The Promise and the Pratfalls in Thunder Valley

It is difficult to put into words the range of emotions that followed Virginia Tech's loss to Tennessee at the Battle of Bristol. The offensive scheme and play-calling had the Volunteers off balance up front. The defensive line was in the backfield on almost every play, and Butch Jones obliged Bud Foster by not feeding all-world running back Jalen Hurd. Everything seemed to indicate a trademark win for Justin Fuente early in his tenure.

The Hokies sprinted out to a 14-0 first quarter lead, and then the wheels fell completely off the wagon. A questionable illegal block below the waist penalty on Wyatt Teller, followed by a late snap that messed up the mesh point between Jerod Evans and C.J. Carroll produced a quick touchdown for Tennessee. From that point forward, Tennessee was able to keep the Hokies from sustaining drives and producing any kind of vertical passing attack. Fumbles and penalties gave the Volunteers short field after short field. Tech's defense, which was game most of the night, reverted back to an inability to stop quarterback and tailback power in the second quarter. After the defense regained its composure and gave the offense chances to get back into the game in the third quarter, breakdowns on zone reads put a Tech win out of reach.

The promise of Fuente's offensive system, and the stabilization of the defensive scheme is palatable. Unfortunately, Tech's maturity and composure was tested and the Hokies couldn't take advantage of opportunities to right the ship. And now a physical Boston College squad awaits Tech on Saturday. The Eagles' strong defense, coupled with Scot Loeffler's track record of strong game planning against his former employers, sets the table for a dangerous trap game.

The Offensive Scheme Works

The most encouraging sign from the Battle at Bristol is that, when executed properly, the running game scheme produces yards. Even without the best offensive line grouping on the field for much of the game, the Hokies were able to keep Tennessee off balance. Early in the game, the mix of quick throws, screens, and multiple run looks created gaping holes.

Fuente's scheme "cross-keys" the defense to mess up their reads. Here are two examples from early in the first quarter. The Hokies run a power sweep that Tennessee keys as an inside zone.

On this play, Sam Rogers is flexed out to the boundary. Bucky Hodges motions across to a wingback alignment. Watch Derek Barnett (No. 9), the defensive end to the boundary. He is keying right tackle Jonathan McLaughlin. McLaughlin zone steps inside, so the defensive end crashes in on what he believes will be an inside zone read. Hodges blocks down on the Barnett, sealing him inside very effectively. Boundary linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. (No. 34) also keys inside zone and steps forward to fill. When Travon McMillian bends outside, Kirkland runs right into a crack back block by Rogers. Kyle Chung pulls around to kick out. Unfortunately, he doesn't find outside linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin (No. 21). Reeves-Maybin slides behind Chung to trip up McMillian and prevent a big play.

The next time Tennessee sees similar run action, Fuente throws in a wrench into the Volunteers' defensive keys. This time, Hodges stays wide and Rogers is aligned as the H-Back. The Hokies show similar run action up front, with down blocks play side and the back-side guard pulling to kick out.

Rogers veer releases and is in position to seal the linebacker inside. Linebacker Colton Jumper (No. 53) keys it, and attempts to beat Rogers outside. With Jumper's momentum moving to the sidelines, Rogers cuts inside and slingshots past him into the secondary. Evans pulls the ball on the fake and hits Sam on a nice "Y-Dump" for a big gain.

Tennessee's confusion culminated with Travon McMillian's 69-yard touchdown run. The play looks like an inside zone that McMillian bounced outside. In actuality, it was a designed counter that looked to take advantage of how Tennessee overplayed the inside zone series.

Pittsburgh killed Bruce Taylor on a similarly designed play in the Hokies' 2012 loss at Heinz Field. The blocking zones to the right. The boundary defensive end reads the play and crashes hard to the inside. Yosh Nijman lets him get the inside position by putting his inside shoulder on the outside leg of the end. On a zone play, he would try to put his outside shoulder on the inside leg of the defensive end.

Behind Nijman, Justin Martin (No. 8) crashes inside from the corner to handle back-side contain. Isaiah Ford allows Martin to get inside position and then seals him inside. McMillian knows the play is designed to bounce outside, so he sells the inside dive and then makes an assertive cut to the outside.

A second look shows how completely the Volunteers are fooled, and also exhibits a huge missed opportunity. From this angle, observe strong safety Todd Kelly Jr. (No. 24) is completely focused on the inside zone breaking off right guard.

The missed opportunity is play-action. Watch this again. Imagine that Ford sinks inside and then instead of sealing, he would fade to the sideline. The Tennessee corners are so fixated on their run keys that play-action should have been wide open.

The Hokies had so much success on the ground that play-action chances should have been abound. Evans under threw Ford on the opening drive and it seemed like the Hokies never came back to it. With Ford's ability to get separation and Tech's well-executed run game, you would think more shots were open.

Overall, most TKPers nailed the offensive line evaluation. McLaughlin and Nijman had strong games. Augie Conte was much improved over Liberty, although he was speared in part because he stopped and was looking back at the pile before the whistle blew instead of finding someone to block. Chung struggled snapping and winning physical battles. Colt Pettit had some nice blocks; but to see Danny O'Brien — who Appalachian State had blocked one-on-one with their center most of the game — driving Pettit into the backfield repeatedly showed he isn't physically powerful enough yet to be a starting Power Five guard.

Tennessee Takes Away Pass Pro

Tennessee turned the tables when their defensive staff determined the Hokies could not beat them in pass pro. The Vols blitz changed the game. The interior of the offensive line broke down repeatedly, especially after Teller was benched, and the skill guys who blocked so well early on seemed to fall apart.

On this play, Fuente calls a packaged inside zone screen. Tennessee initially shows man coverage on the edge with two deep safeties. Kirkland Jr. (No. 34) is walked up on the LOS set to blitz between Conte and McLaughlin. After Evans lowers his head to take the snap, nickel Rashaan Gaulden (No. 7) blitzes from the slot, and safety Micah Abernathy (No. 22) goes man on the slot receiver.

Either Fuente didn't trust Evans to make throws in rhythm accurately against pressure, or he didn't feel like Evans would have time. When Tennessee got more aggressive and brought more defenders, the deep throws and screens that complemented the running game vanished.

Upon review of the film, the only fumble that was scheme related was the first one. Either the snap was late, or Carroll initiated his motion early. Those things will get cleaned up with more game experience. The other fumbles are correctable on an individual level, but are not a byproduct of all the fakes and mesh points associated with this scheme.

That said, skill position blocking is something that has to improve. Hodges (especially when lined up as a wingback) and Ford improved this week. Chris Cunningham had some good moments, as did Steven Peoples. That said, the skill position blocking broke down at some key moments, and in some cases perhaps the scheme is asking some players to do more than they are physically capable of right now.

On this critical third-and-one, there are two key breakdowns. The Hokies run a power play to the left. Cunningham and Rogers are tasked to double team Barnett (No. 9) — an All-SEC performer. Cam Phillips is assigned to seal Gaulden (No. 7) to the outside. Nijman is supposed to block down on the back-side linebacker.

Barnett splits Rogers and Cunningham to jam up the play. Phillips' technique is wrong. No matter how weak the block, he has to attack with his outside shoulder against the inside of the defender on an inside run. Phillips leads with his inside shoulder, and Galden easily slides off to make the tackle. Nijman completely misses Reeves-Maybin and he supports Galden to finish the play. This isn't anywhere near being good enough at such a big point in the game. Shortly after, Tennessee came right back to score on the deep touchdown pass to Josh Malone and any positive momentum from the first quarter vanished.

Defensive Bugaboos Creep Up Again

Against Tennessee, the defensive line at its best was a dynamic playmaking group that dominated up front. At their worst moments, outside the last drive of the second quarter, the d-line was gap sound and properly spilled plays to the linebackers and safeties. The corners held up except on two perfect throws and catches where the only thing Greg Stroman could have done was magically grow three inches. Mook Reynolds made countless plays as the free hitter and was solid when challenged in coverage.

Unfortunately, preseason concerns about the weaknesses in the defense were validated. Tremaine Edmunds (more often) and Andrew Motuapuaka (less often) were hesitant to fit into gaps. Edmunds looked uncomfortable keying plays in a normal backer alignment and Motuapuaka again struggled to make open field tackles. Terrell Edmunds and Chuck Clark both had some opportunities to tackle Hurd and Josh Dobbs in space and missed at some critical moments. Defensive end depth showed to be a problem.

Just like last season, the Hokies defended inside zone runs very well, but they were inconsistent against power blocked runs (power, counter, QB counter, QB lead draw).

Early, the Hokies defended the aforementioned bugaboo plays beautifully. On this play, Tennessee runs a counter off the right tackle.

Mihota comes off the edge and squeezes the pulling guard to spill Hurd outside. Tremaine Edmunds forces the play on the edge by taking on the pulling H-Back with his inside shoulder to keep outside leverage. The back has to turn into the alley, where Motuapuaka is filling properly. Motuapuaka puts Hurd on the ground. Terrell Edmunds and Clark are coming up in support, and Reynolds is on the back side accounting for Dobbs on a keeper. This is beautifully executed defense.

Despite all the chaos being created by the front-four, there were still some worrisome moments. Here is the same counter play, but this time it's run to field side, so Reynolds is aligned as the edge player.

Reynolds blitzes off the edge and forces the run inside. Mihota holds his ground, and Motuapuaka fits to force the back inside. This leaves Edmunds unblocked and alone with the running back. Hurd runs right through him. The defense is designed for Edmunds to make this tackle. He has to put Hurd on the ground.

As momentum shifted from the Hokies to the Vols, fundamentals to defending power blocking (squeezing the edge to minimize the gap between the force player and the defensive end, tackling in the alley) became more inconsistent.

On this play, Tennessee calls a QB power. The Volunteers block down on the play-side. The back-side guard pulls and seals Ekanem, who is crashing inside to match the inside step of the play-side tackle. The running back (Hurd) kicks out Edmunds.

Tremaine is way too soft taking on Hurd's trap block. He has to stick that right shoulder into Hurd and drive him inside. Ekanem is driven too far inside. The initial hole is larger than it should be.

Despite those errors, there are two unblocked defenders in the alley to tackle Dobbs. Motuapuaka comes from the inside and misses the tackle. Terrell Edmunds is filling the alley and takes a horrible angle. He should come from the outside in and attack Dobbs through his outside shoulder. Instead, Edmunds is too far inside. Dobbs slides away from Motuapuaka and Terrell Edmunds falls down trying to recover. This should be a minimal gain, and instead Tennessee gets a huge chunk play. East Carolina beat the Hokies to death with this play last season, and Duke, UNC, Boston College, Pitt, and East Carolina all have this play ready in their playbook.

Unlike last season, where East Carolina and Pitt continued to run power-based runs over and over again, the Hokies were able to get enough stops against Tennessee that they could have gotten back in the ball game. The defensive line is the key to that improvement. Ekanem shows the force technique against a kick out block perfectly on this QB power.

Ekanem attacks with pulling guard with his inside shoulder and then fights through the block to make Dobbs' hole smaller. This shrinks the space that Motuapuaka has to fill inside. Motuapuaka and Ekanem tie up Dobbs while the pursuit comes to help finish him off. This is beautifully played by Ekanem.

Interestingly, on this play the Hokies are running an odd front that isn't a Bear look. Woody Baron is playing a four-technique (inside eye of the left tackle). Nigel Williams is playing head up on the center in a nose tackle alignment. Mihota is aligned as a five-technique to the top of the screen. Ekanem is almost aligned like a Bear outside linebacker, with Edmunds and Motuapuaka in a normal alignment. Baron and Williams get terrific penetration on this play. I can't recall seeing this front from Bud before. Perhaps this adjustment will help against teams that utilize power plays from the spread.