West Virginia's 3-3-5 stack defense is nothing, if not unique. You can roughly count on one hand the number of schools that run it (BYU, for example). It's a scheme often run by high school defenses and teams that are smaller and more athletic, but it's rarely seen at the college level. After Sunday, Virginia Tech likely won't see this defensive scheme for a long time. The two teams don't play again until 2021.
Today, we'll take a stab at breaking down this peculiar defense, and maybe even find some ways Virginia Tech can attack it on Sunday night.
West Virginia's Base Alignment and Base Defensive Concepts
When you watch West Virginia's defense, it will look a little weird. Here is a graphic showing West Virginia's base alignment in their 3-3-5 stack defense.
The noticeable difference is in the defense's front six (linebackers and defensive linemen). Most teams run a base 4-3 defense, 3-4 defense, or even a 4-2-5 defense like Virginia Tech. In these cases, teams either have seven in the box (area around the line of scrimmage), or have four down linemen. In West Virginia's case, they have neither of those things.
The hallmark of West Virginia's defense is that they deploy three down linemen and three linebackers. The nose tackle, or defensive tackle, is lined up in zero-technique, directly in front of the center. The defensive ends are lined up in five-technique, directly over the tackles. The middle linebacker is "stacked" behind the nose tackle, while the outside linebackers are "stacked" behind the defensive ends, thus creating the "3-3-5 stack" moniker.
Out of this defensive scheme, West Virginia has several base concepts that are key parts of their defensive scheme. Thanks to Football Study Hall, we know what some of those base concepts are. Here is West Virginia's base Tampa 2 Invert.
Tampa 2 coverage is a variation of a basic cover-2 defense. Two defensive backs, usually the safeties, retreat to create a two-deep shell, while five defenders sit underneath and four rush the quarterback. The middle zone, usually played by the middle linebacker, plays further back than the other underneath zones in order to prevent big plays up the seams.
Here, West Virginia rushes just three defenders (DE-NT-DE), leaving eight in coverage. To create the two-deep shell, the nickelback (NB) and strong safety (SS) retreat while the free safety (FS) stays underneath, creating an invert. The free safety, who would normally drop deep into coverage, instead fills the middle zone that prevents bigger plays up the middle. The linebackers (LB) stay at their normal depth, as do the outside cornerbacks (CB). If West Virginia were to rush four defenders, one of the linebackers would blitz, and the free safety would drop underneath, creating a basic cover-2 defense.
West Virginia also has a max coverage concept, which creates a true three-deep shell.
Cover-3 is so called because three defenders drop deep into coverage, while the remaining defensive backs and linebackers stay underneath. In a normal cover-3 defense, the defense would rush four and play four defenders underneath. Instead, West Virginia rushes three once again, leaving five defenders underneath. This concept would best be deployed in a situation where West Virginia is more concerned with keeping plays in front of them, rather than generating pressure up front.
West Virginia can play man-to-man coverage out of their base 3-3-5 alignment as well.
Cover-1 employs one defensive back deep in coverage, generally in the middle of the field. A linebacker, or sometimes a safety, stays underneath to cover the middle of the field as well. The defense plays man-to-man coverage everywhere else, while one of the linebackers blitzes to create a four-man rush.
This play can be amended to rush five defenders after the quarterback, too. Instead of one of the linebackers or safeties dropping underneath in the middle of the field, they would blitz, leaving just one defender deep in the middle of the field. West Virginia could also bring another linebacker or safety, and play man-to-man coverage all over the field with zero help. This is often referred to by the Virginia Tech staff as "man-free".
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Strengths of the 3-3-5 defense
West Virginia wouldn't run their 3-3-5 stack defense if it didn't provide them some benefits. Let's address them one by one.