Hokies' offense ready for Stanford

Behind the desk in Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring's office, there is a quote, matted and framed. It occupies about 3 feet of wall space, so that anyone who walks into the office and looks straight ahead sees it immediately.

"In the end, the choice you make, makes you."

The line was made popular by John Wooden, the late and legendary UCLA basketball coach. Stinespring saw a television show about him a couple of years ago, bought several of his books and read that quote, which "meant a great deal to me," Stinespring said. So he had it matted and framed and hung it on the wall.

"Believe it or not, I do like to read," he said, flashing a self-effacing, boyish grin before his tone turned serious. "I think for all of us, whatever choices you make in life, ultimately they define who you are."

Few people grasp the cold reality of this better than an offensive coordinator, whose every play call is parsed and critiqued, heralded or denounced. He lives in a black and white world defined by his decisions, and he is labeled a success or failure and rarely anything in between.

Stinespring has spent much of his nine seasons as Tech's offensive coordinator drawing the ire of fans who wondered how much better the Hokies would be if their offense produced more. Some deemed Stinespring the reason for these shortcomings and questioned whether he was competent enough for his job.

During 2006-08, Tech averaged at most 28.7 points and 330.5 yards. It ranked 99th, 100th and 103rd nationally in yards per game. The Hokies' 22.1 points per game in 2008 were their fewest since 1989. Their 295.2 yards in 2006 were their fewest since 1988, when they had vastly inferior talent compared to their recent rosters.

"Usually, as coaches, you're as good as your players," coach Frank Beamer said.

And the offense had enough talent this year that everyone expected more. The Hokies were coming off a season in which they averaged 31.8 points and 392.1 yards.

All of their running backs and wide receivers returned to complement senior quarterback Tyrod Taylor. They seemed capable of being "a legit offense," as Taylor put it.

So if they couldn't depend on their offense in 2010, could they ever? No question about this team loomed larger in early August.

Five months later, when the 12th-ranked Hokies meet fifth-ranked Stanford in tonight's Orange Bowl, their offense rates as Stinespring's most successful, at least statistically.

"I'm going to reserve final judgment on that until after the Orange Bowl," Stinespring said. "But going into this game, I think this offense has been exactly what you've been looking for."

Tech ranks 18th nationally in points per game (35.5) and 35th in yards per game (411.1) — both high-water marks under Stinespring, whose only previous 400-yard season was 2003 (401.8). Moreover, this season's points and yards would be the fourth- and fifth-most in Beamer's 24 seasons.

"It is really rewarding," junior tailback Darren Evans said. "Where we were at was unacceptable for us. We just didn't feel right playing that way."

Most important, as the Hokies answered an 0-2 start with an 11-game win streak, their offense won games for them.

They beat North Carolina State 41-30 as the offense scored 34 points and gained 440 yards. In the ACC championship game, they beat Florida State 44-33, got 37 points on offense and gained 442 yards. Tech scored touchdowns on all six of its red-zone chance in those two games and had touchdown drives of 81, 82, 82 and 91 yards.

Replicating that will be difficult against Stanford, which is the best all-around team Tech has played this season. The Cardinal ranks 10th nationally in scoring defense (10.8 points allowed per game) and 22nd in total defense (325.8 yards allowed).

Stinespring believed his players weren't playing loose enough early in the season. In the first four games, they scored just nine touchdowns in 18 red-zone chances. In the nine games since, starting with N.C. State, they are 30 of 42 — a 71.4-percent clip that would have put the Hokies among the eight most efficient teams in the country if they maintained it all season.

As the weeks passed and the wins added up, nobody watching talked about how this team was winning with defense and just getting by on offense — a refrain Tech's offensive players heard too often in recent seasons.

"I think we've done a pretty good job," said left guard Greg Nosal, "of kind of changing that whole motive."

NOTES: Running backs coach Billy Hite decided Sunday that sophomore tailback Ryan Williams, who is nursing a sore left hamstring, will play tonight barring any setbacks before kickoff. But junior Darren Evans will start. … Beamer sent six players who aren't on the two-deep depth chart on a 29-hour bus ride to Roanoke because they broke team rules. Beamer declined to name the players or say why they were sent home. But he said each of the six involved a different issue and that "none of these guys was just a total out-there thing" in terms of how serious the rule violations were.

dslater@timesdispatch.com

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