Capitulation

Even though there were plenty of red flags, I felt good about the Hokies' chances after jumping out to a 20-10 halftime lead against a very good Vanderbilt team. The defense didn't play as sharp or physical in the opening act, and the offense again had red zone troubles. Those shortcomings left me with a foreboding sense. Sure enough, the Hokies collapsed in the second half, mentally and physically, leaving Vanderbilt looking not only like a winner, but a bully too. I could have written a very long film review about the lack of aggressiveness and physicality by the second-level on defense (and way too much nickel coverage to compensate for Isaiah Brown-Murray and Caleb Brown's inability to cover man-to-man), but I promised offense this week, so here we go.

False Hope Offensively

Even though the Hokies had a lot of success early, they were still not picking up pressures or reading options correctly.

Vanderbilt aligned in a true 3-4 to defend this 1st-and-10 against single tight three-wide personnel. The field-side edge linebacker, Miles Capers (No. 29), stunted hard into the left guard-tackle gap, behind a twist outside from defensive tackle Khordae Sydnor (No. 96), while field inside linebacker Randon Fontenette (No. 2) replaced him on the edge.

There was poor communication to block the stunt. Left tackle Johnny Garrett (No. 79), seeing Capers dive inside, handed him off to guard Layth Ghannam (No. 56) while climbing to Fontenette. But Ghannam took Sydnor, leaving Capers unblocked. Center Jaden Muskrat (No. 62) bounced off boundary inside linebacker Bryan Longwell (No. 11), leaving the outside zone completely outnumbered. Perhaps even more glaring than the missed blocks was Kyron Drones' read on the play.

Backside, Drones was all alone with boundary edge linebacker Langston Patterson (No. 10.) It was also seemingly an RPO, meaning Drones was optioning Patterson with the third option being Isaiah Spencer (No. 14) in the flat. Patterson pursued running back Marcellous Hawkins (No. 27) on the outside zone. Drones would have likely beaten Patterson around his containment with nobody else there. Even better, Spencer was wide open for the quick pass to the flat.

In the passing game early, Vanderbilt played a variety of zones that left some large gaps in the short zones. Drones exploited those holes with quick stick routes and slants off RPOs to move the linebackers. However, when OC Philip Montgomery dialed up a vertical route, Drones didn't have much to work with against the deep shell and didn't always get to his check down. On this play-action, he had an eternity to throw before Capers (No.29) shook free of the left tackle, Garrett (No. 79). So why did Drones not find anyone open?