Interesting piece on Foster's defense against OSU

[Skeptic]

A really interesting piece on Bud Foster, VT and the defense that shut down OSU last season, even for fans like me but will be of considerable interest to football technophobes and x & o guys. Former GT DC gets a lot of mention -- Mississippi -- and GT for the speed Foster has to account for. Shows his reputation is well-earned. I always enjoy the sideline vignettes of GT-VT games: Foster sometimes kneeling, index finger on chin, trying to see both defense and offense, and Johnson on the other side, just as intense. Those two have had great matchups over the years.

http://www.foxsports.com/college-fo...nia-tech-hokies-secret-to-stopping-osu-042415

 

[Techster]

Another "secret" to VT beating OSU was it was JT Barrett's first start of his career coming off a redshirt season. Barrett missed LOT of wide open guys that game he didn't miss later in the season when OSU's offense was a juggernaut. Credit to VT for gambling on single coverage to the outside and not having confidence that JT Barrett would beat them with his arm (he didn't). There were a few plays VT CBs made fantastic plays recovering on underthrown balls that would have gone for TDs had Barrett thrown a better ball.

 

[zhavenor]

To counter the bear technique there are two things I've seen. In the mid 00's the theory was to check out of the triple option and switch to the load option i.e. no reading a dive key and just getting the ball to the outside. I have just in the last couple of year also seen the recommendation of changing the regular triple to a midline triple. I don't remember the exact blocking scheme but I was assume you would at least combo block the nose guard with the playside guard and center if not outright double team him to make it work. It think in Paul's terminology they call it an Ace block. There are also changes on how the counter option needs to be block. Paul has gone against this before. There were a lot more bear type defenses in the 80's and early nineties.

 

[UgaBlows]

I think the key always for us to beat VT is to hit passes, thats what he pretty much always gambles on us not being able to consistently hit on. Start killing him there and it ruins his whole gameplan

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I think the key always for us to beat VT is to hit passes, thats what he pretty much always gambles on us not being able to consistently hit on. Start killing him there and it ruins his whole gameplan

I recognize Foster is a great DC and by far the strongest aspect of the VT football staff with the decline of Beamer. As a person I will always find him reprehensible since two of his players who live in my area (Hampton Roads Va) bragged to a local newspaper years ago that the VT coaching staff provided personal history info for opposing players (sister of WR has problems) to use in taunting at key points of the game. But I digress.

I think this is as simple as it gets from the article, "Foster told XandOlabs.com that the entire premise of the Bear package is to get plus-one in the box to defend quarterback option teams, and its coverage structure is man heavy.".

When you are +1 in the box, you must have fast D players to make up for the -1 elsewhere on the field. That's what they have and what VT does. And being man heavy leaves our WRs with 1 on 1. So if we are a lot bigger (Smelter and Waller) than their DBs, the jump ball should be there all day. "Just" have to execute.

 

[Skeptic]

I recognize Foster is a great DC and by far the strongest aspect of the VT football staff with the decline of Beamer. As a person I will always find him reprehensible since two of his players who live in my area (Hampton Roads Va) bragged to a local newspaper years ago that the VT coaching staff provided personal history info for opposing players (sister of WR has problems) to use in taunting at key points of the game. But I digress.

I think this is as simple as it gets from the article, "Foster told XandOlabs.com that the entire premise of the Bear package is to get plus-one in the box to defend quarterback option teams, and its coverage structure is man heavy.".

When you are +1 in the box, you must have fast D players to make up for the -1 elsewhere on the field. That's what they have and what VT does. And being man heavy leaves our WRs with 1 on 1. So if we are a lot bigger (Smelter and Waller) than their DBs, the jump ball should be there all day. "Just" have to execute.

Certainly Smelter and Thomas executed twice last season, though for the life of me I can't figure how Smelter got loose down the sideline. I mean way loose. I think given our history against VT and errant passes, what we have now gives me a lot more confidence into the game since VT's "man heavy" defense plays to GT's passing strong point ... when we can throw it. And this year by that time we will either have found we have wideouts, or that we don't.

Really sorry to hear that about him, or about any teacher of young men anywhere. Interesting to see if and when he moves up with Beamer's woes, though Johnson went through a period himself.

 

[Boomergump]

Is it just me, or was this article much ado about nothing. Like we haven't seen plus numbers in the box, with shallow safeties having run support responsibilities on the edge. You would think the guy invented a time machine from the article. I think Foster is a good coach and he obviously had a good scheme for the OSU game. I don't want to take that away from him. BUT, for GT, that kind of stuff is nothing new. If I give Foster credit for anything it is that he will do his scheme work in the off-season, so he has plenty of time to get it implemented and his kids can execute it. Many teams we face just have a couple of days in the middle of the week to totally restructure their attack. We have seen first hand how that hasn't always worked for them.

 

[Bennett]

Certainly Smelter and Thomas executed twice last season, though for the life of me I can't figure how Smelter got loose down the sideline. I mean way loose. I think given our history against VT and errant passes, what we have now gives me a lot more confidence into the game since VT's "man heavy" defense plays to GT's passing strong point ... when we can throw it. And this year by that time we will either have found we have wideouts, or that we don't.

Really sorry to hear that about him, or about any teacher of young men anywhere. Interesting to see if and when he moves up with Beamer's woes, though Johnson went through a period himself.

Thomas pump faked and the corner bit. Only reason that worked is because Thomas was able to hit smelter on the hitch many times earlier in the game.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

When we lost to VT, it was more about missing blocks than his defense. We were about as bad against Duke last year.

 

[Skeptic]

When we lost to VT, it was more about missing blocks than his defense. We were about as bad against Duke last year.

Not being argumentative, but if it was blocking, then maybe blame gets the credit due athletes and defense, because it happened five times in the last seven years. Seems disingenuous, and one can always find reasons for losing but the main one is they beat us. Foster's defense has to get credit for that; VT has to my memory always played our offense tougher than any other ACC team. I give 'em credit for that and knowing Johnson's reputation I doubt he blames it on bad blocking once a season. As for Duke, that one drives me nuts and always will. But in the end they did what they had to do to beat us.

 

[AE 87]

Not being argumentative, but if it was blocking, then maybe blame gets the credit due athletes and defense, because it happened five times in the last seven years. Seems disingenuous, and one can always find reasons for losing but the main one is they beat us. Foster's defense has to get credit for that; VT has to my memory always played our offense tougher than any other ACC team. I give 'em credit for that and knowing Johnson's reputation I doubt he blames it on bad blocking once a season. As for Duke, that one drives me nuts and always will. But in the end they did what they had to do to beat us.

Just for future reference, what would "being argumentative" look like?

 

[deeeznutz]

Another "secret" to VT beating OSU was it was JT Barrett's first start of his career coming off a redshirt season. Barrett missed LOT of wide open guys that game he didn't miss later in the season when OSU's offense was a juggernaut. Credit to VT for gambling on single coverage to the outside and not having confidence that JT Barrett would beat them with his arm (he didn't). There were a few plays VT CBs made fantastic plays recovering on underthrown balls that would have gone for TDs had Barrett thrown a better ball.

I think this was the biggest factor, and it was clear the OSU OL hadn't gelled yet so they couldn't stop the constant blitz. It kind of reminded me of their strategy against us from the year before when they kept having their CB who was up in the box blitz the snap every time. He'll start out with an aggressive attack and won't change it up unless it starts getting beat, and JT Barrett certainly wasn't up to the challenge that early on.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Looking forward to the VPI game this year. As good as JT was against them last year.....he was 2x better by the end of the season. I predict VPI will play us fairly well....but their players are gonna hate trying to stop JT this year.

 

[RamblinCharger]

I think VT could have still given OSU a game near the end of the year on a neutral site just on defense alone. Bud Foster is incredible

 

[AE 87]

Looking forward to the VPI game this year. As good as JT was against them last year.....he was 2x better by the end of the season. I predict VPI will play us fairly well....but their players are gonna hate trying to stop JT this year.

Yeah, JT got a lot better during the year. Going back and watching esp Tulane and Wofford and then FSU MissSt tells the tale. Also watching 2013 tday game may evoke some patience for Matthew Jordan.

 

[Skeptic]

Looking forward to the VPI game this year. As good as JT was against them last year.....he was 2x better by the end of the season. I predict VPI will play us fairly well....but their players are gonna hate trying to stop JT this year.

It should be, again, a great game but I agree with you: Thomas was measurably better in the last 4-5 games of the year vs. the first 5-6. Maybe even remarkably better. VT this year may regret stacking the box and forcing us outside, particularly if Thomas is given a sliver before the safety comes up. And this year VT is late in a tough schedule which means everybody will be tested before that kickoff.

 

[GTech63]

I think VT could have still given OSU a game near the end of the year on a neutral site just on defense alone. Bud Foster is incredible

Foster is not too prideful to talk to other coaches and get ideas on how to fine tune his scheme. Talked to Iowa coach about to to defend the TO. Did the same when scheming for Buckeyes. He is certainly a very good if not great DC. He gambles on us by stopping the run first. We need some pass completions to open it up.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

Not being argumentative, but if it was blocking, then maybe blame gets the credit due athletes and defense, because it happened five times in the last seven years. Seems disingenuous, and one can always find reasons for losing but the main one is they beat us. Foster's defense has to get credit for that; VT has to my memory always played our offense tougher than any other ACC team. I give 'em credit for that and knowing Johnson's reputation I doubt he blames it on bad blocking once a season. As for Duke, that one drives me nuts and always will. But in the end they did what they had to do to beat us.

Go back and look at the tape. Missed block, false start, missed block, false start, fumble, repeat. I guess you win. It was his defense.

 

[JorgeJonas]

I think the idea that some Tech fans have that he's some sort of kryptonite for our offense is pretty intriguing. Our first year, I believe it was the fourth game of the year running a brand new offense, the second year we dominated them in the second half, the third year we were dominating them again until Nesbitt got hurt (and even then almost won), the fourth year we scored 26 points on them (they allowed 17.6/game), the fifth year was the opener on the road, the sixth year we couldn't beat ourselves more than they beat us (but they played very well), and the seventh year we won in the fourth game of the year with a first year starting QB.

The idea that, because he talked to Iowa's coaches or something, he has the thing figured out always makes me laugh.

 

[Skeptic]

I think the idea that some Tech fans have that he's some sort of kryptonite for our offense is pretty intriguing. Our first year, I believe it was the fourth game of the year running a brand new offense, the second year we dominated them in the second half, the third year we were dominating them again until Nesbitt got hurt (and even then almost won), the fourth year we scored 26 points on them (they allowed 17.6/game), the fifth year was the opener on the road, the sixth year we couldn't beat ourselves more than they beat us (but they played very well), and the seventh year we won in the fourth game of the year with a first year starting QB.

The idea that, because he talked to Iowa's coaches or something, he has the thing figured out always makes me laugh.

Well, I feel pretty confident in saying VT's defense had something to do with it.