|
JHoo's 10 Things I Learned Against VT 42-13 ... that is how it ends. The season ... and the Al Groh era at Virginia. Over the next few weeks, there will be plenty of columns looking back at the Groh era and looking forward to the future. But before we get to that, we first will look back at this one last loss. Here are 10 Things I Learned From Virginia Tech. 1. Not Good Enough. Before the game, I wrote to a friend that I can never be all that confident about my team's chances in a game when they are the less talented team. That was the case for the Hoos this weekend, and they were going to have to play an awfully good game to overcome what was a very obvious talent (and speed) deficit. Mistake free? Maybe not ... but it was going to have to be pretty darn close. Unfortunately, UVa did not have a mistake-free game. In fact, UVa had plenty of key mistakes at key moments, and had the proverbial (and actual) ball-bounce-the-wrong-way moment with Ras-I Dowling causing a fumble at the end of a long Ryan Williams run and it ending up as a Tech touchdown to put the game completely out of reach. Certainly, the game was very much in doubt halfway through the third quarter. Virginia trailed by only one point but had the ball after having just picked off a Tyrod Taylor pass into the end zone. The offense had picked up good yardage on first down and had the right play call and right blocking to pick up the next first down on the next play. Then ... the fumble. Maybe a flag could have been thrown on Tech defensive tackle Cordarrow Thompson. Maybe if the pitch is just a tiny bit farther in front of Mikell Simpson. Maybe if Simpson focuses on ball first right through the catch. Maybe if the ball bounces a little differently, one of three Hoos around the ball recovers it. Maybe ... maybe ... maybe ... in the end, it does not matter. When you are the team relying on the "maybes" breaking your way - if not all of them, then a heck of a lot of them - you likely are not the better team on the field, and the better team on the field usually is going to come out ahead. This weekend, like most recent years, Tech has been the better team on the field. There simply is no getting around that fact. Was UVa good enough to beat Tech if everything broke UVa's way? Yes ... but football seldom works like that. Virginia got some calls this week, as did Tech. Virginia got some bounces this week, as did Tech. Virginia made some mistakes this week, as did Tech. And in the end, the better team won. 2. Same Plan, Same Result. For the second week in a row, UVa's offensive game plan in the first half tempted me to scream "I told you so!" at the top of my lungs. For the second week in a row, UVa's offensive production in the second half went into the tank. Why? This week, like last week, the Hoos came out running the ball. On UVa's first offensive series, there were nine runs and only one pass. Four different Hoos carried the ball, and the staff called runs to the left, middle, and right. The end result was a touchdown and over five and a half minutes off the clock. Virginia's second series also was slanted to the run, with seven runs compared to only three passes, almost five more minutes off the clock, and another three points on the board. UVa's last scoring drive involved six runs and three passes, and the result was similar with almost six minutes of time of possession and three points. For the second straight week, UVa won the time of possession battle in both the first and second quarter and was in a very tight game going into halftime. This week, like last week, those numbers reversed completely in the second half. This week, like last week, Virginia lost the time of possession battle in both the third and fourth quarters. This week, like last week, the offense had far more trouble moving the ball. This week, like last week, UVa failed to score a single point in the second half. This week, however, unlike last week, the defensive adjustments were more attuned to what Virginia wanted to accomplish on offense. Last week, when Mikell Simpson went down with injury and the Wildcat formation that had been so successful in the first half went out the window, UVa appeared to be winging it in the second half, the college football equivalent to "you are the bottle cap, you are the piece of glass, you go left, you go right, and I will throw to one of you." This week, unlike last week, Bud Foster came with controlled pressure throughout much of the second half, throwing Virginia off its game in a way Clemson never had to. On UVa's first offensive series of the second half, for example, Jameel Sewell ripped off a good run on the Hoos' first play but Foster continued to pressure the line, forcing Sewell out of bounds for a one-yard loss on the next play. The irony was that Foster brought the same scheme on each play, slanting to the strong side but bringing pressure from the second level to the weakside. UVa ran to the weakside both times (after motioning the wing back across the formation), but the results could not have been more different. The first time, Tech missed in its execution, with Kam Chancellor not getting tight enough to the line when he met Rashawn Jackson's block, giving Sewell a hole between Chancellor and outside linebacker Cody Grimm to get into the secondary. On the next play, however, linebacker Barquell Rivers was very aggressive in taking on Jackson's block at the edge, refusing to give ground from the line of scrimmage, instead only moving laterally and thus stretching Sewell to the sideline. In fact, Rivers managed to hold the line despite the fact that pulling guard B.J. Cabbell also engaged Rivers when he saw that Rivers was staying outside Jackson's block, an impressive feat for a linebacker. Cornerback Stephan Virgil ending up getting credit for the tackle for loss but that play was all Rivers. The rest of that series did not go any better for the Hoos, as Foster brought a well-timed blitz up the middle on second down, essentially coming with a blitz that anticipated play action and, with Foster getting the play call he anticipated, bringing Sewell down for an 11-yard loss. Needless to say, the rest of the half was no better. 3. One Last Game. Jameel Sewell is not going to play in a bowl game this year. He is out of college eligibility. He does not project to get a shot at the NFL. So this game was it for Sewell ... and he played like it. 99 yards rushing in the first half. 104 yards rushing for the game. The Hoos' only touchdown on the afternoon. No interceptions. Sewell did not win the game for UVa, but it was not for lack of trying. But to me, the effort shown by Sewell in making the tackle after Mikell Simpson's fumbled pitch in the third quarter made clear how much he wanted this game. And if anything, how Sewell reacted after the game to that fumble says everything you need to know about him - Sewell told any reporter who asked about the fumble that his pitch was a little behind Simpson, taking full responsibility for the fumble. Was the pitch a little behind Simpson? Sure ... but anyone that knows anything about football will tell you that the pitch was good enough under the circumstances. That pitch hit both of Simpson's hands, square in front of his face. Not the easiest of catches for Simpson but one that he certainly should corral, and one he probably does corral if he does not start to peek downfield just a little too early, perhaps the result of the big hit he took on the immediately preceding play. But ask Sewell about it, as every reporter seemingly did on Saturday night, and Sewell said it was on him. Sewell has plenty of faults as a football player, but he has character. Moreover, Sewell's time at Virginia should not be defined by his faults as a football player. His accuracy issues notwithstanding, Sewell leaves UVa with 5,366 yards passing, the third-most in program history. He also posted a fourth-best 6,012 career yards in terms of total offense. And in the 2007 season, Sewell (along with Chris Long) seemed to will the team to close win after close win, authoring the one memorable season during Groh's last few years. I am not going to try to argue that Sewell was more than he was as a college quarterback, but I hope his contributions, his effort, and his heart are not forgotten. 4. Live By The Stunt ... I have always liked being active on the defensive front, and that certainly includes the use of slants and stunts among the linemen. But the risk of slanting and stunting, particularly on a "run down," is that you can give the offensive linemen the very angles they are trying to get and as a result, give up a big run. Case in point, Jameel Sewell's 28-yard scamper on UVa's first offensive series. The play really is not all that complicated, as Virginia sets up in a shotgun set with Rashawn Jackson to Jameel Sewell's left and a tight end on the left side of the line. The key to the play is the box, where Tech has eight men tight with four down linemen, two linebackers over the B gaps, and two wide of the defensive ends. The play is designed to go the offense' left, i.e. to the strong side of the line. Jackson has the easiest block on the play, taking on rover Davon Morgan, who is lined up to Jackson's left and thus has given away the angle on the play just due to his initial alignment. Still, with Tech coming with a run blitz - both of the linebackers who started over the B gap blitzed in that direction - and Tech defensive end Nekos Brown being head up on Joe Torchia, it seems like Tech should be able to stop the play. The problem for Tech, however, was on the interior. The Hokies' two defensive tackles started head up on UVa's offensive guards and at the snap, the defensive tackles appear to be trying to stunt on the play, with the right defensive tackle (Demetrius Taylor) having the "loop" move. What that does is essentially simplify all of the blocks for the offensive linemen on this particular play, particularly the three play-side offensive linemen. Take Landon Bradley, for example: pre-snap, he does not know whether he just has the linebacker, or whether he might have to help guard Austin Pasztor with the defensive tackle. But when the defensive tackle stunts away from him, Bradley is left with an easy read, simply having to execute a one-on-one block with a linebacker in the traffic of the line, a block an offensive tackle had better be able to win (and here, Bradley does). Similarly, Austin Pasztor is on the play side with a defensive tackle head up and a quarterback behind him that is going to take a counter step. In other words, if Pasztor gives up penetration on the play, Sewell may be going down for a loss. But again, the stunt solves that problem as Tech's defensive tackle takes off to his left, away from the play side, and all Pasztor has to do is ride with him. Finally, center Jack Shields' job is to pick off the defensive tackle (Cordarrow Thompson) that is lined up head up on backside guard B.J. Cabbell, thus freeing Cabbell to pull into the hole where Sewell is running. If the defensive tackle gets upfield fast, he might beat Shields to the spot and chase Sewell down the line. Here, however, the defensive tackle has the slant move to free up the looping Demetrius Taylor, and that basically means that Thompson is coming to Shields in an effort to move Shields and open up a hole for Taylor. But with Shields turning to Thompson at the snap, he is able to get locked in immediately, free Cabbell for the pull, and stop Thompson from having an impact on the play. Essentially, by putting on the interior stunt, UVa's offensive tackles are freed up to block the blitzing linebackers, Austin Pasztor and Jack Shields are given easy angles on their blocks, and B.J. Cabbell is freed up to make his run. The only Hoo in a down position that still had a tough block to make was tight end Joe Torchia, lined up man to man with Tech defensive end Nekos Brown. The good news is that because Cabbell gets a free run, Torchia really only needs to make a mediocre effort for the play to get to the second level - if Cabbell sees Brown in the gap as he pulls around, it is his job to help Torchia on that block and thus get Sewell to the second level. In this case, however, Torchia does not make a mediocre effort. To the contrary, Torchia quickly gets to Brown's outside shoulder and turns Brown all by himself, freeing Cabbell to run through the hole and look for the next block. Ironically, the play works so well that Cabbell never touches anyone on this 28-yard gain - he looks to his right for the Tech linebacker he expects to see sliding down the line but that linebacker blitzed and was picked up easily, meaning that there is no one else for Cabbell to block as Sewell eventually sprints past Cabbell. On film, the play stood out to me for a couple of reasons. Number one was Torchia's block. Last year, Torchia was wiped out by Tech defensive ends on a couple of plays, including one high profile miss late in the game. This year, Torchia has worked hard to improve his blocking, both in terms of effort and technique, and the VT game was a nice measuring stick for him. On this play, he measured up nicely. Number two was that stunts, like slants, are a high reward proposition that also bring inherent risk. Obviously, when a slant or stunt is called at the right time, it can create all kinds of problems for the offense, a perfect example being Nate Collins' tackle on 1st-and-15 just inside the 20-yard line on Virginia Tech's first offensive series: Collins is playing the backside defensive end position but the slant gives him such a great break into the backfield that he is able to run down the much faster Ryan Williams before Williams can accelerate away. But you have to take the bad with the good when you move around your defensive front and for Tech, Sewell's long run represented the bad. 5. Losing It. If you watched the game in person, I suspect you noticed that at several points late in the game, the Hoos seemed pretty chippy on the field. Even if you were watching the game on television, I am sure the cameras caught the near fight in the fourth quarter, and the personal foul on Daniel Childress, and some of the pushing and jawing that took place (admittedly, on both sides) in the second half. Simply put, the Hoos lost a little composure late ... and that cannot be terribly surprising. Frustration is a terrible and very difficult burden for a young player to carry. When a young player feels like everything is going wrong, frustration is bound to set in. When that happens, in all the years I have been involved in football, I generally have only seen young players deal with frustration in one of two ways. Some players just shut down, deciding that effort does not matter because the result already is decided; in other words, some players just "quit." Other players refuse to quit and want to keep fighting, but that effort is not taking them in the direction they want to go and so frustration begins to boil over. A little push here, a heated exchange there ... players just look for an opportunity to take out their frustration, and they start tap-dancing close to the line as frustration mounts. In a lot of ways, I prefer the latter to the former. In a perfect world, a player deals with his frustration by setting it aside, focusing on execution, and getting the job done. But this is not a perfect world; these still are relatively young players, and if you give me a choice between quit and a little chippy, I will take a little chippy. The problem is that frustration plays out in other ways, too. A frustrated player likely is not a terribly confident player, and a frustrated team likely is not a team that will play with the collective confidence to overcome adversity. This year, the Hoos managed to play with intensity despite adversity, to play with effort despite adversity, to play with passion despite adversity ... but playing with confidence for 60 minutes despite repeated adversity is a tall task. This week, I think you saw that play out after the botched pitch in the third quarter. After that fumble, the Virginia offense totaled only two more first downs before the score was 42-13. After that fumble, the UVa defense - which started the second half with a three-and-out and then intercepted Tyrod Taylor - allowed Tech to score touchdowns on four straight possessions. After that fumble, Virginia simply was a different team. I did not see any quit in this year's Cavalier squad. I did see a lot of frustration. I did see a lot of confusion over how to handle difficult emotions. I did see a lot of hurt. I did see a crisis of confidence at times. I saw all the things you would expect to see from a team that did not want to quit, that wanted to turn things around in the worst way, but that still had to deal with losing. 6. Things I Liked This Weekend.
7. Things I Didn't Like This Weekend.
8. What Might Have Been. Nekos Brown, starting defensive end for Tech this weekend, chipped in a couple of tackles ... and could have been a Hoo. Kam Chancellor, starting safety for Tech this weekend, added five tackles, a big hit on Mikell Simpson to wobble him just a bit, and the fumble recovery on the very next play that turned the game ... and could have been a Hoo. I could go on, but I choose not to because I do not think my heart can handle it. Plus, in the end, there are two players from this week's game that highlight to me the problems for UVa on the recruiting trail: Danny Coale and Ryan Williams. At this point, the story about Danny Coale has gotten a lot of press. Virginia kid, solid player at Episcopal, good student, brother on the lacrosse team at UVa, and a player from whom Al Groh certainly could have landed a commitment if he had chosen to offer early. When Virginia did not offer early, I was pretty outspoken on the topic on the boards, very troubled by what I thought Groh might be letting slip away. Instead - despite a couple of assistants pushing hard for an early offer - Groh sat back until after Tech had made its own evaluation of Coale, offered, and taken the front seat in his recruitment. When Groh finally got serious about discussing an offer, it felt like an attempt to pull Coale from Tech, not a sincere "we really want you and you are important to the class" overture. Coale headed off to Tech and UVa may pay for the mistake for a couple more years. Obviously, 6 catches for 135 yards this week hurt, but Coale has proven to be a steady performer for the Hokies on a weekly basis, providing quality catches and good blocking even when his stats are not quite as gaudy in the end. Speaking of gaudy stats, Ryan Williams had that and more this weekend and this season. And in Williams, you have the perfect example of how UVa's position in the Commonwealth has fallen in recent years. Anthony Poindexter connected with Williams early in Williams' high school career, and there was a time when Williams spoke glowingly about Virginia, frequently mentioning to others that he hoped and planned to play at UVa in the future. But by the time that Williams was being meaningfully recruited and official offers were being put on the table, the balance of power in the Commonwealth was obvious to all. Yes, I grant you that Williams' recruitment was not as simple as UVa and VT offering at the same time under the same circumstances - had to work that word in one more time, didn't I? - but whatever the other factors, it was hard to envision Williams ending up at Virginia despite the fact that he once favored the school. Whatever the other factors, it was hard to envision Tech not getting the player it wanted. 9. Reflection. "The Guy In The Glass"? Really? "His spirit is indomitable"? Seriously? For Groh's family and those who are extremely close to him, I am sure it was a moment of self-reflection by a man they love. For fans of the program, it was another moment of self-absorption. For Groh's family, I am sure it was a moment of vulnerability by a man they love. For fans of the program, it made them vulnerable once again to the barbs of rival fans. For Groh's family, I am sure it was a defining moment. For fans of the program, it was, too. But however this moment defined Groh, his time at Virginia was marked in other ways, too. By a 59-53 record, yes. By a mediocre record in the ACC, certainly. By three losing seasons in the last four, no doubt. By the worst record for a Cavalier football team in almost three decades, without question. At a time like this, maybe I need to be focusing on the positives of a man like Al Groh, and there certainly are positives. But when Groh ends his tenure in the manner he did, it almost forces those who follow the program to question Groh's self-evaluation, to ask whether they see Groh and his program in a similar light. It almost forces those who follow the program to examine Groh's decisions - including recent decisions on redshirting - to see if there is a long-term view to those decisions. It almost forces those who follow to the program to question everything. Simply put, both Groh's final speech and his final press release beg that "whose fault was it?" question. I am not sure if focusing on that question is good for anyone right now, other than in a learn-from-our-mistakes context for an administration that now must hire a new coach. So my hope, my sincere hope, is that there are no more poems, or press releases, or interviews, direct or otherwise, on the "whose fault was it?" question. I hope the coach moves on as best he can, looking to the future and not the past, as the school tries to do the same. 10. Random Thoughts.
|