Preparing for Pittsburgh: What the Hokies Should Expect from the Panthers

The Pittsburgh team making the trip to Lane Stadium Saturday will look a little bit differently offensively than last year when the Hokies traveled to Heinz field. The Panthers are without All-American running back James Conner (MCL), and quarterback Nate Peterman supplanted last year's starter Chad Voytik. However, junior wide receiver Tyler Boyd is back (113.0 receiving yards per game), and a running back by committee approach (Qadree Ollison 41 attempts, Darrin Hall 29 attempts) averages 4.37 yards a rush. On top of that, I expect Pitt's defense to play even more aggressively than they did last year behind the direction of former Michigan State defensive coordinator and first year head coach Pat Narduzzi. Virginia Tech quarterback Brenden Motley will be pressured to make correct reads and deliver accurate throws. I reviewed Pitt's 24-27 loss at Iowa (4-0) from two weeks ago (they had a bye last week). The Hokies are in for a challenge during Saturday's slosh fest.

I expect Pitt to play Voytik at quarterback a bit more than they showed against Iowa. Although Peterman is their starter, Voytik still rotated in for a few series. Voytik is by far the better runner, both on the option/decide plays and scrambling behind the line of scrimmage. Plus, Voytik had some crucial runs and scrambles that assisted in Pitt's victory over the Hokies last season. With the struggles Tech's defense has had containing mobile quarterbacks, I don't think Pitt will hesitate to put in Voytik if Peterman falters. Don't count Peterman out though. As he appears to be the better passer, Peterman shows poise and confidence in the pocket.

Note that Pitt's offensive line creates a great pocket for Peterman to set up camp in. Their line is big and beefy, and did a pretty good job of giving Peterman time to throw against Iowa. As Peterman takes his drop, he looks calm and settled, and he keeps his eyes downfield on his receiver (his dropback and stance in the pocket looks sort of Peyton Manning like). Peterman delivers a strike to open receiver Boyd on the flag route. This throw and catch reminded me of the gaps to the sideline that East Carolina was able to take advantage of passing against the Hokies last week.

The key to the Panthers' offensive success focuses around Boyd. Much of their offense is designed to get the ball into Boyd's hands. The clip above highlighted one example of him getting the ball on a long throw downfield. The next clip shows him lined up in the backfield receiving the handoff from the quarterback.

The following clip shows Peterman targeting Boyd on a snag route (mini-curl) to the top of the screen.

This route concept appears to be a favorite of the Panthers. Some combination of receivers run a deeper route and a flat control route to open up Boyd on the short snag. Pitt tries to accomplish this concept through a variety of formations and personnel, including trips with 3 wide receivers, to a tight end, fullback, Boyd combination. I would expect to see this a few times Saturday, especially when Pitt needs to gain 6-7 yards in critical situations.

Although I mentioned that Pitt has had some success running the ball early in the season, they definitely miss Conner. They were not very effective running versus Iowa, but yet somehow were still to pull off some play-action fakes. On the following play, there's a fake handoff and fake to a bubble screen before Peterman found tight end Scott Orndoff (6-5, 265) wide open over the middle for the touchdown.

If field conditions force short passes and runs to dominate the play calling on both sides, a play like this could certainly catch Tech's defense off-guard, potentially at a pivotal moment in the game. The Hokies' linebackers and safeties need to be sure of where they think the ball is, and maintain coverage on their receivers. With all the focus on pursuit of the ball during practice this week as a result of the ECU loss, staying home may be even tougher for Tech's defenders. I wouldn't be surprised if Pitt includes misdirection and fakes like this one to catch the Hokies' defenders out of position on certain occasions.

That same logic could prove helpful for Virginia Tech's offense. Pitt showed a very aggressive, physical defense versus Iowa. Their defensive backs were not shy in covering the flats quickly on short passes, and played a lot of the game with one eye in the backfield, ready to come up in run support as needed. The clip below shows Pitt corner Lafayette Pitts (No. 6, 5-11, 195), well off the ball at the snap, playing aggressive flat support on the short pass, ready to deliver a hit.

The next clip shows Avonte Maddox (No. 14, 5-9, 170) coming off his man quickly to deliver a blow to the receiver in the flat.

Tech's best bet to be successful on offense may be to use Pitt's aggressiveness against them. For example, on plays where the cornerbacks are itching to support on the flat routes, pump fakes may be all that's required of Motley to get them out of position, and work a receiver open for a pass. I think it would have worked well for Iowa on that play above. Additionally, route combinations such as a wheel can get Tech wide receivers open behind the aggressive cornerbacks. However, the Hokies' offensive line has to provide Motley and his receivers enough time to develop routes down the field, otherwise Pitt's secondary will prey on the short routes all day. Iowa was able to beat Pitt's aggressiveness in a couple ways. First, with a wide receiver screen.

If the defensive backs are going to play aggressively near the line of scrimmage, then there is the opportunity for a lot of room to run behind them if the receiver is able to get past them. In the clip above, Iowa was able to get just enough of a block from their hustling lineman to spring the play down the field. The Hokies haven't shown many jailbreak screens to the wide receivers so far this year, but getting linemen in a position to block the defensive backs could lead to some big plays.

Another example of how to beat the aggressive Panther defense is through play-action fakes. Generally speaking, an offense has to develop the threat of a run game before the defense will bite on the play-action, but if it can make the defenders believe they need to tackle the running back when he doesn't have the ball, it opens up plenty of opportunity for receivers to get open down the field. In the next clip, although Iowa did not complete the pass, you can see the possibilities for a completion because the defense became so out of position.

Even though Iowa's QB threw it to the least open of his receivers, he had potential completions to the receiver breaking to the top of the screen, as well as over the middle. Tech should have a big opportunity to exploit the middle with its tight ends. The aggressive corner play on the outsides, and activity from the safeties and linebackers could potentially open up space for Ryan Malleck and Bucky Hodges 7-15 yards from the line of scrimmage.

By "activity from the safeties and linebackers", I am referring to the shifting of coverage that Pitt has shown pre-snap or right at the snap of the ball. Most of the time Pitt's defense starts out as a general cover 2 man look, with two high safeties and two cornerbacks near the line of scrimmage on the edges. However, they often use this look to disguise their intended coverage. The next series of clips shows the different coverages that Pitt employees from a very similar start look.

In the first one, the Pitt cornerback to the top of the screen faked a dropback pre-snap, then approached the line to matchup in man coverage underneath at the snap of the ball. Behind him he had 2 safeties in cover 2 over top.

Next, both cornerbacks bail just before the snap of the ball to get back into a cover 3 look, completed by one of the safeties buzzing down to cover the short pass. (As well as a cross by the blitzing linebackers resulting in a big hit on the QB.)

Here's a shift into cover 4 where the safeties stay put, giving each of the defensive backs responsibility for deep quarters of the field.

On top of all the pre-snap shifting, Pitt also blitzes its defensive backs out of the same formation. In this next clip we see the cornerback to the top of the screen drop back right before the snap, while his counterpart to the bottom of the screen blitzes. The safeties shift into more of a cover 3 cloud look over the top.

Finally, the safety blitzes at the snap of the ball from his two high position.

I know I threw a lot out there in terms of different alignments, but that was pretty much my point. Pitt is able to set up into quite a few defenses from the same basic look, which may make it difficult for Brenden Motley and his receiving corps to recognize the coverage and be on the same page. When a passing play is called in the huddle, that play generally has different routes based on which coverage is presented. If a defense is shifting up to when the ball is snapped, then this increases the likelihood that the QB and WRs may not read the defense in the same way. It will certainly present a challenge to Motley and the receivers that they will need to be prepared for to make the Hokies' passing game successful.

The benefit to Tech for all that shifting by Pitt is that sometimes the offense can catch the defense out of position as they are moving to their new positions. As I mentioned above, I think the Hokies will need to keep its tight ends active over the middle of the field to move the ball against the aggressive Pitt defense. Establishing the running game will help give Motley the time to make the correct reads and accurate throws needed to move the ball down the field.

I'll sum all this up in just a few points. To be successful on Saturday defensively, the Hokies need to:

• Pressure Peterman and make him uncomfortable in the pocket.
• If they pressure Peterman enough, Voytik will probably make an appearance. It's very likely Voytik could have a predetermined package of plays to test if Tech can contain a running quarterback. Either way, he needs to be contained.
• Be aware that Pitt will try and get the ball to Boyd in many different ways / out of many different formations.

Offensively:

• Utilize screen passes and play-action to counter Pitt's aggressive defense.
• Get the tight ends involved on passing plays over the middle.
• Be on the same page as to the coverages Pitt is presenting to avoid miscommunication on routes.

Moving on from last week's loss to East Carolina, I'm most looking forward to seeing how the defense responds. Containing Boyd (and Voytik) will be no easy task, especially without Kendall Fuller. If the Hokies' secondary is able to overcome its coverage issues and tackle in space, then Tech is likely to come away with the W (albeit a soggy one). Enjoy the game everyone.