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****Thursday football nuggets (w/ video breakdown)

Larry_Williams

Senior Writer - Tigerillustrated.com
Staff
Oct 28, 2008
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Now starts the fourth year of providing weekly video analysis various things we observe during the season. It's become a popular feature, and now we're able to utilize the new message-board format to bring you embedded clips as opposed to just links before.

Feel free to give your opinion of this particular approach. There are lots of platforms out there, but we chose Vine because we've found that the looping feature is quite useful when you're watching (and re-watching) how plays take shape.

With that, here are some things that stood out upon further review of last week's 49-10 win over Wofford.

-- Raise your hand if you predicted that Scott Pagano would utterly dominate that game. The guy played just 54 snaps last season as a redshirt freshman, and in the week leading up to the opener he was getting pushed hard by Christian Wilkins.

Pagano ended up being one of the biggest stories of this game, if not the biggest. When you take the dive away from a triple-option offense, it's pretty much death. Pagano didn't just take it away, he chewed it up and spit it out.

On this play, third-and-2 on Wofford's first possession, Carlos Watkins is double-teamed. Pagano shows that low man wins as he pushes the center into the backfield while also helping bring down the ballcarrier:



Here, the Terriers decide they're going to throw the ball. They keep eight guys in block. It blows up in their faces when Pagano pushes aside the center and then plows through the poor running back. Nice job by Kevin Dodd, the stand-up defensive end at the top of the screen, rushing in to force the quarterback back to Pagano:



Here, Pagano pushes the center right into the backfield, right into the B-back. The quarterback and B-back get their mesh fouled up as a result, and it's an easy tackle for loss:



-- Another prominent theme of this game was excellent edge blocking. Anyone who has watched this offense the past couple years knows it's been a bit of a weakness. Stanton Seckinger has been productive in the passing game, but he's not not been good at the point of attack in the running game. And neither has Jordan Leggett (not consistently, anyway).

This is why Garrett Williams has been such a revelation. When you can set the edge in the running game, you can impose your will in a way this offense has not done to a large degree the last four years. Next week's game at Louisville will obviously be a different challenge for Williams, because the Cardinals have some seriously good 3-4 outside backers/ends. But you have to be optimistic about the long-term future with Williams serving as a nasty, physical blocking presence.

Nice job by Williams as an H-back here, setting the edge to allow a pulling Eric Mac Lain to get to the second level on a power run by Wayne Gallman:



And this clip shows you don't have to get under center to push people around in short yardage. This is a blocking clinic, with Williams sealing off the edge, Mitch Hyatt and Mac Lain double-teaming the end, and a pulling Tyrone Crowder driving his guy into the dirt:



-- Speaking of Hyatt, the sky is the limit with this kid. Yeah, it's just Wofford. But how many true freshman left tackles can say they did this on the second snap of the season?



-- Yesterday we published analysis of the emerging run-pass option (RPO). There's a lot of plays that are called runs initially, but changed to passes based on what the quarterback sees. This play doesn't gain much, but you can see some RPO elements at work: The offensive line and tight end blocking as if it's run, and Deshaun Watson noticing there are two defensive backs covering two receivers. The basic numbers game is pretty simple: If there are seven in the box, you check to a throw. If there are six in the box, you slam it up the middle. Seven in the box here, so Watson throws outside to Ray-Ray McCloud:



-- The coaches are giddy about the future of this offensive line. Some reasons: These guys are smarter than their predecessors. They are more committed. And they are more athletic. The belief is that the athleticism is going to produce more pulling by the guards and a much higher frequency of second-level blocks than we've seen in the past. You can see an example of that here:



-- Throwbacks are just a nightmare to defend in general, and we saw that Monday night when Virginia Tech used the tactic multiple times to great success before Ohio State turned that game into a rout.

If you're able to get protection, there's a good chance you're going to hit on a throwback (unless it's Cole Stoudt making the throw last year at Georgia Tech). You might recall that a throwback to Seckinger gave Clemson the go-ahead score against Ohio State in the 2013 Orange Bowl.

I'd bet Brent Venables felt a little better about himself after he watched the Hokies pull it off Monday night. He took the blame for not preparing his guys for the one they saw from Wofford here:



It looks like the defense is in man coverage here, but Venables told me they were actually in quarters match. Mackensie Alexander and T.J. Green were a bit confused before the snap about their responsibilities, but ultimately it's Green who has responsibility for the throwback. Easier said than done when your defense is based on aggression and flowing so hard to stop the run.

-- Green made up for that mistake with a number of big plays outside against the option, including this one early in the second half:

 
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