BLACKSBURG – Following its 32-29 setback against No. 14 Notre Dame on Saturday, Virginia Tech football head coach Justin Fuente and select players met with the media for a postgame press conference. Read what Fuente and the others had to say below.
HEAD COACH JUSTIN FUENTE
Opening statement:
"First of all, thanks again to everybody that came out. It was an incredible atmosphere and home field advantage. Obviously, it's a tough locker room. It was an incredible competitive event out there on the field tonight, between both teams. There was so much back and forth, with guys playing different roles and having to step in for guys going down. It obviously came down to the very end there. I told our team I love them and it's a hard one to swallow but we've got to move on and get ready for conference play."
On how much the team missed linebacker Dax Hollifield at the end:
"I mean certainly we miss him, that's why he's a starter. I thought Dean [Ferguson] filled in and did well. He has played important minutes for us before. We've used him in a handful of games early on and he has performed well. We certainly miss a starter at any position."
On decision process rotating different quarterbacks:
"We were planning on playing Connor [Blumrick] some, that was evident early on in the game. Then we started to get into an injury situation. As Connor was playing the trainer said that Braxton [Burmeister] was good to go. There was some time there where we left Connor in there and then we put Braxton back in. Connor has played well and practiced well so I thought he deserved an opportunity."
On the decision to punt on 4th-and-1 on the final drive:
"It is a tough situation and if you don't get it you're basically handing them the game. I gave it consideration but I just didn't feel like it would be prudent at the time."
On if the defense ran out of gas in the fourth quarter:
"I don't have the stat sheet in front of me but I just felt like those last couple drives were the big ones. I don't think we ran out of gas but it was a drop back pass every snap. They went back to the other kid that can obviously throw the ball and we didn't play as well on those last couple drives."
QUARTERBACK BRAXTON BURMEISTER
On his 19-yard touchdown:
"We had a play that we've been [practicing] all week, trying to take a shot at the left side of the field into the end zone. I dropped back and didn't think it was a smart decision to throw one up in the end zone with all of them back there so I got a little pressure to the right and scrambled to the left, still kind of looking to throw and then felt a lot of room so I cut back and just got in the end zone."
On the mood in the locker room:
"Definitely everyone is upset and we all knew we could have won that game and thought we should have won that game so it hurts even worse but we have to move forward and know that we have our ACC schedule now and that's what we have to look forward to."
DEFENSIVE END TYJUAN GARBUTT
On what worked on defense for first three quarters:
"We really just executed the calls Coach {Hamilton] was calling. We practiced all week not knowing what quarterback was coming, so we wanted to prepare for all three of them. You've got to know your personnel, so we just trusted our training and going out there to do what we're supposed to do."
On if the team has something special that produces big plays:
"We feel like as long as we play together and do what we're supposed to do, and everyone is doing their job, we can be one of the top defenses. That's how confident we are in our ability."
RECEIVER TAYVION ROBINSON
On how to resist the temptation to stop working hard after a loss:
"Honestly, just turning the page but yeah it sucks, it stings that we lost. We have our conference schedule ahead of us and the only way to respond the way we want to is coming out Monday, Tuesday and getting prepared for Pitt."
On QB Braxton Burmeister injury and toughing it out:
"We didn't know what was going on at all but we were prepared to go out and play with Connor [Blumrick] or Knox [Kadum]. Yeah. Everyone gets hurt in games or injuries and you could tell he was fighting it and he wanted to go out there and try to win with us."