The Alabama disaster appears to be behind the Hokies.
Virginia Tech made a triumphant return to Lane Stadium Saturday afternoon against Marshall University, pounding the Thundering Herd 52-10. The defense dominated, the running game was phenomenal, and the special teams returned to usual form.
In its first half alone, Tech more than doubled their offensive output from last weekend with 346 total yards, and the passing game even showed signs of life with 161 yards for the day. Tech ended the game with 605 total offense yards and 444 rushing yards.
"It was a good win over a good football team. ... We played real well, especially coming off last week with people asking if we could get back up and mentally what would it do to us. I think the kids and the coaches responded today," head coach Frank Beamer said.
Redshirt freshman Ryan Williams got the Hokies started with a 57-yard touchdown run with just over four minutes left in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead. Williams ended up with 169 yards and three touchdowns.
"I feel like I'm playing a lot faster, and the college level is becoming more natural," Williams said. "It's just a great feeling being out there. I always said during spring ball and up till this time there's a lot more that I can show, and there's just a few more steps that I need to take to get to where I need to be to help this team offensively, and I think I'm there, and I'm just ready to keep rolling."
After the first touchdown by Williams, the Hokies never looked back and took a 35-7 halftime lead.
In addition to the running game, true freshman Jayron Hosley wowed the crowd in his first start as punt returner when he made a 64-yard return for a touchdown.
"When I caught it, I looked up, and I saw a lot of field. I saw our guys out there with their guys, and they kind of made those good blocks for me, and it turned out well," Hosley said.
Hosley took over the punt returning duties since Williams decided to take himself out of that role after fumbling his first career return against Alabama.
"It was real fun. I like being back there," Hosley said.
By the second half, the game was all but over, and starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor came out of the game early in the third quarter after throwing another touchdown pass to put the Hokies up 42-7. Taylor finished with 161 passing yards and two touchdowns.
"This is a great confidence boost. We still could have made more plays, so we just got to go back and watch film and get better," Taylor said.
In addition to Taylor, Williams finished his day early and gave true freshman David Wilson a chance to shine. Wilson lived up to the hype surrounding him, showing off his speed throughout the second half to total 165 yards and a touchdown on just 12 carries.
"Just getting out there and finally getting the opportunity," Wilson said. "Getting the ball in my arms - it's just a comfort zone when I have the ball in my arms, and I just want to show everybody including myself what I can do on a new level. Talking about having 100 yards in high school, well I did it in college, and there's no words to describe how happy I am right now."
Wilson also appreciated the incredible fan support he received when he made his first appearance in Lane Stadium.
"The fans here are weird in a good way because they all knew when I stepped on the field before I even took three steps with the ball," Wilson said. "They screamed because I got the ball, and that just gave me chills down my back, and there's no words to describe how I was feeling at that moment."
After an offensive struggle against Alabama, offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring felt this type of performance was important to the players on offense.
"They're not oblivious to some questions, reservations, the questions they have to answer, so I think it was very important to go out and have success, and, as you said, to finish drives and to have big plays out there," Stinespring said.
Williams agreed, and he felt the team made quite the statement in regard to questions surrounding the offense.
"There can't be (questions)," Williams said. "I think we proved a lot of guys wrong. Tyrod made plays with his feet, Tyrod threw the ball excellent, we ran the ball well. I really don't think there's much you can say."
The 605 yards of total offense amounted to the sixth-highest total in Tech history and the total of 444 rushing yards was the third highest during the Beamer era. Tech last scored more than 50 points in 2005 in a 52-14 win against Virginia.
Tech returns to action next week in Lane Stadium against Nebraska at 3:30 p.m.