Virginia Tech offense can attack West Virginia in multiple ways

Virginia Tech has shown quite the differences in their offensive style of play over the first two games.

Against North Carolina, the Hokies lined up in more 12-personnel looks which includes running back and two tight ends and for lack of a better term played big boy football. They tried to run the ball of the edges and stretch the defense while using misdirection to get their running backs downhill.

It resulted in 17 points on the board, but they were able to control the football. It’s something that senior linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo picked up while watching the film.

“They just really played big boy football,” he said.

It was a much different attack against Middle Tennessee State as the Hokies used tempo and tried to attack the boundary with their wide receivers. They opted to try to get the opposition’s safeties in space and were effective in scoring 35 points while also accounting for 383 total yards.

That has led Chandler-Semedo to believe that this team is equipped to attack in multiple ways and try to exploit the weakness of the team that they are matched up against.

“What they showed against North Carolina and what they showed against Middle Tennessee were both very different, but they were both successful,” he said.

So, what exactly could that mean for West Virginia’s defense come kickoff? Well, after struggling against 12-personnel groupings a season ago on the road at Iowa State that could be the path they take.

“They caught us off guard and they played big boy football and we didn’t show up to play that day. So that put a lot of weaknesses on the board especially schematically for us,” he said. “Those are things we have to clean up. They know that, but we know that, so we’ve got a plan for that, too.”

But if it is big boy football, the West Virginia defense is excited for the challenge after some up and downplay over the first two weeks especially in the opener against Maryland. The unit struggled with the physical element from the Terrapins and is excited to redeem themselves.

And Chandler-Semedo doesn't have any questions which style he'd rather play.

“Definitely big boy football. Looking forward to it actually,” he said.

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