Hokies hunt for missing offense

BLACKSBURG

Virginia Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor and his teammates returned from Atlanta around 4 a.m. Sunday.

Six hours later, Hokies coaches were already breaking down video of the season-opening loss to Alabama, 34-24. They were trying to pinpoint what went wrong with - and searching for glimmers of hope from - an offense that produced just 155 yards against the Crimson Tide.

"By 11 o'clock, Tyrod was sitting beside me," offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring said. "He'd already watched the film himself. His mentality was to come over, see how he played, what he could've done differently."

As was the case with the entire offense, Taylor saw a few things he didn't like. The junior passed for just 91 yards on 9 of 20 passing. He was sacked five times. And while he didn't hurt the Hokies with any turnovers, Taylor also failed to help his team by making plays with his feet.

Mobility has been the hallmark of his career to this point. He amassed almost 1,200 rushing yards in his first two seasons, including 48 runs of 10 yards or longer and 14 carries of 20 or more yards. Taylor has averaged more than 10 rushing attempts per game - excluding sacks - for his entire career.

Against Alabama, he had only four true rushes.

"I was kind of surprised," tailback Ryan Williams said. "I'm used to seeing Tyrod make a lot more plays with his feet. I'm not sure what was the process going through his head."

That's hard to say, since Taylor is not being made available to the media this week. However, he made it clear throughout the preseason that he'd prefer to pass more this year to prove he's not just a tailback taking snaps.

Combine that proclamation with Stinespring's description of the game plan for the Tide: fewer designed runs for Taylor and more plays allowing the quarterback to choose to hand off, run, pitch or pass.

"We were going to let him make decisions when to pull it down and run with it," Stinespring said. "I think we called probably eight option plays. There was an opportunity that he may carry the ball at least 10 times. It was a fluctuating number. The option game is built around how the defense reacts and... their plan was to get it out of his hands."

Stinespring said that on Ryan Williams' 32-yard touchdown run, Taylor had to choose whether to keep the ball or hand it to the tailback. Clearly, he chose correctly.

Taylor also hooked up with Williams for a 43-yard pass that set up another touchdown.

"We're not going to sit here and second-guess whether he should run or throw," Stinespring said. "We're very comfortable in how well he throws it."

For the Hokies to be a more effective offense, however, Taylor will need to begin proving his passing prowess in games - especially if his new style continues to lack a major running threat. This week's match-up might be the first step in that direction.

Saturday's opponent, Marshall, allowed 206 yards and two touchdowns passing against I-AA Southern Illinois in its opener.

"Even in spring ball, Tyrod stopped doing as much running," receiver Dyrell Roberts said. "He's a different quarterback this year, and hopefully we can show how different he is this week."

Roberts said he salivated while watching Miami and Florida State light up the scoreboard on Monday night, passing for more than 700 yards between them. He said one positive in the Alabama loss was that it showed the Hokies they have the big-play threats to put up similar stats.

Williams averaged 7.5 yards per touch against the Tide, and Roberts ripped off 195 yards on four kickoff returns. Consistently producing those plays, though, was the problem.

"This week, this is where we want to show everybody that we are capable of doing that," said Roberts, who felt bad that the inability of Tech's offense to sustain drives forced the defense to be on the field for more than 37 minutes against Alabama.

"We really can't ask any more of the defense. This week, we're going to do our best at having longer drives... to give the defense a break. I know they were tired. They had to be tired."

A good rushing attack is key to killing some clock. That's one of the reasons for the Hokies' optimism in the face of overall offensive impotence. The ground game was actually productive against a Tide defense that ranked second nationally last season in run defense.

Tailbacks Williams and Josh Oglesby combined for 143 total yards of offense on 23 touches. Three of the Hokies' five starting offensive linemen graded higher than 80 percent, which the coaches consider a winning grade.

"That's probably the best defense we'll go against," Oglesby said. "We definitely have a window of hope."

Said Stinespring: "We felt good about the way we ran the ball. Were they all 7, 8, 9 yards? No. But was it enough that we can be encouraged? Absolutely."

Kyle Tucker, (757) 446-2374, kyle.tucker@pilotonline.com