Winning Commonwealth Cup Eye in the Sky part II
December 2nd, 2009 by bourbonstreetfrance to their credit hung-around a while; didn’t they?
The french have fought pretty hard vs. us for the last 12 Quarters of Commonwealth Cup play; I’ll give them their due on that. They have also fought to no avail as the Talent imbalance has not been this tipsy in either sides favor in a long long time.
It was interesting to me to see france run and then mix in the pass semi-well for the first 30 minutes of play. They did have Bud Foster and company a bit off balance for a while; and they were actually only one accidental pancake landing removed from being up 3 points at halftime. (more on that below)
So lets look at some fun plays and some minor things you may have missed that make such a huge difference in any given game.
2nd Quarter 14:58 remaining:
If there is an underrated part to R.Will’s game it is certifiably his 20-20 gridiron vision. No, make that more like 15-15 eagle-eyes just like Chuck Yeager had. Watch R.Will start to go outside into the C-Gap where the Outside-Zone call scripted him to run (big PIC #1). However, he cuts back through the better developing A-Gap hole (big PIC #2) on the proverbial dime. Note where Jefferson is and where R.Will was supposed to run in the second pic. You can’t coach this up; this is a gift from Coach God himself. (big PIC #1) (big PIC #2)
2nd Quarter 14:11 remaining:
Nice play call by, Stiney? Or is it T-mobile? Watch TT check down at the LOS pre-snap. Love the aggression here on the medium range thrown on 2nd and short instead of our mindless Inside-Zone love affair.
2nd Quarter 14:09 remaining:
So what do we run (foreshadowing pun intended) on the very next play? An Inside-Zone play call for R.Will right behind Serg and Wang. I blocked more people than “Boooooooone” did on this play and R.Will gets stuffed for a 2 yard deficit. And how did Greg get 1st-string all-A.C.C. after such an uneven year?
2nd Quarter 12:44 remaining:
Does “Taco” need glasses? Seriously; how many more times can he line-up offsides and why is Coach Wiles not fixing this? Chris Coleman was right; “Taco” does this about 2-3 times per game. Gibby takes a minor steal at the end of this one as well. (big PIC link)
2nd Quarter 11:41 remaining:
In our newfangled Twins look (2 pure Rb’s, i.e. no Fb); Josh is a much better lead blocker. I’ve heard whispers that Josh may get a looksee at Fullback this spring. You can see why on this play.
2nd Quarter 9:52 remaining:
This is the pre-snap look on the Option play that R.Will electrified Scott Stadium with that Will Stew and Raleigh are writing about. Do you see what I see? First up; I really liked the Counter fake-handoff to Wilson on the inside-zone to freeze the defense for the Option on the edge. Wilson can do work. TT pitched it about 1 step too early; gotta be willing to hold the pitch until the last sec’ to free the pitchman up as much as possible. Then R.Will strikes like lightening for a blazing fast TD. However, note our OLine stances. Note who is in the 2-point stance (hint: far right, or #62). Guess where we ran? Watch for this tell in the future.
2nd Quarter 9:37 remaining:
Watch poor Z.Luckett #44 blow-out his A.C.L. and M.C.L. all at once on his ugly looking VT Kickoff coverage play. Costs us an epic Gunner this year and possibly a starting Rover for next Spring; as Zac takes a NASTY looking accidental friendly-fire submarine as # is stolen by the uva wedge right into Zac’s left leg that was bearing his full body weight at the time of impact. Harsh and God Bless. (big PIC link)
2nd Quarter 9:26 remaining:
Best job of masking a blitz I’ve ever seen. To begin with … ‘Quell moves up then back. Then Kam runs up into the picture, signals Cody, and then backs-up himself. Cody charges all the way up to the LOS; nearly leaning off-sides; then backs-up at the snap. How many of them blitzed? Nadda. Zippo. Zlich. The blitz was Roc’ Carmichael from the Boundary-Corner spot and nobody ever saw it coming. Outstanding diversionary use of baiting and disguising techniques by Bud and company pre-snap on this play.
2nd Quarter 8:38 remaining:
Wonderful LOS recognition by TT who checks-down into a Post Pattern for Roberts. Note where the french Free-Safety (Fs) #17 is in the pic. You must throw behind anyone cheating up in run-support as a quasi Linebacker whenever you see this.
2nd 4:07 Quarter remaining:
Watch this play only if you feel like renting your lunch. God Bless poor Mr. Byrd who’s left foot is facing forward while his left knee torques about 90 degrees towards the sidelines! Very squeamish pics! Note the angle of his foot relative to his Patella. Football is a very cruel mistress. The pics are bad; the video is heart-wrenching. (big PIC#1 link) (big PIC#2 link)
2nd Quarter 2:11 remaining:
Note the use of the two blindside so-called Peal-Back Blocks by the french left-G and left-Ot on this sewell roll-out to the right. It’s been decades since I’ve last seen this version of pass-blocking. (big PIC link)
2nd Quarter 1:25 remaining:
Just watch what happens to Hoppy #98 for us on this play. #61 blocks him man-up; then #63 pulls and Traps Hoppy. Is that not a Hi-Lo violation? The amazing part is that they accidentally knocked Hoppy 4 yards down the line of scrimmage; flat on Hoppy’s wallet. However; this landed Hoppy right at the feet of vic hall which stopped hooVA about a yard short on 3rd down. This forced a FGA attempt or hall might still be running and things would have been 17-14 favor le` team. A funny game this football.
2nd Quarter 0:26 remaining:
Oh my God! Did M.Reidy steal #26 for uva on this Kickoff Return or what??? Reidy has a rep as being the hardest hitter on the entire Tech team; and you will get no argument from #26 or from me on this play. WOW! Look closely and check out #26’s legs scissoring in the air as he goes flying right on by.
2nd Quarter 0:24 remaining:
Watch as sneaky #2 of uva pushes TT into the Line Judge zebra on this play. This really should have been an Unsportsmanlike Like Personal Foul on #2; as the Line Judge was knocked about 8 yards out of bounds for his troubles.
2nd Quarter 0:00 remaining:
The guy in the ellipse is R.Will; who had nobody to block in pass-protection on this play. T-mobile is right behind him just outta the pic on the Hail-Mary heave across the field into the uva endzone.
To say there was nothing but green in front of both R.Will and T-mobile is an exercise in futility. R.Will should have lead the way; and T-Mobile should have walked in for a bizarre 49 yard walk for 6 points on this play. If you are a 1970’s TV junkie; roll-over the pic with your mouse.
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2nd-Quarter takes:
- T-mobile has more velocity on his throws now than ever before. Why? Because his mechanics are better and his wind-up is more compressed. More compressed means more explosive and more explosive means greater velocity.
- Bit concerned by how blockable ‘Quell and Gibby/Jake still are. More than a bit in fact; as Tennessee has one extremely talented Running-Back (Rb). Hardesty is his name; file that one away for future reference.
- Expect to see more of our Twins looks with 2 true Rb’s beside T-mobile in the shotgun from our modified Spread set in the future.
- I am also real curious to see if Bud will Blitz UT as much as he did hooVA and other teams to close this season? I’m not liking the chalkboard notion of our blitz vs. the wonderful play-action work that the 5th year senior Qb from the Vols brings to the table.
- Odd to see Waldron finally miss one. Good pass, good spot; he simply hooked this one to the left. Waldron does have something of a range limitation, after increasing the height of his PAT’s and FGA’s over the line-of-scrimmage (LOS) to compensate for his history of low-line-drive blocks in practice.
- In limited duty — Jefferson has blocked rather well this season, and he sports a very kool Billy Dee Williams ’stach. Dood could prolly buy beer when he was 15.
- I’m also very curious to see where a senior year TT is with regard to LOS reads and checks next year. We have not had the total package installed since B.Randel’s 2004 senior year. If we synthesize a new blindside Ot and G to replace Wang and Render; 2010’s offense could be the most electrifying one in Blacksburg since the days of MV1 himself.
“LETS GO!”
“HOKIES!”
b’street
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