Daily Discussion: An Improved Hokie Offense

Just a short blog here as I'm going to let the stats (or facts) do most of the talking.

When a coach says stats don't matter, he's lying. Although stats can be deceiving and are misinterpreted most of the time, they still give you at least an outline of how the team is performing. But when you decide to glance at your favorite teams state page, you have to keep everything in context and remember that the Hokies are not the Houston Cougars.



Offensively, the Hokies have been rather inept over the past few seasons but after a rebuilding year (and what a rebuilding year it was) Tech has shown some actual signs of life on offense here in 2009. The Hokies rank 55th in total offense ahead of teams like Ohio State (69th), Miami (67th), Oregon (64th), Oregon State (61st), and Ole Miss (59th). That's almost 60 spots higher than this point last year, when the Hokies were a lowly 112th in total offense.

The main reason for this added success has been the development of a passing game. After five games last season, the Hokies had just one passing touchdown and that came against Furman who was an FCS opponent. So far this year, the Hokies have 6 passing touchdowns with all six being caught by a wide receiver. Something that didn't happen until the 4th to last game a year ago.

Here are the 2008 passing statistics:




Now compare that to the 2009 Statistics:




Throw in a Heisman contender at running back you have yourself a pretty decent offense. Something that has been largely absent at Virginia Tech since 2000.

With just seven games remaining in the regular season and potential for two more post season games, the Hokies have a chance to produce another 2,000 yard passer, another 1000 yard rusher, and the potential to have their first 1000 yard receiver in Jarrett Boykin, although that one may be the toughest to achieve.

Now, if that Foster guy could just right the ship with our defense, big things could be in store for this team come seasons end.

A few other notable rankings:

Tech is ranked 24th in rushing offense and 103rd in passing offense. The Hokies are ranked 36th nationally in scoring offense at 31.4 points per game.

Tyrod Taylor is ranked 27th in passing efficiency at 150.85. That's one spot behind Colt McCoy of Texas, 2 spots behind Jacory Harris of Miami, and 4 behind Russell Wilson who leads the ACC with 152.34 rating.

The Hokies are tied for 3rd in the nation with just 1 interception thrown all year, Missouri and Texas A&M are the only teams not to throw a pick this year.

Tech is 97th in first down offense with just over 17 first downs a game.

Tech is 70th in Time of Possession with 29:29 a game.

The Hokies are 66th in the nation with an 81% Redzone Efficiency rating. Tech has came away with points on 13 of their 16 trips into the redzone this year. 9 of those 13 scores have been touchdowns.

Virginia Tech is 62nd in the nation is 3rd down conversion percentage. The Hokies have converted on 40% of their third downs this season.

Ryan Williams is 8th in the country, averaging 115 yards rushing per game.