Virginia Tech head coach Justin Fuente talks with reporters at his weekly press conference.
Opening Statement: “I’m obviously pleased with our performance last week, we had a great homefield advantage, our fans were fantastic. It was a memorable first Thursday night game in Lane Stadium for me and I do want to make sure I thank everybody for coming out. It played a huge role in that football game. As we turn the page we have another big challenge in front of us. Going on the road to Pitt, I know they’ll have an exciting environment. Pitt was off last week so it poses another challenge. I know they’ll be rested and ready to play. This is a very good Pitt football team. Obviously they can run the ball and they’ve done a really good job stopping the run. They’ve got a dynamic, exciting returner, punt return game and kickoff return game has aided in their success. We will have a tremendous challenge trying to negate that. But our kids are looking forward to the challenge. They’ve had some good prep time, we obviously have practice again today to get ready for Thursday.”
On what he has seen from the Pitt defense on film: “Well it starts with stopping the run, I think that obvious when you watch the film, they a really, really good job. They’ve played a couple of teams that I would say are very, very good at throwing the football. North Carolina, Oklahoma State who are very good on the outside, may distort those numbers a little bit. Watching the film, I thought those guys were really, really talented. So it’ll be a big challenge. You can tell the makeup of their team starts with running the football and stopping the run and they’ve been successful at that and that’s why they’re winning ball games.”
On Pitt RB James Conner and his comeback from cancer: “A fantastic story. I don’t know the young man but my impression of him and from everything I’ve read is he’s just a fantastic individual that has obviously overcome some huge hurdles. It’s nice in college athletics when obviously you don’t want anybody to have to go through what he has gone through but when the stories get highlighted and the character, the integrity, the toughness that he’s exhibited has kind of shown on full view. It gives the rest of us an opportunity to appreciate some of the people that are involved in this game. You always respect your opponent but you have a tremendous amount of respect for any individual that has gone through things like that. A unique situation but certainly a feelgood story.”
On K Joey Slye’s ability to hit kickoffs for touchbacks being an advantage against Pitt’s strong return game: “Well sure, you never know going into the game if the wind is going to be blowing, if they’re going to return them. The key, when you have a kicker like Joey, is not getting the coverage team to relax and assume that the ball is going to go out of the end zone. But anytime you have a chance to take the ball out of a dangerous returner’s hands is probably the same as on defense if it’s a wide receiver. Any chance you have to take the ball out of their hands that’s a good thing for us but in the same respect you have to make sure you don’t take those things for granted or assume that’s going to happen because it can certainly bite you.”
October 25, 2016
On Tech’s trick plays and Sam Rogers’ TD pass vs. Miami: “Well we want to hit all of them. First of all, we didn’t do it just to do it, we don’t do things like that. If we feel like there’s something like that that we may be able to take advantage of and we can execute, we’ve got some confidence in executing then we’ll certainly do that. On a personal note, that has nothing to do with the game, it was cool that Sam got to throw it because he does so many things that don’t show up in the statistical breakdown to help this team win. It was pretty cool. His little wry look that he had after he threw it was worth the price of admission.”
On what clicked in the running game this week with RB Travon McMillian: “I would say part of it was the way we were being played. It allowed us to run the ball a little more effectively. I think Travon ran as hard as I’ve seen him run since I’ve been here. Certainly helped things out. It’s kind of a little bit of how we were being played and little bit of it has to do with how we were executing, little bit has to do with our defense played allowing us to go let us go out there and continue to run the football throughout the game.”
On the cause of Tech’s coverage breakdowns vs. Miami: “There’s a litany of things that go into the opposing team having a guy open or making a big play throwing the football. Part of it is technique oriented, part of it is communication-oriented, some of it is they have coaches and players on scholarship as well and sometimes they make plays. It was a little bit of everything.”
On his team’s road mentality: “I think we’re developing our road mentality. We had a bunch of people there at North Carolina, Hokies, and the rain and weather probably contributed to the atmosphere in terms of, I’m assuming they would’ve had more people there if it was 72 and partly cloudy. That won’t be the case this week. It’ll take a little extra focus, a little extra mental toughness, determination, to get prepared to go into a truly hostile environment and win a ball game. That’s the challenge that in front of us.”
On QB Jerod Evans’ block vs. Miami: “I mean, I don’t think he was putting himself in harm’s way. Not like he was taking on a 330-pound defensive tackle. Sometimes you find yourself in those situations and you have to find a way to get the job done. Whether that’s squaring a guy up or shielding a guy off sometimes the ball cuts back and you find yourself at the point of attack. We expect our guys across the board to paly to the whistle and help us try to win the game.”
On whether the team has talked about their past struggles at Heinz Field: “I don’t think so. It’s not something we’ve addressed. I know that Pitt has been very good and we haven’t, for whatever reason, whether it was there or here, had a tremendous amount of success in recent history. But that it’s not something we dwell on. We talk about this game, we talked about game to game momentum and previous results have no bearing on future outcomes and that’s the way we’re approaching this one.”
On the recent play of DT Woody Baron who is so mild-mannered off the field: “I’m just glad to see other people struggle with him, as well (because of his quiet demeanor). He’s obviously talented, but he’s an intelligent football player. He understands things. He’s not the most vocal guy but he brings it every single day. He’s an incredibly nice young man. Whether he’s hanging out with kids after practice, or, just a pleasure to be around and a very good football player. A find example to young people in my estimation. One that I’m very fortunate to get to coach.”