be totally wrong but this what came to mind for me.
To risk exposing my ignorance, is there any reason why we couldn't tweak the mid-line read option dive to make LT the dive man on a QB keep hand have the tailback be the one to turn it outside on a hand off? Yes I get that this would fundamentally alter the play, but I don't see a prima facie reason why that tweak wouldn't be possible. I can't really imagine why you'd have to really even change the way it was blocked (though I'm admittedly not a blocking guru). Seems like you'd just have to modify the keep/give mechanics between LT and Holmes, and you'd keep playing to LT's strengths like we do with the shotgun zone read. Like you, I do NOT see LT as a corner threat.
Need some background checks at the bookstore.
I think Shane may be convincing Frank that the Spring game is more important for recruiting than in the past. VT is going all out this weekend to impress recruits with the 300 alumni, bar-b-que, and everything else. If they go too vanilla on the field, that's not going to impress recruits. We'll see.
It's definitely navy blue, saw it a couple weeks ago when I was there.
beamer will be scared someone is scouting tech and will go straight vanilla and not run 1 play that isn't basic ... i.e. no counters, no pistol, no nothing.
for my attendance. driving 5 hours both ways to sit in the rain with a bitching wife and miserable kids ... won't happen.
mumble, grumble, mumble.
post. I definitely agree with you about Logan running out of the pistol. By most accounts we have been hearing about a lot of jet motions in the pistol from the Wr's mainly Roberts who was a rb in high school you think that this could be an effective wrinkle to add to counter what could be one weakness of logan which is getting around the end we all know what he can do once he gets up field.
Wow, sorry guys, I screwed up the title. It should be "Identity" not "Execution." But, I hope you enjoy the rest of the material, typos and all!
You can always bring snacks if you hide them properly...
But HokieSports.com says that concessions will be available as well. http://www.hokiesports.com/football/gameday/
David Wilson will be at the bookstore at 1 to sign autographs. That's the only one I know of.
Awesome post, Freshman.
AWWWWWWW SHIIIIIIIT
Weaver did the right thing letting things cool off for a few years but resuming the series in a revenue sport is a positive. Hopefully these games will go without a hitch and we can resume the fb series too. I still hate wvu more than any other school and have yearned to shut them up on the football field ever since 05. We'll prolly get our asses handed to us next year but hey, ya never know.
And to answer your question Joe: Hell no I aint goin! Maryland and ECU are bad enough, I dare not step into the black lands of West by God rockin the O&M.
1. Painter and Bennedict. By all reports Painter has had a tremendous spring, either holding his own or getting the better of James Gayle in 1 v 1 work. I need to see that in person so I don't have to sustain myself on a diet of lorazepam this summer. Bennedict has received mixed reviews, and I want to see how limited his range really is.
2. The secondary. Obviously I'm intrigued to see Exum at corner, but the reserves Aromire, Cole, Norman, and Manning will get most of my attention.
3. J.C. Coleman, because there's a lot of hype there.
Now, Weaver raised the salaries of the assistant coaches to match Clemson, pretty reactionary. I don't want him making a new coaching hire either, but that's the pickle we're in. If the team has another bad season, what's worse, riding out Seth's contract or Weaver making the hire?
They are in the works, but the weather will have to participate. If there's better than a 50/50 shot it'll be by the south end zone.
That would be sweet but stupid Navy has other plans. Have fun with it bro.
Uhhh pretty sure VT would always be in purely on sexiness...
Nice hit but it would be more comforting if he wrapped him up and nailed him instead of throwing a shoulder tackle, too many times they bounce off and get additional yds
For those of you trying to picture the play I would like to see the Hokies add, see this video of Oregon. There is nothing tricky (it is a basic play that a ton of DI teams use) but the Hokies variation always has the QB as a dive playside. Having Logan occasionally "splitting" the defense by going away from the tailback creates more space for the tailback (or allows Logan to have 5-7 yards of open space to build momentum to truck safeties.) It doesn't replace the lead play, but it supplements it enough to give the Hokies the opportunity to option and trap a variety of players on the defensive line. Then, they are even more back on their heels when the power lead play is coming, and nobody should be standing on the tracks when the big train comes though.
And, for what it is worth, the more I watch of Drew Harris on film, the more I think he will be the second running back, with Scales as the 3rd down back (if he is healthy.) His highlights show a player who is a natural fit in the Hokies old one back set (where the running back flows with the zone blocks, plants his outside foot on the 3rd step, and then selects a cutback lane), yet also shows a player who can get to the line effectively to run the buck sweep and veer out of the shotgun. I doubt he starts because of his lack of familiarity with blitz pickups, but this kid is only going to be in Blacksburg 3 years. With Coleman struggling, Harris may get the chance to avoid the redshirt instead of Coleman.