Earlier this week we took a midseason look at the defensive side of the ball. Today, we’ll switch our focus to the offense.

Note: all efficiency stats in this article come from here, here and here. All traditional stats come from here.

Hokies Creating More Big Plays

Last season, Virginia Tech ranked No. 96 in the country in S&P+ offense. This year, they rank No. 42 through six games. That’s a much-improved number, though the season isn’t over. Bigger defensive challenges await this team. Last year we saw the Hokies rank high in the S&P+ through the first half of the season (boosted by bad defenses such as ECU and ODU), but fade in the second half thanks to improved competition and an injured quarterback.

We could possibly see some of that this season, but I don’t see this offense fading nearly as much as it did last year. The main reason for that is Virginia Tech’s improvement in big plays. Last season, the Hokies ranked No. 107 nationally in IsoPPP, which is a metric that is used to measure big play ability. This year Tech ranks No. 47 in that category, as well as No. 39 in marginal explosiveness, which is another big play metric.

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