Hokies' Offensive Woes Unable to Overcome Georgia Tech Trap

Given the absence of elusive quarterback Justin Thomas (injury, 35 consecutive starts), top B-Back Dedrick Mills (suspension, leading rusher), and two starting offensive linemen, Georgia Tech figured to be a historical footnote on Justin Fuente's first ACC Coastal Division championship. Few if anyone counted on the Yellow Jackets to deliver an emphatic, physical repudiation of the Hokies' championship aspirations. Instead, a fantastic performance by Georgia Tech's young offensive line, QB Matthew Jordan in his first start, and a defense that had been shredded like documents at Stratton Oakmont dropped the Hokies 30-20.

Most worrisome was the Hokies' lack of execution. Virginia Tech's defense has not been nearly as gap sound over its last three games, and tackling has regressed. Errors in execution seems to become more glaring the longer Bud Foster's group is on the field. Offensively, the blocking fundamentals, odd playcalling, and Jerod Evans' inconsistency in the dropback passing game has killed far too many drives to protect a defense that is struggling right now.

With Notre Dame far more talented than its record, and Virginia desperate to break a 12-year losing streak, Virginia Tech has a tall mountain to climb to earn nine wins and a Coastal Division title.

Jerod Evans Exposed?

Despite racking up 437 yards of total offense, Jerod Evans and his running mates had a nightmare performance. Defenses are learning if they can get the Hokies into third-and-medium or -long situations, and then take away the fade and quick slants which often constitute Evans' first read, his effectiveness becomes very limited. Brad Cornelsen and Fuente have protected Evans by using screens and QB draws in many of those situations. As of late, Evans is converting fewer and fewer of those plays. When he is asked to drop back, his reads are slow. If a running lane isn't there, coverage sacks come into play. Against Georgia Tech, Evans squandered several opportunities for big completions with errant throws to receivers off post routes behind the underneath coverage responsible for taking away the quick slant.

The most maddening moment of the game was the interception on an attempt to C.J. Carroll. The goal of this play was for Carroll to break open right on the first down line on a critical third-and-three.

Carroll runs to the middle and feels LB Brant Mitchell's (No. 51) inside leverage. He attempts to sit down in the soft spot to the outside of Mitchell, which is consistent with a stick route.

A stick route is an option route where the quarterback and the slot receiver both read the leverage of the defender. If the defender is playing inside leverage, the route and throw will be to the outside. If the defender is playing outside leverage, the receiver will break back to the inside. It's quick hitting route and it's important for the receiver to get his head around and find the ball.

If that was a stick route, Evans' throw should have been aimed at Carroll's left shoulder. Instead, Evans throws the ball well to the inside of Carroll as if he expected him to run a crossing route. Even if that was the call, it was a horrible decision because Mitchell and safety Lawrence Austin (No. 20) had inside leverage. Meanwhile, Hodges and Ford both had one-on-one coverage on slants. (Ford took a little longer to clear out from the underneath coverage.)

The route structure on many of the plays isn't helping matters. On this play-action, Evans fakes an inverted veer. Austin (No. 20, nickel field-side) bites hard on the run fake. If you pause at the moment Evans pulls the football from the mesh point, there is a huge vast space deep and in the middle of the field.

Most modern spread offenses have receivers make sight-reads on vertical route concepts. That is, if the coverage stays deep, the receiver breaks the route off underneath the coverage. Cam Phillips has a ton of empty space in front of the deep safety that is giving him a substantial cushion. Unfortunately, he isn't breaking off his route or looking back for the football. Evans pulls the ball down and ends up with a nice run, yet this is another missed opportunity for a big chunk gain.

What's unknown is how much leeway Evans is given to check at the line, and how much Evans and his receivers sight-adjust on plays. The lack of checking sometimes means the Hokies find themselves with a terrible play call on critical down and distance situations. However, if Evans has the power to change a play, he is sometimes really missing the mark. If he doesn't, Fuente and Cornelson need to improve Evans' recognition of tendencies and formations.

This quick pitch drove me absolutely nuts. Before the snap, Georgia Tech has four defenders on the field hash or wider. The Hokies only have two blockers (Ford and Sam Rogers) and Travon McMillian carrying the ball to that side.

The Hokies don't block the defensive end and can't cut off the linebacker, so ultimately McMillian finds himself facing three unblocked defenders. There is no chance of this play succeeding. With Georgia Tech's defenders aligned wide, this is a perfect opportunity to check to a quick hitting inside play, or perhaps the counter that I've been waiting for Cornelson to pop open all season long. However, either Evans doesn't recognize the alignment, or he hasn't been empowered to check out of the play. A minimal gain would set up a relatively easy third-and-short. Instead, the loss produces a much more challenging third down.

Unfortunately, the book is out on Evans. Duke and Georgia Tech's defense took away those preferred first reads on slants and fades knowing his second read is likely to run. Notre Dame plays man coverage, however, they prefer to play soft man coverage. Will Evans take what the defense gives him and accurately work underneath that coverage? With Notre Dame's talent on offense, the Hokies' O will have to be much more efficient to win in South Bend.

Virginia Tech's Maddeningly Inconsistent Offensive Line Play

Virginia Tech's offensive line is a problem. The veteran group gave up five sacks (although most were coverage sacks), and didn't get a consistent against a Georgia Tech defensive front that had not mounted much resistance in recent games. The film reinforced my initial impressions — inattention to detail, coupled with the lack of athleticism at right guard and center while continuing to use Augie Conte and Eric Gallo as blockers in space, chokes off any consistency and rhythm of the offense.

Perhaps most frustrating is this group is capable of lining up and pounding it down the throats of most ACC defenses. When the Hokies ran basic downhill running plays they were effective.

Note how Augie Conte (a focus of my critiques all season) gets inside position and drives his man off the ball. Marshawn Williams has a nice hole and gets a 4-yard gain on his only carry of the night.

Unfortunately, the leg drive, explosiveness, and aggression seems to disappear when the offense runs delay and counter-action. Misdirection plays are a mainstay of the ground game, and all season the offensive line has produced a laundry list of miscues on such plays.

1. Engaging a second-level defender with a passive posture which allows the defender an angle to bypass the block.
2. Poor angles and head placement. For example, on a sweep to the right, an offensive lineman sealing back ("blocking down" on a defensive tackle) should have his head and hands on the right side of the defender to cut off his pursuit angle. Fundamentals on back-side scoop blocks have been even worse.
3. The offensive line plays with its pad level too high. Far too often Tech's o-line tries to bench press and turn defenders rather than keeping their feet active to run through them.

On this play, the Hokies are in a five wide set with McMillian in the boundary slot. At the snap, McMillian blocks outside on the corner who was aligned against Ford, and Ford cuts inside. McMillian essentially sets a basketball pick for Ford.

Augie Conte and Eric Gallo both get clean releases from the line of scrimmage. One has to get to linebacker P.J. Davis (No. 40). Conte misses Davis because his path is too shallow to intercept Davis' pursuit angle. Gallo isn't athletic enough to bend back to the inside and pick him off. Behind them, Wyatt Teller has to cut off the back-side linebacker Brant Mitchell (No. 51). Mitchell is going to pursue to Teller's right, yet inexplicably Teller swims to his left to release. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Teller's release to the left directs him towards where Mitchell started the play, not where he will be running to as the play develops. This is an example of the little things Virginia Tech fails to do. Teller ends up chasing air, and Mitchell combines with Davis to tackle Ford a yard short of the sticks. This easily could have been a touchdown, and there is no excuse that it wasn't a first down.

Johnson Wins the Chess Match

The chess match between Bud Foster and Paul Johnson has been fascinating to watch over the years. This time, Johnson's decision to rely less on the true triple option with a new quarterback paid huge dividends. It appeared as if he minimized the risk of fumbles on multiple reads and mesh points by calling plays where the runner was predetermined. Quarterback Matthew Jordan found success on double dives (isolation style plays where the QB fakes the dive to the fullback, and then follows him into the hole), counters, and QB draws.

The first Yellow Jackets' touchdown came on a double dive concept. The double dive has been the bread and butter short yardage play for Georgia Tech since Johnson became the head coach.

The blocking up front is almost identical to the triple option. The offensive line blocks down on the play-side. The only difference is the play-side A-Back's responsibility. Instead of veer releasing to kick out the corner or lead up on the safety, A-Back Isiah Willis (No. 3) cuts off whip Anthony Shegog and kicks him out. This should be a key for Andrew Motuapuaka and Mook Reynolds (rover) that the quarterback is keeping the ball.

Woody Baron has the A-gap responsibility. Ken Ekanem crashes and has the B-gap and dive. Ekanem attacks the outside shoulder of right tackle Eason Fromayan (No. 79), and is in perfect position to tackle the dive. However, he seems overly engaged with Fromayan and doesn't even see B-Back Marcus Marshall (No. 34) go by. If he could stick Marshall in the hole, it would jam up Matthew Jordan (No. 11).

Shegog plays a force technique and tries to turn Jordan inside by keeping his outside shoulder free. This is critical. As unblocked defenders, Reynolds and Motuapuaka have to account for the quarterback and the pitch. Whoever has quarterback, they need to fit inside of Shegog's force technique. Both guys run to pitch. Chuck Clark can't avoid a block. Tremaine Edmunds gets cut off back-side.

Ultimately, this tells the tale of the defensive struggles. On a vast majority of the plays, Woody Baron, Vinny Mihota, and others made strong plays to put Georgia Tech behind the sticks. However, at critical moments, those front four guys executed their assignments, but didn't defeat blocks, and then the defenders at the second-level were out of position or couldn't make the tackle.

Down 7-23, a touchdown run off a trap put the game out of reach for the Hokies. The design is for Marshall to get the ball, even though it looks like a counter option. Center Kenny Cooper (No. 55) has to seal Woody Baron away from the right A-gap. Right guard Shamire Devine (No. 71) has to turn Tim Settle to the outside. Left guard Parker Braun (No. 75) will pull to kick out Vinny Mihota.

Cooper throws a tremendous block on Baron and turns him outside. Devine gets on Settle's inside shoulder. Fromayan at RT gets squeezed inside by Mihota and doesn't get to the second level. Mihota then takes on Braun's trap block.

Freeze the play at Jordan and Marshall's mesh point, The B-gap is occupied by Settle. The C-gap is occupied by Mihota spilling. Tremaine Edmunds has Jordan on the spill, and Terrell Edmunds is coming over the top on the pitch man. The only unoccupied gap is the play-side A-gap (center-guard).

Motuapuaka followed Braun's pull, tracked Jordan, and ultimately got too far outside to cut back inside and make the play. As result, the A-gap was unoccupied. Motuapuaka wasn't able to recover despite being unblocked, and Chuck Clark got cut off by LT Jahaziel Lee (No. 53) (due in large to Ekanem not knocking Lee off his path to the safety when he squeezes inside). With the Edmunds brothers defending the edge, there is no help. It is an easy, ugly touchdown.

There were some consistencies among Georgia Tech's trap plays. They favored the trap when Tim Settle was in the game, and the defensive end to Settle's side was the likely target. Settle was responsible for the B-gap, while Baron took the back-side A-gap. The difference, as demonstrated on this play, was that Motuapuaka filled the play-side A-gap (even though he was very slow to get downhill).

This is what leads me to believe that Motuapuaka over-reacted to the counter-action on Marcus Marshall's 56-yard game-breaking touchdown run.

In the rare instance that Jordan did run a true triple option, and was forced to pitch, Reynolds (playing rover, a new position) found himself mesmerized by the backfield action. On this triple option, Mihota crashes on the dive effectively. Tremaine Edmunds is unblocked and takes the Jordan. This leaves Motuapuaka (who is tied up with blockers) and Reynolds on pitch.

Reynolds has to be wide here and stay with the pitch. Unfortunately, at the moment Jordan pulls the ball from Marshall on the dive, Reynolds plants his outside foot and it looks like he is going to push back to the inside. This gives Willis (play-side A-Back) an angle to cut him so he is sealed inside. If Reynolds runs straight to the pitch, Willis could only cut him where he is sealed on the outside. Reynolds has help inside. Outside, there is nothing but the sideline and space.

Notre Dame's offensive style is similar to Duke, with better athletes at every position. Foster will have to find more playmaking and better fundamental execution of assignments to slow down the Fighting Irish.