Virginia Tech football coach Justin Fuente talks with reporters.
Opening Statement: “I want to thank everyone for coming to Bristol. I thought it was great that our spirit squad, band and Corps of Cadets members could make the long trip down. I thought they did a great job. “Obviously, the game did not turn out how we wanted it to. In retrospect, you can look back and see the mistakes we made in all three phases of the game. We must get them corrected as we try to have success moving forward. Looking back, you can also see when we do things the right way we look good. It is on us to get things fixed before we meet Boston College this Saturday. They have a fantastic front seven and a great back end. It will be a tremendous challenge for us and our kids are looking forward to it.”
On the week of practice before Tennessee not being up to his standards “I noticed it and pointed it out to the team. There is a lot that goes into that and it is up to us to fix it. We have to have better preparation. I was not happy with how the beginning of last week went. I am optimistic that they listened and will make the changes needed for this week.”
On whether he’s concerned that Tech has only recovered one of its own fumbles this year “We are fumbling the ball too much. That is a fact. We must get that fixed. That is a result of several things; lacking technically, toughness and selflessness. As far as recoveries, I have not seen guys just standing around. I have seen guys earnestly trying to get on top of the ball or chasing it. We have not drawn as much focus on recovery as eliminating the opportunity.”
On establishing consistency on offense “That is the goal. When you play against a team with the caliber of Tennessee, there is going to be some give and take in terms of execution. My issue is with taking care of the football. I think if we could do that better then our consistency will improve. There have been flashes of a consistent offense. In my opinion, some of our stuttering was because guys weren’t taking care of the football.”
On guys adjusting to the offensive tempo and whether that is a factor in the fumbles “There is some technique involved. We need to be better at taking care of the ball and having guys be more selfless. I see this as we need to do a better job. Obviously, the more plays you run the better chance you have to fumble the football. I don’t see tempo correlating to fumbles. It hasn’t in the past.”
On the familiarity of defensive coordinator Bud Foster with current Boston College offensive coordinator Scott Loeffler “Coach Foster and their offensive coordinator, Scot Loeffler, played against each other for many years here. There is some familiarity there but there is every week after watching video and those types of September 13, 2016 things. Not every week you play your team’s old offensive coordinator. I would say those two coordinators are familiar with each other and their personal.”
On the takeaways from the last two games “I think that we certainly know the things that we must work on now to have success. One is we need to be more disciplined with this football. The most disappointing thing in the last two weeks has been the lack of discipline. That is something we pride ourselves on and we have fallen short. I think we have some clear things that we need to work on. Getting some working knowledge on the emotional state of our team has been something we have learned as well.”
On penalties being mental “There are several ways to address personal fouls. One of them is playing time. Ultimately, that is the power coaches have. Sometimes coaches’ hands can get tied up due to depth chart and things like that. We want to continue to teach off that and to understand why personal fouls happen. When you look back, there are a couple of personal fouls that weren’t great calls but there were also some that we should just not have done. A large part of that to me is handling your emotions. We addressed it at length yesterday but it will continue to be an ongoing thing. “
On his happiness with the play of the defense “I have been pleased with the way we have played. I think that we have been put in some bad spots. We played a pretty athletic game last week. We continue to get better and improve. I like the way we are going. To me, it is focused on creating takeaways and being disciplined.”
On how he gets over a loss “You can’t hang with it. You have to move on, good or bad. In this business, if you cannot but the previous game behind you then you are in for some tough times. We have a tremendous challenge in front of us Saturday but if we are stuck thinking about the last game we are selling ourselves short. I like to evaluate how we played, win or lose, and teach from that. I try to look at it holistically. It does not mean that I am in the dumps when we lose because I am. I thought we had a great opportunity against Tennessee but for whatever reason we were not ready to execute at that level.”
On what he saw out of Greg Stroman’s coverage against Tennessee “He was in a great position. Those guys were big guys. We would love for Greg to make the plays. We trust Greg with all our calls. We are working with Adonis Alexander as he is getting better. I don’t say that negatively but he will keep improving.”
On the issue with special teams “We have addressed all special team issues since the start of camp. During the Liberty game, our guys did exactly what we asked September 13, 2016 them to do. Last week was poor. We need to see the returner. Greg tried to point it out and get over there. We got to get better there.”
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Chris Graham
