By Jimmy Robertson
BLACKSBURG – When Virginia Tech takes the field Saturday night for its ACC matchup with Boston College, the Hokies will be attempting to avoid something that they rarely do under coach Justin Fuente – lose back-to-back games.
In Fuente's four-plus seasons, Tech has lost back-to-back games just five times – a number skewed by a four-game losing streak in 2018. The Hokies suffered their first loss of the season last Saturday when they fell 56-45 to No. 5 North Carolina in Chapel Hill and hope to move to 3-1 with a victory over the Eagles, who come into this game also with a 3-1 mark.
Despite the defeat in Chapel Hill, Tech's players remain confident. The Hokies played without 15 players, including both starting safeties, and yet only trailed by five points heading into the fourth quarter against the talented Tar Heels. A stop here or there, or a forced turnover, and the outcome could have been different.
TECH-BC BROADCAST INFORMATION
(For more on how to watch, listen, and follow the game, please click HERE!)
"I'm very encouraged, for sure," Tech tight end James Mitchell said of his thoughts on the team. "One thing I know is we've got a lot of depth, especially on the offensive side of the ball, the o-line – pretty much everywhere, we've got a lot of depth. Coach Fu [Fuente] stressed to the offense that we've got to help pick those guys up when they were depleted a little bit, and there is going to come a time when we don't have everyone on the offense and the defense is going to have to pick us up. But we're very encouraged, and if we keep moving forward, we've got a chance to be very good."
The Hokies need to be better defensively than they were against North Carolina. They actually need to be better defensively overall after allowing at least 24 points in each game. Certain coaches on that side of the ball missed games, which affected the play, and of course, certain players missed time as well.
But Tech played with most of its defensive front intact against the Tar Heels and played poorly, and Fuente wasn't making excuses during his weekly video news conference Monday.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Saturday, Oct. 17 – 8 p.m.
Lane Stadium; Blacksburg, Va.
vs. Boston College (3-1, 2-1)
Head Coach: Jeff Hafley (1st season)
Record at school: 3-1; Career: 3-1
Series: Tech leads 18-10 Last: Aug. 31, 2019 (L, 28-35)
Live Stats: CLICK HERE
Broadcast: ACC Network
Play-by-Play: Dave O'Brien
Analyst: Tim Hasselbeck
Sideline: Katie George
Radio: Virginia Tech Sports Properties
Play-by-Play: Jon Laaser
Analyst: Mike Burnop
Sideline: Wes McElroy
Virginia Tech Game Notes: CLICK HERE
Virginia Tech Press Conference Recap: CLICK HERE
"I think we could have played better everywhere," he said. "That's one of the things that, as a coach, you try to preach to your team is just because you have some guys out, it shouldn't affect how we do our job, and you see that so many times. If you think about the first [part] of the Duke game, we had a bunch of guys out, but the replacements were playing fine. It was the guys that everyone knows their names that were making uncharacteristic mistakes.
"We can't have that part of it. The front six, let's say, those are steady guys that have played a lot of football that will need to play better and whoever is in the back end shouldn't affect their play. That's a long way of me saying that we all share in this, and we needed to play better up front as well."
Along those lines, here are some more things to watch, as the Hokies gear up for an important home game against the Eagles:
Tech's safeties – Last Saturday against North Carolina, the Hokies played without starting safeties Divine Deablo and Keonta Jenkins, and the Tar Heels exploited that in the running game by finding ways to isolate their running backs against Tech's backup safeties. The result wasn't pretty for the Hokies – North Carolina rushed for 399 yards in the game.
Tech's staff tried to make adjustments, even playing Alan Tisdale some at safety. Nothing worked, and now the Hokies get ready to take on a Boston College team that averages 295.3 yards passing per game – second in the ACC.
Tech expects to get Deablo back, which certainly helps its cause. But there was no word on Jenkins, and the Hokies already are without Tyree Rodgers (focusing on academics), Devon Hunter (suspended indefinitely) and Nasir Peoples (season-ending injuries). Their absences leave walk-on Tyler Matheny, redshirt freshman J.R. Walker and freshman Lakeem Randolph in prominent roles.
The situation has Fuente concerned – and bears watching.
"We had some young players out there [against North Carolina] that played a tremendous amount of snaps in situations that they probably shouldn't have been in when we had no other choice," Fuente said. "I'm hopeful they can recover and play. That does something to a guy when you're a young player, and you're in a situation like that – not just physically, but mentally. So hopefully, those guys can recover and continue to develop and help us prop up that room. We should get at least Divine back, and we'll see how it goes from there."
Tech's pass rush – The Hokies rank fifth in the ACC with 14 sacks, but they only mustered one against North Carolina. The flow of the game caused some of that, as the Tar Heels ran the ball with so much success that they rarely found themselves in passing situations. They only threw it 23 times, compared to 43 rushing attempts.
Boston College ranks dead last in the ACC in rushing offense (60.3 ypg) and its 129 rushing attempts are far and away the fewest among ACC teams that have played at least four games. The Eagles use their big quarterback – 6-5, 226-pound Phil Jurkovec – to go through the airways to score. Jurkovec already has thrown for 1,181 yards, which represents the most by any BC quarterback through the first four games of a season in school history.
But BC has allowed 16 sacks – the fourth-most in the ACC. So the Hokies need to get after Jurkovec to alleviate the pressure on those young safeties.
"Yes, most definitely," Tech end Emmanuel Belmar said when asked if the pass rush will be important Saturday. "We definitely want to rush the passer, but going off last week and what we gave up, they might come out running the ball, so we've got to be prepared for both just in case. But if they are throwing the ball, definitely hats are going to be on fire. We're going to try and get to the quarterback."
Khalil Herbert – Tech leads the ACC in rushing at 299.3 yards per game because of a good offensive line and the play of outstanding tailback Khalil Herbert, who leads the nation at nearly 150 yards rushing per game. Herbert, who averages 10.4 yards per carry, has rushed for more than 100 yards in all three of Tech's games.
That group figures to be tested Saturday, as BC's defense allows just 135.8 yards rushing per game. Only one tailback has rushed for more than 100 yards against BC (UNC's Michael Carter) and only one team (UNC) has rushed for more than 150 yards against the Eagles.
Herbert has become the dynamic playmaker on this offense, and he makes everyone better within Tech's offense. The Hokies need a big game from him – again.
"It definitely opens up all the passing lanes," Tech quarterback Hendon Hooker said. "I know the receivers enjoy it, just running free and being able to get into their routes and get the ball and be able to make moves. It's also great to see our o-line rolling and our running backs hitting the ground running. Khalil and Jalen Holston and [Raheem] Blackshear all look good running the ball, and I'm excited to see what the future holds."
"We're going to have to be able to run the football versus everybody in order to have a chance at success," Fuente admitted. "That's where it all starts with us."
The fourth quarter – Boston College is 3-1 entering Saturday's game mainly because of its ability to win close games. The Eagles rallied to beat Texas State on Sept. 26 and then did the same to beat Pittsburgh 31-30 in overtime last Saturday.
The Eagles have thrived in the second halves of games, outscoring their opponents 46-28. In the fourth quarter and overtime, they have outscored their opponents 26-11. They know how to produce during crunch times of games.
In contrast, Tech has been outscored 38-30 in the fourth quarter, and the Hokies have been outscored in fourth quarter in two of their first three games.
The Hokies need to grab a lead early in this one and maintain it going into the fourth. This represents their formula for success under Fuente, who stands at 31-6 as the Hokies' coach when Tech leads after three quarters.
In closing: the Hokies and Boston College kick off at 8 p.m. The game can be watched on the ACC Network.