Hokies Set to Face Tar Heels' Dynamic Offense and Bend But Don't Break Defense

Saturday afternoon will be festive when Hokie Nation says thank you to Frank Beamer. It will be an emotional day at Lane Stadium, as two generations of Virginia Tech fans and players bid farewell to the only head coach they have ever known.

The Hokies face a monumental task to defeat No. 12 North Carolina. The Hokies have not beat a ranked opponent at home since defeating No. 9 Miami in 2009. Tar Heels have scored over 40 points six times in 2015, including a 66-31 drubbing of Duke and a 59-21 defeat of Miami (UNC led 31-0 at the half). UNC's offense scheme features every component that the Hokies defense has struggled against this season: designed quarterback runs countering base running plays, big receivers that are vertical threats and can win 50/50 balls, and sound offensive line play.

This UNC offense is scary. On tape, they look like the most talented offensive unit the Hokies have faced this season. Tailback Elijah Hood (SO, 6-0, 220) is comparable to Ezekiel Elliott. Marquise Williams (RS-SR, 6-2, 225) is the best running quarterback on Tech's schedule. Bug Howard, Mack Hollins, and Quinshad Davis — UNC's all-time leader in receptions (189) and touchdowns (23) — are experienced productive receivers that are over 6-4. Ryan Switzer (JR, 5-10, 185) is a stellar punt returner, and can do everything as UNC's slot receiver. Preseason All-American right guard Landon Turner (RS-SR, 6-4, 325) gets most of the attention for the offensive line, yet Bentley Spain (SO, 6-6, 300) may be the best left tackle I have seen on film this year.

Watching UNC film is an interesting experience. Unlike many teams that narrow the playbook to focus on certain bread and butter concepts, the Heels employ almost every modern offensive concept. Rarely do you see the same play several times in a half, and when you do, they are almost always from a unique formation. The Heels are incredibly difficult to pattern. Unlike many offenses that allow the opposing defense to take away part of their game plan, the Heels' offense force their counterpart to defend the entire field on every single snap. They do so at a breakneck pace that causes mistakes in defensive alignment and prevents substitution.

Based on the Hokies' struggles this season, the UNC zone read series and play-action, coupled with quarterback counter and counter-lead plays poses the greatest threat to Virginia Tech's defense. The vertical threats at wide receiver make it very difficult to load the box against the run. Williams' running ability on the read option means that the back-side defensive end has to stay at home to defend Williams, which creates more space for Hood. If the safeties start cheating up, Williams can step back and burn them down the seams. Hood's threat as a runner opens up everything else.

The Inside Zone Series

Let's take a look at Hood on the inside zone. This clip is an example that isn't perfectly executed, but emphasizes how the vertical threats at wide receiver impact defending the run. Duke is forced to use two deep safeties against UNC's spread. Duke has seven defenders in the box (with its slot corner) to defend six blockers, Hood, and Williams. UNC already has a huge advantage before the ball is even snapped.

Williams options the Duke outside linebacker (No. 48) to the bottom of the screen and hands off to Hood. This perhaps isn't the best read, as the linebacker squeezes inside and ultimately makes the tackle. Hood also plunges straight ahead. To the left side, Spain (No. 75) pancakes the defensive end and left guard Caleb Peterson (No. 70) drives the Duke linebacker nearly 10 yards off the line of scrimmage. If Hood bounces to the outside, this would have been a much longer run.

Don't let this clip of Hood fool you. He is an explosive powerful runner that can gash a defense on the inside and bounce to the edge on outside zones. If the defense commits to stopping Hood, they open themselves up to big runs by Williams and play-action. On this play, the Miami defensive end crashes inside on the dive.

Turner (No. 78) completely wipes out the defensive tackle and then slides off to the inside linebacker. Williams pulls the ball and gets about seven yards before needing to make the first Miami defender miss. Williams then lowers his shoulder and runs through two tacklers for a touchdown. It is also worth noting how well UNC's receivers stay engaged with their blocks until Williams is well into the secondary.

Once those safeties, especially in a system where the defense uses their safeties as alley defenders, start to creep up, Williams can hurt them with vertical play-action or post routes over the middle. Here, All-ACC safety DeVon Edwards (No. 27) sees the inside zone fake and sneaks up.

Duke's corner is playing outside leverage, and he gives Davis (No. 14) a free release on a skinny post route. Edwards comes a couple of steps forwards, and Williams puts it right over his head for an easy pitch and catch.

The Bear and Dreaded Designed Quarterback Runs

Outside of one run for Ezekiel Elliott and a great day by Pitt running back Qadree Ollison, the Hokies' defense has been pretty strong defending tailbacks this season. The Achilles' Heel for Bud Foster's defense has been stopping quarterback counter action. All season, offenses have influenced the Hokies' defensive line keys to slant them away from the quarterback run, pulled two blockers, and ran the quarterback off tackle. Offenses have had their best success using this play against the Bear front, which Foster has used regularly against one back, one tight end, and three wide receiver personnel groups. The quarterback counter isolates the back-side edge defender and the mike linebacker against the pulling blockers, leaving the alley player to make the tackle. Too often, the alley player has not gotten the job done.

Williams is the best running quarterback the Hokies have faced, and several varieties of the quarterback counter are staples for the Heels. The first is a true counter off a read option look.

Williams creates a mesh point with Hood just like a read option play. The left side of the UNC offensive line and the right tackle all take a step to the left. Duke's defensive line keys and runs to Hood. Turner and center Lucas Crowley (No. 68) pull right. Turner buries the Duke safety, and Crowley turns up and barely has to touch the other safety for Williams to score.

Now, go back and watch the play again. Duke has seven defenders on the right side of the center before the ball is snapped. That is right where Williams is running the ball! Yet, when Hood fakes the outside zone and the line steps to their left, the Duke defenders follow like a puppy chasing a tennis ball. At the moment Williams pulls the ball, Duke only has two defenders against two blockers and Williams. That is a losing proposition.

UNC's other quarterback counter is a counter-lead. On this play, Williams doesn't fake a zone play. Instead he rises up like he is throwing a quick pass, then he follows the pulling guard and his tailback on an off-tackle run to the left side.

The rest of UNC's offensive line drives Miami to the right side. Miami's outside linebacker actually does a pretty good job of squeezing Turner's kick-out block while keeping outside leverage, however the poor guy gets no help on the inside. The UNC tailback can't find anyone to block until he is deep into the Miami secondary. UNC is also the first team since N.C. State that has the speed option as a threat to the Bear, and Williams is much quicker that Jacoby Brissett.

The Bear may be able to mitigate some of Hood's effectiveness; however, as I have highlighted all season, it is susceptible to these type of quarterback runs. Expect UNC to run Williams on these plays if Foster aligns his defense in the Bear. If Foster reverts to using 40 personnel, I expect that Williams will have numerous "See Me At the Line" package play calls. If UNC has a numerical advantage in the box, Williams will dial up a run. If Foster loads the box, Williams will throw to a quick screen. UNC also has a variety of gadget plays designed off their package play series. To open the game against Duke, the Heels ran a flea flicker.

This is no ordinary flea flicker. UNC pulls a guard to indicate a power run. Davis hitches up like he is moving to the quarterback for a bubble screen. Slot receiver Hollins wheels out like he is blocking the corner to the outside for the bubble screen, and then slides behind him. Switzer (No. 3) shows an option stalk block from the tight slot and then motors past the Duke safety. Every defender sits on either the run of the screen. Jeremy Cash (No. 16), who may be the best safety in college football, completely bites on the screen fake. This is wonderful design.

UNC also ran a double pass off a screen to Switzer against Miami. Larry Fedora went for an onside kick up 24-0 against the Hurricanes. They will attempt trick plays along with the occasional verticals shot at a young secondary.

How do the Hokies stop this offense? Well, most of UNC's offensive group has been together for the last three seasons, and the Hokies have defeated them twice. In both meetings, the Hokies held North Carolina to 17 points. The Hokies' defense forced six turnovers in those two matchups, most of which involved Williams. Ken Ekanem and Dadi Nicolas generated significant pass rush last season, and Tech's secondary was able to minimize big plays. Larry Fedora helped matters by shying away from using his big receivers on vertical routes and rotating in backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky right when UNC's offense seemed to be gaining some momentum. Fedora has a history of brain farts in big games.

In a bad 17-13 loss against South Carolina, Elijah Hood was ignored in the red zone despite averaging 10.6 yards per carry. Williams threw 3 picks inside USC's 21-yard-line, twice with goal-to-go, to kill potential scoring drives. Turnovers and UNC's play calling will be huge factors in Saturday's outcome because I don't think the Hokies can just line up and stop the Heels cold.

Stats Don't Tell the Whole Story: The North Carolina Defense

For the last couple of seasons, North Carolina has been good offensively while rolling out bad to putrid defensive units. Under new defensive coordinator Gene Chizik, statistics conclude North Carolina's run defense is one of the worst in the country.

After watching the film, I believe the statistics are incredibly misleading. Chizik's defensive system often relies on only six or seven defenders in the box to stop the run while keeping two safeties deep almost at all times. Those safeties rarely come up in run support until a ball carrier has penetrated UNC's defensive front. The design of UNC's system is a 40 front that focuses on preventing big-plays and forcing offenses to make long drives. Against Duke and Miami, their offenses couldn't sustain long drives without execution errors, penalties, and turnovers. UNC's defense only gave up 10 points combined in the first half of those two games. The opportunistic group also forced several turnovers to get their quick strike offense good field position.

This play is an example showing one of the reasons why the Heels give up so much rush yardage. Duke's run-first quarterback Thomas Sirk in the shotgun with a running back to his left on second-and-10.

UNC only has 6 defenders in the box, and two safeties deep. Sirk runs a quarterback lead draw against the blitz. A seam opens up on the right side and middle linebacker Jeff Schoettmer (No, 10, RS-SR, 6-2, 235) blitzes right into the hole. The Duke tailback and Sirk have a numbers battle with Schoettmer, and the Duke back turns him outside. Sirk breaks through the line of scrimmage and is yards into the secondary before a UNC safety comes up in support. That is typical of their scheme. Those safeties will make absolutely sure that the offense is running before supporting the run.

Against Miami, UNC took a similarly conservative approach. On 2nd-and-10, the Hurricanes run an inside zone play with a wham block and a jet sweep fake.

Again, UNC's safeties are playing 10+ yards deep. The strong safety doesn't come up in support until the Miami back reaches the line of scrimmage. The free safety stays at ten yards until the back is several yards up field. UNC has seven defenders in the box against seven blockers and the running back. In an outnumbered situation, they will give up yards.

What I didn't see Duke and Miami get much of are big plays. UNC has an outstanding boundary corner in Des Lawrence (JR, 6-1, 185). Lawrence is one of the best man coverage corners I have seen on film this year and is tied for the ACC lead in pass breakups (12) with UNC corner M.J. Stewart (SO, 5-11, 200). Chizik loves to play man and quarters coverage with Lawrence and Stewart and free up his safeties to provide deep help.

Offensively, expect Travon McMillian to have a good game. I also expect the Hokies to use wide receiver screens frequently. Both Miami and Duke had success with the screen game. It is going to be very difficult for the Hokies to generate big plays. Offensively, the Hokies must maintain focus and execute long, painstaking drives and finish those drives with touchdowns. Controlling the football and scoring touchdowns will put pressure on Fedora's play calling. UNC's offense has a history of getting impatient and making mistakes against Foster's defense.

The Hokies face a monumental task on Saturday. Since blowing a golden opportunity for an undefeated regular season against the Gamecocks, UNC has reeled off 9-straight victories. Those wins include blowouts over cupcakes, a stirring comeback (down 21-0 to Georgia Tech), and decimation of teams like Duke and Miami that beat the Hokies. UNC's offense is a matchup nightmare. A Virginia Tech win would be one of the biggest upsets of the Frank Beamer era and a fitting send off if Virginia Tech can find a way to derail UNC's best season since the Mack Brown era.