It is no secret that the Hokies have a tough defense that should keep them in just about any game, including this Saturday’s matchup against No. 2 LSU. The question most Hokie fans are asking is “can our offensive line get the job done against an equally talented defense?” After the offensive line’s woeful performance against ECU in last Saturday’s game, I am more than a little concerned.

The Tech offense managed 33 yards rushing on 31 attempts. Do the math people, that’s a little more than a yard per carry … against ECU. No offense to ECU, but the Hokies should be able to put up more than 33 yards on the ground against ECU. To make matters worse, of those 33 yards, 9 of them came on Tech’s longest run of the day - 9 yards. So, take that one rush away and you have 30 attempts and just 24 yards - less than a yard per carry.

Kudos to the Tech coaching staff for recognizing their weakness on the offensive line, because they adjusted and attempted 33 passes, most of which were little dump offs or screens that essentially served as short yardage runs of 3-5 yards. I know some of you will say, “but Tech averages 7 yards a pass play,” but take away the three big pass plays to Wheeler and Hyman and the average takes a significant nose dive.

Granted, ECU is no slouch - this is a team that held West Virginia to less than 150 yards total offense last season. The Pirates are a good team and came ready to play. So a lot of credit goes to the ECU defense. However, that doesn’t excuse the fact that the Hokies have serious problems up front.

Take the ECU sack of Glennon when the left defensive end came in unblocked for a clean shot on Sean. Three Hokies, including the right tackle, blocked one defensive lineman, leaving the left end untouched on his way to forcing a fumble. And on the running plays, the line was not getting any kind of push up front. If anything, they were getting pushed back behind the line of scrimmage.

Finally, I want to give some credit to Sean Glennon, who played one of the best games of his career. It was unspectacular, but from Glennon, that is what we want. He completed 22 of 33 passes for 245 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Of course, I am sure I wasn’t alone in thinking, “Oh Lord, here we go again” when Glennon threw the interception on the first play of the game. But, he got right back in there and went 21 of 32 the rest of the way including three deep balls; two to TE Sam Wheeler and a should-have-been touchdown for Josh Hyman (see the highlight video if you missed it). Glennon showed poise, touch and toughness while steadying the ship and guiding the Hokies to a respectable 10-point win.

Going into Saturday’s game at LSU, though, the Hokies will need to play much better than they showed against ECU. I can only hope that they have more tricks in the bag and were just hiding their playbook against the Pirates. I do know this; making the kind of drastic improvements from one week to the next, especially on the offensive line, is pretty tough. And if they don’t make the changes in time, the Hokies will be in for a long night in Baton Rouge.