That was one heckuva game. The wife and I made a trip to Blacksburg in the pouring rain to see Virginia Tech play its best game of the season. I'm hoping we'll get to one more game this year, but I'm not sure how possible that is at this point. The schedule is loading up quickly with weddings and other commitments. But anyway, back to Saturday... the Hokies came out with a renewed vigor and a confidence that has been lacking from every player during every previous game, with the exceptions of Ryan Williams, Cody Grimm, and Jason Worilds. Williams ran wild for 150 yards and 2 scores (giving him 8 scores on the season... tops for RBs in NCAA FBS). Grimm had a monster game and seemed to be everywhere on the field. In fact, that always seems to be the case with Grimm. I told my wife, "Watch #26... he will be in on almost every tackle," and he backed up my prediction and then some. Cody had 11 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 1 pass break-up, and 1 QB hurry. Worilds continued his incredible season with 6 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, and 2 QB hurries. Dorrian Porch had his best game of the season forcing a fumble, getting a big sack, and blocking a big pass play for Miami. He had 9 tackles as well.
Honestly, I could probably keep spouting stats about all of our players, but I've got to stop somewhere. Just about everybody played a great game and deserves to be recognized for their achievements. Even BS (Bryan Stinespring) deserves some credit for calling a good first half. He used misdirection and put the team in position to win. You could argue that he made a smart decision in the second half by choosing to go vanilla and run the ball 90% of the time, but I didn't like it. Miami is a team with a potent offense, and I didn't like that BS left the game entirely up to the defense to hold the win. He needs to keep giving the offense good chances to get first downs and keep Miami's offense off the field. I would also like to see more play action than we ran in that game. But like I said before, I can't be upset with the results because 24 points from the offense against a good defense like Miami is always welcome.
I was reading Kyle Tucker's blog today (a must-read for any Hokie fan as he has the best access to the players and coaches out of anyone in the media), and he proposed that Ryan Williams is as good a Heisman candidate as anyone at this point in the season. I am inclined to agree. Williams is ranked 6th in rushing yards/game and 1st in touchdowns among all FBS running backs. He's obviously a very dynamic runner, and isn't just benefiting from huge holes created by his offensive line. I would venture to guess that Williams leads the FBS in broken tackles, if an official stat was kept for that. What is even more incredible to me are the defenses he has done this against. You can throw out Marshall, but check out these other teams:
Alabama - 2nd in total defense, 2nd in rushing defense, 13th in scoring defense
Ryan Williams - 113 total yards, 2 TDs
Nebraska - 23rd in total defense, 45th in rushing defense, 3rd in scoring defense
Ryan Williams - 109 total yards, 1 TD
Miami - 50th in total defense (stat inflated by VT's abuse), 85th in scoring defense (stat inflated by VT's abuse)
Ryan Williams - 190 total yards, 2 TDs
So you can see that Williams' stats aren't inflated by playing bad opponents... he has ran against quality defenses, and he's still amassing stats. Sounds like a viable Heisman candidate to me. He gets a pretty soft defense to run against this weekend at Duke, but things will be more difficult against Boston College in the next game. Boston College is ranked 18th in total defense and 16th in scoring defense. They should be another good barometer for our guy.
Now if only I could play rec soccer the way Williams plays college football. Incomplete or complete, first down or fourth down, his demeanor is always the same. He never flies off the handle and always seems to keep his calm. Honestly, I wish I played sports the same way.
I <3 Ryan Williams
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