Georgia Tech vs. VPISU: Hokies Bring In Smaller Personnel To Battle Triple Option
by Winfield Featherston on Nov 9, 2011 7:00 AM EST
in Georgia Tech Football
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Yesterday on GobblerCountry a discussion came out of the subject that Virginia Tech had altered it's defensive line to a lighter and maybe quicker squad in hopes of combatting our versatility in the option and those darn cut blocks.
So here's the defensive lineup that Georgia Tech will initially see Thursday night:
J.R. Collins moves over from defensive end to defensive tackle and replaces Luther Maddy, a much slower (fatter?) lineman. Tyrel Wilson comes in to defensive end.
Georgia Tech welcomes back guard Will Jackson and center Jay Finch. Both players had been out with injuries and the off week did them good. Tech fans should expect some more stability on the offensive line this week.
Virginia Tech averages 6.75 feet 6'1 3/4" and 254 pounds on the DL. Georgia Tech is taller and larger than the Hokies at an average of 6'3" feet and 290 pounds.
Over the past three seasons, Virginia Tech has not necessarily been able to contain the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket rushing attack. In all three years of the Paul Johnson era the Hokies have allowed more yards than the Tech season average. 2008: (289 > 273), 2009: (309 > 295), 2010: (346 > 323). In each of those games, the Virginia Tech defensive line averaged only 16 tackles per game. You can look to Joe Vellano of Maryland to lead in tackles against Georgia Tech. The Terrapin defensive tackle accounted for a total of 17 (14 solo 6 assisted) tackles against Tech earlier this year.
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I played Center in HS football, and there ultimately two kinds of NT/DT types you had to deal with…
1) The 250- to 300-lb fat-ass that you could engage quickly, but driving them back was difficult (without a double-team) because of their size, or…
2) The 160-lb wrestler type who came off the ball so quick and shot their gap. It was nearly impossible to square up and engage someone this small and quick.
The smaller guy caused more disruption, and therefore we ended up doing more trapping to (trapping him), countering away, and screens/short passes. The key is taking the quicker guy to which ever side he wanted to go (hopefully out of the play) and trap-blocking. I imagine CPJ is gameplanning for a smaller, quicker D-line by adjusting the blocking schemes to help our guys get better angles. I would expect a lot more counter plays and QB leads (using the B-Back as the extra blocker).
While JR Collins is playing DT (at 240 lbs), it will be interesting to see how effective the B-Back will be. As in the Miami game, they may try to force everything towards Tevin and the A-Backs. VT doesn’t have anyone even remotely as athletic as Sean Spence playing LB…so we may get some opportunities to the outside.
"Reach down in there...TURN THAT DAMN THING UP!" - Coach Paul Johnson
by TBuzz on Nov 9, 2011 8:46 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
You stole my thunder
What this tells me is that they probably want to get the quick guys to shoot the gaps (like Clemson’s goal line defense last week…ahem offsides ahem). With Tech’s big line splits, it’s very tempting. I’m hoping the B-Backs will have a big game this week.
If I'm not mistaken...
one of Jay Finch’s strengths is being able to pull from the Center position. I really think the QB follow play will be a big one all night if we can get the B-Back in there as an extra blocker.
"Reach down in there...TURN THAT DAMN THING UP!" - Coach Paul Johnson
I don't doubt it
Quick hitting inside runs will probably work well because we’ll have the advantage in size and numbers. I would be concerned about slow developing plays though. The offense has really been tripped up by penetration this season, and that’s what I see these guys trying to do.
B Back dive and QB sweep all night long tomorrow.
And if they are shooting the gaps too quickly just start tossing it off to an A Back. If they shoot the gaps too quickly they’ll just end up taking themselves completely out of the play and we will end up with an extra blocker running down field ready to own the CB (cough) excuse me LB.
Please write some fanposts about techniques/tactics you guys used.
I find the stuff fascinating but don’t know a lot about it.
Me too!
My guy tutors me The Blind Side style.
They should teach football in school. I’d be way better at drunken commentary that way.
Fan is short for "fanatic" nimrod.
#THWG. Love, North Ave. Trade School
Not sure
Why you would want to completely change your lineup. This seems counterintuitive. If these guys don’t have as much experience as the guys they are replacing, our O-Line and QB play should dominate.
The thing about defending the option...
is that it doesn’t require any major advantage in experience (especially against the option), size, or athleticism. What it does require is each defender being disciplined and know/stay with their responsibility, and win their matchup. So easy…yet so hard.
Best example…remember Tevin’s 50-yard run in the first half against Clemson? Clemson had that play covered man-for-man. Tevin faked the pitch, the defender bit toward the pitch man, and Tevin was gone. If the defender had ignored the pitch and just focused on tackling Tevin, it would have been a 2-yard gain.
"Reach down in there...TURN THAT DAMN THING UP!" - Coach Paul Johnson
So fitting for Tech, really.
Chess Triple Option: A minute to learn, a lifetime to master.
Fan is short for "fanatic" nimrod.
#THWG. Love, North Ave. Trade School
Not sure this is right.
The option is one of the purest “x and o” offenses out there: the theory is that everybody sticks their block and you option off the last guy. Playing pure assignment ball on D gets you beat, because the option will make you wrong no mater what. The key to stopping the option is blowing up the OL and disrupting timing.
Teams that have had success against Tech didn’t do it by superior discipline. Iowa stopped Tech by freakish DL play.
by first and thom on Nov 9, 2011 12:29 PM EST up reply actions
Superior Defensive Line Talent
That is absolutely the best way to beat the option. It seems to me like VT knows that they don’t have a guy that can consistently beat an offensive lineman one-on-one, so they’re going to try to get a quick jump on the ball to get penetration by shooting the gaps.
Then again, being athletically superior to your opponent helps with any offense.
Exactly
It wasn’t a month to prepare or disciplined assignment football. It was inability to block their defensive line.
Not sure you can prove one to the exclusion of the others.
But dominant DL play certainly seems to be the more important variable.
by first and thom on Nov 9, 2011 10:42 PM EST up reply actions
You know what is kind of funny?
Yall are talking about stopping the triple option. Dominant D-line play is the key to stopping any offense.
by RamblinWreck7 on Nov 9, 2011 11:31 PM EST up reply actions
Not sure you caught the entire gist of what I said...
Playing pure assignment football doesn’t get you beat steady state…if you win your matchups on Defense. If the DL blows up the mesh and the Defense can start rotating LBs out to the perimeter…then those players won their matchups and forces the offense to change course. It’s no different than any other system where as if you can pressure the QB with 4 (instead of 5 or 6) you can commit more defenders into ceoverage.
I was simply pointing out on Tevin’s lond 1st half run against Clemson the other night…the defender covering Tevin over-reacted to the movement of the football instead of stayed with his responsibility and got beat for an explosion play. That’s what the option does, though. It forces you as a Defender to play less with your instincts and more with your head.
And as to the references to Iowa, or maybe even LSU, beating us soundly in Bowl games because of superior DL play…I’ll say this…Air Force beat us last year in a bowl game, and I wouldn’t call their DL superior. As with any offensive system, if you can’t win your matchups and the defense wins theirs you’re going to lose.
"Reach down in there...TURN THAT DAMN THING UP!" - Coach Paul Johnson
Here's what I don't get: what if Tevin pitches?
The pitchman makes the same run. That’s the beauty of the option. I’l grant that the defender played it poorly: given the choice, a defender who identifies himself as the option man should try to blow up the QB. But even if he sticks with Tevin and forces the pitch, a different player makes the same run. In other words, that defender could not have made the right decision – Tevin could always make him wrong.
Once the option gets to the option man, it’s won. Defenses that stop the option are the ones that succeed in (1) stopping the dive and (2) making sure that there is more than one unblocked guy on the option side. Doing that takes more than playing assignments.
by first and thom on Nov 9, 2011 10:40 PM EST up reply actions
My point was that the Defense has to win its matchups to stop the option…just like any other option.
I wouldn’t say that our ability to run the dive on UNC was all that stellar, but their edge defenders couldn’t beat their blocks against the jet sweep, and their coverage lapsed enough for some big passing opportunities.
"Reach down in there...TURN THAT DAMN THING UP!" - Coach Paul Johnson
by TBuzz on Nov 9, 2011 10:57 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Yes, but that also assumes
that the guy covering the quarterback or the pitch man sees his block coming and beats him. It’s not always the same guy that will be blocking him. If he gets cut by the A back or a pulling offensive lineman, then all the “assignment football” in the world won’t stop the play.
So if the Defense loses their matchups...
They can’t stop the option?
"Reach down in there...TURN THAT DAMN THING UP!" - Coach Paul Johnson
by TBuzz on Nov 9, 2011 4:42 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Maybe they finally got a copy of the orange bowl
Iowa’s front 7 gave the o-line fits that evening, and they were much lighter (30 to 40 pounds in some cases) than what say clemson, georgie, or unc put out there.
Of course iowa had 6 weeks to prepare, and an nfl de and mlb playing, not some guys playing out of position.
by Joe Hamilton's Chauffeur on Nov 9, 2011 11:04 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Interesting development with more than one interpretation
1) Let us not forget that with a depleted defensive line Virginia Tech was probably going to make changes anyway. Beamer is trying to get the best players on the field, period, as coach Johnson said in his press conference.
2) Perhaps VPI really is doing this simply to counter the option. I doubt this is the only reason but if it is then the only advantage would be having personnel who are not already habituated to playing a certain way. By scrambling things and putting new people in positions it means that this week’s practice drills are the most recent things working in their muscle memory.
by Atlanta's original team on Nov 9, 2011 9:29 AM EST reply actions
(Winfield, how is a 6.2 guy taller than a 6.7 guy?)
by Atlanta's original team on Nov 9, 2011 9:30 AM EST up reply actions
Yeah...
I think he meant 6 feet and .75 of an inch versus our 6 feet and 2 full inches per player. Winfield, I’d go ahead and edit that to use the Good Lord’s fair-skinned English format for those numbers: 6’ 3/4" vs. 6’ 2"
Just from one Tech man to another. Measurement of bodies and formerly-living materials (wood, paper, etc.) should remain Anglicized. Tradition…don’t question it.
Because...
…0.032 meters taller just doesn’t sound as impressive as 1 and 3/4 inches taller.
by Dive Keep and Pitch on Nov 9, 2011 2:02 PM EST up reply actions
Methinks he meant
VT averages 6 feet and 0.25 inches and 254.25 lbs.
GT averages 6 feet and 3.20 inches and 290 lbs.
Not sure where the 6.75 came from. If someone’s front four we’re playing against is averaging 6’9…. we’re in trouble since we somehow wound up in the Amazonian Conference.
THWG!
Mother of God
1.75, not 0.25. This is what I get for not having coffee. How did I manage that? Never mind. I don’t even want to know.
/hangs head and makes futile attempts todelete post
THWG!
This is why I like you guys
Always holding folks accountable. I had my math wrong. See above scratch out.
Better to have died a small boy than to drop this football - John Heisman FromTheRumbleSeat
by Winfield Featherston on Nov 9, 2011 10:00 AM EST up reply actions
It will be interesting to see
If they actually do this or if it was more of a scare tactic, as PJ conceded as possible. Exactly as TBuzz said – it doesn’t matter if you are 6’/220 or 6’2/280, if you make the wrong read on the pitch you are done.
I think
ol turkey neck is scared. They’ve beaten nobody. Clemson’s D (not as good as ours) held them to 3 points. I think the key is to pressure their QB much like boyd, forcing him into quick throws / mistakes. Factor in crowd noise & the fact we have Paul Johnson and we win. Tech over VPI by 7.
Thanks for mentioning crowd noise
CPJ admitted that it was a factor in the Clemson game. Even a few Clemson players admitted it.
GET LOUD CROWD!
by Atlanta's original team on Nov 9, 2011 11:17 AM EST up reply actions
Yes, I've been wanting to bring this up for a while but kept forgetting...
is it just me, or does BDS seem noticably louder this season?
Either way, I’m liking it so far but I want more. I’m working the people around me to get them up and hollerin’.
THWG!
Potential has always been there.
It’s an older design with straight lines relative to the field of play which puts a higher percentage of fans closer to the players on every part of the field and reflects sound better than curved grandstands. The smartest thing we ever did for stadium noise, though, is put the students on each endzone. The combo of the band, two-tiered grandstand, angular steel and glass design, and Greek student sections combine to make the North endzone the worst possible place for an opposing offense to have to play toward. Having the Warldlaw building at the other end helps keep it from being too quiet, though, too. BDS has great potential for deafening sound, but it is the fans that need to create it.
We would expect no less
from one of the greatest institutes of academia in the country.
Without a doubt, the “12th man” factor can be a very decisive one and a game-changer.
THWG!
Better to have died a small boy than to drop this football - John Heisman FromTheRumbleSeat
by Winfield Featherston on Nov 9, 2011 12:20 PM EST up reply actions
Hold up Playa...
It’s 2011…
"Reach down in there...TURN THAT DAMN THING UP!" - Coach Paul Johnson
by TBuzz on Nov 9, 2011 12:28 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
quickest one i could find today
Better to have died a small boy than to drop this football - John Heisman FromTheRumbleSeat
by Winfield Featherston on Nov 9, 2011 1:32 PM EST up reply actions
One more reason why I think we win:
They’re moving a cornerback to linebacker. A 6’ 187 lb linebacker.
…
If we don’t win this game I’ll be very disappointed.
It would seem
that Beamerball has taken up following the theory that “The distance between genius and insanity is measured only by success.”
THWG!
There are 2 or 3 times
we should have won in this series recently. Nesbitt broke his arm. Rogue special teams play. An amazing helmet to helmet call, etc. I am convinced Turkey Neck Beamer receives a 4-leaf clover enema as part of his pre-game ritual.
We're not supposed to talk about it...
whispering his “waddle.” It’s in poor taste to mention that it looks like the thing hanging off a turkey’s face. VPI fans freak out if you ask what it is. Act normal. It’s. Not. There.
The good news is...
if he ever retires he could be their honorary mascot.
I joke. But not really. I"m mostly hating on him a little for whining about cut blocks.
Oh,
But I don’t make fun of people for how they look but I know yall are just joking anyways.
by RamblinWreck7 on Nov 9, 2011 11:34 PM EST up reply actions
And one more reason
We lead the nation in 3rd down conversion % at almost 58%. Their run-D stats are useless when discussing the option.
If the team that beat Clemson last week shows up, we can beat them no matter what.
If the Hokies that played Duke show up too – Beamer will make them walk back to Blacksburg!
by JacketInHooville on Nov 9, 2011 1:18 PM EST reply actions
Reading a VT blog, I saw...
…that they are more fearful of having to punt than we are. Apparently they’ve seen their share of shanked punts too. I checked the NCAA net punting stats and sure enough, VT is 115th in net punting. GT is 82nd. VT has punted 45 times and GT has punted 27 times. Needless to say, if this game turns into a punfest, it’s going to be really ugly.
The FG stats are better, provided that you stay within 40 yd. After that it gets a bit dicey.
I took a look at the Alabama FG stats since the kicker, Foster, took some heat for missing multiple FG in the LSU-Ala game. Poor guy. He has not had an attempt less than 40 yd this year. He is 2/3 from 40-49 yd and 0/4 from 50+ yd.
by Dive Keep and Pitch on Nov 9, 2011 2:25 PM EST reply actions
The fact
they have punted 45 times vs our 27 times speaks LOADS about their offensive production & 3rd down % without having to look at any numbers. (borat voice) VERY NICE!!!
Don't be getting overconfident.
Let’s hope our guys go out there and play great!
by RamblinWreck7 on Nov 9, 2011 2:55 PM EST up reply actions
Right - gotta go in like we did with Clemson
Be wary, respect the finicky gods of ACC football, and get the job done. If we just show up to play, we should at least not be embarrassed.
by JacketInHooville on Nov 9, 2011 5:09 PM EST up reply actions
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We go out there to play hard and to win if that is what’s supposed to happen! Be confident, but not overconfident.
by RamblinWreck7 on Nov 9, 2011 11:36 PM EST up reply actions
Is it just me
or should we keep jackson and finch out? Seemed to work pretty damn well last week, as that was the best b-back play (read: o-line play) I’ve seen all season.
Paul Johnson: not giving a crap about what you have to say since 1987.
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