This was a pretty good 3rd Quarter of VT play; though not quite a great one. It did however pave the way for a great 4th quarter even
though we only outscored Tennessee (UT) by a 7-o margin during the thrid stanza of competition.
R.Will sure had a great 3rd Quarter. Tough to trump 79 yards rushing for only 8 carries of work. Numerous D-1 Rb’s do not get digits like that in an entire game and that does work out to a nifty 9.88 per tote if you need it. In fact the Frank-n-Stiney offense ran R.Will for a whopping and some would say predictable 8 straight carries — right up until R.Will’s untrustworthy left-ankle finally pulled a Roberto Duran and said “no mas” after having been weakened on two previous ankle roll’s earlier in the nite. Recall that R.Will dinged up his right-knee to close springball 2010 … thus leading one to muse if R.Will is just a tad injury prone? (more on that below)
All-n-all this was a rather solid 15 minutes of play that saw VT only draw one yellow-flag for 5 yards in reverse. That’s called peaking at the right time, being dialed-in and ready to play men. Something that as the nite worn on down in the ATL; it became painfully apparent that the UT football team clearly was not.
So let’s take a look-see at some key 3rd Quarter plays that you may have missed and several entertaining non-football things including the loquacious one … Matt Millen.
3rd Quarter 13.03 remaining:
Check out Boykin who by the way, had a helluva a final 8 games or so, nimbly and sagely avoid the dreaded Block in the Back call on the Hosley punt-return. Then watch him go ahead and steal #82 in the finest lumberjack fashion once Hosely has moved ahead of him on the return. This causes #82 to try to turn to face Hosely which allows Boykin to steal #82 straight up on the front side which avoided the BITB call. Boykin is a shrewd and highly discipline kid to pull this move off prior to his senior year folks.
3rd Quarter 11:45 remaining:
Check out the three straight nearly flawlessly blocked plays by C.News Oline to being our first offensive possession of the 3rd Quarter. Two of the three times R.Will hit the correct seams and ripped off 21 and 32 yards respectively. However, go back and watch the play before this one, and note that R.Will missed a heck of a big old hole, then watch and see that Frank-n-Stiney run the same exact play back-to-back; except they scripted to the Even-side (right-side) first, then came back to the Odd-Side (left-side) next; and Poppa Kiffin had nothing for it! That’s like flying a straight line in aerial combat; basically a lethal no-no; though Wang and Render pried open a wonderful C-Gap left-hand side hole and R.Will was off to the 32 yard races. Williams’ favorite letter of the alphabet is surely C, as he loves to jump-cut – no, make that hop-cut to the outside off-Tackle when the A or B-Gaps are closed for repairs. 5 broken Tackles on these three plays if you are keeping score at home; WOW!
Note also at the end of this play, #34 Lathers hurts is left knee down-field trying to tackle R.Will. Can you say 4th string MLb for the rest of the game??? Unreal if you are a lurking Vol-fan. Very tough to win like that.
3rd Quarter 11:35 remaining:
Matt Millen on R.Will: “…quicker than fast, but a nice PACKAGE.” Whoa there big-fella, keep it clean, no need for verbal wardrobe malfunctions.
Frank-n-Stiney critics will call 6 straight left-side carries predictable. Diverse that redundant repetition simply is not; nonetheless, I for one am want to say “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Keep going to that C-Gap until UT can stop it; which they did not. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid.
3rd Quarter 8:42 remaining:
Note Coach Sherman apparently pointing for R.Will to go and thank his OLinemen after the left-side TT Qb-sneak — then watch for a little finger-point-love for R.Will’s dear ole moms up in the Georgia Dome stands.
3rd Quarter 8:02 remaining:
Watch N.Brown –not the more athletic J.Worilds- drop into a Zone Blitz. Now note that if N.Brown turns his head to look at Crompton, it was N.Brown who was wide open for a pick-6 if he recognizes the ball in-flight in time! This is basic Secondary hip-turning Eagle-Drill 1o1. If we insist on using our Defensive End’s in coverage (i.e. on Zone Blitz); why not give them some time with Coach Gray on just a few very basic pass-coverage fundamentals; or does that make too much sense?
3rd Quarter 7:20 remaining:
How many of you knew that the Hip-Hop “raise-the-roof” arm-motion is also football code for “Reset the Play-clock”? Hosely also gets shaken up downfield on this play; which is too bad, and he was having a very good night. On the very next play UT effectively picks on Hill, yet again; and why play Hill so soft? He is allegedly good in Man-to-Man and at 4.38 he has 40-time speed to burn. Why not play him tight and make the best use of his Coach God given attributes? Now watch on the very next play that Hill uses his amazing track meet speed to make a wonderful open-field stop vs. #28 on a Boundary Cb blitz. Finally, note that Hardesty is hurt on this carry; if not for bad-luck UT had no luck at all as they took an O&M physical shellacking for their CFA troubles. (big PIC link)
3rd Quarter 4:06 remaining:
Take a look at #6 J.Worilds on this play. He does not make the play; yet he does spy on the play first double and then triple checking for a potential strip of Crompton; as #8 was ripe for being mugged as possession of the football goes when he got stood-up on this Sack. A very heady play by J.Worlds; kudos to him and Coach Wiles for such; finally note the old-school “head-slap” by the right-side UT Ot on this play. This is anything but legal; though the UT Ot’s did play with a mean streak; you have to like that.
3rd Quarter 3:12 remaining:
R.Will’s record breaking night, CFA-Bowl and effectively his 2009 season all come to a insalubrious left-foot/ankle end on this attempted spin-move where his ankle finally gave all the way out. Helluva a debut r-Freshman year folks; prompting one to wonder just where R.Will might be if he did play for VT in 2012??? Note the vile looking inside-ankle inflection in this one folks! (Squeamish big PIC link) R.Will is lucky his leg did not go “snap” with the weight-bearing of big ole #55 coming down hard on top of him on this one. Shew! This one was ugly enough — and dang well could have been devastating. (R.Will big PIC twist)
3rd Quarter 0:48 remaining:
Watch big-Wang make not one, yet two sizzling N.F.L. level blocks on this play to spring Josh who ran better than he has since October in relief of R.Will. First Ed buries the right-side UT Dt, then pops it outside and picks up the right-side UT OLb for good measure. Or in other words, Big Ed Wand opened this 5-hole or C-Gap run all by his lonesome!
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- Averaging 10 yards per play is no bad thing in the 3rd Quarter folks. However this one was not yet out of reach entering the final stanza of play. Krazier things have happened; just ask Gah.Tech after B.Randal and companies visit in 2004.
- This was only a 10 point game, or about a full play and a half at this point in time; and R.Will was humanely done for the nite down in the ATL.
- Do be fully awares that R.Will has a history of ankle sprains that dates all the way to throughout his High School career. One has to watch this very closely in terms of how much scrimmaging one allows R.Will to endure this August. That said, the forthcoming R.Will and D.Evans platoon at Rb should help spread tradition 250+ carry wear-n-tear out as much as possible.
- It has been 5 straight games since VT allowed a second-half point! That goes all the way back to October 29th vs. UNC if you are keeping score at home.
- The UT players volunteered that they were “tired” and “worn out” to close the show down in the ATL. One has to wonder just how well young Kiffin delegated conditioning and cardio-vascular training pre-game.
- VT ran 22 3rd Quarter plays to UT’s 16. i.e. our beloved Hokies were beginning to seize control of the vaunted Line-of-Scrimmage and therefore the game as well.
- 6 of those VT plays went for 1st downs (10 yards or more).
- 6 of those 16 UT plays went for 0 or negative yardage. i.e. VT was just starting to win the Lo.FM©. As we have seen every single time except once, who every navigates their Long-field Management scenarios most successfully will nearly always in the game. In fact the Lo.FM now checks in at a whopping 96.2% accuracy since its inception.
- VT was up 24-14 at the conclusion of 3rd Quarter play and driving for more; even with R.Will injured and done for the nite. Recall that Josh and Wilson were both running well. Josh finished with 34 yards and Wilson with 33. Both men were north of 4.3 yards per carry. Not bad relief work if you can get it.
“LET’S GO!”
“HOKIES!”
b’street