CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – After a 17-3 setback at Boston College on Friday, Virginia Tech football head coach Justin Fuente and quarterback Knox Kadum met with the media for a press conference. Read what they had to say below.
HEAD COACH JUSTIN FUENTE
Opening statement:
"Congratulations to Boston College on the victory. They ran the ball very well. We basically made no plays in the passing game. Two turnovers, with one in the red zone after the interception. Pretty tough to win games like that. I'm proud of our effort. The kids are playing hard. Need to play better on the road in an environment like that to deserve to win the game."
On Boston College's success in the running game and the key for that:
"I would have to look at it in more detail to see specifically what the issue was. We played five defensive linemen against their 12-personel in an effort to hold up. And, at times we did, specifically at the short-yardage instances, we held up really well. They got into a one-bunch set and took us off of the edge a few times, but we made some adjustments and got that side help."
On the interception the defense had then coughed up for a 22-yard BC gain:
"The two plays I think of are that play and then the third down when they threw it and we batted the ball in the air and the tight end caught it. I mean, you're right there playing really good defense and you don't get off the field in either one of those scenarios. So that was disappointing, especially when you get a turnover like that. You can't give good players multiple opportunities."
On losing four of the last five games and if there is a path to get to a bowl:
"Certainly, I've been really pleased with our kids. We've had three games where we've absolutely had our heart ripped out on virtually the last play of the game. We've had two games that we got straight up beaten. But our guys still continue to fight, scratch and claw. We got Senior Day coming up next Saturday and have a large group of very good kids that most of them have been in this program for a very long time that are going to look to be sent out the right way."
QUARTERBACK KNOX KADUM
On coming into the game in the cold and not having receiver Tré Turner as a weapon:
"My job as a second-string quarterback is to ready whatever the circumstances are and to go compete and execute at a high level for the offense. I feel like in the first half I didn't do that. But in the second half, I feel like I got into the flow of the game and everything slowed down a bit."
On not getting any points on the red zone trip that resulted in a fumble:
"It happened at a point in the game that if we could've gotten in the end zone right there, you don't know what the final outcome could've been. There was still plenty of time, like, six minutes left and we still had two timeouts left to use. So, we were still in a good position right there. But, yeah, we didn't execute and that changed how we had to approach the rest of the game."