Some of the biggest rushing performances in Virginia Tech history have been courtesy of the Marshall Thundering Herd defense, which has done its best bullfighting "Ole" impersonation as Tech tailbacks steam by it for easy touchdowns.

The Hokies have faced Marshall three times since 2002, and in each meeting they completely dominated in the trenches.

Whoa, that's a lot of yardage for just three meetings. Not only do the Hokies spend most of the game running the ball against Marshall, but they average huge chunks of yardage as well.

Let's quickly revisit the 2002 game, when Byron Leftwich brought a ranked Marshall team into Lane Stadium. The Hokies won 47-21, and it was the Lee Suggs-Kevin Jones show. Suggs had 24 carries for 153 yards and two touchdowns, and Jones was even more impressive with 24 carries for 171 yards and three touchdowns.

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Overall, the Hokies finished with six rushing touchdowns that night, and only asked true sophomore quarterback Bryan Randall to throw the ball 12 times. Everybody in the stadium and those watching on television knew what Virginia Tech was going to do that night, but the Thundering Herd still couldn't stop it.

In 2005, Mike Imoh was out, and Cedric Humes was expected to get the bulk of the work. He had 10 carries for 58 yards and a touchdown before fracturing his forearm. That sent r-freshman Branden Ore into major action for the first time, and he responded with 19 carries for 146 yards and a touchdown.

Had Humes been able to stay healthy in that game, it's possible that the Hokies could have had two 100-yard rushers against Marshall for the second game in a row. Instead, it became the Branden Ore show.

As impressive as the Hokies were on the ground against the Thundering Herd in 2002 and 2005, neither game compares to what Tech did to Marshall in 2009. Tech put up 444 yards on the ground on just 53 carries, averaging 8.4 yards per carry in the process. Multiple Tech players had big games that day.

• David Wilson: 12 carries, 165 yards, 13.8 ypc, 1 TD
• Ryan Williams: 16 carries, 164 yards, 10.3 ypc, 3 TD's
• Josh Oglesby: 12 carries, 60 yards, 5.0 ypc
• Tyrod Taylor: 7 carries, 58 yards, 8.3 ypc

Taylor actually averaged over 10 yards per carry on his planned running plays, but two sacks for a total loss of 14 yards cut into his overall rushing numbers.