Oh The Places You'll Run

Sometimes you just need to see a team do it.

Before Tech's second half against Western Michigan, no one had seen the Hokies run the ball consistently in 2014.

And if we're really being honest, Tech hasn't rushed with regular success in two years. Long gone are the years of Ryan Williams and David Wilson ripping off 100-yard games with ease. The days of Lee Suggs and Kevin Jones starring together on killer posters are a distant memory.

There have been flashes over the last two-and-a-half seasons. The J.C. Coleman game against Duke in 2012, Shai McKenzie's debut against William and Mary and Trey Edmunds' game last year against Marshall. But if it's that easy to recall days when a running back simply goes over 100 yards, doesn't it illustrate exactly how bad things have been in that department?

Frustrated by the lack of hard nosed Virginia Tech football on offense, fans have questioned and criticized the offensive line, coaching staff, game plans and of course the running backs themselves. The point of this column, however, isn't to take any singular aspect of the running game to task. As a unit it's looked pedestrian at best, and at it's worst...woof.

With all that said, was anyone actually expecting the dominant rushing performance Tech put on display on Saturday?

Wish for it, sure.

Hope for it, maybe.

Expect it?

No rational Tech fan could honestly say that they did.

Sure, the Broncos already gave up oodles of yards to teams like Purdue and Idaho this season. So what? The Hokies have played other soft rushing defenses and didn't look dominating. Remember Tech gaining 48 yards against North Carolina last year, a team that finished 83rd in rushing yards allowed per game (182)? Why would this be any different?

But it was.

After a fiery conversation between the coaches at halftime, offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler committed to pounding it between the tackles in the second half.

"It was intense," Shane Beamer said. "We meet as an offensive staff before we meet with the players at halftime, just to try and figure out what the plan of attack is going to be in the second half. And I think we all as a staff made it pretty clear that we're Virginia Tech, and we need to run the ball in the second half.

"Western Michigan was loading the box, playing man coverage. They were going to put as many guys around the line of scrimmage as they could and play man coverage on the outside. So from a run game standpoint that worries you a little bit, because they're always going to have an extra guy that you can't account for.

"And I just told Lefty 'I don't give a dang if they have eight guys, nine guys, however many guys in the box. If we're Virginia Tech, and these running backs are Virginia Tech running backs, we've got to break a tackle, we've got to make somebody miss. Run through somebody, run around somebody, run-over somebody, whatever.'

"And I went in the locker room and I told the running backs that we're going to run the football in the second half, I told Lefty that I don't care how many guys are up around the line of scrimmage...make 'em miss, and win those battles. The conversation was real brief with [the running backs], it was 'don't make me a liar', and they went out there and they performed. You know, it was awesome to see, it looked like Virginia Tech football in the second half."

Looked like Virginia Tech football.

It's cliche, but he's right. Even though the team hasn't stopped wearing maroon and orange, as of late Tech hadn't resembled the squads of yesteryear that bullied opponents on the ground. And I know, it's just lowly Western Michigan, but could last year's squad have done that? Sure, the Broncos have given up 167.5 rushing yards a game, but Tech ran it for 308. For the first time in quite a while the Hokies simply took an inferior opponent and pounded them on the ground. As a fan, it felt great. As someone who covers the team, I finally saw progress.

Even though this year's offense stars a different cast of characters, their performance up until Saturday had been met with the same criticisms. The quarterback is asked to do far too much, therefore turning it over at a troubling rate. The running game is stagnant, the receivers and the o-line inconsistent, and the fans are forced to watch with one hand over their eyes as the other reaches for the nearest alcoholic beverage.

Sometimes you never really understand how much you miss something until you see it for the first time again. Watching Marshawn Williams and Shai McKenzie crash through an overmatched defensive front made me remember.

"By no means have we 'arrived' and we're suddenly the '85 Oklahoma Sooners or someone as far as running the football," said Beamer. "But it was good to see us be able to line up and literally call the same play, I think we called maybe two running plays the whole second half. Just call the same plays over again, and they know it's coming and they're just not able to stop it. It was pretty cool to see and now we have to continue to build on it."

Though it was against a drastically less talented opponent, this could potentially be a jumping-off point. A place where the Hokies realized they have the personnel to move people around. It won't always work, and without McKenzie it won't always be pretty.

But from now on Tech's rushing attack can't simply be "good enough". We've seen it can be better than that, and the players know they can execute better than that. While Williams may not have the dynamic playmaking ability of his fellow true freshman McKenzie, he still has shown the ability to punish defenses between the tackles with size and just enough shiftiness. Trey Edmunds has looked healthier and more effective each week, and Joel Caleb showed he's more talented than a garbage time back.

It's clear that this Virginia Tech team has the talent to distance itself from the mediocrity of the last two years. To really turn a new page, however, the running game has to unpack its bags after a visit home to Lane last weekend.

Good teams move people, good teams attack people and good teams can run the dang ball. Against Western Michigan the Hokies did all three, and now they set their sights on the Tar Heels. Obviously no one has any idea what will happen this Saturday, but at the very least fans know what they can reasonably expect.

And if the Hokies play up to those expectations? Look out.