Saturday, November 17, 2007
Finally, an offense worth watching
Aaron McFarling
Recent columns
Today's Virginia Tech-Miami game is full of intrigue, but not for the usual reasons.
There are no championship implications -- those come next week. This is no battle of top-10 teams like the games against LSU or Boston College. The oddsmakers don't even like Miami's chances of being competitive, having set the line at the Hokies by 16.
But despite all that, there's one extremely compelling reason to watch.
Admit it: You can't wait to see the Tech offense play.
Any other week, such an admission might get you shunned. It's kind of like renting "Failure to Launch" and declaring, "I can't wait for Terry Bradshaw's nude scene."
Uh-uh. You go get a beer during Terry Bradshaw's nude scene. You fast-forward through Terry Bradshaw's nude scene. Perhaps you chuckle -- way deep down inside, once you're finished weeping -- at the ridiculous nature of Terry Bradshaw's nude scene.
But you do not, under any circumstances, look forward to Terry Bradshaw's nude scene.
For most of this season, that's how this offense had been: A Hall of Fame derriere that had seen better days, a regrettable part of the fine show that is Tech football.
But that's changed in the past 17 days. The offense, ranked 112th out of 119 Division I-A teams coming into November, minced Georgia Tech for a season-high 481 yards two games ago.
And last week against Florida State, this offense became something different. Something risky. Something interesting.
And if we're lucky, we just might see it again.
Perhaps you were thinking the same thought I was during the entire first quarter last Saturday, as Sean Glennon and Tyrod Taylor zipped in and out of the huddle against Florida State: "What the heck are they doing?"
Now, most of us have asked that question before while watching Tech's offense. But usually it comes after the Hokies run 16 consecutive flanker screens, followed by a tailback dive on third-and-12. It's rarely a good "What the heck are they doing?"
This was different. This was a bold attempt to confuse and conquer, to harness the abilities of two very different quarterbacks. It was a gamble that ran completely counter to the personalities of the men who took it.
And it worked.
But the fact that it worked is not even the most important part of this. Oh, no. The most important part of this is that the coaches were willing to try it. For head coach Frank Beamer and offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring, this was a net-free tightrope walk -- and they were the only two on the line.
Isn't that refreshing? That two coaches faced with the challenge of breaking a 31-year dry spell against the Seminoles would put themselves out there like that?
Refreshing, surprising, encouraging -- there are plenty of words for it. It's a signal that the Hokies aren't going to sit back and wait for the defense and special teams to rescue them week after week. They're actually going to take some chances.
Anybody who's met Stinespring knows he is a smart, well-read man who spends a lot of time thinking about how to make his unit better. But who knew he had so much CRAY-zay in him?
And we all know Beamer likes things a certain way, and that certain way doesn't normally include two quarterbacks juggling the workload. He'd tried it before, didn't like it, and presumably, that was that. Presumably, we'd never see it again.
But then we did. And we saw it used in a highly unusual way, a way that surprised everybody.
It's a little late in the season for this offense to make huge strides in the national rankings. After putting up 876 yards over the past two games -- the best production of any ACC team except Boston College during that span -- the Hokies have only inched up five spots to 107th (watch out, San Jose State -- they're coming for you next).
But that's OK. September and October no longer matter. Only today does.
And today, this offense is relevant. Today, this offense is unpredictable.
Today -- believe it or not -- this offense is the draw.
