Virginia Tech made its regularly scheduled every-five-years appearance in the Sugar Bowl against the unbeaten and unappreciated Auburn Tigers. Missed opportunities on offense, mental mistakes on defense, and a key miscue on special teams were too much for the Hokies to overcome against a great Auburn team. This was one of those classic “what-if” games, but in the end, the better team made the plays when they needed to. With the victory, Auburn wrapped up an undefeated season and walked off the field hoping they had somehow convinced enough writers to vote them #1. That dream ended 24 hours later when USC dismantled Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.

Breaking down a game after a loss is mentally tough (I now know how Will feels). This is my first attempt at it. I started writing the “Keys” articles midseason, starting with the WVU game. The Hokies won that game and every game after that. For three months, I was an undefeated TSL writer and I figured that my articles had become one of those lucky charm type things. The sound you just heard was a big bubble bursting over New Orleans.

The Hokies put up a great effort, but they came up just a little short. Sometimes, games just come down to who makes the plays and who doesn’t. Making big plays in big situations is a sign of a great team and when they needed to make a play, Auburn did.

Let’s see how they did it…..

As expected, this was a great matchup. Tech’s defense was quick, fast and disruptive, controlling the vaunted Auburn ground attack throughout the game. They gave up two big plays to start the game before tightening their chin straps and getting to work. From there, it was a back and forth battle. The Tigers never established their running game or short passing game due to outstanding play by the Hokies' defensive front seven and corner Jimmy Williams. The Tech defense completely shut down Carnell Williams, making him look more like a Buick than a Cadillac. Tech had too much speed and quickness along the line of scrimmage for the Auburn ground game.

Fortunately for the Tigers, they had other weapons at their disposal. The difference in the game was QB Jason Campbell, who made huge plays in the passing game, including several conversions in third down and long situations. Through the review each of the individual keys, I will break down many of those big plays in detail to see what went right for Auburn and what went wrong for Tech. 

Auburn jumped on the Tech defense with their first two plays, moving 66 yards from their own 26 yard line down to the Tech eight. Let’s analyze both plays in detail:

• Play #1 – play action pass from QB Jason Campbell to TE Cooper Wallace for 35 yards

Knowing the Hokies would be focused on stopping Carnell Williams and the running game, the Tigers went with play action to freeze the Tech linebackers, specifically James Anderson and Vince Hall. Wallace got into the seam between the linebackers and safeties and Jason Campbell hit him with a perfectly thrown pass, just over the leaping reach of Anderson. The play showed the advantage of having a QB with the physical skills of Campbell. With his height, he has a very high release point, which allows him to use more vertical passing lanes, particularly when attacking the middle of the field between short and deep zones. That pass isn’t available to shorter QB’s with lower release points (it’s either too low and gets knocked down by the dropping linebacker or it’s is too high and sails beyond the receiver). The play was perfectly executed by Campbell, with proper timing, zip and accuracy. From the perspective of the Tech defense, it appeared that Anderson was a touch slow in reacting at the snap. It didn’t look like he was fooled by the play fake, but Wallace was still able to get behind him within the first couple of steps. Anderson’s drop was fine and his great athleticism nearly resulted in a pass breakup, but his reaction at the snap was a factor in the success of the play for Auburn.

• Play #2 – inside run by RB Ronnie Brown for 31 yards

On their second play, Auburn used a little misdirection up front to spring a big play for Ronnie Brown on the quick hitter. The Tigers got the Hokies into a six man front by going with a formation of Brown and Williams split at fullback depth behind Campbell, along with three wide receivers and no tight ends. The offensive line trapped and slid right to show run action with Williams to that side. The misdirection upfront led LB Mikal Baaqee into a false read and after taking two steps left, he was out of the play. OT Marcus McNeil released cleanly and engulfed Vince Hall. The trap and kickout between the center and guards popped the hole for Brown to run in behind McNeil’s block. On the boundary side, James Griffin got caught up in the wash and couldn’t get in on the play. It’s possible he was slightly out of position at the snap -- caught in between as far as his depth off the line of scrimmage. He either needed to be up closer to the line to force an adjustment to the blocking scheme or further off the line to give him a better angle at avoiding the traffic and making a play on Brown.

From the other side, again it looked like Anderson was a tad slow in reacting on the play. His slow first step allowed WR Anthony Mix to release right past him to get a block downfield on safety Vinnie Fuller. Had Anderson reacted more aggressively, he may have been able to cut inside and trip up Brown before he got to the next level. Lastly, on the backend, Brown broke Fuller’s attempted tackle and rumbled for another ten yards before being dragged to the ground by corner Eric Green.

Those two plays set the early tone, but the Tech defense recovered to hold the Auburn offense to a field goal on that drive. In reviewing this key, I would say that both teams were satisfied with the results. Auburn did get the Hokies defense back on their heels and they were able to get the early first quarter lead. On the other hand, the Tech defense dug in and showed their fortitude to keep the Tigers out of the end zone until the second half.

Outside of the long run by Brown on the second play, the Tech defense did an outstanding job against both Auburn running backs. As expected, the Hokies pressed the line of scrimmage, getting an extra guy up against most formations, especially when Campbell was under center. Tech’s inside linebackers always align a bit closer to the line of scrimmage than a lot of teams and they did so again against Auburn, keying the run with their first step. Tech played excellent gap defense against Williams, keeping him contained both inside and outside. Brown had a little more success, but the quickness and discipline of the Tech defense kept him bottled up as well.

Tech’s speed on defense frustrated the Auburn blockers throughout the game. The coaches did a terrific job preparing the players on their formation and run keys. They were able to get to the spot ahead of the blocking schemes. Auburn found minimal success between the tackles due to penetration by Tech’s defensive line and the quickness of the Tech linebackers to stay off blocks. After a bad read on Brown’s long run on the second play, Mikal Baaqee played excellent football for the rest of the game, filling gaps, sliding inside power blocks and jumping over cut blocks to make tackles on both sides of the field.

While they had a little success running inside, the Auburn backs found it even tougher when they tried to go outside. On several plays, they were able to get numbers to the boundary through formation, but they couldn’t block Jimmy Williams. In run support, Williams was too physical for the Auburn receivers and too quick for the Auburn linemen pulling out.

Additional comments:

• Going in, one area of major concern was defending Ronnie Brown in the passing game. He had been a matchup problem for teams all season and came into the game as Auburn’s second leading receiver. In the Sugar Bowl, Brown had exactly zero pass receptions. Tech did a great job in taking that aspect away from Auburn’s offense by playing a lot of zone and matching up underneath. Auburn tried a couple of screens with Williams, but the Hokies were well prepared and stopped both for no gain or negative yardage. Given Tech’s defensive looks, Auburn never went to Brown in the passing game.
  
  
• Speaking of Jimmy Williams, many people have already commented about the great year Williams had at corner, using his unusual combination of size and speed to wreak havoc on the boundary of Tech’s defense. He made some incredible plays this year, particularly in the last three games against UVa, Miami, and Auburn. One area where he made tremendous improvement this year was in overall technique – positioning, footwork, hand use, and tackling. If you have access, watch the game tapes from last year. Pick any game and it won’t take long before you notice the improvement Williams made this year in his technique, especially his tackling.
  
  It looks like he may declare early, but I am hoping he returns for his senior season and is moved back to safety. He struggled at safety last year, particularly with the mental aspects of the position. Things clicked for him this season and he now understands the game and the concepts of defense much better than he did a year ago. Mentally, he matured a lot this year and became a “system” player, harnessing his incredible physical skills within the structure of that system. He is much better prepared to make the defensive calls and adjustments in coverage. His ability to recognize offensive formations and tendencies combined with his understanding of Tech’s defensive system would be important for an otherwise young Tech secondary in 2005. Safety is his likely position at the next level (especially with the re-emphasis on the five yard contact rule), but because it’s such a mentally challenging position, NFL teams may not be willing to use a first round pick without good film of him at safety. If that’s the case, Williams would enhance his pro value by returning for his senior season and showing on film that he is capable of being a difference maker at safety. Either way, we’ll know soon, as the deadline for declaring is Jan 15th.

Auburn’s plan was to double Jonathan Lewis and use Jim Davis’ quickness against him. It worked on the long run by Brown, but not so much after that. The Auburn offensive line couldn’t get a consistent push, and the penetration inside was a major reason why Carnell Williams struggled to get into a good rhythm. Penetration by the defensive line was more prominent in the red zone and it kept Auburn’s running game from crossing the goal line.

Pressure in the passing game was a mixed bag for the Hokies against Auburn. They got balanced pressure inside and outside from the starting four, got a couple of sacks, and flushed Campbell on several occasions. The second defensive line wasn’t as successful in getting pressure and that cost the Hokies on a couple of Auburn’s big third down conversions when Campbell was able to step up in the pocket.

Part of Auburn’s game plan was to spread out the Tech defense with five WR formations. The Hokies countered each time by playing man coverage (one of the few formations that the Hokies went straight man) and rushing six against Auburn’s five blockers. Auburn had no success out of that formation and abandoned it in the second half.

Additional comments:

• On their only TD of the game, Campbell saw the 8-man front with single coverage outside and made a good read at the line of scrimmage. He checked into play action and hit Devin Aromashodu on the quick slant for the score. The play was well timed and well executed – something that was consistent for Auburn’s passing attack throughout the game.
  
  
• The month off didn’t seem to affect Campbell’s timing and accuracy. He was in synch with his receivers from the start, both from the pocket and on scrambles when plays broke down. On the flip side, Bryan Randall and the Tech offense seemed a bit rusty and out of synch in the passing game. The timing was off on a couple passes to the sideline that resulted in catches out of bounds. The receivers also dropped several catchable balls and Randall misfired on a few others.

With the exception of a few specific formations, Tech played zone almost exclusively in this game. The plan was to keep everything in front, eliminate Brown as an option in the passing game and shut down the Auburn screens. Tech manned up and blitzed when Auburn spread the field. For the most part, the plan worked for all but about five plays. The failures generally came on third downs with Auburn operating out of their shotgun, three WR formations. The Tech plan was to stay in zones and bring pressure with the zone blitz, dropping a DE into coverage and bringing pressure up the middle from the linebackers. Auburn had little trouble recognizing the zone blitz looks and Campbell burned Tech at least twice with big third down plays down the field.

The biggest play of the game, in my opinion, came on the third and sixteen on their initial drive of the second half with Campbell scrambling away from pressure and hitting Anthony Mix for 53 yards. Even though much of what happened down the field wasn’t visible for review on my TiVo, I wanted to give one viewpoint on what may have happened on the play. Much of my breakdown is based on what I could see on the game tape, including the personnel and formations on both sides of the ball. However, just as much is based on filling in the blanks, opinion, and a little guess work. With that, here’s my best guess as to what happened on the play:

The ball position was on the right hash and Auburn went with a formation of 3 WR’s (Taylor, Aromashodu and Mix), one TE (Wallace) and one back (Williams) with Campbell under center. Taylor split wide left with Mix along side in the slot. Cooper split out wide left as well, with motion to the ball.

Tech went with the zone blitz, bringing Hall up the middle and Whip LB James Anderson from the wide side while dropping DE Darryl Tapp into coverage on the boundary side. With one DE dropping into coverage, the defensive line slants towards the drop side and responsibility for boundary side containment falls to the DT next door (Kevin Lewis on this particular play). With that responsibility, Lewis is required to take a wide angle on his rush against the right offensive tackle in order to keep the QB from getting outside of him. That is critical, particularly against a good, mobile QB that prefers to scramble to his right.

At the snap, Tech’s defensive line correctly slanted to the boundary, Tapp dropped and Lewis took a wide rush against OT Troy Reddick. On the other side, Campbell actually started the play by turning to his left and taking a couple of steps in that direction. He quickly recognized Tech’s zone blitz with Anderson and Hall coming at angles that would defeat the play if he continued to his left. Campbell reacted by scrambling out to his right away from the blitzing LB’s. Wallace was supposed to block Hall, but he whiffed on the block due to a quick outside-in move by Hall. He had a good angle on the Auburn QB, but Campbell’s athleticism allowed him to escape Hall’s dive at his ankles. In the meantime, Lewis was engaged with Reddick and was unable to fight off the block in time to hold containment. Lewis has had chronic knee problems for the last couple of years and it showed on that play. He was no match for Campbell, who easily ran around Lewis into open field right in front of the Tech sideline and defensive coordinator Bud Foster.

Down the field, Tech’s secondary was having some problems of their own. Even though ABC showed the replay several times from a couple of angles, I couldn’t tell if Tech was in a 2-deep or 3-deep zone on the play (more on that in a bit). From the high end zone view, one breakdown that is visible on the replay is that three Tech defenders (Jimmy Williams, James Griffin and Mikal Baaqee) all ended up in the same place in coverage on Aromashodu about 15 yards down the field.

From his slot position wide, Mix was to have run a deep seam or post route depending on his read of the coverage, but when Campbell escaped to his right, Mix did what he was coached to do – break the route and run with the QB. He got behind the coverage in the deep middle and ran across wide open to the boundary. Eric Green, responsible for field-to-hash in deep thirds or field half in deep halves, chased across behind Mix and made the play down the field.

Now, more guess work. The Hokies were most likely in a 3-deep coverage with Green, Griffin and Williams responsible for the deep areas of the field. If that was the case, then James Griffin should have been back in deep middle, rolling his coverage to the boundary along with the flow of the play. In that coverage, Williams’ original responsibility would have been deep third boundary-to-hash, but on the QB scramble, he is supposed to roll his coverage up underneath with Griffin rotating in behind him. My best guess is that the breakdown occurred when Griffin abandoned his deep zone and came up too far in reaction to Campbell and Aromashodu, rather than staying deep and rolling his coverage horizontal towards the boundary. Had Griffin rolled his coverage correctly, then he would have been in good position to make a play on the pass to Mix. In all likelihood Campbell doesn’t make the throw at all if Griffin is positioned properly. Instead, he likely would have pulled the ball down and scrambled for a short gain.

Additional comments:

• Auburn ran the exact same play in the 2nd quarter, with Campbell completing a 15 yard pass to Mix on 3rd and 7. On that one, Campbell rolled to his left as planned and hit Mix in the seam of the deep zone to the wide side of the field. Tech had zone blitzed on the play as well, only they had dropped both defensive ends (Ellis and Lallis) into coverage and blitzed both inside LB’s (Hall and Adibi) through the middle. There was no slanting at the snap and, in essence, the defensive tackles (Lewis and Powell) had the outside rush lanes, with Hall and Adibi having the inside rush lanes. Auburn’s offensive line executed well and Tech was unable to get any pressure on Campbell. How Auburn executed that play led to the adjustment by Tech in the 3rd quarter to slant their line, drop only one DE into coverage and bring pressure from more of an outside angle towards Campbell’s intentions to roll to his left. It almost worked, as Hall just missed sacking Campbell for big loss. In the end, the coverage broke down, Campbell made a play and Auburn was in business.
  
  
• Tech was an excellent zone coverage team this year, but they hadn’t faced many QB’s like Jason Campbell. His size and arm strength made it tough on Tech’s standard 2-deep outside zone drops from the 8-man front, where the Whip and Rover drop out underneath with the corners having deep outside responsibility. The Hokies hadn’t seen many passes like the one Campbell made out of the end zone to Courtney Taylor on the deep out. It was delivered just over the stretch of Aaron Rouse and in front of Eric Green. Rouse was a half step short on his drop and that small window was all Campbell needed.
  
  
• Noland Burchette had another excellent game in the Sugar Bowl. He was solid in run support and he got in the face of Campbell on several occasions. His athletic abilities and game speed are very impressive for a guy playing defensive end. He was noticed a lot in the second half of the season and will be a vital playmaker next year for a Tech defensive line that will be looking to replace a big time playmaker in Jim Davis.

In the end, this was the key to the game. Auburn’s ability to convert on third and long plays led to 13 of their 16 points:

• On the drive that led to their second field goal, Campbell hit Taylor for 23 yards on 3rd and 16.
  
  
• On the drive that led to their third field goal, Campbell hit Mix for 15 yards on 3rd and 7.
  
  
• On the drive that led to their touchdown, Campbell hit Mix for 53 yards on 3rd and 16.

The last two of those plays have been broken down in some detail already, with two of Tech’s zone blitz concepts failing to stop Auburn from converting those third and long plays into big first downs.

On the first 3rd and 16 conversion, Tech played more of a conventional defense, rushing their four defensive linemen, while playing man coverage against five Auburn receivers (two WRs, one TE, two RBs). Once again, Campbell made the play by stepping up towards the line of scrimmage, away from the inside push by Tech’s Jonathan Lewis. While on the move, Campbell fired a strong throw to Taylor who had broken open underneath the man coverage of Eric Green.

The formation and personnel combinations that Auburn could utilize made it difficult for Tech to use its safeties as help, either in a man free coverage or in deep zones with man under coverage. That first 3rd and 16 conversion demonstrated why it was far too risky to ask the Tech corners and linebackers to play man-to-man down the field without safety help, particularly against a mobile QB that could make all the throws while on the move.

Additional comments:

• Not surprisingly, Auburn’s lone touchdown also came on a third down. On the play, Tech blitzed both inside linebackers, Baaqee and Hall, up the middle (something they did a lot in this game). Baaqee was picked up by the protection, but Hall was unblocked. Hall attempted to get his hands on the pass, but he was unsuccessful. It’s another example of where a QB with the height of a Jason Campbell has more passing lanes available to him, particularly when throwing to the shorter areas between the hashes. At 6’5” with an over-the-top release, he was able to stand in there strong and throw the ball directly over a leaping Hall, who checks in nearly a half-foot shorter than Campbell. A shorter QB would have had to react differently to the middle pressure, either by pulling the ball down and scrambling or by throwing the ball high and out of the end zone. A lot of people ask why Tech doesn’t use more quick slants in their passing attack. The height of the QB’s release point is a big factor in that equation. The risk of getting those types of passes tipped or batted down is much lower when the QB has a release point as high as Jason Campbell’s.
  
  
• Tech had shown a lot of their nickel packages in games throughout the season, but they didn’t use them against Auburn. Instead, they went with pressure-based packages in nickel type situations, bringing one or two of their linebackers to get extra pressure or by using various forms of the zone blitz. Auburn’s balance and ability to mix and match their WR’s, TE and two RB’s in a number of different formations made the nickel packages a tough matchup for the Tech defense.

Tech’s offense had a tough time getting much going early in the game, showing some effects of the month long layoff. They had only one sustained drive in the first half, but didn’t score after failing to convert on 4th and goal from Auburn’s one yard line. The timing and execution was a little better in the second half, but in the end it wasn’t a great game for the Tech offense.

Auburn’s defense had more than a little to do with that. They were quick, fast and aggressive. They were probably the best tackling team Tech faced all season. They did some things with their linebackers and corners that took away some of the things that had been successful for Tech during the season. I’ll break that down in some detail with the review of each of the keys.

The Hokies could get very little going with the running game. Their power inside runs were unsuccessful, as were the misdirection plays. I believe there were three reasons why the Tech ground game struggled:

• Auburn’s defensive front was too quick for Tech’s offensive line. Tech could not establish control of the line of scrimmage and the speed of Auburn’s defense shut down any attempts to bounce plays outside. The Hokies went in with a game plan to attack backup LB Derrick Graves with their misdirection running plays, but Graves was more than up to the challenge, leading Auburn’s defense in tackles for the game.
  
  
• Much like Tech’s defensive game plan, Auburn came in determined to control Tech’s ground game and force QB Bryan Randall to beat them with the passing game. They loaded an extra player in the box against Tech’s run formations, swapping out safeties Junior Rosegreen and Will Herring as the extra defender in the box. Tech came in intending to run the ball, but was ready and willing to go to the passing game if Auburn prioritized extra players against the run.
  
  
• The reverse action on the tailback runs were virtually ignored by the Auburn linebackers, particularly Graves (he had been burned on similar plays by Tennessee in the SEC Championship game). The linebackers played their run gaps against the tailback, leaving responsibility for the potential end-around to the corner or safety. Tech may have had some success by slanting their lines with zone blocking and reversing against the flow, but it would have been a difficult play to break because of how Auburn was set in their defense and the speed they had across the board.

Additional comments:

• Mike Imoh’s hamstring injury appeared to be healed, but he lacked a little of the burst and quickness that he needed to be successful in this game. He hadn’t been able to run full speed for awhile and, even though the injury was healed, his legs didn’t appear to be completely back in the type of game shape a running back needs to run against a defense as quick and as fast as Auburn’s.
  
  
• Cedric Humes didn’t seem to have the same type of burst that he demonstrated in the Miami game, which a little more surprising. It seems that Humes may be the type of runner that needs to get into a rhythm and work up a good lather to get going. The flow of the game didn’t allow him to work into that type of rhythm.
  
  
• On Tech’s first trip into the red zone, some have asked why Billy Hite went with Mike Imoh instead of Cedric Humes down at the goal line. The main reason is that Hite always works the rotation and at that particular time, the rotation called for Imoh. He has confidence in both around the goal line, so the rotation dictated personnel.
  
  In my opinion, a secondary reason was the quickness and tackling abilities of the Auburn defense. Tech’s offensive line was having difficulty getting clean contact on the Auburn defenders with power blocks, so a power runner was not going to have success penetrating that defense. The alternative was a quicker back with the ability to find and slither through the small cracks and seams that would open up only briefly along the defensive front. Lee Suggs was a master at that, but Mike Imoh wasn’t a bad choice either.

By my count, of Tech’s 60 total plays on offense, 44 were called pass plays. I’m sure Bryan Stinespring would have preferred a better run/pass balance, but the defense dictated some things and he was confident enough in the passing game to go with it. On some plays, it’s likely that Bryan Randall had a run/pass option to decide with his pre-snap reads and he went with the pass option many times, given Auburn's decision to load up against the run.

Auburn came into the game leading the SEC in sacks, yet with 44 chances to get there, they managed only one sack against the Hokies. DE’s Stanley McClover and Derrick Groves were shut out in the sack department after chalking up 7.5 each during the regular season. The operation from Randall to the offensive line to the tight ends and backs did a nice job in setting and executing the called pass protections. Randall escaped and scrambled on several plays when pressure was close, but no more so than in prior games this season.

Where the protections were generally good, the execution of the passing game was a little off. The timing wasn’t quite right and there were some communication issues between Randall and his young receivers in the earlier periods of the game. There were dropped balls, misreads, and some poor passes at key moments. Where Auburn’s offense was able to make several big plays in critical situations, Tech’s offense failed to deliver in many of those same situations.

One of the things Tech wanted to do was get the ball to their tight ends, particularly Jeff King working from the H-back spot. Auburn knew that had been an important aspect of Tech’s offense during the season and they game planned specifically to minimize it. Auburn played a lot of man coverage in this game, first because they were committing an extra player against the run and second because they felt they had the matchup advantage and could defend Tech’s young receivers with single coverage. In doing so, they could game plan against King by putting a corner on him in man coverage when he lined up as an H-back. They knew that whenever King was aligned as an H-back that Tech would be in a two TE personnel package with Jared Mazzetta as the other TE. That left two WR’s outside matched up against their other corner and safety Junior Rosegreen. Auburn felt Rosegreen was a good enough athlete to matchup with any of Tech’s slot receivers. That allowed the other corner to man up on King. In doing so, Tech’s options to get the ball to him were limited. They went to him on a couple of occasions out of the H-back set, but the speed of the coverage limited the success of the play.

Some additional comments:

• Auburn did some new things with their linebackers that Tech hadn’t seen on film. Their base defense is a straight 4-3 set, with all three LB’s typically aligned five to six yards off the line of scrimmage (a little deeper than some other teams). In this game, the linebackers often would set wide or the outside linebackers would come up into a 5-2 or 6-1 alignment against Tech’s two TE formations. On several plays, Auburn staggered the alignment of two linebackers, pinching both to the middle and stacking them at three and five yards off the line of scrimmage. At the snap, they would blitz both either through the same gap or they would cross them into opposite gaps. It made it very difficult for the Tech offensive line to read the alignment and set up their blocking responsibilities. The stagger and two-level blitz with the crossover or through the same gap disrupted the timing of the run blocking and pass protections. The effect was two fold, stunting the gaps and getting a delayed blitz from the deeper, staggered linebacker.
  
  
• The Tech passing operation improved as the game moved along, hitting full stride in the fourth quarter with two TD passes. On the first one, Randall correctly read the blitz and he and Josh Morgan sight adjusted on the quick hitch route. Morgan made a nice run after the catch, patiently using his blocks to take it around and up the sideline.

Simply put, it didn’t happen for the Tech offense. They were only 3 of 12 on third downs, with all three conversions coming on short passes against Auburn pressure. Auburn’s offense was able to convert several 3rd and long plays into first downs, while Tech’s offense was able only to convert two – a swing pass to Humes in the first quarter and the first TD pass to Josh Morgan on the hot read in the fourth quarter. They just missed on a couple of others, one on a deep out to Eddie Royal that he caught two yards out of bounds. Again, there were some things that opened up throughout the game, but the operation was just a little of synch, the timing was a bit off and they couldn’t finish on the execution.

The Tech offense got into the red zone twice in the game, but came away without points both times. Let’s break those down in some detail:

• The first one came in the second quarter with Tech trailing 6-0. The Hokies found themselves with first and goal at the two yard line after a long completion to Josh Hyman (Will Herring sure loves to bite on play action and pump fakes, doesn’t he?). After two plays with no gain, Tech called the QB draw on third and goal at the two yard line. That play looked to open up, but LB Kevin Sears and Herring took Randall down at the one with strong tackles. Josh Hyman couldn’t get his block on Sears and Cedric Humes missed his block on Herring. Randall had been a strong runner all season and had often plowed through or over the first contact, but not this time. I commented earlier that Auburn’s tackling was impressive and there was no better example of that than on that third down stop of Randall.
  
  The Hokies then missed on fourth down with the dropped pass by Jesse Allen in the end zone. Personally, I thought going with a pass to their little-used fullback was a risky call on 4th and goal because unless it was executed perfectly, the odds of a completion were not as high as you would like in that situation. Unfortunately for Tech, the play was not executed perfectly. The pass was thrown a tad late and a bit behind Allen and ball bounced off his chest for the incompletion.
  
  
• Tech’s second and last visit to the red zone came at the end of the third quarter and into the fourth quarter. They found themselves in a tough situation, down 16 points with a first and goal from the ten yard line. After an incompletion and foiled QB draw on the first two downs, the Hokies faced another key third and goal play. They went with four WR’s, trips right, with Royal wide, Morgan and Harper inside. Auburn’s defense was confused and at the snap, some of their defenders played zone and some played man. Harper and Morgan ran slant routes and both broke open. Randall had the choice of either one, but his pass sailed high and out of the end zone. The Hokies then missed the field goal.
  
  What happened on that third down pass? The ABC guys stated that the ball just slipped out of Randall’s hand, while others have speculated that he hitched just a bit when he saw that he had two guys open. I have a different theory. It goes back to the two plays prior to that third down incompletion. On first down, Randall broke from the pocket and rolled to his right. With pressure coming near the sideline, Randall lifted up and threw the ball out of the end zone. Auburn DE Stanley McClover hit Randall hard and drilled him into the ground, with Randall’s head bouncing hard off the turf. Randall is such a warrior, but it was evident that he was feeling the impact of that hit when he went back to the huddle. On second down, Randall ran a QB draw and was flipped head over heels on a hard tackle by CB Carlos Rogers. Thirty seconds later, Randall air mails a bad pass over two open receivers in the end zone. I believe Randall was still shaking out a few cobwebs and that was a contributing factor to the bad pass. A timeout there might have helped, but that would have helped Auburn’s defense as well. It’s unlikely they would have been confused at the snap after a timeout.

Tech knew it would be critical to challenge the perimeter of Auburn’s defense, especially down the field. The game plan was to work the sidelines, take some shots down field, and attack Auburn corner Montavis Pitts. The plan worked and with better execution, the Hokies could have been in business. They missed on two 20+ yard plays when Josh Hyman and Eddie Royal both caught passes against Pitts just out of bounds. On another potential big gainer, the Hokies sent Jeff King up the seam and got him behind the linebackers, but Randall’s pass was a little off and King dropped the ball. Speaking of drops, in addition to Allen and King, Royal and Justin Harper also dropped passes that should have been completions.

Things started to click for the Hokies passing attack later in the game. Randall and Morgan were in synch on the sight adjustment that hit for the first TD. I was surprised Auburn decided to blitz on that play, up 16 points with just under seven minutes to go. More surprising is what happened with just over two minutes to go. Tech had been trying to get the ball down field against S Will Herring because he was their weakness in coverage and was prone to mental mistakes. They caught him in the first half on the long pass to Hyman and they got him again with the pump fake on the 80 yard TD pass to Morgan. Not much to add on that play other than to say that the biggest mistake a free safety in deep zone coverage can make is to bite on a pump fake while protecting a 10 point lead with two minutes to go in the game. As surprising is that the Tech coaches figured he would bite on the pump fake in that situation. And they were right.

Additional comments:

• Randall’s first interception was the result of miscommunication between him and WR Justin Harper. It came on a 3rd and 23 play. Auburn was in zone and Harper ran straight down the seam from his slot position. He was supposed to adjust his route based on the positioning and movement of SS Junior Rosegreen. Randall read Rosegreen’s depth and expected Harper to check up on his route, in front of the safety. Harper read that Rosegreen was sitting down in coverage and took his route vertical. Rosegreen properly read the QB and grabbed an easy interception. From the TV replay, it’s hard to determine whether Randall or Harper made the incorrect read. It could have been either one.
  
  
• The second interception was the result of Randall trying to make a play. He broke free of a potential sack, spun to his right and picked up Morgan open 15 yards down field. Rosegreen was nearby and broke on the ball when Randall released it. He jumped in front of Morgan, got his hands on the ball and it deflected into the hands of LB Derrick Graves (as a side note, that guy Graves had his best game of the season by far). The mistake was made by Morgan who didn’t properly come back to the ball. He sat down and waited for the ball, while Rosegreen broke on it. It also might have been a case of Randall trying to do a little too much under heavy pressure, but Morgan was open and likely would have had the reception had he correctly worked his way back to the ball.

Tech had several designed runs in the game plan for Randall, including the option, sprint outs, and the QB draw. Scrambling had been his biggest weapon all season, where his combination of strength and quickness made him a significant threat when running the ball in the open field.

Against Auburn, Randall had some success running, but Auburn left the field feeling like they had contained him fairly well. He broke free on a couple of occasions, but more often Auburn’s quickness up front allowed them to close down his running lanes before he could spring free. Once again, their tackling was a factor in controlling Randall. He had run past, over and through defenders all season, but more often than not, Auburn’s defenders were able to get him on the ground with first contact, particularly in the big situations.

Additional comments:

• Auburn’s defense on the perimeter was strong in run support. Rogers and Rosegreen are excellent run defenders. Will Herring’s strength is his play around the line of scrimmage. The Auburn linebackers have great speed and quickness. At 6’1” 212 lbs, LB Travis Williams might be vastly undersized for a middle linebacker, but he has a great nose for the ball and he is a superb tackler.
  
  
• DT’s Tommy Jackson, Jay Ratliff and Wayne Dickens were too quick for the interior of Tech’s offensive line. Looking ahead to next year, quickness at the guard and center spots is an area of concern. Quick defensive fronts gave the Tech offense the most trouble this season and it’s likely to be a problem area in 2005 as well.

The loss was disappointing, but by rallying in the fourth quarter, the Hokies showed the heart and inner strength that had been so important to their success all season. Looking ahead, there are a group of returning players that now know what it takes to rally and win close games in the fourth quarter.

After a couple of seasons of trying to recover an identity, the program now has a formula for success – talent and depth combined with teamwork, togetherness, and chemistry. Coming off a surprising and very successful 10-3 season, the expectations for Frank Beamer’s program will be high come August. Replacing Bryan Randall and the other senior leaders will be a tall order for the Hokies, but that’s the nature and beauty of college football.