Last Saturday’s game against Miami left me in a bad mood. Yet another big game on national television, and Virginia Tech had probably the worst game they’ve played all year. There was anticipation leading up to this game — the hype, and a rivalry, with both teams highly-ranked like the old Big East days. Hokie fans like myself were expecting a great performance from Justin Fuente’s team, especially coming off some dominant conference games that Tech won by a wide margin. That’s something Hurricane fans hadn’t had the luxury of seeing all season. All of their games had been close, competitive games that Miami had to constantly find a way to win at the en. That formula has resulted in an undefeated season thus far. One thing is for sure, just like Clemson earlier this season – Miami came ready to play.

Rewatching the game, Miami’s gameplan was well-executed. Mark Richt and his coaching staff took advantage of an over-aggressive defense by stretching the field and using read-option plays against the some of the best defensive tackles in the country. In the passing game, there seemed to be an emphasis on throwing the ball down the middle of the field, over the linebackers and between the safeties. Then, if there wasn’t anything for quarterback Malik Rosier, he just launched it deep against the inconsistent Adonis Alexander, who struggled against Miami’s receivers.

Miami started the game with a lot of creative plays. Obviously, their goal was to make Virginia Tech’s defense defend the entire field, especially when they ran a wide receiver pass to their starting quarterback for a first down. Those misdirection plays, using jet sweeps and reverses, were catching the defense off guard. Bud Foster had no choice but to play less aggressive and go into his zone schemes.

Unfortunately, that didn’t help the defense early in the game. The three-man rush gave Miami’s quarterback time in the pocket to throw down the middle of the field to his favorite receiver, Braxton Berrios. However, what really hurt was the quarterback read option up the middle.

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