Marshall Week, Volume 10 (Reaction, Rejoicing edition) ...

If you want details, check out my running thoughts from today’s first three quarters. This one’s all about reaction – which, not surprisingly, was overwhelmingly positive after a 52-10 rout of Marshall.

As I said yesterday, Tech really needed to ring up the Thundering Herd, pour it on, light up the scoreboard. They did ... and their comments afterward say that they did, indeed, need this kind of game badly.

And what kind of game was it? An historic one. Tech’s 444 rushing yards were their most in 14 years (since 453 against Akron in 1995).

The Hokies’ 605 yards are the most in Bryan Stinespring’s eight years as offensive coordinator. It would’ve been the most in a lot, lot longer than that if not for losing seven yards on kneel-downs at the end.

After David Wilson’s last long run, Tech had 612. That would’ve been more than the 2001 outburst for 606 against UConn.

It really, truly, was a remarkable game. Yes, it was against Marshall. But keep in mind that this offense struggled against East Carolina and Furman and Western Kentucky last season.

Yes, they beat up on a lesser opponent ... but that would never have happened in any of the previous three seasons. This is a step forward.

Now for Nebraska, the true test. Until then, let them rejoice ...

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR BRYAN STINESPRING

ON HOW GOOD IT FELT FOR THE OFFENSE TO CLICK TODAY: “The reward up in the box was just watching those players have success out there. That’s the only reward we’re really looking at. To sit back and watch guys that had just come off a four-quarters battle and to see them bounce back ... to have the success they had today, was obviously very rewarding. We certainly needed to get over the hump, to get over an obstacle, to have some success and some sustained success. That was important. We felt like we were going to be better and we were going to be improved and we needed an opportunity to go out there and get things going. We did, and the players deserve all the credit. I was just happy to be there and have a good seat.”

ON WHAT IT DOES FOR THE CONFIDENCE OF AN OFFENSE THAT HAS TAKEN SOME DINGS: “I think it’s extremely significant that they were able to go out and do this. I think it’s a great boost for them. They’re not oblivious to some questions, reservations, some of the questions they have to answer. I think it was very important to be able to go out and have success and to be able to go out and finish drives. And to have big plays. It’s a commodity within a game that you’ve got to have. ... We were able to do that, and that’s important. I think it’s just a big confidence boost to everyone.”

ON WHETHER HE EVEN REALIZES IN A GAME LIKE THAT HOW THE NUMBERS ARE CLIMBING: “No. I promise you. I know I’ve said this, but it’s get to the next play, get to the next series. Get one action going and build off that. Then win the ballgame. However you win the ballgame, by any means necessary. Total yardage, at the end of the day, we won the ballgame. I think we proved we’re a little bit better than we’ve been. I think we answered some questions. Now it’s time to go back out and get ready for Nebraska.”

RB COACH BILLY HITE

ON THE DAY BY HIS BACKS AND HOW GOOD IT FELT: “It was a great, great effort on our offensive linemen’s part. They opened up some great holes for them, and then the backs ran hard. They broke tackles, kept their feet running on contact. I was really pleased with the way all three of them played.”

ON SAYING HE WANTED DAVID WILSON’S FIRST COLLEGE EXPERIENCE TO BE A SUCCESS AND ... “I thought that was important. Any young back needs to have success when he first gets out there. I didn’t think the venue last week was going to be that for him. I got him in the game a little bit – two plays and two returns – but I’m really tickled to death with the way he responded. Ryan responded last week and this week again. They’re two outstanding backs. Then Josh Oglesby was good there again today, too. He’s a powerful runner and made a key first down for us. Right now, I feel like I have three very good backs.”

ON NOW FEELING AS GOOD ABOUT THE BACKFIELD AS HE DID BEFORE EVANS’ INJURY: “I really do. That was the thing: When Darren went down, that was the first conversation we all had together, that somebody has to step up. I don’t care who it is. One of you has to step up. I don’t think one of them stepped up. I think all three of them stepped up. It’s a great group of guys.”

ON WILLIAMS’ STRENGTH SEEMING TO BE HIS VISION: “He’s got great running instincts and he does ... he has great vision. I think all three of those guys do a good job with that. David has excellent instincts with the ball in his arm.”

ON MANY WONDERING WHERE THE TOUGH, BETWEEN-TACKLES YARDS WOULD COME FROM WITH EVANS OUT AND NOW ... “They not only can run outside, but they can run inside, too. They’re built low to the ground. They’re tough to tackle. When they get their body north and they’re about eight inches off the ground, it’s hard to tackle somebody like that. The thing I like about them, though, is their feet never stop. They constantly run their feet on contact. When you keep doing that, that’s when you’re going to break tackles.”

ON HOW BADLY THIS OFFENSE NEEDED A GAME LIKE THIS: “It takes some time. I think we had 11 people executing on most of the plays today. The only thing I was disappointed in today is the backs gave up two sacks. Ryan had one and David had one.”

RB RYAN WILLIAMS

ON THE OFFENSE MISSING BIG PLAYS LAST YEAR AND HOW HE HAS FILLED THAT ROLE THIS YEAR: “That’s how I always see myself. That’s how I like to carry myself. I approach football that way. I love making the big plays. I feel like that’s what the coaches brought me here to do. My high school highlights, it was a lot of big plays, a lot of exciting plays. I’m just ready to do that here also. I’m proud of that Big Play Guy nickname.”

ON HOW BAD THE OFFENSE NEEDED THIS GAME: “We just needed to prove to ourselves that we can do it. Outside of football, we don’t really care what anybody has to say about us, what critics say. But we had to prove it to ourselves, that we can move the ball down the field. That we can run the ball, pass the ball, block, pick up blitzes, all those things offensively. We had to prove that to ourselves first.”

ON DAVID WILSON COMING IN AS THE NO. 3 BACK AND HOW GOOD THIS BACKFIELD CAN BE: “Great. Great. He came in ... I told him ... They can have the third string in there, but stats is stats and we’re still playing at the college level. We’re not playing any guys who can’t play football. You’re still playing guys with talent.”

ON THIS HELPING LEAVE ALABAMA BEHIND: “We’ve been left it behind. After the game, we were like, ‘We have to work on Marshall.’ We’re the type of team that we’re not going to dwell on any team. As of right now, we’re leaving Marshall alone. We’ve got to work on Nebraska. We’re not going to dwell on the past. We’re going to work on the future.”

ON WHETHER HE EVER IMAGINED 600 YARDS: “I didn’t even pay attention to it at first. Tyrod was the one who showed me. It’s funny, because this morning, Tyrod was like, ‘Hey, I want to run up the scoreboard today.’ I was like, ‘What you mean?’ He was like, ‘I want 600 yards offense.’ I was like, ‘Hey, let’s do it. We gotta eat.’ We did it today.”

RB DAVID WILSON

ON HIS MINDSET AGAINST MARSHALL: “When I got out there, my mentality was to show the coaches what I can do, no matter what the situation is. I’m going to go 100 percent. After a while, I went back to my high school days of saying, ‘Let’s try to score on every play.’ I kept going and taking in every moment.”

ON WHETHER HE EARNED HIMSELF SOME MORE PLAYING TIME TODAY: “I hope so. I surely hope so. Coach Hite tells me how great I did out there. I guess I did my job, showing them what I wanted to. I’m going to continue being ready, any time he wants to put me in there. I’m going to continue being ready and I’m going to take advantage of every carry.”

ON HOW HARD IT WAS TO WAIT FOR THIS, BARELY PLAYING AGAINST BAMA: “The first game, it was high expectations for me to play. Some people said I was listed on TV as an impact player. I was just waiting on the sideline. I kept telling coach Hite, ‘I’m ready. I’m ready.’ I guess he didn’t want to throw a freshman out in that kind of situation. So I just kept a good attitude and waited for my turn.”

ON HOW MUCH BETTER HE FEELS AFTER THIS GAME: “Getting a college touchdown, rushing for over 100 yards, as a freshman running back, you can’t ask for much more than that.”

ON HIS PRE-GAME RITUAL, ONE THAT HE DOES BEFORE GOING INTO GAMES, TOO: “Snapping and whistling. The first song that comes in my head, I whistle the whole thing. I just catch myself doing it sometimes.”

ON TODAY’S SONG: “National anthem.”

ON WHAT HE DOES WHILE HE’S STANDING BEHIND HITE ALL GAME: “I lean toward him, to let him know I’m ready. They tell you all week, ‘Be ready. Be ready.’ ”

ON HIS VISION IN THE MIDDLE OF RUNS: “In the past, I haven’t had great vision. I was just running. But I’ve been working on my vision. You can see defensive plays leaning this way. You can almost picture what they’re going to do next.”

ON HOW BIG THIS GAME WAS FOR THE OFFENSE: “A lot of people speak about our offense not picking up the slack. This year, we’re going to try to keep it going. We hope it’s not a fluke and we’ll just keep going and building up. That’s what a team is for. Whenever there’s slack, this side of the ball picks up the slack. That’s what I like about the running backs. We have three good running backs. That’s a comfort factor for Coach Hite. Whenever one is slacking, he can put another one in.”

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