The Hokies threw the ball all over the field on Saturday, often lining up in a four or even five wide formation to do it. Loeffler was branded as a run-first pro-style play caller, but on a day when his offensive line failed to get much push against a smaller, quicker defensive front, Loeffler resorted to spreading his opponent out to move the ball. It appeared as though Loeffler came into the game wanting to rush the ball early and often, but when the zone rushing scheme failed to fully blossom, Loeffler didn't hesitate to pull a 180. By the time the dust had settled in North Carolina, the Hokies had passed the ball 43 times out of a possible 77 plays, their pass-to-rush ratio being almost identical to ECU's.
For the most part, Loeffler had success with this strategy. Despite throwing the ball so much, the Hokies held onto the ball almost 13 minutes longer than the Pirates did. They also gained 258 yards through the air, and Logan completed 58% of his passes. Thomas still struggled with accuracy at times, but he was sharp on many 3rd-and-long throws. It's been said before, but there is a lot of potential for this passing attack and it's because of the guy under center. He was much better at finding his underneath receivers and not pushing the ball down the field when it wasn't necessary. If the offensive line is able to keep the pressure off of Logan, as Logan gets more comfortable making his reads, Loeffler will find ways to keep the passing attack one step ahead of the opposing defense.
Ready, Set, Play-Action?
Without a doubt, the biggest question I had during and after the game was why didn't Loeffler choose to use more play-action pass from under center? The biggest culprit for the lack of rushing success was undoubtedly poor execution by the offensive line, but if ECU was forced to respect Tech's play-action game I think it would have loosened up the ground game a little. I only saw two instances of Virginia Tech faking a handoff to a tailback from under center before a throw. One play resulted in a sack (I think that was a little unlucky, ECU just happened to have the perfect cornerback blitz called and Logan got hit almost as soon as he turned around). The other resulted in the touchdown to D.J. Coles.
00:14:30–00:14:37
The play works exactly how Loeffler drew it up. You can see the entire defense has their eyes in the backfield, including the safety responsible for stopping D.J. Coles. Why didn't Tech do any play-action from under center in the first half? Did Loeffler want to save those play-action looks for ACC play? Did Loeffler not trust his offensive line to block long enough? Was he worried about putting Logan in harm's way? The game left me with more questions than answers in regard to Tech's play-action game, although I believe that those mysteries will be solved come ACC time.
Even without asking his linemen to block a little longer by calling a play-action pass, Loeffler could have potentially increased his rushing numbers by calling more passing plays from under center. If linebackers have to worry about protecting the middle of the field from slants, then they will be a step or two slower reacting to the run. Now Logan probably prefers to throw short from a spread formation rather than a pro-style one like the I because the footwork and his reads are easier, so I understand why Tech threw almost exclusively from the spread. However, choosing to do so does mean that Tech sacrificed an opportunity to soften up a rushing defense. When conference play starts though, the Hokies will need to threaten the pass when under center if they're going to rush the ball.
Keepin' It Simple
Passing from four and five wide sets isn't the rocket science that a lot of people make it out to be. In a lot of ways, having that many wide receivers actually makes the quarterback's job easier. If a defense chooses to play man coverage, the quarterback can pick the best personnel matchup for the offense. If a defense decides to play some form of zone, the quarterback can pick a single defender to read and make his decision based on that defender's movements.
The game on Saturday was full of examples of Loeffler using a spread formation to make Logan's job easier. Here is Logan completing a pass down the field to D.J. Coles. He is able to make a strong, confident throw to Coles because of the simplicity of his task.
00:13:54–00:14:01
Logan's read here is on the field side safety. If that safety drops into a robber coverage, then the boundary safety must rotate over to defend the seam. That means that Logan knows that Coles can out leverage his corner to get open on a comeback route.
D.J. Coles is left one-on-one to the boundary. Good, quick read by Logan.
Logan runs the same play later on. He is still reading the field side safety, and how the safety reacts will determine who Logan is throwing the ball too. When the safety creeps forward in a robber coverage, Logan again goes back to the boundary to attack the one-on-one coverage, this time to completing a pass to Stanford.
00:16:39–00:16:45
Later on in a third-and-long situation, Thomas sees the field safety drop into a deep coverage. He makes the correct read, waits for the safety to get run off by the seam route, and hits Knowles in front of the field corner. Keep in mind this is the exact same route design as the previous two clips, but because Logan's read reacted differently Logan had to throw it to a different receiver.
00:17:13–00:17:21
I don't want to over simplify this concept though, a ton of game planning goes into the read and subsequent reaction. Logan has to know what the defense's tendencies are against the route combination. Different defensive coordinators will play this differently, and Loeffler will want to attack them differently. Determining which defender to read happens right before the snap. Logan has to know heading into the game who he is reading on this play to get the desired outcome. There have been many great quarterback prospects who were capable of learning all the pre-snap reads, but never made it onto the field. If a QB can learn those pre-snap reads, his work is only half done. Once the play is occurring, diagnosing the read in realtime is and making the right decision based on his actions is an entirely different task. That is called the post-snap read. Logan has had some issues with his post-snap reads in the past, and although he had a decent game on Saturday that issue resurfaced.
00:06:55–00:07:02
On this play, Loeffler went to the play-action from the pistol. Logan's first read is Stanford on the deep route. ECU does a nice job at rotating a safety over to pick up Stanford, but that leaves a huge hole in coverage towards the boundary. Cline (who got a lot of work again on Saturday) runs a nice route into the middle of the field and is wide open. If Logan is quicker to recognize that the safety picks up Stanford's route, then he can drop it off to Cline underneath and probably pick up a first down.
Instead, Logan takes too long and a second of indecision allows the defenders to close the window underneath Cline, almost leading to an interception. The angle from the end zone shows just how open Cline was on the play.
00:40:33–00:40:42
Logan Is Improving
Did Logan Thomas play a perfect game? No, he didn't. But, Thomas is growing more comfortable in Loeffler's offense and managed to move the ball well enough with the short passing game that the Hokies won despite not breaking the 60-yard rushing mark.
So how did the Hokies manage to eat up so much clock, considering almost every run got stuffed? Logan and his receivers executed Loeffler's short yardage passing tactics. While getting some much needed practice working on the short passing game, the Hokies held onto the ball and got their defense some much deserved rest. Here was a tactic Loeffler used time and again to pick up short yardage.
00:03:24–00:03:31
In a five wide set, the Hokies run a triangle combination in front of Logan. Willie Byrn and Kalvin Cline run routes to occupy the underneath linebackers short of the line-to-gain, while Stanford runs an In/Curl route and sits in front of the corner and safety. I wrote about Loeffler's use of triangles in his passing game during the offseason, and it's nice to see it used effectively here. The only way to defend this from the defense's alignment would be to have a linebacker rotate in front of Stanford's route, but that would leave either Cline or Byrn open to catch the ball in open field. Here's an example.
00:10:45–00:10:51
The first time ECU's 3-4 defense rushed a MLB against this play, they left Logan with an easy throw to Stanford up the middle.
This time, the defense rushes an outside linebacker. The middle linebacker takes away Stanford's route at the "top of the triangle", but he loses the leverage necessary to defend Willie's route towards the sideline.
Loeffler had success with getting guys open with this concept all day. Here's one last example, just for fun.
00:17:05–00:17:12
Successful In-Game Adjustments
Loeffler does a nice job at adjusting to what the defense is throwing at him. One of those adjustments resulted in the longest pass play of the game, Knowles' 30-yard TD grab.
00:03:46–00:03:52
The Hokies actually took a timeout before this third-and-long play. Loeffler took the opportunity to draw up a play that would catch an ECU cornerback with his hand in the cookie jar. In order to fully appreciate the play, we'll need to rewind the tape and look at a similar third-and-long earlier in the drive.
00:02:47–00:02:56
On this 3rd-and-6, you can see ECU go into a four deep shell. The field safety drops deep to provide help to the linebacker covering the slot receiver, while also helping the corner on any route to the inside. The corner has responsibilities for the deep routes along the sideline. However, ECU's CB #3 plays the out route very, very aggressively. As soon as the WR hits the 3rd down marker and cuts to the outside, the CB jumps the route. This is a great way to prevent the WR from getting a first down, but it does leave the CB susceptible towards double moves. With Knowles speed, Logan's arm, and the safety being too far towards the middle of the field (because of his slot receiver responsibilities), Loeffler sees a way to punish the CB for jumping his 3rd down route.
After the timeout, Tech lines up in a four-wide 2x2 formation, same as they did on the 3rd-and-6 play earlier. This time though, the TE is flexed near the line of scrimmage, allowing him to block and give the route enough time to develop. As an eligible receiver, the field safety has to momentarily stay in the middle of the field to see if he'll go out on a route. By the time the field safety realizes that the TE isn't going anywhere, the plan is already in action.
At the snap Knowles runs to the 3rd down marker (as he did before), runs the beginnings of an out route (as he did before), but this time he cuts up field on an out-and-up route. CB #3 jumps Knowles first move, no doubt hoping to shut down the route again, and is too slow to recover when Knowles runs right past him. The safety tries to rotate over but Logan's arm is too strong and the safety has far too much distance to cover. The angle on this replay shows how badly the corner bit on Loeffler's fake out route.
00:22:56–00:23:09
The cornerback learns his lesson and starts giving Knowles the proper respect. Knowles isn't the biggest receiver, so he can struggle as a short yardage possession receiver. However, if he can demand corner give him a large cushion by making plays down the field when his underneath routes get jumped, it'll help Knowles be a factor in the short yardage game. Here is Corner #3 again later in the game. This time, he's giving Knowles a nice soft cushion to work with. Knowles doesn't even need to run a crisp route to receive the easy pass for a first down.
00:13:45–00:13:53
Almost There
The Hokies offense isn't as far away from being a successful offensive team as the numbers would suggest so far this year. The lack of explosive playmakers at wide receiver will probably prevent Loeffler's unit from putting up huge numbers, but if the offensive line can figure out why they struggled so much against ECU (after looking powerful vs Alabama), then this offense can complement the defense very well. If the Hokies start adding variety to the ground game (seeing some counters would be nice), and if Logan Thomas can consistently hit open receivers in the short yardage game, then they should put up more than enough points to help their defense secure plenty of victories.
Comments
I'll take a Logan 58% completion rate, any day. Some of those drives and throws looked downright excellent.
I feel smarter already.
Loeffler getting a 30-yd TD pass after that timeout is also really telling; makes me think he's the right man for the job.
it's funny you say that. watching the game i told my buddy i didnt like the timeout, felt like it took a little momentum of the drive away. then they ran the play and scored six and it was like, 'ok that'll work.'
Really great analysis (although that's become the standard here on TKP).
It was great to see Logan settling down and completing short passes on Saturday, especially given the lack of a running game or push up front from the O-line. The triangle concept that you discussed in previous articles and highlighted here looks almost impossible to defend, especially given how the ECU D was attacking the line of scrimmage. Lets just hope we can get the running game sorted out and rolling against Marshall.
I love these. It would be very nice if the run game comes back, then TDs in the red zone would be back, too.
Appreciate this writeup. One mild difference of opinion--I feel like we (fans) are making too many excuses for Logan's performance. Nothing against Logan--he's a first class kid and I badly want him to be the QB that he was once hyped as--but I actually think the conventional wisdom that he has a high QB ceiling is totally wrong. I think his ceiling is low because of inconsistent if not poor accuracy, and poor decision-making (exacerbated by receivers that can't separate). He is in his 3rd year as starter, and after three games ranks 105th out of 113th NCAA QBs in pass efficiency (http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/individual/8/p3).
I think wisec4g has it right--we should walk away happy with a 58% completion rate from Logan and hope that D, o-line, and special teams can help make the difference in big games. Understanding that, I fully expect that every team we face from here on out will put 8 in the box the whole game and see if Logan and the WR corps can make anything happen downfield (if they do that I sure hope that we find ways to get run-after-catch guys like Mangus and Carlis Parker the ball in space instead of just our current group which rarely breaks a tackle). I also really hope that Loeffler plans to start running Logan on designed plays. To not do incorporate this legit threat into the game seems crazy, especially given Logan's passing problems. I hope Loeffler is just "saving" LT running for games like Georgia Tech and UNC, but Logan said in an interview that there are no designed run plays for him.
Sorry feeling pessimistic this morning...thanks again for a great writeup...
Yes, he's a 3rd year starter, but he's had about 7 months of competent coaching (IMO, Tyrod should not have taken nearly so long to develop into a competent passer, but I digress). Add in the fact that the talent around him has consistently let him down the past season and the first 2 games this year, and I'd say we should be pretty happy with where he is. He's showing improvement every game and he's made some really pretty big-boy throws. If he's still having issues with his reads at the UVA game, I'd be concerned. But right now, it's far too early in a year with a new coach/coordinator to pass judgement.
When did O'Cain come over? Didn't Tyrod have the same coaching as LT3 and didn't have the benefit of a redshirt year? I'm pretty sure I read it here, but didn't someone say that is was Tyrod and his dad that ended up fixing his issues?
When the Ravens drafted him, Cam Cameron praised Tyrod's football IQ. We all know he could make the throws, so why again, did VT have to "take the reins" off of him again?
heheh..."pass judgement"
i see what you did there
I think we all get a little glaze eyed when we see Logan sling that ball the way we "hear" he is capable. The dude has one hell of an arm. It is true that he makes some questionable decisions and he does have accuracy issues at times. That being said look at Alex Smith. He had a fantastic coach with a fantastic system in college, slipped into the number one pick (in a weak draft), and then proceeded to such until he got another good coach with a good system (Harbaugh). He's continuing to kill it this year, I give you it is early, with Fat Andy. Here's another example: Tom Brady is sucking balls this year. Nobody is saying that he sucks, the dude has enough cache to never have to worry about that, but his supporting cast obviously is making him appear human. I'm not trying to be a Logan apologist, there are times that I can't believe some of the shit that I see. Give the kid some time. He's starting to learn this system, especially now that the games are real. We are seeing that we have a coordinator willing to (and capable of) altering the plan not only as needed to address defensive schemes, but also to best utilize talent. I think these guys are going to hum. Our offense might never be an offensive juggernaut, but when has it been. Capable, dependable, physical: these are adjectives I will be very happy to use to describe the hokie offense. Got a little long winded there, sorry.
Geez- the Kline play where Logan was late... that ball delivered on time has Kline enough time to turn up field and head for the endzone against a 190lb DB. The little things.
It was late and inaccurate. Yes, he needed to throw it a tick sooner, but even when he did throw it, he missed Cline by 5'+.
He also got nailed on the back of his leg as he released. Didn't help the situation. No question the ball's gotta get out of there though, and then that's not an issue.
If I remember correctly, the first throw Logan had in the game was to the flat and it was waaaay over the receiver's head. At first I was like, 'Uh oh, here we go again'. Then the camera caught Logan's face after the play and he was laughing a little and gave the, 'That was me' signal. Then I knew it would be alright. First snap jitter. Time to play ball.
By wayyyyyyy over you mean Yao Ming standing on Manute Bol's shoulder's couldn't catch it.
I too appreciated the look he gave to the receiver although a part of me thought, "those LT haters are going to eat that up..."
Yes, exactly what I meant. I was in the process of hating when I saw his sly little smile. Oh, silly Logan...
...picks are for kids?
Facyson smiles and nods accordingly.
Very informative read. We've seen lots of posts about the Line play and running backs hitting the holes, so it was interesting to see some of what goes into the QB spot. It was also pretty awesome seeing the triangle's being put to use after reading your article over the summer. I like where the team is going and hope that the O can start to put this all together.
I think fakes are what Logan performs least well and has room for the most improvement. I can't remember a single fake he's ever attempted that wasn't obvious...he hasn't sold any misdirection at all. Am I wrong?
Yes, most of his fakes look obvious to us, from our vantage point. He only has to sell it to the defense trying to see through a bunch of bodies in front of them. I'm sure someone out there has the tape for review, but to see how sold the fake is, keep an eye on how the defense reacts to it, not to how it appears to someone looking down on the field.
That's a really good point and something I hadn't considered a lot before. Admittedly, not many linebackers will be tall enough to look down on LT3 (tic). Plus, even gesturing towards the running back will make most defensive players hesitate just a little, which is often all you need to hit a seam route or a TE to the outside.
Especially when you have Edmunds and Mangus who have already taken long runs to the house. I can't wait until GT underestimates Edmunds and he pounds them until LT3 nails them with a play action TD like he did with Coles.
I can't wait to see what loeffler does with ford or one of the younger guys eventually.
I am just happy we arent going 3 and out the majority of our offensive series
No truer words have been spoken!
This would probably be Frank's honest answer if asked about Loeffler's performance so far.
Great read as always. 2 items I think this offense needs, not yet discussed:
1. Due to the lack of play making at the WR spots, Loeffler needs to find a way to get Cline, Mangus, Coleman, and even Edmunds in space. I loved the RB screen the Hokies ran. It was the first time I'd seen VT run a RB screen successfully. So, I hope Loeffler incorporates more RB/TE screens, wheel routes, angle routes, etc., as these will create mismatches for large gains and possible break away TDs.
2. As of yet, Loeffler has not run his no-huddle offense. When will he break it out and how will Logan run it? I imagine, Logan will be very successful in this offense, with his advances in selecting the right read to throw to. Will they practice it against Marshall or wait until ACC play?
#InLoefflerWeTrust
Agree on the rb screen, it was refreshing to finally see that play work. To see the oline working their tails off to get downfield and get a hat on someone made me jump out of my chair.
On the screens I agree completely. It is worth noting that the best the offensive line looked all day was leading out in front of both running back screens AND they were getting out to seal pursuit inside on several screens to Knowles as well.
Stream quality was poor for me but we successfully ran a RB screen you say?
...HALLELUJAH! I was just saying the other day that I've never seen a team more poorly execute a simple RB screen than our offense over the past 7 years. I would describe it as every d-lineman immediately in the QB's face as he backpedals as quickly as he can for about 10 yards and lobs a 15 foot high pass as the o-line has already whiffed or been beaten on their 2nd level blocks and the RB gets blown up. It was pretty rare for us to try to run it, but I'm seriously surprised that play never went for a pick 6 considering how inexplicably terrible our execution of it had been.
My reaction to this series:
One other point.
After all that success against the Catamounts...
NO BOOTLEG NO BOOTLEG NO BOOTLEG NO BOOTLEG NO BOOTLEG.
It drove me nuts, especially with the linebackers paying zero attention to the edge.
Could have been a plot to keep defensive coordinators thinking. We have thrown so many different offensive formations out in the past 3 weeks and what else have we not seen may come Saturday. I believe this will help us come conference play.
About that, I hope we'll settle down with a few good formations for conference play. Just need to know what works based on the scenario.
My buddy and I were sitting there waiting for the bootleg all game, but we were disappointed. :(
But yeah, as discussed above, I think Loeffler might be trying to give the ACC (and GT especially, as they'll be seeing us on a short week) as little film as possible of his counters and bootlegs off of the interior running game.
Love a well executed Bootleg. 3rdand31, maybe your next amazing breakdown? Assuming we start using it more of course...
Thank you again for a well-written and well-researched article. The "triangle" looks like it is very difficult to defend against as long as LT makes the correct reads.
I realize LT made some errors during the ECU game, but those errors are decreasing as he becomes more comfortable in a system that was brand new to him just a few months ago. Fix the offensive line issues, and we'll see something really special this year.
Have to disagree with you on the 00:06:5500:07:02 play. Cline is supposed to run straight up the field, settle between the Linebackers, who bit on the play action and the safety. Cline overran the play just a hair and didn't settle in to the open portion of the zone. Logan's first read is Cline, and he should have thrown it right at the Ref at the 38 yard line. He hesitated, and was late on the throw to the WR who was already out of his break, which enabled the S and CB to recover and almost pick it off.
It's impossible to know for sure what the correct routes were without talking to someone within the program directly. However, there are a number of reasons why I believe that
1. Stanford at the top of the formation was the primary receiver
2. Cline was supposed to run his route towards the sideline and not settle in the middle of the field
Let's take a look at earlier in the drive, when Tech lined up in this exact formation and ran the triple option
00:38:14–00:38:25
This triple option play is one that Tech showed often vs Alabama, so ECU had some film to prepare with. Out of that formation, when Tech ran the triple option into the boundary, ECU blitzed their boundary cornerback. That gave ECU the numbers and the leverage to shutdown that play.
Loeffler sees them auto-blitz the triple option, so later on in the drive he play fakes off of that backfield action. The ECU boundary Cornerback sees the triple option action and blitzes, which leaves Tech's WR one on one with a safety.
Stanford runs a double move, hoping that the safety bites on it so he can run past him for a touchdown (See Knowles's success with the double move earlier in the game) but the safety is playing it really conservative. The safety retreats and refuses to get beat deep. As he retreats though, that opens up the space for Cline to get open on a deep passing route.
The field safety has deep middle-third responsibilities, so he doesn't have the necessary leverage to cover a deep crossing route. Cline gets the position on him, and if he was supposed to settle into the zone the linebacker could prevent the catch. Cline continues his route towards the sideline though. This keeps the window open for Logan if he had thrown it in time. His hesitation allows a rusher to hit him as he's throwing, leading to a poor throw.
I'd agree with you, except it looks like the WR doesn't run off the safety in that play as diagramed above, which would open up Cline on a cross. It just looks to me that it's a read option with a pop pass to the tight end, Logan really looks like he's staring down Cline to me.
At any rate, this is really awesome work. I look at this stuff casually and it takes a lot of time to try and decifer, can't imagine what these guys do to get this stuff posted with a lot of meat in it.
I'm confused by what you're looking at. When looking at that replay (both from the side and behind the QB), I see Logan look at that safety, then stare Cline down. Perhaps, Logan delayed his throw to Cline because Cline didn't run the route he expected, but I don't know how one would suggest that notion.
What I did see, after watching that replay 10 more times, was how open the left side of the field was. Oh, I hope Loeffler sees that and uses one of his RBs to block, then flare left. It is so open, Caleb would still be running with the ball. Instead, in that play, Caleb is standing around, looking for someone to block.