Early Line - GT v VPI

[stinger78]

I would not blame people if they yell at me to stop repeating myself but….we have been a great running team this year because of a finesse scheme, not a power scheme. Without King we lose that extra threat that tends to freeze the defense for half a step. Notre Dame never hesitated on defense and VT will not either unless we can throw a surprise wrinkle into our offense.

Then we have to find a way around it. No system hangs on one part. If it does, it is not a system. There are too many good parts to this offense to consider it that way. ZP is too good a QB that he cannot actuate the other parts. We did not see that last Saturday and we will not see it this Saturday.

There is this thing called organizational knowledge that speaks to collective learning and adaptability. We learned a lot last Saturday. We have greater organizational knowledge today than last Tuesday. I believe what we will see next Saturday will reflect that and we will see an offense that adapts to what ZP brings as opposed to what HK brings. If our coaches can do this, we can walk out of Blacksburg Saturday night as winners.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Then we have to find a way around it. No system hangs on one part. If it does, it is not a system. There are too many good parts to this offense to consider it that way. ZP is too good a QB that he cannot actuate the other parts. We did not see that last Saturday and we will not see it this Saturday.

There is this thing called organizational knowledge that speaks to collective learning and adaptability. We learned a lot last Saturday. We have greater organizational knowledge today than last Tuesday. I believe what we will see next Saturday will reflect that and we will see an offense that adapts to what ZP brings as opposed to what HK brings. If our coaches can do this, we can walk out of Blacksburg Saturday night as winners.

 

[billga99]

Speaking of rushing D, Miami is #9, UGAg is #24, and S’cuse is # 49. All first sheet D’s. Ours is #27. I think this helps explain what happened @S’cuse, and informs us what will likely happen vs. Miami and UGAg.

We need to make hay against VPI and NCSU.

Miami has given up pinball machine points in their last 3 games. Obviously their offense is fantastic and scores at a prolific rate. But their passing defense has been mediocre particularly lately. However it remains to be seen if we could take advantage of that based on the fact we like to run the ball.

 

[Blue&Gold1034]

I would not blame people if they yell at me to stop repeating myself but….we have been a great running team this year because of a finesse scheme, not a power scheme. Without King we lose that extra threat that tends to freeze the defense for half a step. Notre Dame never hesitated on defense and VT will not either unless we can throw a surprise wrinkle into our offense.

There is no such thing as a finesse scheme. It's a term used by people to try and discredit innovative offensive schemes that dont follow the traditional blueprint. With that being said, the main run plays for this offense, counter and wide zone, have been seen as "power football" for decades. Washington under Joe Gibbs ran the counter and were considered a hard nose power football team. When Alabama was winning titles early in Nick Saban's tenure, they were running inside and wide zone and no one would say they were running a finesse offense.

 

[stinger78]

Dang straight you love it! Don’t forget it,

 

[Northeast Stinger]

There is no such thing as a finesse scheme. It's a term used by people to try and discredit innovative offensive schemes that dont follow the traditional blueprint. With that being said, the main run plays for this offense, counter and wide zone, have been seen as "power football" for decades. Washington under Joe Gibbs ran the counter and were considered a hard nose power football team. When Alabama was winning titles early in Nick Saban's tenure, they were running inside and wide zone and no one would say they were running a finesse offense.

Really?

That’s what you took from my comments?

I’m not going to argue with you since you don’t seem to see the difference in the two styles of QBs that I see. And I’m not disparaging either one. Just saying a straight ahead power running QB who doesn’t make quick cuts needs a different blocking scheme than an offense built on misdirection and a quarterback who can fake one direction, pivot and counter.

 

[Root4GT]

A dose of football is also useful. We’re a run first offense and they are a pass first offense. What’s the points per possession?

Why do they keep needing miracle overturns to win conference games with this unstoppable offense?

No clue what you are saying. VT is 2-1 in conference with 2 blowout wins and 1 loss where their winning score was overturned in Miami’s favor. But whatever. Paying actual attention helps.

 

[Blue&Gold1034]

Really?

That’s what you took from my comments?

I’m not going to argue with you since you don’t seem to see the difference in the two styles of QBs that I see. And I’m not disparaging either one. Just saying a straight ahead power running QB who doesn’t make quick cuts needs a different blocking scheme than an offense built on misdirection and a quarterback who can fake one direction, pivot and counter.

There is a difference between the two running styles and that's clear as day, but saying there needs to be different blocking schemes is inaccurate. The blocking schemes for Johnson's offenses with Nesbitt weren't any different than they were for Thomas. Tim Tebow and Pat White ran a lot of the same plays at Florida and West Virginia. Hell, Faulkner has King running a lot of counter just like Tebow did at Florida. Styles of running aren't nearly as important when it comes to how you block. If the blocking is good at the point of attack, the runners style doesn't really matter.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

There is a difference between the two running styles and that's clear as day, but saying there needs to be different blocking schemes is inaccurate. The blocking schemes for Johnson's offenses with Nesbitt weren't any different than they were for Thomas. Tim Tebow and Pat White ran a lot of the same plays at Florida and West Virginia. Hell, Faulkner has King running a lot of counter just like Tebow did at Florida. Styles of running aren't nearly as important when it comes to how you block. If the blocking is good at the point of attack, the runners style doesn't really matter.

Disagree.

 

[gtrower]

No clue what you are saying. VT is 2-1 in conference with 2 blowout wins and 1 loss where their winning score was overturned in Miami’s favor. But whatever. Paying actual attention helps.

Hint, passing offenses tend to get more possessions and thus raw ppg totals are inflated relative to running offenses. You’d think a GT fan would be aware of this after a decade of the option?

 

[bke1984]

My hope is for a quick redesign of our offense that plays to Pyron’s strengths.

I would hope our staff already did this leading into last week. If not then they did a bad job of anticipating where we were going to struggle. My biggest concern going into the game was our inability to get break away runs out of the QB position, and I think that was the problem once we got past the initial drives. So if they missed it then shame on them, but by all means please fix it now. That said, I doubt I picked up on something so basic that the staff wasn’t already aware of.

 

[UgaBlows]

It would be cool to see Pyron get under center at times (short yardage) and run some midline and double option plays wide with Haynes or Singleton trailing him for a pitch

 

[stinger78]

I would hope our staff already did this leading into last week. If not then they did a bad job of anticipating where we were going to struggle. My biggest concern going into the game was our inability to get break away runs out of the QB position, and I think that was the problem once we got past the initial drives. So if they missed it then shame on them, but by all means please fix it now. That said, I doubt I picked up on something so basic that the staff wasn’t already aware of.

Bear in mind that, before last week, the coaches had never seen Pyron run the offense in a game. We all know that game experience differs from practice. Now they know what he can execute well and what he struggles to do. I’d be shocked if they haven’t put together a better plan for Zach this week. I think we’ll be OK.

 

[LongforDodd]

It would be cool to see Pyron get under center at times (short yardage) and run some midline and double option plays wide with Haynes or Singleton trailing him for a pitch

I like that. It was very effective back in the day...when all of the pieces fell into place.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I would hope our staff already did this leading into last week. If not then they did a bad job of anticipating where we were going to struggle. My biggest concern going into the game was our inability to get break away runs out of the QB position, and I think that was the problem once we got past the initial drives. So if they missed it then shame on them, but by all means please fix it now. That said, I doubt I picked up on something so basic that the staff wasn’t already aware of.

Quick redesign of some blocking patterns still would require in game experience to see how it shakes out and where it needs tweaking. ND should have given us lots of data to make the necessary adjustments. Let us hope.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Bear in mind that, before last week, the coaches had never seen Pyron run the offense in a game. We all know that game experience differs from practice. Now they know what he can execute well and what he struggles to do. I’d be shocked if they haven’t put together a better plan for Zach this week. I think we’ll be OK.

Oops, just said the same thing before I saw your post.

 

[Techster]

We tend to get down on ourselves after a loss, and downplay what actually went right...or what our strengths are. GT has a very good offense. We're not elite, but we're in the next tier of offenses that can do damage against good teams. Notre Dame just happened to be an ELITE defense that was a buzzsaw for our offense. ND's defense was the #1 defense (according to DFEI) heading into the game. Even with our backup QB, we were able to raise our OFEI numbers from #19 to #18. Obviously, that doesn't make up for the loss, but it does give GT fans a silver lining heading into the VT game.

VT is NOT Notre Dame. Not even close. I'm going to assume that Pyron will be GT's QB until we hear otherwise. You can make the argument that Pyron outplayed ND's Dylan Leonard from the standpoint that Pyron had to play against the #1 defense in the country, and Leonard had to play against one of the lesser defenses in P4 (sorry GT fans, that's what the stats are reflecting). Pyron left the ND game with a higher QBR than Leonard. Pyron will be a much better QB against VT. First, he'll have a full game under his belt, and two, VT's defense won't be challenge that ND's defense was for him. Don't let the ND loss cloud the fact that Pyron is a good QB...and probably one of the best backup QBs in the country.

Let's not forget, Pyron went into Lane Stadium as a true freshmen and led us to victory. He's been through that atmosphere on the road, so he won't be overwhelmed.

IMO, our offense will put points up on VT with Pyron at QB. The question is whether GT can stop VT from scoring points. I think the GT D versus VT O is the real story of this matchup. @RamblinRed already went through the FEI numbers, so I won't repeat them. Let's be honest, our D has had its moments, but overall, we tend to fall apart at the wrong times. If our D can find consistency, we can actually be an average defense...which would go a LONG way with our very good offense. VT's offense is statistically average to good. Will our defense make them look "very good"? Hopefully, not.

I think we win this game. Our rushing offense versus their rushing defense is a complete mismatch (on paper). We can control the clock and shorten the game. We need our defense to make a few stops, and we need to hold onto the ball to keep VT's offense off the field, and if there's anything GT is good at it's extending drives. I expect VT to stack the box and make Pyron prove he can pass the ball. Pyron is more than capable as a passer.

One last thing. Since Brent Key has taken over full time as our HC, GT has never lost back to back games.

 

[Root4GT]

Hint, passing offenses tend to get more possessions and thus raw ppg totals are inflated relative to running offenses. You’d think a GT fan would be aware of this after a decade of the option?

If you look at the statistics we get more passing yards than VT does. We get 244 passing yards per game. VT gets 188 passing yards per game. VT gets 209 yards rushing per game. GT gets 186 rushing yards per game.

So basically we are the Passing team and VT is the running team. Based on your comments then we should be the team that generates more possessions per game. Yet they score more points per game than GT does. So our Points per game are inflated relative to VTs.

 

[gtrower]

If you look at the statistics we get more passing yards than VT does. We get 244 passing yards per game. VT gets 188 passing yards per game. VT gets 209 yards rushing per game. GT gets 186 rushing yards per game.

So basically we are the Passing team and VT is the running team. Based on your comments then we should be the team that generates more possessions per game. Yet they score more points per game than GT does. So our Points per game are inflated relative to VTs.

You were talking about Miamis offense. That probably explains your confusion.

I certainly agree we have a better passing offense than VT as Drones is closer to an option QB than a pro style guy.

 

[Root4GT]

You were talking about Miamis offense. That probably explains your confusion.

I certainly agree we have a better passing offense than VT as Drones is closer to an option QB than a pro style guy.

Miami is clearly a pass first offense! They are very very good at it. Ward is having a great year there. He has a solid OL and a group of very good receivers across the board. Ward is very experienced QB. A fifth year starter going from Incarnate Ward to Washington State and now Miami. He has attempted over 2100 passes in his career. King is also a fifth year player and one I consider experienced. He has attempted 774 passes.

Both VT and Miami will be very tough games for different reasons. We will need to play a very good game to beat VT and a near perfect game to beat Miami with Miami playing a very bad game.

Of course that's why we play the games. Anything is possible!