Exploiting Matchups: ECU Film Review

Saturday's loss to East Carolina has been a difficult pill to swallow, and hot takes like "the Hokies not being ready to play" and "Tech overlooking the Pirates" are flying around. Football is a game of matchups and scheme. The Pirates had the physical prowess to take advantage of the vulnerable components of the Hokies defense and offense, and the Hokie offensive and defensive scheme didn't adjust to compensate. Yes, there were flaws in execution. Michael Brewer's inaccuracy contributed to the ineffectiveness of the offense. Ignore the interceptions and focus on missed opportunities downfield early in the game as well as passes that forced receivers to break stride. The receivers dropped too many balls. The offensive line did not have a good day and seemed to botch several protection calls. The Pirates won the field position battle via the punt game. The Hokie secondary did not tackle well, and the big plays downfield seemed to happen with more frequency than I can recall since the Insight Bowl game against Aaron Rodgers. But that schematic vulnerability and losing one-on-one matchups seemed to be most mitigating factor the Hokies downfall, not a lack of effort or overlooking an opponent.

The Vulnerability of the Double Eagle \ Bear Look

Defensively, every talking head is looking at how the Hokies gave up numerous deep completions against press-man coverage. Foster's defense has morphed significantly as offenses have changed, but ultimately no defense can't defend the entire field if the opposing offense can put the ball into the exposed areas. Foster took a risk by using some of the same Double Eagle \ Bear front that the Hokies had success with against the Buckeyes (which at the time I referred to as a "50 Stack") along with other five-man fronts with Deon Clarke coming off the edge. Foster gambled that he could generate enough pressure that Shane Carden wouldn't be able to make accurate throws on low percentage vertical routes. Foster's gambled like that before, and most of the time he's won, but as teams learn to exploit the vulnerable area in any defense Bud has been forced to adjust.

In the 1990's Foster's eight-man fronts stymied the two-back offenses that were the norm in college football, but his safety-linebacker hybrids at the rover and whip positions at that time struggled as teams transitioned to offenses that could put three or four good receivers on the field. Around 2004, Foster started to play his rover more as a second deep safety, and the whip position slowly morphed from a linebacker into more of a safety/nickel. While the Hokies were known for their man coverage, more and more Foster started to use a variety of zone looks (inverted cover 2, robber, and quarters coverage) and as result, the Hokies started forcing more interceptions as game changing plays instead of sacks and tackles for a loss.

However, that took away Foster's numerical advantage in the box. Opponents started to have more success running the football, and by the time Clemson had decimated the Hokies in the ACC title game using a run-oriented spread look, Foster adjusted again. Since that 2011 title game, Foster started using more and more 8-man front looks, culminating with the absolute beat down of the Ohio State running game using the "Double Eagle \ Bear Look" look last week.

Against Ohio State the "Double Eagle \ Bear" was vulnerable to deep throws, but the Buckeyes' weakness was the drop back passing game. Ohio State had countless opportunities to make big plays on vertical routes up the seams. While OSU QB J.T. Barrett was sacked repeatedly, numerous times he put the ball on the hands of his big slot receivers. They just didn't hold on to the football.

Foster stuck with the Double Eagle \ Bear and other defensive alignments without a safety deep early against the Pirates. Unlike Ohio State, East Carolina's receivers were more accustomed to adjusting to the football and making plays against man coverage. Quick, outside release go routes as part of the normal "post-wheel" combination and four verticals package are staples of ECU's Air Raid offense. Moreover, the Pirates made two adjustments to really punish the Hokies for using press man, especially without a safety in center field.

The first was the use of fade and slant routes built off of the two techniques used to get off the line of scrimmage against man coverage. The Hokie press defenders played an inside leverage technique, meaning that they aligned a step inside the receiver in an effort to make it difficult for any Pirate receiver to run an easy slant route. Instead, it forces the receiver to go outside, which is a longer, lower percentage throw for the quarterback. The Pirates obliged the Hokies by releasing their receivers to the outside on go routes. Without a safety to come across and make a play, quarterback Shane Carden could release the ball quickly, get plenty of air underneath it, and to give his receiver a huge advantage of just focusing on the ball while the defender has to track both the ball and the receiver. The Pirates hit two of those jump balls against Brandon Facyson early (note no free safety help).

Once Facyson was beaten to the outside, his natural instinct to prevent it from happening again caused him to not play his assignment, which was to stay inside the receiver and prevent any kind of slant, post, or square in route. On the second touchdown, Facyson jumped outside to prevent the outside release, and the receiver beat him to the post.

Note how Facyson lines up inside of the receiver and doesn't have any immediate help to the inside. Meanwhile, Bonner lines heads up on his receiver, and when the slot WR runs the slant, Bonner lets him get an inside release because he has Chuck Clark right there waiting on the receiver. Because of this bust by Facyson, who still doesn't look healthy and who was much more effective in zone coverage last season, Donovan Riley took over for several series, but he too was also beaten on a fade route, and he struggled against ECU wide receiver screens and pick plays, culminating in the 3rd touchdown where Riley inadvertently "picked" Chuck Clark.

The second adjustment by the Pirates didn't result in as many points, but it made an huge impact throughout the game. Normally in their Air Raid, the Pirates play their smaller, quick possession receivers like Justin Hardy in the slots. But, with so much press-man coverage and so many plays without a centerfield safety, the Pirates increased their advantage by moving 6-3, 220 Cam Worthy and 6-2, 206 Trevon Brown into the slots and running the go routes against Chuck Clark, Detrick Bonner, and Kyshoen Jarrett. All three are better than average safeties covering man-to-man, but without deep help and having to cover both the man and the ball, the ECU receivers presented a mismatch. To keep the corners out of dropping off to help, the Pirates deployed the same route combination to both sides, where the slot executed an outside release fade route, while the widest receiver or "split end" faked a hard outside release and then cut back to the middle of the field on a curl route or a cross. The corner has to stay with the short crossing route, leaving the nickel or rover alone with the fade route.

ECU's first touchdown to Bryce Williams was the same route and it worked against man coverage right on the goal line. Even with a deep safety, the double vertical routes from the slot almost ensure one of the two slot players will get one-on-one coverage. The quarterback can read which way the free safety is leaning and then throw to the other side. As long as Foster played five men on the line of scrimmage with Williams as the spy linebacker and man coverage, East Carolina was always going to have one of the fade routes single covered. If Carden didn't feel like he had a good down field matchup, he could always come back to the short cross by the split ends, as the Hokie corners didn't have any help to the inside. It was a devastating combination against man coverage that seemed to be employed almost every snap.

Almost every big play generated by the Pirates came on some variation of this play concept. and it only stopped working when the Pirates stopped going to it. While Foster used more of a single deep safety as the game progressed, he never seemed to try any disguised zone looks to bait an interception. I kept waiting for it, and it just didn't happen. I am not sure if that means he doesn't believe he can generate pass rush with his front-four without blitzing, making man coverage or quarters coverage necessary, but Ken Ekanem sure looked dang good rushing the passer on Saturday. I would have liked to see him try, especially during the last drive of the game.

In the fourth quarter, the Pirates really keyed in on attacking Jarrett with this combination route concept. Jarrett is covering the slot at the bottom of the screen.

As you can see, BOTH slot receivers run vertical routes with outside releases. The free safety (Clark) freezes in the middle and can't get over to help Jarrett. Jarrett needs to cover Worthy and find the ball without losing track of him. He throws his hands when Worthy looks for the football. Against Ohio State, Jarrett gets a piece of the ball or the Buckeye receiver drops the ball. Here, Worthy uses the height mismatch (6-3 vs. 6-0) to his advantage and makes a great play. Then, on the same drive, here is the exact same play, this time with the throw going to Bonner on the field side. This play results in a pass interference call.

The first pass of the final Pirate drive almost looks like a replay of the clip above against Jarrett. It is the same formation, the same route, and the same coverage (press with a single center field deep safety. Sadly, it was the same result, an acrobatic Worthy catch and run to put the Pirates in field goal range. Next thing you know, the Pirates are in the end zone and the Hokie Nation is left to wonder how it happened. Simply, East Carolina identified the weakness in the Hokie coverage. Cam Worthy was good enough to exploit it. Offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley kept going to it. Period.

Offensive Line Woes and Missed Opportunities to Make Adjustments

Last year's ECU film review focused heavily on how huge, 6-1, 353 pound nose tackle Terry Williams dominated the Hokie interior. While Williams was only scheduled to play 15 or 20 plays in Saturday's matchup according to his coaches, he was the dominant factor in jamming up the interior of the Hokies. It was easy to see that Caleb Farris, David Wang, and Augie Conte were struggling to handle Williams, who is surprisingly quick for such a large man, while being asked to block him one on one. Farris, who dealt with a shoulder issue in fall camp, sometimes struggled to get his hands on Williams, and Williams repeated slide off blocks to make plays. What baffled me was the failure to make an adjustment by doubling Williams and getting some push on him in the middle. Also, the running backs didn't always help their linemen with the correct cut.

Let's take a look at this inside zone play in the second quarter. Augie Conte is scooping Williams on the back side, while Farris and Wang are executing a combination zone block on the left defensive tackle and the middle linebacker.

The initial steps are solid, but when Shai McKenzie plants to make his cut, the play breaks down. Farris peels off in perfect position to seal the linebacker inside. McKenzie, who should be reading Farris as his key, makes the incorrect read. If he goes outside, the linebacker is blocked. By cutting inside, Farris is out of position and the linebacker is unblocked.

The linebacker now has McKenzie one-on-one in the hole. It isn't an ideal scenario, but you hope that your big back can get some forward push. But, Terry Williams suddenly makes a spectacular play. He is moving to his right with Conte driving him. Conte is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, Hokie on the team, but Williams stops his momentum and clubs Conte with his left arm. Conte goes past Williams and Williams comes back inside to help mash McKenzie. McKenzie is talented enough to perhaps run over the linebacker, but Williams and the linebacker are just too much. Conte did everything right, but this is a pure Superman play by Williams. I am not sure a double team would have helped. As a former guard, I may have nightmares about Williams after watching this clip several times.

When ECU used Williams as a true nose, it amazed me how many times the scheme forced Farris to block Williams one on one. Time and again, Williams got his hands into Farris's body before Farris could get his hands up from the snap, leaving Farris with very little ability to regain any leverage using his hands. Let's take a look as the Hokies run an inside zone from the I formation at the end of the third quarter.

Farris gets driven deep into the path of the ball carrier. Sam Rogers and Bucky Hodges are both disrupted in their path to block the blitzing linebackers play side. Somehow, either the linebacker or Rogers gets both Conte and McLaughlin's legs from behind, stopping them dead in the hole. They collapse in the hole, and Farris gets pushed back into Marshawn Williams' lap. Luckily for the Hokies, Williams bounces a little outside and gets the first down with a great effort on this dumpster-fire of a play. I am not sure if Farris was supposed to get help from a guard, or perhaps Rogers needed to take the gap between Conte and Farris, meaning he should have sledgehammered Williams. But I do know that in a short yardage play against a legitimate stud nose tackle, you can't leave your center to block one-on-one. Very few centers are going to win this battle without some kind of chip from a guard or the back.

The Hokies also struggled in pass protection, where ECU also found ways to isolate Farris in space. The Pirates had a great deal of success sending blitzes or stunts where decoy pass rushers went outside, leaving Farris on an island inside. Here is an example from the first quarter.

The left and right defensive tackles both slant hard to their left. The right defensive tackle, draws Farris inside, and ECU's left defensive end loops back to the inside and blasts through the hole vacated by Farris. Farris isn't quick enough to recover back to the inside.

However, without being in the film room with Coach Searels, it is hard to determine if this Farris execution error or if someone else made a mistake in the protection. The center calls the pass protection. In a cup protection, Farris would need to stay in the middle and hand off the defensive tackle to Conte. But, Farris, Conte, and McLaughlin all block the gap to their right, meaning that Farris could have called a right protection. Yet, David Wang blocks the gap to his left, and when nobody comes, he chips out on Gibson's man. If the protection was called to the right, Wang would need to defend his inside gap, not his outside gap. If protection right was the call and Wang executed it properly, he would have been right there to pick up the end on the stunt. Again, without knowing the line call, it is difficult to determine the cause of the breakdown, but it certainly is troubling to see a veteran group struggle with what should be a simple stunt by a four pass rushers.

At the same time, Coach Loeffler could have adjusted to help his struggling line with some of those matchups. With the line struggling, I kept expecting to see Loeffler keep his backs in or at least have them chip the pass rushers as they leaked out of the backfield. But time and time again, I saw the Hokie running backs check for a blitz and go into their pass route without chipping a defender. On back to back series, I saw both Marshawn Williams and Sam Rogers pass up clear opportunities where they were delaying out of the backfield and had a terrific angle to help out their center, but neither time did they chip before going into the pattern, as seen here.

We have a three-man front, and ECU brings an outside linebacker to create a four man rush.

Wang takes the outside gap then moves to help Gibson, leaving Farris one-on-one with Terry Williams and Conte one-on-one with the defensive tackle. Both ECU defenders beat Conte and Farris with beautiful spin moves, and I am sure neither Hokies are happy with their effort here. But, watch Marshawn Williams. He steps up into the pocket to check for a blitz, and he has a great angle to at least get a shoulder into Terry Williams. Instead, he bypasses Williams and goes out into a safety valve position. It doesn't appear that his route is part of a combination that gets another receiver downfield open, and by the time Williams turns around to receive a pass, Brewer is on the ground.

It is easy to blame Williams at first glance, but in the third quarter, both he and Sam Rogers bypassed the chip block on several important passing downs. Without knowing for sure, and given that both were going into the route in the face of pressure, I have to assume that they were part of the pattern and instructed not to help the offensive line. If that was the case, I disagree with the strategy. Brewer had already been rattled earlier in the game on several big hits, and his accuracy and velocity seemed to have suffered after the wear and tear of the Ohio State game and East Carolina's continued hits. If Brewer is the guy behind center, he has to stay upright to have a chance. More importantly, the offensive line has to protect Brewer better against a four-man rush. I am not sure if this is a residual side effect from Coach Searels' effort to Hanz and Franz the group, but I was worried that some of the linemen would struggle with movement as result of the additional mass. To compound matters, there hasn't been much added push up front to make up for it. At the same time, picking up stunts was a weak point against Boston College and East Carolina last season. If the coaches don't want Brewer to give way to Leal with injuries, then the staff needs to get the pass protection and communication better this week. Perhaps it starts with Laurence Gibson and Jonathan McLaughlin back to their original positions from last year. Neither look comfortable right now. As for Farris and Wang, I am not sure if perhaps a position flip will help there, or perhaps Wyatt Teller should get more work, but nobody can argue that the Hokies got as much push as they should have in the running game over the first three weeks of the season, and those kinds of communication breakdowns against a four-man rush don't look very good for a veteran group. Finally, sometimes the other guy is just better, and Terry Williams was just better, regardless of scheme or effort, than the Hokie front on Saturday.

We are all frustrated as a fan base, but it is lazy and plain wrong to blame this loss on a hangover effect from Ohio State. As South Carolina showed Saturday, East Carolina is a big boy football program with offensive and defensive systems and players that were tailor made to exploit the Hokies' weaknesses.

On the bright side, in the face of mountains of adversity, the guys who are going to be the leaders for this young team when they mature made some big strides on Saturday. Cam Phillips and Isaiah Ford stepped up and made huge plays after having some drops and alignment errors. Ken Ekanem had a superstar caliber day coming off the edge, even when the Hokies didn't blitz. Facyson played well after struggling so much in the first quarter. Marshawn Williams had some runs which showed how effective he can be when he is allowed to get downhill. Chase Williams and Deon Clarke were very good. And Brewer, who had about as bad a start as you could imagine, came back to give the Hokies a chance to win. Now, Georgia Tech and their "death by a thousand cuts" come to Lane Stadium. For the Hokie defense, it is the fourth completely different offensive system they have faced, and the Yellow Jackets will make those same defensive backs who struggled with tackling make a ton of one on one tackles on the edge. Plus, the Yellow Jackets love running outside release fades by their slot or "B-backs". On offense, the Hokies face another pair of big defensive tackles. It will be very interesting to see how Coach Loeffler and Coach Foster can adjust so the Yellow Jackets can't exploit some of the weaknesses in the Hokie scheme this week.