The 2010 Virginia Tech defense is nothing if not fast.
How fast are they?
Very possibly top-2 fastest in the Beamer-bowl era and yes; they just might strike a rightful stopwatch claim to being the fastest VT stop-unit (overall) ever!
That’s what I like to call O&M greased lightening folks — and yes, I will take speed over bulk anyday of the week and twice on Saturdays inside Lane Stadium.
However, how light -in the pants- is too light?
This could shake out to be not only the fastest VT defense in years; it is also one of the lightest.
Check it out…………………
dLine:
The 2010 VT dLine tips the Toledo’s at (only) 268.25 lbs. on average.
- J.Garves-5 lbs.
- S.Friday+15 lbs. (if he can hold it; history says he can not)
- K.Battle-3 lbs., A.Hop+6 (should split time in 2010)
- C.Drager-5 lbs.
No smack intended; though that’s just not a big-time major conference possible MNC contending dLine by any weigh-in metrics and the back-ups are even lighter at 264 and change. How long has it been since VT fielded a lighter dLine???
Linebackers:
The 2010 VT second-layer weighs in at 222 lbs. on average. (presuming Taylor and Tweedy start)
Should ‘Quell Rivers regain his starting 2009 Mike Linebacking role; the 2010 VT Linebacking corps is even lighter.
Secondary:
- 170 lbs. (Hosley)
- 186 lbs. (Roc’)
- 195 lbs. (Whitley)
- 196 lbs. (Morg’)
That’s zero starters north of even 2 bills (200 lbs. ) folks! Which leaves us with only one baller in our hind-4 (Secondary) two-deep who is above 196 lbs!
Damn.
It’s tough to to say that the 2010 VT defense is too heavy.
Nevertheless, it sure ain’t too slow.
However … could it be too light?
“Where’s the Beef?”:
- Miami of Florida: 319 lb. oLine (a 217 lb. and 228 lb. set of VHT Rb’s down on So.Beach)
- UNC: 310 lb. oLine (with 251 lb. Rb Ryan Houston rearing to go behind them)
- Boston College: 309 lb. oLine (with a 1,457 yard rusher behind it — best oLine in the A.C.C.)
- even M.A.C. West division favorite Central Michigan goes 309 lbs. across
See what I mean?
If you are playing the 2010 VT defense; why in the world would you dare to mess with such epic sideline-to-sideline track-meet quality stop-unit speed?!? Why not simply tighten your oLine splits; and test VT straight ahead right at the point of attack? Recall that the Nati (Cincinnati) did this to us and staked a 10-5 lead for about 40 minutes of play a few years back in Lane. Recall the success that Gah.Tech has recently enjoyed running inside off of their Belly or Keeper plays with Dwyer or Nesbitt. Recall UNC Mack-trucking us right upfront in the fourth quarter with Mr. Houston last season. I’ve said it before, and I am saying it again, fancy modern play-calling nomenclature, passing-trees and twin play calls in the huddle with at least 1 line-of-scrimmage check all firmly set aside … football ain’t rocket-surgery folks.
Chris Coleman and I have been saying for years the best place to attack a Bud Foster defense is right up the gut. Avoid playing into VT’s stellar lateral pursuit speed at all costs. This thesis of thought was spawned however when considering how to combat a right-sized -at least by VT standards- Hokie defense’s in the past. We have not exactly been S.E.C. big across our front-7 on defense in quite some time folks. Hokie Dt’s typically hover below 300 lbs., O&M De’s are reliably found in the 240 to 250 lb. neighborhood, and the given O&M Whip, Rover and even sometimes the ‘Backer are not exactly code for comic-book Gigantor or Arnold Schwarzenegger’s in cleats.
Now comes the revved up and red-line turbocharged 2010 VT defense.
The fastest VT defense in a long long time.
Maybe even the fastest Hokie defense ever.
And one of the lightest too boot.
So………….how will that shake out vs. the biggest and more physical oLine’s that we will line-up against this Season???
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“LET’S GO!”
“HOKIES!”
b’street
(kinetic) E = 1/2 m v^2. Speed gives you better bang for your buck. Of course, it’s best to be fast _and_ big, but if you can only have 1 of the 2…
No doubt.
Praise be to all things E.S.M.
I am with that.
Though how will that shake out when we have to defend 3` or so?
Hopefully that does not result in the Newtonian euphemism of “negative work”.
b’street
Speed kills, if you have the depth to insert fresh legs into your front seven.
B-Street,
O-lines are always heavier than D-lines, and to me it doesn’t make that much sense to compare them directly.
Also the fact is that big O-lines are not better for running the ball. The best rushing teams usually have small, athletic O-lines. In 2009 ACC play the two highest yards-per-carry averages (GT and FSU) were also the two smallest O-lines by a mile. WVU was the nation’s best running team with FSU’s current OL coach. The ideal O-lineman at both schools is in the 280’s. Meanwhile schools like Texas Tech would have just massive OL’s because bigger OL’s are better for pass-blocking.
Meanwhile of the three big-OL teams you cited I would say the only one that really ran the ball decently for their RB talent level was BC, and that only due to Montel Harris. None of the three exceeded 3.8 YPC in ACC play. And two of them didn’t have 60 yards on VT, who as you point out is never that big on the DL.
The 180 yards UNC got against VT might have something to do with a hangover effect from having GT’s OL dive at their knees the whole week before. A little known statistical oddity is that LY 4 ACC teams had their worst game of the season the week after playing GT — two of those were Miami @VT and VT vs. UNC.
Anyway, I think it makes sense to compare with other teams’ DL’s…. for the 3-4 teams I am including the weakside rush LB, who is the WDE equivalent position…. I would definitely expect the two smallest teams, VT and FSU, to also be the two fastest and it comes down to what that tradeoff is worth. Foster has always seemingly believed in speed over size and I don’t think you can argue with his results!
VT 269.3 (using TSL’s DC)
FSU 274.5
GT 276.5
UNC 282.5 — without Austin 😉
Miami 288.8
Clemson 287.5
UGA 279.4
Bama 289.5
UF 274.3
BoiseSt 277.3
Beat the Broncos and I hope we both come in undefeated. 🙂