Are the Hokies as good as they appear to be?

Hokie CPA: I SOOO want to say “yes,” but, having just read Coleman’s expedition inside the advanced statistic numbers, I’m afraid the answer is probably closer to “not yet, but they could be.”

The difference between this year’s offense and last year’s is night and day to the casual observer.  But I’m an offensive line guy.  I was one of Coach Steve Marshall’s FOOLS back in the day.  I knew guys like Jim Pyne, William Boatright, and Eugene Chung.  I know how potent an offense really can be when the offensive line plays brutal, in your face, smash-mouth, shove it down their throat football… and we ain’t there yet.  There is going to come a point this season… maybe in South Bend, maybe when Miami comes calling, or maybe in two weeks down in Chapel Hill… when we will need to be able to gain two yards on third down, without coughing up a fumble, to keep a drive alive in a close game.  We can’t fall back on the slant, the flat pass, or the screen every time.  When we do, we become predictable, and that’s when a defensive back with Miami speed jumps a route and gets an easy pick-6.  We are going to HAVE to be able to run the football if we want to keep defenses guessing.

What’s more than that, Coach Fuente likes the play-action pass.  The most important piece to that play is the play-action.  You have to get the linebackers to bite on the play-fake to open up the passing lane.  If you’re REALLY good at it, you’ll get the safety to bite and then your receiver has nothing but green grass between him and the end zone.  But the safety doesn’t bite when he knows his front seven is going to bottle up the run.

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