The Running Game Struggles

Ok, I promised you a video of some of Virginia Tech’s running plays, so that’s what we’ll focus on first in today’s article.  Tech’s running game didn’t succeed against ECU for a number of reasons, but for the most part it didn’t have anything to do with numbers.  It came down to the Hokies just not getting it done in the trenches.

I watched the first half, and I came up with these selected plays to point out what went wrong with Tech’s running game.  In short, there were mistakes by the tight ends, the offensive linemen, the fullback and the quarterback.  It was a group effort.  Also, at times the ECU defense did outnumber the Hokies.

Play #1: Below, you’ll see the video of play #1.  The play is fairly well blocked from the center all the way to the right.  However, there are break downs on the left side.  Left tackle Jonathan McLaughlin can’t get his head across on the defensive end, and that end gets into the backfield and forces Trey Edmunds to change direction.  To make matters worse, tight end Duan Perez-Means didn’t hit anybody.  He either needed to move back left and block that outside linebacker, or he needed to keep heading upfield and get a body on a linebacker.  Instead, he didn’t make a quick decision, and he ended up hitting nobody.  What’s the #1 rule of offensive football?  When in doubt, just hit somebody.  Coaches can live with mistakes as long as players are aggressive.  What they can’t live with is players standing around.  We saw too much of that last season.  We haven’t seen it much this year, but on this play we certainly did.

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