It's VT week

[Eric]

blitz. We are getting burned anyway. Might as well try pressure

This puzzled me a bit...we continued to get burned on third down plays but just kept rushing 4.

 

[33jacket]

This puzzled me a bit...we continued to get burned on third down plays but just kept rushing 4.

Its Roofs scheme. His scheme works nicely at schools that are factories because in general they get good DL talent that can hold their own.

At Tech...we don't typically.

That is why Tenuta was such a great fit. He was the CPJ version of defense. Yes it had its flaws, like CPJ O, but it made decent players All-ACC and in general worked 80% of the time. The zone blitz attack the protection scheme not the formation or personnel is perfect at tech. Requires smarts; and really pressures a O

 

[Ibeeballin]

Its Roofs scheme. His scheme works nicely at schools that are factories because in general they get good DL talent that can hold their own.

At Tech...we don't typically.

That is why Tenuta was such a great fit. He was the CPJ version of defense. Yes it had its flaws, like CPJ O, but it made decent players All-ACC and in general worked 80% of the time. The zone blitz attack the protection scheme not the formation or personnel is perfect at tech. Requires smarts; and really pressures a O

Attacking protection should be the goal of all DC

I disagree with that we don't matchup well with VT. On mission on O is to run the ball well and take advantage of one on one coverage. Both appear to be weak areas for VT. My bro (who is about the same size as Smelter) absolutely destroyed Kendall Fuller in man cov for 224yds. With Waller back and our impressive pass pro excluding Laskey, we will have the opportunity to keep the D off balance and not allow them to play 8-9 man boxes.

But...but...but.... We will need to bring our A game for 60 minutes to win

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Tenuta is doing a great job at UVa with the D. Not surprising to me. But I think Roof will come through once we get more mature talent.

But back to VT, here are one set of computer rankings (JHowell) after yesterday's games. GT is 36st and VT is 32nd. That is good for a couple points advantage plus about 4 being at home. http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf2014.htm

What really jumps out from the GT numbers is that the SOS we have played so far this year is .166. The average SOS for us this year is .593. (.166 means that teams we have played have a 16.6% chance of beating the average D1 team on a neutral field.)

So if these numbers are anywhere near correct, we are really going to have to step up our game for the rest of the year starting with VT. VT is a pivotal point since it is the start of the real (ACC) season for us.

 

[OldJacketFan]

It'll be an angry bunch of hokies on Saturday but will that anger be channeled into performance or pointing fingers. Remember they're not an overly experienced team either. Emotion is a funny thing as we saw from Tech in this game last year. If Tech is able to play cleanly and get a lead you could see a hokie team implode, there's been an underlying, slowly building level of angst going on in Blacksburg. So far it hasn't exploded but it's there. I suspect Tech will be fairly level going into the game after the players see the film from yesterday, they sure won't be over confident. I'm not saying Tech will win but the hokies could be ripe for a plucking.

 

[Techster]

I've got to believe our staff has held a lot back (hurry up no huddle for one) the first three games.

Will be interesting to see what tricks the staff breaks out against VT now that competition has stepped up, and our conference lives are on the line.

 

[Eric]

I've got to believe our staff has held a lot back (hurry up no huddle for one) the first three games.

Will be interesting to see what tricks the staff breaks out against VT now that competition has stepped up, and our conference lives are on the line.

I was told before the season that we wouldn't use it until the VT game...so, let's see if that holds true.

Huge game.

I am glad it's at noon.

 

[Ibeeballin]

I've got to believe our staff has held a lot back (hurry up no huddle for one) the first three games.

Will be interesting to see what tricks the staff breaks out against VT now that competition has stepped up, and our conference lives are on the line.

I expect to see a return of the crossing route

 

[Techster]

I was told before the season that we wouldn't use it until the VT game...so, let's see if that holds true.

Huge game.

I am glad it's at noon.

I don't think our HUNH will be that much of a surprise to VT. It's been talked about and written about all offseason. Unless VT is just plain lazy, I'm sure someone on the staff is assigned to do research about every team's offseason reading local news outlets. I hope GT is doing the same.

The question is how they're going to handle it from our offense. Navy runs a version of a HUNH, but it's not pure like Auburn and Texas A&M's. Actually, I'm not sure what ours will look like either.

Just another layer to make this game even more interesting.

 

[Techster]

I expect to see a return of the crossing route

Mesh route concept?

 

[ATL1]

One concern is JT's height. We are strictly under center now so he'll have to drop back to pass and look over the line. With VT's rush I don't know if he'll have the time to do this look over the defense adjust for angles and hit the slant or be aloud the time for crossing routes to develop.
I would feel more confident if he was in the gun but that's not happening.
The game will be in JT's hand, for he'll be very important in the run game as VT will stack the box to take way the dive & pitches. He'll be keeping the ball a lot and getting pounded whether up the middle or on the perimeter. Plus he's gonna have to pass with better accuracy for the WR will get open he's gonna have to hit them.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

.......I disagree with that we don't matchup well with VT. On mission on O is to run the ball well and take advantage of one on one coverage. Both appear to be weak areas for VT. My bro (who is about the same size as Smelter) absolutely destroyed Kendall Hunter in man cov for 224yds. With Waller back and our impressive pass pro excluding Laskey, we will have the opportunity to keep the D off balance and not allow them to play 8-9 man boxes.......

ECU had 502 total yards of O yesterday. 427 was passing where they were 23-47. Only 75 was rushing on 25 attempts. So I don't think rush defense is a weak area for VT. http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/boxscore?gameId=400547662 It also wasn't in VT versus Ohio State where Ohio State got only 125 yards rushing. http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/boxscore?gameId=400547826

We agree completely that we will have to get the WRs (and ABs and BB) the ball passing. My expectation is that we will be successful passing to start but not as much rushing. We will keep trying to establish the run and JT will get tired and lose his passing accuracy. That would be how I would play us; make us prove we can pass the entire game.

Then it will come down to how well their O and our D match up. Much of that is how the Brewer (VT QB) plays - the Ohio State Brewer or the ECU Brewer. Just the average of the manic depressive performances is probably enough to score the 34 points for VT I suggested.

If I'm wrong and you are right that our running game dominates, then I think we win. Especially if we can get fresh legs in at QB. So I hope you're right.

 

[ramblinvak]

I was told before the season that we wouldn't use it until the VT game...so, let's see if that holds true.

Huge game.

I am glad it's at noon.

With that same token, is it possible we havent really shown a lot on Defense. From my untrained eye, it seems like we were using more intricate defensive schemes during the spring game then the first three games.

 

[QuickKick]

I expect to see a return of the crossing route

That'd be nice wouldn't it?

 

[Ibeeballin]

Mesh route concept?

Yes. Didn't want to be too technical

 

[GTJake]

I've got to believe our staff has held a lot back (hurry up no huddle for one) the first three games.

Will be interesting to see what tricks the staff breaks out against VT now that competition has stepped up, and our conference lives are on the line.

I'm putting alot of eggs in this basket as well. It makes sense to me, I'm hoping we are in for a big surprise this weekend.

 

[Techster]

Yes. Didn't want to be too technical

Ironically, or appropriately depending on your POV, the route Hill ran yesterday for the TD at the end of the game is another crossing route based on the Choice concept...I believe.

Hill tends be at the rate place at the right time with these crossing routes.

 

[33jacket]

Attacking protection should be the goal of all DC

I disagree with that we don't matchup well with VT. On mission on O is to run the ball well and take advantage of one on one coverage. Both appear to be weak areas for VT. My bro (who is about the same size as Smelter) absolutely destroyed Kendall Fuller in man cov for 224yds. With Waller back and our impressive pass pro excluding Laskey, we will have the opportunity to keep the D off balance and not allow them to play 8-9 man boxes.

But...but...but.... We will need to bring our A game for 60 minutes to win

I don't recall saying we don't match up well with VT. Maybe u were combining responses in this post

however since you brought it up, VT seems better vs the run in option style defense right now than the pass....we are a run team. So I don't know that we match up well with them. They have the guys and scheme on D that seem to do well with the style we run, or ohio state etc...VT does well vs one dimension teams. Period...if you are really well balanced and can threat either way...its when they struggle.

I guess we will see...

 

[dressedcheeseside]

We will have to play our very best game to pull out a win. Foster defends the triple option well and we are young and thin on defense. Our secondary was supposed to be one of our strength but they got brutally exposed yesterday, no pressure on the quarterback will do that.

How does no pressure on the qb cause missed assignments, bad angles and piss poor tackling? Yes, we failed to get pressure with 4 guys, but you can't use that to excuse everything that went wrong in the secondary.

 

[slugboy]

How does no pressure on the qb cause missed assignments, bad angles and piss poor tackling? Yes, we failed to get pressure with 4 guys, but you can't use that to excuse everything that went wrong in the secondary.

Well, pressure on the QB covers that up nicely

Be interesting to hear what Roof and Pelton put together this week.