Hokies Week 7 Blog - Option Offense, Optional Defense

To begin, last week was the most complete game I have seen VT play in years. The Hokies handed it to the Boston College (finally) in every facet of the game. It was a beautiful thing to watch once I woke up, I still had sleep my eyes for a noon kickoff. How are you supposed to get a reasonable tailgate in before noon?!?! Anyway, I won’t go too much into the game since it was so one-sided but here are a few highlights: We put up 441 yards on a decent defense (a better defense than we’ll see this week, oh snap!). BC had a total of 3 yards in the first half. 3!!! That’s 5 inches per play. Ryan Williams (182 yards, 1 TD) and Tyrod Taylor (7/10, 126 yards, 2 TD) both had great days and were rewarded with an early exit in the 3rd quarter once we were up by three dozen points. Ju Ju Clayton competed his first career pass, an 80 yard bomb to Marcus Davis (who caught his first career pass, an 80 yard bomb from Ju Ju Clayton). By the way, that gives Clayton a QB rating of 220.4 for his college career. David Wilson found the endzone for the first time since the Marshall explosion. We got 3 takeaways with Carmichael grabbing an INT and going 22 yards for a TD. We held their starting QB, Old Man Shinskie to 1/12 for 4 yards with 2 INTs. (Also I missed in the drinking game any baseball reference towards Shinskie by the announcers such as “high heat,” thanks to Andy for that one). So yes, a complete game! After all these years! It feels so good, that I don’t want to look forward to next week.

And why wouldn’t I want to do that? Because last game was so good, let’s just enjoy it for a little while. Because either way, me or the Fabulous and Wonderful Little Lady (who graciously proof reads these, and I left a few editorial notes in for this one) will be angry after the game is over. And because Georgia Tech runs the triple option which is a slightly gimmicky offense, but it is very effective. It’s actually a pretty old offense, but the teams that ran it decades before didn’t have QBs as good as Nesbitt or WRs as good as Demaryius “Bay-Bay” Thomas. Seriously, back to back y-i in your name? Nice… The problem is there isn’t too much you can do to prepare for it. You just need all your defenders to play their role and cover their man. And because of this, whoever ends up with the ball for GT will have basically a 1 on 1 battle with a defender to make a big play. That is if Paul Johnson’s guys up front for GT can effectively chop block the line without it being called for a penalty. Expect GT to hand out chop blocks left and right, but if you can’t get one, you can buy one online at ramblinwreckstore.com “where we celebrate cheating, potentially career ending blocking”:


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(LL editorial note 1: We learned our cheating ways from UGA. If you don’t cheat a little against them then they’ll definitely win. Also at least we don’t purposefully step on people like a QB did at lesser technical school…)

With this system, you can see how GT is averaging 277 rush yards a game (4th in the nation). But unlike last season, GT has been able to make some big passes off play action. Thomas already has 620 yards and 4 TDs, and that’s only off 26 receptions. This has made GT’s offense that much more potent this season. In their last two games, GT has scored 42 and 49 points against Mississippi State and Florida State. And in those two games they have averaged around 500 yards. They didn’t even have to punt against FSU! It doesn’t matter how good of a defense they are going against, they are going to make a few big plays and score TDs. They have too many skill players not too. Dwyer, Nesbitt, Thomas, Allen, and even Hill who has been mostly quiet this season all have the ability to take the ball 30+ yards and score. And they’re going up against a defense that so far has been inconsistent and has given up big plays on the ground and through the air.

So if they are going to score a lot against us what can we do? Well we’ll just have to score more! Remember when I said GT has put up around 500 yards per game the last 2 games against MSU and FSU? Well MSU and FSU have put up an average of 515 yards against GT! They didn’t stop the run or pass in either game with both MSU and FSU going for more than 200 yards in each category. Aside from UNC and a Periloux-less Jacksonville State, they haven’t stopped anything. Well, Derrick Morgan has stopped to take a breather quite a bit. And everyone is stopping UNC these days. The secondary was supposed to be the strength of the defense this season with Butler and Burnett, but they have given up big plays throughout the year. Derrick “Give me some oxygen” Morgan has gotten a lot of sacks, but hasn’t made the line as strong as expected. The defense is good as creating turnovers, but that’s about it so far. Duke might have a better defense. Duke!

So what does Virginia Tech need to do to win the game? On offense, they just need to keep doing what they’re doing. Since the miracle pass to Coale in the Nebraska game, the Hokies offense has been on fire. They have been running and passing all over the competition, and have shown that even if you can shut out Ryan Williams and the running game for 3 quarters, Tyrod will pass all over you and eventually the running game will wear you out. Another key is that we have to continue to hold onto the ball and not turn it over. We’ve done great so far this year, but you can’t afford turnovers to a team like GT.

On defense, they simply need to play assignment football and wrap up the ball carriers. GT will probably have some big plays. I mean, I can already see Chancellor biting on the run and getting burned deep a few times, but hopefully Carmichael will be in Thomas’ pocket all game. I can also see Chancellor biting on the run, but the wrong one… And I can say the same for our interior LBs Barquell Rivers and Jake Johnson. But there is good news! All three of our “give up the big play” defenders are way better at stopping the run than pass. And that’s the key to beating GT. Plus, even if they do misplay a few downs, you know Cody Grimm “the Reaper” will be there to clean up the mess. He could end up with 20+ tackles this game! And even with Thomas at WR, Nesbitt is still an iffy passer at best. He’s pulling a Reggie Ball and just heaving it towards Thomas hoping he makes the play. And occasionally he’s heaving it to the defense or 20 yards past his receiver. Dude is only completing 50% of his passes and most of those are the screens they run. Actually 3.4% of his passes are going to the defense, compared to 0.9% for Tyrod. (LL editorial note 2: He’s a thousand times better than Ball…I hate that guy.) Miami shut down GT’s offense with their speed. Clemson shut out GT for 3 quarters. It can be done! And I’m not saying we will, but VT has the personnel to do it. Our line is quick and nasty, our linebackers and safeties specialize in stopping the run, and our corners are good tacklers. It just comes down to winning each 1 on 1 battle. And that brings us to the Recipe for Success! Also, I have a sweet recipe for Apple BBQ Pork Tenderloin at the end of this if you’re interested. Because I’ve discovered a new hobby – brining.

Recipe for Success:

1) Keep it up Stiney! – for the 2nd week in a row, my recipe for offense success is to keep doing what it’s doing. If Stiney can dial up another good game plan, GT will be unlikely to stop the run or pass based on how both teams have played the last few games.
2) No Turnovers – We absolutely can not afford to turn the ball over against GT, they are good at taking the ball away and are good at making the team pay for it.
3) Get up early – Miami won because GT got down 2 scores and had to start throwing the ball. While Thomas is a playmaker, GT doesn’t want to throw the ball often.
4) Win your 1 on 1 battle – the key to stopping this team flat out is stopping the man you’re assigned. And if that man has the ball you must take him down because you might not have another line of defense.
5) Cover Thomas deep – Carmichael will have his hands full this weekend, as I think Thomas might be the best receiver we play this year (maybe 2nd to Julio). He is certainly the best in the ACC. And at a triple option GT, weird right? Also, Thomas has 26 of 37 catches for the team, so I wouldn’t worry about them throwing to anyone else.

Final score: 38 - 24 VT. Player of the game: Cody Grimm with 39 tackles, 12 tackles for a loss, 2 FF, and 1 FR. Or maybe I should just go with Ryan Williams again… It has been the safest bet of the year. Nah! Give me the REAPER!

There is no more football talk from here.

Recipe for Apple BBQ Pork Loin:

Get a nice tasty pork loin. It is very important to rinse it and pat it dry if you plan on brining. Then put it in a storage bag.

Brine:
1 cup Apple juice (could also do ½ cranberry and 1 cup water for first 2 ingredients if you prefer)
½ cup water
1 tbsp Worchestershire
1 ½ tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp paprika
½ tbsp chili powder
½ tbsp dry mustar
½ tbsp pepper
1 tbsp Old Bay
½ tsp ginger

Heat liquids in a small pot and add all the dry ingredients. Once they are all dissolved and mixed in take the liquid off heat and let it cool (add some ice to speed the process). Be sure the liquid is about room temperature before adding it to a storage bag with your pork loin so it doesn’t start the cooking process. Let the pork loin soak up the deliciousness of this magic concoction for 10-12 hours. Make sure the pork is submerged in the brine, if not add a little water and salt. You should add 1 tbsp of salt per cup of water, so if you just ad a splash of water add a pinch of salt. You can brine for up to 24 hours, but if you leave it in the brine too long the meat will turn to mush. I’d say 18 hours or less to say safe. And this only applies to pork, each animal has different brining times.

Dry Rub:
1 tbsp coarse Salt
1 tbsp pepper
1 tbsp garlic powder
Rinse the brine off the pork loin (you probably don’t want to go straight into cooking it with this mixture as it will be very salty). Mix ingredients or just eyeball them and sprinkle them on and rub into meat.

Apple BBQ Sauce:
2 cups of apple sauce or smashed up apples
1-2 tbsp oil
¼ diced onion
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp pepper
2 tbsp brown sugar
½ cup ketchup
¼ cup water
¼ cup honey
¼ cup apricot preserves (or peach, apple, whatever)
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 tbsp mustard
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp chili sauce (I love Chili Garlic Sauce by Huy Fong)


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Pre-heat oven to 350. Put oil in a pan on med-low heat and add onion. Simmer for 4 min and add garlic and apples (if using applesauce add them with other wet ingredients). Cook for another 2-3 minutes till onions are soft, and add all the remaining ingredients stirring constantly. Simmer for 15 minutes. Put pork loins in lightly greased aluminum foil and poor BBQ sauce over them. I double wrapped them in foil and put them in a big dish to be safe. Cook at 350 for 1 hour. Let sit for 10 min, unwrap, cut, and serve! You could also grill it for the last 10, but I can’t. Regardless it’s so good…


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Not mine, but pictures are fun.