Recent Comments

This is the first year in a kabillion where Paul Johnson has not had a B Back on track for a 1000 yard season. I chalk it up to being young at G-C-G, but a large part of it I think is other schools looking to take away the dive first and forcing us outside with the ball. Another thing to keep in mind is with Dwyer and Allen, we used to run a lot of double option with the B as the pitch guy, and we're not doing near as much of that this year because of our relative strength at A back, who are more natural pitch recipients anyway.

VT's approach defensively the past few years has been to line up in an even front, with nobody in the field side B gap, and to motion a LB into that gap presnap. The intent with that is to goob up the reads, because the linebacker goes from being read to blocked, or blocked to read, depending on the count in the play. So you're showing a four man front then motioning into a five man front before the snap. VT has done this in 2010 and 2009, but I can't remember in 08 because I wasn't following the Xs and Os that closely, and didn't know what to look for.

That might be what you're calling "VT's Gap Defense," I'll admit to not knowing a whole lot about Bud's philosophy, but it's certainly something I've noticed about how you approach defending us.

The key to defending GT is soo much simpler than all this tactical crap. Any GT fan can tell by the end of the first quarter if we're going to score any points or not. Are we blocking you, or are you avoiding our blocks? That's the only important question. If we're blocking well then our scheme wins on pure math. If you're beating our blocks then the math fails and the scheme collapses. It's super simple.

Thank you for the feedback and the numbers. I have only had an opportunity to watch bits a pieces of three Georgia Tech games this year, Miami, UVA, and Clemson, and I did notice that the fullback wasn't getting quite as many big hitters up the middle. The premise of those dive plays being "big plays" is similar to the use of the fullback trap out of the buck-sweep "38" series in the wing-t. The tackles get upfield so much that they almost take themselves out of the play, which allows extra blockers on the linebacker. It is so quick hitting, that unless it get stopped right at the point of attack, the fullback can get to the 3rd level almost immediately, hence the big plays.

VT's primary focus the last 4 years has been stopping the fullback, and except for 2009 they have really done a good job. Their second focus has been pitch, which on the traditional option has not hurt them badly. Unfortunately with the option, the more you take away one player, the more things open up for other players, and in this case, Virginia Tech has forced the quarterback to beat them 3-5 yards at a time, in the hope that the pounding will lead to turnovers. Also (for reason that would require more film study than I have time for) Virginia Tech' outside linebackers and DE's have struggled mightly to contain Georgia Tech's quick pitch play to the motion back, especially in short yardage.

Miami's defense (which was absolutely awful against VT) figured out how to defeat the triple option almost 25 years ago with their success using the 4-3 against Big 8 team like Oklahoma. Up until that time, most team played wishbone defense using a 5-2 look, which is essentially a 3-4 but with very little pass responsibility for the OLBs. The front 7 played assignment football, manned their gaps, and tackled their assignments. Miami changed everything with the 4-3. Some of that dominance stemmed from Miami having much better athletes in their front seven, but I also think that Jimmy Johnson decided to get his guys upfield and dictate the down and distance to the defense. Their great athleticism made up for the times where they got trapped or blew and assignment. 25 years later, we saw Miami and UVA both use the 4-3 to stymie Georgia Tech.

The scary news for the Hokies is, their gap defense, while looking somewhat similar to the 4-3, has very different fundamentals and has more in common with the old 5-2. When you add that the Hokies can't slant, stunt, or blitz out of that look, it essentially means the defense has had one week to completely "unlearn" how to play their system. This year, luckily we have two, but the injuries mean there will be a tremendous amount of pressure, especially to the whip side where Gayle has been dinged up, and we can expect Kyle Fuller to be playing whip linebacker. We know he can tackle, but can he beat crack back blocks? This will be a war folks.

You jokers who say losing to the Hoos is an option are funny. I mean I am guessing thats a joke, right? I'm with Joe, losing to UVA just cant happen and losing to GT pretty much puts us out of the Championship Game. I will be at the UNC game, but I would suffer through a loss if it gives us another shot at Clemson. If you think we don't have the talent to beat Clemson, you're wrong. Teams have been putting up points on them and we can score as well. Our offense had their worst game of the year and our defense held them to 20 points when we played them earlier this season. I like our chances WHEN we get that rematch.

I'm sure they're doing the "more than three drinks at once is binge drinking and abuse" thing. And so I'm very surprised its only 57% Hell, I'm pretty sure 100% of the people I knew qualified under those terms...

WVU
ASU
Arkansas
Oregon
Kansas State
LSU

WVU - winning easily
ASU - this is my first bet in 2 years against a cheerleader picture
SOUTH CAROLINA CMON AND RAISE UP
Oregon - i really don't know what to say about that picture
Oklahoma State - really hope Gepetto doesn't screw this pick up
LSU - MONEYLINE PUTTING THE RENT PAYMENT ON IT

'ville. Despite the noon kickoff, the beer WILL be flowing inside the stadium.
ASU Screw the Bruins.
Not Your Kansas, Not My Kansas, It's Our Kansas. Pig Suey adds to Spurriers headaches this year.
Oregon. LaMichael is BACK.
K-State, a hook. OSU will put up a ton, but win by 21...
LSU is an instant classic.

Crutches suck. What sucks worse is not knowing how or why your ankle is screaming like someone has a chainsaw to the outside of it. At least if it was broke, I would know.....

Owns his own Barrel of the Mark

I gotta say the analysis on this site makes watching our Hokies play even that much better. I look forward to the bloggers' pre and post game summaries here so I can learn even more. Good stuff! French60wasp you even made me google "A gap" to ensure i was on the right page with what you were talking about, actually found some good sites about that sort of thing. I, like many here, didn't play organized football so learning more of this stuff is pretty helpful. Maybe have more posts explaining parts of our offensive and defensive schemes? Thanks!!

i'll still take it!

CUZZINS (not fooled here, not one bit)
AZSU (staying burfict-ly in line for the inaugural pac12 championship)
AR-KANSAWWWW (ball coach is nothing without the best ball runner in the SEC /slaps trent richardson)
HUSKIES (only because of the picture. i honestly have no clue)
OKIES (kansas state can't control the ball nearly long enough to keep OSU off the board. nearly long enough=58mins)
LSU (bama doesn't have nearly enough offence to win this game by 4.5, maybe not enough to win at all)

Taking lots of chalk.

West VA
Arizona State
Arkansas
Oregon
Oklahoma State
LSU

WVU - If Louisville wasn't ten shades of terrible I'd pick them to cover. It'll be close for a half then WVU will blow them out.

ASU - This game reminds me of an all-organic pilsner I received in an otherwise delicious six pack sampler. WHY IS IT HERE?

Arkansas - And by a couple of scores too, BCO will rejoice by eating some ribs.

Oregon - It's like knowing red is going to hit every time.

K-State - I'm going out on a limb for Snyder and the Cats. K-State is a good team, but they started out 7-0 in part because the best teams they played were Baylor and at Miami. Now they play the meat of the Big 12 and it's conceivable they finish 8-4. I don't think they beat the Pokes, but I don't think they get blown out either.

BamaLSU - LSU wins, but give me Alabama and the points, my mom didn't raise a fool. Apparently she did, I thought LSU was the favorite. If this is going to be a game of field position, which everyone thinks it will be, LSU Has the best punter. That was my Frank Beamer analysis.

This weekend I'll be drinking all of the Maker's Mark.