In our most successful years the Hokies have won with excellent defense and special team, assisted by a two back running game on offense. This year circumstances have forced us into an offensive scheme where we use a single back and several wide receivers. The problem isn't that Brandon Ore isn't good enough to go it alone. The sophomore is in his first year as a starter, but he's capable of getting some big runs and reliably picking up 3 or 4 yards on other caries.
The problem we face is two-fold. Because he's the only back we can't run as often as we have in the past. Even with great durability you don't want to push your luck with your only running back--and lets not forget he had shoulder surgery in the offseason. Even more troubling, imho, is that having a single back makes the oposing defense's job so much easier. Two backs usually means two running styles. One back will be the speedster who makes the big runs. The other is the locomotive who might not be as fast but is strong enough to pick up yards with a couple of defenders hanging onto his leg. The defense has to work harder and either shift plans based on the offensive personel or play a more generic defense that would do an ok job of defending against either back but not a great job against either. Our opponents don't have to worry about that this year. They can count on Ore being the only runner to stop and plan accordingly. Through in some problems getting the passing game to work reliably and you have the makings of a really crappy season, at least by our standards.
I'm not ready to burn my tickets yet, but I sure am less enthused about watching them right now. Unfortunately I get the same feeling about our defense. They are so unenthused by what the offense can do to keep us in the game that they are slacking off and not bringing the pain on every play.
