Interesting article here http://sports.yahoo.com/news/hokies-qb-thomas-excels-2-191144367--ncaaf.... Here is a c/p of the beginning of the article.
Virginia Tech's offense hasn't quite clicked the way it needs to, especially if the No. 13 Hokies are going to play their way into the national championship picture.
The time it has been sharpest is when quarterback Logan Thomas runs the 2-minute attack.
Coach Frank Beamer said he and the coaching staff planned to try to figure out why this week as the Hokies (2-0) prepare for their first road trip of the season. They play Pittsburgh (0-2) on Saturday.
''I think when we hurry up like that and Logan is in charge, he seems to function very well in that kind of setting,'' Beamer said. ''So we are going to look at all that here this coming week.''
Wide receiver Dyrell Roberts thinks he knows why.
''It's really like he's doing his own thing in the offense,'' Roberts said. ''We look to him to what plays he wants to run because it's ultimately up to him in the 2-minute situation, so I think that's kinda what he's comfortable with, being able to give us the signal and ... he kinda already sees what he sees with the coverage and knows where he going with the ball and being able to not second-guess himself.
''I mean, he really just knows where it is that he wants to go because he's calling the plays.''
It is obvious what this boils down to for this Hokies fan. Play calling. Tyrod Taylor, Logan Thomas or all most anybody for that matter can come up with better play calls than our guys in the up in the booth aka Tweetledee and Tweetledum.
Comments
Play Calling
When Logan gets calls from the box, what is his freedom to change the play thru audibles at the line? Is it frowned upon, if he keeps changing the plays, play after play? Just looking for some insight...
Plays
Apparently, the give him a choice of 6 plays to choose from at the line of scrimmage when the clock is moving and in the hurry up he pretty much gets to choose the plays. But when the clock is stopped the send in 1 play for him without anything to change to. So after reading this article it is clear to me that LT3 is a better offensive coordinator than O'cainspring and we should just let him choose whatever play he wants and quit letting the coach's call the shitty plays they enjoy calling.
This reminds me...
Wasn't this the case with Tyrod as a Junior?
same thing happened with tyrod
we'd stall out all game, but once we got into the 2 minute, what do ya know? all of a sudden we'd move the ball.
Play Calling
So you mean to tell me that our second year starting QB that was recruited as a tight end is a better play caller than two coaches that are getting paid huge salaries to sit in to coaches box and run the offense... wow, that speaks volumes.
On a positive note... at least we have plays that work in our playbook when called properly and our guys have been taught well enough to execute when desperately needed. The quote above also make me feel comfortable with Logan's leadership skills knowing that the players trust him.
The GT game was just blowing out the pipes and looked like what we would expect from an opening game. Against AP the starters looked warn out but once they had that sense of urgency at the end of the half, they performed.
I still predict that we see something special in this game tomorrow. Not going to judge our offense just yet!
Guys, use your brains
Taking an educated guess, I'd say that the reason Logan has success running the 2 minute drill is because the offense is simplified for him. He's only choosing from a handful of plays to begin with, most likely from the same basic formation (shotgun), and his comfort level with those plays is evident. I think it's a little unfair to blame all the offensive struggles on coaching... with a sample size of 2 opponents, it's too early to tell in my opinion. I know it's frustrating to see the offense struggle, but I feel that we sometimes overlook the execution on the field. French did a good job breaking down our offensive strategy for the Austin Peay game, which boiled down to "vanilla."
My point being, with a bunch of younger inexperienced guys running an offense that's still evolving, I think we should be a little more objective than to point the finger at the coaching staff. That is all for now...
Just think though...
I agree it's too early to judge, but you have to admit that there is a clear difference between the way our offense moves in the hurry-up two-minute drill as opposed to the normal huddle offense. Therefore, there has to be SOME variable that is making that work better. I'm not discounting your statements, just saying that maybe we should give credit to LT3 in some of these situations. He may be smarter than some of us are giving him credit for.
And just think, if he comes back next year and has been running this offense for two seasons and running it this well, and with three or four quality running backs with at least a season under each's belt... We could be NASTY next season on offense AND defense. Our first complete team since '99 some may argue.
This seems to have been discussed by French/Joe already.
The 2 min drill is basically LT's 5 favorite plays. Pick 1. Of course he excels at it. And of course you can't run those same 5 plays all game or they wouldn't be effective. We will likely soon see somewhat of a reversal in the production out of the 2-min offense if we are indeed running the same 5 plays...quality defenses can gameplan that advantage out.
This "coaches can't call plays as well as LT" thread has been everywhere in VT circles this week. It's completely simplifying the issues and misses the much richer discussion about playcalling as a full game composition.
Also
the other reason teams over perform in the hurry-up is the defense is on its heels and has no time to get set. I would love to see more hurry up against the better teams on the schedule, but attributing its success to play calling is kind of missing the point.
Agreed, its early still...
The way I look at it, GT game is an outlier of our schedule, no matter where it falls during the season due to CPJ's high school offense and the Al Groh factor. And having AP five days later, there has to be emotional and physical challenges for the guys having just played a physical GT game. Plus, w/AP. I'm sure the coaches wanted to do vanilla to get some 2nd teamers in, get out w/o injuries, and not reveal too much. There's a lot of football left to play. Hopefully, there's not a lot of idiotic playcalling left, but we have to at least give them the courtesy of proving our worst fears unfounded.
i'm not concerned
so much with the playcalling. i think that it's been decent and it's too early to say anything that bad about the offense. the play of some of our oline concerns me some though but we'll see now that they've been given some rest (miller is still banged up though).
what concerns me is the way that we "ease into a game" .. i can't remember a time where we could say that a game was already out of hand by early to middle 2nd quarter. if we could ever get some points on the board quickly, it helps our defense a lot. they can cycle guys in, keep guys fresh, be more creative with blitzes (without fearing the run). if we can give our defense a 2-touchdown cushion, there are very few teams that we'd have to worry about on our schedule that have the offensive ability to come back on our defense like that.
Out of hand games by 2nd Quarter
2011 - UVA
2010 - UVA, Duke, Wake
Yea, so, they can get up early and dominate, but it is pretty rare. And, then in some games, (i.e. Duke in 2011, 2009), it's painful how they let the game stay so close.
and agreed
about next season .. WAY to early to start talking about but i'd have to think that if no one leaves early for the nfl (especially LT), we're probably a pre-season top 5 team next year along with bama who we'll play in the first game.
Not a VT thing, but a general phenomenon
So many QBs are more comfortable and at ease in the 2-minute drill. Last week in the NFL, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning were terrible in a huddle offense, but excelled in the no-huddle.
I looked for statistics in scoring breakdown by minute, but couldn't find it. However, I am willing to bet there are more points scored in the last 2 minutes before halftime than any other 2 minute period. Thus, it's not a VT O'Cainspring phenomenon, but general phenomenon in football and why many teams are going to no huddle in all phases of the game.
I, for one, am a proponent for mixing in no huddle in non-2 minute situations, but not full-time. VT's backbone is defense, and the more minutes our offense is on the field, the more fresh the defense is.