BLACKSBURG – With Pitt up next for Virginia Tech football, head coach Justin Fuente met with the media for a press conference on Monday. Read what he had to say below.
HEAD COACH JUSTIN FUENTE
Opening Statement:
"We had a good workout yesterday under tough circumstances fresh off an incredible football game and really gut-wrenching defeat. Good film work, got the guys out there and ran a little bit. Got a good lift in watched the film. Tremendous amount of things on that film to be proud of, obviously we played really hard, came up a little short. Huge challenge this week, my goodness. This offense we're about to play is pretty special. The quarterback is playing at a high level, as good as anybody I've seen this year. The best quarterback we've played so far, maybe the best quarterback we'll play all year. This guy is at an elite level. A couple weeks ago, what they did to Georgia Tech was just amazing. He's got great weapons around him, but you can really tell he is there. He's experienced, he's hard to sack, he's got a great arm, great anticipation, on the same page as his wide outs. They are scoring points in bunches. So, it'll be a tremendous challenge for us. Obviously, Pat [Narduzzi] is heavily involved with the defense, the high-pressure defense has given up hardly any rushing yardage. Kind of in your face down there tight, so it's going to be a tremendous challenge for us to have a great week of work. Pitt's coming off a bye. We have to get mentally, emotionally and physically ready to go because it's going to be a heck of a challenge."
On the running game versus Notre Dame:
"I think my gut reaction was pretty accurate. We got them out of much of their pressure. They're a good pressure team and we got them out of that and into some real base looks. I was disappointed that we couldn't run the ball against some of those base looks. We should have performed a little better across the board. It was going to be difficult to be super-efficient but we certainly could have been more efficient after we got them calmed down a little more."
On the secondary's performance against the Irish:
"There's a little different quarterback back there throwing the ball. That's the thing is they have a guy that's obviously a really athletic guy that is still developing as a passer. That's probably fair to say without being critical. He's just a young player. They have another guy that is not as athletic but much further down the road throwing the ball. Obviously, the last two drives we gave up 10 points, I prefer that not happen toward the end the game. We just couldn't find a way to get them slowed up there."
On whether LBs Dean Ferguson and Keshon Artis can fill LB Dax Hollifield's role during first half suspension:
"We've got Dean and Keyshawn who are experienced guys and have played a lot. Keshon's played both positions for us, the boundary and the mike. We've got a little bit of experience there which makes you feel better, guys that have played meaningful snaps in the game. Certainly, Dax is a starter for a reason, but I feel good about those guys' ability to get in there and execute on what's going on. Dax is, I would say, probably the best communicator that we have. That's pretty evident. He just really does a good job communicating to everybody so we'll miss a little bit of that and we'll need some other people to do a great job communicating while we're out there but I feel good about our experience."
Individual game tickets are available for the Hokies' clash with the Orange, along with Tech's two remaining home games against Pitt (Oct. 16) and Duke (Nov. 13). Click here to find tickets.
