It doesn’t take more than a third grader to figure out the key to Virginia Tech football’s punt rush. The most vaunted special teams weapon in all of college football can be broken down into just one, simple equation.

9-8=1

That’s the easy part. It’s figuring out how to stop that one extra Hokie player – the speedy ‘cobra’ that blitzes from the wing – that keeps special teams coaches up at night.

Naturally, there’s skill involved in blocking a punt or extra point. That’s something Virginia Tech has no shortage of. But really, Tech’s advantage is strength in numbers. It blitzes nine. The offense blocks with eight. You do the math.

Syracuse will have to figure it out at Lane Field on Saturday when it plays the No. 4 Hokies at noon in Blacksburg, Va., in its first Big East game this season. SU faces a team with more blocked kicks – 63 – than any other Division I team in the 1990s. This season, the Hokies have blocked both a punt and an extra point. One more block will give Tech 100 total under head coach Frank Beamer.

‘Football is simple,’ said Chris White, SU special teams coach. ‘Special teams especially is simple. You’ve got to be fundamentally sound and have special players on the team.

‘The thing that confuses most people is you don’t know where they’re coming from. They switch it up.’

Really, there are two ways to prevent a blocked punt. If one SU player is capable of blocking two Tech blitzers, then the mission’s accomplished. But if one Hokie breaks free, then the last line of defense is punter Brendan Carney.

‘I’ve got to get my (punt release) time below two seconds,’ Carney said. ‘Because if it’s below two seconds – unless the guy comes in untouched – he’s not gonna block it.

‘A lot of times they bring in cobras – the outside guys – and blitz them a lot. The two defensive ends are so powerful they can just shove guys and get through the gaps. Their schemes aren’t difficult to understand. It’s just that they execute so well.’

The caliber of the special teams players is what separates the Hokies (5-0, 1-0 Big East) from the rest of college football. Whereas other Division I teams stock their special teams with young, rising talent, Tech loads the unit up with its starters – guys like defensive ends Nathaniel Adibi and Cols Colas.

The techniques are refined daily. Before practice there’s a specialty meeting. Then, during practice each day, the Hokies run a number of special teams drills – from finding the block point to busting through the gaps. Each drill can run upwards of 10 to 20 minutes.

Tech dominates because of its speed and athleticism, both of which are unparalleled compared to almost any team in the country. So how does Syracuse (3-1) defend such an unstoppable beast? By doing the same thing it’s done for a decade.

Ever since White arrived in Syracuse as a graduate assistant in 1990, it’s been the same formula on special teams. Close the middle, pick up the blitz, get the ball off in less than two seconds, punish the return man with the gunners.

‘Before Virginia Tech was Virginia Tech on special teams, it was Syracuse first,’ White said. ‘We started this trend, we blocked kicks in the early 90s. I’m not gonna say they copied us. They did a good job of adjusting and putting the people in the right spots. That’s all special teams is, it’s not about schemes or anything. That’s what football is, putting the right kids in the right spots and have them make plays.’

It’s just that Tech does it so well.

‘We’ve always been known for blocking kicks,’ said Bud Foster, Tech’s defensive coordinator and field goal block coach. ‘But we’d watch Syracuse and Miami and see that their best players were on the field and we felt like we had to match up with them.

‘(Tech and Syracuse) are two of the best teams in America in that phase of the game.’

But SU’s unit is not as feared as it once was.

White thinks that can change. This year Syracuse has seen a resurgence with the speed of Steve Gregory and Thomas Whitfield, the big hits of Diamond Ferri and Darryl Kennedy and the intelligence of Rich Scanlon.

‘We haven’t changed in 10 years,’ White said. ‘And (Tech) hasn’t either. We’re getting back to where we’ve been, but you need dynamic players. Last year we had Tyree. But in years past, we’ve had more than David Tyree.’

It takes risks to do what Tech does yearly. When you blitz nine, it frees up a gunner on the other team. Ideally, if Syracuse were to try a fake punt, Carney would have an open man down the field to whom to throw.

‘Thing about them is coach Beamer is head coach and he’s also special teams coach,’ White said. ‘So he’s not afraid to take risks. If we had enough moxie, we’d throw the ball out there. But that’s a risk if you’re punting from the 20-yard line and have the punter throw to the gunner. Frank Beamer’s playing the percentages that we’re not going to do that. So don’t bet on it.’

If anything, there shouldn’t be a shortage of emotion Saturday. SU gets a shot at a top-five team on national television. And Tech hopes to stave it off, perhaps by blocking a few kicks in the process.

‘If we can preach the confidence,’ White said, ‘our kids will be in good shape.

‘Obviously you worry. But the thing about our kids, in big games, when they’ve been challenged, they’ve risen to the occasion. The bigger the game, (the more) our kids have come through. They’re excited about it.’

Published on October 8, 2003 at 12:00 pm