BC Week, Volume 5 (Big, Bad Plays edition) ...

You want to know just how fine a line it is between great defense and average defense? It’s 35 poor plays out of 336. It’s missing a tackle or blowing an assignment just once in roughly every 10 tries.

Those 35 plays are the reason Virginia Tech ranks 47th nationally in total defense. Without those 35 plays, the Hokies would be No. 1 ... and it wouldn’t even be close.

With all the chatter about Tech giving up “big plays,” we’ve gone with the accepted length of 20 yards or more to qualify as a big one. But for argument’s sake, I see no reason why a play that goes for at least 15 yards can’t be considered big.

Expanding the criteria that way, the Hokies have given up 35 plays that have accounted for 1,024 yards. To put it another way, 10.4 percent of the opposition’s snaps have accounted for 60 percent of their offense against Tech. That is bad.

And if you consider only the plays of 20 yards or longer, it’s still bad. Maybe worse. The Hokies have given up 20 plays in five games that went for 20-plus yards. Those 20 plays accounted for 769 yards. That’s six percent of the opposition’s snaps gaining 45 percent of their offense. To repeat: That is bad.

Minus the 35 plays of 15-plus (an average of 7 plays per game), Tech would be allowing 134.8 yards per game. Minus the 20 plays of 20-plus (an average of four plays per game), the Hokies would be allowing 185.5 yards per game. Both numbers would rank No. 1 nationally.

The conclusion: Tech is playing championship-caliber defense 90 to 95 percent of the time. The rest of the time, however, the Hokies are playing like the Bad News Bears.

Below, I’ve broken down every big play Tech has allowed this season, game-by-game, bolding the 20-plus plays and putting stars by the ones that were allowed on third down.

Here’s another not-so-hot stat: The Hokies have allowed 12 plays of 15-plus yards on third down ... and six of those gained 30 or more yards.

Now for the raw data, and then Tech’s two defensive leaders trying to explain it all ...

*** ALABAMA ***

35-yard pass *

16-yard pass *

34-yard run

16-yard run

33-yard run

18-yard run

48-yard pass

16-yard run

39-yard run

19-yard pass

18-yard pass

TOTALS: 11 plays of 15-plus, accounting for 292 yards; 5 plays of 20-plus, accounting for 189 yards

*** MARSHALL ***

61-yard run

17-yard pass *

60-yard pass *

TOTALS: 3 plays of 15-plus, accounting for 138 yards; 2 plays of 20-plus, accounting for 121 yards

*** NEBRASKA ***

19-yard pass

20-yard run

20-yard run

16-yard pass *

31-yard run

15-yard run

29-yard run

17-yard run *

35-yard pass *

19-yard pass

TOTALS: 10 plays of 15-plus, accounting for 221 yards; 5 plays of 20-plus, accounting for 135 yards

*** MIAMI ***

15-yard pass *

23-yard pass

15-yard run

30-yard pass

34-yard pass *

TOTALS: 5 plays of 15-plus, accounting for 117 yards; 3 plays of 20-plus, accounting for 87 yards

*** DUKE ***

48-yard pass

26-yard pass

74-yard pass *

55-yard pass *

34-yard pass

19-yard pass *

TOTALS: 6 plays of 15-plus, accounting for 256 yards; 5 plays of 20-plus accounting for 237 yards

Now for a little explanation ...

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR BUD FOSTER

ON WHAT HE SAW WHEN HE LOOKED AT THE DUKE FILM: “Well, you know, this is all I’m going to say about the last game, because we’re going to focus on this one. We had five plays of 242 yards and 67 plays of 155 yards. For the majority of the game, we played our tail off. Just for a couple plays ... The bad thing was they had a 74-yard play that we were in man coverage and a guy gave up inside leverage and the (receiver) knocked a tackle off ... and then Porch had a big-time mental error. The other things are going to happen from time to time.”

ON A PLAYER LOSING LEVERAGE ON THAT LONG PLAY: “Well, he was biting in the backfield (falling for the play-action) when he was the deep half. That’s kind of the deal on that. But we stopped the run. They had 31 carries and 38 yards. That was kind of a big thing we wanted to do. There were some positives out of it.”

ON ONE OF THE PLAYERS SAYING FOSTER WASN’T AS ANGRY MONDAY AS HE EXPECTED: “The kids are trying hard. We’ve got to learn why we’re doing it, why there was a mistake. They’ve got to see that they’ve got to execute. There’s not a call I’d want back. We’ve just got to execute. I think the one thing the kids saw is they can play harder. As good as we’ve played at times, we can play tremendously harder. That’s when you have some young kids still, and we’ve got a lot of young kids. We’re playing a lot more young kids than we are older kids when you look at the entire depth of the team. Every game, it’s a work in progress. Let’s grow from that (Duke) and let’s get ready for BC.”

ON SAYING AFTER THAT GAME THAT HE WANTED SOME SENIOR LEADERSHIP TO EMERGE AND TAKE OVER HIS JOB OF CONSTANTLY MOTIVATING THE DEFENSE: “Or somebody. Somebody. It’s their team; They’re the ones playing. We can only do so much as coaches. You can lead a horse to water; You can’t make him drink. Our kids, we’ve got kids that have a lot of pride. I could tell in their eyes and their demeanor that they weren’t happy, that they were pissed off. So I don’t have to be pissed off. They’re not satisfied by any stretch.”

ON SOMETIMES THE OFFENSE SIMPLY BEATING THE DEFENSE: “I want everyone to understand: You’re playing I-A football. And I told our group, the kids going into (Duke), that when you play a senior quarterback that’s as good as he is, they’ve got a chance to make some plays. And he made some plays. You’ve got to give him some credit. He avoided some rushes. He made a couple things happen. And that’s going to happen. But there were two plays that disappointed me: the first long touchdown and the 74-yard pass. Those two, to me, were totally unacceptable. You take that out and all the sudden they have 290 yards. My point is, there were 67 plays of 155 yards (for Duke), so if you go out and execute, we can be a great defense. That’s what we want to be. To be an ACC champion, we need to have a great defense. That’s all I’ve got to say about it.”

ON TORRIAN GRAY SAYING THAT IF THEY CAN DO WELL FOR 67 PLAYS ... “Why can’t you do it for 71? Right. That’s where we challenge the kids. It’s up to them. We’re going to put them in great defenses and they need to execute. So let’s move on to BC.”

ON THOSE BIG PLAYS COMING EARLY LAST YEAR, TOO, WHEN TECH WAS BREAKING IN NEW GUYS AND THE HOKIES HAVING LESS, BUT STILL SOME NEW GUYS AGAIN THIS YEAR AT KEY SPOTS: “That’s just experience. It usually happens earlier, hopefully, than later.”

ON HIS MEMORIES OF BC ASSISTANT GARY TRANQUILL, FORMER VT OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR IN 1994: “We’ve gone against Tranq for a number of years, when he was at UVA, when he was at North Carolina. They’re going to be well-coached, very sound, physical. They’re going to be very balanced, and that’s what you know about him. Tranq, he’s been out of it for a year or two, but he’s back. I’m sure he’s just happy to be coaching and coaching without a lot of pressure on him right now. That’s a good position to be in.”

ON THE EAGLES’ NEW QB, FORMER MINOR LEAGUE PITCHER DAVE SHINSKIE: “He reminds me a lot of the other guys that they’ve had. He’s got a live arm. The one thing he does have is composure. He’s not an 18-year-old freshman playing quarterback. He’s a 25-year-old. He’s been in some battles in some baseball games and traveled and done some things. He’s a mature kid and I’m sure shows a lot of poise. I’m sure that makes things a lot smoother for him and how Tranq talks to him and how they interact with each other and how he probably interacts with the team and the poise he has in the huddle.”

ON SEEING FILM OF SHINSKIE AND WHETHER, IF HE DIDN’T KNOW IT, HE’D BELIEVE THE GUY HADN’T PLAYED FOOTBALL IN SIX YEARS: “Well, evidently the guy is extremely talented. It shows by his arm strength. I know baseball is different than throwing a football, but he’s got arm strength. It’s not like he has taken six years off. He has thrown a baseball regularly, and there’s very similar action and mechanics. Throwing a football is a little bit different, but still obviously he has a live arm. Grasping the offense is probably the biggest thing, and I think each week they’re going to probably throw a new wrinkle in. That’s one thing we’ve got to be prepared for: adjusting to a new wrinkle.”

ON THE EAGLES IMPROVING INCREMENTALLY: “Each week, I’ve seen BC get better. They have a new coach, a new staff on offense. You saw them, even though they were winning by large margins (over weak opponents early in the season), they didn’t look like the BC. You saw some mental errors or missed assignments. But the last couple weeks against Wake Forest and Florida State, they looked like the old BC, coming off the ball physical.”

ON BC’S OFFENSIVE PERSONNEL: “They’ve got their whole front back except for one guy, I think the left guard. Their tight ends are pretty much back. Their receiving corps, Gunnell seems like he’s been here forever. I’ve been here 23 years and I think he’s been here about 21. Their two backs are as good as anybody, especially No. 2. I think he’s a dynamic guy. He reminds me a lot of Ryan Williams. He’s a shifty guy, but he’s also got a lot of power in the hole and runs behind his pads. So we’ve got a lot of respect for them. They’ve beaten us the last three years in the regular season and it’s been physical football game. We’ve played really pretty solid on defense the last couple years and come away with two losses. But it’s been a big, physical contest and it’s going to be another big, physical contest on Saturday I’m sure.”

ON WHY, EXACTLY, THE EAGLES HAVE HAD SO MUCH SUCCESS AGAINST THEM: “Two of the games were on the road. Three years ago, we made a couple of mistakes and that’s the game that Herbstreit went off on us and all that stuff. But that made us a better team after that. Then the next year, we played a great football game against Matt Ryan. I mean we played a great football game. That’s all that needs to be said. And he made a great play down the stretch. That’s why he was a first-round draft pick and doing what he’s doing in the NFL. Last year was a game we played really, really well on defense early. Had some opportunities late in the game to make some things happen and we didn’t. But we scored two defensive scores last year. It was a close ballgame that just didn’t work out. We can’t worry about those games. All we can do is control this year. All those games have been close ballgames. We’ve got to understand it’s going to be a four-quarter game and we’ve just got to hang in there for four quarters. Hopefully we’ll make more plays than they do and make less mental mistakes. That was the thing that disappointed me last week more than anything is we had a lot of penalties. Those things, hidden yards, give any team an opportunity. We can’t do that against a good Boston College team. They’re the team right now that, besides ourselves, is probably playing as good as anybody in the league.”

ON WHETHER TEAMS ARE MAKING EXTRA EFFORT TO MAKE TECH JUMP OFFSIDES, AS THE HOKIES DID OFTEN AGAINST DUKE, WHICH USED SOME HARD COUNTS: “I think it’s a lack of concentration. That was the first time (Duke) showed that this year ... probably because we are a pressure team. But that’s still no excuse. When we’re focused and sharp, we don’t jump offsides. I attribute that to just a lack of concentration. That was a concern of mine going into this game after our first four games. ... You had four games that were such an emotional deal, with three of the four against top teams in the country, it’s natural, human nature, to maybe have a let-down. Even though we were guarding against it, that’s just human nature. To me, when you’re having a lot of penalties and mental errors, you’re just not as sharp and focused as you need to be. We tried to create crisis (in practice) a lot of different ways. I used up all my resources last week. But we didn’t lose. Winning on the road, you can’t take that for granted. You’ve got to play your tail off when you go on the road.”

ON WHETHER, THEN, IT TURNS OUT TO BE A GOOD THING WHEN A TEAM CAN SNEAK OUT WITH A WIN EVEN IN A GAME THAT THEY PLAY WITH SUCH A LACK OF FOCUS, BECAUSE IT BECOMES A WAKE-UP CALL WITHOUT A LOSS: “Yeah, no doubt. You’re thankful that you didn’t lose. Anybody can beat anybody, and the way we played, we could’ve gotten beat. That the thing about defense: You can play your tail off – just like BC, we played our tail off for 59 minutes, man – but it just takes one play and it can cost you a football game. That’s the one things the kids, defensively, especially the young kids have got to understand, that every play is a critical play. You’ve got to execute your position and the defense called every play. Not 3 out of 4. Not 9 out of 10. Not 8 out of 10. You’ve got to do it every play, or it can cost you. That’s where we’ve got to get to, having that sense of urgency all the time. But there’s valuable lessons in it. As long as it doesn’t cost us a game, we can continue to grow. Even if it does, we’ll continue to grow.”

DE JASON WORILDS

ON WHETHER THERE’S SOMETHING MORE TO THE DEFENSE GIVING UP PLAYS BEYOND OCASSIONAL LACK OF FOCUS AND MISSED TACKLES: “No, not really. We’ve got to execute. I think that’s been our biggest nemesis, is going out there and executing on Saturday and playing efficiently. We go out there and we have great effort. A lot of guys make a lot of great plays, but we need to consistently do that.”

ON WHETHER THERE’S ANY CONSISTENT THEME TO THE BIG PLAYS: “Nah, not really. We get different looks and different things. What it is, is people taking different turns messing up on different things. We just have to stay mentally sharp throughout the whole 60 minutes.”

ON WHAT HE SAYS TO THE DEFENSE AS ONE OF ITS VETERAN LEADERS: “Just having a sense of pride, having a pride about this defense and wanting to be great. Trying to instill that in everyone – wanting to be great all the time, not just on Saturdays, not just when you feel good on a certain day. Coming out and practicing with a purpose every day and trying to be great every day at what we do individually.”

ON WHEN HE TALKS TO HIS TEAMMATES ABOUT THAT: “Whenever. The other day (last week), we were practicing bad, and I asked coach Foster, ‘Can we come up (huddle up) as a defense, as a unit and talk about it?’ Just because we weren’t sharp. So whenever I get the opportunity – whether it’s on the field, it’s in the locker room, or if I talk to a person individually, whatever – whenever I get a chance to say something to somebody, I try to.”

ON WHETHER FOSTER HAS ASKED SOMEONE TO STEP UP AS A LEADER: “I feel as though I’ve been on the front line as far as trying to be an example for the young guys since Day 1. So I really can’t speak on anybody else stepping up.”

ON BOSTON COLLEGE HAVING TECH’S NUMBER: “Every game is a big game. Coach Foster always says that every game is a big game. And they’ve had a lot of success against us. For whatever reason, I can’t tell. I really don’t know. I’ve only played them twice. Both times, we played a great Boston College. They came out, and what it came down to is they executed better than we did. And they beat us. So we need to go out there and execute.”

ON WHETHER HE IS SURPRISED BY HOW MANY BIG PLAYS THE DEFENSE IS GIVING UP: “No. It doesn’t surprise me. I think we just need to grow. We can’t base our year this year off of what we did last year or what happened the year before that. We need to grow this year and come out here every day and get better this year, and we’ll be the defense that we expect to be.”

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