I trace our demise as a perennial national contender to the point in time when we abandoned our tried and true winning formula that had been VT's identity for so many years.
Namely, we stopped being a power running team primarily out of the I-formation on offense and we moved away from the whip linebacker concept on defense and basically morphed into a 4-2-5 set for the most part.
We rarely run the ball vertically anymore and except for the last 4 games in 2014(by necessity due to injuries) have not had a featured back...the "committee approach" has been a complete failure as has Loeffler's "love" of the horizontal running game.
It wasn't pretty, and some would say it was boring, but back in the program's prime we ran off tackle, sprinkled in some pure option to the edges and passed off play action. We controlled the clock, we protected the ball, we didn't often "beat ourselves" and we were masters of playing "field position" football, relying on our strong defense and taking advantage of the OTHER TEAM's mistakes that would usually present themselves throughout the game.
Our defenses were agressive but smart. We picked our spots to blitz and the pressure might come from anywhere...especially from the whip linebacker spot or a corner. We always had an excellent athlete at the whip which became a key playmaking position on VT's defense. We confused opponents with COMBINATIONS of zone and man coverage.
Now, it seems Bud has virtually abandoned the 4-3 look as our basic defense in favor of a nickel back. All we play is man defense in the secondary. We bring pressure on every play leaving us vunerable to huge gains for QB's who escape the pocket and have wide open running lanes into the second level since our DB's have their backs turned racing downfield in man coverage across the board.
I don't think its practical to change an offense and a defense in the middle of a season, but if I was Beamer I'd sure try and move back to the BASICS of what VT football used to be.
Unfortunately, "used to be" is the operative phrase and all we can do is hope that the next "coaching era" brings its own distinct formula for a winning program in the future.
Namely, we stopped being a power running team primarily out of the I-formation on offense and we moved away from the whip linebacker concept on defense and basically morphed into a 4-2-5 set for the most part.
We rarely run the ball vertically anymore and except for the last 4 games in 2014(by necessity due to injuries) have not had a featured back...the "committee approach" has been a complete failure as has Loeffler's "love" of the horizontal running game.
It wasn't pretty, and some would say it was boring, but back in the program's prime we ran off tackle, sprinkled in some pure option to the edges and passed off play action. We controlled the clock, we protected the ball, we didn't often "beat ourselves" and we were masters of playing "field position" football, relying on our strong defense and taking advantage of the OTHER TEAM's mistakes that would usually present themselves throughout the game.
Our defenses were agressive but smart. We picked our spots to blitz and the pressure might come from anywhere...especially from the whip linebacker spot or a corner. We always had an excellent athlete at the whip which became a key playmaking position on VT's defense. We confused opponents with COMBINATIONS of zone and man coverage.
Now, it seems Bud has virtually abandoned the 4-3 look as our basic defense in favor of a nickel back. All we play is man defense in the secondary. We bring pressure on every play leaving us vunerable to huge gains for QB's who escape the pocket and have wide open running lanes into the second level since our DB's have their backs turned racing downfield in man coverage across the board.
I don't think its practical to change an offense and a defense in the middle of a season, but if I was Beamer I'd sure try and move back to the BASICS of what VT football used to be.
Unfortunately, "used to be" is the operative phrase and all we can do is hope that the next "coaching era" brings its own distinct formula for a winning program in the future.
