Getting Back on Track Against Western Michigan

After two stunning losses, the Virginia Tech football team team is spending this week getting refocused on executing the fundamentals of their offensive and defensive schemes. Coach Frank Beamer was painfully blunt talking about all the mistakes his Hokies have made over the last two games, and this practice week is being devoted to tightening up after two sloppy weeks of practice. "The emphasis is right now, regardless of who we're playing this week, Virginia Tech has got to get better," Beamer said during his Monday afternoon press conference.

The effort to turn the season around starts a Saturday matchup against the Western Michigan Broncos. The Broncos are coming off a dreadful 1-11 season in 2013, but under youthful (the guy is younger than I am) head coach P.J. Fleck they have won two consecutive games and Western Michigan's offense is averaging 41 points a game. The Broncos are a spread offense, but have averaged 285 yards rushing per game behind a veteran offensive line that returned four of five starters from 2013 and big 6-0, 220 pound freshman Jarvion Franklin. Franklin has rushed for 542 yards on 82 carries this season, for an average of 6.6 yards per carry.

Franklin was fed 30 times against Murray State last week, and the freshman rushed for 168 yards and three scores.

"He carried the ball 30 times," [P.J.] Fleck said with a smile while shaking his head. "He's 18 years old. He's 18 years old and he carries the ball 30 times. He's taken fifth-year senior-type responsibility on his shoulders, but that's what our team is about. I'm really proud of him."

"I don't think it's really sunk in yet," [Jarvion] said. "I like film. I like to learn and watch the other teams and see their tendencies. I like to talk to my offensive linemen and see how they're going to block certain things. I think it's going pretty well and it's not really overwhelming."

From a variety of three and four wide receiver sets, the Broncos look to spread out the defense, and then create gaps in the defensive front where Franklin can burst through and force linebackers and safeties to tackle him one-on-one. The play design is simple (inside zone, outside zone, etc...), but very effective.

On the following inside zone, WMU's offensive line wins the battle at the line of scrimmage, but doesn't get to the second level. Purdue's linebacker (No. 10) over pursues, but the safety comes into fill. Even though an offensive lineman doesn't come off the double team to pick up No. 27, it's not a big deal because Jarvion runs over him.

Franklin does have some breakaway speed to go with his power. Here, Franklin gets to the second level untouched, runs through two arm tackles, and then shows the speed and elusiveness to avoid two defensive backs as he goes in for a touchdown on a basic inside zone play.

Franklin had 3 touchdowns and 163 yards against Purdue (the best opponent that the Broncos have played). He is also the first big power back the Hokies have faced this season. Bud Foster's front-six must maintain gap integrity and put Franklin on the ground before he can build up momentum. Both areas are critical for improvement, as the Hokie defense struggled to maintain their gap assignments and tackle early against Georgia Tech. Franklin presents a legitimate challenge. Either he gets the defensive players attention and their game improves because of the focus on him, or he is going to be running through them too.

The rest of the offense and defense is pretty pedestrian. Sophomore quarterback Zach Terrell has some mobility, and he has good chemistry with last year's MAC freshman of the year, 6-2, 205 pound Corey Davis (No. 84) and the elusive r-sophomore Daniel Braverman (No. 8, 5-10, 164).

Both receivers are capable, but Terrell struggled with accuracy against Purdue, completing 56% of passes (61.4%, 689 yards 6 TDs 2 INTs on the season). The Hokies pass rushers will have a great opportunity to work on staying in good pass rush lanes against a decent offensive line group and a mobile quarterback.

Defensively, the Broncos are a pretty non-descript 40 front team. They didn't generate much pass rush against Purdue (no sacks) and gave up 230 yards rushing. But they did an excellent job of coverage, holding the Boilermakers to only 180 yards passing from their spread offense. Purdue did run the ball effectively. Expect Coach Loeffler to come out and establish the power running game. The Broncos do not use a nose tackle, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Caleb Farris pulling more often from the center position to get more muscle at the point of attack.

After back-to-back losses, Saturday is the first step towards getting the team focused and playing well. The coaching staff and offensive players have hinted at an emphasis to run the ball. Tech's secondary needs to remain sound in man coverage, and I would expect Coach Foster to use some more zone coverage and experiment to see if he can generate pass rush with just the front-four, now with Nigel Williams instead of Luther Maddy up front. Also, it could be a good opportunity to get some of the talented backups some game action. I wouldn't be shocked if Ricky Walker and Andrew Motuapuaka get their first meaningful snaps on defense this season.

I want to see the defense eliminate big plays and play sound. Against a less talented front-four, the offense should be able extend drives on the ground. The short passing game should compliment the rushing attack against WMU's bend, but don't break defense. If Tech falls short of its 40 carries goal on Saturday, start to sound some alarm bells.