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Career Total Yardage, and the Bryan Randall Legacy
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com

With 235 yards of offense in last Saturday's game (153 yards passing, 82 yards rushing), Bryan Randall increased his career total offense mark to 5,494 yards. That's good for fourth on the Tech career list, which is where Randall was when the season started. He closed the gap to #3 Will Furrer (5,782) and now trails Furrer by just 288 yards.

Here's a look at the top 15 in career total offense at Virginia Tech (per the VT media guide):

In the table, the "Plays" column refers to the number of rushing attempts and passing attempts a player had. Don Strock, for instance, had 829 passing attempts for 6,009 yards but lost 138 yards on 145 "rushing attempts," which I put in quotes because a lot of those were probably sacks.

Maurice DeShazo, on the other hand, had 5,720 passing yards on 745 attempts, and gained another 385 yards on 281 rushing attempts. Interesting factoid: Jim Druckenmiller gained 251 yards rushing in his career on 143 rushing attempts, a higher yards-per-carry average than DeShazo (1.75 yards per carry for Druck, versus 1.37 for DeShazo).

Michael Vick gained 3,074 yards passing (313 attempts) and 1,202 yards rushing (212 attempts).

That rushing stat by Vick unearths interesting factoid #2: Vick's career yards per rush (5.67 ypr) would be a Virginia Tech record, if he had enough rushing attempts. You have to have 300 rushing attempts, so the record instead belongs to Kevin Jones, at 5.62 yards per attempt.

Now I don't know about you, but one of the first things I want to do is sort that table by yards per play.  When you do that, here are the top 10:

Golly, I'm not surprised, are you? Vick is head and shoulders above the rest. He also holds the record for yards per play in a season, averaging 9.3 yards per play in 1999.

It's interesting to see Bryan Randall second in yards per play. He may or may not stay there, depending upon what he does the rest of the season, but barring injury, he will most definitely take over the #1 spot in total yards. He has 11 games (12 if the Hokies go to a bowl) to rack up a mere 611 yards to be #1.

If Randall is able to average 235 yards per game over the next 12 games (assuming a bowl), he'll total 8,314 career yards, way, way ahead of DeShazo's 6,105 yards.

So why is Randall regarded as a good Virginia Tech QB, but not a great one? Most Virginia Tech fans respect him, but they don't revere him the way they do Vick and Druckenmiller. The answer, of course, is that Randall has presided over two very disappointing seasons in 2002 and 2003, seasons in which VT started out hot and faded late. He also has 28 passing touchdowns in his VT career, but 23 interceptions to go with them.

And the only late-game win he has to his credit is an overtime victory over Temple. Meanwhile, late-game losses abound in the time Randall has been Tech's QB, with him often being one of the culprits (WVU 2002 and Syracuse 2002, most notably, and he fumbled with the game on the line against USC last Saturday).

If Randall wants to elevate himself from fan favorite to the type of player that Hokie fans might pick for their all-time Hokie team, he needs to be the architect of at least one memorable victory this year. He's got everything else. Fans, coaches, and his fellow players all like him, and he's moving his way up the record books. With 4,397 career passing yards, he needs just 1,612 yards passing in the next 11-12 games to overtake Strock (6,009 yards) for #1 in career passing yards, where he is currently #4.

But to be spoken of in reverential tones in the future, after his career is over, what he really needs is to give Hokie fans something good to talk about years from now, as they reflect on some of the great games in Virginia Tech football history. A come-from-behind win, like Virginia 1995 (Druckenmiller-to-Holmes) or WVU 1999 (the Vick Scamper). Hokie fans are hoping he gets it.

2004 Virginia Tech Football Bus Trips from Northern Virginia

By Chris Cutler, VT Class of 2001: For the 2004 Virginia Tech football season, I have bus trips scheduled to all of the home football games. I have put together a website for Hokie fans to sign up for these bus trips. The trip cost is $30, we leave from the Vienna Metro Station about 6 hours before kickoff to all home games, and we return after the end of the game. If there are any questions people can email me at [email protected] or call me at 703-795-7380.

Here is the website:
http://home.comcast.net/~hokiebustrips/

I did this last year and had a great success. You have the ability to meet lots of new Tech alumni, and talk about our favorite subject - Hokie football!!

Chris Cutler - VT Class of 2001

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The Real Winners
by Jim Alderson, 9/2/04, 3:50 pm
Florida and Georgia, eat your hearts out. The 2004 and presumably last BCA Classic was notable for a number of things. It was the last of the so-called preseason games, at least until the NCAA gets around to re-instituting them. It set an attendance record for the freshly-expanded FedEx Field. It was the largest crowd the Tech football or any other team had ever played in front of. The 75,000 or so Tech fans on hand constituted the largest gathering of Hokies in any one place.
in TSL Pass

BCA Classic Game Analysis
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 9/1/04, 11:40 am
Coming into this game, I thought there were several trends that would manifest themselves. I thought we would see increased effort and enthusiasm from the Hokie defense, and I felt that it would keep the game close. But I figured that in the end, VT's youth would be their undoing, and USC would pull away late, either from their own undeniable talent, or costly mistakes by the Hokies.
in TSL Pass

With Adibi Out, Hokies Shuffle Linebackers
by Chris James, TechSideline.com, 8/31/04, 11:35 am
The biggest news that emerged from Virginia Tech’s loss to #1 USC on Saturday night was word that redshirt freshman lineman Xavier Adibi is done for the 2004 season after tearing a bicep tendon in his right arm. One of the highest touted recruits that Virginia Tech has ever signed, Adibi redshirted in 2003 to add weight and strength. He was dominant at times during Spring practice as well as August two-a-days, and his loss is a devastating blow to Bud Foster’s defense.
in News and Notes

Bummin' in the 'Burg
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 8/30/04, 11:50 pm
You've got to understand, after eight years of doing this, I've become much less of a "fan" of VT football and more of an impartial, analytical observer. My emotions over the years have become much more detached. So I was surprised Sunday morning when I woke up, thought of Xavier Adibi's season-ending injury ... and got depressed.
in TSL Pass

Wide Right: Gotta Love Those SEC Refs
by Jeff Cockey, 8/30/04, 1:35 am
Now, I am not one to complain or place blame squarely on the shoulders of others. . . ah who am I kidding, that’s what I’m best at. But in an effort to take this loss like a man I will push aside the urge to blame the ref that made the phantom pass interference call and changed the entire outcome of the game.
in TSL Pass

Big Plays, Interference Call Undo Hokies, 24-13
by Will Stewart, 8/29/04, 3:30 am
The Hokies hoped to set the college football world on its ear, and though they surprised observers with an unexpectedly stout effort against the number one USC Trojans, they eventually succumbed to too many big plays and a controversial interference call that turned the tide of the game. USC rode three touchdowns by Reggie Bush to a 24-13 victory over VT in the 2004 BCA Classic.
in Football