The Sampler returns for a special Thursday night edition to take a look back at the Georgia Tech win. This week’s edition is free thanks to Notus Sports And Event Management Group – give them a look as a Sabre sponsor!
One More Time For Everyone In The Back
Stop me if you’ve seen this before. Actually don’t … because I know you’ve seen this before. For the third time this season, an opponent pulled the same trick out of a different hat and scored a touchdown as a result.
The Sampler showed how both William & Mary pulled a tight end across the field while the other downfield action went the opposite way to free up that target. The Tribe scored a 37-yard touchdown with tight end Andrew Caskin, while Pittsburgh mirrored the feat with a 37-yard touchdown to tight end Scott Orndoff.
On Saturday, Georgia Tech rung one up for what its offense calls an A-Back. Clinton Lynch posted the 30-yard score late in the first half. With 1:52 to go, the Yellow Jackets faced 3rd-and-8 at the Virginia 30 when it set up the play. They showed one of their traditional option looks with an uncovered tight end on the left side, a receiver on the right side, and a pair of A-Backs just off the line of scrimmage on each side. Before the snap, the A-Back on the left side motioned across the formation to create a two-receiver set-up on the right side.
Here is the pre-snap look:
At the snap, both receivers on the right side went deep, while the uncovered tight end on the left side ran a crossing pattern underneath of those two routes across the field to the right. Lynch, the A-Back on the right side, gave a chip block for a second to disguise his intentions but then released across the field to the left. All three defenders on that side of the field – Kelvin Rainey, Wilfred Wahee, and – all followed the tight end. Lynch was completely uncovered so when the corner blitz of Maurice Canady didn’t get to quarterback Justin Thomas, the completion easily became a touchdown.
Here’s where you can see the defense had lost Lynch:
Severin Slipped Free
One of Virginia’s go-to options on offense is the three-receiver bunch set. The Hoos broke out a new variation on that theme against Georgia Tech and it led to Canaan Severin’s 30-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter.
On 2nd-and-10, UVa aligned in a single back set (Albert Reid) with Matt Johns under center. To the left of the formation was one receiver (T.J. Thorpe) and to the right of the formation was a three-receiver bunch (Evan Butts on the line with Canaan Severin off the line behind his right hip and Taquan Mizzell of the line behind his left hip). The trio was tight to the formation with the ball on the right hash marks.
At the snap, Thorpe and Butts each ran vertical routes up the field just outside the hash marks. Severin and Mizzell ran mirrored crossing routes. Mizzell was assigned a crossing/drag route behind the line of scrimmage and Severin was assigned a companion crossing/waggle route about 10 yards up the field. This was one of the plays in the game where UVa got Johns on the move out of the pocket. At the snap, he made a play-action fake to Reid, who faked the carry to the right side of the field. Johns then rolled out to the left.
Here is the look from two angles:
With Thorpe and Butts taking the lid off the defense and Reid carrying out the play fake to the right, it created a simple high-low read. Johns, Mizzell, and Severin all moved the same direction – right to left – on different planes so all Johns had to do was read the levels of the defense. When defensive end Rod Rook-Chungong came forward to take Johns, it brought corner Demond Smith and safety Jamal Golden – who it looked like should have stayed home in the middle to pick up Severin – toward Mizzell as he crossed in front of their vision.
Corners Lawrence Austin and D.J. White both mistakenly took Butts at the snap, following his vertical pattern up field. That miscue combined with Smith and Golden both crashing toward Mizzell left a huge space for Severin as he ran his crossing route at the 20-yard line. When he caught the ball, the closest player to him was White, who quickly tried to recover from the double team on Butts. Severin cut back against the pursuit and White slipped, leaving Severin with a clear path to the end zone behind a block from Butts.
Here’s the moment Severin caught the ball (watch the play here):
That Severin came through with a touchdown catch in the win should not be surprising. He has a TD grab in all three wins this season. Of his 36 receptions this season, 28 of them have gone for either a first down and/or a touchdown. He has 11 third down catches that have gone for a first down and/or touchdown. Severin caught 28 passes for a first down and/or touchdown in 2014.
Other Items In The Sampler …
Revisiting Kris’ Keys No. 1. Red zone battle. … Georgia Tech entered the game tied for second in the nation with a TD percentage of 78.6%. UVa’s defense entered ranked 31st nationally by allowing TDs just 48.4% of the time in the red zone. … The Yellow Jackets went 0-1 in the red zone and the Hoos won by six points.
Revisiting Kris’ Keys No. 2. Don’t get blocked from a win. … The Yellow Jackets tied for the national lead last season with 6 blocked kicks (2 punts, 2 field goals, 2 extra points). … No disasters on special teams in this one other than failing to recover a late onside kick.
Revisiting Kris’ Keys No. 3. Make Matt Johns comfortable. … Give him some easy throws early, move the pocket often to cut the field in half on his reads, and use him on designed running plays. … UVa did a much better job of moving the pocket and giving Johns some easy reads. He had a decent game as a result.
Revisiting Virginia can win if … the penalty battle isn’t too lopsided. … Georgia Tech entered the game averaging just 30.4 penalty yards per game, while UVa had averaged 57.4. GT ended up with 6 penalties for 42 yards, while Virginia had 7 for 45. Three yards difference.
Revisiting Virginia can lose if … it falls asleep expecting clock-eating drives from Georgia Tech. … If you lose concentration, the Yellow Jackets will score on you quickly too – 14 of 35 offensive touchdowns this season have come in 2 minutes or less (and 33 of 97 since the start of 2014/34%). … The Yellow Jackets scored once in 2:24 and once in 2:31, but that wasn’t enough quick-strike scoring to get the win.
Of Virginia’s 7 penalties, 3 came on the first drive (2 false starts and 1 delay of game on the punting team). Center Jackson Matteo said after those two early false starts, the offense settled down.
Kwontie Moore did not make the stat sheet, but he had a huge game with disruption in the backfield. Time after time, he forced GT QB Justin Thomas to pitch the ball quickly or to throw the ball early.
Also, Trent Corney had arguably the biggest game of his UVa career. He finished with 4 tackles and 1 forced fumble.
Safety Quin Blanding and linebacker Micah Kiser had big games again with 15 and 8 tackles, respectively. Kiser (9.9 tackles per game) and Blanding (9.4) are the top two tacklers in the ACC, the only duo in the nation to be 1-2 in their conference.
With 108 yards of offense (75 rushing and 33 passing), Taquan Mizzell has posted at least 100 yards in three straight games. Mizzell has eclipsed 100 yards in 5 of 8 games. For the season, Mizzell has 46 receptions (No. 12 in ACC history for receptions by a running back; 12 away from a tie for fifth with former Hoo Wali Lundy) for 499 yards (No. 8 in ACC history for receiving yards by a running back; 19 away from matching former Hoo Alvin Pearman).
It’s an abbreviated Sampler section this week since I was on the sidelines taking pictures for most of the game. Check out the photo gallery for the game here. For Halloween costumes, go here.
And in the ongoing effort to leave you on a good note each week …
