Hokies Turn the Tide, Breeze Past the 'Canes With 37-16 Victory

The Hokies fought through personal adversity, as well as some key injuries, to right the ship against division foe Miami on Thursday night.

[Mark Umansky]

If you listen very closely, you'll probably hear the sound of the Virginia Tech hype train barreling its way back towards Blacksburg.

After a week that this team and fanbase would surely love to forget, the Hokies defense dominated the Hurricanes en route to a 37-16 victory.

Just five days after giving up 561 yards of offense to Syracuse, the defensive line — playing without Ken Ekanem or Nigel Williams — registered eight sacks and held Miami to just 42 yards rushing to keep the Hokies' ACC Coastal dreams alive.

"I felt like the key to the game for us is we needed to stop the run and make Miami one-dimensional, and we were able to do that," Foster said. "I thought their interior defensive linemen was their strength. I know they have two dynamic running backs that if you give them a crease, as you guys saw there at the end, they're very explosive, tremendously talented. We really did a great job of attacking the line of scrimmage. Keeping the lanes and the gaps tight and keeping those backs in the phone booth, so to speak. Really proud, we had guys that did step up."

With Ekanem and Williams reduced to spectators, senior Woody Baron had a breakout game, tallying two and a half sacks, 4 and a half tackles for loss, and 6 solo tackles. With two regular starters sidelined, Baron came into the game with the mindset that the players left in the rotation all had to step up and do their part.

"I thought it was implied," Baron said. "All six of us that are on the rotation had to have a good game. Me being the most experienced, I knew that the young guys were gonna follow my example like they have for myself, Nigel, and Ken."

Both Foster and Baron shed some light on an inspiring performance from Trevon Hill, who lost his grandmother earlier in the week. Hill flew out of Blacksburg after Tuesday's practice, and flew back in on Wednesday night to rejoin the team ahead of the game.

Baron felt the team rallied around Hill, something that helped motivate a defense that was already eager to get back to work.

"Trevon definitely grew up," Baron said. "We found out about it about a week-and-a-half ago. We all just rallied around him. We knew he had to go back home this weekend. For him to go through something like that and come back and even play in a football game is humongous. That speaks to him as a young man and his character, and also this unit as a family."

While the defense was busy forcing Miami punts, the offense was doing its part to make sure it converted those opportunities into points.

The Hokies racked up an impressive 523 yards, 251 of them on the ground. Travon McMillian led the way with a bounceback game after being largely absent the previous two weeks.

"I thought Travon ran hard," Fuente said. "Marshawn (Williams) didn't have as many carries, but he had a few, and he got in there and did a pretty darn good job as well. I liked the way that we protected the football, first and foremost. That's the first thing that comes to my mind."

While the 'Canes focused on negating the impact of Isaiah Ford, that opened up the passing game for others such as Sam Rogers, Cam Phillips, and Bucky Hodges, who had seven catches for 66 yards and a pair of scores.

Hodges, never short on confidence, was happy to exploit his natural mismatch against the young Miami defense.

"I always feel like I've got a mismatch," Hodges said. "It doesn't matter who's out there. That's just how I feel, that's my attitude. It doesn't matter who's across from me. Like I said, Jerod was putting it on the money today. O-line stepped up big. It was a good all-around team win."

Tech now turns its attention to the Pittsburgh Panthers, a Pat Narduzzi-led team that has battled through uncharacteristic struggles on defense this fall. As many longtime supporters know, Heinz Field has been a nightmarish venue for the Hokies, with the last Tech victory in the Steel City coming all the way back in 1999.

But before Fuente set his sights on the Panthers, he took a moment to thank his fans who came out in droves for lending their support, and their voices, to a big welcome back party for Thursday night football in Lane Stadium.

"I wanna thank everybody that came out tonight," Fuente said. "Personally, on a selfish note, for my first experience of Thursday night football at Virginia Tech, it was everything I always thought it would be and more. Our fans were fantastic. (They) made it incredibly difficult on Miami."

Justin Fuente

OPENING STATEMENT:

"I wanna thank everybody that came out tonight. Personally, on a selfish note, for my first expire of Thursday night football at Virginia Tech, it was everything I always thought it would be and more. Our fans were fantastic. (They) made it incredibly difficult on Miami. Coach (Mark) Richt has a very good and talented team. I think they're gonna have a very bright future. I'm awfully proud of the way our guys played, really in all phases of the game, to earn a very tough win."

ON HOW THE DEFENSE WAS ABLE TO GET PRESSURE ON MIAMI QB BRAD KAAYA WITHOUT KEN EKANEM AND NIGEL WILLIAMS PLAYING:

"It was an issue, not having Ken and Nigel. They've both played at a high level and played a lot of football for us. I was really proud of the guys that filled in. They have been playing better as the season went along. I kind of always refer back to what we said when we started. We knew that we were gonna have challenges like that. The mark of our team's potential would be made on how well the guys that fill in for them play. They filled in admirably. Obviously Coach Foster, Coach Wiles, Coach Mitchell, and Coach Scott put together a great plan on how to create pressure, whether in twisting games or bringing people from the secondary. Our guys did a good job of executing."

ON WHAT THE STAFF SAW THAT OPENED UP BUCKY HODGES FOR A GOOD GAME:

"They were really focused in on Isaiah (Ford). We felt like we needed to move him around a little bit. Our general philosophy is that we should be able to take whatever the defense gives us. So if that means that Cam gets catches or Bucky gets catches or we have to run the ball more, whatever it is, you've gotta feel good about those other guys — if you're having a hard time getting the ball to Isaiah — those guys being able to defeat one-on-one coverage and make plays."

ON WHAT HE SAW THAT LED HIM TO BELIEVE THE TEAM COULD HAVE A GOOD BOUNCE-BACK PERFORMANCE:

"I don't know. I do know that we didn't have time to dwell on what happened last week. As much as we didn't like it, we had to pour all of our focus into the game, because it was coming quickly. I felt good about our plan, about the way we practiced heading into the game. I feel confident in our ability to attack the short week. I think our kids sensed that and accepted the plan — or digested the plan — in terms of what we're gonna do offensively or defensively, and went out and executed pretty well."

ON HIS THOUGHTS OF WOODY BARON'S PERFORMANCE:

"I would imagine, without looking at statistics, that Woody played pretty well. He's a very good player, very dependable, highly intelligent guy that's played a lot of snaps. And we need him to play a lot. He certainly answered the call today."

ON IF THE FIRST TRICK PLAY TO FORD WAS GOING TO BE A WR PASS:

"It was. We didn't quite make it to the pass part."

ON IF THE SAM ROGERS PASS HAS BEEN IN THE PLAYBOOK FOR A WHILE AND WHAT LED TO THAT PLAY CALL:

"Those have been things that we've been carrying. We're always gonna carry something — we may not call it every week, the situation may not present itself — you've gotta be in the right situation. We were 1-for-2 on those. I guess that's alright. I'd prefer 2-for-2."

Jerod Evans

ON HOW THEY WERE ABLE TO PUT TOGETHER A GOOD PERFORMANCE TONIGHT:

"The senior leadership on the team. The guys are very resilient. We know we didn't play our best game at syracuse. We had a horrible taste in our mouth. What better way to do it, with a short week, a Thursday night game five days later, to get the taste out of your mouth. It's all credit to the leadership we have on this team and the resiliency that we have."

ON HIS THOUGHTS ON HIS FIRST THURSDAY NIGHT GAME:

"I wouldn't say it was nothing different about the game. You've still gotta go score more points than the other team. Still have to not turn the ball over and all that stuff. What was different for me was the crowd. It was great. Hokie Nation definitely showed up like I've heard about all this time. It was definitely great."

Bud Foster

ON IF HE EXPECTED THIS PERFORMANCE OR WAS PLEASANTLY SURPRISED, GIVEN THE INJURIES ON THE LINE:

"Pleasantly surprised. I felt like the key to the game for us is we needed to stop the run and make Miami one-dimensional, and we were able to do that. I thought their interior defensive linemen was their strength. I know they have two dynamic running backs that if you give them a crease, as you guys saw there at the end, they're very explosive, tremendously talented. We really did a great job of attacking the line of scrimmage. Keeping the lanes and the gaps tight and keeping those backs in the phone booth, so to speak. Really proud, we had guys that did step up. My hats off to Trevon Hill. You guys may not know, he lost his grandmother and flew out Tuesday after practice and came back last night. Our thoughts are with him and his family. He really stepped up and played really, really well. I thought Ricky Walker has played outstanding for us so far. I didn't think there'd be a lot of drop-off there. Vinny Mihota had a shoulder pop out, put it back in, and came back and played. I just appreciate what our kids are all about and how we fought after a disappointing loss and how we came back and prepared and where our intensity and our focus was in practice, and our intentions in a must win situation. I was really proud of the way they worked and it showed in their play."

ON HIS THOUGHTS ON THE SECONDARY:

"I think we were solid. I'd have to go back and look at it. Miami's got some dynamic kids. Kaaya, I thought he played one of his best games tonight. That's the one thing we're gonna get. We're gonna get people's best shot because we're Virginia Tech. That's a compliment to our program and our kids. He played well. I did think we did some nice things back there. We did a couple things that we turned guys loose when we were playing man coverage, which was discouraging and frustrating, but those are at least correctable. I felt like going into the game, they weren't really complex in their passing game. They did a lot of vertical shots, though. Andrew Motuapuaka had to run down the middle of the field a couple of times with their receiver. He did a great job of creating a tipped pass and we had a great break on a deep-half coverage concept, and Terrell (Edmunds) got the pick. We had a couple other red zone pressures and did a nice job with that. It was a combination of things. I think good coverage made for good rush. And then I think our kids were restless up front. I felt we had a little more three and four man rush this week than we did last week. I felt like we could get into a situation where we could get three guys one on one where they couldn't double somebody. Our kids did a nice job of that."

ON HIS THOUGHTS ON BARON:

"He's playing great football right now. Not good football, Woody's playing great football. You talk about a guy, obviously his ability is twitchy, explosive off the ball. He plays with great hands, great technique. He's this powerful kid and can get off of blocks. He recognizes playside and back-side right now and can flatten out and those type of things. I thought our linebackers did a great job of getting downhill and creating those combination blocks. If they worked on our two-shades and our three technique, that they'd come off right now and that creates one on ones. We should be gap-sound is we're getting off of the football. I thought we did that for the most part. We had a check with me package when the back was at home, we were gonna bring a little bit of pressure. That was a naked look for them, wanted to get some pressure in the quarterback's face. They never did run that, but they kind of ran into the blitz. Stacy (Searels) he understands what we do a little bit. We made some adjustments going to bear and creating a couple minus-yardage plays. Our kids did a nice job of working the game and being good with our adjustments when we needed to make those in the game. You take away a couple plays, I was just really, really pleased with the effort. Enjoy this for a moment and get ready to go up to Pittsburgh. They've had an extra week to prepare. It's gonna be a big-time football game up there. They're fast and physical. We've gotta turn around and play another great football game against an outstanding football team."

ON HOW DEMORALIZING THE SACKS WERE TO THE MIAMI OFFENSE:

"Hopefully it was tremendously demoralizing. Again, I'm really proud of our kids and how they stepped up. We challenged them. You had Trevon that was going to have to step up and play a significant role. Houshun Gaines was gonna be a guy that was gonna have to step up and play a significant role. Seth Dooley, Ricky Walker, Steve Sobczak, those were guys that besides a Tim Settle that had not maybe played as many snaps prior to this game. We talked early in camp that that's going to happen. You've gotta train everyday like you're the guy because you're a play away in this sport because it's such a physical game. I thought our guys responded really well to the challenge and stepped up to the opportunity."

Bucky Hodges

ON IF THEY SAW ON FILM THAT HE MAY HAVE A CHANCE TO HAVE A BIG GAME:

"Jerod played a hell of a game. There were certain plays that we put in this week that I had the feeling I was going to get the ball on. The coaches dialed it up, I just went with the game plan."

ON IF HE'S SURPRISED AT THE AMOUNT OF SUCCESS THE TEAM HAS HAD SO QUICKLY UNDER FUENTE:

"I'm not surprised. Coach Fuente, he instilled in this program from day one, his motto is draw the line. We've just drawn the line. These games like this, losing games in the fourth quarter, just little things, it's attitude and how hard we've worked from January up until now. It's not a surprise. We've put the work in and we're reaping the rewards."

Sam Rogers

ON IF HE WAS AWARE OF THE LOSS FOR HILL AND WHAT IT MEANT TO SEE HIM HAVE A GOOD GAME:

"Yeah, I was aware of it. Trevon has a lot of character. It's good to see him get out there and play the way he did, and play with that passion and emotion. I know it meant a lot to him, what he did out there tonight. I'm happy for him."

ON IF HE KNEW THEY WOULD GO FOR THE TRICK PLAY TONIGHT:

"Coach (Brad) Cornelsen told me that I should be ready. He said, 'Are you gonna be ready on that play.' I said, 'Yeah, I'll be good.' Because in practice I'd overthrew him a couple of times so he was really nervous about it. But it worked out."

ON HOW THE PLAY UNFOLDED FROM HIS POINT OF VIEW AND IF HE HAD TO CONVINCE FUENTE HE DESERVED ANOTHER CHANCE TO THROW IT AFTER THE BOWL GAME:

"Yeah. Fun story, he was obviously watching our bowl game. When I threw that duck, he reminded me of that one of the first times I met him. He said, 'Yeah, you don't have to worry about throwing the ball for us.' Turns out he was wrong, so that was good. On that play, I was just waiting for the safeties and the corners to bite down hard on the run. Once Steven (Peoples) got open I just let it fly and it worked out."

ON HOW MUCH THE CROWD AND THE BAD GAME LAST WEEK LED TO TONIGHT'S PERFORMANCE:

"You just wanna take everything one game at a time. That's what we try to do. You can't let the past game leak into this game. I think we did a really good job of putting our last game behind us and coming in and just playing. Obviously we love playing at home and love playing in front of this crowd. You just feed off of them. It was awesome to play in this environment. It was a lot of fun."

ON IF THEY'VE BEEN PRACTICING THAT PLAY FOR A WHILE:

"We've had that play in for a while. It's awesome. I love Steven and everything that he's about. It's awesome to get a little fullback to fullback connection there. It was a lot of fun."

Tremaine Edmunds

ON HOW IMPORTANT IT WAS TO DISRUPT KAAYA:

"It was definitely important. Missing two big-time guys, but I commend the younger guys who stepped up and played. They definitely played a tremendous game. We all came together as a football team and we definitely did it for (Ekanem and Williams)."

ON BARON'S BIG NIGHT:

"Woody's a big-time player. I'm excited to be on the field with him at the same time. I always can expect that guy's gonna give it his all each and every game. Definitely a big-time player."

ON HOW EAGER THE DEFENSE WAS TO GET LAST WEEK OUT OF THEIR MINDS:

"Of course we weren't happy with the loss we had last week. All week, we were practicing hard. This was a must-win game for us and I think we came together as a defense and played well."

ON IF IT WAS AN EMOTIONAL WEEK FOR THE DEFENSE AFTER HILL'S PERSONAL LOSS:

"Definitely. If anybody, I know he was. He definitely mentioned that he wanted to do it for his lost one. I take my hat off to him. He came in and played a big-time ballgame. A guy that is that strong to be able to play under those circumstances, definitely big-time."

Woody Baron

ON IF HE COULD SENSE THE MIAMI OFFENSE WEARING DOWN OR GETTING FRUSTRATED AT THE SACKS AND TACKLE FOR LOSSES:

"I've played this team three times. We know what kind of team they are. They're just like us, they're fundamentally driven and they always have great athletes at all 11 positions at any time in the game. We try to make it about ourselves and our execution versus them. Getting pressure on them early was a benefit and we just tried to keep it going all game."

ON HOW BIG THE SECONDARY PLAYED A ROLE IN THE SACKS:

"We're working as a unit out there. As a defense, all 11 work as one. So any time we get a sack, it's going to coverage because he has to hold the ball."

ON IF THIS PROGRAM FEELS DIFFERENT THAN THE PREVIOUS FEW YEARS:

"I think the big thing that this staff and the previous staff have in common is regardless of the circumstance or the environment, we all wanna win. That's the thing that I think has rolled over from the Beamer tenure to Coach Fuente and the coaches that we have now."

ON IF THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT THIS TEAM THAT ALLOWS THEM TO REFOCUS AFTER A LOSS:

"I think it just speaks to the maturity of the group. We have high standards going into the season and throughout the summer. We know that when we lose, give credit to the other ball club, but it was our fault for the most part. We just look at the film and try to learn from it. If we execute and all play tougher that we can play with anybody."

Comments

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I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction:
“I served in the United States Navy"

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Warning: this post occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)..

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___

-What we do is, if we need that extra push, you know what we do? -Put it up to fully dipped? -Fully dipped. Exactly. It's dork magic.

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Warning: this post occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)..

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___

-What we do is, if we need that extra push, you know what we do? -Put it up to fully dipped? -Fully dipped. Exactly. It's dork magic.

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Warning: this post occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)..

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A decade on TKP and it's been time well spent.

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A decade on TKP and it's been time well spent.

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There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

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Pain is Temporary, Chicks Dig Scars
Glory is Forever, Let's Go Hokies!!

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A decade on TKP and it's been time well spent.

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Best duos in Hokie history: Hall & Adibi, 3rd & Tyrod, Georgia & Liz

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"Our job as coaches is to influence young people's lives for the better in terms of fundamental skills, work ethic, and doing the right thing. Every now and again, a player actually has that effect on the coaching staff." Justin Fuente on Sam Rogers

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"GO BACK TO YOUR ROOM LITTLE BROTHER, THE CUP IS COMIN’ ON HOME!”

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30 years after starting grad school at Virginia Tech, I finally defended my dissertation and earned my PhD.
Don't give up on your dreams.

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"Our job as coaches is to influence young people's lives for the better in terms of fundamental skills, work ethic, and doing the right thing. Every now and again, a player actually has that effect on the coaching staff." Justin Fuente on Sam Rogers

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The Orange and Maroon you see, that's fighting on to victory.

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30 years after starting grad school at Virginia Tech, I finally defended my dissertation and earned my PhD.
Don't give up on your dreams.

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30 years after starting grad school at Virginia Tech, I finally defended my dissertation and earned my PhD.
Don't give up on your dreams.

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___

-What we do is, if we need that extra push, you know what we do? -Put it up to fully dipped? -Fully dipped. Exactly. It's dork magic.

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Even when you get skunked; fishing never lets you down. 🎣

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The Orange and Maroon you see, that's fighting on to victory.

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Taylor, looking desperately throws it deep..HAS A MAN OPEN DANNY COALE WITH A CATCH ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE FIVE!!!!....hes still open

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There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

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There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

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No, I *don't* want to go to the SEC. Why do you ask?

We don't love dem Hoos.

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There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

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No, I *don't* want to go to the SEC. Why do you ask?

We don't love dem Hoos.

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Wet stuff on the red stuff.

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the numbers don’t lie and they spell disaster

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-What we do is, if we need that extra push, you know what we do? -Put it up to fully dipped? -Fully dipped. Exactly. It's dork magic.

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Wet stuff on the red stuff.

Join us in the Key Players Club

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the numbers don’t lie and they spell disaster