Film Study - Offense vs VT

Eastman

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Great write up as always. Your point about JT committing and going full speed is what I like most about him. Having a tentative qb run the option will not work and despite the many defense variations thrown at him, I never felt he was second guessing. His ability to scramble for yards or just avoiding a sack is notable as well.
 

Oldgoldandwhite

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Good. We have to improve our 3rd and long conversions. Seems like we were 2nd and long and 3rd and long all game long. Plus we need an A back to step up and take the pressure off the QB and BB.
 

UgaBlows

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I really appreciate the time you take to breakdown gamefilm and write these reports up Boomer, you are a huge part of what makes this forum the very best GT site by x1000000000
 

UgaBlows

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i was thinking while watching the game that when this passing game slows down for JT and he calms his arm down enough to hit these wide open recievers we are going to be SO dangerous on Offense. Teams better have a '08 LSU or '09 Iowa quality D if they want to stop or slow us down when that happens
 

Techster

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i was thinking while watching the game that when this passing game slows down for JT and he calms his arm down enough to hit these wide open recievers we are going to be SO dangerous on Offense. Teams better have a '08 LSU or '09 Iowa quality D if they want to stop or slow us down when that happens

Tevin improved a TON from 2011 to 2012 in terms of reading the defense and getting the ball to the right receiver. Unfortunately, he was limited physically on how the ball got there...but for the most part his reads were correct.

The only caveat about JT's understanding of the passing game next year is Smelter and Waller and a good portion of our AB rotation (basically our slot WRs in passing situations) are graduating. Our passing concepts are heavily based on our QB and receivers reading the same thing on the fly, so we're going to lose some chemistry and talent in that department.
 

alaguy

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First of all, I think you have to give a ton of props to Bud Foster. You may hate him, but you better respect him, because he had those kids ready to play a pretty complex scheme against us. Most teams line up with one base formation all game and just do a couple simple variations off that based on down and distance and our formation. Not BF and the VT defense. They did a little of everything and often mixed, from down to down, who had QB, who had pitch, and from a totally different look. It is obvious they wanted to confuse JT and our OL. Personally, I think the game ball (for either team) goes to #36 on VT's defense. He played better than anybody else on the field. Although we owned the action in the G-C-G area of the field, we just couldn't get a hat on that guy or take him to the ground pursuing to the edge. He single handedly kept our dive from blowing up on them and he single handedly allowed them to run some of the tactics they did in the flats. Without him, they are not even in the game. He made tackles everywhere and seemed to easily defeat our attempts to pick him up. I don't think he took a single false step all game except one play where JT jukes him and took off for a 20 yarder. If I had to guess, I would say he made 40% of their tackles by himself. You have to go all the way to Vellano for MD at DT, to find as good a game played against us by a single defender.

With all that said, VT had a hard time adjusting to the speed of our option early. The guys on the edge screwed up assignments in the first series and we busted some runs. Eventually they settled down. Most of the day they had 8 in the box in one variation or another with as many as 6 on the line or as few as 4. They didn't jump the A gap but a few times. They did come with pressure this year, probably more than I would have expected, but the difference was they usually had one guy held back who spied JT. This was the "containment" tactic that I had alluded to in prior posts leading up to the game. They often fired corners and rotated safeties over to the boundary. We picked this up nicely, in scheme if not execution, by having the WR crack inside and the play side AB taking the firing CB. Once again, despite the lessened pressure, they were daring us to beat them through the air. Their defense flowed quickly to the pitch lanes and CBs were left to fend for themselves. There were a ton of plays "there" that we didn't hit for 3/4ths of the game with Smelter in the clear or a wheel route.

I thought CPJ did a masterful job with the play calls and I don't use that term lightly. With the game on the line late we ran two plays that took advantage of #36 in the middle a little bit, an AB dive, and a QB follow where we essentially optioned him off by having him take the BB. Those weren't big gainers but they mattered big time in the flow of the game late. The best play call of the day was the last TD to Smelter on the stop and go. CPJ guessed right that they would fire the corner on the play. That put a ton of pressure on the safety to get over to Smelter in a timely fashion and interrupt a quick throw that we had tried earlier. Well, he was running full speed over and DS baited him perfectly. The only other player on the field was a safety on the other side. He had no chance.

I don't think we played particularly well on offense as a whole. There were just a slew of unforced errors on the day. Penalties, just like last year, really killed some drives. ABs didn't play all that well. There were too many missed blocks or blocks that were too easily defeated in space, or penalties that brought plays back. While our OL generally blocked very well and got the best of the guys in front of them, they let down by turning a guy loose at the worst possible times. The biggest thing I can say is that we persevered. That seems to be our character this year and it is a good thing to say. There were a ton of reasons to throw in the towel and we didn't do it.

I am so proud of JT I can't even put it into words. He was asked to grow up yesterday. He was confronted with a puzzling and frightening array of tactics all day and he kept the pedal down throughout. He is a warrior who, once again, put his team on his back. We don't win yesterday if anybody else was in his place. The number of plays he keeps alive for modest gains, or makes huge gains out of seemingly routine plays is staggering. He sees holes developing before they open. He reads defenses very well for his relative inexperience. The two most important things about him are that, right or wrong, he commits to the decision and plays it out as fast as he can, and he makes adjustments as he goes along learning from his mistakes rather quickly. He has developed a tendency to overthrow receivers right now. His arm is strong and he is speeding things up a little too much getting rid of the ball. At crunch time you could see him consciously trying to take a little off to MAKE SURE of the throws. From that point on he was money. Eventually, he will learn to put air under the ball when he needs it. He hasn't yet. Some of his touch throws don't have enough altitude. I feel strongly, very soon, he will be coming out of the gate hitting important throws early.

Bottom line, there were a ton of plays missed yesterday. There were still many others that were an eyelash of going for huge gains that didn't. From my vantage point, we weren't all that far from blowing them out. We CAN play better. The locker room talk is the truth. We looked like the better team. They were under an extreme amount of pressure. They were well prepared. We were inconsistent, but we made played with talent. Yes the T word. We have some on offense.

Sorry I have to go. One last word. There is no doubt Freddie Burden was jacked up to play. That first series, he knocked his guy back about 4 yards a pop one on one. No kidding. He looked like that guy who got his car vandalized on "Fast Times at Ridgemont High". I haven't seen that from him yet. He has played well so far but that first series really showed what he can do. WOW.

YES on JT
even when he makes mistakes he hurts them---the first play? he could have pitched ball and we might have aback go 30.He just kept and ran for 20.
On his first TD, 2 of 3 backs missed blocks somewhat,he just outran the Def. also-- I don't quite get an Aback not KILLING a guy on EVERY play,they rotate all the time and are fresh
btw--heard no comment on Days going back to aback? that really says something of our "depth" at Aback
Passing is not JTs forte,but he will get better ,too bad Smelter won't be around for next yr
The 26 yd run by Laskey may have been the most important "non-event" ofgame,proved the bback HAD to be watched A LOT
 

danny daniel

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This week I didn't call for Byerly like I usually do since the game was so important and, well, so damn important to win. Also because I knew we had an off week coming up.

But we really need to keep JT's "run count" down. There were 62 or so offensive plays (that weren't called back) and JT rushed for 22 plays. You could see how tired he was at the end. And hobbling. We ran Vad into the ground in the UNC game and he was never the same. I think for Vad that was largely between the ears, but he didn't have the same spark. I also think that TWs end of game problems were due to fatigue - every QB we have had who plays 60+ plays gets dog tired. That's because the D's like to force the QB to keep a lot, and the QBs don't want to risk a turnover in heavy traffic.
We need to treat JT like a fine wine and let him age. He'll learn as much playing 45-50 plays a game as 62. Byerly can use the experience for when JT gets hurt. But against VT and UGAg, there can be no prisoners.

Hopefully we get a comfortable lead at some point and put Byerly in. Many game we are going to have 70+ offense plays. End of bi-weekly rant.

Great as always Boomer.

I think we really missed Perkins blocking on the edge. But I also think that the VT defense was by far the most accomplished we have faced. Which is why we only scored 20 (accepting Butker miss and Refs bad calls).

I certainly agree that we cannot/should not plan for JT to take the beating and number of hits he did against VT. IMO a series or two for Byerly + some short yardage should be the plan. 8 or 9 more tough games to go and we will need a healthy JT in the 4th Q in most, if not all of them.
 

Northeast Stinger

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I think those pass plays were good calls, for several reasons. First and foremost, they left their corners alone out there and were all geared up to shut the pitch lanes. The pass plays were there and had been there all day. IMHO if we couldn't hit those then we didn't deserve to win. The other main reason was JT had to be exhausted. If you looked at his body language that last series, you would see an athlete who was spent and on his last legs. Running for him would have been all adrenaline at that point. I'm not sure how much he had left and he represented 70% of the running yards up to that point. There was no real reason to think suddenly the edge was going to open up.
I agree. I do not think I have ever seen CPJ "panic." He seems to do two things. He either takes what the defense is giving or, in critical situations, he anticipates what he thinks the defense is going to try to do. He "sensed" that VPI was set up to stuff the run on the last touchdown drive which would be a good strategy for the defense because it takes away our strength and it makes the clock run faster.
 

Northeast Stinger

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It seemed like this was the first time in many years that CPJ out-coached Bud Foster. We got the yards when we most needed them, which was a refreshing change from the past.
I am in the minority on this but I do not think Foster has ever out coached CPJ. I think what has happened in the past is that players have not executed CPJ's plan. Last year was especially frustrating because Tech did not see anything from Foster that they had not anticipated and practiced all week. Sometimes that happens. What is exciting this year for all of us is that CPJ finally has a quarterback he can have confidence in.
 

Longestday

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The long touch down by JT had a great block by 9 (Zenon). His guy went up the the air and flat on his back. Not to mention the pitch A back made it in front of JT and got a penalty for trying to block. These A backs are desperate to block and make things happen.

I do want to say, I only saw two bad misses by the A backs on blocks that caused an issue on a play. There were many people hit very hard and very good.

JT did a great job. The A backs did good as well. The reason A backs did not make more yards is that they were either covered or JT did not pitch and should have pitched. Also, Both A backs blocked at the same time or ran a lot of option with the B back or more pass plays which limited possible touches by the A back.
 

Big Philly

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He "sensed" that VPI was set up to stuff the run on the last touchdown drive which would be a good strategy for the defense because it takes away our strength and it makes the clock run faster.

I don't think he had to do much sensing. There was a pass (to Waller?) where Griese commented that we only ran a !single! route on a pass play, which sounds so ridiculous it's difficult to believe. In fact, we did that multiple times on Saturday because when we lined up in Heavy, Bud Foster put 9 or even 10 men in the box. TEN! That's like calling your goal line defense. Here is an example, I've queued up Smelter's catch on 3rd and 7 on the GW drive (2:18:16 if the link doesn't work right).



Talk about selling out to stop the run! It looked like our schematic reaction to this was to line up in Heavy, roll Justin Thomas out towards the single receiver and then read the coverage. Single coverage: throw, double coverage: scramble.
 

steebu

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The best play call of the day was the last TD to Smelter on the stop and go. CPJ guessed right that they would fire the corner on the play. That put a ton of pressure on the safety to get over to Smelter in a timely fashion and interrupt a quick throw that we had tried earlier.

They actually telegraphed that one a bit - they walked the corner up and the safety was already over Smelter pre-snap. The safety bit on the pump fake by Justin ... which is a huge no-no since he was nearly 15 yards off of Smelter. I mean, we complain about our coverage being soft ... their guy was 15 yards off and got beat for a 31 yard TD!

That said, I do admire Foster for his schemes - the chess matches between him and PJ have been fantastic and fun to analyze over the years. On the flip side, I think the Syracuse D-coordinator is a complete 180 of that:

Coach: "OK, DE take the dive. OLB take the QB. CB take the pitch."
50 yard TD run.
Coach: "What happened?"
Player: "I got blocked and couldn't tackle the pitch. But now I gotta go back out there. What do we do?"

Coach: "OK, DE take the dive. OLB take the QB. CB take the pitch."
50 yard TD run.
Coach: "What happened?"
Player: "I got blocked and couldn't tackle the pitch. But now I gotta go back out there. What do we do?"

Coach: "OK, DE take the dive. OLB take the QB. CB take the pitch."
50 yard TD run.
Coach: "What happened?"
Player: "I got blocked and couldn't tackle the pitch. But now I gotta go back out there. What do we do?"

Coach: "OK, DE take the dive. OLB take the QB. CB take the pitch."
50 yard TD run.
Coach: "What happened?"
Player: "I got blocked and couldn't tackle the pitch. But now I gotta go back out there. What do we do?"

Coach: "OK, DE take the dive. OLB take the QB. CB take the pitch."
50 yard TD run.
Coach: "What happened?"
Player: "I got blocked and couldn't tackle the pitch. But now I gotta go back out there. What do we do?"

...
 

GTech63

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I think part of game plan should get Byerly in a series in each half. I see the same thing, that JT was really having to suck it up. Tim is not that much, if any, of a drop off. Situation, score, rhythm, all play a factor in making that call. Always a nervous call with a new QB under center.

I would like to see us come up with a wildcat formation with Tim B. and Days in the backfield with Perkins. 3 potential passers and 4 good runners, 2 Good blockers
 

Eric

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I think part of game plan should get Byerly in a series in each half. I see the same thing, that JT was really having to suck it up. Tim is not that much, if any, of a drop off. Situation, score, rhythm, all play a factor in making that call. Always a nervous call with a new QB under center.

I would like to see us come up with a wildcat formation with Tim B. and Days in the backfield with Perkins. 3 potential passers and 4 good runners, 2 Good blockers

How do we know that?

Justin has been electric so far...Taking him out for one series can mess up the rhythm. Personally I am not a fan of that.
 

swampsting

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I am in the minority on this but I do not think Foster has ever out coached CPJ. I think what has happened in the past is that players have not executed CPJ's plan. Last year was especially frustrating because Tech did not see anything from Foster that they had not anticipated and practiced all week. Sometimes that happens. What is exciting this year for all of us is that CPJ finally has a quarterback he can have confidence in.

The false starts and a ton of missed blocks did not help last year against VT.
 

Northeast Stinger

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I don't think he had to do much sensing. There was a pass (to Waller?) where Griese commented that we only ran a !single! route on a pass play, which sounds so ridiculous it's difficult to believe. In fact, we did that multiple times on Saturday because when we lined up in Heavy, Bud Foster put 9 or even 10 men in the box. TEN! That's like calling your goal line defense. Here is an example, I've queued up Smelter's catch on 3rd and 7 on the GW drive (2:18:16 if the link doesn't work right).



Talk about selling out to stop the run! It looked like our schematic reaction to this was to line up in Heavy, roll Justin Thomas out towards the single receiver and then read the coverage. Single coverage: throw, double coverage: scramble.

Nice illustration. Thank you.
 
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