What Happened vs. Marshall

Linebackers excel, struggles at most skill positions, and a possible change coming at left guard

At the end of the day, the final score was more or less in line with what most people expected.

The Hokies did not cover the spread, and the model actually anticipated them beating it by a couple points, but the only real difference was the one drive where Tech had a touchdown called back and ended up settling for a field goal. Otherwise, we’d have had a 35-14 game.

So, everyone feels good, right?

Right?

Well, if a mixed bag is far from what everyone was expecting, much less hoping for, at least there were more standout performances this week.

Notable player performances

Finally, good linebacker play

All three linebackers received preliminary PFF grades above the baseline of 60. Keli Lawson, in particular, played very well, grading out at 87.8.

The stellar linebacker play compensated for generally average performances along the defensive line.

The linebackers, and Lawson in particular, were very active in clogging passing lanes and taking away crosses and dump-offs to the flat.

They were clearly well schooled on what to expect from Marshall’s new Air Raid offense.

A blah day at most skill positions

Kyron Drones played at a level just above baseline, although he faced constant pressure in his face.

Both starting outside wide receivers (Ali Jennings and Da’Quan Felton) were a bit below baseline, which did not help matters.

I noted last week that Drones appears to be going through his progressions more this year, rather than one read and run.

The problem is that too often Drones doesn’t like what he sees regarding the primary route, so, he comes off it to the second option, then here comes the rush and he has to scramble.

An exception regarding skill position players was Bhayshul Tuten, whose preliminary grade (73.0) matched the eye test. He played very well.

Time for a change up front?

For the second straight week, Layth Ghannam struggled at left guard. His preliminary grade (45.6) will no doubt get adjusted, but he clearly was nowhere close to baseline.

Ghannam registered the lowest preliminary grade among Virginia Tech players who played the most snaps at each position.

After one play late in the first half in which he was bull rushed right back into Drones, allowing a big sack, Ghannam was benched in favor of Bob Schick.

However, outside of that one play, Ghannam actually held up alright in pass blocking (69.7). Schick, as is his forte, did even better (82.5).

That’s all well and good, but the Hokies only threw the ball five times in the second half, and both guys really struggled with run blocking (sub-50 grades).

All this begs the question, where is Brody Meadows?

The 6’7”, 327 lb. guard played five snaps on special teams last week, and did not get into Saturday’s game.

I suspect, just as I think is the case for LB Jayden McDonald, that he is dealing with an undisclosed injury. That is the only explanation that makes sense.

I never bought into the idea that Meadows, who played 409 offensive snaps last season and saw action in every game, was suddenly, dare I say magically, passed on the depth chart this summer by the younger Ghannam, and is no longer worthy of even a few snaps late in the game when the outcome has been decided.

Regardless of Meadows’s status, Ghannam’s leash is no doubt shorter than it was two weeks ago, and I would not be surprised to see a shakeup soon on the offensive line.

That said, given the fact the other four lineman played well (above baseline), and the older Schick is not an upgrade, Ron Crook might be content to let Ghannam work through his issues. At least until Meadows becomes an option.

If that is the case, expect Tyler Bowen to start adjusting the scheme (hello designed rollouts).

A high-level review of the proceedings

Tech’s disjointed effort at individual positions led to some strange final results in the advanced stats.

Marshall was, by far, the more explosive team, especially in the run game. Although the Thundering Herd struggled to sustain drives, they got a winning effort out of their ground game; a rushing play EPA of 0.33 is very uncommon in such a lopsided loss.

Although the Hokies allowed too many explosive rushing plays, they stuffed 22% of runs, forcing Marshall to throw the ball in predictable situations.

And the Marshall passing game was atrocious.

Don’t expect to find Marshall’s passing play EPA (-0.24) highlighted anywhere on Seth Doege’s resume moving forward.

Given the extreme split in EPA, one has to wonder why the Herd threw the ball so much:

• Passing: 13 completions on 36 attempts for 131 yards (3.6 yards per attempt), 1 TD, 1 INT

• Rushing: 26 carries for 147 yards (5.7 yards per carry), 1 TD

The Hokies were much better through the air, but still bad. As a result, their overall EPA per play (0.12) was nothing to write home about.

Ultimately, the difference in the game was that in the second half Tech was able to consistently run the ball for four-to-six yards on every play, and Marshall could not do anything consistently.

If you have the sneaking suspicion, though, that Tech’s second half rushing success was more about Marshall’s defense tiring (Tech had a 13-minute advantage in time of possession), I would not disagree with you.

So, with all this in mind, who is feeling good about travelling to Norfolk this week?

Yeah, me neither.