Collegiate Times

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That wind that you might have thought was from the outskirts of Tropical Storm Hanna was actually a collective sigh of relief exuded by more than 66,000 Virginia Tech football fans.

On Saturday afternoon at Lane Stadium, the Hokies (1-1), for some time, were in danger of losing to Division I-AA Furman -- seriously.

They didn't, of course, instead winning 24-7 thanks to a three-touchdown spurt in the third quarter.

The key play that ignited that run came on a key third-and-10 play. Clinging to a slim 3-0 lead at their own 36-yard line, Tyrod Taylor faced an all-out blitz. He avoided the rush, and then ran downfield, weaving his way behind Hokie blockers and past Paladin defenders, using the entire field before being forced out of bounds after a 50-yard scamper.

"The tight ends and receivers stayed on their blocks well," Taylor said, who is once again splitting time with fifth-year senior Sean Glennon. "They made a hole for me and I just went through it."

After flip-flopping Taylor's redshirt status over the past two Tuesdays, head coach Frank Beamer was pleased by the sophomore quarterback's performance against the Paladins (1-1).

"He had a couple of runs that put us into scoring position and helped us win the football game," he said.

Taylor's run set up the first touchdown. Glennon threw the game's only passing score of the day, when he rolled out of the pocket and found junior running back Kenny Lewis Jr. in the end zone from 10 yards out.

"I had a little bit of pressure up the gut, so I just ran around it," Glennon said. "I just tried to fire it in there to Kenny. He did a great job to get open and did a great job hanging on to the ball."

Lewis and redshirt freshman Darren Evans found plenty of success running the ball. Evans finished with 72 yards on 11 carries, including a three-yard run, giving Tech a 24-0 lead.

Lewis followed up his receiving touchdown with one of the rushing variety shortly thereafter. He found a big hole created by his offensive line and ran 23 yards to the end zone.

"That was all on the offensive line," Lewis said, who had 50 yards rushing on 13 carries. "They made the hole and I just had to read it."

However, with 14 carries and 112 yards, Taylor was the team's leading rusher.

The reason Taylor ran so much was the lack of a passing game. Most of Taylor's "carries" were originally designed as passing plays that broke down. Although the run blocking was superb, pass protection, for both quarterbacks, was sub-par. Also, the young receivers couldn't get open in time.

Taylor finished with only five pass attempts, going 4-for-5 for 26 yards. Glennon completed three of eight passes for 42 yards and one interception. All of this coming against a Paladin team that had the worst pass defense in the Southern Conference in 2007, allowing nearly 264 yards per game.

After the pick, and just about every time he entered the game, Glennon was booed, and unjustifiably so. Execution on all facets of the passing game -- not just from one individual -- was suffering. As far as the amount of snaps goes, Taylor received most of the playing time with 39 snaps. Glennon had 22. In the second half, it was 28-9. Last year, Glennon took about three-quarters of the snaps.

Read into this all you want, but whatever the thoughts of the coaching staff are, Beamer isn't prepared to divulge.

"I'm not ready to talk about the two-quarterback system right now," he said.

That system worked at the end of last season. Defenses were on their toes from Taylor's ability to scramble, while Glennon had a solid completion percentage.

Regardless of who's behind center this year, the Hokies better find a way to improve their passing game.

"I don't think there's any question that we need to be able to throw the ball well to be one of the better teams in this league," Beamer said.

Tech may focus on a rushing-based offense, but if it relies completely on the run, defenses will have seven or eight defenders near the line. On third downs, they can send the blitz. Taylor may be elusive, but he can't avoid every all-out rush that comes his way. The offense still has issues, and it's not something that Taylor can cure on his own.

The defense, on the other hand, was stellar as usual.

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